The law could work against Black Americans even when they had been in Ohio for years. Two white men demanded to enter the home of Oliver Anderson, a free Black Chillicothe resident, one night in 1859. Once inside, they beat Anderson and kidnapped him. They threatened to kidnap Anderson’s son, who was about two years old, but Anderson’s wife fled with their child. Anderson had lived in Chillicothe for at least four years, and the local newspaper described him as “a quiet, inoffensive, and industrious man.”[5] In his trial, the court claimed that Black Americans preferred enslavement to freedom, and Anderson was returned to a man who claimed to own him. Anderson escaped in January of 1860 and passed through Chillicothe on his way north. The Athens Messenger reprinted Chillicothe’s coverage of Oliver Anderson’s case. What happened to Anderson could happen to free Black residents of Athens County. Local residents may have been suspicious of the threat. David Butcher speculates that his ancestors chose to settle Tablertown along the Hocking River because its location may have seemed more secure against kidnappers.[6]

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Athens residents were aware of the danger slave catchers posed to their activities. Eli Brown remembered Virginians coming through Albany who were “a thorn in the flesh.”[7] A letter said to be written by Albany resident Phebe Ann Lindsley, found by her grandson, told her brother “Nigger hunters are thick round Albany some pretend to be dancing masters and want to get a school but they ask so much that they know they can’t get one.”[8] While it is unclear whether the Lindsley letter is authentic, the secrecy of Underground Railroad members in the antebellum period could be due to the fear that Athens County could face legal repercussions or kidnappings. Both freedom seekers and their allies were very aware of the risk they were taking, and the legacy of that risk became a part of Underground Railroad legends decades after the Civil War.

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