The Underground Railroad
of being a slave again is miserable. I hope heaven will smile
upon me again, before I am one again. I will leave Canada again
shortly, but I don't name the place that I go, it may be in the
bottom of the ocean. If I had known as much before I left, as I
do now, I would never have left until I could have found means
to have brought her with me. You have never suffered from being
absent from a wife, as I have. I consider that to be nearly
superior to death, and hope you will do all you can for me, and
inquire from your friends if nothing can be done for me. Please
write to me immediately on receipt of this, and say something
that will cheer up my drooping spirits. You will oblige me by
seeing Mr. Brown and ask him if he would oblige me by going to
Richmond and see my wife, and see what arrangements he could
make with her, and I would be willing to pay all his expenses
there and back. Please to see both Mr. Bagnel and Mr. Minkins,
and ask them if they have seen my wife. I am determined to see
her, if I die the next moment. I can say I was once happy, but
never will be again, until I see her; because what is freedom to
me, when I know that my wife is in slavery? Those persons that
you shipped a few weeks ago, remained at St. Catherine, instead
of coming over to Toronto. I sent you two letters last week and
I hope you will please attend to them. The post-office is shut,
so I enclose the money to pay the post, and please write me in
haste.
I remain evermore your obedient servant,
I. FORMAN.
WILLIS REDICK.
He was owned by S.J. Wilson, a merchant, living in Portsmouth, Va.
Willis was of a very dark hue, thick set, thirty-two years of age, and
possessed of a fair share of mind. The owner had been accustomed to hire
Willis out for "one hundred dollars a year." Willis thought his lot
"pretty hard," and his master rather increased this notion by his
severity, and especially by "threatening" to sell him. He had enjoyed,
as far as it was expected for a slave to do, "five months of married
life," but he loved slavery no less on this account. In fact he had just
begun to consider what it was to have a wife and children that he "could
not own or protect," and who were claimed as another's property.
Consequently he became quite restive under these reflections and his
master's ill-usage, and concluded to "look out," without consulting
either the master or the young wife.
This step looked exceedingly hard, but what else could the poor fellow
do? Slavery existed expressly for the purpose of crushing souls and
breaking tender hearts.
* * * * *
WILLIAM DAVIS.
William might be described as a good-looking mulatto, thirty-one years
of age, and capable of thinking for himself. He made no grave complaints
of ill-usage under his master, "Joseph Reynolds," who lived at Newton,
Portsmouth, Va. However, his owner had occasionally "threatened to sell
him." As this was too much for William's sensitive feelings, he took
umbrage at it and made a hasty and hazardous move, which resulted in
finding himself on the U.G.R.R. The most serious regret William had to
report to the Committee was, that he was compelled to "leave" his
"wife," Catharine, and his little daughter, Louisa, two years and one
month, and an infant son seven months old. He evidently loved them very
tenderly, but saw no way by which he could aid them, as long as he was
daily liable to be put on the auction block and sold far South. This
argument was regarded by the Committee as logical and unanswerable;
consequently they readily endorsed his course, while they deeply
sympathized with his poor wife and little ones. "Before escaping," he
"dared not" even apprise his wife and child, whom he had to leave behind
in the prison house.
* * * * *
JOSEPH HENRY CAMP.
THE AUCTION BLOCK IS DEFEATED AND A SLAVE TRADER LOSES FOURTEEN HUNDRED
DOLLARS.
In November, 1853, in the twentieth year of his age, Camp was held to
"service or labor" in the City of Richmond, Va., by Dr. K. Clark. Being
uncommonly smart and quite good-looking at the same time, he was a
saleable piece of merchandise. Without consulting his view of the matter
or making the least intimation of any change, the master one day struck
up a bargain with a trader for Joseph, and received _Fourteen Hundred
Dollars cash_ in consideration thereof. Mr. Robert Parrett, of Parson &
King's Express office, happened to have a knowledge of what had
transpired, and thinking pretty well of Joseph, confidentially put him
in full possession of all the facts in the case. For reflection he
hardly had five minutes. But he at once resolved to strike that day for
freedom--not to go home that evening to be delivered into the hands of
his new master. In putting into execution his bold resolve, he secreted
himself, and so remained for three weeks. In the meantime his mother,
who was a slave, resolved to escape also, but after one week's gloomy
foreboding, she became "faint-hearted and gave the struggle over." But
Joseph did not know what surrender meant. His sole thought was to
procure a ticket on the U.G.R.R. for Canada, which by persistent effort
he succeeded in doing. He hid himself in a steamer, and by this way
reached Philadelphia, where he received every accommodation at the usual
depot, was provided with a free ticket, and sent off rejoicing for
Canada. The unfortunate mother was "detected and sold South."
* * * * *
SHERIDAN FORD.
SECRETED IN THE WOODS--ESCAPES IN A STEAMER.
