In 1835, Judge Chinn, of Mississippi, visited New-York, and brought with him a slave, said to have cost the large sum of fifteen hundred dollars.  A few days after their arrival in the city, the slave eloped, and a reward of five hundred dollars was offered for his apprehension.  Friend Hopper knew nothing about him; but some mischievous person wrote a note to Judge Chinn, stating that the fugitive was concealed at his store, in Pearl-street.  A warrant was procured and put into the hands of a constable frequently employed in that base business.  At that season of the year, many Southerners were in the city to purchase goods.  A number of them accompanied the judge to Pearl-street, and distributed themselves at short distances, in order to arrest the slave, in case he attempted to escape.  They preferred to search the store in the absence of Friend Hopper, and watched nearly an hour for a favorable opportunity.  Meanwhile, he was entirely unconscious of their proceedings; and having occasion to call at a house a few doors below, he left the store for a short time in charge of one of his sons.  As soon as he was gone, four or five men rushed in.  Not finding the object of their pursuit, they jumped out of a back window, and began to search some buildings in the rear.  When people complained of such unceremonious intrusion upon their premises, the constable excused himself by saying they were trying to apprehend a felon.  Friend Hopper’s son called out that it was a slave, not a felon, they were in search of; for he heard them say so.  This made the constable very angry; for, like most slave-catchers, he was eager for the reward, but rather ashamed of the services by which he sought to obtain it.  He swore roundly, and one of his party gave the young man a blow on his face.

Friend Hopper, being sent for, returned immediately; and for some time after, he observed a respectable looking person occasionally peeping into the store, and skulking out of sight as soon as he thought himself observed.  At last, he went to the door, and said, “My friend, if thou hast business with me, come in and let me know what it is; but don’t be prying about my premises in that way.”  He walked off, and joined a group of people, who seemed to be much excited.  Friend Hopper followed, and found they were the men who had been recently searching his store.  He said to their leader, “Art thou the impertinent fellow who has been intruding upon my premises, in my absence?” The constable replied that he had a warrant, and was determined to execute it.  Though a stranger to his countenance, Friend Hopper was well aware that he was noted for hunting slaves, and being unable to disguise his abhorrence of the odious business, he said, “Judas betrayed his master for thirty pieces of silver; and for a like sum, I suppose thou wouldst seize thy brother by the throat, and send him into interminable bondage.  If thy conscience were as susceptible of conviction as his was, thou wouldst do as he did; and thus rid the community of an intolerable nuisance.”