he traditions and sufferings of his own people
as to cast himself upon Drayton with a huge dirk and cut off a piece of his
ear.[6] For a few moments all the horrors incident to riot and bloodshed
were in evidence. The air was filled with the screams of terrorized women
and children and the curses and threats of vengeful men. The whole was a
struggling, swaying mass, which for a season had been swept beyond itself
by brutish passion.

Numerous arrests were made and in due course the march to the jail was
begun with the accompanying crowd hurling taunts and jeers at every step.
While they were proceeding thus, an onlooker said to Emily, "Aren't you
ashamed to run away and make all this trouble for everybody?" To this she
replied, "No sir, we are not and if we had to go through it again, we'd do
the same thing."

The controversy that was precipitated through the attempted escape, between
the advance guard of abolition and the defenders of slavery, was most
bitter and violent. The storm broke furiously about the offices of _The
National Era_. In Congress, Mr. Giddings of Ohio moved an "inquiry into
the cause of the detention at the District jail of persons merely for
attempting to vindicate their inalienable rights." Senator Hale of New
Hampshire moved a resolution of "inquiry into the necessity for additional
laws for the protection of property in the District."[7] A committee
consisting of such notable characters as the Channings, Samuel May, Samuel
Howe, Richard Hildreth, Samuel Sewell and Robert Morris, Jr., was formed at
Boston to furnish aid and defense for Drayton. These men were empowered to
employ counsel and collect money. Horace Mann, William H. Seward, Salmon P.
Chase and Fessenden of Maine volunteered to serve gratuitously.[8]

Other philanthropists directed their attention to the liberation of these
slaves. The Edmondsons were owned by an estate. The administrator, who was
approached by John Brent,[9] the husband of the oldest sister of the
children, agreed to give their friends an opportunity to effect their
purchase, as he was unwilling to run any further risk by keeping them. He
failed to keep this promise and when Mr. Brent went to see them the next
day he was informed that they had been sold to Bruin and Hill, the
slave-dealers of Alexandria and Baltimore, and had been sent to the former
city. A cash sum of $4,500 had been accepted for the six children and when
taxed with the failure to keep his promise,