(wind blowing) (thunder rumbling) (ominous music) (door knocking) - Who is it?

What do you want?

- We're from Andrew County.

We've got a prisoner we'd like you to take into custody for the night.

Open up.

(ominous music) Open up.

(door knocking) - Who is he?

You got a warrant?

- No, that's all right, he's a horse thief.

(ominous music) - I can't take a man without a warrant.

- Well, sir, sir, we sure appreciate if you did.

We'll oblige in the morning.

(thunder rumbling) - Well, all right, I don't want to, but looks like it's gonna rain, so come on in boys.

- [Man] Yeah.

- And don't you have that slave thief in here, Dr. Dow, Doy?

- Dr. Doy?

He's right there.

(upbeat music) (wind whooshing) - Make sure you're all ready to go on.

- [Narrator] It's two years before the start of the civil war.

But out on America's frontier, the battle over slavery has already begun.

Waves of settlers pour into what is then known as Kansas Territory.

Some are there to try to stop the spread of slavery into the west.

Others have come to do the opposite.

Both are more than willing to fight for their cause.

Their conflict will help determine the fate of millions of enslaved Americans.

- The slavery issue, that issue came to head here, and it was like lighting a powder cake.

(gun firing) - You may not be in a war zone every minute, but you always have the potential to be in a war zone.

- [Narrator] A federal law known as the Fugitive Slave Act fuels the tension further.

It allows common citizens to cross state lines to pursue and capture alleged escape slaves.

Whether they are free or are not, these African Americans have no recourse to plead their case or go before a jury.

- The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, it's about protecting slavery and the rights of slave owners.

There were a lot of people being accused of being a runaway or a fugitive, who would be basically stolen into slavery and never seen again.

- [Narrator] The system creates a profitable cottage industry for slave catchers and kidnappers, while boosting the resolve of African American freedom seekers and recently arrived abolitionists living near anti-slavery strongholds like Lawrence, Kansas.

Their firmly held beliefs in human freedom are rooted in the Bible and enforced with high capacity sharps rifles, among them the legendary John Brown and his one time riding partner, the Englishman, Dr. John Doy.

- [Dr. Epps] John Doy's an interesting character.

- Oh, I can't take it.

They'll spot us.

- Be safe.

- I will.

- [Dr. Epps] He comes out to Kansas with his family in 1854.

- Be careful.

- And his hope is to make Kansas a free territory.

He's well known in the region for his anti-slavery sensibilities.

- [Dr. Doy] The Black people in Lawrence, finding themselves in constant danger, applied to the citizens for protection.

I complied with this request and agreed to undertake the trip with my own wagon and horse, to be driven by my eldest son, Charles.

Our entire party numbered 16.

- [Narrator] Their party includes 13 African Americans, each of whom Doy alleges is free.

(suspenseful music) - If there's anything we need, lemme know, okay?

We just gotta stay quiet, we gotta stay calm, okay?

- [Narrator] Doy will guide the group toward the Jim Lane Trail, a known segment of the underground railroad.

From there, the plan is to head through Nebraska, Iowa, and ultimately up to Canada, beyond the reach of the Fugitive Slave Act.

The first leg, however, would be the most risky.

Even though this region of the country is sparsely populated, the roads are fairly well trafficked, and a traveling party of men, women, and children like this might raise suspicion.

(suspenseful music) - [Attackers] Get down now.

Get down now.

Hey!

- [Charles] Father, we've been stopped.

- [Narrator] Then just 12 miles into their journey, Doy recognizes some of the armed men as fellow northerners.

- You can shoot me if you want.

There's women and children in that wagon.

Don't shoot at it.

What's your process?

- [Narrator] Including the notorious Jake Herd.

- Here's my process.

- [Dr. Epps] Jake Herd was a slave catcher on the Kansas-Missouri border.

- Go.

- And as far as we can tell, was looking to make some money and this was an opportunity to do so.

- [Man] Put it down now.

- We're taking our property back.

- Look who we got here, let's go.

- [Dr. Epps] If you were an abolitionist, you knew who Jake Herd was.

- [Man] Go, line up.

(suspenseful music) Hurry up.

- Keep your mouth shut.

All of you are slave stealers.

- [Man] Whose under arrest.

Let the chains on him.

- [Narrator] According to the Fugitive Slave Act, if any of these men are escape slaves, Doy will be in serious trouble.

(suspenseful music) - Take little Doy.

Let's go.

