HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.
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of probably no great value. "Old Mose," as he was called, soon came to be well known and a favorite in the neighborhood. Lombard boldly stated that he had brought him there as a slave; that, by virtue of the Dred Scott decision (then of recent date), he had a constitutional right to take his slaves wherever he pleased, and that "Old Mose" was just as much his property in Illinois as in Mississippi. It soon became evident to some, that his bringing of the negro to Illinois was an experiment to test the law and the feelings of the Northern people. This being the case, a shrewd play would have been to let him have his way till other slaves should have been brought to stock the new plantation. But this was too slow a process for the abolitionists, to whom the holding of a slave in the free State of Illinois appeared an unbearable outrage. It was feared that he might take the old negro back to Mississippi and fail to bring any others. It was reported, also, that "Old Mose" was ill-treated; that he was given only the coarsest food in a back shed, as if he were a horse or a dog, instead of being permitted to eat at table with the family. The prairie citizen of that time was very particular upon this point of etiquette. The hired man or woman, debarred from the table of his or her employer, would not have remained a day. A quiet consultation with "Old Mose" revealed the fact that he would hail the gift of freedom joyously. Accordingly, one Peter Risedorf, and another equally daring, met him by the light of the stars and, before morning, he was placed in the care of Owen Lovejoy, at Princeton, twenty miles away. From there he was speedily "franked" by the member of Congress to friends in Canada.
There was a great commotion in Bradford over the "stealing" of "Old Mose." Lombard and his friends denounced the act in terms bitter and profane, and threatened vengeance upon the perpetrators. The conductors were known only to a few, and they kept their secret well. Lovejoy's part in the affair, however, soon leaked out. Lombard returned to Mississippi, where he related his experiences to Mr. Singleton, the Representative in Congress from his district. During the next session of Congress, Singleton took occasion, in a speech, to sneer at Lovejoy as a "nigger-stealer," citing the case of "Old Mose." Mr. Lovejoy replied in
