igSfe^,''^-'"'''^*' ' ' r" . "a- ttr -<" jfr:ii4-$ YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY «- . hr^t. yz/c C- Rev. Calvin Fairbank During Slavery Times. How HE "Fought the Good Fight" to Prepare "The Way." EDITED FROM HIS MANUSCRIPT. CHICAGO : patriotic ipubUsbing Co., 334 Deakbokn Steeet. 1890. COPYEIGHT, 1890, BY R. E. MoCabe. pvcss of 1R. 1R. /iBcCabe & Co., Chicago. DEDICATED XteertB ©uat&, an& tbett Succceeora, WHO eecoqnize "The Fatheehood of God, and Beqtherhoob of Man." tee author. PEEFACE. ^N presenting to the public so small a volume as a I representation of so large and extraordinary an ex perience, I feel bound by sentiments of propriety to answer beforehand the query of every one, perhaps, who has for several years looked for its publication in a more extensive edition, and at an earlier day. Upon my liberation in April, 1864^ my health did not allow me to write. Very soon thereafter the country was flooded with books on the war. Neither then, nor since then have I been able myself to defray the expense of its publication. I had written twelve hundred pages, sufficient to make five hundred pages of readable matter; but every one considered it too long. I had since that time prepared what I thought could be safely published and put in market. But men of experience, in order to avoid the risk of finan cial failure, advised condensation in this edition and wait results. Please accept this as my apology, and believe me Yours in faith, Calvin Fairbank. Angelica, New York. August, 1890. COI^TENTS. CHAPTER I. Parentage — Birth — Education 1-7 CHAPTER II. Slavery Unconstitutional 8-11 CHAPTER III. Aiding the Fugitives — Escape of Sam Johnson — Rescue of a Family of Seven — Meeting in Detroit, Mich., Twelve Years Later — Helen Payne — Cross the River with Fourteen Fugi tives in a Scow — A Man, his Wife and Three Children in Peril — Cross the Dividing Waters on a Raft — "Get up Qnick! do, Mr. Fairbank! " — Taken to a Place of Safety . . 12-17 CHAPTER IV. In the Fifth Generation — A Slave Girl of Fifteen — Three Daughters Rescued — The Mother Would Not Leave Her Mother — Shotgun versus a Colt's Revolver 18-19 CHAPTER V Emily Ward — " I Come to Release You " — Cross the River on a Pine Log— The "Apostle of Freedom "—" Aunt Katie" — S. P. Chase — Gamaliel Bailey — Samuel Lewis — " The Hunters are Looking for Emily ! " — " There is my old Master!"— "Oh! I Beg your Pardon, Lady!"— The British Lion — John Hamilton — The Stanton Family — " Come Over to Kentucky, and Help Us!" 20-25 Vlll. .^ CONTENTS. CHAPTER VI. PAOE. Eliza — Nicholas Longworth — The Wealth and Culture of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Washington, New Orleans, Louisville, Frankfort, and Lexington — Hon. Robert WicklifEe ^ A "Black-eyed Frenchman" — "Eliza Upon the Block" — "Embodiment of Diabolus " — The Auctioneer Directs Attention to "This Valuable Piece of Property " — " Two Hundred and Fifty Dollars"— "How High are You Going to Bid f"—" Four teen Hundred and Fifty!" — "Who is Going to Lose Such a Chance as This!" — "Horrible!" — "Smote Her White Flesh"— "Boston and New Orleans Wept Side by Side"— "Fourteen Hundred and Eighty-Five!" — The Hammer Fell — Eliza Was Mine! — William Minnis — Left Free by His Master — Sold by His Master's Son — A Plan Laid for His Rescue — I am Selected for the Hazardous Undertak ing — Go to Arkansas — Minnis Discovered after Four Weeks' Investigation — Disguised — Take the Boat for Cincinnati — Minnis Meets His Young Master — The Crisis Safely Passed — PuUum, the Slave Trader, Appears — Does not Recognize Minnis — Reach Cincinnati in Safety — On to Canada — " Shouldered Arms for the Union " 26-44 CHAPTER VIL My First Imprisonment — The Case of Gilson Berry — Miss Delia Webster — Lewis Hayden — " Because I'm a Man!" — Pete Drisooll— "An Abolition Hole" — Eli C. ColliuB— Levi Collins — Dr. Rankin — Rescue of the Hayden Family — Three Indictments Pound — Leslie Coombs — In Stiff Irons — Two Prisoners Escape — "I'll Fix You for Slow Traveling" — Petition for Miss Webster's Release — Plea to the Jury — " There is Not a Slave Legally Held in the United States of America!" — Conviction — Fifteen Years at Hard Labor — Dressed in Stripes and Put to Sawing Stone 45-53 CHAPTER VIII. My Incarceration — Captain Newton Craig — Supplied with Money — Benjamin Howard — Francis Jackson — Ellis Gray CONTENTS. ix. Loring — My Father's Arrival in Kentucky — Promise of Pardon — Governor Crittenden — Cholera was Raging- Death of My Father — Buried among Strangers 54-56 CHAPTER IX. Pardoned by Governor Crittenden — A Lively Interest in Religion— Isaac Wade — Rev. WiUiam Buck— Governor Ouseley — A Boy Pardoned — William Driver Gains His Freedom 57-59 CHAPTER X. Among Old Friends— The "Old Guard "—Escape of Two Little Girls— "Where Do All the Niggers Go To? "— S. P. Chase Elected United States Senator— The Free Soil Party— A Revival in Progress — Visit Cleveland and Detroit — Meet Coleman and His Family — Sandusky — Invited to Speak at Chicago — Six Fugitives Hotly Pursued — They Escape to Canada — The Hunters Too Late — " Seen Any Niggers About Here ? "— " If You Can Run on the Water!" — At Buffalo — Abner H. Francis — James G. Birney — Two Anti-Slavery Parties — Garrison^PhUlips — Smith — Pills- bury — Abby Kelly Foster — Samuel Ward — Fred Douglass — The Fugitive Slave Law — Henry Clay — Daniel Webster — "When the Iron Pierces Your Heart " — The Legislature of Massachusetts — Mr. Webster Censured — Henry Wilson — "Doughfaces with Their Ears and Eyes Filled with Cotton!" — John G. Whittier — "Conscience and Constitu tion " — " You Must Conquer Your Prejudices " — " We Must Fight! " , 60-76 CHAPTER XL The Fugitive Slave Law Passed— James