Passmore Williamson
As secretary of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society and a member of its Vigilance Committee, Williamson is best known for helping Jane Johnson and her two sons gain freedom from slavery on July 18, 1855.
The jailing of Williamson dramatically expanded news coverage of the case and generated debate about the extension of "Slave Power" over state law, as Pennsylvania did not recognize slavery.
United States judge for the Pennsylvania District Court, John K. Kane, ruled that the men could be tried for treason.
On March 23, 1849, Brown arranged to be nailed inside a crate and mailed via private express delivery service to Williamson's place of business in Philadelphia.
Their master, John Hill Wheeler, had been appointed U. S. Minister to Nicaragua, and he and his family and servants were en route from Washington, D.C. to New York City to board a ship to South America.
[2] Wheeler bought tickets for the 5:00 pm steamboat to New York City, and locked Johnson and her sons in a hotel room while his family toured Philadelphia.
[5][6][7] Judge John K. Kane charged Williamson with contempt of court for not revealing the location of Johnson and her children, but he literally did not know it, as Still had not told him.
Williamson responded, noting that Johnson was not legally a fugitive under the circumstances of the case, as Wheeler had voluntarily brought her into the state, where she had the freedom to decide if she wanted to leave slavery.
"[9] Like Williamson, commentators noted that Johnson could not properly be considered as a "fugitive slave" as she had gained freedom while in Pennsylvania, in accordance with its law.
[9] While imprisoned, he received numerous letters and several hundred visitors, including African-American abolitionists Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman, both former slaves who had escaped from the South.
[3] Lucretia Mott noted that his imprisonment was extremely helpful to the cause, and said that his father Thomas Williamson was "only afraid Passmore will come out of Prison too soon.
She caused a dramatic stir by testifying at length that Still had not abducted her, nor any of the charged men forced her to go; she had long planned to gain freedom in the North, whether in Philadelphia or New York, during this trip.
[6] Protected by state and local officials, Jane Johnson was quickly taken out of the city, eluding federal marshals.
Her son Isaiah Johnson served in a Massachusetts Regiment of the United States Colored Troops during the American Civil War.
Claiming that he was illegally imprisoned, Williamson had filed his own writ of habeas corpus with the State Supreme Court, but it was denied.
After his death years later, Williamson was buried next to her and his father in a Quaker cemetery in Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania.
