Biography
John Thompson was a defendant jailed in Boston after the May 1854 attempt to rescue Anthony Burns from rendition to slavery. The contemporary account lists him among those arrested Friday evening, May 26, and committed to jail following the May 27 Police Court hearing on a collective murder complaint. The June 7 newspaper reports him held for further examination. Its prediction that he would probably be discharged is not an accomplished release. The accusation is not a finding of guilt. His physical release date and complete time served remain unknown.
Boston custody after the Anthony Burns rescue attempt
John Thompson was a defendant jailed in Boston after the May 1854 attempt to rescue Anthony Burns from rendition to slavery. The contemporary account lists him among those arrested Friday evening, May 26, and committed to jail following the May 27 Police Court hearing on a collective murder complaint. The June 7 newspaper reports him held for further examination. Its prediction that he would probably be discharged is not an accomplished release. The accusation is not a finding of guilt. His physical release date and complete time served remain unknown.
The named original roster and the subsequent individual proceedings report document actual multi-day detention in the same Boston case. The May 27 commitment is a known custody point, not an inferred first jail-admission date. No exact release day, complete total, conviction or sentence is inferred.
Boston Slave Riot, and Trial of Anthony Burns (1854), printed pages 10 and 16; New York Herald, June 7, 1854, page 1, The Boston Fugitive Slave Rioters.
