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

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  Speaker 1: Section thirty two 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 Greg Giordano. The Underground Railroad
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  Speaker 1: Part one by William Still. Section thirty two Joseph Grant
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  Speaker 1: and John Speaks two passengers on the Underground Railroad via Liverpool.
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  Speaker 1: It is to be regretted that, owing to circumstances, the
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  Speaker 1: account of these persons has not been fully preserved. Could
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  Speaker 1: justice be done them? Probably their narratives would not be
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  Speaker 1: surpassed in interest by any other in the history of fugitives.
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  Speaker 1: In eighteen fifty seven, when these remarkable travelers came under
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  Speaker 1: the notice of the Vigilance Committee, as slavery seemed likely
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  Speaker 1: to last for generations, and there was but little expectation
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  Speaker 1: that these records would ever have of the historical value
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  Speaker 1: which they now possess, care was not always taken to
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  Speaker 1: prepare and preserve them. Besides, the cases coming under the
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  Speaker 1: notice of the Committee were so numerous and so interesting
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  Speaker 1: that it seemed almost impossible to do them anything like justice.
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  Speaker 1: In many instances, the rapt attention paid by friends when
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  Speaker 1: listening to the sad recitals of such passengers would unavoidably
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  Speaker 1: consume so much time that but little opportunity was afforded
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  Speaker 1: to make any record of them. Particularly was this the
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  Speaker 1: case with regard to the above mentioned individuals. The story
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  Speaker 1: of each was so long and sad that a member
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  Speaker 1: of the committee, in attempting to write it out, found
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  Speaker 1: that the two narratives would take volumes that all traces
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  Speaker 1: of these heroes might not be lost. A mere fragment
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  Speaker 1: is all that was preserved. The original names of these
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  Speaker 1: adventurers were Joseph Grant and John Speakes. Between two and
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  Speaker 1: three years before escaping, they were sold from Maryland to
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  Speaker 1: John B. Campbell, a Negro trader living in Baltimore, and
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  Speaker 1: thence to Campbell's brother, another traitor in New Orleans, and
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  Speaker 1: subsequently to Daniel mc bean's and mister Henry of Harrison County, Mississippi,
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  Speaker 1: though both had to pass through nearly the same trial
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  Speaker 1: and belonged to the same masters. This recital must be
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  Speaker 1: confined chiefly to the incidents in the career of Joseph.
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  Speaker 1: He was about twenty seven years of age, well made,
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  Speaker 1: quite black, intelligent and self possessed in his manner. He
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  Speaker 1: was owned in Maryland by missus Mary Gibson, who resided
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  Speaker 1: at Saint Michael's on the Eastern Shore. She was a
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  Speaker 1: nice woman, he said, but her property was under mortgage
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  Speaker 1: and had to be sold, and he was in danger
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  Speaker 1: of sharing the same fate. Joseph was a married man
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  Speaker 1: and spoke tenderly of his wife. She promised him when
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  Speaker 1: he was sold that she would never marry earnestly entreated him,
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  Speaker 1: if he ever met with the luck, to come and
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  Speaker 1: see her. She was unaware, perhaps at that time, of
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  Speaker 1: the great distance that was to divide them. His feelings
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  Speaker 1: on being thus sundered need not be stated. However, he
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  Speaker 1: had scarcely been in Mississippi three weeks ere His desire
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  Speaker 1: to return to his wife and the place of his
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  Speaker 1: nativity constrained him to attempt to return. Accordingly, he set off,
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  Speaker 1: crossing a lake eighty miles wide in a small boat.
