In 1851, an escaped slave named Thomas Sims was captured in Boston; Loring ordered his return to slavery in the South, as required by the new law.
During the prosecution of this case there was an attack on the courthouse in which James Batchelder, a 24-year-old police officer temporarily employed by the United States Marshal, was stabbed to death.
President Franklin Pierce felt obliged to send United States troops to ensure that the ruling be carried out.
Following the Burns decision, abolitionists led by William Lloyd Garrison and Wendell Phillips agitated for Loring to be removed from his office as probate judge.
Forming a vigilance committee to monitor judges' activities under the law, they circulated petitions[4] and lobbied against Loring with the Massachusetts legislature.
Under pressure from an increasingly antislavery public, the legislature made two unsuccessful attempts to remove Loring from office by passing a Bill of Address in 1855 and 1856.