STILL'S
UNDERGROUND RAIL ROAD RECORDS,
REVISED EDITION.
(Previously Published in 1879 with title: The Underground Railroad)
WITH A LIFE OF THE AUTHOR.
NARRATING
THE HARDSHIPS, HAIRBREADTH ESCAPES AND DEATH STRUGGLES
OF THE
SLAVES
IN THEIR EFFORTS FOR FREEDOM.
TOGETHER WITH
SKETCHES OF SOME OF THE EMINENT FRIENDS OF FREEDOM, AND
MOST LIBERAL AIDERS AND ADVISERS OF THE ROAD
BY
WILLIAM STILL,
For many years connected with the Anti-Slavery Office in
Philadelphia, and Chairman of the Acting
Vigilant Committee of the Philadelphia Branch of the Underground
Rail Road.
Illustrated with 70 Fine Engravings
by Bensell, Schell and Others,
and Portraits from Photographs from Life.
Thou shalt not deliver unto his
master the servant that has escaped from his master unto thee. -
Deut. xxiii 16.
SOLD ONLY BY SUBSCRIPTION.
PHILADELPHIA:
WILLIAM STILL, PUBLISHER
244 SOUTH TWELFTH STREET.
1886
pp. 101 - 124
[pg. 101]
he declared, should never have his property (having no
other heir but his niece, except his widow), that the
slaves relied on his promise to free them. Thus in
view of the facts referred to, Aaron was led to
commit the unpardonable sin of running away with his wife
Daffney, who, by the way, looked like a woman fully
capable of taking care of herself and children, instead
of having then stolen away from her, as though they were
pigs.
JOSEPH VINEY
and family- Joseph was
'held to service or labor," by Charles Bryant,
of Alexandria, VA. Joseph had very nearly
finished paying for himself. His wife and children
were held by Samuel Pattison, Esq., a member of
the Methodist Church, "a great big man," "with red eyes,
bald heard, drank pretty freely," and in the
language of Joseph, "wouldn't bear nothing."
Two of Joseph's brothers-in-law had been sold by
his master. Against Mrs. Pattison
his complaint was, that "she was mean, sneaking, and did
not want to give half enough to eat."
For the enlightenment of all Christendom, and coming
posterity especially, the following advertisement and
letter are recorded, with the hope that they will have
an important historical value. The writer was at
great pains to obtain these interesting documents,
directly after the arrival of the memorable
Twenty-Eight; and shortly afterwards furnished to the
New York Tribune, in a prudential manner, a brief
sketch of these very passengers, including the
advertisements, but not the letter. It was safely
laid away for history —
|
$2,000 REWARD.
- Ran away from the subscriber on Saturday night, the
24th inst, Fourteen Head of Negroes, viz: Four men, two
women, one boy and seven children. Kit is
about 35 years of age, five feet six or seven inches
high, dark chestnut color, and has a scar on one of his
thumbs. Joe is about 30 years old, very
black, his teeth are very white, and is about five feet
eight inches high. Henry is about 22 years
old, five feet ten inches high, of dark chestnut color
and large front teeth. Joe is about 20
years old, about five feet six inches high, heavy built
and black. Tom is about 16 years old, about
five feet high, light chestnut color. Susan
is about 35 years old, dark chestnut color, and rather
stout built; speaks rather slow, and has with her four
children, varying from one to seven years of age.
Leah is about 28 years old, about five feet high,
dark chestnut color, with three children, two boys and
one girl, from one to eight years old.
I will give $1,000 if taken in the county, $1,500 if
taken out of the county and in the State, and
$2,000 if taken out of the State; in either case
to be lodged in Cambridge (Md.) Jail, so that I
can get them again; or I will give a fair
proportion of the above reward if any part be
secured. |
|
SAMUEL PATTISON,
Near Cambridge, Md. |
October, 26, 1857.
P. S. —Since
writing the above, I have discovered that my negro
woman, Sarah Jane, 25 years old, stout
built and chestnut color, has also run off.
S. P
SAMUEL PATTISON'S LETTER
CAMBRIDGE, Nov. 16th, 1857.
L. W.
THOMPSON: - Sir, this morning I received your
letter wishing an accurate description of my Negroes
which ran away on the 24th of last month and the amt. of
reward offered &c &c. The description is as
follows. Kit is about 35 years old,
five feet, six or seven inches high, dark chestnut color
and has a scar on one of his thumbs, he has a very
[pg. 102]
quick step and walks very straight, and can read and
write. Joe, is about 30 years old,
very black and about five feet eight inches high, has a
very pleasing appearance, he has a free wife who left
with him she is a light molatoo, she has a child not
over one year old. Henry is about 22
years old, five feet, ten inches high, of dark chestnut
coller and large front teeth, he stoops a little in his
walk and has a downward look. Joe is
about 20 years old, about five feet six inches high,
heavy built, and has a grum look and voice due, and
black. Tom is about 16 years old
about five feet high light chestnut coller, smart active
boy, and swagers in his walk. Susan is
about 35 years old, dark chesnut coller and stout built,
speaks rather slow and has with her four children,
three boys and one girl - the girl has a thum
or finger on her left hand (part of it) cut off, the
children are from 9 months to 8 years old. (the
youngest a boy 9 months and the oldest whose name is
Lloyd is about 8 years old) The husband of
Susan (Joe Viney) started off with her, he is a
slave, belonging to a gentleman in Alexandria D. C. he
is about 40 years old and dark chestnut coller rather
slender built and about five feet seven or eight inches
high, he is also the Father of Henry, Joe
and Tom. A reward of $400. will be
given for his apprehension. Leah is
about 28 years old about five feet high dark chestnut
coller, with three children. 2 Boys and 1 girl,
they are from one to eight years old, the oldest boy is
called Adam, Leah is the wife of Kit,
the first named man in the list. Sarah Jane
is about 25 years old, stout built and chesnut coller,
quick and active in her walk. Making in all
15 head, men, women and children belonging to me, or 16
head including Joe Viney, the husband of
my woman Susan.
A Reward of $2250, will be given for my negroes
if taken out of the State of Maryland and lodged in
Cambridge or Baltimore Jail, so that I can get them or a
fair proportion of any part of them. And including
Joe Vinney's reward of $2650.00.
At the same time eight other negroes belonging
to a neighbor of mine ran off, for which a reward of
$1400 00 has been offered for them.
If you should want any information, witnesses to prove
or indentify the negroes, write immediately on to me.
Or if you should need any information with regard to
proving the negroes, before I could reach Philadelphia,
you can call on Mr. Burroughs at Martin
& Smith's store, Market Street, No 308.
Phila and he can refer you to a gentleman who knows the
negroes. Yours &c SAML. PATTISON.
This letter was
in answer to one written in Philadelphia and signed, "
L. W. Thompson." It is not improbable that
Mr. Pattison's loss had produced such a high
state of mental excitement that he was hardly in a
condition for cool reflection, or he would have weighed
the matter a little more carefully before exposing
himself to the U. G. R. R. agents. But the letter
possesses two commendable features, nevertheless.
It was tolerably well written and prompt.
Here is a wonderful exhibition of affection for his
contented and happy negroes. Whether Mr.
Pattison suspended on suddenly learning that he was
minus fifteen head, the writer cannot say. But
that there was a great slave hunt in every direction
there is no room to doubt. Though much more might
be said about the parties concerned, it must suffice to
add that they came to the Vigilance Committee in a very
sad plight—in tattered garments, hungry, sick, and
penniless; but they were kindly clothed, fed, doctored,
and sent on their way rejoicing.
DANIEL
STANLY, Nat Amby, John Scott, Hannah Peters,
Henrietta Dobson, Elizabeth Amby, Josiah Stanly,
Caroline Stanly, Daniel Stanly, jr.,
[pg. 103]
TWENTY-EIGHT
FUGITIVES ESCAPING FROM THE EASTERN SHORE OF MARYLAND.
