Perry's exit was in November, 1853. He was owned by Charles Johnson, who
lived at Elkton. The infliction of a severe "flogging" from the hand of
his master awakened Perry to consider the importance of the U.G.R.R.
Perry had the misfortune to let a "load of fodder upset," about which
his master became exasperated, and in his agitated state of mind he
succeeded in affixing a number of very ugly stationary marks on Perry's
back. However, this was no new thing. Indeed he had suffered at the
hands of his mistress even far more keenly than from these "ugly marks."
He had but one eye; the other he had been deprived of by a terrible
stroke with a cowhide in the "hand of his mistress." This lady he
pronounced to be a "perfect savage," and added that "she was in the
habit of cowhiding any of her slaves whenever she felt like it, which
was quite often." Perry was about twenty-eight years of age and a man of
promise. The Committee attended to his wants and forwarded him on North.
* * * * *