Chapter II: Part 2

But I am wandering from the subject of my escape. One day, this gentleman, my deliverer, who had become quite well acquainted with me, overheard some remarks of mine, which caused him to ask me the following questions: first, "Are you a slave?" to which I replied, I was. He said, that he had all along thought me to be a free man. He then asked, who my master was? I told him. "Why don't you run away?" said he. I told him, with a laugh, I knew not where to go. At this moment, the bell which called me to my duty, rang, and I had to leave him; but with the determination to renew the conversation at the earliest opportunity, for it was what I had been long looking for,—a friend to consult with on the subject of freedom. The same night I had another opportunity to converse with him; and, finding that I was determined to escape, he informed me of the security the northern states afforded for slaves, the feeling of the free people of color living there, and of the great anti-slavery movement there, a subject which I was entirely ignorant of before; and he then offered me the means of escape. He told me that there was a ship lying at the wharf, that would soon sail for the North, and that he was acquainted with some persons on board, whom he could get to interfere in my behalf. I had hoped that he would be able to make all arrangements without my going on board, but I was disappointed; for he told me that at twelve o'clock the same day, in case of not seeing him before that time, to go on board, and inquire for the captain; on seeing him, to make my bow to him, to look up unabashed, and ask him for a passage. He will ask you, where your home is? You must tell him, in Boston; for I have told you so much about it, that you can give him the information he will ask for. I told him, I thought I could. Should he ask you where in Boston you live, you may tell him at the North End. Should he ask you what street in Boston you live, tell him, in Ann street. Should he ask you, how Ann street runs, tell him, it runs parallel with Commercial street; saying this, turn away with a laugh from the captain, telling him he needs no information about the streets of Boston, as he knows as well as you do of their situations. These questions he made me answer to him many times; and fortunate for me that he did, for I found them of great value to me. He then left me, charging me to go on board precisely at twelve o'clock, if I did not see him before that time. I spent all the rest of the morning in repeating my simple, but important catechism,—quite as much so to me in my situation as ever the famous Shorter Catechism, of Westminster Assembly notoriety, was to a youngster just receiving his first theological lesson from the lips of a Presbyterian parent, anxious to save the soul of his child; well will it be for all who repeat that important religious catechism, if it renders them as effectual service, in saving their souls, as mine did in saving my body and soul from slavery's cursed hell,—and thinking of the hour, waiting with impatience its approach, and yet dreading its coming; for I had seen so many slaves brought back, and witnessed the dreadful punishment they have received for attempting to get their freedom, that I shuddered at the consequences of detection. The hour at last arrived. My friend had not returned, and I started for the ship; but, as I came in sight of it, my courage forsook me. I feared that I should not be able to appear manly and fearless. Had I not been brought under the lash of the white man? had not everything of a manly nature been beaten out of me? had I not been taught that I was a slave,—that I was ever to remain a slave? that it was the wish of Almighty God that I should be content with my situation? But my readers will excuse me for deviating from my narration to excuse the cowardly feelings which then induced me to turn back. But as I did so, I paused for a moment; and the thought of freedom—delicious freedom—came rushing over me, and filled my soul with pleasure, and I determined to persevere. Conning over my catechism again, I retraced my steps for the ship; and as it again came to my view, I felt like a new man, and that I would attempt it if it cost me my life. I went on board with a firm step, and inquired for the captain. I was shown him, and about the same questions were asked me that my kind friend had prepared me to answer. About the close of our interview the idea came to me, that, should he ask me for my free papers, what could I say,—what should I do? for I had none; and these thoughts came very near making me forget how to answer my last question, which was, the situation of Ann street. I however answered as I had been instructed, and took a step or two forward. On returning, I met the steward, who had just come out of the cabin, whom I had never seen before; and to my surprise he came up and addressed me in a manner that would indicate his having known me from boyhood, and asked me when I had heard from, and when I was going, home? I told him, that I had just applied to the captain for a passage. At this, he turned to the captain, and told him that he should want some assistance on the home passage; and, as I was an old acquaintance of his, he would like to have me go with him. The captain, seeing the supposed familiarity that was between us, replied that he would take me for half price, which was fifteen dollars. This was another blow, which I did not know how to avert; but the kind steward, seeing the dilemma that I was in, kindly offered to become responsible for the money. Oh! how joyful I then felt. I was lighter in body and mind, as if some crushing weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I left the ship and ran home, half crying and laughing, to think the day of my liberty was so near at hand. I reached the hotel in a state of mind impossible to describe. I however saw the necessity of suppressing my extraordinary joy, so that it would not be observed and lead to questioning me. I accordingly went to work concealing my thoughts, and looked eagerly for the day that the ship was to sail; for the captain had informed me when he would be ready to leave.

