RESPECTED FRIEND:--WILLIAM STILL, I send on to thy care this
evening by Rail Road, 5 able-bodied men, on their way North;
receive them as the Good Samaritan of old and oblige thy friend,
THOMAS GARRETT.
The "able-bodied men" duly arrived, and were thus recorded on the
Underground Rail Road books as trophies of the success of the friends of
humanity.
Cyrus is twenty-six years of age, stout, and unmistakably dark, and was
owned by James K. Lewis, a store-keeper, and a "hard master." He kept
slaves for the express purpose of hiring them out, and it seemed to
afford him as much pleasure to receive the hard-earned dollars of his
bondmen as if he had labored for them with his own hands. "It mattered
not, how mean a man might be," if he would pay the largest price, he was
the man whom the store-keeper preferred to hire to. This always caused
Cyrus to dislike him. Latterly he had been talking of moving into the
State of Virginia. Cyrus disliked this talk exceedingly, but he "said
nothing to the white people" touching the matter. However, he was not
long in deciding that such a move would be of no advantage to him;
indeed, he had an idea if all was true that he had heard about that
place, he would be still more miserable there, than he had ever been
under his present owner. At once, he decided that he would move towards
Canada, and that he would be fixed in his new home before his master got
off to Virginia, unless he moved sooner than Cyrus expected him to do.
Those nearest of kin, to whom he felt most tenderly allied, and from
whom he felt that it would be hard to part, were his father and mother.
He, however, decided that he should have to leave them. Freedom, he
felt, was even worth the giving up of parents.
Believing that company was desirable, he took occasion to submit his
plan to certain friends, who were at once pleased with the idea of a
trip on the Underground Rail Road, to Canada, etc; and all agreed to
join him. At first, they traveled on foot; of their subsequent travel,
mention has already been made in friend Garrett's epistle.
Joshua is about twenty-seven years of age, quite stout, brown color, and
would pass for an intelligent farm hand. He was satisfied never to wear
the yoke again that some one else might reap the benefit of his toil.
His master, Isaac Harris, he denounced as a "drunkard." His chief excuse
for escaping, was because Harris had "sold" his "only brother." He was
obliged to leave his father and mother in the hands of his master.
Charles is twenty-two years of age, also stout, and well-made, and
apparently possessed all the qualifications for doing a good day's work
on a farm. He was held to service by Mrs. Mary Hurley. Charles gave no
glowing account of happiness and comfort under the rule of the female
sex, indeed, he was positive in saying that he had "been used rough."
During the present year, he was sold for $1200.
Ephraim is twenty-two years of age, stout and athletic, one who appears
in every way fitted for manual labor or anything else that he might be
privileged to learn. John Campbell Henry, was the name of the man whom
he had been taught to address as master, and for whose benefit he had
been compelled to labor up to the day he "took out." In considering what
he had been in Maryland and how he had been treated all his life, he
alleged that John Campbell Henry was a "bad man." Not only had Ephraim
been treated badly by his master but he had been hired out to a man no
better than his master, if as good. Ephraim left his mother and six
brothers and sisters.
Francis is twenty-one, an able-bodied "article," of dark color, and was
owned by James A. Waddell. All that he could say of his owner, was, that
he was a "hard master," from whom he was very glad to escape.
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