Springfield 1636-1886, History of Town and City, by Mason A. Green ...

SPRINGFIELD, 1636-1886. 507
warrants for the arrest of escaped slaves, and denied the negroes at
the hearings the right to testify in their own behalf. The local feeling
among the ultra abolitionists ran high. Springfield became a very
important way station on the underground road which ran from
Southern bondage to Canadian freedom, and the Emigrant Aid Sociery
was generously supported here. Mr. Chapman was a United States
commissioner, and great pressure was finally brought upon him to
resign, that he might escape the offensive duty of restoring fugitive
slaves to their masters, as he was not then a freesoiler. " I refuse
to resign," was his determined reply. When an explanation of his
real position was demanded, he said, in the event of the pursuit of a
slave to Springfield, " As officer of the Emigrant Aid Society I
would forward the fugitive to other parts ;
sioner I would then issue a warrant for his arrest."
as United States commis-
There was flourishing in those days a Springfield organization known
as "The Club." It had no written constitution and no archives;
it met on every other Monday night, and was a medium of communica-
tion on public topics among prominent citizens. Mr. Chapman is
credited with the honor of having originated The Club. At a Mon-
day meeting, during the Kansas troubles, some member asked what
was to be done with Kansas. Mr. Chapman replied, " We will send
on emigrants there ; we
will send rifles with them. I will furnish one
gun." " And I another," said Samuel Bowles. " And I another,"
said Daniel L. Harris. " And I another," said the good and true
Dr. Buckingham. So the offers went round the room. Mr. Cham-
berlain, now of Hartford, and then a law partner of Mr. Chapman,
hesitated for some reason, not, however, because he was hostile to
the free-soil sentiment, and Mr. Chapman noticed the fact, and said,
with as much vigor as he ever displayed on any subject, " And I will
give a second gun for the credit of the firm." Mr. Chamberlain, it
may be stated, now tells this anecdote on himself. The rifles were
all duly furnished, taken apart, and sent in separate boxes and by
different routes to Kansas.