The Underground Railroad
This affair occurred in Chester county, one of the most orderly
and intelligent counties in the State, a county settled
principally by Quakers. A week or two after this occurrence, and
not far from the same place, a farmhouse was entered by a band
of armed ruffians, in the evening, and at a time when all the
able-bodied occupants, save one, were known to be absent. This
was a colored man, who was seated by the kitchen fire, and in
the act of taking off his shoes. He was instantly knocked down
and gagged; but, still resisting, he was beaten most
unmercifully. There was a woman, and also a feeble old man, in
the house, who were attracted to the spot by the scuffle; but
they could neither render any assistance, nor (the light being
put out), could they recognize the parties engaged in it. The
unhappy victim being fairly overcome, was dragged like a slain
beast to a wagon, which was about a hundred yards distant,
waiting to receive him. In this he was placed, and conveyed
across the line, which was about twenty miles further south; and
that was the last, so far as I know, that has ever been heard of
him. The alarm was given, of course, as soon as possible, and
the neighbors were quickly in pursuit; but the kidnappers had
got the start of them. The next morning the trail between the
house, and the place where the wagon stood, was distinctly
visible, and deeply marked with blood.
About a fortnight since, a letter was brought to our office,
from a well-known friend, the contents of which were in
substance as follows: A case of kidnapping had occurred in the
vicinity of West Cain Township, Chester county, at about half
past one on Sunday morning, the 16th March. A black man, by the
name of Thomas Hall, an honest, sober, and industrious
individual, living in the midst of a settlement of farmers, had
been stolen by persons who knocked at his door, and told him
that his nearest neighbor wanted him to come to his house, one
of his children being sick. Hall, not immediately opening his
door, it was burst in, and three men rushed into his house; Hall
was felled by the bludgeons of the men. His wife received
several severe blows, and on making for the door was told, that
if she attempted to go out or halloo, she would have her brains
blown out. She, however, escaped through a back window, and gave
the alarm; but before any person arrived upon the ground, they
had fled with their victim. He was taken without any clothing,
except his night clothes. A six-barrelled revolver, heavily
loaded, was dropped in the scuffle, and left; also a silk
handkerchief, and some old advertisement of a bear bait, that
was to take place in Emmittsburg, Maryland. In how many cases
the persons stolen are legally liable to capture, it is
impossible to state. The law, you know, authorizes arrests to be
made, with or without process, and nothing is easier under such
circumstances than to kidnap persons who are free born.
The very same day that I received the above mentioned letter,
and while our hearts were still aching over its contents,
another was brought us from Thomas Garrett, of Wilmington,
Delaware, announcing the abduction, a night or two before, of a
free colored man of that city. The outrage was committed by an
ex-policeman, who, pretending to be acting under the commission
which he had been known to hold, entered, near the hour of
midnight, the house of the victim, and alleging against him some
petty act of disorder, seized him, handcuffed him in the
presence of his dismayed family, and carried him off to
Maryland. The cheat that had been practised was not discovered
by the family until next evening; but it was too late, the man
was gone.
At the time Mr. Garrett's letter was handed to me, narrating the
foregoing case of man stealing, I was listening to the sad tales
of two colored women, who had come to the office for advice and
assistance. One of them was an elderly person, whose son had
been pursued by the marshal's deputies, and who had just escaped
with 'the skin of his teeth.' She did not come on her own
account, however; her heart was too full of joy for that. She
came to accompany the young woman who was with her. This young
woman was a remarkably intelligent, lady-like person, and her
story made a strong appeal to my feelings. She is a resident of
Washington, and her errand here was, to procure the liberation
of a sister-in-law, who is confined in that city, under very
peculiar circumstances. The sister-in-law had absconded from her
mistress about nine months since, and was secreted in the room
of an acquaintance, who was cook in a distinguished
slave-holding family in Washington; her intention being, there
to wait until all search should be over, and an opportunity
offer of escape to the North. But, as yet, no such opportunity
had presented itself; at least none that was available, and for
nine long months had that poor girl been confined in the narrow
limits of the cook's chamber, watched over day and night by that
faithful friend with a vigilance as sleepless as it was
disinterested. The time had now come, however, when something
must be done. The family in whose house she is hid is about to
be broken up, and the house to be vacated, and the girl must
either be rescued from her peril, or she, and all her
accomplices must be exposed. What to do under these
circumstances was the question which brought this woman to
Philadelphia. I advised her to the best of my ability, and sent
her away hopeful, if not rejoicing.
