Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Gov. Markell to pardon Underground Railroad conductor

Samuel Burris, a free black man who was once convicted of shepherding slaves through Delaware to the north, will have his sentence vacated next month.

 

 

Gov. Jack Markell will pardon Burris, saying it's important to recognize his sacrifice, despite being convicted nearly 170 years ago.

 

“I think it provides some comfort. I think those who brought this case to me made, I believe, a very compelling case. I mean, this is just, this is a wrong that needed to be righted,” he said.

 

The Board of Pardons had to issue a recommendation to Markell in order to make the process official.

 

Burris was a key player in the Underground Railroad system, though eventually got caught trying to shepherd a slave through Delaware in 1847.

 

As a standard sentence, Burris was to be sold into slavery, but an anti-slavery group bought his freedom.

 

“This guy was, I really think you could argue, a hero of the Underground Railroad and put himself at personal danger to save others at a pretty dark time in our history and, as a result, I thought he, the pardon was very much merited,” Markell said.

 

He then returned to Philadelphia before eventually moving to San Francisco where he later died in in 1869.

 

Supporters of the move also tried to have his Delaware partners – John Hunn and Thomas Garrett – pardoned, but they were tried in federal court and require a presidential pardon.

 
Markell will issue the pardon Nov. 2, the same day a historical marker will be dedicated in Kent County honoring Burris.