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or the Philanthropist. CASE OF within OF THE CITIZENS OF SARDINIA. A meeting of the citizens of Sardinia and vicin ity,was held November 21st, 1838; ELI HUG GINS was called to the Chair, and James Suaw s was chosen Secretary. After a recital of the pro ceedings of a previous meeting,preparatory to this, the following Report and Resolutions were adop ted:— Hist : _ ‘The committee appointed at a meeting of the citizens of Sardinia Nov. 1st, 1838, to pre sent to this meeting a statement of facts in con nection with the arrest and imprisonment of the Rev. John B. Mahan of this place, respectfully report,... That for the last six months our neighborhood has’ been unusually infested with negro-hunters, who have in several instances and in various ways displayed the demoralizing influence of ‘slavery. ‘They have prowled about the neighbor ‘hood by night, watched the houses, and, it is be lieved, searched the ‘barns and out houses, and robbed ‘the grainfields of our citizens. In one case’ a Kentuckian and a rabble of vile fellows which he had collected, about thirty in number, ‘were prowling through the woods on the third Sabbath of last September. As they came near a ‘house, the occupant went out to see what was going son. When he approached near enough to see the ‘company, judging their business from their appear ance, he concluded to return again to his own house.’ As he turned, the Kentuckian saw him, and ordered him to stop; but thinking he had a fight to do as he pleased, he gave no head to the rder The Kentuckian started towards him and led the command to stop. The man then quickened his pace, and the Kentuckian spurred his ‘horse ‘to the gallop and overtook the individu al «by time he arrived at his own enclosure; and while he was in the act of jumping or falling over the fence, the negro-hunter drew a pistol and fired at him. ‘The ball glanced the rail where he sat the instant before. Another case of the same kind occurred on the 24th of last June. A Kentuckian, with a mer cenary, went to the house of a neighbor and in nited for a stray horse. He professed to be an abolitionist, (this was also on the Sabbath.) ‘The man, knowing that abolitionists were not in the Habit of heinting horses on the Sabbath, suspected all was not fair, charged them with being negro hunters, and invited them to leave his premises. ‘The hireling complied, but the Kentuckian refuse. ‘The man got his axe and repeated his order. The Kentuckian drew a pistol and snapped it at him. The man advanced, and the Kentuckian com need a retreat, but before leaving the premises he turned and snapped his pistol once or twice more, and afterward took deliberate aim and snapped again at the citizen. The pistol was charged, for he fired it on starting away. _At the same time William Greathouse, a convic ted felon of Mason county, Ky., who afterwards procured the arrest of Mr. Mahan, was also in the neghborhood, several days hunting a fugitive. After searching through the country for some time, he concluded that his slave was at the house of Lewis Pettijohn. He and his mercenaries tra versed the country for five or six miles around Sardinia, and having succeeded in collecting a mob, of twenty or thirty persons, of the filth and offséouring of society within that brands, marched to the house of Mr. Pettijohn. The followin description of the proceedings there, is extracte from a letter written by Mrs. Pettijohn to her re lations sin Ky. a‘short time after the event took place. She says, “On the 25th of June we were aroused about eleven o'clock at night 3 ne party of Strangers, we knew not who. ‘They de frauded their black man. Lewis told them there was no black man here, and demanded their names, but they refused to give them. ‘They demanded en trance, this he refused to grant. ‘They said they had a warrant to take him, told him’to light a candle, ‘and they would show their authority. ,Ac cordingly he lighted a candle, and when they saw that he was alone, they rushed furiously into the house, snatched the candle out of his hand, presented a pistol to his breast and damned his abolition soul, telling him if he opened his mouth they would shoot him dead on the spot. “They ‘then commenced a search, and after searching the ‘house. through to no effect, they said he should ‘tell them where the negro was, or they would give him* five huodred lashes with a cowhide. They aid hold’on his feet and commenced pulling him out of »—Lfor he_had come back to bed whem ; began their search, and struck, him twice on a club,and stripped the bed clothes off of me,to see, as they said, if the negro was not in with me. They told us they would kill him if he did not tell where the negro was. And on the other hand they offered him fifty dollars if he would tell. So he feigned a compromise, and fl eded them to Thaspbell’s a short way off. Away they went, in high glee, for Mr. Campbell’s, ‘but’ they took the’ precaution to set a guard over all, that we should not leave until they reurned. ‘As they departed they told Pettijohn thy if they and not find the negro they would return and kill him.” by They went to Campbell’s, got into the bite before he knew their sight , searched it, and not finding the slave, they turned to Mr. Pettijohn’s, but he and his family had escaped from the ground. ‘The mob, rightly judging that they might find difficulty in prosecuting further search, concluded to disperse. A number of them in re turning to their homes, passed through the colored near this, and violently broke into one Or. Ss any cat. “The next mornin g Greathouse started home, and said he would act Kentucky and get two hundred men to come with him and burn down Sardinia. A relation to ‘the conduct of Mr. Mahan, for which he was indicted in Mason county, Ky., we would state,'that’a man called at his tavern on’ the morning of the 21st of June, 1838. He remain ed in Sardinia during the day. He was treated as other travelers, “And he acted as any other traveler would, who might have stopped to rest during the day. Sometimes he was in the room occupied by travelers, sometimes in Mr. Mahan’s store on the opposite side of the street He attended a tem perance meeting that was held near town that day, and part of the day he spent in walking about town and talking with the citizens. In the evening he left Mr. Mahan’s, and went, by invitation, with an individual who resides in the neighborhood, where he remained several days, and Mr.Mahan did not see him more than once or twice afterwards. We are also confident, that no time during his stay did Mahan conceal