Ver.04.29.93*END*
THE AMERICAN NEGRO
HIS HISTORY AND LITERATURE
RUNNING A THOUSAND MILES FOR FREEDOM
William and Ellen Craft
RUNNING A THOUSAND MILES FOR FREEDOM
OR, THE ESCAPE OF WILLIAM AND ELLEN CRAFT
FROM SLAVERY.
"Slaves cannot breathe in England: if their lungs
Receive our air, that moment they are free;
They touch our country, and their shackles fall."
COWPER
RUNNING A THOUSAND MILES FOR FREEDOM
PREFACE.
HAVING heard while in Slavery that "God made
of one blood all nations of men," and also that the
American Declaration of Independence says, that
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that
all men are created equal; that they are endowed
by their Creator with certain inalienable rights;
that among these, are life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness;" we could not understand by what
right we were held as "chattels." Therefore, we
felt perfectly justified in undertaking the dan-
gerous and exciting task of "running a thousand
miles" in order to obtain those rights which are so
vividly set forth in the Declaration.
I beg those who would know the particulars of
our journey, to peruse these pages.
This book is not intended as a full history of the
life of my wife, nor of myself; but merely as an
account of our escape; together with other matter
which I hope may be the means of creating in
some minds a deeper abhorrence of the sinful and
abominable practice of enslaving and brutifying our
fellow-creatures.
Without stopping to write a long apology for
offering this little volume to the public, I shall
commence at once to pursue my simple story.
W. CRAFT.
12, CAMBRIDGE ROAD,
HAMMERSMITH,
LONDON.
RUNNING A THOUSAND MILES FOR
FREEDOM.
-----+-----
PART I.
"God gave us only over beast, fish, fowl,
Dominion absolute; that right we hold
By his donation. But man over man
He made not lord; such title to himself
Reserving, human left from human free."
MILTON.
MY wife and myself were born in different
towns in the State of Georgia, which is one of the
principal slave States. It is true, our condition as
slaves was not by any means the worst; but the
mere idea that we were held as chattels, and de-
prived of all legal rights--the thought that we
had to give up our hard earnings to a tyrant, to
enable him to live in idleness and luxury--the
thought that we could not call the bones and
sinews that God gave us our own: but above all,
the fact that another man had the power to tear
from our cradle the new-born babe and sell it in
the shambles like a brute, and then scourge us if
we dared to lift a finger to save it from such a fate,
haunted us for years.
But in December, 1848, a plan suggested itself
that proved quite successful, and in eight days
after it was first thought of we were free from the
horrible trammels of slavery, rejoicing and praising
God in the glorious sunshine of liberty.
My wife's first master was her father, and her
mother his slave, and the latter is still the slave of
his widow.
Notwithstanding my wife being of African ex-
traction on her mother's side, she is almost white--
in fact, she is so nearly so that the tyrannical old
lady to whom she first belonged became so annoyed,
at finding her frequently mistaken for a child of
the family, that she gave her when eleven years of
age to a daughter, as a wedding present. This
separated my wife from her mother, and also from
several other dear friends. But the incessant
cruelty of her old mistress made the change of
owners or treatment so desirable, that she did not
grumble much at this cruel separation.
It may be remembered that slavery in America
is not at all confined to persons of any particular
complexion; there are a very large number of
slaves as white as any one; but as the evidence of a
slave is not admitted in court against a free white
person, it is almost impossible for a white child,
after having been kidnapped and sold into or re-
duced to slavery, in a part of the country where it
is not known (as often is the case), ever to recover
its freedom.
I have myself conversed with several slaves who
told me that their parents were white and free; but
that they were stolen away from them and sold
when quite young. As they could not tell their
address, and also as the parents did not know
what had become of their lost and dear little
ones, of course all traces of each other were gone.
The following facts are sufficient to prove, that
he who has the power, and is inhuman enough to
trample upon the sacred rights of the weak, cares
nothing for race or colour:--
In March, 1818, three ships arrived at New
Orleans, bringing several hundred German emi-
grants from the province of Alsace, on the lower
Rhine. Among them were Daniel Muller and his
two daughters, Dorothea and Salome, whose mother
had died on the passage. Soon after his arrival,
Muller, taking with him his two daughters, both
young children, went up the river to Attakapas
parish, to work on the plantation of John F. Miller.
A few weeks later, his relatives, who had remained
at New Orleans, learned that he had died of the
fever of the country. They immediately sent for
the two girls; but they had disappeared, and the
relatives, notwithstanding repeated and persevering
inquiries and researches, could find no traces of
them. They were at length given up for dead.
Dorothea was never again heard of; nor was any
thing known of Salome from 1818 till 1843.
In the summer of that year, Madame Karl, a
German woman who had come over in the same
ship with the Mullers, was passing through a street
in New Orleans, and accidentally saw Salome in a
wine-shop, belonging to Louis Belmonte, by whom
she was held as a slave. Madame Karl recognised
her at once, and carried her to the house of another
German woman, Mrs. Schubert, who was Salome's
cousin and godmother, and who no sooner set eyes
on her than, without having any intimation that
the discovery had been previously made, she un-
hesitatingly exclaimed, "My God! here is the
long-lost Salome Muller."
