Kidnapping
The Unionist 1833-09-05
Unionist content
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Transcription
Kidnapping. —A man of color, named John Hill, was brought before the police magistrate on Monday, charged with abduction, in taking away Sarah Jane Demons, a girl of color, aged six years, from the house of Emilia Smith, a woman of color, who resides at 99 Greenwich st. On Sunday evening three gentlemen observed the prisoner carrying a child, which was crying, and seemed very reluctant to be taken away. The gentlemen stopped Hill, and questioned him as to how he came in possession of the child. He gave them evasive answers, and they then inquired of the child where she lived. The little girl told them her place of residence, and signified her entire ignorance of the cause for which Hill had taken her away. The gentlemen considered the case sufficiently suspicious to warrant them in arresting the prisoner, and one of them, assisted by a man of color, named Bristol Martin, lodged him in prison, whilst the other restored the little girl to her friends. Hill’s explanation of the affair was, that he merely took the child to give it some candy. He had been seen the same evening endeavoring to take away another child, who, however, struggled so hard as to make him abandon his design. The occurrence created considerable excitement amongst the people of color in the city, a large number of whom attended to hear the case disposed of. Hill was committed to prison.— Jour. Com.
About this Item
Kidnapping of free Blacks in northern cities would have been a major fear for the students at the Canterbury Female Academy. This article, and the one preceding closely on it concerning kidnapping free Blacks into slavery, are from the New York Journal of Commerce, another journalistic innovation by Arthur Tappan, in partnership with Samuel Morse.
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See Full Metadata Hide Full Metadata1838 woodcut of the kidnapping of a free Black man into slavery by white men from Virginia
