Page:Story of a Great Court.djvu/109

 adopting as their motto the golden rule; and further that "inasmuch as the Senate of the United States has repealed all compromises heretofore adopted by Congress, we, as citizens of Wisconsin, are justified in declaring, and hereby declare, the slave catching law of 1850 disgraceful and also repealed."

The pioneers of Wisconsin were men of high courage and prompt action. These resolutions prove the fact. None other would attempt to repeal an act of the Congress of the United States after a debate of half an hour at a court house meeting. A committee of one hundred citizens was appointed at the meeting to see that the resolutions were carried out, and the committee departed for Milwaukee by steamboat early in the afternoon. Meanwhile history was being rapidly made in Milwaukee. The news of the arrest came to Booth by telegraph early in the morning of Saturday, and he at once consulted with Gen. James H. Paine and his son, Byron Paine, who were then practicing lawyers in Milwaukee, as to the legal measures to be taken to free Glover; a writ of habeas corpus was agreed upon as the proper remedy, and it was procured from Judge Charles E. Jenkins, of the County Court. But here arose a serious difficulty. Neither the sheriff nor the United States marshal would obey the writ and produce the prisoner, because they claimed that the prisoner was within the exclusive jurisdiction of the United States Court. This refusal created great excitement and indignation; a meeting was called in the court house square at two o'clock in the afternoon; men rode through the streets on horses summoning "freemen" to the meeting. It was largely attended and was addressed by fiery and eloquent speakers, and as a result a rush was made for the jail at about six o'clock in the