Jane there made known her desire to be free.
Information of the same was conveyed to Passmore Williamson,
Secretary of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, an old
association founded by Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin Rush, and
others. Mr. Williamson went to the hotel, and found that the
party had gone to the steamboat, at the foot of Walnut
Street. He proceeded thither, found them, and told the mother
that she and her sons had been legally made free by being
brought by their master into a free State. After some delay,
Jane rose to leave the boat. Wheeler endeavored to detain
her. Williamson held Wheeler back, and the woman went on
shore, a number of colored persons taking up the boys and
carrying them from the boat. They were enabled to escape.
(July 18, 1855.)
The celebrated case of PASSMORE WILLIAMSON followed, before
Judge Kane, of the United States District Court. (See "Case
of Passmore Williamson," reported in full, and published in
Philadelphia, by Uriah Hunt & Son, 1856.
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