The Law Reporter, in its account of this case,
says:--
"As many of the German emigrants of 1818 as
could be gathered together were brought to the
house of Mrs. Schubert, and every one of the
number who had any recollection of the little girl
upon the passage, or any acquaintance with her
father and mother, immediately identified the
woman before them as the long-lost Salome
Muller. By all these witnesses, who appeared
at the trial, the identity was fully established.
The family resemblance in every feature was
declared to be so remarkable, that some of the
witnesses did not hesitate to say that they should
know her among ten thousand; that they were
as certain the plaintiff was Salome Muller, the
daughter of Daniel and Dorothea Muller, as of
their own existence."
Among the witnesses who appeared in Court was
the midwife who had assisted at the birth of Salome.
She testified to the existence of certain peculiar
marks upon the body of the child, which were
found, exactly as described, by the surgeons who
were appointed by the Court to make an examina-
tion for the purpose.
There was no trace of African descent in
any feature of Salome Muller. She had long,
straight, black hair, hazel eyes, thin lips, and
a Roman nose. The complexion of her face and
neck was as dark as that of the darkest brunette.
It appears, however, that, during the twenty-five
years of her servitude, she had been exposed to
the sun's rays in the hot climate of Louisiana, with
head and neck unsheltered, as is customary with
the female slaves, while labouring in the cotton or
the sugar field. Those parts of her person which
had been shielded from the sun were compara-
tively white.
Belmonte, the pretended owner of the girl, had
obtained possession of her by an act of sale from
John F. Miller, the planter in whose service
Salome's father died. This Miller was a man of
consideration and substance, owning large sugar
estates, and bearing a high reputation for honour
and honesty, and for indulgent treatment of his
slaves. It was testified on the trial that he had
said to Belmonte, a few weeks after the sale of
Salome, "that she was white, and had as much
right to her freedom as any one, and was only to
be retained in slavery by care and kind treatment."
The broker who negotiated the sale from Miller to
Belmonte, in 1838, testified in Court that he then
thought, and still thought, that the girl was white!
The case was elaborately argued on both sides,
but was at length decided in favour of the girl,
by the Supreme Court declaring that "she was
free and white, and therefore unlawfully held in
bondage."
The Rev. George Bourne, of Virginia, in his
Picture of Slavery, published in 1834, relates the
case of a white boy who, at the age of seven, was
stolen from his home in Ohio, tanned and stained
in such a way that he could not be distinguished
from a person of colour, and then sold as a slave
in Virginia. At the age of twenty, he made his
escape, by running away, and happily succeeded in
rejoining his parents.
I have known worthless white people to sell their
own free children into slavery; and, as there are
good-for-nothing white as well as coloured persons
everywhere, no one, perhaps, will wonder at such
inhuman transactions: particularly in the Southern
States of America, where I believe there is a
greater want of humanity and high principle
amongst the whites, than among any other
civilized people in the world.
I know that those who are not familiar with the
working of "the peculiar institution," can scarcely
imagine any one so totally devoid of all natural
affection as to sell his own offspring into returnless
bondage. But Shakespeare, that great observer
of human nature, says:--
"With caution judge of probabilities.
Things deemed unlikely, e'en impossible,
Experience often shews us to be true."
My wife's new mistress was decidedly more
humane than the majority of her class. My wife
has always given her credit for not exposing her to
many of the worst features of slavery. For instance,
it is a common practice in the slave States for ladies,
when angry with their maids, to send them to the
calybuce sugar-house, or to some other place
established for the purpose of punishing slaves,
and have them severely flogged; and I am sorry
it is a fact, that the villains to whom those de-
fenceless creatures are sent, not only flog them
as they are ordered, but frequently compel them
to submit to the greatest indignity. Oh! if there
is any one thing under the wide canopy of heaven,
horrible enough to stir a man's soul, and to make
his very blood boil, it is the thought of his dear
wife, his unprotected sister, or his young and
virtuous daughters, struggling to save themselves
from falling a prey to such demons!
It always appears strange to me that any one
who was not born a slaveholder, and steeped to the
very core in the demoralizing atmosphere of the
Southern States, can in any way palliate slavery.
It is still more surprising to see virtuous ladies
looking with patience upon, and remaining indif-
ferent to, the existence of a system that exposes
nearly two millions of their own sex in the manner
I have mentioned, and that too in a professedly
free and Christian country. There is, however,
great consolation in knowing that God is just, and
will not let the oppressor of the weak, and the
spoiler of the virtuous, escape unpunished here and
hereafter.
I believe a similar retribution to that which
destroyed Sodom is hanging over the slaveholders.
My sincere prayer is that they may not provoke
God, by persisting in a reckless course of wicked-
ness, to pour out his consuming wrath upon them.
