acter. His lawyer showed these letters to Friend Hopper, and
proposed that the prosecution should be abandoned. He replied that he
had no authority to act in the matter himself; but he knew the Abolition
Society had commenced the prosecution from no vindictive feelings, but
merely with the view of teaching people to be careful how they infringed
on the rights of free men. The committee of that society met the same
evening, and agreed to dismiss the suit, Mr. Ennells paying the costs;
to which he readily assented.

LEVIN SMITH.

Levin was a slave in Maryland. He married a free woman and had several
children. In 1802, his master sold him to a speculator, who was in the
habit of buying slaves for the Southern market. His purchaser took him
to his farm in Delaware, and kept him at work till he could get a
profitable chance to sell him. His new master was a desperate fellow,
and Levin was uneasy with the constant liability of being sold to the
far South. He opened his heart to a neighbor, who advised him to escape,
and gave him a letter to Isaac T. Hopper. His wife and children had
removed to Philadelphia, and there he rejoined them. She took in
washing, and he supported himself by sawing wood. He had been there
little more than a month, when his master heard where he was, and
bargained with the captain of a small sloop to catch him and bring him
back to Delaware.

The plan was to seize Levin in his bed, hurry him on board the sloop,
and start off immediately, before his family could have time to give the
alarm. They would probably have succeeded in this project, if the
captain had not drank a little too freely the evening previous, and so
forgotten to get some goods on board, as he had promised. Levin was
seized and carried off; but the sloop was obliged to wait for the goods,
and in the meantime messengers were sent to Isaac T. Hopper. He was in
bed, but sprang up the instant he heard a violent knocking at the door.
In his haste, he thrust on an old rough coat and hat, which he was
accustomed to wear to fires; for, in addition to his various other
employments, he belonged to a fire-company. He hurried to the scene of
action as quickly as possible, and found that the slave had been
conveyed to a small tavern near the wharf where the sloop lay. When the
landlord was questioned where the men were who had him in custody, he
refused to give any information. But there was a crowd of men and boys;
and one of them said,