Vol. 4/ No. 31.  Salem, Ohio.  Whole No. 187. 4 pp., 6 columns. , measuring 16 x 20”. Exhibits light yellowing & foxing throughout. Also fold marks, with light chipping at margins. Else VG, and entirely legible.

The Anti-Slavery Bugle was the weekly newspaper of the Ohio Anti-Slavery Society, later the Western Anti-Slavery Society.  It began publication in 1845 and was the only Garrisonian-style abolitionist periodical west of the Appalachians.  This issue appeared during the opening phase of the Taylor administration, a year in advance of the passage of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act, which would harden anti-slavery sentiment across the north.

The newspaper masthead sports the Garrison motto—“No Union With Slaveholders”—and the front page contains a lengthy piece titled “American Slavery”,  introduced by the following quote from Charles James Fox—“That which is morally wrong can never be politically right.” Other articles include a piece on the Western Anti-Slavery Society, along with a listing of the 35 “Bugle” agents in the state of Ohio. These included J.S. Johnston for Youngstown, Jacob A. Barnes for Berlin, and W.W. Pollard for Columbus.

Intact copies of the Salem, OH, Anti-Slavery Bugle are extremely scarce. Fine newspaper collectible.