Jackson County, Illinois
ANOTHER CASE IN ILLINOIS
01 Aug 1960
Donated by Candi H.
On the 23d of June,
(says the Chicago Press and Tribune,) a negro man, accused of being a
runaway slave, was kidnapped near Carbondale, Jackson Co., a station on the
Illinois Central road, and being brought to the depot by his captor, was
thrust into the cars and hurried off South, where, no one knows. There was no
warrant or process used in his apprehension, no pretense of an examination into the poor man's
right to own himself. The presentation of a revolver and the uttering of a
torrent of oaths were sufficient. Afraid of his life, which would have been
sacrificed had he resisted, the man submitted and was borne off. During the
enactment of what we have so briefly described, a `Black Republican,' who did not see the propriety, legality or necessity of
the proceedings, ventured to ask upon what authority the supposed runaway was
arrested, and for the legal process by which the prisoner was being hurried
out of the State. A Democratic mob instantly surrounded him, and being
unsupported by another voice, he was compelled to retire or risk the consequences of his `impertinent' interference with the
robbers engaged in the nefarious work. Before leaving, an opportunity occurrence and he expostulated with the conductor against his becoming an
agent for carrying the man off. `I take all whose fare is paid,' was the
reply; the whistle sounded, and the train was gone. Thus another man has been torn from freedom, and thrust into hopeless and life long
bondage; and thus do we record another instance in which the Illinois Central
Railroad lent itself to that accursed work—the illegal and forced enslavement
of men presumed to be free! Citizens of Illinois, how long shall this thing
be, and not arouse you to action?