"Massa, me tell you de tru's. Dat cruel man, Bracher, him make de poor
niggar's back sore wid de lash, and den, when he find I lub one darkey
girl, him beat her too and den sell her for fifty dollars, 'cos she
almost dead. It almost break her heart, and her jump into de riber and
drown herself. Den Dio tink if him stay him shoot Masser Bracher, so
him run 'way and say him find de good cap'n, de only white man who eber
say one kind word to poor Dio. Him wander in de wood, and at last, when
he hab noting to eat, him sink down and tink him die. Den come de tall
doctor and de young gentleman, dey put new life into dis niggar. Ah!
massa, let Dio stay here, him ready to be always your slave, an' nebber,
nebber want run 'way."
"Though I cannot let you be my slave, I will gladly protect you and
allow you to remain here until you have sufficiently recovered to make
your way northward into Canada, where alone you can be safe," said my
father.
"Dis niggar wish always to be de cap'n's slave, no want to go to
Canada," answered Dio.
"But, my poor fellow, if you remain here, you will be recaptured to a
certainty, as your former master would find you out before long, and
would place men on the watch to seize you out of doors, even though I
might protect you in the house."
Still Dio entreated that even when he had recovered his strength he
should not be sent away; but my father was firm in declining to make any
promise both on his own account and for the sake of the black himself.
It was in fact an illegal act to assist a slave in escaping, and much
more to harbour one, and my father knew full well that possibly a party
of Kentuckian slaveholders would come across and capture Dio. The
black, although much recovered, was still somewhat weak. My father
seeing this, and considering that it would be imprudent to allow him to
sleep in the huts with the other negroes, ordered a small inner room to
be prepared for him where he could remain in tolerable security even
should any of those in search of him come our way. Peter was charged to
be cautious not to mention that he had brought Dio to the house, while
fortunately none of the other farm hands, (as far as we knew), had seen
him arrive. Mr Tidey was fully alive to the importance of keeping the
matter secret, and was as anxious as any of us to prevent the fugitive
being retaken. The negro himself seemed perfectly satisfied that he was
safe from capture now that he was with us.
My father's intention was, as soon as he had recovered, to supply him
with a suit of clothes and some money, and to carry him off during the
night northward. He was then to make his way through Indiana to Ohio,
whence he could cross Lake Erie into Canada. My father was acquainted
with a quaker family residing not much more than a hundred miles from us
in the former state on the Wabash, and they were sure to be ready to
assist him on his journey by forwarding him on to other friends who held
their principles. At that time what was called "the underground
railway" was not regularly established, but there were a large number of
persons in the northern states, including all the members of the Society
of Friends, who objected to slavery as much as my father did, and were
always ready to assist fugitives running away from their cruel
taskmasters. The movement in England in favour of the abolition of the
slave-trade had been commenced by Wilberforce in 1787. From that time
the British emancipists gained strength, and in 1792 resolutions for the
abolition of the slave-trade were carried in the House of Commons. The
following year, however, the House did not confirm its former vote, and
though Wilberforce annually brought forward a motion, for seven years it
was regularly lost until in 1799 a bill was carried limiting the traffic
to a certain extent of coast. It was not, however, until 1807 that a
bill for the total abolition of the British slave-trade received the
royal assent. At first a penalty in money was alone inflicted on
British subjects captured on board slave-ships, but in 1811 an act
carried by Lord Brougham made slave-dealing felony. This being found an
inadequate check, in 1824 the slave-trade was declared to be piracy and
the punishment death. This was enforced until 1837, when the punishment
for trading in slaves was changed to transportation for life. Other
nations imitated England in prohibiting their subjects from trafficking
in slaves; the United States of North America and Brazil making the
traffic piracy, and punishable with death. All, with one exception, the
United States, agreed to permit their ships to be searched at sea by the
vessels of other nations. Unhappily, however, the profits on the trade
were so enormous, that the traffic in slaves continued to be carried on
from the coast of Africa to the Brazils, Cuba, and the more southern of
the United States in spite of the activity of the British cruisers. Of
course it will be understood that there is a wide distinction between
the abolition of the slave-trade, and the abolition of slavery. Great
Britain abolished slavery in her colonies in 1833, at the same time
slavery existed, with all its abominations, in the more southern of the
United States, as well as in the Brazils and Cuba, and on the other side
of the continent. At the time of which I am speaking negroes were
bought and sold and driven from one state to another. Parents were
separated from their children, husbands from their wives, and if any one
was daring enough to speak a word in favour of the much-suffering race,
he ran the risk of having his house fired, and his plantations
devastated, or of being put to death, as John Brown was in subsequent
years.
