ABSTRACT
REUBEN MOORE, and orderly respectable colored man, with whom I was well acquainted, and who had a family in Philadelphia, in the summer of 1799, during the prevalence of the yellow fever in that city, was walking down Market street, and saw two white men dragging a colored man along the street by the collar; when he approached them and inquired what the man had been doing. One of the white men replied, that he was a runaway slave. The prisoner denied that he was a slave, and said he had no knowledge of the persons who had arrested him. Reuben asked them to take their captive before a magistrate. This the strangers resented as an insult, and ordered him not to interfere. He, however, followed them some distance, and upon discovering that they were about to take the man away without giving him an opportunity of making his defence, he observed, addressing himself to the colored man, “I will go for some person who will see you righted.” Almost as soon as the words were out of his mouth, James Frazier, one of the men who had the black man in custody, drew a pistol out of his pocket, and with an oath declared, that if he said another word, and did not immediately go about his business, he would “nail” him. Reuben’s sympathy was excited, and he was determined to see justice done in the case; and not apprehending the fellow would have the audacity to murder him in the midst of a populous city, in open day, after a little hesitation, he said–“I will go for some one who will see the poor man righted.” On saying this, Frazier fired at him. The ball entered his breast, and the shot was scattered about his body-for it was loaded with both–when he fell on the pavement, and, it was supposed, was killed. Surgical aid was immediately called, but little hopes were, for some time, entertained of his recovery. After some days, the ball was extracted, but the shot remained in him until the day of his death. Frazier 94was apprehended and committed to prison to await his trial, and the poor captive was set at liberty. He remained in jail about three months, when a compromise was made by paying Reuben a considerable sum of money, and the murderous fellow was discharged and returned to Maryland, where he belonged.
