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26 - Underground Railroad, Part 1 by William Still · Underground Railroad, Part 1

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  Speaker 1: Section twenty five of The Underground Railroad Part one. This
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  Speaker 1: is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the
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  Speaker 1: public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox dot org. Recording by Maria Casper. The Underground Railroad,
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  Speaker 1: Part one by William Still, Section twenty five The Arrivals
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  Speaker 1: of a Single Month, Part four. The following pointed epistle
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  Speaker 1: from Jeremiah Colburn alias William Cooper beautifully illustrates the effects
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  Speaker 1: of freedom on many a passenger who received hospitalities at
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  Speaker 1: the Philadelphia Depot, Syracuse, June ninth, eighteen fifty eight. Mister Still,
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  Speaker 1: Dear sir, one of your Underground Railroad passenger dropped you
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  Speaker 1: these few lines to let you see that he have
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  Speaker 1: not forgotten you, one who have done so much for him. Well, Sir,
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  Speaker 1: I am still in Syracuse. Well in regard to what
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  Speaker 1: I am doing for a living, I know you would
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  Speaker 1: like to hear, I am in the painting business and
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  Speaker 1: have as much at that as I can do, and
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  Speaker 1: enough to last me all the summer. I had a
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  Speaker 1: knowledge of painting before I left the South. The hotel
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  Speaker 1: where I was working last winter, the proprietor fail and
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  Speaker 1: shot up in the spring, and I loose everything that
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  Speaker 1: I was working for all last winter. I have written
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  Speaker 1: a letter to my friend P. Christiansen some time ago
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  Speaker 1: and have never received an answer. I hope this won't
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  Speaker 1: be the case with this one. I have an idea, Sir,
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  Speaker 1: next winter. If I can this summer make enough to
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  Speaker 1: pay expenses to go to that school at mc roville
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  Speaker 1: and spend my winter there, I am going, Sir, to
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  Speaker 1: try to prepare myself for a lecturer. I am going, Sir,
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  Speaker 1: by the help of God, to try and do something
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  Speaker 1: for the cause, to help my poor brethren that are
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  Speaker 1: suffering under the yoke. Do give my respect to missus Stills,
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  Speaker 1: and particular to Miss Julia Kelly. I suppose she is
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  Speaker 1: still with you, yet I am in great haste. You
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  Speaker 1: must excuse my short letter. I hope these few lines
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  Speaker 1: may find you as they leave me quite well. It
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  Speaker 1: will afford me much pleasure to hear from you, Yours truly,
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  Speaker 1: William Cooper John Thompson is still here and doing well.
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  Speaker 1: It will be seen that this young Charlestonian had rather
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  Speaker 1: exalted notions in his head. He was contemplating going to
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  Speaker 1: mc grauville college for the purpose of preparing himself for
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  Speaker 1: the lecturing field. Was it not rather strange that he
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  Speaker 1: did not want to return to his kind hearted old
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  Speaker 1: mistress Thomas Henry Nathan Collins and his wife Mary Ellen.
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  Speaker 1: Thomas is about twenty six, quite dark, rather of a
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  Speaker 1: raw boned make, indicating that times with him had been
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  Speaker 1: other than smooth. A certain Josiah Wilson owned Thomas he
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  Speaker 1: was a cross rugged man, allowing not half enough to eat,
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  Speaker 1: and worked his slaves late and early, especially within the
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  Speaker 1: last two or three months. Previous to the escape, he
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  Speaker 1: had been intensely savage in consequence of having lost not
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  Speaker 1: long before two of his servants. Ever since that misfortune
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  Speaker 1: he had frequently talked of putting the rest in his pocket.
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  Speaker 1: This distressing threat made the rest love him none the more,
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  Speaker 1: but to make assurances doubly sure. After giving them their
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  Speaker 1: supper every evening, which consisted of delicious skimmed milk, corn
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  Speaker 1: cake and a herring each, he would very carefully send
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  Speaker 1: them up in the loft over the kitchen, and there
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  Speaker 1: lock them up to remain until called the next morning
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  Speaker 1: at three or four o'clock to go to work again.
