The Underground Railroad
couldn't walk a step without crutches, and I was her main support. I was
foreman on the farm; sometimes no body but me would work, and I was
looked up to for support. A good deal of the time I would have to attend
to her. If she was going to ride, I would have to pick her up in my arms
and put her in the carriage, and many times I would have to lift her in
her sick room. No body couldn't wait upon her but me. She had a husband,
and he had a master, and that was rum; he drank very hard, he killed
himself drinking. He was poor support. When he died, fifteen years ago,
he left three sons, Thomas, James, and Stephen, they were all together
then, only common livers. After his death about six years mistress died.
I felt sure then I would be free, but was very badly disappointed. I
went to my young masters and asked them about my freedom; they laughed
at me and said, no such thought had entered their heads, that I was to
be free. The neighbors said it was a shame that they should keep me out
of my freedom, after I had been the making of the family, and had
behaved myself so faithful. One gentleman asked master John what he
would take for me, and offered a thousand dollars; that was three months
before I ran away, and massa John said a thousand dollars wouldn't buy
one leg. I hadn't anything to hope for from them. I served them all my
life, and they didn't thank me for it. A short time before I come away
my aunt died, all the kin I had, and they wouldn't let me go to the
funeral. They said 'the time couldn't be spared.'" This was the last
straw on the camel's back.
In Lewis' grief and disappointment he decided that he would run away the
first chance that he could get, and seek a home in Canada. He held
counsel with others in whom he could confide, and they fixed on a time
to start, and resolved that they would suffer anything else but Slavery.
Lewis was delighted that he had managed so cunningly to leave master Tom
and mistress Margaret, and their six children to work for their own
living. He had an idea that they would want Lew for many things; the
only regret he felt was that he had served them so long, that they had
received his substance and strength for half a century. Fortunately
Lewis' wife escaped three days in advance of him, in accordance with a
mutual understanding. They had no children. The suffering on the road
cost Lewis a little less than death, but the joy of success came soon to
chase away the effects of the pain and hardship which had been endured.
Oscar, the next passenger, was advertised as follows:
$200 REWARD.--Ran away from the service of the Rev. J.P.
McGuire, Episcopal High School, Fairfax county, Va., on
Saturday, 10th inst, Negro Man, Oscar Payne aged 30 years, 5
feet 4 inches in height, square built, mulatto color, thick,
bushy suit of hair, round, full face, and when spoken to has a
pleasant manner--clothes not recollected.
I will give $200 for his recovery if taken out of the State, or
$150 if taken in the State, and secured that I can get him.
T.D. FENDALL.
jyl7-6t.
Such announcements never frightened the Underground Rail Road Committee;
indeed, the Committee rather preferred seeing the names of their
passengers in the papers, as, in that case, they could all the more
cautiously provide against Messrs. slave-hunters. Oscar was a "prime,
first-class article," worth $1800. The above description of him is
endorsed. His story ran thus:
"I have served under Miss Mary Dade, of Alexandria--Miss Dade was a very
clever mistress, she hired me out. When I left I was hired at the
school--High School of Virginia. With me times had been very well. No
privilege was allowed me to study books. I cannot say that I left for
any other cause than to get my freedom, as I believe I have been used as
well as any slave in the District. I left no relatives but two cousins;
my two brothers ran away, Brooks and Lawrence, but where they went I
can't tell, but would be pleased to know. Three brothers and one sister
have been sold South, can't tell where they are." Such was Oscar's brief
narrative; that he was truthful there was no room to doubt.
The next passenger was MOSES or "Mose," who looked as though he had been
exceedingly well-cared for, being plump, fat, and extra-smart. He
declared that General Briscoe, of Georgetown, D.C., had been defrauding
him out of thirteen dollars per month, this being the amount for which
he was hired, and, instead of being allowed to draw it for himself, the
general pocketed it. For this "kind treatment" he summed up what seemed
to be a true bill for ten years against the general. But he made another
charge of a still graver character: he said that the general professed
to own him. But as he (Moses) was thoroughly tired, and believed that
Slavery was no more justifiable than murder, he made up his mind to
leave and join the union party for Canada. He stated that the general
owned a large number of slaves, which he hired out principally. Moses
had no special fault to find with his master, except such as have been
alluded to, but as to mistress Briscoe, he said, that she was pretty
rough. Moses left four sisters in bondage.
David, the next member of this freedom-loving band, was an intelligent
man; his manners and movements were decidedly prepossessing. He was
about thirty-seven years of age, dark, tall, and rather of a slender
stature, possessing very large hopes. He charged Dr. Josiah Harding of
Rockville, Montgomery county, with having enslaved him contrary to his
wish or will.
As a slave, David had been required at one time to work on a farm, and
at another time to drive carriage, of course, without pay. Again he had
been bound as a waiter on the no pay system, and again he had been
called into the kitchen to cook, all for the benefit of the Doctor--the
hire going into the Dr.'s pocket. This business David protested against
in secret, but when on the Underground Rail Road his protestations were
"over and above board."
