In 1857, the city of Milwaukee named Booth Street after a local abolitionist, Sherman Booth. In 1995 a section of Reservoir Street that intersected with Booth Street was renamed Glover Avenue. This street was named after a runaway slave that Booth helped to freedom.
But we need to go back even further than 1857. All the way back to 1793. In that year the federal government passed the Fugitive Slave Laws. These laws mandated the return of runaway slaves to their owners. In perhaps an early encroachment on states' rights, the law stated that slave catchers could cross state lines to find and return runaway slaves to their owners. Local authorities were not permitted to interfere with the capture of fugitive slaves.
Up until the late 1840s enforcing the fugitive slave laws was not a major problem. But soon the Abolition movement gained steam. Northern states tried stopping these "bounty hunters." These states created "liberty laws" which denied enforcement of the federal fugitive laws. These states believed they had rights as states and viewed their laws as overriding any national laws. (Ironically, the Civil War was fought by the south to preserve "states' rights," so obviously in each case each group of states adapted the position as it met their goals.)
This upset southern slave holders. They viewed their slaves as valuable property, not as people. The Compromise of 1850 enacted the Fugitive Slave Act to enforce the fugitive slave laws of 1793. The new act also modified the old law. U.S. Marshals, not private citizens, would have to catch fugitive slaves. Local governments were obliged to help these marshals.
Once caught an accused slave was sent to jail and received a trial. Of course the slave was not allowed to testify. A new stipulation stated that upon the verdict, the court was given $5 for every black deemed to be a free person, $10 for every black deemed a fugitive slave. Guess what incentive the court might have for its decisions.
Who was Sherman Booth? Sherman M. Booth was the editor of the Wisconsin Free Democrat from 1848 to 1859 and an outspoken abolitionist.
Racine was a station on the Underground Railway. It was a strong Abolitionist city. Glover was able to find employment in a mill. B. S. Garland, Glover's master, learned of Glover's location and procured a process in the United States District court and proceeded to Glover's shanty in company with two deputy United States marshals.
