I attempted to pass out by him, and he caught hold of me, and
drew a pistol, swearing if I did not stop he would shoot me down.
drew a pistol, swearing if I did not stop he would shoot me down.
Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb, an American Slave, Written
Who can imagine what could be the feelings of a father
and mother, when looking upon their infant child whipped and tortured
with impunity, and they placed in a situation where they could afford
it no protection. But we were all claimed and held as property; the
father and mother were slaves!
On this same plantation I was compelled to stand and see my wife
shamefully scourged and abused by her master; and the manner in which
this was done, was so violently and inhumanly committed upon the
person of a female, that I despair in finding decent language to
describe the bloody act of cruelty. My happiness or pleasure was then
all blasted; for it was sometimes a pleasure to be with my little
family even in slavery. I loved them as my wife and child. Little
Frances was a pretty child; she was quiet, playful, bright, and
interesting. She had a keen black eye, and the very image of her
mother was stamped upon her cheek; but I could never look upon the
dear child without being filled with sorrow and fearful apprehensions,
of being separated by slaveholders, because she was a slave, regarded
as property. And unfortunately for me, I am the father of a slave, a
word too obnoxious to be spoken by a fugitive slave. It calls fresh to
my mind the separation of husband and wife; of stripping, tying up and
flogging; of tearing children from their parents, and selling them on
the auction block. It calls to mind female virtue trampled under foot
with impunity. But oh! when I remember that my daughter, my only
child, is still there, destined to share the fate of all these
calamities, it is too much to bear. If ever there was any one act of
my life while a slave, that I have to lament over, it is that of being
a father and a husband of slaves. I have the satisfaction of knowing
that I am only the father of one slave. She is bone of my bone, and
flesh of my flesh; poor unfortunate child. She was the first and shall
be the last slave that ever I will father, for chains and slavery on
this earth.
FOOTNOTES:
[2] The distinction among slaves is as marked, as the classes of
society are in any aristocratic community. Some refusing to associate
with others whom they deem beneath them in point of character, color,
condition, or the superior importance of their respective masters.
CHAPTER IV.
_My first adventure for liberty. --Parting Scene. --Journey up the
river. --Safe arrival in Cincinnati. --Journey to Canada. --Suffering
from cold and hunger. --Denied food and shelter by some. --One noble
exception. --Subsequent success. --Arrival at Perrysburgh. --I obtained
employment through the winter. --My return to Kentucky to get my
family. _
In the fall or winter of 1837 I formed a resolution that I would
escape, if possible, to Canada, for my Liberty. I commenced from that
hour making preparations for the dangerous experiment of breaking the
chains that bound me as a slave. My preparation for this voyage
consisted in the accumulation of a little money, perhaps not exceeding
two dollars and fifty cents, and a suit which I had never been seen or
known to wear before; this last was to avoid detection.
On the twenty-fifth of December, 1837, my long anticipated time had
arrived when I was to put into operation my former resolution, which
was to bolt for Liberty or consent to die a Slave. I acted upon the
former, although I confess it to be one of the most self-denying acts
of my whole life, to take leave of an affectionate wife, who stood
before me on my departure, with dear little Frances in her arms, and
with tears of sorrow in her eyes as she bid me a long farewell. It
required all the moral courage that I was master of to suppress my
feelings while taking leave of my little family.
Had Malinda known my intention at that time, it would not have been
possible for me to have got away, and I might have this day been a
slave. Notwithstanding every inducement was held out to me to run away
if I would be free, and the voice of liberty was thundering in my very
soul, "Be free, oh, man! be free," I was struggling against a thousand
obstacles which had clustered around my mind to bind my wounded spirit
still in the dark prison of mental degradation. My strong attachments
to friends and relatives, with all the love of home and birth-place
which is so natural among the human family, twined about my heart and
were hard to break away from. And withal, the fear of being pursued
with guns and blood-hounds, and of being killed, or captured and
taken to the extreme South, to linger out my days in hopeless bondage
on some cotton or sugar plantation, all combined to deter me. But I
had counted the cost, and was fully prepared to make the sacrifice.
The time for fulfilling my pledge was then at hand. I must forsake
friends and neighbors, wife and child, or consent to live and die a
slave.
By the permission of my keeper, I started out to work for myself on
Christmas. I went to the Ohio River, which was but a short distance
from Bedford. My excuse for wanting to go there was to get work. High
wages were offered for hands to work in a slaughter-house. But in
place of my going to work there, according to promise, when I arrived
at the river I managed to find a conveyance to cross over into a free
state. I was landed in the village of Madison, Indiana, where
steamboats were landing every day and night, passing up and down the
river, which afforded me a good opportunity of getting a boat passage
to Cincinnati. My anticipation being worked up to the highest pitch,
no sooner was the curtain of night dropped over the village, than I
secreted myself where no one could see me, and changed my suit ready
for the passage. Soon I heard the welcome sound of a Steamboat coming
up the river Ohio, which was soon to waft me beyond the limits of the
human slave markets of Kentucky. When the boat had landed at Madison,
notwithstanding my strong desire to get off, my heart trembled within
me in view of the great danger to which I was exposed in taking
passage on board of a Southern Steamboat; hence before I took passage,
I kneeled down before the Great I Am, and prayed for his aid and
protection, which He bountifully bestowed even beyond my expectation;
for I felt myself to be unworthy. I then stept boldly on the deck of
this splendid swift-running Steamer, bound for the city of Cincinnati.
This being the first voyage that I had ever taken on board of a
Steamboat, I was filled with fear and excitement, knowing that I was
surrounded by the vilest enemies of God and man, liable to be seized
and bound hand and foot, by any white man, and taken back into
captivity. But I crowded myself back from the light among the deck
passengers, where it would be difficult to distinguish me from a white
man. Every time during the night that the mate came round with a
light after the hands, I was afraid he would see I was a colored man,
and take me up; hence I kept from the light as much as possible. Some
men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil; but
this was not the case with myself; it was to avoid detection in doing
right. This was one of the instances of my adventures that my affinity
with the Anglo-Saxon race, and even slaveholders, worked well for my
escape. But no thanks to them for it. While in their midst they have
not only robbed me of my labor and liberty, but they have almost
entirely robbed me of my dark complexion. Being so near the color of a
slaveholder, they could not, or did not find me out that night among
the white passengers. There was one of the deck hands on board called
out on his watch, whose hammock was swinging up near by me. I asked
him if he would let me lie in it. He said if I would pay him
twenty-five cents that I might lie in it until day. I readily paid him
the price and got into the hammock. No one could see my face to know
whether I was white or colored, while I was in the hammock; but I
never closed my eyes for sleep that night. I had often heard of
explosions on board of Steamboats; and every time the boat landed, and
blowed off steam, I was afraid the boilers had bursted and we should
all be killed; but I lived through the night amid the many dangers to
which I was exposed. I still maintained my position in the hammock,
until the next morning about 8 o'clock, when I heard the passengers
saying the boat was near Cincinnati; and by this time I supposed that
the attention of the people would be turned to the city, and I might
pass off unnoticed.
There were no questions asked me while on board the boat. The boat
landed about 9 o'clock in the morning in Cincinnati, and I waited
until after most of the passengers had gone off of the boat; I then
walked as gracefully up street as if I was not running away, until I
had got pretty well up Broadway. My object was to go to Canada, but
having no knowledge of the road, it was necessary for me to make some
inquiry before I left the city. I was afraid to ask a white person,
and I could see no colored person to ask. But fortunately for me I
found a company of little boys at play in the street, and through
these little boys, by asking them indirect questions, I found the
residence of a colored man.
"Boys, can you tell me where that old colored man lives who saws wood,
and works at jobs around the streets? "
"What is his name? " said one of the boys.
"I forget. "
"Is it old Job Dundy? "
"Is Dundy a colored man? "
"Yes, sir. "
"That is the very man I am looking for; will you show me where he
lives? "
"Yes," said the little boy, and pointed me out the house.
Mr. D. invited me in, and I found him to be a true friend. He asked me
if I was a slave from Kentucky, and if I ever intended to go back into
slavery? Not knowing yet whether he was truly in favor of slaves
running away, I told him that I had just come over to spend my
christmas holydays, and that I was going back. His reply was, "my son,
I would never go back if I was in your place; you have a right to your
liberty. " I then asked him how I should get my freedom? He referred me
to Canada, over which waved freedom's flag, defended by the British
Government, upon whose soil there cannot be the foot print of a slave.
He then commenced telling me of the facilities for my escape to
Canada; of the Abolitionists; of the Abolition Societies, and of their
fidelity to the cause of suffering humanity. This was the first time
in my life that ever I had heard of such people being in existence as
the Abolitionists. I supposed that they were a different race of
people. He conducted me to the house of one of these warm-hearted
friends of God and the slave. I found him willing to aid a poor
fugitive on his way to Canada, even to the dividing of the last cent,
or morsel of bread if necessary.
These kind friends gave me something to eat and started me on my way
to Canada, with a recommendation to a friend on my way. This was the
commencement of what was called the under ground rail road to Canada.
I walked with bold courage, trusting in the arm of Omnipotence; guided
by the unchangable North Star by night, and inspired by an elevated
thought that I was fleeing from a land of slavery and oppression,
bidding farewell to handcuffs, whips, thumb-screws and chains.
I travelled on until I had arrived at the place where I was directed
to call on an Abolitionist, but I made no stop: so great were my fears
of being pursued by the pro-slavery hunting dogs of the South. I
prosecuted my journey vigorously for nearly forty-eight hours without
food or rest, struggling against external difficulties such as no one
can imagine who has never experienced the same: not knowing what
moment I might be captured while travelling among strangers, through
cold and fear, breasting the north winds, being thinly clad, pelted by
the snow storms through the dark hours of the night and not a house in
which I could enter to shelter me from the storm.
The second night from Cincinnati, about midnight, I thought that I
should freeze; my shoes were worn through, and my feet were exposed to
the bare ground. I approached a house on the road-side, knocked at the
door, and asked admission to their fire, but was refused. I went to
the next house, and was refused the privilege of their fire-side, to
prevent my freezing. This I thought was hard treatment among the human
family. But--
"Behind a frowning Providence there was a smiling face,"
which soon shed beams of light upon unworthy me.
