Butler, John Lloyd and Madison
Mason. The fugitives and his conspirators stopped in the woods long enough to remove
Blackburn’s leg irons and then rode on to the Detroit River. Just as Blackburn climbed
into the boat at the Detroit River, someone gave him a gold watch so he could pay
the boatman. He crossed the river to Canada where, in 1793, the government of Upper
Canada, which mostly consisted of Ontario, had begun the process of freeing its slaves.
It ruled that while those enslaved would remain so, any slave who entered the territory
would become free. Within a decade, Lower Canada, including Quebec and the Maritimes,
would pass similar legislation.
The Blackburns’ escapes had repercussions that flowed on into the twentieth century,
tearing apart old ways of life and creating new ones. In Canada, the Blackburn incident
became the first test of an extradition treaty Upper Canada and the United States
had signed in February 1833. Since escaping slavery was not a crime in Canada, other
charges had to be brought against the Blackburns. They were accused of inciting a
riot and arrested and jailed in Sandwich. The Territory of Michigan moved swiftly
to extradite them. Acting governor Stevens T. Mason, born in Virginia and only twenty-two
years old in 1833, sent all of the relevant documents to Sir John Colborne, lieutenant
governor of the province of Upper Canada. The Canadian government refused to extradite
Thornton and Rutha Blackburn. Lieutenant Governor Colborne argued that they had committed
no crime punishable under Canadian law.
After their release from jail in Sandwich, the Blackburns decided to stay in Canada,
where freedom was already on its feet and walking about. For a short time, they lived
in Amherstburg on the Canadian side of the Detroit River, a well-known haven for fugitives.
By the 1850s, in fact, Amherstburg would have such a large fugitive slave population
that a longtime resident would compare them to the plague of frogs that rained on
Egypt in Bible stories. However, in 1834, the year slavery officially ended in Canada,
the Blackburns left Amherstburg. Given the notoriety of their case and the persistence
of their Kentucky owners and pursuers, they must have realized they remained in danger
in a riverfront community. Detroit steamboat owner Sylvester Atwood could have told
them all about that. In the 1840s, slave catchers fooled Atwood, who was white, into
taking them on a Detroit River cruise to Amherstburg, supposedly so they could lap
up some sunshine. When he discovered they were hunting slaves, Atwood became so riled
that he placed an advertisement in a newspaper describing how he had been hoodwinked.
He also joined the antislavery movement. John “Daddy” Hall was another former slave
who knew from personal experience that Amherstburg wasn’t always safe. Slave catchers
had stolen him from his home in Amherstburg and sold him in Kentucky. In the 1840s,
he escaped to Canada but didn’t stop until he reached Owen Sound, one hundred miles
northwest of Toronto.
The Blackburns headed for Toronto, a center of black culture in Canada West until
the 1850s. Toronto’s black community supported church-related groups, literary societies,
temperance groups, the Upper Canada Anti-Slavery Society and the Provincial Freeman, a militant black abolitionist newspaper. Moreover, many black immigrants had houses
and businesses. Neither Thornton nor Rutha could write their names, but they still
had plenty of hustle and shine. Thornton became a waiter at Osgoode Hall, and the
couple built a small frame house and a barn on the outskirts of town on what would
become the front playground of Sackville Street School. The area was just marshland
then and a forest with a few streets snaking through it and a garden west of the house.
The very poor Irish would move to this area later, but the Blackburns preceded them,
moving there
Mason. The fugitives and his conspirators stopped in the woods long enough to remove
Blackburn’s leg irons and then rode on to the Detroit River. Just as Blackburn climbed
into the boat at the Detroit River, someone gave him a gold watch so he could pay
the boatman. He crossed the river to Canada where, in 1793, the government of Upper
Canada, which mostly consisted of Ontario, had begun the process of freeing its slaves.
It ruled that while those enslaved would remain so, any slave who entered the territory
would become free. Within a decade, Lower Canada, including Quebec and the Maritimes,
would pass similar legislation.
The Blackburns’ escapes had repercussions that flowed on into the twentieth century,
tearing apart old ways of life and creating new ones. In Canada, the Blackburn incident
became the first test of an extradition treaty Upper Canada and the United States
had signed in February 1833. Since escaping slavery was not a crime in Canada, other
charges had to be brought against the Blackburns. They were accused of inciting a
riot and arrested and jailed in Sandwich. The Territory of Michigan moved swiftly
to extradite them. Acting governor Stevens T. Mason, born in Virginia and only twenty-two
years old in 1833, sent all of the relevant documents to Sir John Colborne, lieutenant
governor of the province of Upper Canada. The Canadian government refused to extradite
Thornton and Rutha Blackburn. Lieutenant Governor Colborne argued that they had committed
no crime punishable under Canadian law.
After their release from jail in Sandwich, the Blackburns decided to stay in Canada,
where freedom was already on its feet and walking about. For a short time, they lived
in Amherstburg on the Canadian side of the Detroit River, a well-known haven for fugitives.
By the 1850s, in fact, Amherstburg would have such a large fugitive slave population
that a longtime resident would compare them to the plague of frogs that rained on
Egypt in Bible stories. However, in 1834, the year slavery officially ended in Canada,
the Blackburns left Amherstburg. Given the notoriety of their case and the persistence
of their Kentucky owners and pursuers, they must have realized they remained in danger
in a riverfront community. Detroit steamboat owner Sylvester Atwood could have told
them all about that. In the 1840s, slave catchers fooled Atwood, who was white, into
taking them on a Detroit River cruise to Amherstburg, supposedly so they could lap
up some sunshine. When he discovered they were hunting slaves, Atwood became so riled
that he placed an advertisement in a newspaper describing how he had been hoodwinked.
He also joined the antislavery movement. John “Daddy” Hall was another former slave
who knew from personal experience that Amherstburg wasn’t always safe. Slave catchers
had stolen him from his home in Amherstburg and sold him in Kentucky. In the 1840s,
he escaped to Canada but didn’t stop until he reached Owen Sound, one hundred miles
northwest of Toronto.
The Blackburns headed for Toronto, a center of black culture in Canada West until
the 1850s. Toronto’s black community supported church-related groups, literary societies,
temperance groups, the Upper Canada Anti-Slavery Society and the Provincial Freeman, a militant black abolitionist newspaper. Moreover, many black immigrants had houses
and businesses. Neither Thornton nor Rutha could write their names, but they still
had plenty of hustle and shine. Thornton became a waiter at Osgoode Hall, and the
couple built a small frame house and a barn on the outskirts of town on what would
become the front playground of Sackville Street School. The area was just marshland
then and a forest with a few streets snaking through it and a garden west of the house.
The very poor Irish would move to this area later, but the Blackburns preceded them,
moving there
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