File name: 12_05_000032 Local call number: RARE BKS H.90.295 xxb Title: The plot exploded! Other title information: John H. Pearson & the bloodhounds : the Vigilance Committee give their fellow citizens to understand that they have for several days known the plan by which Thomas Sims ... is to be dragged back from the soil of Massachusetts without trial Creator/Contributor: Vigilance Committee (Boston, Mass.) (Sponsor) Genre: Broadsides Created/Published: [Boston : s.n.] Date issued: 1851 (inferred) Physical description: 1 broadside ; 30 x 24 cm. Physical description note: Boston Public Library (Rare Books Department) holds two copies of this broadside. Each is identical in content, differing only in size and typography. Copy no. 1 measures 30 x 24 cm., while copy no. 2 measures 70 x 53 cm. General notes: Title from item.; Text of this broadside reads: "The plot exploded! John H. Pearson & the bloodhounds! The Vigilance Committee give their fellow citizens to understand, that they have for several days known the plan by which the unhappy man, Thomas Sims, an alleged fugitive from Georgia, is to be dragged back from the soil of Massachusetts without a trial! Without a particle of anything which any other court but ours would dignify with the name of evidence, against the Massachusetts presumption that every man who treads her soil is a freeman. He is to be delivered by armed soldiers, in violation of the Massachusetts statute of 1843, on board the brig Acorn, now lying at the foot of Long Wharf ... This is the plot. A Boston merchant volunteers his services not only as a slave-catcher, but as a slave-carrier for his southern customers ..." Date notes: Date supplied by cataloger. Biographical and historical notes : Thomas Sims, born about 1834, was an African American who escaped from slavery in Georgia at age 17 and lived for a time in Boston, Massachusetts. He was captured under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and returned to Georgia. After being sold back into slavery to an owner in Mississippi, Sims escaped again and returned to Boston. Subjects: Antislavery movements--Massachusetts--Boston; Fugitive slaves--Legal status, laws, etc.--United States; United States. Fugitive slave law (1850); Sims, Thomas, approximately 1834- Collection: Anti-Slavery Collection Location: Boston Public Library, Rare Books Department