Sunbury (PA) Gazette, "Slave Excitement in Cincinnati," February 9, 1856

          Slave Excitement at Cincinnati

   We take from an exchange the following account of a most horrible tragedy which occurred a few weeks ago at Cincinnati. This is another addition to the number of bloody occurrences that have, within a few years, sprung from a reckless interference with the institution of slavery, by the most damnable fanaticism. When will a proper remedy be applied? Our exchange says:

   The Cincinnati papers of Tuesday morning, came to hand only last evening, giving details of a stampede, on last Sunday, of sixteen slaves, to that city, from Kentucky, a brief telegraphic account of which we have already published. The affair has created great excitement among the citizens, from the tragical circumstances connected with the attempt to secure the fugitives. Six of the slaves were owned by Levi F. Dougherty, and two by Jno. M. Stevenson, both residents of Covington. The other eight were the property of James Marshall and Archibald K. Gaines, both living sixteen miles back of Covington. This latter party consisting of two men, two women and four children, drove to Covington in a sleigh of Mr. Marshall, and crossing the river on ice, took refuge in the house of a negro named Kite.--The owners and a posse of officers with warrants came upon them, and effected an entrance, after a contest, however, in which a deputy U.S. Marshal named John Patterson had a finger shot off by one of the slaves. On entering they beheld a horrible spectacle. Weltering in his blood, the throat being cut from ear to ear and the head almost severed from the body, upon the floor, lay one of the children, a girl three years old, while in a back room, crouched beneath the bed, two more of the children, boys, of two and five years, were moaning, the one having received two gashes in its throat, the other upon the head. As the party entered the room the mother was seen wielding a heavy shovel, and before she could be secured she inflicted a heavy blow with it upon the face of the infant, which was lying upon the floor.--The whole party having been arrested, medical aid was procured for the little sufferers, whose wounds were not of a fatal character, and then all were carried to the office of the United States Marshal. The hearing before the U.S. Commissioner was fixed for nine o'clock next morning. A large multitude assembled, and threats were made of rescue by a portion of the mob, but no violence was attempted, and the prisoners were  lodged in the county jail.

   The Abolitionists have got out a writ of habeas corpus for the prisoners. In the meantime, says the Enquirer, there is much excitement existing, the bloody episode, having invested the affair with a tinge of fearful, although romantic interest. The Abolitionists regard the parents of the murdered child as a hero and heroine, teeming with lofty and holy emotions, who, Virginus-like, would rather imbrue their hands in blood than allow them to wear the shackles of slavery, while others look upon them as brutal and unnatural murderers. At any rate, the affair will furnish some employment to lawyers as well as officers, an extra force of the latter being necessary to prevent a rescue while the case is pending.