But in many of these cases we can render no aid whatever. All we
can do is to commend them to the God of the oppressed, and labor
on for the day of general deliverance. But, oh! the horrors of
this hell-born system, and the havoc made by this; its last foul
offspring, the Fugitive Slave law. The anguish, the terror, the
agony inflicted by this infamous statute, must be witnessed to
be fully appreciated. You must hear the tale of the
broken-hearted mother, who has just received tidings that her
son is in the hands of man-thieves. You must listen to the
impassioned appeal of the wife, whose husband's retreat has been
discovered, and whose footsteps are dogged by the blood-hounds
of Slavery. You must hear the husband, as I did, a few weeks
ago, himself bound and helpless, beg you for God's sake to save
his wife. You must see such a woman as Hannah Dellam, with her
noble-looking boy at her side, pleading in vain before a
pro-slavery judge, that she is of right free; that her son is
entitled to his freedom; and above all, that her babe, about to
be born, should be permitted to open its eyes upon the light of
liberty. You must hear the judge's decision, remorselessly
giving up the woman with her children born and unborn, into the
hands of their claimants--by them to be carried to the slave
prison, and thence to be sold to a returnless distance from the
remaining but scattered fragments of her once happy family.
These things you must see and hear for yourself before you can
form any adequate idea of the bitterness of this cup which the
unhappy children of oppression along this southern border are
called upon to drink. Manifestations like these have we been
obliged either to witness ourselves, or hear the recital of from
others, almost daily, for weeks together. Our aching hearts of
late, have known but little respite. A shadow has been cast over
our home circles, and a check been given to the wonted
cheerfulness of our families. One night, the night that the
woman and the boy and the unborn babe received their doom, my
wife, long after midnight, literally wept herself to sleep. For
the last fortnight we have had no new cases; but even now, when
I go home in the evening, if I happen to look more serious than
usual, my wife notices it, and asks: "Is there another slave
case?" and my little girls look up anxiously for my reply.
* * * * *
From Miss MARY B. THOMAS.
Daring outrage! burglary and kidnapping! The following letter tells its
own startling and most painful story. Every manly and generous heart
must burn with indignation at the villainy it describes, and bleed with
sympathy for the almost broken-hearted sufferers.
DOWNINGTOWN, 19th, 4th mo., 1848.
"My Dear Friend:--This morning our family was aroused by the
screams of a young colored girl, who has been living with us
nearly a year past; but we were awakened only in time to see her
borne off by three white men, ruffians indeed, to a carriage at
our door, and in an instant she was on her way to the South. I
feel so much excited by the attendant circumstances of this
daring and atrocious deed, as scarcely to be able to give you a
coherent account of it, but I know that it is a duty to make it
known, and, I therefore write this immediately.
"As soon as the house was opened in the morning, these men who
were lurking without, having a carriage in waiting in the
street, entered on their horrid errand. They encountered no one
in their entrance, except a colored boy, who was making the
fire; and who, being frightened at their approach, ran and hid
himself; taking a lighted candle from the kitchen, and carrying
it up stairs, they went directly to the chamber in which the
poor girl lay in a sound sleep. They lifted her from her bed and
carried her down stairs. In the entry of the second floor they
met one of my sisters, who, hearing an unusual noise, had sprung
from her bed. Her screams, and those of the poor girl, who was
now thoroughly awakened to the dreadful truth, aroused my
father, who hurried undressed from his chamber, on the ground
floor. My father's efforts were powerless against the three;
they threw him off, and with frightful imprecations hurried the
girl to the carriage. Quickly as possible my father started in
pursuit, and reached West Chester only to learn that the
carriage had driven through the borough at full speed, about
half an hour before. They had two horses to their vehicle, and
there were three men besides those in the house. These
particulars we gather from the colored boy Ned, who, from his
hiding-place, was watching them in the road.
"Can anything be done for the rescue of this girl from the
kidnappers? We are surprised and alarmed! This deliberate
invasion of our house, is a thing unimagined. There must be some
informer, who is acquainted with our house and its arrangements,
or they never would have come so boldly through. Truly, there is
no need to preach about Slavery in the abstract, this individual
case combines every wickedness by which human nature can be
degraded.
Truly, thy friend,
MARY B. THOMAS."
In a subsequent letter, our friend says: "As to detail, the whole
transaction was like a flash to those who saw the miserable ending. I
was impelled to write without delay, by the thought that it would be in
time for the 'Freeman,' and that any procrastination on my part, might
jeopard others of these suffering people, who are living, as was this
poor girl, in fancied security. Our consternation was inexpressible; our
sorrow and indignation deepen daily, as the thought returns of the awful