Hunterdon County, New Jersey
Slavery News Gleanings

Kidnapping
Republican Compiler (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania) March 1, 1826
On the 15th of February, we published a letter from John Henderson to the mayor of this city, dated Rocky Spring, Miss., Jan. 2, 1826, giving an account of three colored boys and two women who were offered for sale in that neighborhood by a man calling himself Ebenezer F. Johnson. The boys representing that they had been decoyed in the latter part of the summer of 1825, by a mulatto man named John Smith and put on boars a vessel lying in the Delaware, opposite the city of Philadelphia.

The oldest boy named Sam stated he run away from his master, David Hill of Amwell township, N. J. and came to Philadelphia.

The Trenton Federalist says “this boy told the truth in regard to his master, place of residence, &c. and affidavits were taken last week before Chief Justice Ewing and forwarded to Philadelphia substantiating these facts. He is free at the age of 25 by the laws of New Jersey.”

We have taken some trouble to examine the statement of the third boy and have ascertained that he was bound by the managers of the almshouse on the 4th of October, 1824 to Caleb Carpenter, a matt-maker, who resided in Bedford street and afterwards under the Red Lion Hotel in Market street.

The attention of the managers of the Alms-house has been drawn to this case and they have adopted suitable measures to investigate the matter more fully. – Philad. Sent.
[Transcribed by N. Piper]

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