THE OLD RIOT HOUSE. WILLIAM PARKER’S HOME.
THE PLACE WHERE THE BATTLE WAS FOUGHT.
Dr. Pearce was hit with a missile from an upper window; Nathan Nelson knew and recognized Buley, one of the runaways, and while, at the outset, only fifteen or twenty negroes were lined in the lane with guns, scythes, clubs and corn cutters, Nelson saw from seventy-five to a hundred before the smoke of battle had entirely cleared. Sam Hopkins and his historic corn cutter were among the later arrivals.
One of the dramatic features of the engagement was the appearance on the field of old Isaiah Clarkson. He summoned fifteen or twenty infuriated and raging negroes into the cornfield and “called them to order” three times before he could quiet them, and withhold them from violence. Meantime old Clarkson had seen the body of Edward Gorsuch lying alone where he fell dead, clubbed, cut and pierced with gun shots, his son desperately wounded; his kinsmen beaten and driven off; the United States deputies marshal in full retreat—infuriated women, forgetful of all humane instincts, revenging on a humane Christian gentleman’s lifeless body the wrongs their race had suffered from masters of altogether different mould, rushed from the house and with corn cutters and scythe blades hacked the bleeding and lifeless body as it lay in the garden walk. At the first hearing Scott, the witness who afterwards swore differently on the trial, testified that he lived with John Kerr and had stayed at Parker’s out of doors in the road all that night, having been persuaded to go there by John Morgan and Henry Simms, who were armed; that he saw them both shoot and Henry Simms shot Gorsuch; that John Morgan cut him in the head with a corn cutter after he fell. Dr. Pearce stated under oath that he saw Noah Buhly running past Gorsuch, but he could not say that Buhly did the shooting. At the time Edward Gorsuch was shot he was standing still calling his nephew Joshua and had no weapon in his hand.
It will never be known whose shot or how many killed Edward Gorsuch. More than one weapon was directed at him and doubtless several were guilty of his blood. It was not long until a consciousness of this fell upon the mob and they scattered as rapidly as they had assembled. If the Federal deputies had dispersed in fear and flight and the local authorities were slow to move, neither were the guilty laggard in flight. By nightfall every man inmate of Parker’s house and every runaway from Baltimore County were on their way to Canada. Hay mows and straw stacks weltered above the throbbing presence of trembling fugitives; and all the local agencies of rapid news and transportation which were at command of the anti-slavery people were set in motion to get and keep the accused in advance of the warrants. Somebody tarried long enough on the Parker premises to despoil Gorsuch’s body of $300 or $400 in money, which was on his person when he fell and which was missing at the coroner’s inquest. According to Tamsy Brown it was taken from his body by a black man, who divided it among the colored women and Abe Johnson. On a blank leaf of the Padgett letter, heretofore printed, were found some memoranda made by Mr. Gorsuch himself of the railroad schedules and names of persons in the neighborhood of the scene of the affray, with whom it was supposed colored men resided, together with the following:
Robert M. Lee
John Agen Henry H. Cline
Depatised
Marshal Kline
Lawyer Lee
and Benit
Commissioner
Ingraham
O. Riley’s Telegraph
avoid Halzel
Councelman
Cpt. Shutt
J. R. Henson.
The significance of these entries will be recognized. No weapons were found on the body. This of course does not prove that Mr. Gorsuch was unarmed, as he easily might have lost or have been despoiled of his arms. Fred Douglass boasted that Gorsuch’s pistol had been presented to him. His family believe, and from his habits of life and temperament it may be presumed, the elder Gorsuch was unarmed. He depended mainly on the force of the law’s warrant and, perhaps too confidently, on the nerve of the Federal deputies marshal.
Dickinson Gorsuch was soon removed to friendly shelter and tender ministrations under the hospitable roof of Levi Pownall’s homestead. There he learned to know that the Quaker families of the valley, while they were considerate of the slave, could be no less kind to the master in distress. The daily entries of his diary attest his gratitude and appreciation, and these he substantially manifested throughout his lifetime. His contemporaneous portrait herein published was taken from a daguerreotype sent to the Pownall family. Dr. Asher Pusey Patterson, who attended him, was then practicing at Smyrna. He was of the Lower End families whose names he bore. Dr. John L. Atlee, Sr., of Lancaster, was called into consultation.
During Dickinson Gorsuch’s stay in the Pownall household he was visited in his convalescence by many of his Baltimore County friends and relatives. Among them were his brother John S.; his uncle Talbott Gorsuch; his sister Mary (afterwards Mrs. Morrison); his cousin George and others. It was ten days before he could eat and nearly three weeks before he could sit up. By October 1 he could take a short drive and was entertained next day at Ambrose Pownall’s. When he returned home in charge of some of his family on October 4, Dr. Patterson accompanied them as far as Columbia. During his recovery he had no more popular visitor than his friend Alex. Morrison, who subsequently married his sister. Morrison is described by the older inhabitants as one who “made friends everywhere.” He kept up his acquaintance with people about Christiana until his death and visited there as late as 1903. He rejoiced in the establishment of good relations between those who had been on opposite sides of the conflict of 1851. Dickinson Gorsuch was 56 years old when he died, August 2, 1882.
Exactly when and how Parker, Pinckney and the fugitive slaves got away from the neighborhood is difficult to tell with absolute certainty; but a surviving neighbor throws light on their movements immediately after the affray. George Steele, now living in Chester County (who subsequently married Elizabeth, daughter of Levi W. Pownall), was making charcoal iron at the Sadsbury forges in 1851. He lived near by the Parker place and recalls the events with great distinctness. He met some negroes coming from the scene exultant over its results and he warned them of their serious danger. He says Parker first came to Pownall’s to arrange for Dickinson Gorsuch’s removal there, but another neighbor was already on the way with the wounded man. Both Parker and Pownall remained hidden all day; the news of young Gorsuch’s serious condition brought many visitors to the Pownall house; later in the evening Parker and Pinckney themselves called and for the first time seemed to realize their position. Some of the women members of the household warned them; and, while Mrs. Pownall was nursing the wounded man to life, she was sparing of her pantry supplies to fill a “pillow case” with food for the fugitives; and her husband, under whose roof Gorsuch was receiving every kind attention, loaned of his clothing to their disguise—all being carried to them by George Pownall, then a boy, who was directed to find them at a certain apple tree on the farther side of the orchard.
