little delay and conference among
these four and others, Mr. Dana interrupted the proceedings and asked
that counsel might be assigned to Mr. Burns, and so a defence allowed.
To this Mr. Thomas, the senior counsel for the Slave-hunters,
objected. But after repeated protests on the part of Mr. Dana and Mr.
Ellis, the Commissioner adjourned the hearing until ten o'clock,
Saturday, May 27th.

On the evening of Friday, May 26th, there was a large and earnest
meeting of men and women at Faneuil Hall. Mr. George R. Russell, of
West Roxbury, presided; his name is a fair exponent of the character
and purposes of the meeting, which Dr. Samuel G. Howe called to order.

Speeches were made and Resolutions passed. Mr. Phillips and Mr.
Parker, amongst others, addressed the meeting; Mr. Parker's speech, as
reported and published in the newspapers, is reprinted in this volume,
page 199. While this meeting was in session there was a gathering of a
few persons about the Court House, the outer doors of which had been
unlawfully closed by order of the Marshal; an attempt was made to
break through them and enter the building, where the Supreme Court of
Massachusetts was sitting engaged in a capital case; and the Courts of
this State must always sit with open doors. In the strife one of the
Marshal's guard, a man hired to aid in the Slave-hunt, was killed--but
whether by one of the assailing party, or by the Marshal's guard, it
is not yet quite clear. It does not appear from the evidence laid
before the public or the three Grand-Juries, that there was any
connection between the meeting at Faneuil Hall and the gathering at
the Court House.

Saturday, 27th, at ten o'clock, the Commissioner opened his Court
again, his prisoner in irons before him. The other events are well
known. Mr. Burns was taken away to Slavery on Friday, June 2d, by an
armed body of soldiers with a cannon.

The May Term of the Circuit Court at Boston began on the 15th of that
month, and the Grand-Jury for that term had already been summoned.
Here is the list:--

UNITED STATES CIRCUIT COURT, }
MASSACHUSETTS DISTRICT. }

May Term, 1854. ss. May 15, 1854.

GRAND-JURY.

1 Sworn. Isaac Tower, Randolph, Foreman.

2 " Elbridge G. Manning, Andover.

3 " Asa Angier, "

4 " Ballard Lovejoy, "

5 " Levi Eldridge, Chatham.

6 " Isaac B. Young,