Asa T. Bougher ¹

   Another name for Asa was A. Bugher.²

  Noted events in his life were:

1. Court: an abduction of a slave in 1849 in , Allegheny, PA. ¹ Among the more famous criminal cases of this period in Pittsburgh was the trial of James McMaster, in the United States Circuit Court, in 1849, on the charge of aiding and abetting in the abduction of a slave from his owner. Anti-slavery sentiment was powerful in Allegheny county, and the sympathy of the people was with the defendant. The salve, known as "Dan," was the property of a man in Virginia, named Loyd Logan. Dan escaped from Logan, and sought employment at Pittsburgh. McMaster aided the fugitive by giving him work. Dan's whereabouts were ascertained, and he was decoyed to the Monogahela House, on the pretext of being needed there to take a trunk. It was alleged that a police officer of the city, named Asa T. Bougher induced the negro to go to the Monogahela House. On Dan's arrival at the hotel, he was seized for the purpose of being taken back into slavery. A crowd of citizens gathered, among them McMaster, rescued the negro, and gave him a start on the underground railway for freedom. McMaster was indicted for his share in the matter. The case was tried by a jury including citizens of high respectability, one of them, General Markle, who had been Whig candidate for governor, another Mr. Johnston, father of the then Governor Johnston. Office Bougher denied on the witness stand that he had decoyed the negro, and It came out in the evidence that the Mayor had remarked that he would have a slave captor in the employ of the city. The defendant was found not guilty, to the general gratification of the community.

2. Census in 1860 in Allegheny City, Allegheny, PA. ² A. Bugher, policeman, 55, was living with wife A., 48; son J., 28; Son W., 19; son W., 14; son C., 12. Everyone was born in Pennsylvania. The post office was Allegheny City.