DAILY EVENING STANDARD, New Bedford, Massachusetts, Sept. 12, 1851  A newspaper from this famous whaling town of the 19th century. Page 2 has a brief item on: "The Slave Bolding", a somewhat famous former slave.
Four pages, indents at the blank spine from disbinding, good condition.

Background: The September 1851 case of John Bolding carries profound historical significance as a stark illustration of the brutal efficiency and polarizing nature of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, showcasing how the federal government actively weaponized the legal system to strip free Black Americans of their liberty. Bolding, a well-regarded and prosperous tailor who had escaped South Carolina to build a thriving life in Poughkeepsie, New York, was ambushed and abducted by federal marshals in August 1851 after being betrayed for a bounty, sparking widespread outrage across the North. His subsequent trial, which swiftly condemned him back into enslavement on September 1, highlighted the terrifying reality that no escaped individual was safe anywhere in the United States, driving intense anxiety in abolitionist strongholds like New Bedford, Massachusetts. Ultimately, the historical legacy of the event rests on the community's swift, defiant response: refusing to accept the court's verdict, a biracial coalition of local citizens raised a massive sum of $2,000 within days to purchase Bolding's legal freedom, transforming his tragic rendition into a powerful symbol of Northern resistance and grassroots solidarity against the institution of slavery.