and the latter charged the jury in no uncertain
terms regarding the jurisdiction in the case. After a trial of six
days Mahan was acquitted.

The importance of this case does not rest in the trial and its events
but rather in the reactions which it had upon the Kentucky populace.
No one doubted that Mahan was guilty of aiding slaves; but it was seen
that he had been shrewd enough to confine his activities to the State
of Ohio, where the Kentucky authorities had no jurisdiction. In his
opening message to the State legislature, which met the next month
after the acquittal of Mahan, Governor Clark voiced the sentiment of a
large majority of Kentuckians. Bear in mind that these words came from
the same man who a month before had advised the Circuit judge of the
illegality of the Mahan indictment.

Some of the abolitionists of an adjoining state, not contented
with the mere promulgation of opinions and views calculated to
excite a feeling of disaffection among our slave population, and
to render this description of property insecure in the hands of
its proprietors, have extended their operations so far as to
mingle personally with our slaves, to enter into arrangements
with them, and to afford them the means and facilities to escape
from their owners. This flagitious conduct is not to be
tolerated--it must be checked in its origin by the adoption of
efficient and energetic measures, or it will, in all human
probability, lead to results greatly to be deprecated by every
friend to law and order. This demon-like spirit that rages
uncontrolled by law, or sense of moral right, must be
overcome--it must be subdued; its action in the state should be
prohibited under such penalties as will effectually curb its
lawlessness and disarm its power.[333]

In pursuance of this and similar recommendations the State legislature
early in 1839 despatched a delegation of members to the general
assembly of Ohio then meeting at Columbus. These men were charged to
secure a law in Ohio for the better security of Kentucky fugitive
slave property. The Kentucky officials had always been confronted with
the problem of recovering runaways captured in Ohio, even when they
personally knew the captive. The old law of 1807 in Ohio was never lax
in the enforcement, but the plea of habeas corpus was habitually used
for the defendant and, furthermore, it often happened that the