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

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  Speaker 1: Section twenty six 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 six The Arrivals
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  Speaker 1: of a single month, Part five. As to the modus
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  Speaker 1: operandi by which so many men, women and children were
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  Speaker 1: delivered and safely forwarded to Canada, despite slave hunters and
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  Speaker 1: the fugitive slave law. The subjoined letters from different agents
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  Speaker 1: and depots will throw important light on the question. Men
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  Speaker 1: and women aided in this cause, who were influenced by
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  Speaker 1: no oath of secrecy, who received not a farthing for
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  Speaker 1: their labors, who believed that God had put it into
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  Speaker 1: the hearts of all mankind to love liberty, and had
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  Speaker 1: come branded men to feel for those in bonds as
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  Speaker 1: bound with them, to break every yoke and let the
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  Speaker 1: oppressed go free. But here are the letters bearing at
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  Speaker 1: least on some of the travelers. Wilmington, tenth Month, thirty first,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen fifty seven. Esteemed friend William Still, I write to
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  Speaker 1: inform thee that we have either seventeen or twenty seven.
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  Speaker 1: I am not certain which of that large gang of
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  Speaker 1: God's poor, and I hope they are safe. The man
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  Speaker 1: who has them in charge informed me there were twenty
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  Speaker 1: seven safe and one boy lost during last night, about
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  Speaker 1: fourteen years of age, without shoes. We have felt some
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  Speaker 1: anxiety about him, for fear he may be taken up
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  Speaker 1: and betray the rest. I have since been informed that
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  Speaker 1: there are but seventeen, so that I cannot at present
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  Speaker 1: tell which is correct. I have several looking out for
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  Speaker 1: the lad They will be kept from Philadelphia for the present.
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  Speaker 1: My principal object in writing THEE at this time is
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  Speaker 1: to inform THEE of what one of our constables told
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  Speaker 1: me this morning. He told me that a colored man
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  Speaker 1: in Philadelphia, who professed to be a great friend of
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  Speaker 1: the colored people, was a traitor. That he had been
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  Speaker 1: written to by an abolitionist in Baltimore to keep a
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  Speaker 1: look out for those slaves that left Cambridge this night.
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  Speaker 1: Week told him they would be likely to pass through
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  Speaker 1: Wilmington on the sixth day or seventh day night, and
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  Speaker 1: the colored man in Philadelphia had written to the master
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  Speaker 1: of part of them, telling him the above and the
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  Speaker 1: Master arrived here yesterday in consequence of the information, and
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  Speaker 1: told one of our constables the above. The man told
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  Speaker 1: the name of the Baltimore writer, which he had forgotten,
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  Speaker 1: but declined telling the name of the colored man in Philadelphia.
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  Speaker 1: I hope you will be able to find out who
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  Speaker 1: he is. And should I be able to learn the
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  Speaker 1: name of the Baltimore friend, I will put him on
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  Speaker 1: his guard, respecting his Philadelphia correspondents as ever, thy friend
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  Speaker 1: and the friend of humanity, without regard to color or
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  Speaker 1: climb Thomas Garrett, how much truth there was in the
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  Speaker 1: constable's story to the effect that a colored man in
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  Speaker 1: Philadelphia who professed to be a great friend of the
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  Speaker 1: colored people was a traitor, et cetera. The committee never
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  Speaker 1: learned as a general thing, colored people were true to
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  Speaker 1: the fugitive slave, But now and then some unprincipled individuals,
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  Speaker 1: under various pretenses would cause us great anxiety. Letter from
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  Speaker 1: John Augusta, Norristown, October eighteenth, eighteen fifty seven, two o'clock
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  Speaker 1: p m. Dear sir, there is six men and women
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  Speaker 1: and five children, making eleven persons. If you are willing
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  Speaker 1: to receive them, write to me immediately and I will
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  Speaker 1: bring them to your tomorrow evening. I would not have
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  Speaker 1: wrote this, but the times are so much worse financially
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  Speaker 1: that I thought it best to hear from you before
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  Speaker 1: I brought such a crowd down. Please answer this and
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  Speaker 1: oblige John Augusta. This document has somewhat of a military
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  Speaker 1: appearance about it. It is shortened to the point. Friend
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  Speaker 1: Augusta was well known in Norristown as a first rate
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  Speaker 1: hair dresser and a prompt and trustworthy underground railroad agent.
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  Speaker 1: Of course, a speedy answer was returned to his note,
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  Speaker 1: and he was instructed to bring the eleven passengers on
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  Speaker 1: to the committee. In brotherly love letter from Miss g
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  Speaker 1: Lewis about a portion of the same memorable twenty eight Sunnyside,
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  Speaker 1: November sixth, eighteen fifty seven. Dear friend, eight more of
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  Speaker 1: the large company reached our place last night direct from
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  Speaker 1: ersil Down. The eight constitute one family of them, the
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  Speaker 1: husband and wife with four children under eight years of age.
