This passenger arrived from Norfolk, Va. in 1853. For the last four
years previous to escaping, he had been under the yoke of Dr. George
Wilson. Archer declared that he had been "very badly treated" by the
Doctor, which he urged as his reason for leaving. True, the doctor had
been good enough to allow him to hire his time, for which he required
Archer to pay the moderate sum of $120 per annum. As Archer had been
"sickly" most of the time, during the last year, he complained that
there was "no reduction" in his hire on this account. Upon reflection,
therefore, Archer thought, if he had justice done him, he would be in
possession of this "one hundred and twenty" himself, and all his other
rights, instead of having to toil for another without pay; so he looked
seriously into the matter of master and slave, and pretty soon resolved,
that if others chose to make no effort to get away, for himself he would
never be contented, until he was free. When a slave reached this
decision, he was in a very hopeful state. He was near the Underground
Rail Road, and was sure to find it, sooner or later. At this thoughtful
period, Archer was thirty-one years of age, a man of medium size, and
belonged to the two leading branches of southern humanity, _i.e._, he
_was_ half white and half colored--a dark mulatto. His arrival in
Philadelphia, per one of the Richmond steamers, was greeted with joy by
the Vigilance Committee, who extended to him the usual aid and care, and
forwarded him on to freedom. For a number of years, he has been a
citizen of Boston.
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