John Stanly
and Miller Stanly
(arrival from Cambridge.) Daniel is about
35, well-made and wide-awake. Fortunately, in
emancipating himself, he also, through great
perseverance, secured the freedom of his wife and six
children; one child he was compelled to leave behind.
Daniel belonged to Robert Calender, a
farmer, and, "except when in a passion," said to be
"pretty clever." However, considering as a father,
that it was his "duty to do all he could" for his
children, and that all work and no play makes Jack a
dull boy, Daniel felt bound to seek refuge in
Canada. His wife and children were owned by "Samuel
Count, an old, bald-headed, bad man," who "had of
late years been selling and buying slaves as a
business," though he stood high and was a "big bug
in Cambridge." The children were truly
likely-looking.
Nat is no ordinary man. Like a certain
other Nat known to history, his honest and
independent bearing in every respect was that of a
natural hero. He was full black, and about six
feet high; of powerful physical proportions, and of more
than ordinary intellectual capacities. With the
strongest desire to make the Port of Canada safely, he
had resolved to be "carried back," if attacked by the
slave hunters, "only as a dead man." He was held
to service by John Muir, a wealthy farmer, and
the owner of 40 or 50 slaves. "Muir would
drink and was generally devilish." Two of Nat's
sisters and one of his brothers had been" sold away to
Georgia by him." Therefore, admonished by threats
and fears of having to pass through the same firey
furnace, Nat was led to consider the U. G. R. R.
scheme. It was through the marriage of Nat's
mistress to his present owner that he came into Muir's
hands. "Up to the time of her death," he had been
encouraged to "hope" that he would be "free;" indeed, he
was assured by her "dying testimony that the slaves were
not to be sold." But regardless of the promises
and will of his departed wife, Muir soon
extinguished all hopes of freedom from that quarter.
But not believing that God had put one man here
to " be the servant of another—to work," and get none of
the benefit of his labor, Nat armed himself with
a good pistol and a big knife, and taking his wife with
him, bade adieu forever to bondage. Observing that
Lizzie (Nat's wife) looked pretty decided
and resolute, a member of the committee remarked, "Would
your wife fight for freedom?" "I have heard her
say she would wade through blood and tears for her
freedom," said Nat, in the most serious mood.
The following advertisement from The Cambridge
Democrat of Nov. 4, speaks for itself -
|
$300
REWARD.—Ran away from the subscriber, on Saturday night
last, 17th inst., my negro woman Lizzie, about 28
years old. She is medium sized, dark complexion,
good-looking, with rather a down look. When spoken
to, replies quickly. She was well dressed, wearing
a red and green blanket shawl, and carried with her a
variety of clothing. She ran off in company with
her husband, Nat Amby (belonging to
John Muir, Esq.), who is about 6 feet
in height, with slight impediment in his speech, dark
chestnut color, and a large scar on the side of his
neck. |
[pg. 104]
I will give the above reward if taken in this County,
or one-half of what she sells for if taken out of the
County or State. In either case to be lodged in
Cambridge Jail.
Cambridge, Oct. 21, 1857.
ALEXANDER H. BAYLY
P. S.—For the
apprehension of the above-named negro man Nat,
and delivery in Cambridge Jail, I will give $500 reward.
JOHN MUIR.
Now since
Nat's master has been introduced in the above order,
it seems but appropriate that Nat should be heard
too; consequently the following letter is inserted for
what it is worth:
AUBURN, June 10th, 1858.
MR. WILLIAM STILL: - Sir, will you be so Kind as
to write a letter to affey White in straw
berry alley in Baltimore city on the point Say to her at
nat Ambey that I wish to Know from her the
Last Letar that Joseph Ambie and Henry
Ambie two Brothers and Ann Warfield
a couisin of them two boys I state above I would like to
hear from my mother sichy Ambie you will
Please write to my mother and tell her that I am well
and doing well and state to her that I perform my
Relissius dutys and I would like to hear from her and
want to know if she is performing her Relissius dutys
yet and send me word from all her children I left behind
say to affey White that I wish her to
write me a Letter in Hast my wife is well and doing well
and my nephew is doing well Please tell aflfey
White when she writes to me to Let me know where
Joseph and Henry Ambie is
Mr. Still Please Look on your Book and you will
find my name on your Book They was eleven of us children
and all when we came through and I feal interrested
about my Brothers I have never heard from them since I
Left home you will Please Be Kind annough to attend to
this Letter When you send the answer to this Letter you
will Please send it to P. R. Freeman Auburn City
Cayuga County New York
Yours Truly
NAT AMBIE.
WILLIAM
is 25, complexion brown, intellect naturally good, with
no favorable notions of the peculiar institution.
He was armed with a formidable dirk-knife, and declared
he would use it if attacked, rather than be dragged back
to bondage.
HANNAH is a hearty looking young woman of 23 or
24, with a countenance that indicated that liberty was
what she wanted and was contending for, and that she
could not willingly submit to the yoke. Though she
came with the Cambridge party, she did not come from
Cambridge, but from Marshall Hope,
Caroline County, where she had been owned by Charles
Peters, a man who had distinguished himself by
getting " drunk, scratching and fighting, etc.," not
unfrequently in his own family even. She had no
parents that she knew of Left because they
used her " so bad, beat and knocked " her about.
"JACK
SCOTT."
Jack is about thirty-six
years of age, substantially built, dark color, and of
quiet and repossessing manners. He was owned by
David B. Turner, Esq., a dry goods merchant of New
York. By birth, Turner was a Virginian, and
a regular slave-holder. His slaves were kept hired
out by the year. As Jack had had but slight
acquaintance with his New York owner, he says but very
little about him. He was moved to leave simply
because he had got tired of working for the "white
people for nothing." Fled from Richmond, Va.
Jack went to Canada direct. The following
letter furnishes a clew to his whereabouts, plans, etc.
[pg. 105]
MONTREAL, September 1st 1859.
DEAR SIR: - It is with extreme pleasure that I
set down to inclose you a few lines to let you know that
I am well & I hope when these few lines come to hand
they may find you & your family in good health and
prosperity I left your house Nov. 3d, 1857, for Canada I
Received a letter here from James Carter
in Petersburg, saying that my wife would leave there
about the 28th or the first September and that he would
send her on by way of Philadelphia to you to send on to
Montreal if she come on you be please to send her on and
as there is so many boats coming here all times a day I
may not know what time she will. So you be please
to give her this direction, she can get a cab and go to
the Donegana Hotel and Edmund Turner is
there he will take you where I lives and if he is not
there cabman take you to Mr Taylors on
Durham St. nearly opposite to the Methodist Church.
Nothing more at present but Remain your well wisher
JOHN SCOTT.
C. HITCHENS.
- This individual took his departure from Milford, Del.,
where he was owned by Wm. Hill, a farmer, who
took special delight in having "fighting done on the
place." This passenger was one of our least
intelligent travelers. He was about 22.
MAJOR
ROSS -
Major fled from John Jay, a farmer
residing in the neighborhood of Havre de Grace, Md.
But for the mean treatment received from Mr.
Jay, Major might have been foolish enough to
have remained all his days in chains. " It's an ill wind
that blows nobody any good."
HENRY OBERNE
- Henry was to be free at 28, but preferred having
it at 21, especially as he was not certain that 28 would
ever come. He is of chestnut color, well made,
&c., and came from Seaford, Md.
PERRY BURTON - Perry is about twenty-seven years of age,
decidedly colored, medium size, and only of ordinary
intellect. He acknowledged John R. Burton,
a farmer on Indian River, as his master, and escaped
because he wanted "some day for himself."
ALFRED
HUBERT, Israel Whitney and John Thompson.
Alfred is of powerful muscular appearance and
naturally of a good intellect. He is full dark
chestnut color, and would doubtless fetch a high price.
He was owned by Mrs. Matilda Niles,
from whom he had hired his time, paying $110 yearly.
He had no fault to find with his mistress, except he
observed she had a young family growing up, into whose
hands he feared he might unluckily fall some day, and
saw no way of avoiding it but by flight. Being
only twenty-eight, he may yet make his mark.