About the twenty-ninth of January, 1855, Sheridan arrived from the Old
Dominion and a life of bondage, and was welcomed cordially by the
Vigilance Committee. Miss Elizabeth Brown of Portsmouth, Va. claimed
Sheridan as her property. He spoke rather kindly of her, and felt that
he "had not been used very hard" as a general thing, although, he wisely
added, "the best usage was bad enough." Sheridan had nearly reached his
twenty-eighth year, was tall and well made, and possessed of a
considerable share of intelligence.
Not a great while before making up his mind to escape, for some trifling
offence he had been "stretched up with a rope by his hands," and
"whipped unmercifully." In addition to this he had "got wind of the
fact," that he was to be auctioneered off; soon these things brought
serious reflections to Sheridan's mind, and among other questions, he
began to ponder how he could get a ticket on the U.G.R.R., and get out
of this "place of torment," to where he might have the benefit of his
own labor. In this state of mind, about the fourteenth day of November,
he took his first and daring step. He went not, however, to learned
lawyers or able ministers of the Gospel in his distress and trouble, but
wended his way "directly to the woods," where he felt that he would be
safer with the wild animals and reptiles, in solitude, than with the
barbarous civilization that existed in Portsmouth.
The first day in the woods he passed in prayer incessantly, all alone.
In this particular place of seclusion he remained "four days and
nights," "two days suffered severely from hunger, cold and thirst."
However, one who was a "friend" to him, and knew of his whereabouts,
managed to get some food to him and consoling words; but at the end of
the four days this friend got into some difficulty and thus Sheridan was
left to "wade through deep waters and head winds" in an almost hopeless
state. There he could not consent to stay and starve to death.
Accordingly he left and found another place of seclusion--with a friend
in the town--for a pecuniary consideration. A secret passage was
procured for him on one of the steamers running between Philadelphia and
Richmond, Va. When he left his poor wife, Julia, she was then "lying in
prison to be sold," on the simple charge of having been suspected of
conniving at her husband's escape. As a woman she had known something of
the "barbarism of slavery", from every-day experience, which the large
scars about her head indicated--according to Sheridan's testimony. She
was the mother of two children, but had never been allowed to have the
care of either of them. The husband, utterly powerless to offer her the
least sympathy in word or deed, left this dark habitation of cruelty, as
above referred to, with no hope of ever seeing wife or child again in
this world.
The Committee afforded him the usual aid and comfort, and passed him on
to the next station, with his face set towards Boston. He had heard the
slaveholders "curse" Boston so much, that he concluded it must be a
pretty safe place for the fugitive.
* * * * *
JOSEPH KNEELAND, ALIAS JOSEPH HULSON.
Joseph Kneeland arrived November 25, 1853. He was a prepossessing man of
twenty-six, dark complexion, and intelligent. At the time of Joseph's
escape, he was owned by Jacob Kneeland, who had fallen heir to him as a
part of his father's estate. Joseph spoke of his old master as having
treated him "pretty well," but he had an idea that his young master had
a very "malignant spirit;" for even before the death of his old master,
the heir wanted him, "Joe," sold, and after the old man died, matters
appeared to be coming to a crisis very fast. Even as early as November,
the young despot had distinctly given "Joe" to understand, that he was
not to be hired out another year, intimating that he was to "go
somewhere," but as to particulars, it was time enough for Joe to know
them.
Of course "Joe" looked at his master "right good" and saw right through
him, and at the same time, saw the U.G.R.R., "darkly." Daily slavery
grew awfully mean, but on the other hand, Canada was looked upon as a
very desirable country to emigrate to, and he concluded to make his way
there, as speedily as the U.G.R.R. could safely convey him. Accordingly
he soon carried his design into practice, and on his arrival, the
Committee regarded him as a very good subject for her British Majesty's
possessions in Canada.
* * * * *
EX-PRESIDENT TYLER'S HOUSEHOLD LOSES AN ARISTOCRATIC "ARTICLE."
James Hambleton Christian is a remarkable specimen of the "well fed,
&c." In talking with him relative to his life as a slave, he said very
promptly, "I have always been treated well; if I only have half as good
times in the North as I have had in the South, I shall be perfectly
satisfied. Any time I desired spending money, five or ten dollars were
no object." At times, James had borrowed of his master, one, two, and
three hundred dollars, to loan out to some of his friends. With regard
to apparel and jewelry, he had worn the best, as an every-day adornment.
With regard to food also, he had fared as well as heart could wish, with
abundance of leisure time at his command. His deportment was certainly
very refined and gentlemanly. About fifty per cent. of Anglo-Saxon blood
was visible in his features and his hair, which gave him no
inconsiderable claim to sympathy and care. He had been to William and
Mary's College in his younger days, to wait on young master James B.C.,
where, through the kindness of some of the students he had picked up a
trifling amount of book learning. To be brief, this man was born the
slave of old Major Christian, on the Glen Plantation, Charles City
county, Va. The Christians were wealthy and owned many slaves, and
belonged in reality to the F.F.V's. On the death of the old Major, James
fell into the hands of his son, Judge Christian, who was executor to his
father's estate. Subsequently he fell into the hands of one of the