3. The capture and trial of Lawrence physician John Doy
In 1859 John Doy, a doctor in Lawrence and friend of the Soule’s, escorted a party of 13 escaped slaves from Missouri toward the safety of Iowa. Whether they had been sheltered in the Soule home is uncertain, but a party of slave-catchers from Missouri caught Doy and the slaves and took them back to St. Joseph, where Doy was charged with stealing the slaves, a violation of Missouri law. Doy had never been in Missouri, and was conducting the slaves between stations of the Underground Railroad in Kansas. In essence, his arrest by the Border Ruffians was a kidnapping.
Doy was nonetheless tried in a Missouri court, convicted by a jury of slavery supporters, and sentenced to five years with hard labor in the state prison (the escaped slaves were either returned to their owners or sold). His lawyers immediately appealed, but he was ordered held pending the hearing. As Doy awaited his appeal in St. Joseph’s jail, a party of Jayhawkers including Silas Soule made plans to free him and escort him to safety in Lawrence. When the Kansas men arrived in St. Joseph their leader dispatched Soule to examine the jail. Soule approached the jailer carrying a note, which he said was from Doy’s wife, and surreptitiously examined the jail while inside.