My father was well aware of the danger he ran in harbouring Dio. Under
ordinary circumstances he would have hazarded much to save a slave from
being recaptured, but he felt himself doubly bound to preserve our negro
guest, and thus repay in the most effectual manner, the debt of
gratitude he owed to him for saving my mother's life and mine.
The fact of his being in the house was kept a profound secret from all
the outdoor servants, and my father knew that he could trust Peter and
Black Rose, who were the only persons in the family, besides ourselves,
including Mr Tidey and our Irish servant Biddy O'Toole. The latter was
cautioned not to speak about a negro being in the house, should any
strangers come to look for him.
"Arrah! thim spalpeens w'd be mighty claver to get onything out of Biddy
O'Toole," she answered, with a curl of her lips and cock of her nose,
while her eyes twinkled; "sure if they force themselves into the house
while the master is away, I'll bid them dare to disturb my old mither,
whose troubled with a fever. If they come near the room, I'll give them
a taste of the broomstick."
A couple of days had passed away, and we began to hope that Dio's
pursuers had given up the search, and would not suspect where he was
concealed. He was rapidly recovering under the kind treatment he
received, for he had never before in his life been so well tended.
Either Dan, Kathleen, or I took him in his food, and Peter slept in the
same room and looked after him at night, but of course in the day-time
had to attend to his usual duties. Kathleen became Dio's special
favourite. I am sure from the way he spoke of her, he would have died
to do her a service.
"She one angel, Massa Mike. If such as she lib in heaven, it mus' be
one beautiful place," he remarked to me one day.
Kathleen would sit patiently by his bedside, and sing to him with her
sweet child-voice, and then read a little or tell him a story, handing
him some cooling drink when he was thirsty.
I had one day, while chopping wood, severely sprained my right wrist.
My mother had bound it up and put my arm a sling, so that I could not
use it, and I therefore remained at home while my father and Dan were
out. The only persons in the house besides my mother, Kathleen, and
myself, being Biddy and Dio. Rose had gone to assist the wife of a
settler at some distance whose child was ill. I had been kept awake by
the pain my wrist caused me during the night, and while attempting to
read had fallen asleep, when I was aroused by the sound of the rough
voices of two men at the front door demanding admittance, and abusing
Biddy in no measured terms for refusing to let them in.
"It'd be mighty curious, now, if I'd be afther lettin' strangers into
the house while the cap'n is away," answered Biddy, who had evidently
seen them coming, and had confronted them on the threshold; "in here you
don't put your feet 'till the masther comes home to give ye lave, an'
unless yez keep more civil tongues in your head that'll not be likely."
"Are you the only person in the house?" asked one of the men.
"An' what if I am the only person? I am as good as a dozen such
spalpeens as you!" cried Biddy in high tones.
"You've got as good as a dozen tongues in your head, you saucy jade,"
answered one of the men, with a laugh.
"Saucy or not saucy, you don't come in here. I'm left in charge, with
the mistress busy in one room an' my ould mither, who came all the way
out from Ireland when I was a slip of a girl, sick in bed in another, so
I'll ax you not to spake so loudly, or you'll be afther disturbing them.
Now just sit down on the bank outside 'till the cap'n comes, or mount
your horses and ride away about your business."