The next morning I was still found struggling on my way faint, hungry,
lame, and rest-broken. I could see people taking breakfast from the
road-side, but I did not dare to enter their houses to get my
breakfast, for neither love nor money. In passing a low cottage, I saw
the breakfast table spread with all its bounties, and I could see no
male person about the house; the temptation for food was greater than
I could resist.
I saw a lady about the table, and I thought that if she was ever so
much disposed to take me up, that she would have to catch and hold me,
and that would have been impossible. I stepped up to the door with my
hat off, and asked her if she would be good enough to sell me a
sixpence worth of bread and meat. She cut off a piece and brought it
to me; I thanked her for it, and handed her the pay, but instead of
receiving it, she burst into tears, and said "never mind the money,"
but gently turned away bidding me go on my journey. This was
altogether unexpected to me: I had found a friend in the time of need
among strangers, and nothing could be more cheering in the day of
trouble than this. When I left that place I started with bolder
courage. The next night I put up at a tavern, and continued stopping
at public houses until my means were about gone. When I got to the
Black Swamp in the county of Wood, Ohio, I stopped one night at a
hotel, after travelling all day through mud and snow; but I soon found
that I should not be able to pay my bill. This was about the time that
the "wild-cat banks" were in a flourishing state, and "shin
plasters"[3] in abundance; they would charge a dollar for one night's
lodging.
After I had found out this, I slipped out of the bar room into the
kitchen where the landlady was getting supper; as she had quite a
number of travellers to cook for that night, I told her if she would
accept my services, I would assist her in getting supper; that I was a
cook. She very readily accepted the offer, and I went to work.
She was very much pleased with my work, and the next morning I helped
her to get breakfast. She then wanted to hire me for all winter, but I
refused for fear I might be pursued. My excuse to her was that I had a
brother living in Detroit, whom I was going to see on some important
business, and after I got that business attended to, I would come back
and work for them all winter.
When I started the second morning they paid me fifty cents beside my
board, with the understanding that I was to return; but I have not
gone back yet.
I arrived the next morning in the village of Perrysburgh, where I
found quite a settlement of colored people, many of whom were fugitive
slaves. I made my case known to them and they sympathized with me. I
was a stranger, and they took me in and persuaded me to spend the
winter in Perrysburgh, where I could get employment and go to Canada
the next spring, in a steamboat which run from Perrysburgh, if I
thought it proper so to do.
I got a job of chopping wood during that winter which enabled me to
purchase myself a suit, and after paying my board the next spring, I
had saved fifteen dollars in cash. My intention was to go back to
Kentucky after my wife.
When I got ready to start, which was about the first of May, my
friends all persuaded me not to go, but to get some other person to
go, for fear I might be caught and sold off from my family into
slavery forever. But I could not refrain from going back myself,
believing that I could accomplish it better than a stranger.
The money that I had would not pass in the South, and for the purpose
of getting it off to a good advantage, I took a steamboat passage to
Detroit, Michigan, and there I spent all my money for dry goods, to
peddle out on my way back through the State of Ohio. I also purchased
myself a pair of false whiskers to put on when I got back to Kentucky,
to prevent any one from knowing me after night, should they see me. I
then started back after my little family.
FOOTNOTES:
[3] Nickname for temporary paper money.
CHAPTER V.
_My safe arrival at Kentucky. --Surprise and delight to find my
family. --Plan for their escape projected. --Return to Cincinnati. --My
betrayal by traitors. --Imprisonment in Covington, Kentucky. --Return to
slavery. --Infamous proposal of the slave catchers. --My reply. _
I succeeded very well in selling out my goods, and when I arrived in
Cincinnati, I called on some of my friends who had aided me on my
first escape. They also opposed me in going back only for my own good.
But it has ever been characteristic of me to persevere in what I
undertake.
I took a Steamboat passage which would bring me to where I should want
to land about dark, so as to give me a chance to find my family during
the night if possible. The boat landed me at the proper place, and at
the proper time accordingly. This landing was about six miles from
Bedford, where my mother and wife lived, but with different families.
My mother was the cook at a tavern, in Bedford. When I approached the
house where mother was living, I remembered where she slept in the
kitchen; her bed was near the window.
It was a bright moonlight night, and in looking through the kitchen
window, I saw a person lying in bed about where my mother had formerly
slept. I rapped on the glass which awakened the person, in whom I
recognised my dear mother, but she knew me not, as I was dressed in
disguise with my false whiskers on; but she came to the window and
asked who I was and what I wanted. But when I took off my false
whiskers, and spoke to her, she knew my voice, and quickly sprang to
the door, clasping my hand, exclaiming, "Oh! is this my son," drawing
me into the room, where I was so fortunate as to find Malinda, and
little Frances, my wife and child, whom I had left to find the fair
climes of liberty, and whom I was then seeking to rescue from
perpetual slavery.
They never expected to see me again in this life. I am entirely unable
to describe what my feelings were at that time. It was almost like the
return of the prodigal son. There was weeping and rejoicing. They were
filled with surprise and fear; with sadness and joy. The sensation of
joy at that moment flashed like lightning over my afflicted mind,
mingled with a thousand dreadful apprehensions, that none but a heart
wounded slave father and husband like myself can possibly imagine.
After talking the matter over, we decided it was not best to start
with my family that night, as it was very uncertain whether we should
get a boat passage immediately. And in case of failure, if Malinda
should get back even before day-light the next morning, it would have
excited suspicion against her, as it was not customary for slaves to
leave home at that stage of the week without permission. Hence we
thought it would be the most effectual way for her to escape, to start
on Saturday night; this being a night on which the slaves of Kentucky
are permitted to visit around among their friends, and are often
allowed to stay until the afternoon on Sabbath day.
I gave Malinda money to pay her passage on board of a Steamboat to
Cincinnati, as it was not safe for me to wait for her until Saturday
night; but she was to meet me in Cincinnati, if possible, the next
Sunday. Her father was to go with her to the Ohio River on Saturday
night, and if a boat passed up during the night she was to get on
board at Madison, and come to Cincinnati. If she should fail in
getting off that night, she was to try it the next Saturday night.
This was the understanding when we separated. This we thought was the
best plan for her escape, as there had been so much excitement caused
by my running away.
The owners of my wife were very much afraid that she would follow me;
and to prevent her they had told her and other slaves that I had been
persuaded off by the Abolitionists, who had promised to set me free,
but had sold me off to New Orleans. They told the slaves to beware of
the abolitionists, that their object was to decoy off slaves and then
sell them off in New Orleans. Some of them believed this, and others
believed it not; and the owners of my wife were more watchful over her
than they had ever been before as she was unbelieving.
This was in the month of June, 1838. I left Malinda on a bright but
lonesome Wednesday night. When I arrived at the river Ohio, I found a
small craft chained to a tree, in which I ferried myself across the
stream.
I succeeded in getting a Steamboat passage back to Cincinnati, where I
put up with one of my abolition friends who knew that I had gone after
my family, and who appeared to be much surprised to see me again. I
was soon visited by several friends who knew of my having gone back
after my family. They wished to know why I had not brought my family
with me; but after they understood the plan, and that my family was
expected to be in Cincinnati within a few days, they thought it the
best and safest plan for us to take a stage passage out to Lake Erie.
But being short of money, I was not able to pay my passage in the
stage, even if it would have prevented me from being caught by the
slave hunters of Cincinnati, or save me from being taken back into
bondage for life.
These friends proposed helping me by subscription; I accepted their
kind offer, but in going among friends to solicit aid for me, they
happened to get among traitors, and kidnappers, both white and colored
men, who made their living by that kind of business. Several persons
called on me and made me small donations, and among them two white men
came in professing to be my friends. They told me not to be afraid of
them, they were abolitionists. They asked me a great many questions.
They wanted to know if I needed any help? and they wanted to know if
it could be possible that a man so near white as myself could be a
slave? Could it be possible that men would make slaves of their own
children? They expressed great sympathy for me, and gave me fifty
cents each; by this they gained my confidence. They asked my master's
name; where he lived, &c. After which they left the room, bidding me
God speed. These traitors, or land pirates, took passage on board of
the first Steamboat down the river, in search of my owners. When they
found them, they got a reward of three hundred dollars offered for the
re-capture of this "stray" which they had so long and faithfully been
hunting, by day and by night, by land and by water, with dogs and with
guns, but all without success. This being the last and only chance for
dragging me back into hopeless bondage, time and money was no object
when they saw a prospect of my being re-taken.
Mr. Gatewood got two of his slaveholding neighbors to go with him to
Cincinnati, for the purpose of swearing to anything which might be
necessary to change me back into property. They came on to Cincinnati,
and with but little effort they soon rallied a mob of ruffians who
were willing to become the watch-dogs of slaveholders, for a dram, in
connection with a few slavehunting petty constables.
While I was waiting the arrival of my family, I got a job of digging a
cellar for the good lady where I was stopping, and while I was digging
under the house, all at once I heard a man enter the house; another
stept up to the cellar door to where I was at work; he looked in and
saw me with my coat off at work. He then rapped over the cellar door
on the house side, to notify the one who had entered the house to look
for me that I was in the cellar. This strange conduct soon excited
suspicion so strong in me, that I could not stay in the cellar and
started to come out, but the man who stood by the door, rapped again
on the house side, for the other to come to his aid, and told me to
stop.
I attempted to pass out by him, and he caught hold of me, and
drew a pistol, swearing if I did not stop he would shoot me down. By
this time I knew that I was betrayed.
I asked him what crime I had committed that I should be murdered.
"I will let you know, very soon," said he.
By this time there were others coming to his aid, and I could see no
way by which I could possibly escape the jaws of that hell upon earth.
All my flattering prospects of enjoying my own fire-side, with my
little family, were then blasted and gone; and I must bid farewell to
friends and freedom forever.
In vain did I look to the infamous laws of the Commonwealth of Ohio,
for that protection against violence and outrage, that even the vilest
criminal with a white skin might enjoy. But oh! the dreadful thought,
that after all my sacrifice and struggling to rescue my family from
the hands of the oppressor; that I should be dragged back into cruel
bondage to suffer the penalty of a tyrant's law, to endure stripes and
imprisonment, and to be shut out from all moral as well as
intellectual improvement, and linger out almost a living death.
