JOHN ALEXANDER BUTLER, WILLIAM HENRY HIPKINS, JOHN HENRY MOORE AND
GEORGE HILL.
This party made, at first sight, a favorable impression; they
represented the bone and sinew of the slave class of Arlington, and upon
investigation the Committee felt assured that they would carry with them
to Canada industry and determination such as would tell well for the
race.
John Alexander Butler was about twenty-nine years of age, well made,
dark color, and intelligent. He assured the Committee that he had been
hampered by Slavery from his birth, and that in consequence thereof he
had suffered serious hardships. He said that a man by the name of Wm.
Ford, belonging to the Methodist Church at Arlington, had defrauded him
of his just rights, and had compelled him to work on his farm for
nothing; also had deprived him of an education, and had kept him in
poverty and ignorance all his life.
In going over the manner in which he had been treated, he added that not
only was his master a hard man, but that his wife and children partook
of the same evil spirit; "they were all hard." True, they had but three
slaves to oppress, but these they spared not.
John was a married man, and spoke affectionately of his wife and
children, whom he had to leave behind at Cross-Roads.
William Henry, who was heart and soul in earnest with regard to reaching
Canada, and was one of this party, was twenty-three years of age, and
was a stout, yellow man with a remarkably large head, and looked as if
he was capable of enjoying Canada and caring for himself.
In speaking of the fettered condition from which he had escaped, the
name of Ephraim Swart, "a gambler and spree'r" was mentioned as the
individual who had wronged him of his liberty most grievously.
Against Swart he expressed himself with much manly feeling, and judging
from his manner he appeared to be a dangerous customer for master Swart
to encounter north of Mason and Dixon's line.
William complained that Swart "would come home late at night drunk, and
if he did not find us awake he would not attempt to wake us, but would
begin cutting and slashing with a cowhide. He treated his wife very bad
too; sometimes when she would stand up for the servants he would knock
her down. Many times at midnight she would have to leave the house and
go to her mother's for safety; she was a very nice woman, but he was the
very old Satan himself."
While William Henry was debarred from learning letters under his brutal
overseer, he nevertheless learned how to plan ways and means by which to
escape his bondage. He left his old mother and two brothers wholly
ignorant of his movements.
John Henry Moore, another one of the Arlington party, was about
twenty-four years of age, a dark, spare-built man. He named David
Mitchell, of Havre-de-Grace, as the individual above all others who had
kept his foot on his neck. Without undertaking to give John Henry's
description of Mitchell in full, suffice it to give the following facts:
"Mitchell would go off and get drunk, and come home, and if the slaves
had not as much work done as he had tasked them with, he would go to
beating them with clubs or anything he could get in his hand. He was a
tall, spare-built man, with sandy hair. He had a wife and family, but
his wife was no better than he was." When charges or statements were
made by fugitives against those from whom they escaped, particular pains
were taken to find out if such statements could be verified; if the
explanation appeared valid, the facts as given were entered on the
books.
John Henry could not read, but greatly desired to learn, and he looked
as though he had a good head for so doing. Before he left there had been
some talk of selling him South. This rumor had a marked effect upon John
Henry's nervous system; it also expanded his idea touching traveling,
the Underground Rail Road, etc. As he had brothers and sisters who had
been sold to Georgia he made up his mind that his master was not to be
trusted for a single day; he was therefore one of the most
willing-hearted passengers in the party.
George Hill, also a fellow-passenger, was about twenty-four years of
age, quite black, medium size, and of fair, natural mother wit. In
looking back upon his days of bondage, his mind reverted to Dr.
Savington, of Harford county, as the person who owed him for years of
hard and unrequited toil, and at the same time was his so-called owner.
The Doctor, it seemed, had failed to treat George well, for he declared
that he had never received enough to eat the whole time that he was with
him. "The clothes I have on I got by overwork of nights. When I started
I hadn't a shoe on my foot, these were given to me. He was an old man,
but a very wicked man, and drank very hard."
George had been taught field work pretty thoroughly, but nothing in the
way of reading and writing.
George explained why he left as follows: "I left because I had got along
with him as well as I could. Last Saturday a week he was in a great rage
and drunk. He shot at me. He never went away but what he would come home
drunk, and if any body made him angry out from home, he would come home
and take his spite out of his people."
He owned three grown men, two women and six children. Thus hating
Slavery heartily, George was enthusiastically in favor of Canada.
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