The Massachusetts Spy

"LIBERTY OR DEATH."

The last number of the Dayton Journal furnishes a melancholy instance of the horrors of slavery. A colored man who went by the name of Thomas Mitchell, and had resided in that place for two or three years, was arrested a short time since by some men from Kentucky, under a charge of being a runaway slave; but the magistrate before whom he was brought, not deeming the proof sufficient to sustain the claim, discharged him. A few weeks afterwards, he was seized on Main-street, by some armed men employed by his master, who hurried him towards the outskirts of the town, where a sleigh was kept in waiting to carry him off. His cries immediately brought a number of citizens to the spot, by whose active interference, he was again taken before the same Justice, who, after a long examination, and the production of new evidence on the part of the claimant, decided in favor of the latter. In the meantime, his case had excited the sympathy of the citizens to a high degree; and a considerable sum was subscribed for the purchase of his freedom, to which he contributed, out of his own savings upwards of fifty dollars. The agent who had arrested him agreed to the arrangement, under the supposition that it would meet the approbation of the master. Such, however, was not the case. The latter would take nothing but his "pound of flesh;" and he proceeded in person to Dayton, about two weeks since, in order to take the poor fellow back to Kentucky. The master and slave first met in the upper story of a house; when the latter foreseeing the doom that awaited him, immediately rushed towards a window, and made an unsuccessful attempt to jump out, although had he succeeded he must have fallen on a stone pavement, from a height of not less than 15 feet. He was then secured, and in company with his master, arrived at Cincinnati, on his way to the "house of bondage," on the evening of the 22d ult., where lodgings were provided for him and his guard, in the fourth story of one of the hotels. There his journey ended. Having tasted for a short time, the sweets, even an imperfect freedom, he appears to have determined never again to submit to a life of servitude: and at one o'clock, while everybody about him was fast asleep, he raised the window and precipitated himself on the pavement below—a descent of upwards of forty feet—the effects of which he survived only a little upwards of twenty four hours. Poor Tom now is free. His master with what feelings, if he be possessed of the common attributes of humanity, the reader may well conceive—has taken his remains to Kentucky, with the intention of giving him, as he says, "a decent burial in his own church yard." He is represented as having been an industrious, steady man; and had laid up a small sum of money, all of which he gave to his wife and child when his master took him away.—Ohio State Journal.