When I saw a crowd of blood-thirsty, unprincipled slave hunters
rushing upon me armed with weapons of death, it was no use for me to
undertake to fight my way through against such fearful odds.
But I broke away from the man who stood by with his pistol drawn to
shoot me if I should resist, and reached the fence and attempted to
jump over it before I was overtaken; but the fence being very high I
was caught by my legs before I got over.
I kicked and struggled with all my might to get away, but without
success. I kicked a new cloth coat off of his back, while he was
holding on to my leg. I kicked another in his eye; but they never let
me go until they got more help. By this time, there was a crowd on the
out side of the fence with clubs to beat me back. Finally, they
succeeded in dragging me from the fence and overpowered me by numbers
and choked me almost to death.
These ruffians dragged me through the streets of Cincinnati, to what
was called a justice office. But it was more like an office of
injustice.
When I entered the room I was introduced to three slaveholders, one of
whom was a son of Wm. Gatewood, who claimed me as his property. They
pretended to be very glad to see me.
They asked me if I did not want to see my wife and child; but I made
no reply to any thing that was said until I was delivered up as a
slave. After they were asked a few questions by the court, the old
pro-slavery squire very gravely pronounced me to be the property of
Mr. Gatewood.
The office being crowded with spectators, many of whom were colored
persons, Mr. G. was afraid to keep me in Cincinnati, two or three
hours even, until a steamboat got ready to leave for the South. So
they took me across the river, and locked me up in Covington jail, for
safe keeping. This was the first time in my life that I had been put
into a jail. It was truly distressing to my feelings to be locked up
in a cold dungeon for no crime. The jailor not being at home, his wife
had to act in his place. After my owners had gone back to Cincinnati,
the jailor's wife, in company with another female, came into the jail
and talked with me very friendly.
I told them all about my situation, and these ladies said they hoped
that I might get away again, and went so far as to tell me if I should
be kept in the jail that night, there was a hole under the wall of the
jail where a prisoner had got out. It was only filled up with loose
dirt, they said, and I might scratch it out and clear myself.
This I thought was a kind word from an unexpected friend: I had power
to have taken the key from those ladies, in spite of them, and have
cleared myself; but knowing that they would have to suffer perhaps for
letting me get away, I thought I would wait until after dark, at which
time I should try to make my escape, if they should not take me out
before that time. But within two or three hours, they came after me,
and conducted me on board of a boat, on which we all took passage down
to Louisville. I was not confined in any way, but was well guarded by
five men, three of whom were slaveholders, and the two young men from
Cincinnati, who had betrayed me.
After the boat had got fairly under way, with these vile men standing
around me on the upper deck of the boat, and she under full speed
carrying me back into a land of torment, I could see no possible way
of escape. Yet, while I was permitted to gaze on the beauties of
nature, on free soil, as I passed down the river, things looked to me
uncommonly pleasant: The green trees and wild flowers of the forest;
the ripening harvest fields waving with the gentle breezes of Heaven;
and the honest farmers tilling their soil and living by their own
toil. These things seem to light upon my vision with a peculiar charm.
I was conscious of what must be my fate; a wretched victim for Slavery
without limit; to be sold like an ox, into hopeless bondage, and to be
worked under the flesh devouring lash during life, without wages.
This was to me an awful thought; every time the boat run near the
shore, I was tempted to leap from the deck down into the water, with a
hope of making my escape. Such was then my feeling.
But on a moment's reflection, reason with her warning voice overcame
this passion by pointing out the dreadful consequences of one's
committing suicide. And this I thought would have a very striking
resemblance to the act, and I declined putting into practice this
dangerous experiment, though the temptation was great.
These kidnapping gentlemen, seeing that I was much dissatisfied,
commenced talking to me, by saying that I must not be cast down; they
were going to take me back home to live with my family, if I would
promise not to run away again.
To this I agreed, and told them that this was all that I could ask,
and more than I had expected.
But they were not satisfied with having recaptured me, because they
had lost other slaves and supposed that I knew their whereabouts; and
truly I did. They wanted me to tell them; but before telling I wanted
them to tell who it was that had betrayed me into their hands. They
said that I was betrayed by two colored men in Cincinnati, whose names
they were backward in telling, because their business in connection
with themselves was to betray and catch fugitive slaves for the reward
offered. They undertook to justify the act by saying if they had not
betrayed me, that somebody else would, and if I would tell them where
they could catch a number of other runaway slaves, they would pay for
me and set me free, and would then take me in as one of the Club. They
said I would soon make money enough to buy my wife and child out of
slavery.
But I replied, "No, gentlemen, I cannot commit or do an act of that
kind, even if it were in my power so to do. I know that I am now in
the power of a master who can sell me from my family for life, or
punish me for the crime of running away, just as he pleases: I know
that I am a prisoner for life, and have no way of extricating myself;
and I also know that I have been deceived and betrayed by men who
professed to be my best friends; but can all this justify me in
becoming a traitor to others? Can I do that which I complain of others
for doing unto me? Never, I trust, while a single pulsation of my
heart continues to beat, can I consent to betray a fellow man like
myself back into bondage, who has escaped. Dear as I love my wife and
little child, and as much as I should like to enjoy freedom and
happiness with them, I am unwilling to bring this about by betraying
and destroying the liberty and happiness of others who have never
offended me! "
I then asked them again if they would do me the kindness to tell me
who it was betrayed me into their hands at Cincinnati? They agreed to
tell me with the understanding that I was to tell where there was
living, a family of slaves at the North, who had run away from Mr.
King of Kentucky. I should not have agreed to this, but I knew the
slaves were in Canada, where it was not possible for them to be
captured. After they had told me the names of the persons who betrayed
me, and how it was done, then I told them their slaves were in Canada,
doing well. The two white men were Constables, who claimed the right
of taking up any strange colored person as a slave; while the two
colored kidnappers, under the pretext of being abolitionists, would
find out all the fugitives they could, and inform these Constables for
which they got a part of the reward, after they had found out where
the slaves were from, the name of his master, &c. By the agency of
these colored men, they were seized by a band of white ruffians,
locked up in jail, and their master sent for. These colored
kidnappers, with the Constables, were getting rich by betraying
fugitive slaves. This was told to me by one of the Constables, while
they were all standing around trying to induce me to engage in the
same business for the sake of regaining my own liberty, and that of my
wife and child. But my answer even there, under the most trying
circumstances, surrounded by the strongest enemies of God and man, was
most emphatically in the negative. "Let my punishment be what it may,
either with the lash or by selling me away from my friends and home;
let my destiny be what you please, I can never engage in this business
for the sake of getting free. "
They said I should not be sold nor punished with the lash for what I
had done, but I should be carried back to Bedford, to live with my
wife. Yet when the boat got to where we should have landed, she wafted
by without making any stop. I felt awful in view of never seeing my
family again; they asked what was the matter? what made me look so
cast down? I informed them that I knew I was to be sold in the
Louisville slave market, or in New Orleans, and I never expected to
see my family again. But they tried to pacify me by promising not to
sell me to a slave trader who would take me off to New Orleans;
cautioning me at the same time not to let it be known that I had been
a runaway. This would very much lessen the value of me in market. They
would not punish me by putting irons on my limbs, but would give me a
good name, and sell me to some gentleman in Louisville for a house
servant. They thought I would soon make money enough to buy myself,
and would not part with me if they could get along without. But I had
cost them so much in advertising and looking for me, that they were
involved by it. In the first place they paid eight hundred and fifty
dollars for me; and when I first run away, they paid one hundred for
advertising and looking after me; and now they had to pay about forty
dollars, expenses travelling to and from Cincinnati, in addition to
the three hundred dollars reward; and they were not able to pay the
reward without selling me.
I knew then the only alternative left for me to extricate myself was
to use deception, which is the most effectual defence a slave can use.
I pretended to be satisfied for the purpose of getting an opportunity
of giving them the slip.
But oh, the distress of mind, the lamentable thought that I should
never again see the face nor hear the gentle voice of my nearest and
dearest friends in this life. I could imagine what must be my fate
from my peculiar situation. To be sold to the highest bidder, and then
wear the chains of slavery down to the grave. The day star of liberty
which had once cheered and gladdened my heart in freedom's land, had
then hidden itself from my vision, and the dark and dismal frown of
slavery had obscured the sunshine of freedom from me, as they supposed
for all time to come.
But the understanding between us was, I was not to be tied, chained,
nor flogged; for if they should take me into the city handcuffed and
guarded by five men the question might be asked what crime I had
committed? And if it should be known that I had been a runaway to
Canada, it would lessen the value of me at least one hundred dollars.
CHAPTER VI.
_Arrival at Louisville, Ky. --Efforts to sell me. --Fortunate escape
from the man-stealers in the public street. --I return to Bedford,
Ky. --The rescue of my family again attempted. --I started alone
expecting them to follow. --After waiting some months I resolve to go
back again to Kentucky. _
When the boat arrived at Louisville, the day being too far spent for
them to dispose of me, they had to put up at a Hotel. When we left the
boat, they were afraid of my bolting from them in the street, and to
prevent this they took hold of my arms, one on each side of me,
gallanting me up to the hotel with as much propriety as if I had been
a white lady. This was to deceive the people, and prevent my getting
away from them.
They called for a bed-room to which I was conducted and locked within.
That night three of them lodged in the same room to guard me. They
locked the door and put the key under the head of their bed. I could
see no possible way for my escape without jumping out of a high three
story house window.
It was almost impossible for me to sleep that night in my peculiar
situation. I passed the night in prayer to our Heavenly Father, asking
that He would open to me even the smallest chance for escape.
The next morning after they had taken breakfast, four of them left me
in the care of Dan Lane. He was what might be called one of the watch
dogs of Kentucky. There was nothing too mean for him to do. He never
blushed to rob a slave mother of her children, no matter how young or
small. He was also celebrated for slave selling, kidnapping, and negro
hunting. He was well known in that region by the slaves as well as the
slaveholders, to have all the qualifications necessary for his
business. He was a drunkard, a gambler, a profligate, and a
slaveholder.