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  Speaker 1: Wish tickets for Elmira three sons nearly grown will be
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  Speaker 1: forwarded to Philadelphia, probably by the train which passes Phoenixville
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  Speaker 1: at seven of tomorrow evening, the seventh. It would be
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  Speaker 1: safest to meet them there. We shall send them to
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  Speaker 1: Elijah with the request for them to be sent there,
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  Speaker 1: and I presume they will be. If they should not arrive,
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  Speaker 1: you may suppose it did not suit Elijah to send them.
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  Speaker 1: We will send the money for the tickets by C. C. Burley,
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  Speaker 1: who will be in Philadelphia on second day morning. If
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  Speaker 1: you please, you will forward the tickets by tomorrow's mail,
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  Speaker 1: as we do not have a mail again till third day,
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  Speaker 1: Yours hastily, Q. Lewis, please give directions for forwarding to Almira,
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  Speaker 1: and name the price of tickets. At first, Miss Lewis
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  Speaker 1: thought of forwarding only a part of her fugitive guests
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  Speaker 1: to the committee in Philadelphia, but on further consideration all
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  Speaker 1: were safely sent along in due time, and the Committee
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  Speaker 1: took great pains to have them made as comfortable as possible,
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  Speaker 1: as the cases of these mothers and children especially called
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  Speaker 1: forth the deepest sympathy. In this connection, it seems but
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  Speaker 1: fitting to allude to Captain Lee's sufferings on account of
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  Speaker 1: his having brought away in a skiff by sea a
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  Speaker 1: party of four alluded to in the beginning of this
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  Speaker 1: single month's report. Unfortunately, he was suspected, arrested, tried, convicted,
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  Speaker 1: and torn from his wife and two little children, and
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  Speaker 1: sent to the Richmond Penitentiary for twenty five years before
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  Speaker 1: being sent away from Portsmouth, Virginia, where he was tried
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  Speaker 1: for ten days. In succession. In the prison, five lashes
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  Speaker 1: a day were laid heavily on his bare back. The
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  Speaker 1: further sufferings of poor Lee and his heart broken wife,
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  Speaker 1: and his little daughter and son are too painful for
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  Speaker 1: minute recital. In this city. The friends of Freedom did
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  Speaker 1: all in their power to comfort missus Lee, and administered
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  Speaker 1: aid to her and her children. But she broke down
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  Speaker 1: under her mournful fate and went to that born from
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  Speaker 1: whence no traveler ever returns. Captain Lee suffered untold misery
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  Speaker 1: in prison, until he, also, not a great while before
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  Speaker 1: the Union forces took possession of Richmond, sank beneath the
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  Speaker 1: severity of his treatment, and went likewise to the grave.
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  Speaker 1: The two children, for a long time were under the
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  Speaker 1: care of mister William Ingram of Philadelphia, who voluntarily, from
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  Speaker 1: pure benevolence, proved himself to be a father and a
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  Speaker 1: friend to them. To their poor mother, also, he had
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  Speaker 1: been a true friend. The way in which Captain Lee
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  Speaker 1: came to be convicted, if the committee were correctly informed,
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  Speaker 1: and they think they were, was substantially in this wise.
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  Speaker 1: In the darkness of the night, four men, two of
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  Speaker 1: them constables, one of the other two, the owner of
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  Speaker 1: one of the slaves who had been aided away by Lee,
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  Speaker 1: seized the wife of one of the fugitives and took
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  Speaker 1: her to the woods, where the fiends stripped every particle
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  Speaker 1: of clothing from her person, tied her to a tree,
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  Speaker 1: and armed with knives, cowhides, and a shore swore vengeance
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  Speaker 1: against her, declaring they would kill her if she did
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  Speaker 1: not testify against Lee. At first, she refused to reveal
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  Speaker 1: the secret, indeed she knew but little to reveal, but
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  Speaker 1: her savage tormentors beat her almost to death. Under this
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  Speaker 1: barbarous infliction, she was constrained to implicate Captain Lee, which
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  Speaker 1: was about all the evidence the prosecution had against him,
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  Speaker 1: and in reality her evidence. For two reasons, should not
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  Speaker 1: have weighed a straw, as it was contrary to the
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  Speaker 1: laws of the state of Virginia to admit the testimony
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  Speaker 1: of colored persons against white Then again for the reason
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  Speaker 1: that this testimony was obtained wholly by brute force. But
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  Speaker 1: in this instance, this woman on whom the murderous attack
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  Speaker 1: had been made, was brought into court on Lee's trial,
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  Speaker 1: and was bid to simply make her statement with regard
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  Speaker 1: to Lee's connection with the escape of her husband. This
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  Speaker 1: she did, of course, and in the eyes of this
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  Speaker 1: chivalric court, this procedure was all right. But thank God,
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  Speaker 1: the events since those dark and dreadful days afford abundant
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  Speaker 1: proof that the all seeing eye was not asleep to
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  Speaker 1: the daily sufferings of the poor bondman. End of section
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  Speaker 1: twenty six. Recording by Maria Casper