ISRAEL,
was owned by Elijah Money. All that he
could say in favor of his master was, that he treated in
"respectfully," though he "drank hard." Israel
was about thirty-six and another excellent specimen of
an able bodied and wide-awake man. He hired his
time at the rate of $120 a year, and had to find his
wife and child in the bargain. He came from
Alexandria, Va.
INTERESTING LETTER FROM ISRAEL.
WILLIAM STILL - My Dear Friend: - I saw
Carter and his friend a few days ago, and they told
me, that you was well. On the seventh of October
my wife came to Hamilton. Mr. .A. Hurberd,
who came from Virginia with me, is going to get married
the 20th of
[pg. 106]
November, next. I wish you would write to me how
many of ray friends you have seen since October, 1857.
Montgomery Green keeps a barber shop in
Cayuga, in the State of New York. I have not heard
of Oscar Ball but once since I came here,
and then he was well and doing well. George
Carroll is in Hamilton. The times are very
dull at present, and have been ever since I came here.
Please write soon. Nothing more at present, only I
still remain in Hamilton, C. W.
ISRAEL WHITNEY,
JOHN is
nineteen years of age, mulatto, spare made, but not
lacking in courage, mother wit or perseverance. He
was born in Fauquier county, Va., and, after
experiencing Slavery for a number of years there - being
sold two or three times to the "highest bidder" - he was
finally purchased by a cotton planter named Hezekiah
Thompson, residing at Huntsville, Alabama.
Immediately after the sale Hezekiah bundled his
new "purchase" off to Alabama, where he succeeded in
keeping him only about two years, for at the end of that
time John determined to strike a blow for
liberty. The incentive to this step was the
inhuman treatment he was subjected to. Cruel
indeed did he find it there. His master was a
young man, "fond of drinking and carousing, and always
ready for a fight or a knock down." A short time
before John left his master whipped him so
severely with the "bull whip" that he could not use his
arm for three or four days. Seeing but one way of
escape (and that more perilous than the way William
and Ellen Craft, or Henry Box Brown
traveled), he resolved to try it. It was to get on
the top of the car, instead of inside of it, and thus
ride of nights, till nearly day light, when, at a
stopping-place on the road, he would slip off the car,
and conceal himself in the woods until under cover of
the next night he could manage to get on the top of
another car. By this most hazardous mode of travel
he reached Virginia.
It may be best not to attempt to describe how he
suffered at the hands of his owners in Alabama; or how
severely he was pinched with hunger in traveling; or
how, when be reached his old neighborhood in Virginia,
he could not venture to inquire for his mother, brothers
or sisters, to receive from them an affectionate word,
an encouraging smile, a crust of bread, or a drink of
water.
Success attended his efforts for more than two weeks;
but alas, after having got back north of Richmond, on
his way home to Alexandria, he was captured and put in
prison; his master being informed of the fact, came on
and took possession of him again. At first he
refused to sell him; said he "had money enough and owned
about thirty slaves;" therefore wished to "take him back
to make an example of him." However, through the
persuasion of an uncle of his, he consented to sell.
Accordingly, John was put on the auction-block
and bought for $1,300 by Green McMurray, a
regular trader in Richmond. McMurray again
offered him for sale, but in consequence of hard times
and the high price demanded, John did not go off,
at least not in the way the trader desired to dispose of
him, but did, nevertheless, succeed in going off on the
Underground Rail Road. Thus once more
[pg. 107]
he reached his old home, Alexandria. His mother was in
one place, and his six brothers and sisters evidently
scattered, where he knew not. Since he was five
years of age, not one of them had he seen.
If such sufferings and trials were not entitled to
claim for the sufferer the honor of a hero, where in all
Christendom could one be found who could prove a better
title to that appellation ?
It is needless to say that the Committee extended to
him brotherly kind ness, sympathized with him deeply,
and sent him on his way rejoicing.
Of his subsequent career the following extract from a
letter written at London shows that he found no rest for
the soles of his feet under the Stars and Stripes in New
York:
I hope that you will remember John Thompson,
who passed through your hands, I think, in October,
1857, at the same time that Mr. Cooper,
from Charleston, South Carolina, came on. I was
engaged at New York, in the barber business, with a
friend, and was doing very well, when I was betrayed and
obliged to sail for England very suddenly, my master
being in the city to arrest me. (London, December 21st,m
1860.)
JEREMIAH COLBURN,
- Jeremiah is a bright mulatto, of
prepossessing appearance, reads and writes, and is quite
intelligent. He fled from Charleston, where he had
been owned by Mrs. E. Williamson, an old lady
about seventy-five, a member of the Episcopal Church,
and opposed to Freedom. As far as he was
concerned, however, he said, she had treated him well;
but, knowing that the old lady would not be long here,
he judged it was best to look out in time.
Consequently, he availed himself of an Under ground Rail
Road ticket, and bade adieu to that hot-bed of
secession, South
[pg. 108]
Carolina. Indeed, he was fair enough to pass for
white, and actually came the entire journey from
Charleston to this city under the garb of a white
gentleman. With regard to gentlemanly bearing,
however, he was all right in this particular.
Nevertheless, as he had been a slave all his days, he
found that it required no small amount of nerve to
succeed in running the gauntlet with slave-holders and
slave-catchers for so long a journey.
The following pointed epistle, from Jeremiah
Colburn alias William Cooper,
beautifully illustrates the effects of Freedom on many a
passenger who received hospitalities at the Philadelphia
depot—
SYRACUSE, June 9th, 1858.
MR.
STILL:—Dear Sir .—One of
your Underground R. R. Passenger Drop you these few
Lines to let you see that he have not forgoten you one
who have Done so much for him well sir I am still in
Syracuse, well in regard to what I am Doing for a Living
I no you would like to hear, I am in the Painting
Business, and have as much at that as I can do, and
enough to Last me all the Summer, I had a knolledge of
Painting Before I Left the South, the Hotell where I was
working Last winter the Proprietor fail & shot up in the
Spring and I Loose evry thing that I was working for all
Last winter. I have Ritten a Letter to my Friend, P.
Cliristianson some time a goo & have never Received
an Answer, I hope this wont Be the case with this one, I
have an idea sir, next winter iff I can this summer make
Enough to Pay Expenses, to goo to that school at
McGrowville A spend my winter their. I am going sir to
try to Prepair myself for a Lectuer, I am going sir By
the Help of god to try and Do something for the Caus to
help my Poor Breathern that are suffering under the
yoke. Do give my Respect to Mrs Stills &
Perticular to Miss Julia Kelly, I supose
she is still with you yet, I am in great hast you must
excuse my short letter. I hope these few Lines may fine
you as they Leave me quite well. It will afford me much
Pleasure to hear from you.
yours Truly,
WILLIAM COOPER.
JOHN
THOMPSON is still here and Doing well.
It will be seen that this young Charlestonian had rather
exalted notions in his head. He was contemplating going
to McGrawville College, for the purpose of preparing
himself for the lecturing field. Was it not rather
strange that he did not want to return to his "
kind-hearted old mistress?"
THOMAS
HENRY, NATHAN
COLLINS AND HIS
WIFE MARY ELLEN.—Tho
mas is about twenty-six, quite dark, rather of a
raw-boned make, indicating that times with him had been
other than smooth. A certain Josiah Wilson
owned Thomas. He was a cross, rugged man,
allowing not half enough to eat, and worked his slaves
late and early. Especially within the last two or
three months previous to the escape, he had been
intensely savage, in con sequence of having lost, not
long before, two of his servants. Ever since that
misfortune, he had frequently talked of "putting the
rest in his pocket." This distressing threat made
the rest love him none the more; but, to make assurances
doubly sure, after giving them their supper every
evening, which consisted of delicious "skimmed milk,
corn cake and a herring each," he would very carefully
send them up in the loft over the kitchen, and there v
lock them up," to remain until called the next morning
[pg. 109]
at three or four o'clock to go to work again. Destitute
of money, clothing, and a knowledge of the way, situated
as they were they concluded to make an effort for
Canada.