While the other four were looking around through the city for a
purchaser, Dan was guarding me with his bowie knife and pistols. After
a while the others came in with two persons to buy me, but on seeing
me they remarked that they thought I would run away, and asked me if I
had ever run away. Dan sprang to his feet and answered the question
for me, by telling one of the most palpable falsehoods that ever came
from the lips of a slaveholder. He declared that I had never run away
in my life!
Fortunately for me, Dan, while the others were away, became unwell;
and from taking salts, or from some other cause, was compelled to
leave his room. Off he started to the horse stable which was located
on one of the most public streets of Louisville, and of course I had
to accompany him. He gallanted me into the stable by the arm, and
placed himself back in one of the horses stalls and ordered me to
stand by until he was ready to come out.
At this time a thousand thoughts were flashing through my mind with
regard to the propriety of trying the springs of my heels, which
nature had so well adapted for taking the body out of danger, even in
the most extraordinary emergencies. I thought in the attempt to get
away by running, if I should not succeed, it could make my condition
no worse, for they could but sell me and this they were then trying to
do. These thoughts impelled me to keep edging towards the door, though
very cautiously. Dan kept looking around after me as if he was not
satisfied at my getting so near to the door. But the last I saw of him
in the stable was just as he turned his eyes from me; I nerved myself
with all the moral courage I could command and bolted for the door,
perhaps with the fleetness of a much frightened deer, who never looks
behind in time of peril. Dan was left in the stable to make ready for
the race, or jump out into the street half dressed, and thereby
disgrace himself before the public eye.
It would be impossible for me to set forth the speed with which I run
to avoid my adversary; I succeeded in turning a corner before Dan got
sight of me, and by fast running, turning corners, and jumping high
fences, I was enabled to effect my escape.
In running so swiftly through the public streets, I thought it would
be a safer course to leave the public way, and as quick as thought I
spied a high board fence by the way and attempted to leap over it. The
top board broke and down I came into a hen-coop which stood by the
fence. The dogs barked, and the hens flew and cackled so, that I
feared it would lead to my detection before I could get out of the
yard.
The reader can only imagine how great must have been the excited state
of my mind while exposed to such extraordinary peril and danger on
every side. In danger of being seized by a savage dog, which sprang at
me when I fell into the hen-coop; in danger of being apprehended by
the tenants of the lot; in danger of being shot or wounded by any one
who might have attempted to stop me, a runaway slave; and in danger on
the other hand of being overtaken and getting in conflict with my
adversary. With these fearful apprehensions, caution dictated me not
to proceed far by day-light in this slaveholding city.
At this moment every nerve and muscle of my whole system was in full
stretch; and every facility of the mind brought into action striving
to save myself from being re-captured. I dared not go to the forest,
knowing that I might be tracked by blood-hounds, and overtaken. I was
so fortunate as to find a hiding place in the city which seemed to be
pointed out by the finger of Providence. After running across lots,
turning corners, and shunning my fellow men, as if they were wild
ferocious beasts. I found a hiding place in a pile of boards or
scantling, where I kept concealed during that day.
No tongue nor pen can describe the dreadful apprehensions under which
I labored for the space of ten or twelve hours. My hiding place
happened to be between two workshops, where there were men at work
within six or eight feet of me. I could imagine that I heard them
talking about me, and at other times thought I heard the footsteps of
Daniel Lane in close pursuit. But I retained my position there until 9
or 10 o'clock at night, without being discovered; after which I
attempted to find my way out, which was exceedingly difficult. The
night being very dark, in a strange city, among slaveholders and slave
hunters, to me it was like a person entering a wilderness among wolves
and vipers, blindfolded. I was compelled from necessity to enter this
place for refuge under the most extraordinary state of excitement,
without regard to its geographical position. I found myself surrounded
with a large block of buildings, which comprised a whole square,
built up mostly on three sides, so that I could see no way to pass out
without exposing myself perhaps to the gaze of patrols, or slave
catchers.
In wandering around through the dark, I happened to find a calf in a
back yard, which was bawling after the cow; the cow was also lowing in
another direction, as if they were trying to find each other. A
thought struck me that there must be an outlet somewhere about, where
the cow and calf were trying to meet. I started in the direction where
I heard the lowing of the cow, and I found an arch or tunnel extending
between two large brick buildings, where I could see nothing of the
cow but her eyes, shining like balls of fire through the dark tunnel,
between the walls, through which I passed to where she stood. When I
entered the streets I found them well lighted up. My heart was
gladdened to know there was another chance for my escape. No bird ever
let out of a cage felt more like flying, than I felt like running.
Before I left the city, I chanced to find by the way, an old man of
color. Supposing him to be a friend, I ventured to make known my
situation, and asked him if he would get me a bite to eat. The old man
most cheerfully complied with my request. I was then about forty miles
from the residence of Wm. Gatewood, where my wife, whom I sought to
rescue from slavery, was living. This was also in the direction it was
necessary for me to travel in order to get back to the free North.
Knowing that the slave catchers would most likely be watching the
public highway for me, to avoid them I made my way over the rocky
hills, woods and plantations, back to Bedford.
I travelled all that night, guided on my way by the shining stars of
heaven alone. The next morning just before the break of day, I came
right to a large plantation, about which I secreted myself, until the
darkness of the next night began to disappear. The morning larks
commenced to chirp and sing merrily--pretty soon I heard the whip
crack, and the voice of the ploughman driving in the corn field. About
breakfast time, I heard the sound of a horn; saw a number of slaves in
the field with a white man, who I supposed to be their overseer. He
started to the house before the slaves, which gave me an opportunity
to get the attention of one of the slaves, whom I met at the fence,
before he started to his breakfast, and made known to him my wants and
distresses. I also requested him to bring me a piece of bread if he
could when he came back to the field.
The hospitable slave complied with my request. He came back to the
field before his fellow laborers, and brought me something to eat, and
as an equivolent for his kindness, I instructed him with regard to
liberty, Canada, the way of escape, and the facilities by the way. He
pledged his word that himself and others would be in Canada, in less
than six months from that day. This closed our interview, and we
separated. I concealed myself in the forest until about sunset, before
I pursued my journey; and the second night from Louisville, I arrived
again in the neighborhood of Bedford, where my little family were held
in bondage, whom I so earnestly strove to rescue.
I concealed myself by the aid of a friend in that neighborhood,
intending again to make my escape with my family.
This confidential friend then carried a message to Malinda, requesting
her to meet me on one side of the village.
We met under the most fearful apprehensions, for my pursuers had
returned from Louisville, with the lamentable story that I was gone,
and yet they were compelled to pay three hundred dollars to the
Cincinnati slave catchers for re-capturing me there.
Daniel Lane's account of my escape from him, looked so unreasonable to
slaveholders, that many of them charged him with selling me and
keeping the money; while others believed that I had got away from him,
and was then in the neighborhood, trying to take off my wife and
child, which was true. Lane declared that in less than five minutes
after I run out of the stable in Louisville, he had over twenty men
running and looking in every direction after me; but all without
success. They could hear nothing of me. They had turned over several
tons of hay in a large loft, in search, and I was not to be found
there. Dan imputed my escape to my godliness! He said that I must have
gone up in a chariot of fire, for I went off by flying; and that he
should never again have any thing to do with a praying negro.
Great excitement prevailed in Bedford, and many were out watching for
me at the time Malinda was relating to me these facts. The excitement
was then so great among the slaveholders--who were anxious to have me
re-captured as a means of discouraging other slaves from running
away--that time and money were no object while there was the least
prospect of their success. I therefore declined making an effort just
at that time to escape with my little family. Malinda managed to get
me into the house of a friend that night, in the village, where I kept
concealed several days seeking an opportunity to escape with Malinda
and Frances to Canada.
But for some time Malinda was watched so very closely by white and by
colored persons, both day and night, that it was not possible for us
to escape together. They well knew that my little family was the only
object of attraction that ever had or ever would induce me to come
back and risk my liberty over the threshold of slavery--therefore this
point was well guarded by the watch dogs of slavery, and I was
compelled again to forsake my wife for a season, or surrender, which
was suicidal to the cause of freedom, in my judgment.
The next day after my arrival in Bedford, Daniel Lane came to the very
house wherein I was concealed and talked in my hearing to the family
about my escape from him out of the stable in Louisville. He was near
enough for me to have laid my hands on his head while in that
house--and the intimidation which this produced on me was more than I
could bear. I was also aware of the great temptation of the reward
offered to white or colored persons for my apprehension; I was exposed
to other calamities which rendered it altogether unsafe for me to stay
longer under that roof.
One morning about 2 o'clock, I took leave of my little family and
started for Canada. This was almost like tearing off the limbs from my
body. When we were about to separate, Malinda clasped my hand
exclaiming, "oh my soul! my heart is almost broken at the thought of
this dangerous separation. This may be the last time we shall ever see
each other's faces in this life, which will destroy all my future
prospects of life and happiness forever. " At this time the poor
unhappy woman burst into tears and wept loudly; and my eyes were not
dry. We separated with the understanding that she was to wait until
the excitement was all over; after which she was to meet me at a
certain place in the State of Ohio; which would not be longer than two
months from that time.
I succeeded that night in getting a steamboat conveyance back to
Cincinnati, or within ten miles of the city. I was apprehensive that
there were slave-hunters in Cincinnati, watching the arrival of every
boat up the river, expecting to catch me; and the boat landing to take
in wood ten miles below the city, I got off and walked into
Cincinnati, to avoid detection.
On my arrival at the house of a friend, I heard that the two young men
who betrayed me for the three hundred dollars had returned and were
watching for me. One of my friends in whom they had great confidence,
called on the traitors, after he had talked with me, and asked them
what they had done with me. Their reply was that I had given them the
slip, and that they were glad of it, because they believed that I was
a good man, and if they could see me on my way to Canada, they would
give me money to aid me on my escape. My friend assured them that if
they would give any thing to aid me on my way, much or little, if they
would put the same into his hands, he would give it to me that night,
or return it to them the next morning.
They then wanted to know where I was and whether I was in the city;
but he would not tell them, but one of them gave him one dollar for
me, promising that if I was in the city, and he would let him know the
next morning, he would give me ten dollars.
