In 1827, New York became one of the first states in the Union to abolish slavery, and by the mid-1800's Syracuse had become nationally known as a center of anti-slavery activity. Harriet Tubman, Gerrit Smith, the Rev. Samuel J. May, and the Rev. Jermain W. Loguen lived in the area and helped escaped slaves reach freedom and safety in the northern United States and Canada through the secret routes and hiding places of the Underground Railroad. Their abolitionist views were widely shared in the community. After Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Law in 1850, a local Vigilance Committee publicly urged people everywhere to oppose it, and then-Mayor Alfred H. Hovey denounced it as a most flagrant outrage upon the inalienable rights of man. As national attention focused on the civil disobedience this stance might provoke, Daniel Webster came to Syracuse and delivered an address from a balcony overlooking City Hall, warning supporters of the Vigilance Committee of the severe legal consequences of resisting the law. Meanwhile, William "Jerry" Henry, who had escaped slavery in Missouri and was working in Syracuse as a cabinet maker and cooper, was seized at noon on October 1st, 1851, brought before the local U.S. Commissioner, and charged as a fugitive slave. After a first disorganized attempt to free him failed that afternoon, a mob of outraged black and white citizens stormed the jail across Clinton Street that evening and rescued him. He was hidden in the city for several days and then sent north on the Underground Railroad to Kingston, Ontario. Twenty-seven people, including Loguen and eleven other black citizens, were indicted for taking part in the rescue. Enoch Reed, a black man, was the only person convicted of any crime connected to it; the offense was minor, and he died before his appeal could be heard. For many years afterward, abolitionists from across the North gathered in Syracuse on October 1st to celebrate Jerry's rescue.