I must now return to our history.
My old master had the reputation of being a
very humane and Christian man, but he thought
nothing of selling my poor old father, and dear
aged mother, at separate times, to different persons,
to be dragged off never to behold each other again,
till summoned to appear before the great tribunal
of heaven. But, oh! what a happy meeting it
will be on that day for those faithful souls.
I say a happy meeting, because I never saw
persons more devoted to the service of God
than they. But how will the case stand with those
reckless traffickers in human flesh and blood, who
plunged the poisonous dagger of separation into
those loving hearts which God had for so many
years closely joined together--nay, sealed as it
were with his own hands for the eternal courts of
heaven? It is not for me to say what will become
of those heartless tyrants. I must leave them in
the hands of an all-wise and just God, who will, in
his own good time, and in his own way, avenge the
wrongs of his oppressed people.
My old master also sold a dear brother and a
sister, in the same manner as he did my father and
mother. The reason he assigned for disposing of
my parents, as well as of several other aged slaves,
was, that "they were getting old, and would soon
become valueless in the market, and therefore he
intended to sell off all the old stock, and buy in a
young lot." A most disgraceful conclusion for a
man to come to, who made such great professions
of religion!
This shameful conduct gave me a thorough
hatred, not for true Christianity, but for slave-
holding piety.
My old master, then, wishing to make the most
of the rest of his slaves, apprenticed a brother
and myself out to learn trades: he to a black-
smith, and myself to a cabinet-maker. If a slave
has a good trade, he will let or sell for more
than a person without one, and many slave-
holders have their slaves taught trades on this
account. But before our time expired, my old
master wanted money; so he sold my brother, and
then mortgaged my sister, a dear girl about four-
teen years of age, and myself, then about sixteen,
to one of the banks, to get money to speculate in
cotton. This we knew nothing of at the moment;
but time rolled on, the money became due, my
master was unable to meet his payments; so the
bank had us placed upon the auction stand and
sold to the highest bidder.
My poor sister was sold first: she was knocked
down to a planter who resided at some distance
in the country. Then I was called upon the stand.
While the auctioneer was crying the bids, I saw
the man that had purchased my sister getting her
into a cart, to take her to his home. I at once
asked a slave friend who was standing near the
platform, to run and ask the gentleman if he
would please to wait till I was sold, in order
that I might have an opportunity of bidding her
good-bye. He sent me word back that he had
some distance to go, and could not wait.
I then turned to the auctioneer, fell upon my
knees, and humbly prayed him to let me just step
down and bid my last sister farewell. But, instead
of granting me this request, he grasped me by the
neck, and in a commanding tone of voice, and with
a violent oath, exclaimed, "Get up! You can do
the wench no good; therefore there is no use in
your seeing her."
On rising, I saw the cart in which she sat
moving slowly off; and, as she clasped her hands
with a grasp that indicated despair, and looked
pitifully round towards me, I also saw the large
silent tears trickling down her cheeks. She made
a farewell bow, and buried her face in her lap.
This seemed more than I could bear. It appeared
to swell my aching heart to its utmost. But
before I could fairly recover, the poor girl was
gone;--gone, and I have never had the good for-
tune to see her from that day to this! Perhaps
I should have never heard of her again, had it not
been for the untiring efforts of my good old
mother, who became free a few years ago by pur-
chase, and, after a great deal of difficulty, found
my sister residing with a family in Mississippi.
My mother at once wrote to me, informing me of
the fact, and requesting me to do something to get
her free; and I am happy to say that, partly by
lecturing occasionally, and through the sale of an
engraving of my wife in the disguise in which
she escaped, together with the extreme kind-
ness and generosity of Miss Burdett Coutts,
Mr. George Richardson of Plymouth, and a few
other friends, I have nearly accomplished this.
It would be to me a great and ever-glorious
achievement to restore my sister to our dear
mother, from whom she was forcibly driven in
early life.
I was knocked down to the cashier of the
bank to which we were mortgaged, and ordered
to return to the cabinet shop where I previously
worked.
But the thought of the harsh auctioneer not
allowing me to bid my dear sister farewell, sent
red-hot indignation darting like lightning through
every vein. It quenched my tears, and appeared
to set my brain on fire, and made me crave for
power to avenge our wrongs! But alas! we were
only slaves, and had no legal rights; consequently
we were compelled to smother our wounded feel-
ings, and crouch beneath the iron heel of des-
potism.
I must now give the account of our escape;
but, before doing so, it may be well to quote
a few passages from the fundamental laws of
slavery; in order to give some idea of the
legal as well as the social tyranny from which
we fled.
According to the law of Louisiana, "A slave
is one who is in the power of a master to whom he
belongs. The master may sell him, dispose of his
person, his industry, and his labour; he can do
nothing, possess nothing, nor acquire anything but
what must belong to his master."--Civil Code,
art. 35.