But I never waited for the ten dollars. I received one dollar of the
amount which they got for betraying me, and started that night for the
north.
and mother, when looking upon their infant child whipped and tortured
with impunity, and they placed in a situation where they could afford
it no protection. But we were all claimed and held as property; the
father and mother were slaves!
On this same plantation I was compelled to stand and see my wife
shamefully scourged and abused by her master; and the manner in which
this was done, was so violently and inhumanly committed upon the
person of a female, that I despair in finding decent language to
describe the bloody act of cruelty. My happiness or pleasure was then
all blasted; for it was sometimes a pleasure to be with my little
family even in slavery. I loved them as my wife and child. Little
Frances was a pretty child; she was quiet, playful, bright, and
interesting. She had a keen black eye, and the very image of her
mother was stamped upon her cheek; but I could never look upon the
dear child without being filled with sorrow and fearful apprehensions,
of being separated by slaveholders, because she was a slave, regarded
as property. And unfortunately for me, I am the father of a slave, a
word too obnoxious to be spoken by a fugitive slave. It calls fresh to
my mind the separation of husband and wife; of stripping, tying up and
flogging; of tearing children from their parents, and selling them on
the auction block. It calls to mind female virtue trampled under foot
with impunity. But oh! when I remember that my daughter, my only
child, is still there, destined to share the fate of all these
calamities, it is too much to bear. If ever there was any one act of
my life while a slave, that I have to lament over, it is that of being
a father and a husband of slaves. I have the satisfaction of knowing
that I am only the father of one slave. She is bone of my bone, and
flesh of my flesh; poor unfortunate child. She was the first and shall
be the last slave that ever I will father, for chains and slavery on
this earth.
FOOTNOTES:
[2] The distinction among slaves is as marked, as the classes of
society are in any aristocratic community. Some refusing to associate
with others whom they deem beneath them in point of character, color,
condition, or the superior importance of their respective masters.
CHAPTER IV.
_My first adventure for liberty. --Parting Scene. --Journey up the
river. --Safe arrival in Cincinnati. --Journey to Canada. --Suffering
from cold and hunger. --Denied food and shelter by some. --One noble
exception. --Subsequent success. --Arrival at Perrysburgh. --I obtained
employment through the winter. --My return to Kentucky to get my
family. _
In the fall or winter of 1837 I formed a resolution that I would
escape, if possible, to Canada, for my Liberty. I commenced from that
hour making preparations for the dangerous experiment of breaking the
chains that bound me as a slave. My preparation for this voyage
consisted in the accumulation of a little money, perhaps not exceeding
two dollars and fifty cents, and a suit which I had never been seen or
known to wear before; this last was to avoid detection.
On the twenty-fifth of December, 1837, my long anticipated time had
arrived when I was to put into operation my former resolution, which
was to bolt for Liberty or consent to die a Slave. I acted upon the
former, although I confess it to be one of the most self-denying acts
of my whole life, to take leave of an affectionate wife, who stood
before me on my departure, with dear little Frances in her arms, and
with tears of sorrow in her eyes as she bid me a long farewell. It
required all the moral courage that I was master of to suppress my
feelings while taking leave of my little family.
Had Malinda known my intention at that time, it would not have been
possible for me to have got away, and I might have this day been a
slave. Notwithstanding every inducement was held out to me to run away
if I would be free, and the voice of liberty was thundering in my very
soul, "Be free, oh, man! be free," I was struggling against a thousand
obstacles which had clustered around my mind to bind my wounded spirit
still in the dark prison of mental degradation. My strong attachments
to friends and relatives, with all the love of home and birth-place
which is so natural among the human family, twined about my heart and
were hard to break away from. And withal, the fear of being pursued
with guns and blood-hounds, and of being killed, or captured and
taken to the extreme South, to linger out my days in hopeless bondage
on some cotton or sugar plantation, all combined to deter me. But I
had counted the cost, and was fully prepared to make the sacrifice.
The time for fulfilling my pledge was then at hand. I must forsake
friends and neighbors, wife and child, or consent to live and die a
slave.
By the permission of my keeper, I started out to work for myself on
Christmas. I went to the Ohio River, which was but a short distance
from Bedford. My excuse for wanting to go there was to get work. High
wages were offered for hands to work in a slaughter-house. But in
place of my going to work there, according to promise, when I arrived
at the river I managed to find a conveyance to cross over into a free
state. I was landed in the village of Madison, Indiana, where
steamboats were landing every day and night, passing up and down the
river, which afforded me a good opportunity of getting a boat passage
to Cincinnati. My anticipation being worked up to the highest pitch,
no sooner was the curtain of night dropped over the village, than I
secreted myself where no one could see me, and changed my suit ready
for the passage. Soon I heard the welcome sound of a Steamboat coming
up the river Ohio, which was soon to waft me beyond the limits of the
human slave markets of Kentucky. When the boat had landed at Madison,
notwithstanding my strong desire to get off, my heart trembled within
me in view of the great danger to which I was exposed in taking
passage on board of a Southern Steamboat; hence before I took passage,
I kneeled down before the Great I Am, and prayed for his aid and
protection, which He bountifully bestowed even beyond my expectation;
for I felt myself to be unworthy. I then stept boldly on the deck of
this splendid swift-running Steamer, bound for the city of Cincinnati.
This being the first voyage that I had ever taken on board of a
Steamboat, I was filled with fear and excitement, knowing that I was
surrounded by the vilest enemies of God and man, liable to be seized
and bound hand and foot, by any white man, and taken back into
captivity. But I crowded myself back from the light among the deck
passengers, where it would be difficult to distinguish me from a white
man. Every time during the night that the mate came round with a
light after the hands, I was afraid he would see I was a colored man,
and take me up; hence I kept from the light as much as possible. Some
men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil; but
this was not the case with myself; it was to avoid detection in doing
right. This was one of the instances of my adventures that my affinity
with the Anglo-Saxon race, and even slaveholders, worked well for my
escape. But no thanks to them for it. While in their midst they have
not only robbed me of my labor and liberty, but they have almost
entirely robbed me of my dark complexion. Being so near the color of a
slaveholder, they could not, or did not find me out that night among
the white passengers. There was one of the deck hands on board called
out on his watch, whose hammock was swinging up near by me. I asked
him if he would let me lie in it. He said if I would pay him
twenty-five cents that I might lie in it until day. I readily paid him
the price and got into the hammock. No one could see my face to know
whether I was white or colored, while I was in the hammock; but I
never closed my eyes for sleep that night. I had often heard of
explosions on board of Steamboats; and every time the boat landed, and
blowed off steam, I was afraid the boilers had bursted and we should
all be killed; but I lived through the night amid the many dangers to
which I was exposed. I still maintained my position in the hammock,
until the next morning about 8 o'clock, when I heard the passengers
saying the boat was near Cincinnati; and by this time I supposed that
the attention of the people would be turned to the city, and I might
pass off unnoticed.
There were no questions asked me while on board the boat. The boat
landed about 9 o'clock in the morning in Cincinnati, and I waited
until after most of the passengers had gone off of the boat; I then
walked as gracefully up street as if I was not running away, until I
had got pretty well up Broadway. My object was to go to Canada, but
having no knowledge of the road, it was necessary for me to make some
inquiry before I left the city. I was afraid to ask a white person,
and I could see no colored person to ask. But fortunately for me I
found a company of little boys at play in the street, and through
these little boys, by asking them indirect questions, I found the
residence of a colored man.
"Boys, can you tell me where that old colored man lives who saws wood,
and works at jobs around the streets? "
"What is his name? " said one of the boys.
"I forget. "
"Is it old Job Dundy? "
"Is Dundy a colored man? "
"Yes, sir. "
"That is the very man I am looking for; will you show me where he
lives? "
"Yes," said the little boy, and pointed me out the house.
Mr. D. invited me in, and I found him to be a true friend. He asked me
if I was a slave from Kentucky, and if I ever intended to go back into
slavery? Not knowing yet whether he was truly in favor of slaves
running away, I told him that I had just come over to spend my
christmas holydays, and that I was going back. His reply was, "my son,
I would never go back if I was in your place; you have a right to your
liberty. " I then asked him how I should get my freedom? He referred me
to Canada, over which waved freedom's flag, defended by the British
Government, upon whose soil there cannot be the foot print of a slave.
He then commenced telling me of the facilities for my escape to
Canada; of the Abolitionists; of the Abolition Societies, and of their
fidelity to the cause of suffering humanity. This was the first time
in my life that ever I had heard of such people being in existence as
the Abolitionists. I supposed that they were a different race of
people. He conducted me to the house of one of these warm-hearted
friends of God and the slave. I found him willing to aid a poor
fugitive on his way to Canada, even to the dividing of the last cent,
or morsel of bread if necessary.
These kind friends gave me something to eat and started me on my way
to Canada, with a recommendation to a friend on my way. This was the
commencement of what was called the under ground rail road to Canada.
I walked with bold courage, trusting in the arm of Omnipotence; guided
by the unchangable North Star by night, and inspired by an elevated
thought that I was fleeing from a land of slavery and oppression,
bidding farewell to handcuffs, whips, thumb-screws and chains.
I travelled on until I had arrived at the place where I was directed
to call on an Abolitionist, but I made no stop: so great were my fears
of being pursued by the pro-slavery hunting dogs of the South. I
prosecuted my journey vigorously for nearly forty-eight hours without
food or rest, struggling against external difficulties such as no one
can imagine who has never experienced the same: not knowing what
moment I might be captured while travelling among strangers, through
cold and fear, breasting the north winds, being thinly clad, pelted by
the snow storms through the dark hours of the night and not a house in
which I could enter to shelter me from the storm.
The second night from Cincinnati, about midnight, I thought that I
should freeze; my shoes were worn through, and my feet were exposed to
the bare ground. I approached a house on the road-side, knocked at the
door, and asked admission to their fire, but was refused. I went to
the next house, and was refused the privilege of their fire-side, to
prevent my freezing. This I thought was hard treatment among the human
family. But--
"Behind a frowning Providence there was a smiling face,"
which soon shed beams of light upon unworthy me.
