Mr. Hill had a very revengeful temper.  One of his colored neighbors brought suits against him for criminal conduct, and recovered heavy damages.  From that time he seemed to hate people of his own complexion, and omitted no opportunity to injure them.  The woman he befriended, when he was in a better state of mind, had been married nine or ten years, and had long ceased to think of danger, when he formed the wicked project of making a little money by betraying her to her master.  Accordingly he sought her residence accompanied by one of those wretches who make a business of capturing slaves.  When he entered her humble abode, he found her busy at the wash-tub.  Rejoiced to see the man who had rendered her such essential service in time of need, she threw her arms about his neck, exclaiming, “O, uncle Hill, how glad I am to see you!” She hastily set aside her tub, wiped up the floor, and thinking there was nothing in the house good enough for her benefactor, she went out to purchase some little luxuries.  Hill recommended a particular shop, and proposed to accompany her.  The slave-hunter, who had been left in the street, received a private signal, and the moment she entered the shop, he pounced upon her.  Before her situation could be made known to Isaac T. Hopper, she was removed to Baltimore.  The last he ever heard of her she was in prison there, awaiting her day of sale, when she was to be transported to New-Orleans.

He used to say he did not know which was the most difficult for his mind to conceive of, the cruel depravity manifested by the ignorant colored man, or the unscrupulous selfishness of the slaveholder, a man of education, a husband and a father, who could consent to use such a tool for such a purpose.

Many more narratives of similar character might be added; for I think he estimated at more than one thousand the number of cases in which he had been employed for fugitives, in one way or another, during his forty years’ residence in Philadelphia.  But enough have been told to illustrate the active benevolence, uncompromising boldness, and ready wit, which characterized this friend of humanity.  His accurate knowledge of all laws connected with slavery was so proverbial, that magistrates and lawyers were generally averse to any collision with him on such subjects.

In 1810, Benjamin Donahue of Delaware applied to Mr. Barker, mayor of Philadelphia, to assist him in recovering a fugitive, with whose place of residence he was perfectly sure Isaac T. Hopper was acquainted.  After a brief correspondence with Friend Hopper, the mayor said to Mr. Donahue, “We had better drop this business, like a hot potato; for Mr. Hopper knows more law in such cases as this, than you and I put together.”

He would often resort to the most unexpected expedients.  Upon one occasion, a slave case was brought before Judge Rush, brother of Dr. Benjamin Rush.  It seemed likely to terminate in favor of the slaveholder; but Friend Hopper thought he observed that the judge wavered a little.  He seized that moment to inquire, “Hast thou not recently published a legal opinion, in which it is distinctly stated that thou wouldst never seek to sustain a human law, if thou wert convinced that it conflicted with any law in the Bible?”