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  Speaker 1: He reached Kent Island, and there he was captured by
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  Speaker 1: the watchman on the island, who, with pistols, dirk and
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  Speaker 1: cutlass in hand, threatened if he resisted that death would
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  Speaker 1: be his instant doom. Of course, he was returned to
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  Speaker 1: his master. He remained there a few months, but could
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  Speaker 1: not content himself no longer to endure the ills of
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  Speaker 1: his condition, so he again started for home, walked to Mobile,
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  Speaker 1: and thence he succeeded in stowing himself away in the steamboat,
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  Speaker 1: and was thus conveyed to Montgomery, a distance of five
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  Speaker 1: hundred and fifty miles through solid slave territory. Again he
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  Speaker 1: was captured and returned to his owners, one of whom
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  Speaker 1: always went for immediate punishment, the other being mild thought
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  Speaker 1: persuasion the better plan in such cases. On the whole,
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  Speaker 1: Joseph thus far had been pretty fortunate, considering the magnitude
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  Speaker 1: of his offense. A third time he summoned courage and
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  Speaker 1: steered his course homewards towards Maryland, But as in the
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  Speaker 1: preceding attempts, he was again unsuccessful. In this instance, mister Henry,
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  Speaker 1: the harsh owner, was exasperated, and the mild one's patience
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  Speaker 1: so exhausted that they concluded that nothing short of stern
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  Speaker 1: measures would cause Joe to reform. Said mister Henry, I
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  Speaker 1: had rather lose my right arm than for him to
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  Speaker 1: get off without being punished. After having put us to
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  Speaker 1: so much trouble, Joseph would not speak for himself. He
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  Speaker 1: master sent the overseer to tie me. I told him
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  Speaker 1: I would not be tied. I ran and stayed away
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  Speaker 1: four days, which made mister Henry very anxious. Mister Beans
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  Speaker 1: told the servants that they saw me to tell me
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  Speaker 1: to come back, and I should not be hurt. Thinking
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  Speaker 1: that mister Beans always stood to his word, I was
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  Speaker 1: over persuaded and came back. He sent for me in
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  Speaker 1: his parlor, talked the matter over. Sent me to the steamboat,
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  Speaker 1: perhaps the one he tried to escape on. After getting
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  Speaker 1: cleverly on board, the captain told me, I am sorry
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  Speaker 1: to tell you have to be tied. I was tied,
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  Speaker 1: and mister Henry was sent for. He came, well, I
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  Speaker 1: have got you at last. Beg my pardon and promise
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  Speaker 1: you will never run away again, and I will not
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  Speaker 1: be so hard on you. I could not do it.
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  Speaker 1: He then gave me three hundred lashes well laid on.
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  Speaker 1: I was stripped entirely naked, and my flesh was as
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  Speaker 1: raw as a piece of beef. He made John, the
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  Speaker 1: companion who escaped with him, hold one of my feet,
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  Speaker 1: which I broke loose while being whipped, and when done,
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  Speaker 1: made him bathe me in salt and water. Then I
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  Speaker 1: resolved to go or die in the attempt. Before starting.
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  Speaker 1: One week I could not work on getting better. We
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  Speaker 1: went to ship Island. The sailors, who were Englishmen, were
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  Speaker 1: very sorry to hear of the treatment we had received,
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  Speaker 1: and counseled us how we might get free. The council
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  Speaker 1: was heated, and in due time they found themselves in Liverpool.
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  Speaker 1: There their stay was brief, utterly, destitute of money, education,
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  Speaker 1: and in a strange land. They very naturally turned their
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  Speaker 1: eyes again in the direction of their native land. Accordingly,
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  Speaker 1: their host, the king, keeper of a sailor's boarding house,
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  Speaker 1: shipped them to Philadelphia, but to go back, Joseph saw
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  Speaker 1: many things in New Orleans and Mississippi of a nature
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  Speaker 1: too horrible to relate, among which were the following. I
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  Speaker 1: had seen mister Beans whip one of his slaves to death.
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  Speaker 1: At the tree to which he was tied. Mister Henry
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  Speaker 1: would make them lie down across a log, stripped naked,
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  Speaker 1: and with every stroke would laid the flesh open, being
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  Speaker 1: used to it. Some would lie on the law without
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  Speaker 1: being tied in New Orleans. I have seen women stretched
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  Speaker 1: out just as naked as my hand on boxes and
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  Speaker 1: given one hundred and fifty lashes four men holding them.
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  Speaker 1: I have helped hold them myself. When released, they could
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  Speaker 1: hardly sit or walk. This whipping was at the Fancy House.
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  Speaker 1: The chain gangs he also saw in constant operation four
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  Speaker 1: and five slaves chained together and at work on the streets, cleaning,
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  Speaker 1: et cetera. Was a common sight. He could hardly tell
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  Speaker 1: Sunday from Monday in New Orleans. The slaves were kept
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  Speaker 1: so constantly going. End of second ction thirty two recording
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  Speaker 1: by Greg Giardano, Newport Richie, Florida,