The next morning I was still found struggling on my way faint, hungry,
lame, and rest-broken. I could see people taking breakfast from the
road-side, but I did not dare to enter their houses to get my
breakfast, for neither love nor money. In passing a low cottage, I saw
the breakfast table spread with all its bounties, and I could see no
male person about the house; the temptation for food was greater than
I could resist.
I saw a lady about the table, and I thought that if she was ever so
much disposed to take me up, that she would have to catch and hold me,
and that would have been impossible. I stepped up to the door with my
hat off, and asked her if she would be good enough to sell me a
sixpence worth of bread and meat. She cut off a piece and brought it
to me; I thanked her for it, and handed her the pay, but instead of
receiving it, she burst into tears, and said "never mind the money,"
but gently turned away bidding me go on my journey. This was
altogether unexpected to me: I had found a friend in the time of need
among strangers, and nothing could be more cheering in the day of
trouble than this. When I left that place I started with bolder
courage. The next night I put up at a tavern, and continued stopping
at public houses until my means were about gone. When I got to the
Black Swamp in the county of Wood, Ohio, I stopped one night at a
hotel, after travelling all day through mud and snow; but I soon found
that I should not be able to pay my bill. This was about the time that
the "wild-cat banks" were in a flourishing state, and "shin
plasters"[3] in abundance; they would charge a dollar for one night's
lodging.
After I had found out this, I slipped out of the bar room into the
kitchen where the landlady was getting supper; as she had quite a
number of travellers to cook for that night, I told her if she would
accept my services, I would assist her in getting supper; that I was a
cook. She very readily accepted the offer, and I went to work.
She was very much pleased with my work, and the next morning I helped
her to get breakfast. She then wanted to hire me for all winter, but I
refused for fear I might be pursued. My excuse to her was that I had a
brother living in Detroit, whom I was going to see on some important
business, and after I got that business attended to, I would come back
and work for them all winter.
When I started the second morning they paid me fifty cents beside my
board, with the understanding that I was to return; but I have not
gone back yet.
I arrived the next morning in the village of Perrysburgh, where I
found quite a settlement of colored people, many of whom were fugitive
slaves. I made my case known to them and they sympathized with me. I
was a stranger, and they took me in and persuaded me to spend the
winter in Perrysburgh, where I could get employment and go to Canada
the next spring, in a steamboat which run from Perrysburgh, if I
thought it proper so to do.
I got a job of chopping wood during that winter which enabled me to
purchase myself a suit, and after paying my board the next spring, I
had saved fifteen dollars in cash. My intention was to go back to
Kentucky after my wife.
When I got ready to start, which was about the first of May, my
friends all persuaded me not to go, but to get some other person to
go, for fear I might be caught and sold off from my family into
slavery forever. But I could not refrain from going back myself,
believing that I could accomplish it better than a stranger.
The money that I had would not pass in the South, and for the purpose
of getting it off to a good advantage, I took a steamboat passage to
Detroit, Michigan, and there I spent all my money for dry goods, to
peddle out on my way back through the State of Ohio. I also purchased
myself a pair of false whiskers to put on when I got back to Kentucky,
to prevent any one from knowing me after night, should they see me. I
then started back after my little family.
FOOTNOTES:
[3] Nickname for temporary paper money.
CHAPTER V.
_My safe arrival at Kentucky. --Surprise and delight to find my
family. --Plan for their escape projected. --Return to Cincinnati. --My
betrayal by traitors. --Imprisonment in Covington, Kentucky. --Return to
slavery. --Infamous proposal of the slave catchers. --My reply. _
I succeeded very well in selling out my goods, and when I arrived in
Cincinnati, I called on some of my friends who had aided me on my
first escape. They also opposed me in going back only for my own good.
But it has ever been characteristic of me to persevere in what I
undertake.
I took a Steamboat passage which would bring me to where I should want
to land about dark, so as to give me a chance to find my family during
the night if possible. The boat landed me at the proper place, and at
the proper time accordingly. This landing was about six miles from
Bedford, where my mother and wife lived, but with different families.
My mother was the cook at a tavern, in Bedford. When I approached the
house where mother was living, I remembered where she slept in the
kitchen; her bed was near the window.
It was a bright moonlight night, and in looking through the kitchen
window, I saw a person lying in bed about where my mother had formerly
slept. I rapped on the glass which awakened the person, in whom I
recognised my dear mother, but she knew me not, as I was dressed in
disguise with my false whiskers on; but she came to the window and
asked who I was and what I wanted. But when I took off my false
whiskers, and spoke to her, she knew my voice, and quickly sprang to
the door, clasping my hand, exclaiming, "Oh! is this my son," drawing
me into the room, where I was so fortunate as to find Malinda, and
little Frances, my wife and child, whom I had left to find the fair
climes of liberty, and whom I was then seeking to rescue from
perpetual slavery.
They never expected to see me again in this life. I am entirely unable
to describe what my feelings were at that time. It was almost like the
return of the prodigal son. There was weeping and rejoicing. They were
filled with surprise and fear; with sadness and joy. The sensation of
joy at that moment flashed like lightning over my afflicted mind,
mingled with a thousand dreadful apprehensions, that none but a heart
wounded slave father and husband like myself can possibly imagine.
After talking the matter over, we decided it was not best to start
with my family that night, as it was very uncertain whether we should
get a boat passage immediately. And in case of failure, if Malinda
should get back even before day-light the next morning, it would have
excited suspicion against her, as it was not customary for slaves to
leave home at that stage of the week without permission. Hence we
thought it would be the most effectual way for her to escape, to start
on Saturday night; this being a night on which the slaves of Kentucky
are permitted to visit around among their friends, and are often
allowed to stay until the afternoon on Sabbath day.
I gave Malinda money to pay her passage on board of a Steamboat to
Cincinnati, as it was not safe for me to wait for her until Saturday
night; but she was to meet me in Cincinnati, if possible, the next
Sunday. Her father was to go with her to the Ohio River on Saturday
night, and if a boat passed up during the night she was to get on
board at Madison, and come to Cincinnati. If she should fail in
getting off that night, she was to try it the next Saturday night.
This was the understanding when we separated. This we thought was the
best plan for her escape, as there had been so much excitement caused
by my running away.
The owners of my wife were very much afraid that she would follow me;
and to prevent her they had told her and other slaves that I had been
persuaded off by the Abolitionists, who had promised to set me free,
but had sold me off to New Orleans. They told the slaves to beware of
the abolitionists, that their object was to decoy off slaves and then
sell them off in New Orleans. Some of them believed this, and others
believed it not; and the owners of my wife were more watchful over her
than they had ever been before as she was unbelieving.
This was in the month of June, 1838. I left Malinda on a bright but
lonesome Wednesday night. When I arrived at the river Ohio, I found a
small craft chained to a tree, in which I ferried myself across the
stream.
I succeeded in getting a Steamboat passage back to Cincinnati, where I
put up with one of my abolition friends who knew that I had gone after
my family, and who appeared to be much surprised to see me again. I
was soon visited by several friends who knew of my having gone back
after my family. They wished to know why I had not brought my family
with me; but after they understood the plan, and that my family was
expected to be in Cincinnati within a few days, they thought it the
best and safest plan for us to take a stage passage out to Lake Erie.
But being short of money, I was not able to pay my passage in the
stage, even if it would have prevented me from being caught by the
slave hunters of Cincinnati, or save me from being taken back into
bondage for life.
These friends proposed helping me by subscription; I accepted their
kind offer, but in going among friends to solicit aid for me, they
happened to get among traitors, and kidnappers, both white and colored
men, who made their living by that kind of business. Several persons
called on me and made me small donations, and among them two white men
came in professing to be my friends. They told me not to be afraid of
them, they were abolitionists. They asked me a great many questions.
They wanted to know if I needed any help? and they wanted to know if
it could be possible that a man so near white as myself could be a
slave? Could it be possible that men would make slaves of their own
children? They expressed great sympathy for me, and gave me fifty
cents each; by this they gained my confidence. They asked my master's
name; where he lived, &c. After which they left the room, bidding me
God speed. These traitors, or land pirates, took passage on board of
the first Steamboat down the river, in search of my owners. When they
found them, they got a reward of three hundred dollars offered for the
re-capture of this "stray" which they had so long and faithfully been
hunting, by day and by night, by land and by water, with dogs and with
guns, but all without success. This being the last and only chance for
dragging me back into hopeless bondage, time and money was no object
when they saw a prospect of my being re-taken.
Mr. Gatewood got two of his slaveholding neighbors to go with him to
Cincinnati, for the purpose of swearing to anything which might be
necessary to change me back into property. They came on to Cincinnati,
and with but little effort they soon rallied a mob of ruffians who
were willing to become the watch-dogs of slaveholders, for a dram, in
connection with a few slavehunting petty constables.
While I was waiting the arrival of my family, I got a job of digging a
cellar for the good lady where I was stopping, and while I was digging
under the house, all at once I heard a man enter the house; another
stept up to the cellar door to where I was at work; he looked in and
saw me with my coat off at work. He then rapped over the cellar door
on the house side, to notify the one who had entered the house to look
for me that I was in the cellar. This strange conduct soon excited
suspicion so strong in me, that I could not stay in the cellar and
started to come out, but the man who stood by the door, rapped again
on the house side, for the other to come to his aid, and told me to
stop.
I attempted to pass out by him, and he caught hold of me, and
drew a pistol, swearing if I did not stop he would shoot me down. By
this time I knew that I was betrayed.
I asked him what crime I had committed that I should be murdered.
"I will let you know, very soon," said he.
By this time there were others coming to his aid, and I could see no
way by which I could possibly escape the jaws of that hell upon earth.
All my flattering prospects of enjoying my own fire-side, with my
little family, were then blasted and gone; and I must bid farewell to
friends and freedom forever.
In vain did I look to the infamous laws of the Commonwealth of Ohio,
for that protection against violence and outrage, that even the vilest
criminal with a white skin might enjoy. But oh! the dreadful thought,
that after all my sacrifice and struggling to rescue my family from
the hands of the oppressor; that I should be dragged back into cruel
bondage to suffer the penalty of a tyrant's law, to endure stripes and
imprisonment, and to be shut out from all moral as well as
intellectual improvement, and linger out almost a living death.
