Vigilance committees were a defensive apparatus that blacks created in the wake of the Fugitive Slave Law dedicated to aiding fugitives during their escape, then protecting them from the slave catchers - with violence if need be. These loosely formed groups of blacks and antislavery whites were common in the northern states and in Canada West, particulary in communities with a sizeable black population. The Chatham committee was among the most aggressive and saved several blacks from being retured to slavery during the 1850s. One of its most dramatic rescues occured in September 1858, when 100 to 150 Chatham residents removed Sylvanus Demarest, a young free black, from a train. Demarest and W.R. Merwin, who claimed to be Demarest's owner, were spotted in London, Canada West, by the former mayor of the town. Word went down the line to the Chatham Vigilance Committee, and several armed members crowded into the train when it stopped to take on water. They rescued Demarest, but railroad officials brought charges against the committee, and five blacks and two whites were arrested. Demarest remained in the custody of Isaac D. Shadd, one of those arrested. Mary Ann Shadd Cary's circular pleaded for funds to aid in their defense, the cost of which nearly ruined the Provincial Freeman. The case was dismissed by the court when it was learned that Merwin had never owned Demarest and apparently was kidnapping him to sell him into slavery. Merwin returned to New York while Demarest briefly remained in Chatham with the Shadd family. The seven defendants were freed.

"As an agent appointed by our Vigilance Committee, eastablished here to conduct the case growing out of the release of the slave boy spoken of by the New York Tribune, and an Assistant Secretary of the same, I am authorized, and beg to enlist your pecuniary aid towards defending the suit brough against I.D. Shadd (editor of the Provincial Freeman), J. Sparks, Edward Doston, Shelby Smith, Wm. Streets, John Goodyear and John Hooper. One hundred and fifty others are also liable to arrest under a similar charge of riot and (indirectly) abduction. The parties, with the execption of Messrs. Goodyear and Hooper, are colored men and poor men. The editor of the Freeman (organ of the fugitives) holding the boy in his care, in spite of pro-slavery officials, is the most responsible party to the Court, yet he, the conductor of a struggling paper, must suspend it to meet the exigencies of the case. There is no other resort than to make a direct appeal to the friends of Freedom through those who stand on the watch tower of Freedom, in order that a part at least, of the heavy expense may be met by the 18th of the present month, at which time the trial will come on at the Assizes. Please assure us of your sympathy by a word of encouragement, and whatever your generosity will prompt you to give or send.

Direct to I.D. Shadd, Provincial Freeman Office, Chatham, C.W.

Officers and Members of the Vigilance Committee: Wm. H. Day, Chairman; I.D. Shadd, Vice-Chairman; J.M Bell, Secretary; M.A.S. Cary, Assistant Secretary; H.C. Jackson, Treasurer; L.S. Day, T.F. Cary, M.R. Delany, J.H. Harris, G.W. Browdie, J. Pleasant, M.E. Pleasant, Mrs. I.D. Shadd, O. Anderson. Collecting Agents: I.D. Shadd, Wm. H. Day, Mary A.S. Cary, J.H Harris, G.W. Brodie, Lucy S. Day.

Source:
The Black Abolitionist Papers: Volume II, University of North Caronina Press Chapel Hill and London, 1986, pp. 392-393