Savage P.O., Howard county, Md.
Such notoriety as was given them by the above advertisement, did not in
the least damage Bill and Hanson in the estimation of the Committee. It
was rather pleasing to know that they were of so much account as to call
forth such a public expression from the Messrs. Dorsey. Besides it saved
the Committee the necessity of writing out a description of them, the
only fault found with the advertisement being in Reference to their
ages. Bill, for instance, was put down ten years younger than he claimed
to be. Which was correct, Bill or his master? The Committee were
inclined to believe Bill in preference to his master, for the simple
reason that he seemed to account satisfactorily for his master's making
him so young: he (the master) could sell him for much more at
thirty-seven than at forty-seven. Unscrupulous horse-jockies and traders
in their fellow-men were about on a par as to that kind of sharp
practice.
Hanson, instead of being only thirty, declared that he was thirty-seven
the fifteenth of February. These errors are noticed and corrected
because it is barely possible that Bill and Hanson may still be lost to
their relatives, who may be inquiring and hunting in every direction for
them, and as many others may turn to these records with hope, it is,
therefore, doubly important that these descriptions shall be as far as
possible, correct, especially as regards ages.
Hanson laughed heartily over the idea that he looked "sickly." While on
the Underground Rail Road, he looked very far from sickly; on the
contrary, a more healthy, fat, and stout-looking piece of property no
one need wish to behold, than was this same Hanson. He confessed,
however, that for some time previous to his departure, he had feigned
sickness,--told his master that he was "sick all over." "Ten times a day
Hanson said they would ask him how he was, but was not willing to make
his task much lighter." The following description was given of his
master, and his reason for leaving him:
"My master was a red-faced farmer, severe temper, would curse, and
swear, and drink, and sell his slaves whenever he felt like it. My
mistress was a pretty cross, curious kind of a woman too, though she was
a member of the Protestant Church. They were rich, and had big farms and
a good many slaves. They didn't allow me any provisions hardly; I had a
wife, but they did not allow me to go see her, only once in a great
while."
Bill providentially escaped from a well-known cripple, whom he undertook
to describe as a "very sneaking-looking man, medium size, smooth face; a
wealthy farmer, who owned eighteen or twenty head of slaves, and was
Judge of the Orphans' Court." "He sells slaves occasionally." "My
mistress was a very large, rough, Irish-looking woman, with a very bad
disposition; it appeared like as if she hated to see a 'nigger,' and she
was always wanting her husband to have some one whipped, and she was a
member of the Methodist Church. My master was a trustee in the Episcopal
Church."
In consequence of the tribulation Bill had experienced under his
Christian master and mistress, he had been led to disbelieve in the
Protestant faith altogether, and declared that he felt persuaded that it
was all a "pretense," and added that he "never went to Church; no place
was provided in church for 'niggers' except a little pen for the
coachmen and waiters."
Bill had been honored with the post of "head man on the place," but of
this office he was not proud.
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