ELIZA JANE JOHNSON, HARRIET STEWART, AND HER DAUGHTER MARY ELIZA,
WILLIAM COLE, AND HANSON HALL.
Eliza Jane was a tall, dark, young woman, about twenty-three years of
age, and had been held to service by a widow woman, named Sally Spiser,
who was "anything but a good woman." The place of her habitation was in
Delaware, between Concord and Georgetown.
Eliza Jane's excuse for leaving was this: She charged her mistress with
trying to work her to death, and with unkind treatment generally. When
times became so hard that she could not stand her old mistress "Sally"
any longer, she "took out."
Harriet did not come in company with Eliza Jane, but by accident they
met at the station in Philadelphia. Harriet and daughter came from
Washington, D.C.
Harriet had treasured up a heavy account against a white man known by
the name of William A. Linton, whom she described as a large, red-faced
man, who had in former years largely invested in slave property, but
latterly he had been in the habit of selling off, until only seven
remained, and among them she and her child were numbered; therefore, she
regarded him as one who had robbed her of her rights, and daily
threatened her with sale.
Harriet was a very likely-looking woman, twenty-nine years of age,
medium size, and of a brown color, and far from being a stupid person.
Her daughter also was a smart, and interesting little girl of eight
years of age, and seemed much pleased to be getting out of the reach of
slave-holders. The mother and daughter, however, had not won their
freedom thus far, without great suffering, from the long and fatiguing
distance which they were obliged to walk. Sometimes the hardness of the
road made them feel as though they would be compelled to give up the
journey, whether or not; but they added to their faith, patience, and
thus finally succeeded.
Heavy rewards were offered through advertisements in the Baltimore Sun,
but they availed naught. The Vigilance Committee received them safely,
fully cared for them, and safely sent them through to the land of
refuge. Harriet's daring undertaking obliged her to leave her husband,
John Stewart, behind; also one sister, a slave in Georgetown. One
brother had been sold South. Her mother she had laid away in a slave's
grave: but her father she hoped to find in Canada, he having escaped
thither when she was a small girl; at least it was supposed that he had
gone there.
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