- [Man] Keep going, keep going, come on.

- [Narrator] Crossing from Kansas into Missouri means crossing into slave country.

(people chattering) - Being taken to Weston were a howling mob ready to lynch all of them, these abolitionists.

Pretty amazing that Dr. Doy and his son survived the initial capture.

- [Narrator] But as bad as things look for Doy, in the hands of Jake Herd, things are much worse for the African Americans.

- Doy claimed that they were freemen, but they weren't.

- [Dr. Epps] There were two documented freemen of color who were traveling with him.

The other 11 people we believe are people who were enslaved.

- All it takes is the accusation.

Even a free Black person who does not have documentation can be stolen into slavery.

Sometimes the documentation doesn't really matter, sad to say.

- [Dr. Doy] The suffering, both physical and mental, of the poor trembling creatures around us, no words can describe.

The chill, wintery blast penetrated their thin clothing, and there seemed to be nothing between them and the life of long slavery.

All hope must have been dead in their souls.

- [Narrator] The Doys are now considered the lowest of the low, slave thieves.

(people chattering) The Doys are arrested and dragged into court, where they are greeted by nooses hanging from the ceiling.

- Well, an abolitionist was not highly thought of in some areas of these border counties in Missouri, and they would probably like to serve justice then and there, as soon as they crossed into the state of Missouri.

- [Man] Oh, guilty, damn right.

- All right, let's go.

Court's over.

- [Narrator] They're charged with abducting slaves and rushed to the Platte City Missouri Jail to await their trial.

(Dr. Doy grunts) Their situation looks desperate.

- [Dr. Doy] We found ourselves in tombed in a metallic coffin.

The walls, floor, and ceiling were all of boiler plate iron, an iron bucket with a broken lid, which often remained unemptied for weeks, and the Bible, which would almost seem was put there in mockery.

- The confinement must have been horrible.

He called it the coffin.

They weren't going to treat these abolitionists kindly.

- [Narrator] The cell is dark, filthy, miserable, covered in lice and other vermin.

But for some, the biggest complaint in the jailhouse is being under the same roof as the Doys.

- [Man] Dear God abolitionists.

Damn you, Doys.

Slave stealers.

- [Dr. Doy] A young fellow of about 18 was brought to the jail and locked in the hall.

And being in that delightful state of inebriety known as crying drunk, amused us all night by his lamentations over the disgrace to his family caused by his being in prison with abolitionists.

- [Man] But there's no better proof to every family in our state.

- Your name will be in the paper tomorrow right next to ours.

- [Dr. Doy] But as we were informed, took his disgrace so hard that his father sent him away out of the state.

- [Narrator] That same night, according to Doy, rumors fly around the jail that a mob is on the way to hang them.

- What do we do?

Father, what do we do?

- [Narrator] Fortunately for the Doys, that murderous mob never makes it inside.

But the danger they feel in Missouri is real, especially for those traveling with Doy.

Nearly all have subsequently been returned to their enslavers or sold back into slavery.

The ones who haven't been sold arrive in Platte City, handcuffed and manhandled by the same Jake Herd, who captured the group in Kansas.

- Stop moving.

- During the era where slavery is still in existence in the United States, jail cells are being used to detain people suspected of various crimes, and that includes people being accused of being fugitives or runaway enslaved people.

It was a criminal act as defined by federal and even local governments.

- [Man] Let me get a better look at you.

- It also is attempting to strip away the humanity, the hope, the freedoms, the desires to live outside of bondage.

- How many you want?

- And it's very important to understand that these jail cells represent so much to the enslaved experience.

- What did I say?

Get up, get up.

- [Dr. Doy] You don't need to be doing this.

Why?

- Goodnight, Doy.

- [Dr. Doy] Herd, stop!

- [Jake] Forget you owe me from last month, White.

- [White] You'll get your money.

- [All] We ain't no damn slaves.

- Wrong.

Wrong damn answer.

One way or another you will tell me exactly what I wanna hear.

- [Narrator] Just a few days later, as Doy would put it, cadavers emaciated covered with vermin, the Doys are on the move again.

Their case is transferred to the courthouse in St. Joseph, deep within Missouri slave country.

Inside the courthouse, the Doys now face a team of prosecutors, playing on the fears of the all White jury.

- We must send a message that criminality will not be tolerated.

- The Kansas legislature appropriated $1,000 for his legal defense.

And one of his attorneys claimed that these freedom seekers, on their own volition, came to Kansas.