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  Speaker 1: Destitute of money, clothing and a knowledge of the way.
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  Speaker 1: Situated as they were, they concluded to make an effort
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  Speaker 1: for Canada. Nathan was also a fellow servant with Thomas,
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  Speaker 1: and of course owned by Wilson. Nathan's wife, however, was
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  Speaker 1: owned by Wilson's son, Abram. Nathan was about twenty five
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  Speaker 1: years of age, not very dark. He had a remark
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  Speaker 1: large head on his shoulders, and was the picture of determination,
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  Speaker 1: and apparently was exactly the kind of a subject that
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  Speaker 1: might be desirable in the British possessions in the forest
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  Speaker 1: or on the farm. His wife, Mary Ellen, is a
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  Speaker 1: brown skinned, country looking young woman about twenty years of age.
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  Speaker 1: In escaping, they had to break jail in the dead
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  Speaker 1: of night, while all were asleep in the big house,
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  Speaker 1: and thus they succeeded. What mister Wilson did, said or
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  Speaker 1: thought about these shiftless creatures, we are not prepared to say.
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  Speaker 1: We may, notwithstanding, reasonably, infer that the underground has come
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  Speaker 1: in for a liberal share of his indignation and wrath.
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  Speaker 1: The above travelers came from near Newmarket, Maryland. The few
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  Speaker 1: rags they were clad in were not really worth the
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  Speaker 1: price that a woman would ask for washing them. Yet
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  Speaker 1: they brought with them about all they had. Thus they
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  Speaker 1: had to be newly rigged at the expense of the
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  Speaker 1: Vigilance Committee. The Cambridge Democrat of November fourth, eighteen fifty seven,
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  Speaker 1: from which the advertisements were cut, said, at a meeting
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  Speaker 1: of the people of this county held in Cambridge on
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  Speaker 1: the second of November, to take into consideration the better
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  Speaker 1: protection of the interests of the slave owners, among other
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  Speaker 1: things that were done, it was resolved to enforce the
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  Speaker 1: various acts of Assembly whatever relating to servants and slaves.
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  Speaker 1: The Act of seventeen fifteen, Chapter forty four, Section two
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  Speaker 1: provides that from and after the publication thereof no servant
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  Speaker 1: or servants whatsoever within this province, whether by indenture or
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  Speaker 1: by the custom of the counties, or hired for wages,
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  Speaker 1: shall travel by land or water ten miles from the
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  Speaker 1: house of his her or their master, mistress or dame,
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  Speaker 1: without a note under their hands, or under the hands
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  Speaker 1: of his her or their overseer, if any be under
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  Speaker 1: the penalty of being taken for a runaway, and to
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  Speaker 1: suffer such penalties as hereafter provided against runaways. The Act
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  Speaker 1: of eighteen now six, Chapter eighty one, Section five provides
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  Speaker 1: that any person taking up such runaway shall have and
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  Speaker 1: receive six dollars to be paid by the master or owner.
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  Speaker 1: It was also determined to have put in force the
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  Speaker 1: Act of eighteen twenty five, Chapter one sixty one and
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  Speaker 1: the Act of eighteen thirty nine, Chapter three twenty relative
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  Speaker 1: to idle vagabond free negroes, providing for their sale or
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  Speaker 1: banishment from the state. All persons interested are hereby notified
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  Speaker 1: that the aforesaid laws in particular will be enforced, and
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  Speaker 1: all officers failing to enforce them will be presented to
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  Speaker 1: the grand jury. And those who desire to avoid the
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  Speaker 1: penalties of the aforesaid statutes are requested to conform to
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  Speaker 1: these provisions. End of Section twenty five. Recording by Maria
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  Speaker 1: Casper