Of the Doctor, David said, that "he was clever, but a Catholic;" he also
said, that he thought his wife was "tolerable clever," although he had
never been placed under her where he would have had an opportunity of
learning her bad traits if she had any.
The Doctor had generously bargained with David, that he could have
himself by paying $1000; he had likewise figured up how the money might
be paid, and intimated what a nice thing it would be for "Dave" to wake
up some morning and find himself his own man. This was how it was to be
accomplished: Dave was to pay eighty-five dollars annually, and in about
twelve years he would have the thousand, and a little over, all made up.
On this principle and suggestion Dave had been digging faithfully and
hard, and with the aid of friends he had nearly succeeded. Just when he
was within sight of the grand prize, and just as the last payment was
about to be made, to Dave's utter surprise the Doctor got very angry one
day about some trifling matter (all pretension) and in his pretended
rage he said there were too many "free niggers" going about, and he
thought that Dave would do better as a slave, etc.
After that, all the satisfaction that he was able to get out of the
Doctor, was simply to the effect, that he had hired him to Mr. Morrison
for one hundred and fifty dollars a year. After his "lying and cheating"
in this way, David resolved that he would take his chances on the
Underground Rail Road. Not a spark of faith did he have in the Doctor.
For a time, however, before the opportunity to escape offered, he went
to Mr. Morrison as a waiter, where it was his province to wait on six of
the Judges of the Supreme Court of the United States. In the meantime
his party matured arrangements for their trip, so Dave "took out" and
left the Judges without a waiter. The more he reflected over the nature
of the wrongs he had suffered under, the less he thought of the Doctor.
Joe, who also came with this band, was half Anglo-Saxon; an able-bodied
man, thirty-four years of age. He said, that "Miss Elizabeth Gordon, a
white woman living in Alexandria," claimed him. He did not find much
fault with her. She permitted him to hire his time, find his own
clothing, etc., by which regulation Joe got along smoothly. Nevertheless
he declared, that he was tired of wearing the yoke, and felt constrained
to throw it off as soon as possible. Miss Gordon was getting old, and
Joe noticed that the young tribe of nephews and nieces was multiplying
in large numbers. This he regarded as a very bad sign; he therefore,
gave the matter of the Underground Rail Road his serious attention, and
it was not long ere he was fully persuaded that it would be wisdom for
him to tarry no longer in the prison-house. Joe had a wife and four
children, which were as heavy weights to hold him in Virginia, but the
spirit of liberty prevailed. Joe, also, left two sisters, one free, the
other a slave. His wife belonged to the widow Irwin. She had assured her
slaves, that she had "provided for them in her will," and that at her
death all would be freed. They were daily living on the faith thus
created, and obviously thought the sooner the Lord relieved the old
mistress of her earthly troubles the better.
Although Joe left his wife and children, he did not forget them, but had
strong faith they would be reunited. After going to Canada, he addressed
several letters to the Secretary of the Committee concerning his family,
and as will be seen by the following, he looked with ardent hopes for
their arrival:
TORONTO, Nov. 7th, 1857.
DEAR MR. STILL:--As I must again send you a letter fealing
myself oblidge to you for all you have done and your kindness.
Dear Sir my wife will be on to Philadelphia on the 8th 7th, and
I would you to look out for her and get her an ticket and send
her to me Toronto. Her name are May Ball with five children.
Please send her as soon as you can.
Yours very truly,
JOSEPH BALL.
Will you please to telegrape to me, No. 31 Dummer st.
Jake, another member of the company of nine, was twenty-two years of
age, of dark hue, round-made, keen eyes, and apparently a man of
superior intelligence. Unfortunately his lot had been of such a nature
that no helping opportunity had been afforded for the cultivation of his
mind.
He condemned in very strong terms a man by the name of Benjamin B.
Chambers, who lived near Elkton, but did not there require the services
of Jake, hiring Jake out just as he would have hired a horse, and
likewise keeping his pay. Jake thought that if justice could have been
awarded him, Chambers would either have had to restore that of which he
had wronged him, or expiate the wrong in prison.
Jake, however, stood more in awe of a young master, who was soon likely
to come into power, than he did of the old master. This son had already
given Jake to understand that once in his hands it "wouldn't be long
before he would have him jingling in his pocket," signifying, that he
would sell him as soon as his father was gone.
The manner of the son stirred Jake's very blood to boiling heat it
seemed. His suffering, and the suffering of his fellow-bondsmen had
never before appeared so hard. The idea that he must work, and be sold
at the pleasure of another, made him decide to "pull up stakes," and
seek refuge elsewhere. Such a spirit as he possessed could not rest in
servitude.
Mary Ann, the wife of Jake, who accompanied him, was a pleasant-looking
bride. She said that she was owned by "Elias Rhoads, a farmer, and a
pretty fair kind of a man." She had been treated very well.
John and Henry Dade, ages twenty and twenty-five years, were from