James E. Work (b. 1814 -
d. ?)
MSA SC 5496-15153
Accomplice to slave flight, Queen Anne's County, Maryland, 1848
Biography:
Benjamin Thomas, a slave of William Golt in Queen Anne's County, attempted to flee with his wife Ann Thomas, a slave of Theodore Lockerman in Talbot County, and their two small children John (18 months) and Josephine (9 months) on October 15, 1848. Also captured in the attempt were Henry Murray, a slave of Maria Rodgers in Talbot County, Dick Simmons and Nelly Simmons, both slaves of Margaret Goldsborough in Talbot County. Despite being enslaved, Thomas had hired himself out in Baltimore City to Charles Hirsch, received his own wages, and was “permitted…to go at large” in Talbot where he had been hired out by his master.
One day Thomas asked Hirsch to grant him and his family a pass to visit Philadelphia, assuming he would comply as Hirsch had previously written him a pass to Philadelphia. Thomas went to retrieve his family in Easton along with “several other colored persons” who sought to accompany the family. Becoming suspicious, Hirsch informed the group to meet him at the corner of Camden and Charles Street and arranged Baltimore authorities to meet there as well. This intersection is significant because it was footsteps away from one of the largest slave pens in Baltimore, owned by Jonathan Wilson, who often dealt slaves to Hope Slatter and Joseph Donovan to be sold South.
Perhaps skeptical of the location, Thomas never showed. He instead went to the Pratt St. Depot and to the office of James E. Work, a carpenter to whom he had also hired himself out, to ask him to grant the pass. Authorities soon discovered the group in Work’s office. Charges were initially brought against Thomas for enticing, persuading, and assisting the fugitives, but Governor Phillip Francis Thomas nullified the prosecution. Subsequently, Work was indicted and faced separate trials in Talbot County Court (November 1848) and Queen Anne’s County Court (December 1848). He was convicted on five counts for assisting the runaways; two counts in Talbot County, three in Queen Anne's. He was sentenced to a total of fifteen and a half years in the Maryland State Penitentiary to run from December 22, 1848 to June 22, 1864.
Almost immediately after his sentence, supporters petitioned the Governor's office for Work’s pardon with three main contentions. First, due to his relative liberty as a slave, Work and many others thought Thomas was indeed a free man. Second, petitioners argued that Thomas was the chief operator of the attempt and Work was unaware of his true intention. Third, citizens from Talbot County expressed concern for Work's wife and seven children, who were entirely dependent on his wage as a carpenter. Appeals came from citizens of Talbot and Queen Anne’s County, members of the jury that found him guilty, his attorney Samuel Hambleton, the State Penitentiary Warden Isaac M. Denson, and the original arresting officer Stephen H. Manly.
As news spread of the growing sentiment to pardon Work, other citizens from Queen Anne’s and Talbot County wrote to the Governor's office in opposition, asserting that:
“...yet the crime for which James E. Work was incarcerated is one of peculiar danger to the State of Maryland, and the safety of our institution’s demands…that the Executive should be cautious how he releases and offender who has been fairly and repeatedly convicted of so secret and insidious a crime.”
After spending five years in
prison, Gov. Enoch Louis
Lowe pardoned Work on Dec. 29, 1853.
Return to James E. Work's Introductory Page
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