In South Carolina it is expressed in the following
language:--"Slaves shall be deemed, sold, taken,
reputed and judged in law to be chattels personal
in the hands of their owners and possessors, and
their executors, administrators, and assigns, to all
intents, constructions, and purposes whatsoever.--
2 Brevard's Digest, 229.
The Constitution of Georgia has the following
(Art. 4, sec. 12):--"Any person who shall mali-
ciously dismember or deprive a slave of life, shall
suffer such punishment as would be inflicted in
case the like offence had been committed on a free
white person, and on the like proof, except in case
of insurrection of such slave, and unless SUCH
DEATH SHOULD HAPPEN BY ACCIDENT IN GIVING
SUCH SLAVE MODERATE CORRECTION."--Prince's
Digest, 559.
I have known slaves to be beaten to death, but
as they died under "moderate correction," it was
quite lawful; and of course the murderers were
not interfered with.
"If any slave, who shall be out of the house or
plantation where such slave shall live, or shall be
usually employed, or without some white person
in company with such slave, shall REFUSE TO SUBMIT
to undergo the examination of ANY WHITE person,
(let him be ever so drunk or crazy), it shall be
lawful for such white person to pursue, apprehend,
and moderately correct such slave; and if such
slave shall assault and strike such white person,
such slave may be LAWFULLY KILLED."--2 Brevard's
Digest, 231.
"Provided always," says the law, "that such
striking be not done by the command and in the
defence of the person or property of the owner, or
other person having the government of such slave;
in which case the slave shall be wholly excused."
According to this law, if a slave, by the direction
of his overseer, strike a white person who is beating
said overseer's pig, "the slave shall be wholly
excused." But, should the bondman, of his own
accord, fight to defend his wife, or should his
terrified daughter instinctively raise her hand and
strike the wretch who attempts to violate her
chastity, he or she shall, saith the model republican
law, suffer death.
From having been myself a slave for nearly
twenty-three years, I am quite prepared to say,
that the practical working of slavery is worse than
the odious laws by which it is governed.
At an early age we were taken by the persons who
held us as property to Macon, the largest town in the
interior of the State of Georgia, at which place
we became acquainted with each other for several
years before our marriage; in fact, our marriage
was postponed for some time simply because one
of the unjust and worse than Pagan laws under
which we lived compelled all children of slave
mothers to follow their condition. That is to say,
the father of the slave may be the President of the
Republic; but if the mother should be a slave at the
infant's birth, the poor child is ever legally doomed
to the same cruel fate.
It is a common practice for gentlemen (if I may
call them such), moving in the highest circles of
society, to be the fathers of children by their slaves,
whom they can and do sell with the greatest im-
punity; and the more pious, beautiful, and virtuous
the girls are, the greater the price they bring, and
that too for the most infamous purposes.
Any man with money (let him be ever such a
rough brute), can buy a beautiful and virtuous
girl, and force her to live with him in a criminal
connexion; and as the law says a slave shall
have no higher appeal than the mere will of the
master, she cannot escape, unless it be by flight or
death.
In endeavouring to reconcile a girl to her fate,
the master sometimes says that he would marry
her if it was not unlawful.* However, he will
always consider her to be his wife, and will treat
her as such; and she, on the other hand, may
regard him as her lawful husband; and if they
have any children, they will be free and well edu-
cated.
I am in duty bound to add, that while a great
majority of such men care nothing for the happi-
ness of the women with whom they live, nor for
the children of whom they are the fathers, there
are those to be found, even in that heterogeneous
mass of licentious monsters, who are true to their
pledges. But as the woman and her children are
legally the property of the man, who stands in the
anomalous relation to them of husband and father,
as well as master, they are liable to be seized and
sold for his debts, should he become involved.
There are several cases on record where such
persons have been sold and separated for life. I
know of some myself, but I have only space to
glance at one.
I knew a very humane and wealthy gentleman,
that bought a woman, with whom he lived as his
* It is unlawful in the slave States for any one of purely
European descent to intermarry with a person of African ex-
traction; though a white man may live with as many coloured
women as he pleases without materially damaging his reputa-
tion in Southern society.
wife. They brought up a family of children,
among whom were three nearly white, well edu-
cated, and beautiful girls.
On the father being suddenly killed it was found
that he had not left a will; but, as the family had
always heard him say that he had no surviving
relatives, they felt that their liberty and property
were quite secured to them, and, knowing the insults
to which they were exposed, now their protector
was no more, they were making preparations to
leave for a free State.
But, poor creatures, they were soon sadly unde-
ceived. A villain residing at a distance, hearing of
the circumstance, came forward and swore that he
was a relative of the deceased; and as this man
bore, or assumed, Mr. Slator's name, the case
was brought before one of those horrible tribunals,
presided over by a second Judge Jeffreys, and
calling itself a court of justice, but before whom
no coloured person, nor an abolitionist, was ever
known to get his full rights.
A verdict was given in favour of the plaintiff,
whom the better portion of the community thought
had wilfully conspired to cheat the family.