M. Ashley of Ohio Secures its Repeal— Marriage of William and Ellen Craft —Theodore Parker— "Take This and Defend Your Wife!" — Fillmore and His Cabinet — "A Den of Thieves " — "Liberty Party" Convention at Buffalo — Gerrit Smith for President; Charles Durkee of Iowa for Vice-President —Sojourner Truth 77-84 X. CONTENTS. CHAPTER XII. PAGE. Second Imprisonment — Rescue of Tamar, a Young Mulatto Woman — Cross the Ohio at Night — Return to Jefferaon- ville, Indiana — Kidnaped — Inmates of the Prison — ¦ "Axes to Grind" — Colonel Buckner — "Hallelujah, I'm Victorious! " — Hon. James Speed — The Higher Law 85-92 CHAPTER XIII. Laura S. Haviland — " Bail or Break Jail " — Marshall Plays the . Knave — Lovell H. Rousseau — I Was Slaughtered 93-96 CHAPTER XIV. Trial and Conviction — The Testimony — "What is Linsey?" — Leave the Jail in Irons — Judge Buckner — Judge Bullock — Fifteen Years at Hard Labor — Five Thousand Dollars Bail 97-103 CHAPTER XV. My Reception — Craig's Reign — Prison Government and Pri son Life—" Black Hole of Calcutta" 104-108 CHAPTER XVI. My Own Experience — Craig's Conduct — The First Ten Cuts from a Rawhide — Shot in the Back — The School of Scandal — Punishment Escaped — Zebulon Ward — " If I Kill You AU" 109-117 CHAPTER XVII. The Prisoners Overworked — The Smack of the Strap — "Hardy's Best" — Sixty-five LashiBS — One More Scene of Barbarity — Playing Marbles 118-128 CHAPTER XVIII. A Speech Before the People of Kentucky — " The War is Inevitable " — Governor Morehead — " The Yankees won't Fight "—Senator K . —Senator John M. PraU 129-132 CHAPTER XIX. The War — "Come on. Boys! Come on! " — A Prophecy Fulfilled — Thirty-five Thousand One Hundred and Five Stripes in Eight Years 133-138 CONTENTS. xi. CHAPTER XX. PAGE. Harry I. Todd's Reign— " That's My Daylight! "—"What You Doin' Here?" — SkuU Fractured — In the Hands of the Government — Richard T. Jacob — General James Harlan — " Suddenly and Mysteriously Went Down " — President Lincoln Sends General Fry to Kentucky — A Bomb-Shell — Thomas E. Bramlette — " Come Before Me Forthwith" — Jacob Was Governor — "Fairbank, You are Going Out!". 139-146 CHAPTER XXI. Pardon — Reception in the North — "Now, Ben, I'd Give it Up!" — Reception at Cincinnati, Ohio — "Sing, Chillen, Sing!" — "After Years of Faithful Waiting" — "Barbarism of Slavery" — "The Horrible Whippings " — " The Staff of Life to Him " — Reception at Detroit, Michigan — Welcome at Oberlin 147-166 CHAPTER XXII. Election — Vote at Oberlin — At Toronto, Canada — Field Day — Sir Charles Napier — " I am a Gentleman! " 167-172 CHAPTER XXIIL At Baltimore — Washington — Norfolk, Va. — John M. Brown — President Lincoln's Inauguration — The Levee — Sojourner Truth — "I am a Rebel, Sir!" — Fall of Richmond — Assas sination of the President — " How are the Mighty FaUen " 173-181 APPENDIX. The Elevation of the Colored Race — The Moore Street Indus trial Society of Richmond, Va. — "The Romantic History" —"Pharaoh Outdone "—Death of Mrs. Fairbank— The Soldier's Award — A Much Whipped Clergyman — Marriage of Calvin C. Fairbank — Statement of Laura S. Haviland . 183-208 REV. CALVIN FAIRBANK DURING SLAVERY TIMES. How HE "Fought the Good Fight" to Prepare "The Way." EDITED FROM HIS IvIANUSCRIPT. CHAPTER I. Parentage — Birth— Education. ly yf Y parents were of English extraction. My father's ¦'¦'-*¦ grandfather came to New England about 1730, and settled in Massachusetts, near what is now known as Fall Eiver, in the southern part of the state. My father was born at Swansea, Massachusetts, in 1788, during that terrible war maintained by King Philip against the white settlements in that vicinity. He re moved to Windsor county, Vermont, while quite young. My mother, Betsey Abbott, was the daughter of Jacob Abbott, a name now famous in the history of church and state in this country, whose father settled 2 HOW "THE WAY" WAS PREPARED. on Martha's Vineyard in the year 1750, where Jacob was born. His father, with others of the family, desiring more room, removed to Massachusetts; and thus the family was scattered throughout New England. When my grandmother was only twelve years of age, being left alone one day, she was captured by the Indians, and taken across the Connecticut river in a canoe, then put on horseback, and carried twenty miles into the forest to their settlement. She was kindly treated, though carefully guarded; but she won the confidence of the guard, who, after partaking — with her, as he thought — too freely of "fire water," fell asleep. It was her chance, and while all were locked in pro found slumber, she slipped her saddle from under the head of the chief, hastily saddled and mounted the old white horse, who knew his young mistress, and was soon beyond the reach of her enemies, whom she heard toward day -break, whooping on her trail. "Whitey" knew his way home, and reaching the Connecticut plunged fearlessly in, and swimming with vigor, soon reached the opposite bank, leaving between him and his savage, disappointed pursuers the broad swift cur rent of the stream. He bore his precious burden safely up the bank, and as she appeared through the brush, a shout of joy rang out on the morning air, from anxious parents, and friends, who had spent the PARENTAGE— BIRTH— EDUCATION. 