RETURN TO MARYLAND.
RECEPTION FROM MY OLD MASTER.--A SLAVE AGAIN.--APPEAL TO AN
OLD FRIEND.--BUY MY FREEDOM.--CHEATED AND BETRAYED.--BACK
TO KENTUCKY, AND A SLAVE AGAIN.
Before I left Ohio and set my face towards Montgomery County, I was
master of two hundred and seventy-five dollars, besides my horse and
clothes. Proud of my success, I enjoyed the thought of showing myself
once more in the place where I had been known simply as "Riley's head
nigger;" and it was with no little satisfaction that about Christmas I
rode up to the old house.
My master gave me a boisterous reception, and expressed great
delight at seeing me. "Why, what in the devil have you been doing,
Sie? you've turned into a regular black gentleman." My horse and
dress sorely puzzled him, and I soon saw it began to irritate him.
The clothes I wore were certainly better than his. And already the
workings of that tyrannical hate with which the coarse and brutal, who
have no inherent superiority, ever regard the least sign of equality
in their dependents, were visible in his manner. His face seemed to
say, "I'll take the gentleman out of you pretty soon." I gave him
such an account of my preaching as, while it was consistent with the
truth, and explained my appearance, did not betray to him my principal
purpose. He soon asked to see my pass, and when he found it authorized
me to return to Kentucky, handed it to his wife, and desired her to
put it into his desk. The manoeuvre was cool and startling. I heard
the old prison gate clang, and the bolt shoot into the socket once
more. But I said nothing, and resolved to manoeuvre also.
After putting my horse in the stable I retired to the kitchen, where
my master told me I was to sleep for the night. O, how different
from my accommodations in the free States, for the last three months,
was the crowded room, with its dirt floor, and filth, and stench! I
looked around me with a sensation of disgust. The negroes present
were strangers to me, being slaves that Mrs. Riley had brought to her
husband. "Fool that I was to come back!" I found my mother had died
during my absence, and every tie which had ever connected me with
the place was broken. The idea of lying down with my nice clothes
in this nasty sty was insufferable. Full of gloomy reflections at
my loneliness, and the poverty-stricken aspect of the whole farm, I
sat down; and while my companions were snoring in unconsciousness, I
kept awake, thinking how I should escape from the accursed spot. I
knew of but one friend to whom I could appeal--"Master Frank," the
brother of Riley's wife, before mentioned, who was now of age, and
had established himself in business in Washington. I knew he would
take an interest in me, for I had done much to lighten his sorrows
when he was an abused and harshly-treated boy in the house. To him I
resolved to go, and as soon as I thought it time to start, I saddled
my horse and rode up to the house. It was early in the morning, and
my master had already gone to the tavern on his usual business, when
Mrs. Riley came out to look at my horse and equipments. "Where are
you going, 'Siah?" was the natural question. I replied, "I am going
to Washington, mistress, to see Mr. Frank, and I must take my pass
with me, if you please." "O, everybody knows you here; you won't need
your pass." "But I can't go to Washington without it. I may be met by
some surly stranger, who will stop me and plague me, if he can't do
anything worse." "Well, I'll get it for you," she answered; and glad
was I to see her return with it in her hand, and to have her give it
to me, while she little imagined its importance to my plan.
My reception by Master Frank was all I expected, as kind and hearty
as possible. He was delighted at my appearance, and I immediately
told him all my plans and hopes. He entered cordially into them,
and expressed, as he felt, I doubt not, a strong sympathy for me.
I found that he thoroughly detested Riley, whom he charged with
having defrauded him of a large proportion of his property which he
had held as guardian, though, as he was not at warfare with him, he
readily agreed to negotiate for my freedom, and bring him to the
most favorable terms. Accordingly, in a few days he rode over to the
house, and had a long conversation with him on the subject of my
emancipation. He disclosed to him the facts that I had got some money,
and _my pass_, and urged that I was a smart fellow, who was bent upon
getting his freedom, and had served the family faithfully for many
years; that I had really paid for myself a hundred times over, in the
increased amount of produce I had raised by my skill and influence;
and that if he did not take care, and accept a fair offer when I made
it to him, he would find some day that I had the means to do without
his help, and that he would see neither me nor my money; that with
my horse and my pass I was pretty independent of him already, and he
had better make up his mind to do what was really inevitable, and do
it with a good grace. By such arguments as these, Mr. Frank not only
induced him to think of the thing, but before long brought him to an
actual bargain, by which he agreed to give me my manumission papers
for four hundred and fifty dollars, of which three hundred and fifty
dollars were to be in cash, and the remainder in my note. My money and
my horse enabled me to pay the cash at once, and thus my great hope
seemed in a fair way of being realized.
Some time was spent in the negotiation of this affair, and it was
not until the ninth of March, 1829, that I received my manumission
papers in due form of law. I prepared to start at once on my return to
Kentucky; and on the tenth, as I was getting ready, in the morning,
for my journey, my master accosted me in the most friendly manner,
and entered into conversation with me about my plans. He asked me
what I was going to do with my certificate of freedom; whether I was
going to show it if questioned on the road. I told him, "Yes." "You'll
be a fool if you do," he rejoined. "Some slave-trader will get hold
of it and tear it up, and the first thing you know, you'll be thrown
into prison, sold for your jail fees, and be in his possession before
any of your friends can help you. Don't show it at all. Your pass is
enough. Let me enclose your papers for you under cover to my brother.