When I saw a crowd of blood-thirsty, unprincipled slave hunters
rushing upon me armed with weapons of death, it was no use for me to
undertake to fight my way through against such fearful odds.
But I broke away from the man who stood by with his pistol drawn to
shoot me if I should resist, and reached the fence and attempted to
jump over it before I was overtaken; but the fence being very high I
was caught by my legs before I got over.
I kicked and struggled with all my might to get away, but without
success. I kicked a new cloth coat off of his back, while he was
holding on to my leg. I kicked another in his eye; but they never let
me go until they got more help. By this time, there was a crowd on the
out side of the fence with clubs to beat me back. Finally, they
succeeded in dragging me from the fence and overpowered me by numbers
and choked me almost to death.
These ruffians dragged me through the streets of Cincinnati, to what
was called a justice office. But it was more like an office of
injustice.
When I entered the room I was introduced to three slaveholders, one of
whom was a son of Wm. Gatewood, who claimed me as his property. They
pretended to be very glad to see me.
They asked me if I did not want to see my wife and child; but I made
no reply to any thing that was said until I was delivered up as a
slave. After they were asked a few questions by the court, the old
pro-slavery squire very gravely pronounced me to be the property of
Mr. Gatewood.
The office being crowded with spectators, many of whom were colored
persons, Mr. G. was afraid to keep me in Cincinnati, two or three
hours even, until a steamboat got ready to leave for the South. So
they took me across the river, and locked me up in Covington jail, for
safe keeping. This was the first time in my life that I had been put
into a jail. It was truly distressing to my feelings to be locked up
in a cold dungeon for no crime. The jailor not being at home, his wife
had to act in his place. After my owners had gone back to Cincinnati,
the jailor's wife, in company with another female, came into the jail
and talked with me very friendly.
I told them all about my situation, and these ladies said they hoped
that I might get away again, and went so far as to tell me if I should
be kept in the jail that night, there was a hole under the wall of the
jail where a prisoner had got out. It was only filled up with loose
dirt, they said, and I might scratch it out and clear myself.
This I thought was a kind word from an unexpected friend: I had power
to have taken the key from those ladies, in spite of them, and have
cleared myself; but knowing that they would have to suffer perhaps for
letting me get away, I thought I would wait until after dark, at which
time I should try to make my escape, if they should not take me out
before that time. But within two or three hours, they came after me,
and conducted me on board of a boat, on which we all took passage down
to Louisville. I was not confined in any way, but was well guarded by
five men, three of whom were slaveholders, and the two young men from
Cincinnati, who had betrayed me.
After the boat had got fairly under way, with these vile men standing
around me on the upper deck of the boat, and she under full speed
carrying me back into a land of torment, I could see no possible way
of escape. Yet, while I was permitted to gaze on the beauties of
nature, on free soil, as I passed down the river, things looked to me
uncommonly pleasant: The green trees and wild flowers of the forest;
the ripening harvest fields waving with the gentle breezes of Heaven;
and the honest farmers tilling their soil and living by their own
toil. These things seem to light upon my vision with a peculiar charm.
I was conscious of what must be my fate; a wretched victim for Slavery
without limit; to be sold like an ox, into hopeless bondage, and to be
worked under the flesh devouring lash during life, without wages.
This was to me an awful thought; every time the boat run near the
shore, I was tempted to leap from the deck down into the water, with a
hope of making my escape. Such was then my feeling.
But on a moment's reflection, reason with her warning voice overcame
this passion by pointing out the dreadful consequences of one's
committing suicide. And this I thought would have a very striking
resemblance to the act, and I declined putting into practice this
dangerous experiment, though the temptation was great.
These kidnapping gentlemen, seeing that I was much dissatisfied,
commenced talking to me, by saying that I must not be cast down; they
were going to take me back home to live with my family, if I would
promise not to run away again.
To this I agreed, and told them that this was all that I could ask,
and more than I had expected.
But they were not satisfied with having recaptured me, because they
had lost other slaves and supposed that I knew their whereabouts; and
truly I did. They wanted me to tell them; but before telling I wanted
them to tell who it was that had betrayed me into their hands. They
said that I was betrayed by two colored men in Cincinnati, whose names
they were backward in telling, because their business in connection
with themselves was to betray and catch fugitive slaves for the reward
offered. They undertook to justify the act by saying if they had not
betrayed me, that somebody else would, and if I would tell them where
they could catch a number of other runaway slaves, they would pay for
me and set me free, and would then take me in as one of the Club. They
said I would soon make money enough to buy my wife and child out of
slavery.
But I replied, "No, gentlemen, I cannot commit or do an act of that
kind, even if it were in my power so to do. I know that I am now in
the power of a master who can sell me from my family for life, or
punish me for the crime of running away, just as he pleases: I know
that I am a prisoner for life, and have no way of extricating myself;
and I also know that I have been deceived and betrayed by men who
professed to be my best friends; but can all this justify me in
becoming a traitor to others? Can I do that which I complain of others
for doing unto me? Never, I trust, while a single pulsation of my
heart continues to beat, can I consent to betray a fellow man like
myself back into bondage, who has escaped. Dear as I love my wife and
little child, and as much as I should like to enjoy freedom and
happiness with them, I am unwilling to bring this about by betraying
and destroying the liberty and happiness of others who have never
offended me! "
I then asked them again if they would do me the kindness to tell me
who it was betrayed me into their hands at Cincinnati? They agreed to
tell me with the understanding that I was to tell where there was
living, a family of slaves at the North, who had run away from Mr.
King of Kentucky. I should not have agreed to this, but I knew the
slaves were in Canada, where it was not possible for them to be
captured. After they had told me the names of the persons who betrayed
me, and how it was done, then I told them their slaves were in Canada,
doing well. The two white men were Constables, who claimed the right
of taking up any strange colored person as a slave; while the two
colored kidnappers, under the pretext of being abolitionists, would
find out all the fugitives they could, and inform these Constables for
which they got a part of the reward, after they had found out where
the slaves were from, the name of his master, &c. By the agency of
these colored men, they were seized by a band of white ruffians,
locked up in jail, and their master sent for. These colored
kidnappers, with the Constables, were getting rich by betraying
fugitive slaves. This was told to me by one of the Constables, while
they were all standing around trying to induce me to engage in the
same business for the sake of regaining my own liberty, and that of my
wife and child. But my answer even there, under the most trying
circumstances, surrounded by the strongest enemies of God and man, was
most emphatically in the negative. "Let my punishment be what it may,
either with the lash or by selling me away from my friends and home;
let my destiny be what you please, I can never engage in this business
for the sake of getting free. "
They said I should not be sold nor punished with the lash for what I
had done, but I should be carried back to Bedford, to live with my
wife. Yet when the boat got to where we should have landed, she wafted
by without making any stop. I felt awful in view of never seeing my
family again; they asked what was the matter? what made me look so
cast down? I informed them that I knew I was to be sold in the
Louisville slave market, or in New Orleans, and I never expected to
see my family again. But they tried to pacify me by promising not to
sell me to a slave trader who would take me off to New Orleans;
cautioning me at the same time not to let it be known that I had been
a runaway. This would very much lessen the value of me in market. They
would not punish me by putting irons on my limbs, but would give me a
good name, and sell me to some gentleman in Louisville for a house
servant. They thought I would soon make money enough to buy myself,
and would not part with me if they could get along without. But I had
cost them so much in advertising and looking for me, that they were
involved by it. In the first place they paid eight hundred and fifty
dollars for me; and when I first run away, they paid one hundred for
advertising and looking after me; and now they had to pay about forty
dollars, expenses travelling to and from Cincinnati, in addition to
the three hundred dollars reward; and they were not able to pay the
reward without selling me.
I knew then the only alternative left for me to extricate myself was
to use deception, which is the most effectual defence a slave can use.
I pretended to be satisfied for the purpose of getting an opportunity
of giving them the slip.
But oh, the distress of mind, the lamentable thought that I should
never again see the face nor hear the gentle voice of my nearest and
dearest friends in this life. I could imagine what must be my fate
from my peculiar situation. To be sold to the highest bidder, and then
wear the chains of slavery down to the grave. The day star of liberty
which had once cheered and gladdened my heart in freedom's land, had
then hidden itself from my vision, and the dark and dismal frown of
slavery had obscured the sunshine of freedom from me, as they supposed
for all time to come.
But the understanding between us was, I was not to be tied, chained,
nor flogged; for if they should take me into the city handcuffed and
guarded by five men the question might be asked what crime I had
committed? And if it should be known that I had been a runaway to
Canada, it would lessen the value of me at least one hundred dollars.
CHAPTER VI.
_Arrival at Louisville, Ky. --Efforts to sell me. --Fortunate escape
from the man-stealers in the public street. --I return to Bedford,
Ky. --The rescue of my family again attempted. --I started alone
expecting them to follow. --After waiting some months I resolve to go
back again to Kentucky. _
When the boat arrived at Louisville, the day being too far spent for
them to dispose of me, they had to put up at a Hotel. When we left the
boat, they were afraid of my bolting from them in the street, and to
prevent this they took hold of my arms, one on each side of me,
gallanting me up to the hotel with as much propriety as if I had been
a white lady. This was to deceive the people, and prevent my getting
away from them.
They called for a bed-room to which I was conducted and locked within.
That night three of them lodged in the same room to guard me. They
locked the door and put the key under the head of their bed. I could
see no possible way for my escape without jumping out of a high three
story house window.
It was almost impossible for me to sleep that night in my peculiar
situation. I passed the night in prayer to our Heavenly Father, asking
that He would open to me even the smallest chance for escape.
The next morning after they had taken breakfast, four of them left me
in the care of Dan Lane. He was what might be called one of the watch
dogs of Kentucky. There was nothing too mean for him to do. He never
blushed to rob a slave mother of her children, no matter how young or
small. He was also celebrated for slave selling, kidnapping, and negro
hunting. He was well known in that region by the slaves as well as the
slaveholders, to have all the qualifications necessary for his
business. He was a drunkard, a gambler, a profligate, and a
slaveholder.
