Biography
William Chaplin was an Underground Railroad operative associated with the Liberty Party and the Albany Vigilance Committee. On August 8, 1850 his carriage — carrying two men escaping from enslavement by two Southern congressmen — was stopped in a gunfight by a posse at the DC–Maryland line. Arrested, he was imprisoned six weeks in Washington (released on $6,000 bond) and then thirteen weeks in Rockville, Maryland (released on $19,000 bond). He left the area, forfeiting the bonds, and never came to trial. (Recorded as William L. Chaplin)
The Montgomery County Historic Preservation Commission’s Summer 2006 newsletter describes two phases after William Chaplin’s August 8, 1850 arrest: six weeks of imprisonment in Washington followed by release on $6,000 bond, then a separate Maryland confinement described as thirteen weeks with release on $19,000 bond. It gives December 24, 1850 for the latter release. This source’s December 24 date differs from the December 19 endpoint recorded elsewhere in this profile, and the two reported phases should not be assumed to form uninterrupted custody. The exact transition and final-release dates require reconciliation; no new duration is inferred from the rounded weekly descriptions. County historical newsletter, page 3.
The Chaplin Committee’s 1851 account describes the September 18, 1850 Washington bail hearing before Judge Cranch and District Attorney Philip Fendall’s opposition to bail. It says the proceeding continued until the following day: after bail was furnished, Chaplin was surrendered under Maryland’s requisition and taken to Rockville, where he remained jailed. Thus the District bail proceeding did not itself establish an interval at physical liberty. In Maryland, Attorney General Richardson assisted the prosecution; Judge Brewer fixed the $19,000 bond and later admitted Chaplin to bail in Annapolis. These are jurisdiction-specific prosecution and bail roles, rather than a completed trial before either judge. The pamphlet reports six weeks in Washington and thirteen weeks in Rockville but supplies no exact final release day. Its account of the District bail amount varies between $5,000 and a later $6,000 forfeiture; that discrepancy is retained. The Case of William L. Chaplin, 1851, printed pages 29–33, 39–41 and 47–50.
