It was necessary, however, in those days, that they should seek a permanent residence, where their freedom would be more secure than in Philadelphia; therefore they were advised to go to headquarters, directly to Boston.  There they would be safe, it was supposed, as it had then been about a generation since a fugitive had been taken back from the old Bay State, and through the incessant labors of William Lloyd Garrison, the great pioneer, and his faithful coadjutors, it was conceded that another fugitive slave case could never be tolerated on the free soil of Massachusetts.  So to Boston they went.

On arriving, the warm hearts of abolitionists welcomed them heartily, and greeted and cheered them without let or hindrance.  They did not pretend to keep their coming a secret, or hide it under a bushel; the story of their escape was heralded broadcast over the country—­North and South, and indeed over the civilized world.  For two years or more, not the slightest fear was entertained that they were not just as safe in Boston as if they had gone to Canada.  But the day the Fugitive Bill passed, even the bravest abolitionist began to fear that a fugitive slave was no longer safe anywhere under the stars and stripes, North or South, and that William and Ellen Craft were liable to be captured at any moment by Georgia slave hunters.  Many abolitionists counselled resistance to the death at all hazards.  Instead of running to Canada, fugitives generally armed themselves and thus said, “Give me liberty or give me death.”

William and Ellen Craft believed that it was their duty, as citizens of Massachusetts, to observe a more legal and civilized mode of conforming to the marriage rite than had been permitted them in slavery, and as Theodore Parker had shown himself a very warm friend of their’s, they agreed to have their wedding over again according to the laws of a free State.  After performing the ceremony, the renowned and fearless advocate of equal rights (Theodore Parker), presented William with a revolver and a dirk-knife, counselling him to use them manfully in defence of his wife and himself, if ever an attempt should be made by his owners or anybody else to re-enslave them.

But, notwithstanding all the published declarations made by abolitionists and fugitives, to the effect, that slave-holders and slave-catchers in visiting Massachusetts in pursuit of their runaway property, would be met by just such weapons as Theodore Parker presented William with, to the surprise of all Boston, the owners of William and Ellen actually had the effrontery to attempt their recapture under the Fugitive Slave Law.  How it was done, and the results, taken from the Old Liberator, (William Lloyd Garrison’s organ), we copy as follows: 

    From the “Liberator,” Nov. 1, 1850.

    SLAVE-HUNTERS IN BOSTON.