NATHAN was also a fellow-servant with Thomas,
and of course owned by Wilson. Nathan's
wife, however, was owned by Wilson's son,
Abrah. Nathan was about twenty-five years of
age, not very dark. He had a remarkably large head
on his shoulders and was the picture of determination,
and apparently was exactly the kind of a subject that
might be desirable in the British possessions, in
the forest or on the farm.
His wife, Mary Ellen, is a brown-skinned,
country-looking young woman, about twenty years of age.
In escaping, they had to break jail, in the dead of
night, while all were asleep in the big house ; and thus
they succeeded. What Mr. Wilson did,
said or thought about these "shiftless" creatures we are
not prepared to say; we may, notwithstanding, reasonably
infer that the Underground has come in for a liberal
share of his indignation and wrath. The above
travelers came from near New Market, Md. The few
rags they were clad in were not really worth the price
that a woman would ask for washing them, yet they
brought with them about all they had. Thus they
had to be newly rigged at the expense of the Vigilance
Committee.
The Cambridge Democrat, of Nov. 4, 1857, from
which the advertisements were cut, said—
"At a meeting of the people of this county, held in
Cambridge, on the 2d of November, to take into
consideration the better protection of the interests of
the slave-owners.; among other things that were done, it
was resolved to enforce the various acts of Assembly * *
* * relating to servants and slaves.
"The act of 1715, chap. 44, sec. 2, provides
'that from and after the publication thereof no servant
or servants whatsoever, within this province, whether by
indenture or by the custom of the counties, or hired for
wages shall travel by land or water ten miles from the
house of his, her or their master, mistress or dame,
without a note under their hands, or under the hands of
his, her or their overseer, if any be, under the penalty
of being taken for a runaway, and to suffer such
penalties as hereafter provided against runaways.'
The Act of 1806, chap. 81, sec. 5, provides, 'That
any person taking up such runaway, shall have and
receive $6,' to be paid by the master or owner. It
was also determined to have put in force the act of
1825, chap. 161, and the act of 1839, chap. 320,
relative to idle, vagabond, free negroes, providing for
their sale or banishment from the State. All
persons interested, are hereby notified that the
aforesaid laws, in particular, will be enforced, and all
officers failing to enforce them will be presented to
the Grand Jury, and those who desire to avoid the
penalties of the aforesaid statutes are requested to
conform to these provisions."
As to the modus operandi by which so many men, women
and children were delivered and safely forwarded to
Canada, despite slave-hunters and the fugitive slave
law, the subjoined letters, from different agents and
depots, will throw important light on the question.
Men and women aided in this cause who were influenced
by no oath of secresy, who received not a farthing for
their labors, who believed that God
[pg. 110]
had put it into the hearts of all mankind to love
liberty, and had commanded men to " feel for those in
bonds as bound with them," "to break every yoke
and let the oppressed go free." But here are the
letters, bearing at least on some of the travelers:
WILMINGTON, 10th Mo. 31st, 1857.
ESTEEMED FRIEND
WILLIAM STILL: - I write to inform thee that we
have either 17 or 27, I am not certain which, of that
large Gang of God's poor, and I hope they are safe.
'The man who has them in charge informed me there were
27 safe and one boy lost during last night, about 14
years of age, without shoes; we have felt some anxiety
about him, for fear he may be taken up and betray the
rest. I have since been informed there are but 17
so that I cannot at present tell which is correct.
I have several looking out for the lad; they will be
kept from Phila. for the present. My principal
object in writing thee at this time is to inform thee of
what one of our constables told me this morning; he told
me that a colored man in Phila. who professed to be a
great friend of the colored people was a traitor; that
he had been written to by an Abolitionist in Baltimore,
to keep a look out for those slaves that left Cambridge
this night week, told him they would be likely to pass
through Wilmington on 6th day or 7th day night, and the
colored man in Phila. had written to the master of part
of them telling him the above, and the master arrived
here yesterday in consequence of the information, and
told one of our constables the above ; the man told the
name of the Baltimore writer, which he had forgotten,
but declined telling the name of the colored man in
Phila. I hope you will be able to find out who he is,
and should I be able to learn the name of the Baltimore
friend, I will put him on his Guard, respecting his
Phila. correspondents. As ever thy friend, and the
friend of Humanity, without regard to color or clime.
THOS. GARRETT.
How much truth
there was in the " constable's " story to the effect, "
that a colored man in Philadelphia, who professed to be
a great friend of the colored people, was a traitor,
etc.," the Committee never learned. As a general
tiling, colored people were true to the fugitive slave;
but now and then some unprincipled individuals, under
various pretenses, would cause us great anxiety.
LETTER FROM JOHN AUGUSTA.
DEAR SIR: -
There is Six men and women and Five children making
Eleven Persons. If you are willing to Receve them
write to me imediately and I will bring them to your To
morrow Evening I would not Have wrote this but the Times
are so much worse Financialy that I thought It best to
hear From you Before I Brought such a Crowd Down Please
Answer this and
Oblige JOHN AUGUSTA.
This
document has somewhat of a military appearance about it.
It is short and to the point. Friend Augusta
was well known in Norristown as a first-rate
hair-dresser and a prompt and trustworthy Underground
Rail Road agent. Of course a speedy answer was
returned to his note, and he was instructed to bring the
eleven passengers on to the Committee in Brotherly Love.
[pg. 111]
LETTER FROM MISS G. LEWIS ABOUT A
PORTION OF THE SAME "MEMORABLE TWENTY-EIGHT."
SUNNYSIDE, Nov. 6th, 1857
DEAR FRIEND: -
Eight more of the large company reached our place last
night, direct from Ercildown. The eight constitute
one family of them, the husband and wife with four
children under eight years of age, wish tickets of
Elmira. Three sons, nearly grown, will be
forwarded to Phila., probably by the train which passes
Phoenixville at seven o'clock of to-morrow evening the
seventh. It would be safest to meet them there.
We shall send them to Elijah with the request for
them to be sent there. And I presume they will be.
If they should not arrive you may suppose it did not
suit Elijah to send them.
We will send the money for the tickets by C. C.
Burleigh, who will be in Phila. on second day
morning. If you please, you will forward the
tickets by to-morrow's mail as we do not have a mail
again till third day. Yours hastily,
G. LEWIS.
Please give
directions for forwarding to Elmira and name the price
of tickets.
At the first
Miss Lewis thought of forwarding only a part of her
fugitive guests to the Committee in Philadelphia, but on
further consideration, all were safely sent along in due
time, and the Committee took great pains to have them
made as comfortable as possible, as the cases of these
mothers and children especially called forth the deepest
sympathy.
In this connection it seems but fitting to allude to
Captain Lee's sufferings on account of his having
brought away in a skiff, by sea, a party of four,
alluded to in the beginning of this single month's
report.
Unfortunately he was suspected, arrested, tried,
convicted, and torn from his wife and two little
children, and sent to the Richmond Penitentiary for
twenty-five years. Before being sent away from
Portsmouth, Va., where he was tried, for ten days in
succession in the prison five lashes a day were laid
heavily on his bare back. The further suffererings
of poor Lee and his heart-broken wife, and his
little daughter and son, are too painful for minute
recital. In this city the friends of Freedom did
all in their power to comfort Mrs. Lee, and
administered aid to her and her children; but she broke
down under her mournful fate and went to that bourne
from whence no traveler ever returns.
Captain Lee suffered untold misery in prison,
until he, also, not a great while before the Union
forces took possession of Richmond, sank beneath the
severity of his treatment, went likewise to the grave.
The two children for a long time were under the care of
Mr. Wm. Ingram of Philadelphia, who voluntarily,
from pure benevolence, proved himself to be a father and
a friend to them. To their poor mother also he had
been a true friend.
