J. Williams Thorne was definitely a carpetbagger.
According to the 1883 book "A History of the Underground Railroad in Chester County," the Pennsylvanian—later expelled from the N.C. legislature—was a member of the "Liberty Party," which sought to abolish slavery at the ballot box before the Civil War.
At a political debate in 1850, Thorne was asked if he would help escaped fugitives (p. 131):
"Yes," replied Thorne promptly, "there is nothing in the Constitution to prevent it. The very spirit of the preamble commands that I shall do it."
Author Robert Clemens Smedley says that Thorne "gave assistance to all who came" to his station on the Underground Railroad.
Interestingly, an 1861 book, "The Fugitive Slave Law and Its Victims," (p. 131) describes the kidnapping of a free man who was living in a tenant house owned by Thorne in 1860.
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