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22 JAMBS BAIRD WEAVER
fleeing from bondage with her eye on the North
Star. In close pursuit was her cruel master with his bloodhounds hard after her, just as she crossed the Iowa line from Missouri. Clench- ing his fists and advancing toward Dodge he demanded to know if he under such circum- stances would turn that fleeing mother and her infant back to her pursuing master. Before the breathless multitude Kirkwood shouted at the top of his voice 'Answer my question!' Dodge replied, 'I would obey the law.' Kirk- wood retorted,' So help me, God, I would suffer my right arm to be torn from its socket before I would do such a monstrous thing!' The crowd broke into a frenzy that resembled, the sweep of a cyclone through a forest. Men grew pale and clenched each other in frenzy. The whole audience and everybody were carried off their feet. The moral sense of the multitude had been reached and it was vain to attempt to reverse the deep impression which had been made.
"However, so evenly balanced were the
opposing forces in the field that the official returns only gave Kirkwood a fraction of above 3,000 majority in the state over his sturdy antagonist, which demonstrated conclusively that it was skill in debate and presenting the claims of freedom that insured victory in that historic struggle. We were passing through |
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