"Come, come, Mistress Sharptongue, whether the cap'n shows himself or
not, we intend to look round the house inside and out. We are hunting
for a runaway nigger, and we understand that Captain Loraine has a black
boy, and if he is not the one we are looking for, he's pretty sure to
know where the other is. These free niggers ought to be hung up on the
nearest trees wherever they are to be found; they are a pest to the
country!"
"Sure is it Pater ye mane!" exclaimed Biddy in an indignant tone;
"nigger though he may be, he is more honest than many a white man."
"Keep a civil tongue in your head, Misess Impudence or it may be the
worse for you," said one of the men.
Biddy gave a scornful laugh.
"I'll be after t'aching you to keep a civil tongue in your head; just do
as I tell you, or--"
I could suppose Biddy flourishing her broomstick. The men laughed in
return, and then, hearing a scuffle, fearing that she might be
ill-treated, I thought it time to make my appearance with my gun in my
left hand, though it would have cost me much had it been necessary to
pull the trigger. Biddy was standing at bay, defending herself bravely
against the two men, who were endeavouring to force their way into the
hall, where the scene I am describing took place.
Whack, whack! down came Biddy's stick on their arms, which they held up
to defend their heads, when one of the fellows, who had received a
harder blow than he liked, seized the stick with one hand, while with
the other he drew his bowie-knife and pointed it at the girl, as if
about to strike.
"Arrah! now, ye coward, would ye be afther usin' your knife on a woman?"
shrieked Biddy.
Fearing that the man would not hesitate to commit some act of violence,
I stepped forward, and, showing my gun, shouted, "Back, you villains,
whoever you are, or take the consequences. I have overheard what you
have said; the girl is doing her duty, and until my father comes back--
and I expect him every minute--into this house you do not enter."
The men, who had hitherto not seen me, observing my gun pointed at their
heads, stepped back a pace or two; when Biddy, taking advantage of their
eyes being withdrawn from her, struck the bowie-knife out of the hand of
the man who had attacked her, crying out--
"Fire, Mr Mike, fire; an' we shall, gain the day!"
The two men, who evidently had no wish to risk their lives in the task
they had undertaken, sprang back together through the doorway to avoid
the expected shot, when Biddy, darting after them, slammed the door in
their faces, instantly slipping the bolt, so that they could not again
force it open, though they made the attempt. As she did so she uttered
a shout of triumph.
"Arrah! the spalpeens will not be again trying to walk into the houses
of dacent people with a cock an' bull story about hunting for a runaway
slave. Just let them have a taste of your rifle, and they'll not forget
the lesson we ye given them."
This she said at the top of her voice, knowing that the men outside
would hear her. Whether or not they would have made another attempt to
get in I cannot say, for at that moment, looking out from the window of
the room at which I had been seated, I caught sight of my father, Mr
Tidey, and Dan, with guns in hand, approaching the house.
I immediately cried out to them that some men had been endeavouring to
force their way into the house. The brave Biddy's assailants hearing
what I said, and expecting probably to have some shot sent after them,
took to their heels until they reached their horses, which they had left
secured to some trees, when mounting, they galloped off as hard as they
could go. Biddy, the excitement over, went into hysterics, laughing and
crying and shouting out--
"We've won the day! We did it well, didn't we, Master Mike?"
My father and Mr Tidey, on hearing the account I gave them, were of
opinion that the men were satisfied that the black was not concealed in
the house, but that Biddy had simply fought to prevent them from
entering. Probably they admired her all the more for her determined
conduct. Dan, keeping himself concealed, followed them for some
distance, and when he came back reported that they had taken the road to
Kentucky, so we hoped that we should be rid of them.
Several days passed away and Dio had recovered his strength sufficiently
to get up and move about the house, though my father would not allow him
to go out of doors. His delight was to attend to Kathleen and do her
bidding. She, finding her power, kept him in constant employment.
Young as she was, she could read remarkably well, and her great desire
was to teach him to read. He probably had never before seen a book, as
any person attempting to teach the blacks in the slave-states would have
been thrown into prison, and very possibly hung to the nearest tree.
