Name/Title
Doy, John: Trial for Runaway SlavesEntry/Object ID
9999.BHF.262Scope and Content
Doy, John; Trial of John Doy
January, 1859 William Newman of Platte County had a servant to run away from his home in Weston. Mr. Newman offered a large reward.
In the month of February 1859 two covered wagons were captured by a party of 8 Missourians as they were passing northward from Lawrence to Nebraska. One of the wagons was driven by Dr. John Doy and the other by his son Charles with thirteen women and children who were slaves escaping from Jackson County , Missouri. They arrived at Weston. They were re-delivered to their owners and a warrant was issued by a justice for the holding of Dr, Doy and his son as criminals for stealing the Negro man Dick from his owner. They were held for trail and imprisoned in Platte County jail. They were indicted by the grand jury of Platte County and plead not guilty. They were granted a change of venue to Buchanan County and were put on trial March 1859. The jury was out 2 days and were discharged, as being unable to agree. The court adjourned until June 21, 1859. They had dismissed Charles. Dr. Doy was found guilty. Dr. Doy appealed to the Supreme Court, and pending the appeal, he was released from jail by a party of Kansans, headed by John Brown who, afterwards, vindicated his faith as a martyr at Harper's Ferry. They crossed from Elwood, on a dark night in skiffle, and approached the old jail during a heavy storm and induced the jailor to open the door by presenting one of their number as a supposed horse-thief recently caught in Andrew.
St. Joseph News-Press has an article about how Doy was freed from the jail. Doy looked down from his cell and saw familiar faces. One passed and made a private sign known only to anti-slavery men. That afternoon Doy received a note "Tonight at twelve o'clock." Two men posing as the captors of a third a supposed horse thief, brought their prisoner to the jail. After convincing the jailer that the situation was urgent, the raiders entered the jail, pulled their weapons and freed Doy.
Kansas City Starr, January 2, 1999 has a picture of Jeff Reinhard, a lawyer and part-time historian who lives in Lawrence, holding a picture of "The Immortal Ten". It was taken in Lawrence late in the summer of 1859, shortly after the heavily armed men in the picture returned from one of the most daring exploits in the history of the Kansas-Missouri border wars.Collection
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