The way in which Captain Lee came to be
convicted, if the Committee were correctly informed and
they think they were, was substantially in this wise:
In the darkness of the night, four men, two of them
constables, one of the
[pg. 112]
other two, the owner of one of the slaves who had
been aided away by Lee, seized the wife of one of
the fugitives and took her to the woods, where the
fiends stripped every particle of clothing from her
person, tied her to a tree, and armed with knives,
cowhides and a shovel, swore vengeance against her,
declaring they would kill her if she did not testify
against Lee. vAt first she refused to reveal the
secret; indeed she knew but little to reveal; but her
savage tormentors beat her almost to death.v Under this
barbarous infliction she was constrained to implicate
Captain Lee, which was about all the evidence
the prosecution had against him. And in reality
her evidence, for two reasons, should not have weighed a
straw, as it was contrary to the laws of the State of
Virginia, to admit the testimony of colored persons
against white; then again for the reason that this
testimony was obtained wholly by brute force.
But in this instance, this woman on whom the murderous
attack had been made, was brought into court on Lee's
trial and was bid to simply make her statement with
regard to Lee's connection with the escape of her
husband. This she did of course. And in the
eyes of this chivalric court, this procedure "was all
right." But thank God the events since
those dark and dreadful days, afford abundant proof that
the All-seeing Eye was not asleep to the daily
sufferings of the poor bondman.
----------
A SLAVE GIRL'S NARRATIVE.
CORDELIA LONEY, SLAVE OF MRS.
JOSEPH CAHELL (WIDOW OF THE LATE HON. JOSEPH CAHELL, OF
VA.), OF FREDERICKSBURG, VA. - CORDELIA'S ESCAPE FROM
HER MISTRESS IN PHILADELPHIA.
Rarely did the
peculiar institution present the relations of mistress
and maid-servant in a light so apparently favorable as
in the case of Mrs. Joseph Cahell (widow of the
late Hon. Jos Cahell, of Va.), and her slave,
Cordelia. The Vigilance Committee's first
knowledge of either of these memorable personages was
brought about in the following manner.
About the 30th of March, in the year 1859, a member of
the Vigilance Committee was notified by a colored
servant, living at a fashionable boardinghouse on
Chestnut street that a lady with a slave woman from
Fredericksburg, Va., was boarding at said house, and,
that said slave woman desired to receive counsel and aid
from the Committee, as she was anxious to secure her
freedom, before her mistress returned to the South.
On further consultation about the matter, a suitable
hour was named for the meeting of the Committee and the
Slave at the above named boarding-house. Finding
that
[pg. 113]
the woman was thoroughly reliable, the Committee told
her "that two modes of deliverance were open before her.
One was to take her trunk and all her clothing and
quietly retire." The other was to "sue out a writ
of habeas corpus, and bring the mistress before the
Court, where she would be required, under the laws of
Pennsylvania, to show cause why the restrained this
woman of her freedom." Cordelia concluded
to adopt the former expedient, provided the Committee
would protect her. Without hesitation the
Committee answered her, that to the extent of their
ability, she should have their aid with pleasure,
without delay. Consequently a member of the
Committee was directed to be on hand at a given hour
that evening, as Cordelia would certainly be
ready to leave her mistress to take care of herself.
Thus, at the appointed hour, Cordelia, very
deliberately, accompanied the Committee away from her
"kind hearted old mistress."
In the quiet and security of the Vigilance Committee
Room, Cordelia related substantially the
following brief story touching her relationship as a
slave to Mrs. Joseph Cahell. In this case,
as with thousands and tens of thousands of others, as
the old adage fitly expresses it, "All is not gold that
glitters." Under this apparently pious and
noble-minded lady, it will be seen, that Cordelia
had known naught but misery and sorrow.
Mrs. Cahell, having engaged board for a month at
a fashionable private boarding-house on Chestnut street,
took an early opportunity to caution Cordelia
against going into the streets, and against having
anything to say or do with "free niggers in particular";
withal, she appeared unusually kind, so much so, that
before retiring to bed in the evening, she would call
Cordelia to her chamber, and by her side would take
her Prayer-book and Bible, and go through the forms of
devotional service. She stood very high both as a
church communicant and a lady in society.
For a fortnight it seemed as though her prayers were to
be answered, for Cordelia apparently bore herself
as submissively as ever, and Madame received calls and
accepted invitations from some of the elite of
the city, without suspecting any intention on the part
of Cordelia to escape. But Cordelia
could not forget how her children had all been sold by
her mistress!
Cordelia was about fifty-seven years of age,
with about an equal proportion of colored and white
blood in her veins; very neat, respectful and
prepossessing in manner.
From her birth to the hour of her escape she had worn
the yoke under Mrs. C., as her most efficient and
reliable maid-servant. She had been at her
mistress' beck and call as seamstress, dressing-maid,
nurse in the sickroom, etc., etc., under circumstances
that might appear to the casual observer uncommonly
favorable for a slave. Indeed, on his first
interview with her, the Committee man was so forcibly
impressed with the belief, that her condition in
Virginia had been favorable, that he hesitated to ask
her if she did not desire her liberty. A few
moments' conversation with her, however, con-
[pg. 114]
vinced him of her good sense and decision of purpose
with regard to this matter. For, in answer to the
first question he put to her, she answered, that "As
many creature comforts and religious privileges as she
had been the recipient of under her 'kind mistress,'
still she 'wanted to be free,' and 'was bound to leave,'
that she had been 'treated very cruelly;' that her
children had 'all been sold away' from her; that she had
been threatened with sale herself 'on the first
insult,'" etc."
She was willing to take the entire responsibility of
taking care of herself. On the suggestion of a
friend, before leaving her mistress, she was disposed to
sue for her freedom, but, upon a reconsideration of the
matter, she chose rather to accept the hospitality of
the Underground Rail Road, and leave in a quiet way and
go to Canada, where she would be free indeed.
Accordingly she left her mistress and was soon a free
woman.
The following sad experience she related calmly, in the
presence of several friends, an evening or two after she
left her mistress:
Two sons and two daughters had been sold from her by
her mistress, within the last three years, since the
death of her master. Three of her children had
been sold to the Richmond market and the other in Nelson
county.
Paulina was the first sold, two years ago last
May. Nat was the next; he was sold to
Abram Warrick of Richmond. Paulina was
sold before it was named to her mother that it had
entered her mistress's mind to dispose of her.
Nancy, from infancy, had been in poor health.
Nevertheless, she had been obliged to take her place in
the field with the rest of the slaves, of more rugged
constitution, until she had passed her twentieth year,
and had become a mother. Under these
circumstances, the overseer and his wife complained to
the mistress that her health was really too bad for a
field hand and begged that she might be taken where her
duties would be less oppressive. Accordingly, she
was withdrawn from the field, and was set to spinning
and weaving. When too sick to work for mistress
invariably too the ground, that "nothing was the
matter," notwithstanding the fact, that her family
physician, Dr. Ellsom, had pronounced her "quite
weakly and sick."
In an angry mood one day, Mrs. Cahell declared
she would cure her; and again sent her to the field,
"with orders to the overseer, to whip her every day, and
make her work or kill her. " Again the overseer
said it was "no use to try, for her health would not
stand it," and she was forthwith returned. The
mistress then concluded to sell her.
One Sabbath evening a nephew of hers, who resided in
New Orleans, happened to be on a visit to his aunt, when
it occurred to her, that she had "better get Nancy
off if possible." Accordingly, Nancy
was called in for examination. Being dressed in
her "Sunday best" and "before a poor candle-light," she
appeared to good advantage; and the nephew concluded to
start with her on the following Tuesday morning.
However, the next
[pg. 115]
morning, he happened to see her by the light of the sun,
and in her working garments, which satisfied him that he
had been grossly deceived; that she would barely live to
reach New Orleans; he positively refused to carry out
the previous evening's contract, thus leaving her in the
hands of her mistress, with the advice, that she should
"doctor her up."
