CAPT. HELM--DIVORCE--KIDNAPPING.
The business affairs of Capt. Helm had for some time been far from
prosperous; and now he was quite poor. His slave property proved a bad
investment, and Madam Thornton a far worse one. She had already applied
for a divorce, and a good share of the estate as alimony; both of which
she succeeded in getting, the Captain allowing her to take pretty much
her own course. These troubles, with costs of lawsuits, bad management,
&c., had now emptied the coffers of my old master almost to the last
farthing; and he began to cast about him for some way to replenish his
purse, and retrieve his fallen fortunes.
Had Capt. Helm been brought up to honorable industry, and accustomed to
look after his own pecuniary interests, he doubtless would have sustained
his position; or if reverses were unavoidable, he would have by
persevering industry, regained what he had lost. But he had been raised in
a slave State, and Southern principles were as deeply instilled into his
mind, as Southern manners were impressed on his life and conduct.
He had no partiality for labor of any kind; horse-racing and card-playing
were far more congenial to his tastes; reduced as he now was, he would
deny himself no luxury that his means or credit would procure. His few
remaining slaves were given into the hands of an idle, brutal overseer
--while they, half fed, half clothed, grew more and more discontented, and
ran away on every opportunity that offered.
The Captain at last hit upon a method of making money, which, if it had
been carried into operation on the high seas, would in all probability
have been called by its right name, and incurred the penalty of the
gallows--as piracy. Ought it then to be deemed less criminal because
transpiring on the free soil of the American Republic? I think not. Nor
was it less censurable on account of its failure.
The Captain's plan was to collect all the slaves he had once owned, many
of whom had escaped to the surrounding villages, and when once in his
grasp, to run them speedily into a slave State, and there sell them for
the Southern market. To carry forward this hellish design, it was
necessary to have recourse to stratagem. Some person must be found to
lure the unsuspecting slaves into the net he was spreading for them. At
last he found a scoundrel named Simon Watkins, who for the consideration
of fifty dollars, was to collect as many of the slaves as he could at one
place; and when he had done so, he was to receive the money, leaving Capt.
Helm to do the rest.
Simon set immediately about the business, which was first to go to
Palmyra, and in great kindness and generosity, give a large party to the
colored people,--desiring that all Capt. Helm's former slaves, _in
particular_, should be present to have a joyous re-union, and celebrate
their freedom in having a fine time generally.
Invitations were sent to all, and extensive preparation made for a large
"social party," at Palmyra, at the house of Mrs. Bristol. My parents were
invited; and Simon took the pains to come to Farmington to give me a
special invitation. When the time arrived for the party, I went to Palmyra
with the intention of attending. I had not the least suspicion of any
thing wrong; yet, by some mysterious providence, or something for which I
can not account, a presentiment took possession of my mind that all was
not right. I knew not what I feared, and could in no way define my
apprehensions; but I grew so uneasy, that I finally gave up the party and
returned home, before the guests were assembled.
Capt. Helm and his assistants came on to Palmyra in disguise, before
evening, and secreted themselves in one of the hotels to await the arrival
of their victims.
At the appointed hour the slaves began to assemble in large numbers and
great glee, without the least suspicion of danger. They soon began their
amusements, and in the midst of their mirth, Capt. Helm and party
stealthily crept from their hiding place and surrounded the house; then
bursting in suddenly upon the revelers, began to make arrests. Such a
tumult, such an affray as ensued would be hard to describe.
The slaves fought for their lives and their liberty, and the Captain's
party for their property and power. Fists, clubs, chairs, and any thing
they could get hold of, was freely used with a strength and will of men
who had tasted the joys of freedom. Cries and curses were mingled, while
blows fell like hail on both sides. Commands from our old master were met
with shouts of bold defiance on the part of the negroes, until the
miserable kidnappers were glad to desist, and were driven of--not
stealthily as they came, but in quick time and in the best way they could,
to escape the threatened vengeance of the slaves, who drove them like
"feathers before the wind." But it was a terrible battle and many were
severely wounded; among them was my father. He was taken to his home,
mangled and bleeding, and from the effects of that night's affray he never
recovered. He lingered on in feeble health until death finally released
him from suffering, and placed him beyond the reach of kidnappers and
tyrants.
