CHAPTER XXXVIII.
MOB LAW TRIUMPHANT.
In the year 1834, mob law was inaugurated in the
free states, which extended into the years 1835-6 and 7.
The mobbing of the friends of freedom commenced in Boston, in October, 1835, with an attack upon William Lloyd Garrison, and the ladies' Anti-slavery Society. This mob, made up as it was by "Gentlemen of property and standing," and from whom Mr. Garrison had to be taken to prison to save his life, has become disgracefully historical.
The Boston mob was followed by one at Utica, New York, headed by Judge Beardsley, who broke up a meeting of the New York State Anti-slavery Society. Arthur Tappan's store was attacked by a mob in New York City, and his property destroyed, to the value of thirty thousand dollars. The Rev. Elijah P. Lovejoy, a brave man of the State of Maine, had located at St. Louis, where he took the editorial charge of "The St. Louis Times," and in its columns nobly pleaded for justice to the enslaved negro. The writer of this was for a period of six months employed in the office of "The Times," and knew Mr. Lovejoy well.
