Burns was a slave who escaped to Boston in 1854, was arrested at the instigation of his owner, and whose trial caused a furor between abolitionists and those determined to enforce the Fugitive Slave Acts.

Published in 1854, this is an account of the 1854 Boston slave riot and the trial of Anthony Burns who was captured as a fugitive slave, which spawned the riot.

Burns was a slave who escaped to Boston in 1854, was arrested at the instigation of his owner, and whose trial caused a furor between abolitionists and those determined to enforce the Fugitive Slave Acts.