The heartless wretch not only took the ordi-
nary property, but actually had the aged and
friendless widow, and all her fatherless children,
except Frank, a fine young man about twenty-two
years of age, and Mary, a very nice girl, a little
younger than her brother, brought to the auction
stand and sold to the highest bidder. Mrs. Slator
had cash enough, that her husband and master left,
to purchase the liberty of herself and children; but
on her attempting to do so, the pusillanimous
scoundrel, who had robbed them of their freedom,
claimed the money as his property; and, poor
creature, she had to give it up. According to law,
as will be seen hereafter, a slave cannot own any-
thing. The old lady never recovered from her sad
affliction.
At the sale she was brought up first, and after
being vulgarly criticised, in the presence of all her
distressed family, was sold to a cotton planter, who
said he wanted the "proud old critter to go to his
plantation, to look after the little woolly heads,
while their mammies were working in the field."
When the sale was over, then came the separa-
tion, and
"O, deep was the anguish of that slave mother's heart,
When called from her darlings for ever to part;
The poor mourning mother of reason bereft,
Soon ended her sorrows, and sank cold in death."
Antoinette, the flower of the family, a girl who
was much beloved by all who knew her, for her
Christ-like piety, dignity of manner, as well as her
great talents and extreme beauty, was bought by
an uneducated and drunken salve-dealer.
I cannot give a more correct description of the
scene, when she was called from her brother to the
stand, than will be found in the following lines--
"Why stands she near the auction stand?
That girl so young and fair;
What brings her to this dismal place?
Why stands she weeping there?
Why does she raise that bitter cry?
Why hangs her head with shame,
As now the auctioneer's rough voice
So rudely calls her name!
But see! she grasps a manly hand,
And in a voice so low,
As scarcely to be heard, she says,
"My brother, must I go?"
A moment's pause: then, midst a wail
Of agonizing woe,
His answer falls upon the ear,--
"Yes, sister, you must go!
No longer can my arm defend,
No longer can I save
My sister from the horrid fate
That waits her as a SLAVE!"
Blush, Christian, blush! for e'en the dark
Untutored heathen see
Thy inconsistency, and lo!
They scorn thy God, and thee!"
The low trader said to a kind lady who wished
to purchase Antoinette out of his hands, "I
reckon I'll not sell the smart critter for ten thou-
sand dollars; I always wanted her for my own use."
The lady, wishing to remonstrate with him, com-
menced by saying, "You should remember, Sir,
that there is a just God." Hoskens not under-
standing Mrs. Huston, interrupted her by saying,
"I does, and guess its monstrous kind an' him to
send such likely niggers for our convenience." Mrs.
Huston finding that a long course of reckless
wickedness, drunkenness, and vice, had destroyed
in Hoskens every noble impulse, left him.
Antoinette, poor girl, also seeing that there was
no help for her, became frantic. I can never forget
her cries of despair, when Hoskens gave the order
for her to be taken to his house, and locked in an
upper room. On Hoskens entering the apart-
ment, in a state of intoxication, a fearful struggle
ensued. The brave Antoinette broke loose from
him, pitched herself head foremost through the
window, and fell upon the pavement below.
Her bruised but unpolluted body was soon picked
up--restoratives brought--doctor called in; but,
alas! it was too late: her pure and noble spirit had
fled away to be at rest in those realms of endless
bliss, "where the wicked cease from troubling, and
the weary are at rest."
Antoinette like many other noble women who
are deprived of liberty, still
"Holds something sacred, something undefiled;
Some pledge and keepsake of their higher nature.
And, like the diamond in the dark, retains
Some quenchless gleam of the celestial light."
On Hoskens fully realizing the fact that his
victim was no more, he exclaimed "By thunder I
am a used-up man!" The sudden disappointment,
and the loss of two thousand dollars, was more
than he could endure: so he drank more than ever,
and in a short time died, raving mad with delirium
tremens.
The villain Slator said to Mrs. Huston, the kind
lady who endeavoured to purchase Antoinette from
Hoskens, "Nobody needn't talk to me 'bout
buying them ar likely niggers, for I'm not going to
sell em." "But Mary is rather delicate," said Mrs.
Huston, "and, being unaccustomed to hard work,
cannot do you much service on a plantation." "I
don't want her for the field," replied Slator, "but
for another purpose." Mrs. Huston understood
what this meant, and instantly exclaimed, "Oh,
but she is your cousin!" "The devil she is!" said
Slator; and added, "Do you mean to insult me,
Madam, by saying that I am related to niggers?"
"No," replied Mrs. Huston, "I do not wish to
offend you, Sir. But wasn't Mr. Slator, Mary's
father, your uncle?" "Yes, I calculate he was,"
said Slator; "but I want you and everybody to
understand that I'm no kin to his niggers." "Oh,
very well," said Mrs. Huston; adding, "Now what
will you take for the poor girl?" "Nothin'," he
replied; "for, as I said before, I'm not goin' to
sell, so you needn't trouble yourself no more.
If the critter behaves herself, I'll do as well by her
as any man."
