any of 12 arrived. At nearly the same time a party
of seven and another of five were safely landed on the free soil of
Canada, making 94 in all. The underground railroad was never before
doing so flourishing a business."[28] The New Orleans _Commercial
Bulletin_ of December 19, 1860, asserted that 1,500 slaves had escaped
annually for the last fifty years, a loss to the South of at least
$40,000,000. The American Anti-Slavery Society's twenty-seventh report
said "Northward migration from slave land during the last year has
fully equalled the average of former years."[29]

It is interesting to note that several of the most famous cases that
arose under the Fugitive Slave Act had their ending in Canada.
Shadrack, Anthony Burns, Jerry McHenry, the Parkers, the Lemmon slaves
and others found refuge across the border after experiencing the
terrors of the Fugitive Slave legislation. The Shadrack incident was
one of the earliest to arise under the new law. Shadrack, a Negro
employe in a Boston coffee house, was arrested on February 15, 1851,
on the charge of having escaped from slavery in the previous May. As
the commissioner before whom he was brought was not ready to proceed,
the case was adjourned for three days. As Massachusetts had forbidden
the use of her jails in fugitive cases Shadrack was detained in the
United States court room at the court house. A mob of people of color
broke into the building, rescued the prisoner and he escaped to
Canada. The rescue caused great excitement at Washington and five of
the rescuers were indicted and tried but the jury disagreed. The
incident showed that the new law would be enforced with difficulty in
Massachusetts in view of the fact that the mob had been supported by a
Vigilance Committee of most respectable citizens.[30]

A few months later, at Syracuse, a respectable man of color named
Jerry McHenry was arrested as a fugitive on the complaint of a slaver
from Missouri. He made an attempt to escape and failed. The town,
however, was crowded with people who had come to a meeting of the
County Agricultural Society and to attend the annual convention of the
Liberty Party. On the evening of October 1, 1851, a descent was made
upon the jail by a party led by Gerrit Smith and Rev. Samuel J. May,
both well-known abolitionists. The Negro was rescued, concealed for a
few days and then sent on to Canada where he died, at Kingston, in
1853.[31]

A more tragic incident was that known as th