3 long night in searching, and watching, and praying for her. My mother was born at Stafford, Tolland county, Connecticut, February 13th, 1787, but soon after re moved to Windsor county, Vermont, where she grew to womanhood, surrounded, as was also my father, by circumstances favorable to the cultivation of sanctified pluck. On the first of January, 1810, at Judge Key's residence, Stockbridge, Windsor county, Vermont, my father and mother were married, and ever after in the most holy manner, kept their plighted faith. Upon the outbreak of the war in 1812, my father volunteered, leaving my mother, with my oldest brother and sister, in care of the two families. He remained in the service until a short time before the close of the war. Then, in company with other members of both families, he removed to a section of country considered almost beyond the bounds of the civilized world — now Pike, Wyoming county. New York. There in the woods, on the third day of November, 1816, I first saw the light of day. The ancestry of both father and mother, their sur roundings in the new world, their experiences, all tended to the development of energy, and courage both moral and physical, and a sense of justice without re gard to race, class, or sex. 4 HOW "THE WAY" WAS PREPARED. My earliest recollections carry me back to the forests filled with wolves howling about our cabin, the trees so near that, falling toward it, they often crashed upon its roof. Of society, outside of our o'wn family, I call up Christian communion with the neighbors. My mother, being a pioneer, stirred up all susceptible to gospel truth, to purity, charity, and spirituality. My first impressions were from the Christian efforts from house to house, in the prayer-meeting, the class-meet ing, and preaching by the circuit preachers. These men were accustomed to traveling over two hundred miles in the round of their circuits, preaching nearly every day, and on Sundays three times, filling their several appointments once in four weeks. As the time for the visitation of the circuit preachers drew near, the people in the neighborhood began to so plan their business, that all able to walk through the forests — ^through mud, or snow, or both — from one-half to two miles, might gather in the log houses — dwelling- houses and school-houses — to listen to the preached Word, to pray and sing praises to God, to encourage one another, and bring old and young into the fold of Christ. The whole community then, so far as I knew, and . for many years after, were entirely devoted to the work of the Methodist society there, and the promotion PARENTAGE— BIRTH— EDUCATION, 5 of Methodism throughout that section of country; and to this day the Methodist idea is the prevailing idea in the neighborhood, and Methodism holds the balance of power over an area of a hundred miles. That was Old Genesee Conference, as it is now, and will always be. And that wonderful growth and steadfastness of Chris tianity was the result, almost entirely, of the fidelity, indomitable courage and executive ability of a noble Christian woman. She was the instrument and power, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, in bringing, first, my father, then many other good men, with their families, into the fold of Christ, following her as she followed Him. And such a follower ! I never knew that mother to lay down the armor — to sleep on her watch — to fail, in all kindness, to exhort, reprove, to warn, to commend the religion of Jesus Christ to all — up to the day of her death, December 18th, 1882, at the age of ninety-six. So I inherited the will and the power to be diligent in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. I very early felt the need of the new birth in Christ, and week after week, year after year, mourned over my alienation from God, and from time to time promised myself resignation to His will. Often, when alone in the forest, I imagined myself with an audience before me, pointing them to the Lamb of God. 6 HOW "THE WAY" WAS PREPARED, During an extensive revival in the summer and fall of 1882, in which Eev. William Buck, then a young minister, labored faithfully and zealously as the cir cuit preacher, I was brought to see myself a sinner, in a more distinct and convincing light than ever before; and under the preaching of Eev. Josiah L. Parrish, then of Pike county. New York, now a missionary in Oregon, I was enabled publicly to resolve to renounce the devil and all his works, and turn to God with full purpose of soul, to lay all on the altar of consecration. I heeded the call, and as soon as my means would allow, began preparations for my work. I went to Lima, New York, in 1839. At that time Schuyler Seager was principal of the seminary, which was one of the most eflBcient and popular institutions in the country. It was about that time that the attention of an earnest class of people was turned toward a new and growing radical institution at Oberlin, Ohio, founded mainly through the efforts of Mr. Shepard. Eev. Asa Mahan, of Cincinnati, Ohio, was called to the presi dency; Charles G. Finney to the pastorate and the professorship of the theological department. Professor Morgan and Professor Tomes, formerly of Lane Semi nary, were also called to professorships. Professor Tomes was a Kentuckian (from Augusta, Kentucky), PARENTAGE— BIRTH— EDUCATION. 