Driven from St. Louis by mob law, he removed to Alton, Illinois. Here the spirit of slavery followed him, broke up his printing-press, threw it into the river, and murdered the heroic advocate of free speech.
Thus this good man died; but his death raised up new and strong friends for the oppressed. Wendell Phillips visited the grave of the martyr recently, and gave the following description of his burial-place:—
"Lovejoy lies buried now in the city cemetery, on a beautiful knoll. Near by rolls the great river. His resting-place is marked by an oblong stone, perhaps thirty inches by twenty, and rising a foot above the ground; on this rests a marble scroll bearing this inscription:
Hic
Jacet
Lovejoy.
Jam parce sepulto.
[Here lies Lovejoy, Spare him, now, in his grave.]
A more marked testimonial would not, probably, have been safe from insult and disfigurement, previous to 1864. He fought his fight so far in the van, so much in the hottest of the battle, that not till after nigh thirty years and the final victory could even his dust be sure of quiet.
In the cities of New York, Philadelphia, Albany, Utica, and many other places in the free states, the colored people were hunted down like wild beasts, and their property taken from them or destroyed.
In the two first-named places, the churches and dwellings of these unoffending citizens were set on