Nobody will dare to break a seal, for that is a state-prison matter;
and when you arrive in Kentucky you will have it with you all safe and
sound."
For this friendly advice, as I thought it, I felt extremely grateful.
Secure in my happiness, I cherished no suspicion of others. I
accordingly permitted him to enclose my precious papers in an envelope
composed of several wrappers, and after he had sealed it with three
seals, and directed it to his brother in Davies county, Kentucky, in
my care, I carefully stowed it in my carpet bag. Leaving immediately
for Wheeling, to which place I was obliged to travel on foot, I there
took boat, and in due time reached my destination. I was arrested
repeatedly on the way; but by insisting always on being carried before
a magistrate, I succeeded in escaping all serious impediments by means
of my pass, which was quite regular, and could not be set aside by any
responsible authority.
The boat which took me down from Louisville, landed me about dark,
and my walk of five miles brought me to the plantation at bed-time.
I went directly to my own cabin, and found my wife and little ones
well. Of course we had enough to communicate to each other. I soon
found that I had something to learn as well as to tell. Letters had
reached the "great house,"--as the master's was always called,--long
before I arrived, telling them what I had been doing. The children
of the family had eagerly communicated the good news to my wife--how
I had been preaching, and raising money, and making a bargain for my
freedom. It was not long before Charlotte began to question me, with
much excitement, about how I raised the money. She evidently thought
I had stolen it. Her opinion of my powers as a preacher was not
exalted enough to permit her to believe I had gained it as I really
did. It was the old story of the prophet without honor in his own
place. I contrived however to quiet her fears on this score. "But how
are you going to raise enough to pay the remainder of the thousand
dollars?" "What thousand dollars?" "The thousand dollars you were
to give for your freedom." O, how those words smote me! At once I
suspected treachery. Again and again I questioned her as to what she
had heard. She persisted in repeating the same story as the substance
of my master's letters. Master Amos said I had paid three hundred and
fifty dollars down, and when I had made up six hundred and fifty more
I was to have my free papers. I now began to perceive the trick that
had been played upon me, and to see the management by which Riley had
contrived that the only evidence of my freedom should be kept from
every eye but that of his brother Amos, who was requested to retain it
until I had made up the balance I was reported to have agreed to pay.
Indignation is a faint word to express my deep sense of such villainy.
I was alternately beside myself with rage, and paralyzed with despair.
My dream of bliss was over. What could I do to set myself right? The
only witness to the truth, Master Frank, was a thousand miles away. I
could neither write to him, or get any one else to write. Every man
about me who could write was a slaveholder. I dared not go before a
magistrate with my papers, for fear I should be seized and sold down
the river before anything could be done. I felt that every man's hand
would be against me. "My God! my God! why hast thou forsaken me?"
was my bitter cry. One thing only seemed clear. My papers must never
be surrendered to Master Amos. I told my wife I had not seen them
since I left Louisville. They might be in my bag, or they might be
lost. At all events I did not wish to look myself. If she found them
there, and hid them away, out of my knowledge, it would be the best
disposition to make of them.
The next morning, at the blowing of the horn, I went out to find
Master Amos. I found him sitting on a stile, and as I drew near enough
for him to recognize me, he shouted out a hearty welcome in his usual
chaste style. "Why, halloa, Sie! is that you? Got back, eh! Why, you
old son of a bitch, I'm glad to see you! Drot your blood, drot your
blood, why, you're a regular black gentleman!" And he surveyed my
dress with an appreciative grin. "Well, boy, how's your master? Isaac
says you want to be free. Want to be free, eh! I think your master
treats you pretty hard, though. Six hundred and fifty dollars don't
come so easy in old Kentuck. How does he ever expect you to raise all
that. It's too much, boy, it's too much." In the conversation that
followed I found my wife was right. Riley had no idea of letting me
off, and supposed I could contrive to raise six hundred and fifty as
easily as one hundred dollars.
Master Amos soon asked me if I had not a paper for him. I told him I
had had one, but the last I saw of it was at Louisville, and now it
was not in my bag, and I did not know what had become of it. He sent
me back to the landing to see if it had been dropped on the way. Of
course I did not find it. He made, however, little stir about it, for
he had intentions of his own to keep me working for him, and regarded
the whole as a trick of his brother's to get money out of me. All he
said about the loss was, "Well, boy, bad luck happens to everybody,
sometimes."
All this was very smooth and pleasant to a man who was in a frenzy
of grief at the base and apparently irremediable trick that had been
played upon him. I had supposed that I should now be free to start out
and gain the other hundred dollars which would discharge my obligation
to my master. But I soon saw that I was to begin again with my old
labors. It was useless to give expression to my feelings, and I went
about my work with as quiet a mind as I could, resolved to trust in
God, and never despair.