7 who, disgusted with slavery, had left his native state for one in which no slavery could exist. I took license to preach in 1840, and in 1842 was ordained an elder in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and closed my course of study, graduating in 1844. One incident, more than anything else outside of my organization, controlled and intensified my sentiments on the slavery question. It was this: I went with my father and mother to Eushford to quarterly meeting when a boy, and we were assigned to the good, clean home of a pair of escaped slaves. One night after service I sat on the hearthstone before the fire, and listened to the woman's story of sorrow. It covered the history of thirty years. She had been sold from home, separated from her husband and family, and all ties of affection broken. My heart wept, my anger was kindled, and antagonism 'to slavery was fixed upon me. "Father," I said, on going to our room, "when I get bigger they shall not do that;" and the resolve waxed stronger with my growth. CHAPTER II. Slavery Unconstitutional. IGEEW to manhood with a positive, innate sense of impartial liberty and equality, of inalienable right, without regard to race, color, descent, sex or position. I never trained with the strong party simply because it was strong. From the time I heard that woman's story I felt the most intense hatred and contempt for slavery, as the vilest evil that ever existed; and yet I supposed the institution provided for and protected by the United States Constitution, and legally established by every slave state; and when, previous to investiga tion, I repeatedly aided the slaves to escape in violation of law, I did it earnestly, honestly, in all good con science toward God and man. Coming within the influence of active anti-slavery men at Oberlin, Ohio, I was led to examine the subject in the light of law and justice, and soon found the United States Constitution anti-slavery, and the insti tution existing in violation of law. My conclusion in regard to the anti-slavery character of the Constitution of the United States was based on common law,-' on its 8 SLAVERY UNCONSTITUTIONAL, 9 interpretation by the whole civilized world, and the recognition of self-evident truth as the basis of that interpretation, viz. : "Where rights are infringed, where fundamental principles are overthrown, where the general system of the law is departed from, the legislative intention must be expressed with irresistible clearness, in order to induce a court of justice to suppose a design to effect such object." This conclusion enabled me to act without misgiv ing, as to my obligation to the General Government. I was no longer under obligation to respect the evil institution as protected by the Government, but was free to condemn slavery and the slave code, — free to follow the promptings of duty. This was afterward supported by an acknowledg ment in the United States Senate, by Senator Pratt of Maryland, in resistance to an amendment to the pending Fugitive .Slave_Law of 1850, offered by William H. Seward, Senator from New York: "That whenever any -person,Tif 'any f ree'lBtate, shall be claimed as a fugitive from service, or labor, it shall be obligatory on the part of such claimant to prove that slavery exists in such state, by positive law." Senator Pratt said: "If the amendment offered by the Senator from. New York shall prevail, the reclama- 10 HOW "THE WAY" WAS PREPARED. tion of any slave from any state will be an impossibility, for not a State in the Union has slavery established by positive law." Finding, then, the diabolical institution unprovided for — ^finding it positively prohibited — ^finding it to be a conceded fact by our best statesmen. North and South, that not a state in the Union had slavery established by law, I concluded, upon the highest authority in the universe, that slavery was chronic rebellion, and that I was not only justified, but bound by the "higher law," to oppose it in defense of an oppressed people. From that time I never allowed an opportunity to aid the fugitives to pass unimproved ; but when men and women came to me, pleading the "Fatherhood of God," and the brotherhood of man, I did all in my power to set them free, subjecting myself to imprisonment and the deepest suffering. Forty-seven slaves I guided toward the North Star, in violation of the state codes of Vir ginia and Kentucky. I piloted them through the forests, mostly by night, — girls, fair and white, dressed as ladies ; men and boys, as gentlemen, or servants, — men in women's clothes, and women in men's clothes; boys dressed as girls, and girls as boys; on foot or on horseback, in buggies, carriages, common wagons, in and under loads of hay, straw, old furniture, boxes, and bags; crossed the Jordan of the slave, swimming. SLAVERY UNCONSTITUTIONAL. 11 or wading chin deep, or in boats, or skiffs, on rafts, and often on a pine log. And I never suffered one to be recaptured. None of them, so far as I have learned, have ever come to poverty, or to disgrace. I have visited a score of those families, finding them all indus trious, frugal, prosperous, respectable citizens. For aiding those slaves to escape from their bond age, I was twice imprisoned — in all seventeen years and four months ; and received, during the eight years from March first, 1854, to March first, 1862, thiity-five thousand, one hundred and five stripes from a leather strap fifteen to eighteen inches long, one and a half inches wide, and from one-quarter to three-eighths of an inch thick. It was of half -tanned leather, and fre quently well soaked, so that it might burn the flesh more intensely. These floggings were not with a raw hide or cowhide, but with a strap of leather attached to a handle of convenient size and length to inflict as much pain as possible, with as little real damage as possible to the working capacity. T CHAPTER III. Aiding the Fugitives. HE first slave I assisted to escape was Sam Johnson of West Virginia. It was in April, 1837, that, as I was gliding down the Ohio on a raft of lumber an acre in extent, I saw, on the Virginia side, a large, active-looking black man walking, with his axe on his shoulder. He was singing: " De col' frosty mornin' make er nigger feel good; Wid he axe on he sholer, he go joggin' to de wood." I hailed him. He said he had a wife and two chil dren thirty or forty miles away. " Neber spec tu see 'em agin." "Why don't you run away? " I inquired. " Dunno whar tu go." "Get on here; I'll show you where to go.'' "Ah, white man berry onsartain; nigger mo' so." I argued the case. He came on board. I swung my raft to the Ohio bank, and, springing ashore, and throwing down axe and hat, he shuffled a jig upon free frozen soil, with a "hoop-pee;" then picking up hat 12 AIDING THE FUGITIVES. 