On Aug. 13, 1858, the Louisville Daily Courier reported that a George H. Howard fled Bowling Green after stealing some silver, taking three enslaved African Americans – a man and two women – with him.

Their pursuers captured them on the Barren River at the lock near Woodbury. Upon returning to Bowling Green, Howard was almost lynched by a mob, but several community leaders calmed the crowd and he was tried and sent to prison. Nothing more was reported of the slaves. A reward for $1,000 was offered in that same day’s paper for two other runaway slaves from Warren County.

– “Way Back When in Warren County” is compiled by researchers at the Warren County Public Library and appears twice weekly in the Bowling Green Daily News. For more information about the library, visit warrenpl.org.