While the other four were looking around through the city for a
purchaser, Dan was guarding me with his bowie knife and pistols. After
a while the others came in with two persons to buy me, but on seeing
me they remarked that they thought I would run away, and asked me if I
had ever run away. Dan sprang to his feet and answered the question
for me, by telling one of the most palpable falsehoods that ever came
from the lips of a slaveholder. He declared that I had never run away
in my life!
Fortunately for me, Dan, while the others were away, became unwell;
and from taking salts, or from some other cause, was compelled to
leave his room. Off he started to the horse stable which was located
on one of the most public streets of Louisville, and of course I had
to accompany him. He gallanted me into the stable by the arm, and
placed himself back in one of the horses stalls and ordered me to
stand by until he was ready to come out.
At this time a thousand thoughts were flashing through my mind with
regard to the propriety of trying the springs of my heels, which
nature had so well adapted for taking the body out of danger, even in
the most extraordinary emergencies. I thought in the attempt to get
away by running, if I should not succeed, it could make my condition
no worse, for they could but sell me and this they were then trying to
do. These thoughts impelled me to keep edging towards the door, though
very cautiously. Dan kept looking around after me as if he was not
satisfied at my getting so near to the door. But the last I saw of him
in the stable was just as he turned his eyes from me; I nerved myself
with all the moral courage I could command and bolted for the door,
perhaps with the fleetness of a much frightened deer, who never looks
behind in time of peril. Dan was left in the stable to make ready for
the race, or jump out into the street half dressed, and thereby
disgrace himself before the public eye.
It would be impossible for me to set forth the speed with which I run
to avoid my adversary; I succeeded in turning a corner before Dan got
sight of me, and by fast running, turning corners, and jumping high
fences, I was enabled to effect my escape.
In running so swiftly through the public streets, I thought it would
be a safer course to leave the public way, and as quick as thought I
spied a high board fence by the way and attempted to leap over it. The
top board broke and down I came into a hen-coop which stood by the
fence. The dogs barked, and the hens flew and cackled so, that I
feared it would lead to my detection before I could get out of the
yard.
The reader can only imagine how great must have been the excited state
of my mind while exposed to such extraordinary peril and danger on
every side. In danger of being seized by a savage dog, which sprang at
me when I fell into the hen-coop; in danger of being apprehended by
the tenants of the lot; in danger of being shot or wounded by any one
who might have attempted to stop me, a runaway slave; and in danger on
the other hand of being overtaken and getting in conflict with my
adversary. With these fearful apprehensions, caution dictated me not
to proceed far by day-light in this slaveholding city.
At this moment every nerve and muscle of my whole system was in full
stretch; and every facility of the mind brought into action striving
to save myself from being re-captured. I dared not go to the forest,
knowing that I might be tracked by blood-hounds, and overtaken. I was
so fortunate as to find a hiding place in the city which seemed to be
pointed out by the finger of Providence. After running across lots,
turning corners, and shunning my fellow men, as if they were wild
ferocious beasts. I found a hiding place in a pile of boards or
scantling, where I kept concealed during that day.
No tongue nor pen can describe the dreadful apprehensions under which
I labored for the space of ten or twelve hours. My hiding place
happened to be between two workshops, where there were men at work
within six or eight feet of me. I could imagine that I heard them
talking about me, and at other times thought I heard the footsteps of
Daniel Lane in close pursuit. But I retained my position there until 9
or 10 o'clock at night, without being discovered; after which I
attempted to find my way out, which was exceedingly difficult. The
night being very dark, in a strange city, among slaveholders and slave
hunters, to me it was like a person entering a wilderness among wolves
and vipers, blindfolded. I was compelled from necessity to enter this
place for refuge under the most extraordinary state of excitement,
without regard to its geographical position. I found myself surrounded
with a large block of buildings, which comprised a whole square,
built up mostly on three sides, so that I could see no way to pass out
without exposing myself perhaps to the gaze of patrols, or slave
catchers.
In wandering around through the dark, I happened to find a calf in a
back yard, which was bawling after the cow; the cow was also lowing in
another direction, as if they were trying to find each other. A
thought struck me that there must be an outlet somewhere about, where
the cow and calf were trying to meet. I started in the direction where
I heard the lowing of the cow, and I found an arch or tunnel extending
between two large brick buildings, where I could see nothing of the
cow but her eyes, shining like balls of fire through the dark tunnel,
between the walls, through which I passed to where she stood. When I
entered the streets I found them well lighted up. My heart was
gladdened to know there was another chance for my escape. No bird ever
let out of a cage felt more like flying, than I felt like running.
Before I left the city, I chanced to find by the way, an old man of
color. Supposing him to be a friend, I ventured to make known my
situation, and asked him if he would get me a bite to eat. The old man
most cheerfully complied with my request. I was then about forty miles
from the residence of Wm. Gatewood, where my wife, whom I sought to
rescue from slavery, was living. This was also in the direction it was
necessary for me to travel in order to get back to the free North.
Knowing that the slave catchers would most likely be watching the
public highway for me, to avoid them I made my way over the rocky
hills, woods and plantations, back to Bedford.
I travelled all that night, guided on my way by the shining stars of
heaven alone. The next morning just before the break of day, I came
right to a large plantation, about which I secreted myself, until the
darkness of the next night began to disappear. The morning larks
commenced to chirp and sing merrily--pretty soon I heard the whip
crack, and the voice of the ploughman driving in the corn field. About
breakfast time, I heard the sound of a horn; saw a number of slaves in
the field with a white man, who I supposed to be their overseer. He
started to the house before the slaves, which gave me an opportunity
to get the attention of one of the slaves, whom I met at the fence,
before he started to his breakfast, and made known to him my wants and
distresses. I also requested him to bring me a piece of bread if he
could when he came back to the field.
The hospitable slave complied with my request. He came back to the
field before his fellow laborers, and brought me something to eat, and
as an equivolent for his kindness, I instructed him with regard to
liberty, Canada, the way of escape, and the facilities by the way. He
pledged his word that himself and others would be in Canada, in less
than six months from that day. This closed our interview, and we
separated. I concealed myself in the forest until about sunset, before
I pursued my journey; and the second night from Louisville, I arrived
again in the neighborhood of Bedford, where my little family were held
in bondage, whom I so earnestly strove to rescue.
I concealed myself by the aid of a friend in that neighborhood,
intending again to make my escape with my family.
This confidential friend then carried a message to Malinda, requesting
her to meet me on one side of the village.
We met under the most fearful apprehensions, for my pursuers had
returned from Louisville, with the lamentable story that I was gone,
and yet they were compelled to pay three hundred dollars to the
Cincinnati slave catchers for re-capturing me there.
Daniel Lane's account of my escape from him, looked so unreasonable to
slaveholders, that many of them charged him with selling me and
keeping the money; while others believed that I had got away from him,
and was then in the neighborhood, trying to take off my wife and
child, which was true. Lane declared that in less than five minutes
after I run out of the stable in Louisville, he had over twenty men
running and looking in every direction after me; but all without
success. They could hear nothing of me. They had turned over several
tons of hay in a large loft, in search, and I was not to be found
there. Dan imputed my escape to my godliness! He said that I must have
gone up in a chariot of fire, for I went off by flying; and that he
should never again have any thing to do with a praying negro.
Great excitement prevailed in Bedford, and many were out watching for
me at the time Malinda was relating to me these facts. The excitement
was then so great among the slaveholders--who were anxious to have me
re-captured as a means of discouraging other slaves from running
away--that time and money were no object while there was the least
prospect of their success. I therefore declined making an effort just
at that time to escape with my little family. Malinda managed to get
me into the house of a friend that night, in the village, where I kept
concealed several days seeking an opportunity to escape with Malinda
and Frances to Canada.
But for some time Malinda was watched so very closely by white and by
colored persons, both day and night, that it was not possible for us
to escape together. They well knew that my little family was the only
object of attraction that ever had or ever would induce me to come
back and risk my liberty over the threshold of slavery--therefore this
point was well guarded by the watch dogs of slavery, and I was
compelled again to forsake my wife for a season, or surrender, which
was suicidal to the cause of freedom, in my judgment.
The next day after my arrival in Bedford, Daniel Lane came to the very
house wherein I was concealed and talked in my hearing to the family
about my escape from him out of the stable in Louisville. He was near
enough for me to have laid my hands on his head while in that
house--and the intimidation which this produced on me was more than I
could bear. I was also aware of the great temptation of the reward
offered to white or colored persons for my apprehension; I was exposed
to other calamities which rendered it altogether unsafe for me to stay
longer under that roof.
One morning about 2 o'clock, I took leave of my little family and
started for Canada. This was almost like tearing off the limbs from my
body. When we were about to separate, Malinda clasped my hand
exclaiming, "oh my soul! my heart is almost broken at the thought of
this dangerous separation. This may be the last time we shall ever see
each other's faces in this life, which will destroy all my future
prospects of life and happiness forever. " At this time the poor
unhappy woman burst into tears and wept loudly; and my eyes were not
dry. We separated with the understanding that she was to wait until
the excitement was all over; after which she was to meet me at a
certain place in the State of Ohio; which would not be longer than two
months from that time.
I succeeded that night in getting a steamboat conveyance back to
Cincinnati, or within ten miles of the city. I was apprehensive that
there were slave-hunters in Cincinnati, watching the arrival of every
boat up the river, expecting to catch me; and the boat landing to take
in wood ten miles below the city, I got off and walked into
Cincinnati, to avoid detection.
On my arrival at the house of a friend, I heard that the two young men
who betrayed me for the three hundred dollars had returned and were
watching for me. One of my friends in whom they had great confidence,
called on the traitors, after he had talked with me, and asked them
what they had done with me. Their reply was that I had given them the
slip, and that they were glad of it, because they believed that I was
a good man, and if they could see me on my way to Canada, they would
give me money to aid me on my escape. My friend assured them that if
they would give any thing to aid me on my way, much or little, if they
would put the same into his hands, he would give it to me that night,
or return it to them the next morning.
They then wanted to know where I was and whether I was in the city;
but he would not tell them, but one of them gave him one dollar for
me, promising that if I was in the city, and he would let him know the
next morning, he would give me ten dollars.
But I never waited for the ten dollars. I received one dollar of the
amount which they got for betraying me, and started that night for the
north.