13 and axe, and waving a "good-bye," he was soon out of sight. There was a bend in the river, and when we had rounded it, and came in sight of Mr. Schneider's, where Sam had, by my direction, taken refuge, he and all the family were on the bank waving hats and handkerchiefs. Eight weeks after, I returned, and at midnight was allowed to be put ashore in a yawl, as was customary in those days, and learned that Sam had gone to Michigan, or Canada, with one hundred and fifteen dollars, a part of which had been contributed. I heard nothing more of him for twelve years. A few days after I met Sam Johnson, we landed on the Kentucky side, opposite the Little Miami river. A tall, black woman of about eighty years came to the raft, and among other things said : "Chillun, yo's all frum free state, I reckon?" "Yes," I replied. "Now, I'se got seven chillun, fo' boys an' three gals, an' dey's neber married, kase ef dey do, dar chil- lim will be slaves too." " Well, auntie, why don't they go away ? " " Oh, chile, ef dey had some one tu he'p 'um dey could get erway. Now, ef yo' all'd he'p um, dey could go all right." Finally it was agreed that they should come down 14 HOW "THE WAY" WAS PREPARED. after dark with their clothes in bundles, which they did, and in the presence of their old rejoicing mother, stepped into boats, and were soon beyond Kentucky jurisdiction. Here we — Almon Carpenter and I — left them in our boat with directions to land, if practicable, just above, and make their way to the house of a Friend — a Quaker — near, and there tie up the boat. Next morning, visiting the spot, looking for the boat, we did not find it ; but pushing farther up the river we found it, and learned from another Friend, of the welfare of our charges. Of these people I heard nothing until after liberation from my first imprison ment, September, or October, 1849 — ^twelve years later. I was standing on the street in Detroit, Michigan, one day, when a fine team, and wagon loaded with bags of wheat, attracted my attention. I thought I recognized Sam Johnson sitting on the loaded wagon, cracking his whip with an air of importance. I hailed him. "Hello, there! Whose team is that? " "Mine, and debts paid too." "Lucky for me, isn't it?" " Don't know about that." "You didn't know that I was your young master, eh?" "Don't know about that. I had a master once: now it depends on who is the strongest." AIDING THE FUGITIVES. 15 Then looking at me awhile, he leaped from the wagon, shouting: "Dog my skin! ef you aint' the fella helped me er way frum slavery!" and seizing me as I would an eight- year old boy, he danced about in glee. I went home with him that night — sixteen miles back into the country, and found him independently situated, with a good farm well improved and stocked; his wife and children had been recovered through his old friend Schneider, where he found his first free shelter on the banks of the Ohio — and they were well educated and promising. And I also found there the seven I had piloted to the mouth of the Little Miami a few days after Sam's liberation ; every one with a farm of eighty acres; and the men with wives, and the women with husbands, and all industrious and prosperous. But to return. Helen Payne was the next slave I helped to escape. I met her between Washington and Maysville, Kentucky, with carpet-bag in hand. I put her on board a steamer, went with her to Pittsburg, where I left her in good hands, and returned to Cincin nati, Ohio. She afterward went to New York City. Upon my return to Cincinnati, finding some colored people in great peril, I crossed the river with fouiteen in a scow and placed them beyond danger. A hair breadth escape occurred during this crisis. One 16 HOW "THE WAY" WAS PREPARED. fearless, determined girl, hearing her pursuers talking, and recognizing her master's voice, hid herself under the body of a large sycamore tree that lay on the river bank, so that her master, in his eager pursuit of the others, sprang upon the log, and jumped over her, as she lay concealed under it. They all made their escape. A short time after, I learned that a man, his wife, and three children, were in peril. They had traveled from East Tennessee and were secreted in Lexington; some one must be their Moses. I therefore started at nightfall, traveling by a compass and bull's-eye lantern at night, and lying in the cedars through the day. We were four days and nights on the road, raiding corn fields and out-door ovens, and milking the cows, for sub sistence. We crossed the river at last on a skipper constructed out of slabs and a few planks, and were out of danger. It was the very next day that, after resting until about sunset, I was awakened by the mistress of the house: " Mr. Fairbank, there is a boy hidden in the bushes on the Kentucky side, and they are hunting him with dogs. Get up quick, do, Mr. Fairbank! " I started up, and just in time to see the boy spring from a clump of bushes to a narrow cove-like bayou, AIDING THE FUGITIVES. 