One of the most revealing episodes of the 1850s, in terms of understanding the emergence of abolition as a broad-based, popular movement in segments of the North was the seizure of Anthony Burns, a fugitive slave from Virginia, in Boston. Burns was the third escaped slave to be seized in the city, the second after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law as part of the Compromise of 1850. Under its terms state and local officials had to actively cooperation in the apprehension and return of fugitives to their owners. Several states, including Massachusetts, had passed personal liberty laws which attempted to bypass the Fugitive Slave Law, but states did not have the power, under the Constitution, to set aside federal law.

There is a very full account of the Faneuil Hall meeting called to protest Burns' capture in the Massachusetts Spy, published in Worcester. It includes full transcriptions of several of the speeches along with an account of the abortive rescue attempt. Since the rescue was led by Thomas Wentworth Higginson, pastor of Worcester's Free Church, and Martin Stowell, his parishioner and associate in the city's Carson League, the Spy's coverage is especially full. Faneuil Hall was an historic building closely associated with Boston's Revolutionary past, a fact that the speakers and audience clearly appreciated.

In the wake of the unsuccessful attempt to rescue Burns, Stowell along with many others was arrested. A deputy guarding Burns had been killed, and the charge was murder. Higginson was not arrested. Instead he returned to Worcester and preached a sermon calling upon his fellow citizens to make "Worcester a Canada [a safe haven] to the slave." The Spy published the full text of "Massachusetts in Mourning."

Anthony Burns was, as Higginson noted in his sermon, returned to his master in Virginia, despite the huge crowd that gathered in Boston to protest his "rendition." A popular print pictured him gazing out of the Court House window at those who would, were they but able, have prevented his return to the South. Once there, however, his freedom was purchased by some abolitionists. He returned to the North where he lectured upon his experiences. He also engaged in a highly public debate with the Baptist Church he had belonged to in Virginia which excommunicated him for the "sin" of stealing himself from his master.

How receptive an audience Higginson had for his call upon his listeners to refuse all obedience to the Fugitive Slave Law is shown in the reception several reputed "kidnappers," as those who attempted to capture and return fugitive slaves were called, received in Worcester in mid-June.

In October, federal marshal Asa O. Butman came to Worcester to investigate Higginson's role in the Burns' Rescue. Butman too was a "kidnapper" to local anti-slavery activists. A large crowd gathered to protest his presence in their city, just as Higginson had called upon them to do. The crowd became a mob. Butman escaped, but only barely and only with the personal assistance of the Reverend Higginson and Martin Stowell. A condition of his escape was a promise never to return. Here are two accounts of the "Butman Riot," one from the Spy and the other from the Know-Nothing Daily Evening Journal.

Authorities in Boston did order Higginson's arrest, and he dutifully presented himself to the magistrates. He was, as the Spy indignantly editorialized, in good company. Unlike Wendell Phillips or Theodore Parker, however, who had actively counselled against any effort to rescue Burns with force, Higginson actually had planned the attempt which led to the deputy's death. Nonetheless, his case, like theirs, was ultimately dropped for lack of evidence. Stowell had to stand trial for murder but was not convicted.