The mistress, not disposed to be defeated, obviated the
difficulty by selecting a little boy, made a lot of the
two, and thus made it an inducement to a purchaser to
buy the sick woman; the boy and the woman brought $700.
In the sale of her children, Cordelia was as
little regarded as if she had been a cow.
"I felt wretched," she said, with emphasis, "when I
heard that Nancy had been sold," which was not
until after she had been removed. "But," she
continued, "I was not at liberty to make my grief known
to a single white soul. I wept and couldn't help
it." But remembering that she was liable, "on the
first insult," to be sold herself, she sought no
sympathy from her mistress, whom she describes as "a
woman who shows as little kindness towards her servants
as any woman in the States of America. She neither
likes to feed nor clothe well."
With regard to flogging, however, in days past, she had
been up to the mark. "A many a slap and blow" had
Cordelia received since she arrived at womanhood,
directly from the madam's own hand.
One day smarting under cruel treatment, she appealed to
her mistress in the following strain: "I stood by your
mother in all her sickness and nursed her till she
died!" "I waited on your niece, night and day for
months, till she died." "I waited upon your
husband all my life - in his sickness especially, and
shrouded him in death, etc., yet I am treated
cruelly." It was of no avail.
Her mistress, at one time, was the owner of about five
hundred slaves, but within the last few years she had
greatly lessened the number by sales.
She stood very high as a lady, and was a member of the
Episcopal Church.
To punish Cordelia, on several occasions, she
had been sent to one of the plantations to work as a
field hand. Fortunately, however, she found the
overseers more compassionate than her mistress, though
she received no particular favors from any of them.
Asking her no name to overseers, etc., she did so.
The first was "Marks, a thin-visaged, poor-looking man,
great for swearing." The second was "Gilbert
Brower, a very rash, portly man." The third
was "Buck Young, a stout man, and very sharp."
The fourth was "Lynn Powell, a tall man with red
whiskers, very contrary and spiteful." There was
also a fifth one, but his name was lost.
Thus Cordelia's experience, though chiefly
confined to the "great house," extended occasionally
over the corn and tobacco fields, among the overseers
[pg. 116]
and field hands generally. But under no
circumstances could she find it in her heart to be
thankful for the privileges of Slavery.
After leaving her mistress she learned, with no little
degree of pleasure, that a perplexed state of things
existed at the boarding-house; that her mistress was
seriously puzzled to imagine how she would get her shoes
and stockings on and off; how she would get her head
combed, get dressed, be attended to in sickness, etc, as
she (Cordelia), had been compelled to discharge
these offices all her life.
Most of the boarders, being slave-holders, naturally
sympathized in her affliction; and some of them went so
far as to offer a reward to some of the colored servants
to gain a knowledge of her whereabouts. Some
charged the servants with having a hand in her leaving,
but all agreed that “she had left a very kind and
indulgent mistress,” and had acted very foolishly in
running out of Slavery into Freedom.
A certain Doctor of Divinity, the pastor of an
Episcopal church in this city and a friend of the
mistress, hearing of her distress, by request or
voluntarily, undertook to find out Cordelia’s
place of seclusion. Hailing on the street a
certain colored man with a familiar face, who he thought
knew nearly all the colored people about town, be
related to him the predicament of his lady friend from
the South, remarked how kindly she had always treated
her servants, signified that Cordelia would rue
the change, and be left to suffer among the “miserable
blacks down town,” that she would not be able to take
care of herself; quoted Scripture justifying Slavery,
and finally suggested that he (the colored man) would be
doing a duty and a kindness to the fugitive by using his
influence to “ find her and prevail upon her to return.”
It so happened that the colored man thus addressed, was
Thomas Dorsey,
the well-known fashionable caterer of Philadelphia, who
had had the experience of quite a number of years as a
slave at the South,—had himself once been pursued as a
fugitive, and having, by his industry in the condition
of Freedom, acquired a handsome estate, he felt entirely
qualified to reply to the reverend gentleman, which he
did, though in not very respectful phrases, telling him
that Cordelia had as good a right to her liberty
as he had, or her mistress either; that God had never
intended one man to be the slave of another; that it was
all false about the slaves being better off than the
free colored people; that he would find as many “poor,
miserably degraded,”
of his own color “ down-town,” as among the “degraded
blacks”; and concluded by telling him that he would
“rather give her a hundred dollars to help her off, than
to do aught to make known her whereabouts, if he knew
ever so much about her.”
What further steps were taken by the discomfited
divine, the mistress, or her boarding-house
sympathizers, the Committee was not informed. But
with regard to Cordelia: she took her departure
for Canada, in the
[pg. 117]
midst of the Daniel Webster (fugitive) trial,
with the hope of being permitted to enjoy the remainder
of her life in Freedom and peace. Being a member
of the Baptist Church, and professing to be a Christian,
she was persuaded that, by industry and assistance of
the Lord, a way would be opened to the seeker of Freedom
even in a strange land and among strangers.
The story appeared in part of the N. Y. Evening Post,
having been furnished by the writer, without his name to
it. It is certainly none the less interesting now,
as it may be read in the light of Universal
Emancipation.
-------------------------
ARRIVAL OF JACKSON, ISAAC AND
EDMONDSON TURNER FROM PETERSBURG.
TOUCHING SCENE ON MEETING THEIR OLD
BLIND FATHER AT THE U. G. R. R. DEPOT.
LETTERS AND WARMING TO SLAVEHOLDERS.
About the
latter part of December, 1857, Isaac and
Edmondson, brothers, succeeded in making their
escape together from Petersburg, Va. They barely
escaped the auction block, as their mistress, Mrs.
Ann Colley, a widow, had just completed
arrangements for their sale on the coming first day of
January. In this kind of property, however, Mrs.
Colley had not largely invested. In the
days of her prosperity, while all was happy and
contented, she could only boast of “four head:” these
brothers, Jackson, Isaac and Edmondson
and one other. In May, 1857, Jackson had
fled and was received by the Vigilance Committee, who
placed him upon their books briefly in the following
light:
" RUNAWAY—Fifty
Dollars Reward,—Ran away some time in May last, my
Servant man, who calls himself Jackson Turner.
He is about 27 years of age, and has one of his front
teeth out. He is quite black, with thick lips, a
little bow-legged, and looks down when spoken to.
I will give a. reward of Fifty dollars if taken out of
the city, and twenty five Dollars if taken within the
city. I forewarn all masters of vessels from
harboring or employing the said slave; all persons who
disregard this Notice will be punished as the law
directs.
ANN COLLEY.
Petersburg, June 8th, 1857.”
JACKSON is quite dark, medium size, and well
informed for one in his condition. In Slavery, he
had been “ pressed hard.” His hire, “ten dollars
per month ” he was obliged to produce at the end of each
month, no matter how much he had been called upon to
expend for “doctor bills, &c.” The woman he called
mistress went by the name of Ann Colley, a
widow, living near Petersburg. “ She was very
quarrelsome,” although a “ member of the Methodist
Church.” Jackson seeing that his mistress
was yearly growing “harder and harder,” concluded to try
and better his condition if possible.” Having a
free wife in the North, who was in the habit of
[pg. 118]
communicating with him, he was kept fully awake to the
love of Freedom. The Underground Rail Road expense
the Committee gladly bore. No further record of
Jackson was made. Jackson found his
poor old father here, where he had resided for a number
of years in a state of almost total blindness, and of
course in much parental anxiety about his boys in
chains. On the arrival of Jackson, his
heart overflowed with joy and gratitude not easily
described, as the old man had hardly been able to muster
faith enough to believe that he should ever look with
his dim eyes upon one of his sons in Freedom.
After a day or two's tarrying, Jackson took his
departure for
safer and more healthful localities, - her “British
Majesty’s possessions.” The old man remained only
to feel more keenly than ever, the pang of having sons
still toiling in hopeless servitude.
