Samuel Green

Released

Date of birth:c. 1802

Date of death:28. 02. 1877

Age:75^{† Deceased}

Gender:Male

Race:Black

Era:1800s

Inmate Number:#5146

State:Maryland

Time Imprisoned:

4 Years 11 Months 3 Days

Support

Abolitionism Underground Railroad

Biography

Reverend Samuel Green was a free Black Methodist preacher and Underground Railroad agent in Dorchester County, Maryland who had purchased his own freedom in 1833. In spring 1857, after the escape of the "Dover Eight," he was arrested and tried when police found a map of Canada, a letter from his escaped slave son and railroad schedules in his home. He was acquitted then immediately tried again, this time for possessing a copy of Uncle Tom's Cabin in violation of a Maryland law against abolitionist literature. He was convicted in May 1857 and sentenced to ten years in the state penitentiary. Governor Augustus W. Bradford granted him a conditional pardon on March 26, 1862, on the conditions he would leave the state within sixty days. He was released on April 21, 1862, having served nearly five years.

Cases

Charges: Possessing a letter from Canada, a map of Canada and railroad schedules, charged as prohibited abolitionist material under Maryland law. Three counts, arraigned April 22, 1857.

Arrested: Apr 4, 1857

Sentence: NO CONVICTION — ACQUITTED APRIL 25, 1857. Arraigned April 22, 1857 on three counts covering a letter from his son in Canada, a map or pictorial representation of Canada, and railroad schedules showing routes north. Tried on April 24 and 25 and acquitted, the judge ruling that documents useful for escape did not fall within the abolitionist-literature statute. No custody is recorded on this row; the imprisonment belongs to the separate Uncle Tom's Cabin indictment. He was NOT tried for aiding the Dover Eight -- the state's attorney found insufficient evidence and never brought that charge.

Convicted: No — acquitted April 25, 1857

Maryland Penitentiary

Charges: Knowingly possessing a copy of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin as prohibited abolitionist literature, under Maryland's 1841 statute making such possession by a free Black person a felony carrying ten to twenty years. Arraigned April 17, 1857.

Arrested: Apr 4, 1857

Sentenced: May 14, 1857

Incarcerated: May 18, 1857

Released: Apr 21, 1862

Sentence: Ten years, THE STATUTORY MINIMUM under Maryland's 1841 law, which required ten to twenty years for a free Black person knowingly possessing prohibited abolitionist publications. Arraigned April 17, 1857; convicted May 14, 1857; received at the Maryland Penitentiary in Baltimore on May 18, 1857 as prisoner number 5146, recorded as about fifty-five. Governor Augustus W. Bradford granted a conditional pardon on March 26, 1862 requiring him to leave Maryland within sixty days, and he was released on April 21, 1862 -- four years, eleven months and three days served against a projected expiry of May 14, 1867. THE COUNTER RUNS FROM THE PENITENTIARY ADMISSION, not from the April 4 arrest. He was jailed after the arrest, but the Dorchester County jail ledger has not been consulted and continuity of that detention is not established. Counting from April 4 would publish about five years and seventeen days as though documented; counting from May 18 publishes the 1,799 days that are.

Convicted: Yes — convicted May 14, 1857

Institution State: Maryland

Samuel Green

Biography

Cases

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