The day at length arrived for the sailing of the ship; and one hour before she sailed I went on board, with the clothes I was at work in, not daring to take a thing with me, although I had plenty at the hotel, for fear that it would excite suspicion. I stood upon the deck looking at every person about me, thinking that the excuse I could give if interrogated there would be more plausible than if I were in the cabin or any other part of the ship. Finally, the steamboat which was to take us down the river came up alongside and was made fast. As this was going on I ventured to turn my head, and on the boat saw a man, whom I thought I had seen at the hotel. The thought came to me, should he see me, he might inform my master. I immediately feigned sickness, and stooped down over the rail of the vessel and made a piteous moaning, which attracted the attention of the captain, who ordered the steward to come to my relief. He came and assisted me down between decks, and laid me upon some old sails and ropes, telling me to remain there until he called me. In a short time he came and brought a glass half full of brandy, thick with cayenne pepper, for me to drink. I drank it, and for some minutes it made me think that I was all on fire within. This was to avoid suspicion. The steamer took us down the Mississippi, passed the city of New Orleans, and left us at the outside the Balize, at which time I had not appeared on deck, nor did I until the boat had left the ship and she had set her sails for sea; then I left my hiding-place, with my hands on my stomach. The captain then came up to me, and looking me full in the face, asked me, if I had got well? I told him, I was better. He said that I had better do some light work, and it would probably wear off. I then busied myself about the ship, endeavoring to make myself as useful as I could. We had a pleasant passage of twenty-nine days, and arrived in Boston without anything special happening. I have taken care to suppress the captain's name, and the name of his ship, knowing that should it be known it would cause him difficulty; and I never have given either since I have been a free man. The money which the steward paid for my passage I was able to refund to him in about a year afterwards.

Thus twenty-six years, the prime of my life, had passed away in slavery, I having witnessed it in all its forms; and I can with safety say, that there is no good in it; and I can never hear any person apologizing for it without pronouncing them to be meddling with that they know nothing of. I remained concealed for three weeks in the house of Mr. Wright, fearing to trust myself with any one, not knowing who was my friend. But, finding myself destitute, I at length ventured out, and my case became known among the people of color. I was directed to that friend and champion of the slave, William L. Garrison, who ever stands ready to assist and advise the panting fugitive. To him I told my history; and, after giving me pecuniary assistance, he advised me to leave the country and go to Canada, or England. As I considered his advice wholesome, I determined to follow it; and left the office in company with Mr. Nell, a gentleman of color, who had accompanied me there, and who is since deceased. As I proceeded down street, we met a gentleman whom Mr. Nell knew. This gentleman was inquiring for some one to work for him on board a vessel. I was introduced to him and accepted his proposals, and stayed with him a sufficient time to accumulate enough to leave the land of Bibles and whips, where there is no place for the fugitive to rest his weary feet. But, in justice to my late employer, the Hon. Josiah Sturgis, who I found to be my best friend, I would state, that he is a man possessed of a noble and generous heart; and that he is ever ready to assist the destitute who apply to him.

Once more I set sail for the land of freemen; and, when I touched the soil of Britain, I felt that I was safe,—that I then was, in reality, free. On my passage out, there was a gentleman by the name of Hodges on board, who, having found that I was going to leave the ship, he hired me to travel with him. I accordingly entered into his service, and travelled over a large portion of England with him; and wherever I went, I was treated like a man. They looked not at the color of my skin, but judged me from my internal qualifications.