him, or aid in concealing him. And when he left the neighborhood Mr. Mahan did not give him any assistance. We state these things, because we know where he was while here and how he went away. Respecting the other slave whom Mahan is charged with assisting to escape, we have every assurance, short of absolute certainty, that Mr. Mahan never saw him, nor ever heard of him un til two days after he passed through this section of the country. And further, we would, state, that at no time, judging from the rout he traveled, could he have been within four miles of Mr. Mahan’s house. As to the treatment which colored persons gen erally receive at the house of Mr Mahan, we would state, that they are treated as other persons. ‘Their wants are supplied while they are at his house. If they are able to compensate him, it is done; if not, they are not turned away empty on this account. If they are objects of charity, he bestows as far as the Lord gives him ability. It is not known that he at any time secreted a slave. It being the object of this report to make out a full statement of the facts connected with this out rage, we seem it important to state some circum stances that accompanied and followed the arrest of Mr. Mahan, Mr. Sheriff Wood, agent of Ky., stated to one of the committee in the presence of another indi vidual, that the indictment was found for acts done in this State. He also repeated the statement more than once to Mahan in the presence of his family. And wejare informed that on the trial which com menced, last week, there was no attempt to prove that Mahan was ever in Ky. When Mahan was arrested several of his friends accompanied him to Georgetown for the purpose of getting out a writ of habeas corpus, and ap plied to Thomas L. Hamar for counsel. He ut terly refused to have anything to do in the case, and said if, he was employed it,would all go against the GRAin—that he was entirely opposed to all the abolition movements, and that he would rather be employed on the other side. Before an other counsel could be obtained, and a writ made out, the officers from Ky had been gone some time from Georgetown on their way to Ky. Josiah Moore of Sardinia, was authorized by Sheriff Blair to serve the writ. When he overtook the company, Mr. Mahan was riding beside Sheriff Wood, the agent from Ky. When the writ was read, the agent observed that he could not be taken back on that writ, as it was directed to the Sheriff of Brown county, whereas it should have been de fected to the Sheriff of Mason county, for the prisoner had been delivered into his custody by the Sheriff of Brown county. He further stated that their attorney had told them that a mistake of that kind would be made. Whether Mr. Mahan had been delivered over we cannot say, but we think it highly probable he had not been, for Mr. Crabb, the deputy Sheriff, by whom Mr. Mahan was arrested, was at Sheriff Blair’s getting the certificate of transfer written when the company left Georgetown, and did not ‘start out after them for some time after they had left.* Mr. Crabb was in company going on to the river when the writ of habeas, corpus, was read... Whether this was not all a trick, we leave the reader to judge. For testimony that Homer was the counsel spoken of above, we refer the reader to the defence of the authorities of Ky., and of their own conduct in the case of Mahan, published by David Wood and A. A. Wadsworth, which defence has been published in many of the newspapers of this and other States. “Trav Mic Mahan was at home on both of the days specified in the indictment, and for several days before and after, can be proved, we think to the satisfaction of the public. sAnd_ his neighbors are fully satisfied that he has not been in Mason county,Ky., for something like nineteen years; but we do not deem it necessary to publish deposi tions to ‘substantiate these statements; for the rea son ‘that the contrary was not even intimated on the trial;‘and we suppose that the evidence and pleadings will be paid before the public. Mr. Mahan has always sustained an unblemish ed moral character in this community, where he has resided for the last fourteen years. He is highly esteemed for his integrity and benevolence, and firm adherence to principles, by the intelligent portion of his fellow citizens. And the only objection made to him as a minister of the gospel was of the ground of his abolitionism and teetotal ism on the subject of temperance. ‘There was an allegation made on the trial, that Mahan acted through an agent, a colored man in Maysville, and that he received the fugitives in Ohio, ‘and assisted them to make their escape. In reply we would say, that we are acquainted with Mahan’s opinions, circumstances and busi ness, and some of us know, perhaps, of every fu gitive he ever saw. We think, therefore, that we are competent to form a correct opinion; and we do not hesitate to disclose, as our settled convic tion, that the whole matter in relation to the agen cy, business is false, without the least shadow of foundation. There has, for more than a year past, been an unusual degree of hatred manifested towards Mr. Mahan by slave-hunters and slave-holders. And rewards have been repeatedly offered, by different arsons, for his abduction or eet vary ng from five to twenty-five hundred dollars, (see de denceilioatelow.) We have not a to obtain as many depositions to sustain this state ment as we wished, ane the rewards have generally been offered to the mercenary ‘istake of slave-hunters who are anwiling testify to the facts. But that rewards have been repeatedly offered, not only for Mahan, but for. A. Pettijohn, Wm. A. Frazier and Dr. Beck, of this vicinity, and Rev. John Rankin and Dr. Camp- Since this report was written Mr. Mahan has returned, and he says there was no step made between Georgetown and thriver, for the sake of completing the transfer. ‘He also says, that he believes ‘the transfer was not made and they they got to Dover, Ky. So it appears that Hamer not only refused his assistance, but also suggested—a trick by which Mohan was deprived of the benefit of the writ of habeas corpus. bell of Ripley; John and William McCoy of Russellville, besides citizens of Adams co., is a fact of such general notoriety in this county that few, if any, will dispute it. ISAAC M. BECK, MATTHEW KINCAID, Committee. JAMES SHAW,
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The Philanthropist
Cincinnati, Ohio, US
Tue, Dec 18, 1838
Page 5
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Andrew H.
USA 13 Jan 2026
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