Slator spoke up boldly, but his manner and
sheepish look clearly indicated that
"His heart within him was at strife
With such accursed gains;
For he knew whose passions gave her life,
Whose blood ran in her veins."
"The monster led her from the door,
He led her by the hand,
To be his slave and paramour
In a strange and distant land!"
Poor Frank and his sister were handcuffed to-
gether, and confined in prison. Their dear little
twin brother and sister were sold, and taken where
they knew not. But it often happens that mis-
fortune causes those whom we counted dearest to
shrink away; while it makes friends of those
whom we least expected to take any interest in our
affairs. Among the latter class Frank found two
comparatively new but faithful friends to watch the
gloomy paths of the unhappy little twins.
In a day or two after the sale, Slator had two fast
horses put to a large light van, and placed in it
a good many small but valuable things belonging
to the distressed family. He also took with him
Frank and Mary, as well as all the money for the
spoil; and after treating all his low friends and
bystanders, and drinking deeply himself, he started
in high glee for his home in South Carolina. But
they had not proceeded many miles, before Frank
and his sister discovered that Slator was too
drunk to drive. But he, like most tipsy men,
thought he was all right; and as he had with him
some of the ruined family's best brandy and wine,
such as he had not been accustomed to, and being
a thirsty soul, he drank till the reins fell from his
fingers, and in attempting to catch them he
tumbled out of the vehicle, and was unable to get
up. Frank and Mary there and then contrived
a plan by which to escape. As they were still
handcuffed by one wrist each, they alighted, took
from the drunken assassin's pocket the key, undid
the iron bracelets, and placed them upon Slator,
who was better fitted to wear such ornaments. As
the demon lay unconscious of what was taking
place, Frank and Mary took from him the large
sum of money that was realized at the sale, as well
as that which Slator had so very meanly obtained
from their poor mother. They then dragged him
into the woods, tied him to a tree, and left the
inebriated robber to shift for himself, while they
made good their escape to Savannah. The fugitives
being white, of course no one suspected that they
were slaves.
Slator was not able to call any one to his rescue
till late the next day; and as there were no rail-
roads in that part of the country at that time, it
was not until late the following day that Slator was
able to get a party to join him for the chase. A
person informed Slator that he had met a man and
woman, in a trap, answering to the description of
those whom he had lost, driving furiously towards
Savannah. So Slator and several slavehunters on
horseback started off in full tilt, with their blood-
hounds, in pursuit of Frank and Mary.
On arriving at Savannah, the hunters found that
the fugitives had sold the horses and trap, and
embarked as free white persons, for New York.
Slator's disappointment and rascality so preyed
upon his base mind, that he, like Judas, went and
hanged himself.
As soon as Frank and Mary were safe, they
endeavoured to redeem their good mother. But,
alas! she was gone; she had passed on to the
realm of spirit life.
In due time Frank learned from his friends in
Georgia where his little brother and sister dwelt.
So he wrote at once to purchase them, but the
persons with whom they lived would not sell them.
After failing in several attempts to buy them,
Frank cultivated large whiskers and moustachios,
cut off his hair, put on a wig and glasses, and
went down as a white man, and stopped in the
neighbourhood where his sister was; and after see-
ing her and also his little brother, arrangements
were made for them to meet at a particular place
on a Sunday, which they did, and got safely off.
I saw Frank myself, when he came for the little
twins. Though I was then quite a lad, I well
remember being highly delighted by hearing him
tell how nicely he and Mary had served Slator.
Frank had so completely disguised or changed
his appearance that his little sister did not know
him, and would not speak till he showed their
mother's likeness; the sight of which melted her
to tears,--for she knew the face. Frank might
have said to her
"'O, Emma! O, my sister, speak to me!
Dost thou not know me, that I am thy brother?
Come to me, little Emma, thou shalt dwell
With me henceforth, and know no care or want.'
Emma was silent for a space, as if
'Twere hard to summon up a human voice."
Frank and Mary's mother was my wife's own
dear aunt.
After this great diversion from our narrative,
which I hope dear reader, you will excuse, I shall
return at once to it.
My wife was torn from her mother's embrace
in childhood, and taken to a distant part of the
country. She had seen so many other children
separated from their parents in this cruel man-
ner, that the mere thought of her ever becoming
the mother of a child, to linger out a miserable
existence under the wretched system of American
slavery, appeared to fill her very soul with horror;
and as she had taken what I felt to be an important
view of her condition, I did not, at first, press
the marriage, but agreed to assist her in trying to
devise some plan by which we might escape from
our unhappy condition, and then be married.
We thought of plan after plan, but they all
seemed crowded with insurmountable difficulties.