But, as I have been more lengthy in this little Narrative than I intended, I will bring it to a close; sincerely hoping that it will interest my readers, and tend to ameliorate the condition of my three millions of brothers and sisters in bondage, as well as throw some light upon the condition of the slaves in Mississippi; the narratives of other fugitives having for their scenes other States. After remaining a few months in England, I judged it best for me to return to America, which I accordingly did.

This Narrative by no means covers the whole ground of my experience under slavery's iron protection; for I could easily fill a much larger space than this with accounts of what I have seen and felt of the kindly influences of that patriarchal institution, standing as it does (as McDuffie has well said) "at the corner stone of our republican edifice." Perhaps, hereafter, I may furnish some more facts respecting its heavenly character.

Before closing this little Narrative, by the request of a number of friends, I will state some facts in relation to the escape of my wife.

She was a slave, in Maryland; was born about one hundred miles from Baltimore. Her mother was liberated at the death of her master, and left five children in slavery, including my wife. Her mother removed to the North, where she had six other children. She is now dead, and the family are scattered. My wife remained at her birth-place until she was old enough to be hired out, then was taken to Baltimore and put to work. There she remained until she made her escape. The circumstances connected with her escape I will not repeat, lest I should block up the way, or affect the business of the under-ground railroad.

As she lived in a State where slavery subsisted in its mildest form, her experience in it was far different from many. She knew nothing comparatively of the grossest form of it; but notwithstanding this she cordially detests slavery, and is an earnest anti-slavery worker.

When toil-worn and care-worn, when well-nigh disheartened from all this care and toil, I have invariably been sustained by the sympathy and kind words of my wife. Truly, in the language of Scripture, she is "an ever present help in time of need." When, saddened in spirit by a reflection that my brethren are still groaning in bondage, I have found—from her former situation as a slave, being equally a sufferer with myself—she could enter into my feelings and cheer me with hopes of the approaching time of their liberation.

By the advice of my wife I destroyed the advertisement of my master, thinking my safety was endangered by it. Had it been in my possession now, I would have given the form without the name in connection with it.

APPENDIX.
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EXTRACT FROM WELD'S AMERICAN SLAVERY AS IT IS.

In the 'Charleston (South Carolina) Mercury' of October 12, 1838, we find an advertisement of half a column, by a Dr. T. Stillman, setting forth the merits of another 'Medical Infirmary,' under his own special supervision, at No. 110 Church street, Charleston. The doctor, after inveighing loudly against 'men totally ignorant of medical science,' who flood the country with quack nostrums backed up by 'fabricated proofs of miraculous cures,' proceeds to enumerate the diseases to which his 'Infirmary' is open, and to which his practice will be mainly confined. Appreciating the importance of 'interesting cases,' as a stock in trade on which to commence his experiments, he copies the example of the medical professors, and advertises for them. But, either from a keener sense of justice, or more generosity, or greater confidence in his skill, or for some other reason, he proposes to _buy up_ an assortment of _damaged_ negroes, given over as incurable by others, and to make such his 'interesting cases,' instead of experimenting on those who are the 'property' of others.

Dr. Stillman closes his advertisement with the following notice:—

"TO PLANTERS AND OTHERS.—Wanted, _fifty negroes_. Any person
having sick negroes, considered incurable by their respective
physicians, and wishing to dispose of them, Dr. S. will pay cash
for negroes affected with scrofula or king's evil, confirmed
hypocondriasm, apoplexy, diseases of the liver, kidneys, spleen,
stomach and intestines, bladder and its appendages, diarrhœa,
dysentery, &c. The highest cash price will be paid on application
as above."