In less than seven months after Jackson had
shaken off the yoke, to the unspeakable joy of the
father, Isaac and Edmondson succeeded in
following their brother’s example, and were made happy
partakers of the benefits and blessings of the Vigilance
Committee of Philadelphia. On first meeting his
two boys, at the Underground Rail Road Depot, the old
man took each one in his arms, and as looking through a
glass darkly, straining every nerve of his almost lost
sight, exclaiming, whilst hugging them closer and closer
to his bosom for some minutes, in tears of joy and
wonder, “My son Isaac, is this you? my son
Isaac, is this you, &c. ?” The scene was
calculated to awaken the deepest emotion and to bring
tears to eyes not accustomed to weep. Little had
the old man dreamed in his days of sadness, that he
should share such a feast of joy over the deliverance of
his sons. But it is in vain to attempt to picture
the affecting scene at this reunion, for that would be
impossible. Of their slave life, the records
contain but a short notice, simply as follows:
“ ISAAC is twenty-eight years of age,
hearty-looking, well made, dark color and intelligent.
He was owned by Mrs. Ann Colley, a widow,
residing near Petersburg, Va. Isaac and
Edmondson were to have been sold, on New Year’s day;
a. few days hence. How sad her disappointment must
have been on finding them gone, may be more easily
imagined than described.”
EDMONDSON is about twenty-five, a brother of
Isaac, and a smart, good looking young man, was
owned by Mrs. Colley also. “This is the
class of fugitives to make good subjects for John
Bull,” thought the Committee, feeling pretty well
assured that they would make good reports after having
enjoyed free air in Canada for a short time. Of
course, the Committee enjoined upon them very earnestly
“not to forget their brethren left behind groaning in
fetters; but to prove by their industry, uprightness,
economy, sobriety and thrift, by the remembrance of
their former days of oppression and their obligations to
their God, that they were worthy of the country to which
they were going, and so to help break the bands of the
oppressors, and
[pg. 119]
undo the heavy burdens of the oppressed.” Similar
advice was impressed upon the minds of all travelers
passing over this branch of the Underground Rail Road.
From hundreds thus admonished, letters came affording
the most gratifying evidence that the‘ counsel of the
Committee was not in vain. The appended letter
from the youngest brother, written with his own hand,
will indicate his feelings and views in Canada:
HAMILTON, CANADA, WEST Mar. 1, 1858.
MR. STILL,
DEAR SIR: - I have taken the opportunity to enform
you yur letter came to hand 27th I ware glad to hear
from you and yer family i hope this letter May fine you
and the famly Well i am Well my self My Brother
join me in Love to you and all the frend. I ware
sorry to hear of the death of Mrs. freaman.
We all must die sune or Late this a date we all must pay
we must Perpar for the time she ware a nise lady dear
sir the all is well and san thar love to you Emerline
have Ben sick But is beter at this time. I saw the
hills the war well and san thar Love to you. I war
sory to hear that My brother war sol i am glad that i
dad come away when I did god works all the things for
the Best he is young he may get a log in the wole May
god Bless hem ef you have any News from Petersburg Va
Pla Rite me a word when you answer this Letter and ef
any person came form home Letter Me know. Please
sen me one of your Paper that had the under grands R
wrod give My Love to Mr. Careter and his family I
am Seving with a barber at this time he have promust to
give he the trad ef i can lane it he is much of a
gentman. Mr. Still sir i have writing a
letter to Mr. Brown of Petersburg Va Pleas reed
it and ef you think it right Plas sen it by the Mail or
by hand you wall see how i have writen it the will know
how sent it by the way this writing ef the ancer it you
can sen it to Me i have tol them direct to yor care for
Ed. t. Smith Philadelphia i hope it may be right
i promorst to rite to hear Please rite to me sune and
let me know ef you do sen it on write wit you did with
that ma a bught the cappet Bage do not fergit to rite
tal John he mite rite to Me. I am doing as
well is i can at this time but i get no wagges But my
Bord but is satfid at that thes hard time and glad that
i am Hear and in good helth. Nothing More at this
time,
yor truly,
EDMUND TURNER.
The same
writer sent to the Corresponding Secretary the following
"Warning to Slave-holders." At the time these
documents were received, Slaveholders were neer more
defiant. The right to trample on the weak in
oppression was indisputable. "Cinnamon and odors,
and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and
fine flour and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses,
and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men," slave
-holders believed doubtless were theirs by Devine Right.
Little dreaming that in less than three short years -
'Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and
mourning, and famine." In view of the marvelous
changes which have been wrought by the hand of the
Almighty, this warning to slave-holders from one who
felt the sting of Slavery, as evincing a particular
phase of simple faith and Christian charity is entitled
to a place in these records.
A WARNING TO SLAVE-HOLDERS.
Well may the
Southern slaveholder say, that holding their Fellow men
in Bondage is no (sin, because it is their delight as
the Egyptians, so do they; but nevertheless God in his
[pg. 120]
own good, time will bring them out by a mighty hand, as
it is recorded in the sacred oracles of truth, that
Ethiopia. shall soon stretch out her hands to God,
speaking in the positive (shall). And my prayer is
to you, oh, slaveholder, in the name of that God who in
the beginning said, Let there be light, and there was
light. Let my People go that they may serve me;
thereby good may come unto thee and to thy children’s
children. Slave-holder have you seriously thought
upon the condition yourselves, family and slaves; have
you read where Christ has enjoined upon all his
creatures to read his word, thereby that they may have
no excuse when coming before his judgment seat ‘I But
you say he shall not read his word, consequently his sin
will be upon your head. I think every man has as
much as he can do to answer for his own sins. And
now my dear slave-holder, who with you are bound and
fast hastening to judgment? As one that loves your
soul repent ye, therefore, and be converted, that your
sins may be blotted out when the time of refreshing
shall come from the presence of the Lord.
In the language of the poet:
Stop, poor sinner, stop and think,
Before you further go;
Think upon the brink of death
Of everlasting woe.
Say, have you an arm like God,
That you his will oppose?
Fear you not that iron rod
With which he breaks his foes? |
Is the
prayer of one that loves your souls.
EDMUND TURNER.
N. B.
The signature bears the name of one who
knows and felt the sting of Slavery; but now, thanks
be to God, I am now where the poisonous breath
taints not our air, but every one is sitting under
his own vine and fig tree, where none dare to make
him ashamed or afraid.
EDMUND TURNER, formerly of Petersburg, Va.
HAMILTON, June 22d, 1858, C. W.
TO MR. AND
MRS. STILL, DEAR SIR: - A favorable opportunity
affords the pleasure of acknowledging the receipt of
letters and papers; certainly in this region they were
highly appreciated, and I hope the time may come that
your kindness will be reciprocated we are al well at
present, but times continue dull. I also deeply
regret the excitement recently on the account of those
slaves, you will favor me by keeping me posted upon the
subject. Those words written to slaveholder is the
thought of one who had suffered, and now I thought it a
duty incumbent upon me to cry aloud and spare not, &c.,
by sending these few lines where the slaveholder may
hear. You will still further oblige your humble
servant also, to correct any inaccuracy. My
respects to you and your family and all inquiring
friends.
Your friend and well wisher,
EDMUND TURNER.
The then
impending judgments seen by an eye of faith as set forth
in this "Warning," soon fell with crushing weight upon
the oppressor, and Slaery died. But the old blind
father of Jackson, Isaac and Edmundson,
still lives and may be seen daily on the streets of
Philadelphia; and though "halt, and lame, and blind, and
poor," doubtless resulting from his early oppression, he
can thank God and rejoice that he has lived to see
Slavery abolished.
CROSSING THE RIVER ON HORSEBACK IN THE NIGHT
[pg. 121]
ROBERT
BROWN alias THOMAS JONES.
CROSSING THE RIVER ON HORSEBACK AT
NIGHT.
In very
desperate straits many new inventions were sought after
by deep-thinking and resolute slaves, determined
to be free at any cost. But it must here be
admitted, that, in looking carefully over the more
perilous methods resorted to, Robert Brown, alias
Thomas Jones, stands second to none, with regard to
deeds of bold daring. This hero escaped from
Martinsburg, Va., in 1856. He was a man of medium
size, mulatto, about thirty-eight years of age, could
read and write, and was naturally sharp-witted. He
had formerly been owned by Col. John F. Franic
whom Robert charged with various offences of a
serious domestic character.