Except ledgers and account books, probably not a volume of any
description was to be found in Mr Bracher's establishment. For hours
together Kathleen would occupy a high chair, with Dio seated on the
ground by her side, while she taught him the alphabet or read to him
some interesting tale out of one of her books. My mother felt it her
duty to instruct him in the gospel, of which he was perfectly ignorant,
and she took great pains to impart to him its elementary truths, which
he willingly and joyfully took in.
"Dis poor niggar nebber 'fore heard Jesus Christ," he said to her one
day in a low voice; "Him wond'ful good for die for black man like me who
nebber do noting to please Him. Me try an' lub Him an' serve Him with
all my heart to de end ob my days."
"Christ died for black men and white men alike; God wants all people of
every colour, nation, and tongue to come to Him and to be saved,"
answered my mother. "If Dio gives God his heart, God will protect him
and guide him through life until He calls him to that happy heaven He
has prepared for all those who love Him here on earth."
When Dio heard that the Bible contained God's loving message to man, he
became doubly anxious to learn to read it. It was wonderful the
progress he made in a short time, showing that the minds of the negro
race are as capable of imbibing knowledge as those of white men.
There was still a considerable risk that Dio might be recognised by some
of the friends of Mr Bracher who might pass that way, and my father had
determined to start with him in a few days on his projected journey
northwards.
My father and I had just returned from a distant part of the estate, and
were about to enter the house, when, looking along the road, I saw three
horsemen, two of whom bore a striking resemblance to the men who had
paid us a visit when in search of Dio.
"They may be mere travellers, or may be coming without any thought of
Dio, but it will be prudent, in case of accident, to be prepared for
them," observed my father; "we will go in and stow away the black."
We entered as we spoke. Kathleen had taken her usual place on a chair
with a book in her hand while several others lay scattered before her.
Dio was seated on the ground, his eyes level with the page from which
she read, he endeavouring to repeat the words after her. Biddy was
engaged at the other end of the room in making a cake, and did not
observe us enter. My father, afraid of alarming the little girl, did
not speak, but beckoned Dio who just then looked up, to come to him.
Biddy, seeing that something was amiss, hurried out of the room after
us.
"Not a moment to lose," he whispered, "run back to your room, jump into
bed, and draw the clothes over your head; take care that nothing
belonging to you is left in sight. Mike will carry away your shoes and
anything else you have. Some suspicious persons are coming this way."
"I should not be surprised, Biddy, if they are your old friends," I
observed; "you will treat them with due hospitality if they enter the
house."
"Sure the cap'n won't be lettin' thim in at all at all," she said, when
she observed the three men on horseback approaching, two of whom she
recognised as her former opponents.
"Biddy is right," observed my father, "and our safest plan will be to
keep them outside until we ascertain their business. Let your mother
know, call Mr Tidey and Dan, and close the window-shutters as fast as
you can."
The latter order Biddy set about zealously executing, aided by Dan and
my mother, while my father and I, joined by Mr Tidey, stood at the
front door to receive our unwelcome guests.
"What brings you here?" asked my father; "I should have thought after
the way you behaved at your last visit that you would have been ashamed
to show your faces."
"That's neither here nor there, captain," answered one of the men; "we
have notice that you are hiding a runaway slave, and we have come to
demand him from you; if you don't give him up, you will learn that we
have the power to take him by force."
"No man shall enter my house unless I invite him," said my father
calmly, "as to taking any one out of my house by force, you can only do
that when you have conquered me. Whether you can conquer me or not is
to be seen."
The men were somewhat taken aback by this address, and began to ride up
and down in front of the house, casting doubtful glances at him and Mr
Tidey.
At last they once more pulled up, and one of them exclaimed, "Come,
captain, this won't do! I ask you whether or not you have a negro boy
anywhere about your premises? If you have, give him up without more
words. He belongs to Silas Bracher, who is not the man to allow his
property to be stolen from him."