The absolute barbarism of a 'public opinion' which not only tolerates, but _produces_ such advertisements as this, was outdone by nothing in the dark ages. If the reader has a heart of flesh, he can feel it without help, and if he has not, comment will not create it. The total indifference of slaveholders to such a cold-blooded proposition, their utter unconsciousness of the paralysis of heart, and death of sympathy, and every feeling of common humanity, for the slave, which it reveals, is enough of itself to show that the tendency of the spirit of slaveholding is, to kill in the soul whatever it touches. It has no eyes to see, nor ears to hear, nor mind to understand, nor heart to feel for its victims as _human beings_. To show that the above indication of the savage state is not an index of individual feeling, but of 'public opinion,' it is sufficient to say, that it appears to be a standing advertisement in the Charleston Mercury, the leading political paper of South Carolina, the organ of the Honorables John C. Calhoun, Robert Barnwell Rhett, Hugh S. Legare, and others regarded as the elite of her statesmen and literati. Besides, candidates for popular favor, like the doctor who advertises for the fifty 'incurables,' take special care to conciliate, rather than outrage, 'public opinion.' Is the doctor so ignorant of 'public opinion' in his own city, that he has unwittingly committed violence upon it in his advertisement? We trow not. The same 'public opinion' which gave birth to the advertisement of Dr. Stillman, and to those of the professors in both medical institutions, founded the Charleston 'Work-House,'—a soft name for a Moloch temple dedicated to torture, and reeking with blood in the midst of the city; to which masters and mistresses send their slaves of both sexes to be stripped, tied up, and cut with the lash till the blood and mangled flesh flow to their feet, or to be beaten and bruised with the terrible paddle, or forced to climb the tread-mill till nature sinks, or to experience other nameless torments.—_See Weld's American Slavery As it Is_, p. 171.

FUGITIVE'S TRIUMPH.

Go, go, thou that enslav'st me,
Now, now thy power is o'er;
Long, long have I obeyed thee,
I'm not a slave any more;
No, no—oh, no!
I'm a _free man_ ever more!

Thou, thou brought'st me ever,
Deep, deep sorrow and pain;
But I have left thee forever,
Nor will I serve thee again;
No, no—oh, no!
No, I'll not serve thee again.

Tyrant! thou hast bereft me
Home, friends, pleasures so sweet;
Now, forever I've left thee,
Thou and I never shall meet;
No, no—oh, no!
Thou and I never shall meet.

Joys, joys, bright as the morning,
Now, now, on me will pour,
Hope, hope, on me is dawning,
_I'm not a slave any more!_
No, no—oh, no,
I'm a FREE MAN evermore!

THE BEREAVED SLAVE MOTHER.

Oh! deep was the anguish of the Slave Mother's heart,
When call'd from her darling forever to part;
So grieved that lone Mother, that heart-broken Mother,
In sorrow and woe.

The lash of the master her deep sorrows mock,
While the child of her bosom is sold on the block;
Yet loud shrieked that mother, poor heart-broken Mother,
In sorrow and woe.

The babe in return, for its fond mother cries,
While the sound of their wailings together arise:
They shriek for each other, the child and the Mother,
In sorrow and woe.

The harsh auctioneer, to sympathy cold,
Tears the babe from its Mother and sells it for Gold;
While the Infant and Mother, loud shriek for each other,
In sorrow and woe.

At last came the parting of Mother and Child,
Her brain reel'd with madness, that mother was _wild_;
Then the _Lash_ could not smother, the shrieks of that Mother,
Of sorrow and woe.

The child was borne off to a far distant clime,
While the Mother was left in anguish to pine;
But reason departed, and she sunk broken-hearted,
In sorrow and woe.

That poor mourning Mother, of Reason bereft,
Soon ended her sorrows, and sunk cold in death;
Thus died that Slave Mother, poor heart-broken Mother,
In sorrow and woe.

Oh! list ye kind Mothers to the cries of the Slave;
The Parents and Children implore you to save;
Go! rescue the Mothers, the Sisters and Brothers,
From sorrow and woe.

EXTRACTS FROM THE AMERICAN SLAVE CODE.