Furthermore, he also alleged, that his "mistress was
cruel to all the slaves," declaring that "they (the
slaves), could not live with her," that "she had to hire
servants," etc.
In order to effect his escape, Robert was
obliged to swim the Potomac river on horseback, on
Christmas night, while the cold, wind, storm, and
darkness were indescribably dismal. This daring
bondman, rather than submit to his oppressor any longer,
perilled his life as above stated. Where he
crossed the river was about a half a mile wide.
Where could be found in history a more noble and daring
struggle for Freedom?
The wife of his bosom and his four children, only five
days before he fled, were sold to a trader in Richmond,
Va., for no other offence than simply "because she had
resisted" the lustful designs of her master, being "true
to her own companion." After this poor slave
mother and her children were cast into prison for sale,
the husband and some of his friends tried hard to find a
purchaser in the neighborhood; but the malicious and
brutal master refused to sell her - wishing to gratify
his malice to the utmost, and to punish his victims all
that lay in his power, he sent them to the place above
named.
In this trying hour, the severed and bleeding heart of
the husband resolved to escape at all hazards, taking
with him a daguerreotype likeness of his wife which he
happened to have on hand, and a lock of hair from her
head, and from each of the children as mementoes of his
unbounded (though sundered) affection for them.
After crossing the river, his wet clothing freezing to
him, he rode all night, a distance of about forty miles.
In the morning he left his faithful horse tied to a
fence, quite broken down. He then commenced his
dreary journey on foot - cold and hungry - in a strange
place, where it was quite unsafe to make known his
condition and wants. Thus for a day or two,
without food or shelter, he traveled until his feet were
literally worn out, and in this condition he arrived at
Harrisburg, where he found friends. Passing over
many of the interesting incidents on the road, suffice
it to say,
[Pg. 122]
he arrived safely in this city, on New Year's night,
1857, about two hours before day break (the telegraph
having announced his coming from Harrisburg), having
been a week on the way. The night he arrived was
very cold; besides, the Underground train, that morning,
was about three hours behind time; in waiting for it,
entirely out in the cold, a member of the Vigilance
Committee thought he was frosted. But when he came
to listen to the story of the Fugitive's sufferings, his
mind changed.
Scarcely had Robert entered the house of one of
the Committee, where he was kindly received, when he
took from his pocket his wife's likeness, speaking very
touchingly while gazing upon it and showing it.
Subsequently, in speaking of his family, he showed the
locks of hair referred to, which he had carefully rolled
up in a paper separately. Unrolling them, he said,
this is my wife's;" " this is from my oldest
daughter, eleven years old;" "and this is from my next
oldest;" "and this from the next," "and this from my
infant, only eight weeks old." These mementoes he
cherished with the utmost care as the last remains of
his affectionate family. At the sight of these
locks of hair so tenderly preserved, the member of the
Committee could fully appreciate the resolution of the
fugitive in plunging into the Potomac on the back of a
dumb beast, in order to flee from a place and people who
had made such barbarous havoc in his household.
His wife, as represented by the likeness, was of fair
complexion, prepossessing, and good looking- perhaps not
over thirty-three years of age.
ANTHONY LONEY,
ALIAS WILLIAM ARMSTEAD.
ANTHONY
had been serving under the yoke of Warring Talvert,
of Richmond, Va. Anthony was of a rich
black complexion, medium size, about twenty-five years
of age. He was intelligent, and a member of the
Baptist Church. His master was a member of the
Presbyterian Church and held family prayers with the
servants. But Anthony believed seriously,
that his master prayers with the servants. But
Anthony believed seriously, that his master was no
more than a "whitened sepulchre," one who was fond of
saying, "Lord, Lord," but did not do what the Lord bade
him, consequently Anthony felt, that before the
Great Judge his "master's many prayers" would not
benefit him, as long as he continued to hold his
fellowmen in bondage. He left a father, Samuel
Loney, and mother, Rebecca also, one sister
and four brothers. His old father had bought
himself and was free; likewise his mother, being very
old, had been allowed to go free. Anthony
escaped in May, 1857.
CORNELIUS
SCOTT.
Cornelius took passage per the Underground
Rail Road, in March, 1857, from the neighborhood of
Salvington, Stafford county, Va. He
[Pg. 123]
stated that he had been claimed by Henry L. Brooke,
whom he declared to be a " hard drinker and a hard
swearer." Cornelius had been very much
bleached by the Patriarchal Institution, and he was
shrewd enough to take advantage of this circumstance.
In regions of country where men were less critical and
less experienced than Southerners, as to how the
bleaching process was brought about, Cornelius
Scott would have had no difficulty whatever in
passing for a white man of the most improved Anglo Saxon
type. Although a young man only twenty-three years
of age, and quite stout, his fair complexion was
decidedly against him. He concluded, that for this
very reason, he would not have been valued at more than
five hundred dollars in the market. He left his
mother (Ann Stubbs, and half brother,
Isaiah), and traveled as a white man.
----------
SAMUEL WILLIAMS, ALIAS JOHN
WILLIAMS
This candidate
for Canada had the good fortune to escape the clutches
of his mistress, Mrs. Elvina Duncans,
widow of the late Rev. James Duncans,
who lived near Cumberland, Md. He had very serious
complaints to allege against his mistress, "who was a
member of the Presbyterian Church." To use his own
language, "the servants in the house were treated worse
than dogs." John was thirty-two years of
age, dark chestnut color, well made, prepossessing in
appearance, and he "fled to keep from being sold."
With the Underground Rail Road he was "highly
delighted." Nor was he less pleased with the
thought, that he had caused his mistress, who was "one
of the worst women who ever lived," to lose twelve
hundred dollars by him. He escaped in March, 1857.
He did not admit that he loved slavery any the better
for the reason that his master was a preacher, or that
his mistress was the wife of a preacher. Although
a common farm hand, Samuel had common sense, and
for a long time previous had been watching closely the
conduct of his mistress, and at the same time had been
laying his plans for escaping on the Underground Rail
Road the first chance.
$100 REWARD -
My negro man Richard has been missing since
Sunday night, March 22d. I will give $100 to any
one who will secure him or deliver him to me.
Richard is thirty years old, but looks older; very
short legs, dark, but rather bright color, broad cheek
bones, a respectful and serious manner, generally looks
away when spoken to, small moustache and beard (but he
may have them off). He is a re markably
intelligent man, and can turn his hand to anything.
He took with him a bag made of Brussels carpet, with my
name written in large, rough letters on the bottom, and
a good stock of coarse and fine clothes, among them a
navy cap and a low-crowned hat. He has been seen
about New Kent C. H , and on the Pamunky river, and is
no doubt trying to get off in some vessel bound North.
April 18th, 1857
J. W. RANDOLPH, Richmond, Va.
Even at this
late date, it may perhaps afford Mr. R. a degree
of satis-
[Pg. 124]
faction to know what became of Richard; but if
this should not be the case, Richard's children,
or mother, or father, if they are living, may possibly
see these pages, and thereby be made glad by learning of
Richard's wisdom as u traveler, in the terrible
days of slave-hunting. Consequently here is what
was recorded of him, April 3d, 1857, at the Underground
Rail Road Station, just before a free ticket was
tendered him for Canada. "Richard is
thirty-three years of age, small of stature, dark color,
smart and resolute. He was owned by Captain
Tucker, of the United States Navy, from whom he
fled." He was "tired of serving, and wanted to
marry," was the cause of his escape. He had no
complaint of bad treatment to make against his owner;
indeed he said, that he had been "used well all his
life." Nevertheless, Richard felt that this
Underground Rail Road was the "greatest road he ever
saw."
When the war broke out, Richard girded on his
knapsack and went to help Uncle Sam humble
Richmond and break the yoke.
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