The failure to stop his case from progressing was a significant blow to the abolitionists, as it showed the extent of the power and influence which slavery had on American society and politics.

[1] Sims escaped before authorities came,[1] and from then until his arrest in April, he stayed at 153 Ann Street, a boarding house for African American sailors.

[1] According to newspaper reports of the time, he "made no effort to conceal himself" while living there,[4] but was not caught until he sent his address to his wife asking for money.

Individuals who needed to enter the Court House had to crouch under the chains, and as Henry Longfellow put it, "Shame that the great Republic, 'the refuge of the oppressed,' should stoop so low as to become the Hunter of Slaves."

Chief Justice Wells was one of the few who refused to bend down to cross as he believed it lowered both his dignity and that of the city of Boston.

[5] The defense (Robert Rantoul Jr., Charles Greely Loring, and Samuel Edmund Sewall)[6] had a harder time as the terms of the Fugitive Slave Act favored the prosecution of the case.

[1] In Rantoul's opening statement for Sims, he tried explaining that the Constitution did not allow for people bound by service to be sent back without full proof, which was not being given at the moment.

[7] Later, Rantoul argued the Fifth Amendment to the court, claiming that Sims was being deprived of his rights to life, liberty, and property.

They attempted to submit a writ of replevin and to ask for habeas corpus, but neither succeeded, one because of problems with feasibility and the other because Chief Justice Shaw dismissed their calls for it.

The night was moonlight, and there was great risk of discovery, but the hand of Providence drew a cloud over the moon as the voyagers passed the rebel batteries.

The party met no accident, escaped into Federal lines and obtained a special pass from General Ulysses S. Grant to return to Boston.

[10] In regard to matters at Vicksburg, Sims states that the rebel army is upon short rations, and is in a terrible condition.

[12] Three years after Sims' arrest, Judge Edward G. Loring ordered another fugitive slave, Anthony Burns, back to slavery in Virginia.