Murphy Browne © February 15-2018
JOHN ANDERSON FEBRUARY 16-1861 TORONTO
Decision in the case of the Fugitive Slave Anderson.; THE PRISONER SET AT LIBERTY
The final decision in the case of ANDERSON, the fugitive slave, was given to-day. The Court sustained the decision of the Court of Queen's Bench on the question of law, and was unanimous in discharging the prisoner on a technicality in the commitment. ANDERSON is, therefore, set at liberty. Great joy is manifested, especially among the colored population.
Excerpt from “The New York Times” February 18, 1861
John Anderson who was set free in Toronto on February 16, 1861 was given the name Jack Burton by the White man Moses Burton of Fayette, Missouri, who enslaved him and his mother. In his 1863 published book “The Story of the Life of John Anderson, the Fugitive Slave” White British author Harper Twelvetrees wrote “While Anderson was yet an infant, his father made his escape from slavery, and, it was believed, went to South America. When seven year of age, his mother, having given offence to her master, was sold to a trader for transportation to the slave market of New Orleans, and he was thus left an orphan.” Enslaved African mothers, fathers and children were often sold away from each other so the fate of this family was not unusual.
On December 25, 1850 Jack Burton “married” Maria Tomlin, an enslaved African woman from a nearby plantation and their child was born in 1851. In August 1853 Jack Burton was sold to a White man named McDonald whose plantation in Glasgow, Missouri was 30 miles away from the plantation where Jack’s wife and child were enslaved. When Jack requested a pass to visit his wife and child McDonald refused telling him that he should forget about his wife and child and instead choose another woman on McDonald’s plantation. McDonald like all slave owners wanted more children born on his plantation “to increase the number of his live human stock.” Jack decided to escape.
On a Sunday in September 1853 Jack fled. He went to visit his wife and infant son before heading for freedom in Canada where slavery had been abolished 19 years before on August 1, 1834. According to Harper Twelvetrees: “About noon on Tuesday (the third day of his departure from McDonald’s plantation) Anderson while pursuing his journey to the North, passed a field belonging to one Seneca T. P. Diggs, who was at the time engaged in superintending the drying of tobacco.” The White plantation owner Diggs demanded that Jack show him a pass because the laws of Missouri at that time demanded that every African American travelling without a White person had to have a pass. Any White person had the “right” to arrest any African American travelling without a pass and was entitled to a substantial reward. Since Jack did not have a pass Diggs tried to arrest him with the assistance of six of the enslaved Africans from his plantation. Although Diggs was better armed Jack managed to defend himself with a knife and escaped.
During the struggle Diggs was killed. Jack went back to visit his wife and child before setting out for Canada. After various adventures and near captures Jack arrived in Windsor, Ontario in September 1853 where he was employed as a labourer for seven weeks. He changed his name from Jack Burton to John Anderson. In October he asked someone to write to his wife advising her that he was safely in Canada. Shortly after a letter arrived for Jack stating that his wife and child were in Detroit waiting for him. The person who read the letter to him advised him to ignore the information because it was likely a trap to get him to return to the USA where he would be captured and re-enslaved. He was also advised to move from Windsor to Chatham which he did at the end of April 1854. In Chatham, Jack Burton changed his name to James Hamilton. In Chatham news quickly spread that White people in Ontario were hunting for the newly freed Burton/Anderson/Hamilton. He was again on the run frequently moving and changing his name.
In October 1860 James A. Gunning, a White detective from Detroit armed with affidavits from witnesses in Missouri was able to secure Burton/Anderson/Hamilton’s imprisonment on a warrant issued by a three-man magistrate’s court in Brantford. At the time Jack lived near Brantford, Ontario using the name William Jones. The charge was that he did “wilfully, maliciously and feloniously stab and kill” McDonald the Missouri plantation owner. He was released, then imprisoned again on November 20, 1860 by Chief Justice John Beverley Robinson from the Court of Queen’s Bench in Toronto. On December 15, 1860 the court ruled by two to one that John Anderson had committed murder by Missouri law, and that he could be extradited under terms of the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842. Fortunately he was the court decided that it would offer no opposition to an appeal to the Court of Error and Appeal.
There was much toing and froing and legal decisions in Canadian courts while Burton/Anderson/Hamilton’s fate hung in the balance. He received much support from the African Canadian community and White abolitionists. The might of the press was also in his corner with the powerful voice of the “Toronto Globe” supporting calls for his freedom in defending his life. Samuel B. Freeman was the able lawyer whose skills mounted an appeal to the Court of Common Pleas and on February 16, 1861 the man who began life as enslaved African infant Jack Burton was free to live as African Canadian John Anderson.
The book “The Story of the Life of John Anderson, the Fugitive Slave” by Harper Twelvetrees details the life and trials of John Anderson and https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1120306 has details of the case.
Murphy Browne © February 15-2018
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