The following are mostly abridged selections from the statutes of the slave States and of the United States. They give but a faint view of the cruel oppression to which the slaves are subject, but a strong one enough, it is thought, to fill every honest heart with a deep abhorrence of the atrocious system. Most of the important provisions here cited, though placed under the name of only one State, prevail in nearly all the States, with slight variations in language, and some diversity in the penalties. The extracts have been made in part from Stroud's Sketch of the Slave Laws, but chiefly from authorized editions of the statute books referred to, found in the Philadelphia Law Library. As the compiler has not had access to many of the later enactments of the several States, nearly all he has cited are acts of an earlier date than that of the present anti-slavery movement, so that their severity cannot be ascribed to its influence.

The cardinal principle of slavery, that the slave is not to be ranked among _sentient beings_, but among things—is an article of property, a chattel personal—obtains as undoubted law in all the slave States.

The dominion of the master is as unlimited as is that which is tolerated by the laws of any civilized country in relation to brute animals—to _quadrupeds_; to use the words of the civil law.

Slaves cannot even contract matrimony.

* * * * *

LOUISIANA.—A slave is one who is in the power of his master, to whom he belongs. The master may sell him, dispose of his person, his industry and his labor; he can do nothing, possess nothing, nor acquire anything, but what must belong to his master.

Slaves are incapable of inheriting or transmitting property.

Slaves shall always be reputed and considered real estate; shall be as such subject to be mortgaged, according to the rules prescribed by law, and they shall be seized and sold as real estate.

No owner of slaves shall hire his slaves to themselves, under a penalty of twenty-five dollars for each offence.

No slave can possess anything in his own right, or dispose of the produce of his own industry, without the consent of his master.

No slave can be party in a civil suit, or witness in a civil or criminal matter, against any white person.

A slave's subordination to his master is susceptible of no restriction (except in what incites to crime), and he owes to him and all his family, respect without bounds, and absolute obedience.

Every slave found on horseback, without a written permission from his master, shall receive twenty-five lashes.

Any freeholder may seize and correct any slave found absent from his usual place of work or residence, without some white person, and if the slave resist or try to escape, he may use arms, and if the slave _assault_ and strike him, he may kill the slave.

It is lawful to fire upon runaway negroes who are armed, and upon those who, when pursued, refuse to surrender.

No slave may buy, sell, or exchange any kind of goods, or hold any boat, or bring up for his own use, any horses or cattle, under a penalty of forfeiting the whole.

Slaves or free colored persons are punished with _death_ for wilfully burning or destroying any stack of produce or any building.

The punishment of a slave for striking a white person, shall be for the first and second offences at the discretion of the court, but not extending to life or limb, and for the third offence, _death_; but for grievously wounding or mutilating a white person, _death_ for the first offence; provided, if the blow or wound is given in defence of the person or _property of his master_, or the person having charge of him, he is entirely justified.

A slave for wilfully striking his master or mistress, or the child of either, or his white overseer, so as to cause a bruise or shedding of blood, _shall be punished with death_.

Any person cutting or breaking any iron chain or collar used to prevent the escape of slaves, shall be fined not less than two hundred dollars, nor more than one thousand dollars, and be imprisoned not more than two years, nor less than six months.

All slaves sentenced to death or perpetual imprisonment, in virtue of existing laws, shall be paid for out of the public treasury, provided the sum paid shall not exceed three hundred dollars for each slave.

The State Treasurer shall pay the owners the value of all slaves whose punishment has been commuted from that of death to that of imprisonment for life.

If any slave shall _happen_ to be slain for refusing to surrender him or herself, contrary to law, or in unlawfully resisting any officer, or _other person_, who shall apprehend, or endeavor to apprehend, such slave or slaves, &c., such officer or _other person so killing such slave as aforesaid_, making resistance, shall be, and he is by this act, _indemnified_, from any prosecution for such killing aforesaid, &c.

And by the negro act of 1740, of South Carolina, it is declared:

If any slave who shall be out of the house or plantation where such slave shall live, or shall be usually employed, or without some white person in company with such slave, shall _refuse to submit_ to undergo the examination of _any white_ person, it shall be lawful for such white person to pursue, apprehend, and moderately correct such slave; and if such slave shall assault and strike such white person, such slave may be _lawfully killed_!!

Transcriber’s Notes:

- Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
- Blank pages have been removed.
- Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected.