The Underground Railroad
faith that the Almighty would punish slave-holders severely for their
wickedness.
* * * * *
ARRIVAL FROM VIRGINIA, 1858.
ALFRED S. THORNTON.
The subject of this sketch was a young man about twenty-two years of
age, of dark color, but bright intellectually. Alfred found no fault
with the ordinary treatment received at the hands of his master; he had
evidently been on unusually intimate terms with him. Nor was any fault
found with his mistress, so far as her treatment of him was concerned;
thus, comparatively, he was "happy and contented," little dreaming of
trader or a change of owners. One day, to his utter surprise, he saw a
trader with a constable approaching him. As they drew nearer and nearer
he began to grow nervous. What further took place will be given, as
nearly as possible, in Alfred's own words as follows:
"William Noland (a constable), and the trader was making right
up to me almost on my heels, and grabbed at me, they were so
near. I flew, I took off-my hat and run, took off my jacket and
run harder, took off my vest and doubled my pace, the constable
and the trader both on the chase hot foot. The trader fired two
barrels of his revolver after me, and cried out as loud as he
could call, G----d d----n, etc., but I never stopped running,
but run for my master. Coming up to him, I cried out, Lord,
master, have you sold me? 'Yes,' was his answer. 'To the
trader,' I said. 'Yes,' he answered. 'Why couldn't you sold me
to some of the neighbors?' I said. 'I don't know,' he said, in a
dry way. With my arms around my master's neck, I begged and
prayed him to tell me why he had sold me. The trader and
constable was again pretty near. I let go my master and took to
my heels to save me. I run about a mile off and run into a mill
dam up to my head in water. I kept my head just above and hid
the rest part of my body for more than two hours. I had not made
up my mind to escape until I had got into the water. I run only
to have little more time to breathe before going to Georgia or
New Orleans; but I pretty soon made up my mind in the water to
try and get to a free State, and go to Canada and make the trial
anyhow, but I didn't know which way to travel."
Such great changes in Alfred's prospects having been wrought in so short
a while, together with such a fearful looking-for of a fate in the far
South more horrid than death, suddenly, as by a miracle, he turns his
face in the direction of the North. But the North star, as it were, hid
its face from him. For a week he was trying to reach free soil, the rain
scarcely ceasing for an hour. The entire journey was extremely
discouraging, and many steps had to be taken in vain, hungry and weary.
But having the faith of those spoken of in the Scriptures, who wandered
about in dens and caves of the earth, being destitute, afflicted and
tormented, he endured to the end and arrived safely to the Committee.
He left his father and mother, both slaves, living near Middleburg, in
Virginia, not far from where he said his master lived, who went by the
name of C.E. Shinn, and followed farming. His master and mistress were
said to be members of the "South Baptist Church," and both had borne
good characters until within a year or so previous to Alfred's
departure. Since then a very serious disagreement had taken place
between them, resulting in their separation, a heavy lawsuit, and
consequently large outlays. It was this domestic trouble, in Alfred's
opinion, that rendered his sale indispensable. Of the merits of the
grave charges made by his master against his mistress, Alfred professed
to have formed no opinion; he knew, however, that his master blamed a
school-master, by the name of Conway, for the sad state of things in his
household. Time would fail to tell of the abundant joy Alfred derived
from the fact, that his "heels" had saved him from a Southern market.
Equally difficult would it be to express the interest felt by the
Committee in this passenger and his wonderful hair-breadth escape.
* * * * *
ARRIVAL FROM BELLEAIR.
JULIUS SMITH, WIFE MARY, AND BOY JAMES, HENRY AND EDWARD SMITH, AND JACK
CHRISTY.
While this party was very respectable in regard to numbers and enlisted
much sympathy, still they had no wounds or bruises to exhibit, or very
hard reports to make relative to their bondage. The treatment that had
been meted out to them was about as tolerant as Slavery could well
afford; and the physical condition of the passengers bore evidence that
they had been used to something better than herring and corn cake for a
diet.
Julius, who was successful enough to bring his wife and boy with him,
was a wonderful specimen of muscular proportions. Although a young man,
of but twenty-five, he weighed two hundred and twenty-five pounds; he
was tall and well-formed from the crown of his head to the soles of his
feet. Nor was he all muscle by a great deal; he was well balanced as to
mother wit and shrewdness.
In looking back into the pit from whence he had been delivered he could
tell a very interesting story of what he had experienced, from which it
was evident that he had not been an idle observer of what had passed
relative to the Peculiar Institution; especially was it very certain
that he had never seen anything lovely or of good report belonging to
the system. So far as his personal relations were concerned, he
acknowledged that a man named Mr. Robert Hollan, had assumed to impose
himself upon him as master, and that this same man had also wrongfully
claimed all his time, denied him all common and special privileges;
besides he had deprived him of an education, etc., which looked badly
enough before he left Maryland, but in the light of freedom, and from a
free State stand-point, the idea that "man's inhumanity to man" should
assume such gigantic proportions as to cause him to seize his fellow-man
and hold him in perpetual bondage, was marvellous in the extreme.
Julius had been kept in the dark in Maryland, but on free soil, the
light rushed in upon his astonished vision to a degree almost
bewildering. That his master was a man of "means and pretty high
standing"--Julius thought was not much to his credit since they were
obtained from unpaid labor. In his review allusion was made not only to
his master, but also to his mistress, in which he said that she was "a
quarrelsome and crabbed woman, middling stout." In order to show a
reason why he left as he did, he stated that "there had been a fuss two
or three times" previous to the escape, and it had been rumored "that
somebody would have to be sold soon." This was what did the mischief so
far as the "running away" was concerned. Julius' color was nearly jet
black, and his speech was very good considering his lack of book
learning; his bearing was entirely self-possessed and commendable.
His wife and boy shared fully in his affections, and seemed well pleased
to have their faces turned Canada-ward. It is hardly necessary to say
more of them here.
Henry was about twenty-three years of age, of an active turn, brown
skin, and had given the question of freedom his most serious attention,
as his actions proved. While he could neither read nor write, he could
think. From the manner in which he expressed himself, with regard to
Robert Hollan, no man in the whole range of his recollections will be
longer remembered than he; his enthralment while under Hollan will
hardly ever be forgotten. Any being who had been thus deprived of his
rights, could hardly fail to command sympathy; in cases like this,
however, the sight and language of such an one was extremely impressive.
Of this party, Edward, a boy of seventeen, called forth much sympathy;
he too was claimed by Hollan. He was of a good physical make-up, and
seemed to value highly the great end he had in view, namely, a residence
in Canada.
* * * * *
ARRIVAL FROM MARYLAND, 1858.
JOHN WESLEY COMBASH, JACOB TAYLOR, AND THOMAS EDWARD SKINNER.
The revelations made by these passengers were painful to listen to, and
would not have been credited if any room had existed for doubt.
John Wesley was thirty-two years of age, of a lively turn, pleasant
countenance, dark color, and ordinary size. In unburdening his mind to
the Committee the all-absorbing theme related to the manner in which he
had been treated as a slave, and the character of those who had
oppressed him. He stated that he had been the victim of a man or party,
named Johnson, in whose family John had been a witness to some of the
most high-handed phases of barbarism; said he, "these Johnsons were
notorious for abusing their servants. A few years back one of their
slaves, a coachman, was kept on the coach box one cold night when they
were out at a ball until he became almost frozen to death, in fact he
did die in the infirmary from the effects of the frost about one week
afterwards."
"Another case was that of a slave woman in a very delicate state, who
was one day knocked down stairs by Mrs. Johnson herself, and in a few
weeks after, the poor woman died from the effects of the injury thus
received. The doctor who attended the injured creature in this case was
simply told that she slipped and fell down stairs as she was coming
down. Colored witnesses had no right to testify, and the doctor was
mute, consequently the guilty escaped wholly unpunished." "Another
case," said John Wesley, "was a little girl, half-grown, who was washing
windows up stairs one day, and unluckily fell asleep in the window, and
in this position was found by her mistress; in a rage the mistress hit
her a heavy slap, knocked her out of the window, and she fell to the
pavement, and died in a few hours from the effects thereof. The mistress
professed to know nothing about it, simply said, 'she went to sleep and
fell out herself.' As usual nothing was done in the way of punishment."
These were specimens of the inner workings of the peculiar institution.
John, however, had not only observed Slavery from a domestic
stand-point, he had also watched master and mistress abroad as visitors
and guests in other people's houses, noticed not only how they treated
white people, but also how they treated black people. "These Johnsons
thought that they were first-rate to their servants. When visiting among
their friends they were usually very polite, would bow and scrape more
than a little, even to colored people, knowing that their names were in
bad odor, on account of their cruelty, for they had been in the papers
twice about how they abused their colored people."
As to advertising him, John gave it as his opinion that they would be
ashamed to do it from the fact that they had already rendered themselves
more notorious than they had bargained for, on account of their cruelty
towards their slaves; they were wealthy, and courted the good opinion of
society. Besides they were members of the Presbyterian Church, and John
thought that they were very willing that people should believe that they
were great saints. On the score of feeding and clothing John gave them
credit, saying that "the clothing was good enough, they liked to see the
house servants dressed;" he spoke too of the eating as being all right,
but added, that "very often time was not allowed them to finish their
meals." Respecting work, John bore witness that they were very sharp.
With John's intelligence, large observation, good memory, and excellent
natural abilities, with the amount of detail that he possessed, nothing
more would have been needed for a thrilling book than the facts and