Biography
John Morrison was jailed in Boston in the aftermath of the May 1854 attempt to rescue Anthony Burns from being returned to slavery. Contemporary reporting identifies his arrest and commitment on a murder complaint connected with the death of courthouse guard James Batchelder. The June 7 report still listed Morrison among those held without bail. He was also named in the later federal prosecution of the rescue’s alleged participants, which ended in 1855. These records establish multi-day pretrial custody, but not the exact date of his eventual release or a continuous term extending to the later proceedings.
