Thursday's Internet Edition, July 03, 2008. This Week in Texas History: Lynch mob runs abolitionist out of town By Bartee Haile - A week after fleeing Houston one step ahead of a lynch mob, Stephen Pearl Andrews arrived safely in New Orleans on April 21, 1843. Motivated by the moral conviction that slavery should be purged from the planet, the New England lawyer was a classic case of nineteenth-century fanaticism. He set out to civilize the South but succeeded only in making an international spectacle of himself. In the 1830's, Pearl Andrews left his native Massachusetts for Louisiana, where he boarded with a brother and attended law school. During that watershed decade, he saw the southern attitude toward slavery shift from self-conscious regret to militant justification of the "peculiar institution." A thriving practice did not save the young attorney from ruin during the Panic of 1837. For financial and spiritual salvation, he looked to independent Texas. In search of clients as well as converts, he moved to Houston in 1839. Traveling back east that same year, Andrews met the firebrand that changed his life. Lewis Tappan, secretary of the American and foreign Anti-Slavery Society, encouraged the impressionable idealist to spread the emancipation gospel among the ignorant heathen in Texas. Four years of prudent preaching on the banks of Buffalo Bayou produced a small but fervent following. Convinced he had discovered an "undercurrent of feeling against slavery," Andrews went public with his controversial campaign in March 1843. Speaking before a standing-room-only crowd in the Houston courthouse, he avoided advocating freedom for the slaves in so many words. But the toned-down rhetoric did not obscure the message for most of the audience, and those still in the dark were enlightened by a man who shouted angrily from his seat, "What we have listened to means abolition and nothing else!" Ignoring the interruption, Andrews finished his address to boisterous applause. Inflating the modest number of well-wishers, he wrote in his diary, "we had secured the verdict of Houston." His adopted hometown in his corner, the next stop on the crusade was Galveston. But the port patriarchs had zero tolerance for Yankee rabble-rousers. Andrews' scheduled speech was canceled, and a grim-faced group of armed citizens escorted him off the island with a stern warning never to return. Back in Houston, there was no rest for the weary agitator. Waving a rope and demanding that the infidel come out and take his medicine, a mob stormed his residence. Grabbing his wife and child, Andrews jumped in a waiting carriage and barely escaped with his life. He no sooner reached New Orleans than friends informed him that the local police had a warrant for his arrest. Catching the nest boat up the Mississippi, he dropped off his family and headed straight for the New York office of his mentor. Andrews breathlessly described to Tappan an incredible idea for eradicating bondage in the Lone Star Republic. The British simply had to offer to loan the destitute Texans five million dollars on the condition they change their constitution to prohibit slavery. To avoid fiscal collapse, President Sam Houston would have no choice but to accept the cash and abide by the ingenious terms. After receiving the blessing of John Quincy Adams, the Texas-hating ex-president, for their joint venture, Andrews and Tappan sailed to England. Abolitioinists in London prevailed upon Lord Aberdeen to listen to the bizarre scheme. Andrews was overwhelmed by the reaction of the British foreign secretary. Pledging support for the ambitious enterprise, Lord Aberdeen told the elated American, "Her Majesty's government would employ all legitimate means to attain so great and desirable an object as the abolition of slavery in Texas." What he did not say was that Andrews had handed the British a gift-wrapped opportunity to gain a toehold in the new nation. Positively giddy over his triumph, Andrews naively shared the wonderful moment with anyone who would listen. Ashbel Smith, the representative of Lone Star interests in Europe, was all ears, and Andrews must have been too busy talking to hear the Texan laughing to himself. Smith called on Lord Aberdeen on July 20, 1843 and in a matter of minutes spoiled the abolitionist's plan. Denouncing Andrews as a muddleheaded dreamer, the British diplomat assured Smith that his government would never dream of interfering in the private affairs of Texas. The bubble burst for Pearl Andrews as soon as he stepped ashore in Boston. The good news, explained embarrassed associates, was that he was on the front page of all the papers. The bad news was that he had wound up a national laughingstock, the fall guy in a British double-cross rather than the savior of the South. Bartee Haile welcomes your comments and suggestions at haile@pdq.net or 1912 Meadow Creek Dr., Pearland, TX 77581. This is an on-line publication of Groesbeck Journal P.O. Box 440 Groesbeck, TX 76642-0440 254-729-5103 For comments or questions, email Publisher: Thomas Hawkins groesbeckads@gmail.com The Web Site contains material which is protected by international copyright and trademark laws. No material may be copied, reproduced, republished, broadcast or distributed in any way or decompiled, except that you may download one copy of the Materials on any single computer for your personal, non-commercial home use only, provided you keep intact all copyright and other proprietary notices. On-line publication, Copyright 2000, Groesbeck Journal. Web page design, Copyright 2000, EZ Edit Web Publishing.