to answer for the possession of two slaves. Her contention was
that they were slaves on British territory at the time of the surrender
of the post in 1796 and that Jay's Treaty assured them to her. Her
contention was sustained.[4] A few days later a resident of Canada
attempted under this ruling to secure the arrest and return of some
mulatto and Indian slaves who had escaped from Canada. The court held
that slavery did not exist in Michigan except in the case of slaves in
the possession of the British settlers within the Northwest Territory
July 11, 1796, and that there was no obligation to give up fugitives
from a foreign jurisdiction. An effort was made to take the slaves by
force but the agent of the owner was tarred and feathered.[4]

Generally speaking, Detroit adhered to this position.[4a] In 1827 there
was passed an act providing for the registry of the names of all colored
persons, requiring the possession of a certificate showing that they
were free and a bond in the sum of $500 for their good behavior.[5] This
law was obnoxious to the growing sentiment of freedom in Detroit and was
not enforced until the Riot of 1833. This uprising was an attack on the
Negroes because a courageous group of them had effected the rescue and
escape of one Thornton Blackburn and his wife, who had been arrested by
the sheriff as alleged fugitives from Kentucky.[6] The anti-slavery
feeling considerably increased thereafter. The Detroit Anti-Slavery
Society was formed in 1837, other societies to secure the relief and
escape of slaves quickly followed and still another was organized to
find employment and purchase homes for refugees.[7] This change of
sentiment is further evidenced by the fact that in 1850 it was necessary
to call out the three companies of volunteers to quell an incipient riot
occasioned by the arrest and attempt to return a runaway slave in
accordance with the Fugitive Slave Law. Save the general troubles
incident to the draft riots of the Northern cities of 1863,[8] Detroit
maintained this benevolent attitude toward Negroes seeking refuge.

In this favorable community the Richards colony easily prospered. The
Lees well established themselves in their Northern homes and soon won
the respect of the community. Most of the members of the Williams family
confined themselves to their trade of bricklaying and amassed
considerable wealth. One of Mr. Williams's daughters married a
well-to-do Waring living then at Wauseon,