17 and plunging in, crawl under the bank. Down came the human and canine hunters, leaping directly over, from bank to bank, where the fugitive lay concealed with his nose just out of water. The dogs followed his track to the very edge of the bank, then leaping over to the other side, they ran round, and round, with noses to the ground, in great bewilderment. I watched with intense anxiety, expecting every moment to see them plunge into the water, and so discover his retreat; but it seemed providential that he should be left un harmed until darkness covered the world, when I went ¦with a skiff, and took him to a place of safety. CHAPTER IV. In the Fifth Generation. TN June, 1842, at the foot of the mountains in Mont- •*¦ gomery county, I think, I came upon an old plantation, with cattle and horses and slaves. Many of the slaves were so nearly of white blood, that they could be distinguished from the privileged class only by their short checked dresses, and short hair. The lord of the estate, an octogenarian, made me welcome to anything I desired. I became interested in a young slave girl of fifteen, ¦who was the fifth in direct descent from her master, being the great-greatr,great-grand-daughter of a slave whom he took as his mistress at the age of fourteen, five being his own daughters, and all by daughters, except the first, and all were his slaves. And now he was expecting to make this girl his mistress. I remained there, a guest of the family, two weeks, and became quite well acquainted with their habits, and felt sure I could run the risk of putting my hand against the authority of the state in defense of as lovely a young woman as there was in Kentucky. The 18 IN THE FIFTH GENERATION, 19 fate in store for her seemed too horrible, and when I went away I promised to meet her and her mother at an appointed place, with preparations all made, to place the family — the mother and three daughters, beyond the power of the slaveholder. The time came. I was promptly on the spot, so were they; but no argument could prevail upon the mother to take her children and leave the state. Her mother was behind, and she wanted to provide some way for her escape. So taking leave of mother and little sisters, — how they wept at parting from her! — the eldest girl took her seat in the carriage and we drove swiltly away. Once, during that long night-drive, we were halted by a ruffian springing from the bush and leveling a shotgun close to my face; but I thrust it aside in an instant, and covered him with a Colt's revolver. We arrived in Lexington — ninety -five miles — about half -past nine the next morning ; and the day after, took the train to Frankfort. There we boarded a steamer for Cincinnati, Ohio. Once in that city my way was clear. The old hero, Le"n Coffin, president, director, and proprietor of the "Underground Eailroad," was always grandly rfeady with advice. He went with me to one of his friends, who at once solved the problem by taking my prize into his own family and adopting her. CHAPTER T. Emily Ward "PMILY WAED was the property of a family of that -^-^ name closely related to a man who, from time to time, did me much evil. She was of a bright brunette complexion, and her age not over seventeen. She had been sold to slavetraders, and by them committed to the safekeeping of a family living in a two-story house facing the Ohio river. The house had a cellar, and'an attic also, and in this attic she was confined to await the convenience of the traders to remove her to New Orleans. A messenger came to me with the intelligence of her situation, and I at once prepared to help her. I wrote a brief letter as follows : "I come to release you. Dress in boy's clothes quick, if you can, and come down from the window on a rope if you have one. If not, make one of blankets, and come down." I crossed on the ferry, found two large pine logs in the water near the place, and selected one as om' ship. Then placing myself between two buildings, I 20 EMILY WARD, 21 tossed pebbles against the window until I attracted her attention, and exhibited my letter — rolled up and tied with a string — in such a way as to indicate what I wanted. She let down a string, pulled up the letter, read it, nodded assent, and soon lowering her blanket rope, slid out on it, and down to the ground, and in a short time we were crossing the river. When we reached Cincinnati, Emily was placed in the care of the Apostle of Freedom, Levi Coffin, and his peerless wife, "Aunt Katie." We passed the night in intense excite ment, not knowing but some vigilant eye had followed our flight, and that in an unguarded moment the slave- hunters might pounce upon us. We watched through the long hours, planning many ways of escape ; but we were unmolested, and the next day was devoted to the fitting up of my ward for a northern journey, by the good ladies belonging to the families of S. P. Chase, Gamaliel Bailey, and Samuel Lewis. Nightfall found us ready to move to a place of greater security. Emily had been dressed in the most approved style, in the best silk, with kid gloves on her hands, and a veil covering her charming brunette face. My horse and buggy stood waiting a square away, and just as twilight began to fall we were ready to start. Levi looked from his south window and exclaimed: "Calvin, I think the hunters are looking for Emily! 22 HOW "THE WAY" WAS PREPARED. There is the officer who makes it his business, and another man with him, coming right this way. Take Emily quick, go out through the back door into the street, turn the corner, and come around in front and go to the buggy." Emily looked — " There is my old master!''