Booth describes his own share in the rescue in the course of an address delivered by him in Madison, March 12, 1897, as follows:
"In riding through the streets of Milwaukee to call a public meeting, I did not cry as was reported and sworn to, 'Freemen to the rescue.' A forcible rescue was never my purpose; I aimed simply to secure for Glover a fair trial and competent counsel, and in calling the meeting I used but two forms of speech, viz.: 'All Freemen,' or 'All citizens who are opposed to being made slaves or slave catchers turn out to a meeting in the court house square at two o'clock,' the only variation being that I sometimes used the word 'men' and sometimes the word 'citizens'. * * * The immediate cause of the rescue was the speech and report of C. K. Watkins, chairman of the committee to wait on Judge Miller and inquire if the writ of liberty would be obeyed. He reported that Judge Miller said, 'No power on earth could take him from his jurisdiction.' He (Watkins) expatiated on the tyranny of the judge and the hardship of imprisoning Glover over the Sabbath; I had invited the Racine delegation to meet our committee at the American House for consultation and was about to start when I heard a shout and saw a rush for the jail and anticipated the result. I went up to Dr. Wolcott and Byron Paine, standing on the court house steps, and said to them as the crowd was bringing Glover out, that I regretted the act, that it was a bad precedent and the people would not discriminate between this case and one in which a prisoner was rightfully held. To personal appeals of Democrats before the first meeting was opened, 'Mr. Booth, let us take him out,' I answered, 'No, we must use legal and peaceful methods,' and during the whole of this scene I counselled against violence, publicly and privately. Yet in all the histories of this case, in newspapers, pamphlets and books, I am represented as riding through the streets of Milwaukee shouting 'Freeman to the rescue.' * * * I respectfully decline the honor of a deed I never performed. The only responsibility attaching to me for the rescue of Glover is that I helped create a strong public sentiment against the fugitive slave act and called the meeting to protect the legal rights of Glover and give him a fair trial. If, when assembled for peaceable and lawful purposes, the course of the judge and his bailiffs excited the people to take Glover out of jail against my advice, I was guiltless of the rescue."