But the prosecution said, "No, John Doy went into Missouri and abducted them."

- [Narrator] This is the question before the jury.

Did the Doys steal the property of Missouri enslavers, or were they just innocently transporting a group of people they understood to be free?

How the jury interprets their actions could mean the difference between life and death for the Doys.

- Are we to permit our slaves to be stolen with impunity?

- [Narrator] The jury splits over the charges.

The prosecution abandons its case against Charles, and decides to redouble its efforts in a retrial against his father.

John's bail is set at $5,000, roughly 150,000 in today's currency, far beyond what Doy would be able to raise on his own.

- [Dr. Doy] My situation in the jail was comparatively endurable.

The room was 16 feet square with a small grated window at each end through which we could look over the fence into the street.

Under the room in which I was confined was another room of the same size, used as a lockup for criminals and for slaves.

- [Narrator] Francis Wright, prominent St. Joseph slave trader, is a frequent visitor to the jail.

- He's worthless.

- What do you mean he's got rheumatism?

- [Dr. Epps] You have all sorts of interactions between slave traders and enslaved people.

- This stock's damaged.

- There ain't nothing wrong with that boy.

What are you talking about?

- He's got rheumatism.

He just told me.

- Even if it's not physical violence, it's verbal violence.

It's dehumanizing treatment.

- What in the hell are you saying to people.

Get up, get up!

- It's reminding enslaved people that they're property and that they are not, in fact, human beings.

- [Dr. Doy] That Black man was Charles Fisher.

I had seen him in Lawrence where he was a barber, working for himself and his family for he had a wife and child.

The bloated individual, Hutchinson, professed to own the poor creature.

- Hey.

Hey, I know that man.

- Don't wanna rip that shirt any son.

Now.

(Charlie screaming) Charlie, would somebody ask you if you've got anything wrong with you, do you know what to tell him?

Not a damn thing.

- He's a free man.

- What do you say, Doy?

- [Dr. Doy] He's from Lawrence.

He's a barber.

- If I had that sweet sitted Doy down here right now, I'd serve him far worse.

You hear me, Doy?

You damned abolitionist.

(Charles screaming) - [Dr. Doy] Poor Charles was then taken in, dressed, and the next day sold and carried off down south.

- [Judge] Ladies and gentlemen.

- [Dr. Doy] The adjourned term of the Circuit Court of Buchanan County was opened on the 20th of June.

And on the second day of the term, my case was called.

- [Prosecutor] And the Missouri Law.

- The reality is that the political context of the time is so heated, not just in Kansas and Missouri, but really nationwide by 1859.

- [Prosecutor] One for each slave that he stole.

- The odds of him being acquitted are slim.

They're there, but they're slim.

- [Prosecutor] Not one, but 13.

- [Judge] The defendant will rise.

You have been found guilty, and your sentence- - [Narrator] Doy is sentenced to five years hard labor at the state penitentiary.

With 12 other indictments pending, he could spend the rest of his life behind bars.

- Now I can't imagine what the Missouri State Penitentiary would be like.

He probably wouldn't have made it out alive.

- One week to get my father out or he's- - [Narrator] Although Doy's case appears to be heading for the Missouri Supreme Court, back in his hometown of Lawrence.

- [Charles] We have to get to the boats in the safest way.

- [Narrator] Everyone understands that there is only one way John Doy is going to get out of jail.

- [Charles] Follow the jail cell around to the drug- - [Narrator] Escape.

- Understood, but what are these properties in between here?

- [Narrator] Charles Doy gets together with some of the family's closest confidants, among them Silas Soule, another of the early settlers of Lawrence, Kansas.

They begin work on a plan.

- We use 5th Street.

- [Narrator] The group will come to be known as the Immortal 10.

At the time, the proslavery town of St. Joseph is home to some 11,000 people.

- We have to get to the boats in the safest way, not the quickest way.

- If they are caught, the escape team could expect no mercy.

- Will they be awake?

- Awake or not, with speed we'll have a matter of minutes.

- [Narrator] The men quietly infiltrate the town, becoming familiar with its daily rhythms, back alleys, and shortcuts.

- The boats cross the river.

It is the safest way and the least met resistance the entire path Do you agree?

- Agreed.

Cautiously.

- [Guard] Doy, the warden wants to see ya.

(Dr. Doy grunts) - [Narrator] The jail is located near the center of the city, just a few hundred feet from a night watch and five long blocks from the Missouri River.

