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the mines while at work, hand-cuffed and taken to Bellevue to be sent by a steamer to Missouri. Alexander Butterworth, a farmer working in his field, saw the kidnapping and hastened to the office of Thomas S. Wilson, one of the Judges of the Supreme Court and demanded a writ of habeas corpus, which Judge Wilson promptly issued and served, by which Ralph was returned to Dubuque. The case was one of so much importance that at the request of Judge Wilson it was transferred to the Supreme Court for trial.
The court consisted of three judges, Charles Mason, Chief Justice, with Thomas S. Wilson and Joseph Williams, associates. After a full hearing it was unanimously decided that Montgomery’s contract with Ralph, whereby he was permitted to become a citizen of a free territory, liberated him, as slavery did not and could not exist in Iowa. Judge Mason, in delivering the opinion, said:
“Where a slave with his master’s consent becomes a resident of a free State or Territory he could not be regarded thereafter as a fugitive slave, nor could the master under such circumstances exercise any rights of ownership over him. When the master applies to our tribunals for the purpose of controlling as property that which our laws have declared shall not be property, it is incumbent upon them to refuse their co-operation.”
When it is remembered that the three judges (all Democrats), thus early enunciated the doctrine of humanity and equity, that slavery was local and freedom a natural right, the liberty loving people of Iowa will forever honor these pioneer judges who, in their sturdy manhood and love of justice, immortalized their names in an opinion in direct conflict with the infamous later decision of the National tribunal in the case of Dred Scott.