"I have stolen no man's property," answered my father, "and as to
allowing strangers to come into my house, under any pretext whatever, I
don't intend to do it, so you have my answer. I'll give you corn for
your horses and food for yourselves, but over this threshold you don't
step with my good will."
"Then you don't deny having harboured the slave we are in search of?"
exclaimed one of the men. "Come, give him up, I say, or it will be the
worse for you!"
"I don't acknowledge having afforded shelter to a black, and I don't
deny having done so. I have a perfect right to receive any strangers
into my house who come to me in distress, and if they trust to me I'll
defend them with my life," said my father.
"Your life's not worth the snuff of a candle, then," answered the leader
of the party, one of Mr Bracher's principal overseers.
The men, retiring to a little distance, consulted together, but seeing
the muzzles of our rifles protruding from the windows, evidently
considered that it would not be prudent to attempt any act of violence.
After some time the overseer again rode forward. He must have felt sure
that my father would not commence hostilities, or he would have kept at
a distance.
"Captain, I give you warning that you are bringing down destruction on
yourself and family," he shouted; "you have either helped a runaway
slave to escape, or you have still got him in hiding. It would never do
for us Kentuckians to let such an act pass unpunished; we should have
half the slaves in the state bolting for the borders, and claiming the
protection of emancipists like yourself and others." The speaker
bestowed an epithet on my father which I need not repeat. "I ask you,
once more, have you got the slave, and if you have, will you give him
up?"
"I again answer that if I had the slave I would not give him up,"
replied my father in a firm tone; "if you or your master attempt to
injure my family or my property, I shall defend myself as I have a right
to do, and should any of you be killed, your blood will be upon your own
heads."
"I call no man master, but if you mean Silas Bracher, he is not the
person to change his intentions, so I shall give him your answer,"
replied the overseer, who, without more ado, turned his horse's head,
and rejoined his companions, when the three rode away in the direction
from whence they had come. Though pretty confident that the men had
gone away, my father thought it prudent to keep a watch on their
movements. Before they could have got to any great distance I hurried
out to follow them. From a hill, a short distance to the south of the
house a view could be obtained along the road they would probably take.
A grove of trees, with some thick brushwood, enabled me to watch them
without the risk of being discovered should they turn their heads.
I soon made them out, and saw them riding on without stopping until out
of sight. Convinced that they had really gone away, I was on the point
of returning when I saw two of them, as I supposed, coming back,
spurring their horses over the level road. It was a question whether I
could reach the house before them. I ran as fast as my legs could carry
me until I got to another point whence I could take a look at them
without being seen. I then saw by their dress and the colour of their
horses that they were not the men I fancied, but that one of them was
Uncle Denis, while the other was a stranger. I therefore ran down the
hill to meet them.
"What has happened up at the farm, Mike?" asked my uncle, after we had
exchanged greetings; "we met just now three of Bracher's men, who were
swearing away at your father and all of you in a fashion which made me
fear that they had either done some mischief, or intended doing it. I
don't think they knew that we were coming here, or they would have
picked a quarrel with us, for which they seemed very much disposed."
I relieved my uncle's mind by telling him that the men had only used
threatening language, but I thought it prudent not to say that the
fugitive slave was actually in the house, not knowing the character of
the stranger who was with him. My uncle now introduced him to me as Mr
McDermont, a countryman, who said he had come over to settle in the
States, and who, not yet having any experience as a backwoodsman, had
determined on purchasing an improved farm. "I offered him mine, but he
does not wish to employ slave labour, and would prefer obtaining one in
a free state. I therefore brought him here, feeling sure that your
father would gladly assist him in finding the style of location he
desires."
Uncle Denis and his companion were, of course, heartily welcomed at
Uphill.
"I am so thankful that you have come, Denis," said my mother, who had
been much alarmed at the late occurrence, "do, pray, remain and assist
my husband in defending our property, for I dread lest those men should
carry their threats into execution!"
Uncle Denis did his best to reassure her, saying that he did not think
Mr Bracher would venture on any act of violence, but promising to stay
some time at Uphill, until Mr McDermont had settled in the
neighbourhood.