The Captain and his party, enraged and disappointed in their plans at
Palmyra, returned to Bath to see what could be done there toward success,
in getting up a gang of slaves for the Southern market. When they came
among the colored people of Bath, it was like a hawk alighting among a
flock of chickens at noon-day. They scattered and ran in every direction,
some to the woods, some hid themselves in cellars, and others in their
terror plunged into the Conhocton River. In this manner the majority of
the negroes escaped, but not all; and those were so unfortunate as to get
caught were instantly thrown into a large covered "Pennsylvania wagon,"
and hurried off, closely guarded, to Olean Point. Among those taken were
Harry Lucas, his wife, Lucinda, and seven children; Mrs. Jane Cooper and
four children, with some others, were also taken.
When Capt. Helm arrived at Olean Point with his stolen freight of human
beings, he was unexpectedly detained until he could build a boat,--which,
to his great dismay took him several days.
The sorrow and fearful apprehension of those wretched recaptured slaves
can not be described nor imagined by any one except those who have
experienced a like affliction. They had basked for a short season in the
sunshine of liberty, and thought themselves secure from the iron grasp of
Slavery, and the heel of the oppressor, when in the height of their
exultation, they had been thrust down to the lowest depths of misery and
despair, with the oppressor's heel again upon their necks. To be snatched
without a moment's warning from their homes and friends,--hurried and
crowded into the close slave wagon, regardless of age or sex, like sheep
for the slaughter, to be carried they knew not whither; but, doubtless
to the dismal rice swamp of the South,--was to them an agony too great for
endurance. The adult portion of the miserable company determined at last
to go no farther with their heartless master, but to resist unto death if
need be, before they surrendered themselves to the galling chains they had
so recently broken, or writhed again under the torturing lash of the
slave-driver.
Harry Lucas and wife, and Jane Cooper, silently prepared themselves for
the conflict, determined to sell their lives as dearly as possible. When
they were nearly ready to start, Jane Cooper sent her oldest daughter and
younger sister, (she who is now our worthy friend Mrs. P. of Bath), into
the woods, and then when the men undertook to get Lucas and the two women
on board the boat the struggle commenced. The women fought the Captain and
his confederates like a lioness robbed of her whelps! They ran and dodged
about, making the woods ring with their screams and shouts of "Murder!
Murder! Help! Help! Murder!" until the Captain's party, seeing they could
do nothing to quell them, became so exceedingly alarmed lest they should
be detected in their illegal proceedings, that they ran off at full speed,
as if they thought an officer at their heels. In their hurry and fright
they caught two of Harry's children, and throwing them into the boat,
pushed off as quick as possible, amid the redoubled cries of the agonized
parents and sympathizing friends, all trying in every way possible, to
recover from the merciless grasp of the man-stealer, the two frightened
and screaming children. Guns were fired and horns sounded, but all to no
purpose--they held tightly the innocent victims of their cupidity, and
made good their escape.
Mr. D. C----, a gentleman of wealth and high standing in Steuben County,
became responsible for the fifty dollars which Capt. Helm promised to pay
Simon Watkins for his villainy in betraying, Judas-like, those unsuspecting
persons whom it should have been his pleasure to protect and defend
against their common oppressor,--his own as well as theirs.
In addition to this rascality, it can not appear very creditable to the
citizens of Steuben County, that Capt. Helm and Thomas McBirney should
both hold high and important offices at the time, and _after_ they had
been tried and convicted of the crime of kidnapping. Both of these
gentlemen, guilty of a State's prison offence, were judges of the common
pleas. T. McBirney was first judge in the county, and Capt. Helm was side
judge; and notwithstanding their participation in, and conviction of, a
flagrant outrage on the laws of God and man, they managed not only to
escape the penalty, but to retain their offices and their respectable
standing in community for years after.