find from this book, that his advice and assistance were bestowed in twenty-five cases, from Seventh mo. 16th, to Eighth mo. 24th, 1836, a period of little more than a month.  A number of these cases required the writing of letters to distant places; in some it was necessary for him to visit the parties interested; and others demanded his personal attendance at court.  This perhaps, may be considered as a fair average of the amount of labor which he constantly expended in this department of his benevolent efforts; and when we consider the time occupied in the necessary duties of his ordinary avocations, it must be evident that he possessed not only extraordinary humanity, but uncommon activity and energy, to have accomplished so much.

In the memorandum book referred to, under date of Twelfth mo., 1835, I find the following note:  “Spent eighteen days in the trial of A. Hemsley, and his wife Nancy, and her three children, arrested at Mount Holly, the husband claimed by Goldsborough Price, executor of Isaac Boggs, of Queen Ann’s county, Maryland, and the wife and children by Richard D. Cooper, of the same county.  John Willoughby, agent for both claimants.  B.R.  Brown and B. Clarke, attorneys for the claimant, and D.P.  Brown, J.R.  Slack, E.B.  Cannon, and G.W.  Camblos, for defendants.  After a full argument, in which a manumission was produced for Nancy, from R.D.  Cooper’s father, she and her children were discharged, but her husband was remanded; on which a certiorari was served on the judge, and a habeas corpus placed in the sheriff’s hands.”

“Alexander was discharged by the Supreme Court, at Trenton, Third mo. 5th.  The circumstances of the case, were briefly the following:  The woman and children had been regularly manumitted in Delaware by the father of the claimant, while the title of the father to freedom was less positive, though sufficiently clear to warrant a vigorous effort on his behalf.”

The first object of the counsel on the part of the alleged fugitive, was to prove the manumission of the mother and children, and, as it was thought, the necessary documents for that purpose were collected and arranged.  After the trial had proceeded, however, for a short time, the attorney for the defendants discovered a defect in the testimony on this point; the necessary papers, duly authenticated by the Governor or Chief Justice of Delaware, were missing, and without them it was impossible to make out the case.  The fact was immediately communicated to Thomas Shipley—­he saw that the papers must be had, and that they could not be procured without a visit to Dover, in Delaware.  He at once determined to repair thither in person, and obtain them.  Without the knowledge of the claimant’s counsel, who might have taken advantage of the omission, and hurried the case to a decision; he started on the evening of the sixth day, and traveled as fast as possible to Dover, in the midst of a season unusually cold and inclement.  On the next morning