(suspenseful music) The rescuers and Doy, weakened and tattered from his six months in confinement, would need to run this gauntlet without drawing attention.

- It'll be a longer path, but right to the boats, we can cross the river from there.

- You clear?

- Clear.

- Thank you.

(suspenseful music) - Good afternoon, doctor.

- Good afternoon.

- Got some news here this afternoon and it looks like we're gonna be losing you.

We're shipping you off to the state penitentiary in Jefferson City.

Just wanted to wish you good luck.

- [Narrator] What the rescuers need now is a way to alert Doy of their plans.

Silas Soule enters the jailhouse.

- Mr. Brown, pardon the intrusion.

I have a message for Dr. John Doy.

- There's no more visitors tonight.

- Sir, it's urgent.

It's his wife.

She's quite ill, and I believe he needs to know.

It's urgent matter.

- All right, I'll be right back.

(suspenseful music) Dr. Doy, you've got a visitor.

- Are you well?

Jane sends her regards.

She said also her health is quite poor, so she should not make the journey to St. Joseph.

- [Man] Hey, Jim Brown.

- She felt compelled to forgo her desire.

- [Man] Hey, Jim Brown.

- You get ready to go.

- It's time to go.

(suspenseful music) - [Dr. Doy] Let's see what these Kansas boys can do.

(wind whooshing) (thunder rumbling) (ominous music) (door knocking) - Who is it?

What do you want?

- Open up.

- You got a warrant?

- No, that's all right, he's a horse thief.

We'll oblige you in the morning.

- Well, all right, I don't want to, but looks like it's gonna rain, so come on in boys.

(thunder rumbling) (ominous music) - I don't usually like to take a man without a warrant.

- And don't you have that slave thief in here, Dr. Dow, Doy?

- Dr. Doy?

He's right there.

(suspenseful music) - There's the man we've come for.

- What!

(suspenseful music) - Doctor, good to see you.

(Dr. Doy grunts) - Don't hurt him.

He's a good man.

He's a friend.

Be kind.

- [Man] Let's go.

(Dr. Doy grunting) - We've got the back door guarded.

We have this whole jail surrounded.

Don't think about leaving.

(suspenseful music) (thunder rumbling) (ominous music) - [Narrator] They timed the escape to coincide with a popular late night show.

As the theater crowd exits onto the streets of St. Joseph, Doy and his team blend in and disappear.

Dodging a pair of night watchman who had begun to tail them, they board boats and push off for the Kansas side of the Missouri River.

(suspenseful music) - Once they got across the Missouri River, then they were on their way to freedom.

They had to act, and they did, and their plan worked beautifully, and they got their man, they got him out.

They got him back to Kansas.

- [Dr. Doy] We kept on till 12 o'clock that night, and started again early the next morning, which was Monday.

At five o'clock in the afternoon of which day after traveling 90 miles, we reached the river opposite Lawrence and crossed to that city of refuge.

- [Narrator] News of their escape spreads like wildfire.

- People who live in Lawrence, they've been hearing about his trial.

They're, frankly, thrilled that he's free.

On the Missouri side of the border, there's really an uproar about what happens with Doy.

It's really kind of an embarrassment for Western Missourians.

- [Dr. Doy] Thus, thanks to the ingenuity, the courage, and perseverance of those 10 noble specimens of Kansas freemen was I, though crippled and diseased by ill usage and long imprisonment, once more, a freeman, restored to my home, to my family and friends, and to the soil I love so well.

- [Narrator] Back in Lawrence, a photographer is to capture the return.

- One of the most famous photographs in Kansas history is the Immortal 10, the rescuers of Dr. John Doy.

- The account of John Doy, the accounts of other abolitionists at that time, really do present themselves as the centerpiece of the story.

- And their commitment to working to destroy slavery, to oppose the Fugitive Slave Act and other policies, to me, is very important, because they they had something to lose on a real level as well.

- [Dr. Epps] But the enslaved people are the ones who are really taking the highest risk.

- The Fugitive Slave Act is part of a bigger issue.

The lives of Black people are in constant jeopardy, and their true safety lies within their communities and allies.

But even that could still be under attack at any time and violent.

(people chattering) - [Dr. Doy] Here, I may fittingly close my narrative.

Such sufferings continue to be inflicted on the helpless and the unoffending (people chattering) in this, our common country, the land of the free and the home of the brave.

(ominous music) (upbeat music)