On July 1, 1852, the Ironton Register reported the kidnapping of an unnamed free black man from Ice Creek in Lawrence County, Ohio. According to the report, "kidnappings take place altogether too frequently in Lawrence county - we understand that some dozen blacks have been kidnapped from the county within a few years..." One of the more infamous incidents was the abduction of seven children and one grandchild of Peyton Polly, which occurred on January 6, 1850, at the head of Little Ice Creek.
Kidnapping of a free Black man, in the U.S. free states, to be sold into Southern slavery
From an 1834 Boston abolitionist anti-slavery almanac (LOC)
Kidnapping was perhaps the greatest fear of free blacks in pre-Civil War America. It was a common occurrence but yet it is seldom talked about. Even Frederick Douglas was, by his own admission, plagued by the thought of losing his freedom at any given moment. In his work "My Bondage and Freedom" he wrote in 1855, "I was constantly in danger of being spirited away, at a moment when my friends could render me no assistance. In traveling about from place to place--often alone I was much exposed to this sort of attack. Any one cherishing the design to betray me, could easily do so, by simply tracing my whereabouts through the anti-slavery journals, for my meetings and movements were promptly made known in advance. My true friends, Mr. Garrison and Mr. Phillips, had no faith in the power of Massachusetts to protect me in my right to liberty. Public sentiment and the law, in their opinion, would hand me over to the tormentors. Mr. Phillips, especially, considered me in danger, and said, when I showed him the manuscript of my story, if in my place, he would throw it into the fire. Thus, the reader will observe, the settling of one difficulty only opened the way for another; and that though I had reached a free state, and had attained position for public usefulness, I ws{sic} still tormented with the liability of losing my liberty."
Slave catchers travelled the country on the lookout for fugitive slaves in order to cash in on the rewards slave holders offered. As the internal slave trade increased in the early nineteenth century, so did kidnapping. Some kidnappers abducted free blacks by force while others used deception to lure unsuspecting victims into their clutches. Another method was to falsely accuse a victim of being a fugitive slave who was then sold into slavery to unscrupulous traders who didn't ask too many questions.
Under the federal fugitive slave laws of 1793 and 1850, even those who had escaped slavery were not safe. They were subject to capture and could be returned to bondage. While kidnappings occurred in both free and slave states, free Blacks living near the borders of slave states such as Kentucky were particularly vulnerable.
Victims usually found it almost impossible to regain their freedom through a legal system that considered all blacks slaves until proven otherwise.
The Ironton Register gave a detailed account of the kidnapping and reported that the "negro had been making his home for some time past, we don't know how long, with James Ross, of Lawrence township, and had acquired by some means a little property. Some weeks since he loaned $75 to one James A. Collier, and received an obligation, as he said, for the payment of the same when he wanted the money (he was unable to read), but it proved to be a note for $79, intended to cover interest, payable in one year."
James Ross, according to the 1850 Census, may have been a schoolteacher from Pennsylvania. The only two persons in the household were his wife Mary J. and daughter Clarinda.
James Ambrose Collier was born in 1782 in Pittsylvania County, Virginia. He settled in Perry Township, Lawrence County, Ohio in 1806. He served as Justice of the Peace in Perry Township for several years.
When Collier was asked to pay back the money, he refused. The Ironton Register continued, "There was some talk about the matter in the neighborhood, and on Saturday, June 12th, Collier sent for the negro to come to him and have the matter settled, and he went to Collier's on that night. We have not learned what took place, but early on Sunday morning, June 13th, Collier and two men named Beals Davis and John Davis were seen taking the negro, bound, toward the Ohio river - but Collier soon returned and attended church on that day, wearing the clothes of the negro."
Beals Davis was born about 1786 in Virginia. He was living in Scott County, Virginia in 1820 but had moved to Lawrence County, Ohio by 1840. In 1850, Davis was living with his wife Margaret in Lawrence Township.
Their son John Davis was born about 1816 in Virginia. By 1840 he was living in Elizabeth Township in Lawrence County, Ohio and was engaged in manufacturing and trade. In 1850, John Davis lived on a farm in Lawrence Township with his wife Caroline and their five children.
According to the Ironton Register, "The country became excited; the negro was missing and could not be found; warrants were issued for the three kidnappers, they were taken before a magistrate, and joint bail taken for their appearance, to the amount of three hundred dollars! There is much surprise at the lightness of the bail - $100 for each kidnapper - but the magistrate is one of our best citizens, above reproach, and it is supposed that he misunderstood the matter. To cut the tale short, the negro was found safely lodged in the jail of Greenupsburgh, Ky., where he yet remains. It is said on good authority, that he had freepapers, which were taken from him; but we cannot vouch for the truth of this. The kidnappers were indicted at the sitting term of Lawrence Common Pleas, but have made good their escape, and are now said to be at large in the State of Kentucky."
Marysville Tribune, July 13, 1852
The Ironton Register stated, "All in all, it is the most outrageous affair, and we trust that if there is any virtue in law that the matter will receive the investigation which its importance demands, and that stern justice will be meted out to all parties concerned....If a person, black or white, is to be taken off, let it be done according to law - assuredly all good citizens will do their utmost to prevent kidnapping."
Sadly, however, in November of 1852, the case of kidnapping against Collier and Beals and John Davis was dismissed "Nolle Prosequi" (a legal notice or entry of record that the prosecutor or plaintiff has decided to abandon the prosecution or lawsuit).
Lawrence County, Ohio Court of Common Pleas Appearance Docket C, p. 343
No further details are known about the name and identity of the kidnapped victim or what became of him. Considering the public outcry about his kidnapping and the fact that it was public knowledge that he was a free man and had legal papers to prove it, it can only be hoped that he was able to return to his home in Lawrence County, Ohio without any trouble.
James Ambrose Collier died a few years after the incident, on August 10, 1858. Although Beals and John Davis were no longer subject to prosecution, they both continued to reside in Kentucky. We first catch a glimpse of them in Lawrence County, Kentucky in 1857. Both lived on East Fork at or near Riffe's Crossroads. Beals' wife Margaret passed away on October 9, 1857. Beals Davis married Mary Riffe, the widow of Coonrod Riffe (Mary Emzy Hatfield, born 14 July 1800 in Thompson Branch, Honaker, Russell Co., Virginia, daughter of Ephriam Hatfield and Anna McKinney), two months later on December 7, 1857, in Lawrence County, Kentucky. Davis claimed that he was born in Orange County, North Carolina.
Both Beals and John Davis appear in the 1860 Lawrence County, Kentucky Census. Their direct neighbor was Jeremiah Riffe, Coonrod and Mary Riffe's son. He later served during the Civil War as a lieutenant under Rebel Bill Smith.
At some point, Beals Davis returned to Lawrence County, Ohio, where he died on August 24, 1877, of old age 92 yr., 4 mo., 18 days. He claimed to be a widower, but his wife Mary did not pass away until July 19, 1880 (aged 80), in Greenup, Greenup County, Kentucky. She is buried in an unmarked grave in the Riffe Family Cemetery at Samaria, Greenup County, Kentucky.
This case was covered by several newspapers including the Louisville Evening Bulletin (July 8, 1852) and the Voice of the Fugitive, a newspaper from Sandwich and Windsor, Ontario, Canada.
Voice of the Fugitive, July 29, 1852
Further Reading
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Researched, transcribed and written by Marlitta H. Perkins, September 2024. Copyright © 2024, All Rights Reserved.
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