We knew it was unlawful for any public convey-
ance to take us as passengers, without our master's
consent. We were also perfectly aware of the
startling fact, that had we left without this consent
the professional slave-hunters would have soon
had their ferocious bloodhounds baying on our
track, and in a short time we should have been
dragged back to slavery, not to fill the more favour-
able situations which we had just left, but to
be separated for life, and put to the very meanest
and most laborious drudgery; or else have been
tortured to death as examples, in order to strike
terror into the hearts of others, and thereby pre-
vent them from even attempting to escape from
their cruel taskmasters. It is a fact worthy of
remark, that nothing seems to give the slaveholders
so much pleasure as the catching and torturing of
fugitives. They had much rather take the keen and
poisonous lash, and with it cut their poor trembling
victims to atoms, than allow one of them to escape
to a free country, and expose the infamous system
from which he fled.
The greatest excitement prevails at a slave-hunt.
The slaveholders and their hired ruffians appear to
take more pleasure in this inhuman pursuit than
English sportsmen do in chasing a fox or a stag.
Therefore, knowing what we should have been
compelled to suffer, if caught and taken back,
we were more than anxious to hit upon a plan
that would lead us safely to a land of liberty.
But, after puzzling our brains for years, we were
reluctantly driven to the sad conclusion, that it
was almost impossible to escape from slavery in
Georgia, and travel 1,000 miles across the slave
States. We therefore resolved to get the consent
of our owners, be married, settle down in slavery,
and endeavour to make ourselves as comfortable
as possible under that system; but at the same
time ever to keep our dim eyes steadily fixed
upon the glimmering hope of liberty, and earnestly
pray God mercifully to assist us to escape from our
unjust thraldom.
We were married, and prayed and toiled on till
December, 1848, at which time (as I have stated)
a plan suggested itself that proved quite success-
ful, and in eight days after it was first thought of
we were free from the horrible trammels of slavery,
and glorifying God who had brought us safely out
of a land of bondage.
Knowing that slaveholders have the privilege
of taking their slaves to any part of the country
they think proper, it occurred to me that, as
my wife was nearly white, I might get her to
disguise herself as an invalid gentleman, and
assume to be my master, while I could attend as
his slave, and that in this manner we might effect
our escape. After I thought of the plan, I sug-
gested it to my wife, but at first she shrank from
the idea. She thought it was almost impossible
for her to assume that disguise, and travel a dis-
tance of 1,000 miles across the slave States. How-
ever, on the other hand, she also thought of her
condition. She saw that the laws under which we
lived did not recognize her to be a woman, but a
mere chattel, to be bought and sold, or otherwise
dealt with as her owner might see fit. Therefore
the more she contemplated her helpless condition,
the more anxious she was to escape from it. So
she said, "I think it is almost too much for us to
undertake; however, I feel that God is on our side,
and with his assistance, notwithstanding all the
difficulties, we shall be able to succeed. There-
fore, if you will purchase the disguise, I will try to
carry out the plan."
But after I concluded to purchase the disguise, I
was afraid to go to any one to ask him to sell me
the articles. It is unlawful in Georgia for a white
man to trade with slaves without the master's con-
sent. But, notwithstanding this, many persons will
sell a slave any article that he can get the money
to buy. Not that they sympathize with the slave,
but merely because his testimony is not admitted
in court against a free white person.
Therefore, with little difficulty I went to dif-
ferent parts of the town, at odd times, and purchased
things piece by piece, (except the trowsers which
she found necessary to make,) and took them home
to the house where my wife resided. She being
a ladies' maid, and a favourite slave in the family,
was allowed a little room to herself; and amongst
other pieces of furniture which I had made in my
overtime, was a chest of drawers; so when I took
the articles home, she locked them up carefully in
these drawers. No one about the premises knew
that she had anything of the kind. So when we
fancied we had everything ready the time was
fixed for the flight. But we knew it would not do
to start off without first getting our master's con-
sent to be away for a few days. Had we left with-
out this, they would soon have had us back into
slavery, and probably we should never have got
another fair opportunity of even attempting to
escape.
Some of the best slaveholders will sometimes
give their favourite slaves a few days' holiday at
Christmas time; so, after no little amount of per-
severance on my wife's part, she obtained a pass
from her mistress, allowing her to be away for a
few days. The cabinet-maker with whom I worked
gave me a similar paper, but said that he needed
my services very much, and wished me to return as
soon as the time granted was up. I thanked him
kindly; but somehow I have not been able to make
it convenient to return yet; and, as the free air of
good old England agrees so well with my wife and our
dear little ones, as well as with myself, it is not at all
likely we shall return at present to the "peculiar in-
stitution" of chains and stripes.
On reaching my wife's cottage she handed me
her pass, and I showed mine, but at that time
neither of us were able to read them. It is not only
unlawful for slaves to be taught to read, but in
some of the States there are heavy penalties at-
tached, such as fines and imprisonment, which will
be vigorously enforced upon any one who is humane
enough to violate the so-called law.
The following case will serve to show how per-
sons are treated in the most enlightened slavehold-
ing community.
"INDICTMENT.
COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA, } In the Circuit
NORFOLK COUNTY, ss.} Court. The
Grand Jurors empannelled in the body of the said
County on their oath present, that Margaret Doug-
lass, being an evil disposed person, not having the
fear of God before her eyes, but moved and insti-
gated by the devil, wickedly, maliciously, and
feloniously, on the fourth day of July, in the year
of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty-
four, at Norfolk, in said County, did teach a certain
black girl named Kate to read in the Bible, to the
great displeasure of Almighty God, to the per-
nicious example of others in like case offending,
contrary to the form of the statute in such case made
and provided, and against the peace and dignity of
the Commonwealth of Virginia.
"VICTOR VAGABOND, Prosecuting Attorney."
"On this indictment Mrs. Douglass was arraigned
as a necessary matter of form, tried, found guilty
of course; and Judge Scalaway, before whom she
was tried, having consulted with Dr. Adams, or-
dered the sheriff to place Mrs. Douglass in the
prisoner's box, when he addressed her as follows:
'Margaret Douglass, stand up. You are guilty of
one of the vilest crimes that ever disgraced society;
and the jury have found you so. You have taught
a slave girl to read in the Bible. No enlightened
society can exist where such offences go unpun-
ished. The Court, in your case, do not feel for you
one solitary ray of sympathy, and they will inflict
on you the utmost penalty of the law. In any
other civilized country you would have paid the
forfeit of your crime with your life, and the Court
have only to regret that such is not the law in
this country. The sentence for your offence is,
that you be imprisoned one month in the county
jail, and that you pay the costs of this prosecution.
Sheriff, remove the prisoner to jail.' On the pub-
lication of these proceedings, the Doctors of
Divinity preached each a sermon on the necessity
of obeying the laws; the New York Observer noticed
with much pious gladness a revival of religion on
Dr. Smith's plantation in Georgia, among his
slaves; while the Journal of Commerce commended
this political preaching of the Doctors of Divinity
because it favoured slavery. Let us do nothing to
offend our Southern brethren."
However, at first, we were highly delighted at
the idea of having gained permission to be absent
for a few days; but when the thought flashed
across my wife's mind, that it was customary for
travellers to register their names in the visitors'
book at hotels, as well as in the clearance or
Custom-house book at Charleston, South Carolina
--it made our spirits droop within us.
So, while sitting in our little room upon the
verge of despair, all at once my wife raised her
head, and with a smile upon her face, which was a
moment before bathed in tears, said, "I think
I have it!" I asked what it was. She said, "I
think I can make a poultice and bind up my right
hand in a sling, and with propriety ask the officers
to register my name for me." I thought that
would do.
It then occurred to her that the smoothness of
her face might betray her; so she decided to make
another poultice, and put it in a white handkerchief
to be worn under the chin, up the cheeks, and to
tie over the head. This nearly hid the expression
of the countenance, as well as the beardless chin.
The poultice is left off in the engraving, because
the likeness could not have been taken well with
it on.
My wife, knowing that she would be thrown
a good deal into the company of gentlemen, fancied
that she could get on better if she had something
to go over the eyes; so I went to a shop and
bought a pair of green spectacles. This was in the
evening.
We sat up all night discussing the plan, and
making preparations. Just before the time arrived,
in the morning, for us to leave, I cut off my wife's
hair square at the back of the head, and got her to
dress in the disguise and stand out on the floor.
I found that she made a most respectable looking
gentleman.
My wife had no ambition whatever to assume
this disguise, and would not have done so had it
been possible to have obtained our liberty by more
simple means; but we knew it was not customary
in the South for ladies to travel with male servants;
and therefore, notwithstanding my wife's fair com-
plexion, it would have been a very difficult task for
her to have come off as a free white lady, with me as
her slave; in fact, her not being able to write
would have made this quite impossible. We knew
that no public conveyance would take us, or any
other slave, as a passenger, without our master's
consent. This consent could never be obtained to
pass into a free State. My wife's being muffled in
the poultices, &c., furnished a plausible excuse for
avoiding general conversation, of which most
Yankee travellers are passionately fond.
There are a large number of free negroes residing
in the southern States; but in Georgia (and I
believe in all the slave States,) every coloured per-
son's complexion is prima facie evidence of his
being a slave; and the lowest villain in the country,
should he be a white man, has the legal power to
arrest, and question, in the most inquisitorial and
insulting manner, any coloured person, male or
female, that he may find at large, particularly at
night and on Sundays, without a written pass,
signed by the master or some one in authority; or
stamped free papers, certifying that the person is
the rightful owner of himself.
If the coloured person refuses to answer ques-
tions put to him, he may be beaten, and his defend-
ing himself against this attack makes him an
outlaw, and if he be killed on the spot, the mur-
derer will be exempted from all blame; but after the
coloured person has answered the questions put to
him, in a most humble and pointed manner, he may
then be taken to prison; and should it turn out,
after further examination, that he was caught
where he had no permission or legal right to be,
and that he has not given what they term a satis-
factory account of himself, the master will have to
pay a fine. On his refusing to do this, the poor
slave may be legally and severely flogged by
public officers. Should the prisoner prove to be a
free man, he is most likely to be both whipped
and fined.