to sail, a sudden storm came on.  The wind raged so violently, that the ship dragged her anchor, and they were obliged to haul to at a wharf in the district of Southwark.  A respectable man, who lived in the neighborhood, was standing on the wharf at the time, and hearing a child crying very bitterly on board the vessel, he asked the colored cook whose child that was, and why he was in such distress.  He replied that a passenger by the name of Dana brought him on board, and that the boy said he stole him from his mother.

A note was immediately despatched to Isaac T. Hopper, who, being away from home, did not receive it till ten o’clock at night.  The moment he read it, he called for a constable, and proceeded directly to the schooner.  In answer to his inquiries, the captain declared that all the hands had gone on shore, and that he was entirely alone in the vessel.  Friend Hopper called for a light, and asked him to open the forecastle, that they might ascertain whether any person were there.  He peremptorily refused; saying that his word ought to be sufficient to satisfy them.  Friend Hopper took up an axe that was lying on the deck, and declared that he would break the door, unless it was opened immediately.  In this dilemma, the captain, with great reluctance, unlocked the forecastle; and there they found the cook and the boy.  The constable took them all in custody, and they proceeded to the mayor’s.  The rain fell in torrents, and it was extremely dark; for in those days, there were no lamps in that part of the city.  They went stumbling over cellar doors, and wading through gutters, till they arrived in Front street, where Mr. Inskeep, the mayor, lived.  It was past midnight, but when a servant informed him that Isaac T. Hopper had been ringing at the door, and wished to see him, he ordered him to be shown up into his chamber.  After apologizing for the unseasonableness of the hour, he briefly stated the urgency of the case, and asked for a verbal order to put the captain and cook in prison to await their trial the next morning.  The magistrate replied, “It is a matter of too much importance to be disposed of in that way.  I will come down and hear the case.”  A large hickory log, which had been covered with ashes in the parlor fire-place, was raked open, and they soon had a blazing fire to dry their wet garments, and take off the chill of a cold March storm.  The magistrate was surprised to find that the captain was an old acquaintance; and he expressed much regret at meeting him under such unpleasant circumstances.  After some investigation into the affair, he was required to appear for trial the next morning, under penalty of forfeiting three thousand dollars.  The cook was committed to prison, as a witness; and the colored boy was sent home with Isaac T. Hopper, who agreed to produce him at the time appointed.

Very early the next morning, he sent a messenger to inform the mother that her child was in safety; but she was off in search of him, and was not to be found.  On the way to the mayor’s office, they met her in the street, half distracted.  As soon as she perceived her child, she cried out, “My son!  My son!” threw her arms round him, and sobbed aloud.  She kissed him again and again, saying, “Oh my child, I thought I had lost you forever.”