^ In an instant we were out of the room and on the sidewalk, Emily holding my arm. While we were passing along the eastern walk, turning the corner, approaching the front gate with an air of calm indiffer ence, the hunters had been admitted to the house. They looked hurriedly, begged pardon for the intrusion, and hastened out to the front again in such a way as to arouse the most desperate apprehension for our safety. We had approached so near the gate, it was unsafe to retreat, or even slacken our steps, for fear of creating a suspicion of our identity. It was apparent that we were to come in contact with our foe, and all we could do was to maintain courage and composure. As we approached the gate with an appearance of careless security, the old, eagle-eyed, demon-hearted master opened it upon Emily, who walked next to the fence. He jostled her against me, and even crowded so near that it seemed, at the time, his purpose was inspection, and capture if he recognized his victim. All our hopes of safety were put to fiight ; it seemed almost certain JOHN HAMILTON. 23 that this one day of liberty was to be the first and the last for Emily Ward. Her heart beat so violently, so audibly, that I could distinctly hear it, as she stag gered against me. But she did not betray her agitation. The instant the old master discovered his rudeness, he almost prostrated himself at the feet of the girl he sought, with manacles in his pocket for the hands and arms then gloved in kid, and draped in silk. He had not recognized her. " Oh ! I beg your pardon, lady — I beg your pardon. Accept my apologies, sir, will you ? " "Oh, certainly, certainly," I replied. They passed to the east, we to the west, and in five minutes we were di'iving, behind a fast horse, out of the city, and away from danger. It was a narrow escape, and we hardly dared to breathe freely, until we had put twenty miles or more between us and our enemies. A few days more, and this child of bondage was singing — her sorrows over — safe under the protec tion of the British Lion. Subsequently she returned to the United States, and lived in peace and safety. John Hamilton. A few days after this rescue I met a young man named John Hamilton, thirsting for freedom, and espoused his cause. Eemembering the pine log anch- 24 HOW "THE WAY" WAS PREPARED. ored to the shore, where I found the one on which Emily escaped, I appropriated it, put him on board, and set sail. We had to sit astride it, but it was as safe for the fugitive as the "Great Eastern." I left this young man with Uncle Levi, as usual ; and keeping track of him, I am quite sure he was afterward shot in South Carolina, during an election campaign. The Stanton Family. I had just rescued Emily Ward and John Hamilton, when a whole family sold to a dealer in human bodies, cried out: "Come over to Kentucky, and help us!" Casey was an expert, and he and I at once laid our plans to go over to the Kentucky side for a load of straw. We constructed a rack just the size of the interior of the straw rack, two feet high, and strong enough to protect a part of the family under it, and proceeded to the barn of a free African, very near the Stanton family, who were promptly on the spot. We spread about one foot of straw on the bottom of the wagon, upon which five of the children were laid, and then three feet more of straw loaded over them. Upon this, Mr. and Mrs. Stanton, and the oldest son were placed, and carefully covered with another layer of the straw. Then we had a load worth twenty-four hundred THE STANTON FAMILY, 25 dollars. Once in Cincinnati, there were as many places of safety as the number of fugitives demanded. There were a father, mother, and six children saved from the jaws of hell, through the exercise of charity, courage, and prudence, disciplined by experience. CHAPTER YI. Eliza. T NOW approach the most extraordinary incident in ¦^ my history, except my long imprisonment. I can not recall the exact date. I only remember that it was early in May, 1843, that my sympathy and patriotism were roused in behalf of one of the most beautiful and. exquisite young girls one could expect to find in free dom or slavery. She was the daughter of her master, whose name I withhold for laudable reasons, and was as free of African blood as Kate McFarland, being only one sixty-fourth African. She was self-educated, and accomplished in literature and social manners, in spite of the institution cursing her race ; and her heartless, jealous mistress had doomed her to be sold on the block, hating her for her beauty and accomplishments. Eliza had been confined in an upper room of the Lex ington jail. She recognized me as I was walking -in the jail-yard, and drew nay attention by tapping upon the window. I called upon her in her room, learned her situation, and hastened to Cincinnati to Levi Coffin, ELIZA. 27 then with him to Hon. S. P. Chase, Nicholas Longworth, Samuel Lewis and others, returning to Lexington with twenty-two hundred and seventy-five dollars, and a paper authorizing me to draw twenty-five thousand if necessary to save the girl. I was invincible, Eliza was assured ; but she feared, as was natural, dreading the uncertainty, shrinking from the possibility of being offered up a sacrifice on the altar of lust and greed. There were two thousand people at that sale, repre senting the wealth and culture of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Washington, New .Orleans, Louisville, and Frankfort ; also the city of Lex ington and vicinity. There were ladies and gentlemen, slave-masters and mistresses, and speculators in human chattels — all anxiously waiting. Hon. Eobert Wick- liffe — brother of the late Charles A. Wickliffe, Post master-General under John Tyler, — the master of five hundred slaves, was there with his family. And a short, thick-necked, black-eyed Frenchman from New Orleans, the co-conspirator with the girl's mistress, was there. And I was there, and defied the powers of dark ness to foil my purpose, my righteous purpose. I felt confident of my ability to compete with any man whose only stimulus was lust or greed, and rose above all thought of danger in the rescue of the hapless girl. At my left stood Eliza's aunt, a cool, intrepid; self- 28 HOW "THE WAY" WAS PREPARED. poised woman, and at my right were two counselors-at- law retained in my service. Upon the block, before all that gazing multitude, stood the auctioneer by his victim, who seemed ready to drop to the earth — not a man, with a touch of manly feeling, but the embodiment of Diabolus, trained and anxious for his work. He directed attention to the val uable piece of property, using all his cultivated art to enhance its interest, calling particular attention to her exquisite qualities as a mistress for any gentleman. And this he kept prominent, in the most insinuating and vile manner, outraging common decency. Bids began at two hundred and fifty dollars, and went up to five hundred, when the more respectable men of the South left the field to the Frenchman and myself. When twelve hundred dollars was reached, my an tagonist turned to me with an evil gleam in his eyes, and said: "How high are you going to bid?" "Higher than you do. Monsieur." And the bids rose to thirteen hundred. Again my enemy, shrugging his shoulders, nervously asked: "How high are you going to bid?" And again I replied: "Higher than you do, sir. You cannot raise money enough to take her." ELIZA, 29 Our bidding had become slower, more cautious, each ready to take advantage of the other. Then the villain on the block, becoming impatient, raved and cursed, crying: "Give! give! give!" for the higher the bids rose, the more anxious he became. I bid fourteen hundred and fifty. My contestant stood silent. The hammer rose — trembled^ — lowered — rose — fell — and the fiend flushed, and quick as thought dropped his hammer, and unbuttoning Eliza's dress, threw it back, e'xhibiting to the gaze of two thousand people, her superb neck and breast, shouting in the true professional tone: "Look here, gentlemen! Who is going to lose such a chance as this ? Here is a girl fit to be the mistress of a king!" A suppressed cry of shame, and contempt — of anger and grief — a bitter murmur of Kentucky wrath and disgust, rolled like a wave through that throng. South ern women blushed, and Mr. Wickliffe hung his head for shame; and such exclamations as "Too bad!" "What a shame!" "Horrible!" could be heard on every side, from both North and South. Bids rose to fourteen hundred and seventy -five. That was my bid. Then there was another lull in the contest, another moment of suspense. My antagonist eyed me viciously, and asked the third time: 30 HOW "THE WAY" WAS PREPARED. "How high are you going to bid?" Now I thought it time to let him know my real purpose. "It is none of your business, sir; but understand that you cannot command money enough to take this girl." The auctioneer seemed at his wits' end, and then followed a scene at which civilization blushed, and angels wept, and the human heart sickened and turned away; for to stimulate bidding, to appeal to and rouse the lowest passions in man, he turned his victim's pro file to that excited crowd, and lifting her skirts, laid bare her beautiful, symmetrical body, from her feet to her waist, and with his brutal, sacrilegious hand smote her white flesh, exclaiming : "Ah! gentlemen, who is going to be the winner of this prize? Whose is the next bid ? " The people had forgotten their identity with the "Institution." They had lost their latitude, and their social level. The exhibition of a beautiful, helpless Caucasian girl, in the shambles of Eepublican Amer ica, had taken all the aristocracy out of them. "Shame! shame!" they cried; and Boston and New Orleans shed tears, wept, side by side. The Frenchman bid fourteen hundred and eighty. The hammer rose high, quivered, lowered. Eliza gave ELIZA. 31 me an appealing, agonized look, and her aunt turned on me a glance I shall never forget. "Are you all done? Once — twice — do I hear no more? th-r-e-e" — and the hammer quivered, as the Frenchman's face flushed with triumph. "Th-r-e-e " — and the hammer fell slowly "Fourteen hundred and eighty-five!" My contestant turned away, with an air of indiffer ence. "Eighty-five — eighty-five — eighty-five. I'm going to sell this girl in one minute. Are you going to bid again? " The Frenchman shook his head. "Once — twice — th-r-e-e times — and gone." The hammer fell. She was mine. She fainted. "You've got her d — d cheap, sir," said the auc tioneer. "What are you going to do with her?" "Free her, sir," I cried, and woke a cheer which rose to a true Kentucky shout that rent the air and rang "far and wide, proclaiming liberty to the captives of America, Eussia, Brazil, and all the world." Eliza was then borne to the carriage of Mr. Wick liffe, which was standing near — borne by the repre sentatives of wealth and power, and driven to her aunt's in the city, and attended by the Slite of Kentucky — a retinue fit to be the escort of a princess, tier free 32 HOW "THE WAY" WAS PREPARED. papers were soon made legal, and as I entered the room adjoining the one she occupied, I heard her say: "Auntie, where is my savior?" Her aunt not being in the room, the question was answered by an old. Christian, free black woman, physically and morally a facsimile of "Sojourner Truth": " Child, your Savior is in heaven. Yes, honey, your Savior is in heaven." " No, auntie, I mean Mr. Fairbank." Just then I stepped into the room, and handing her the folded papers, said: "Here I am, Eliza." " Mr. Fairbank, what are you going to do with me ? " "Nothing; you can do for -yourself." "But I belong to you." " No, you have your free papers. You are as free as I am." She looked, she read. "Am I dreaming?" she murmured, "am I dream- ing?" A lady who had attended her from the sale said: "Let me see the papers;" and looking them over care fully, and passing them back, said: "Eliza, you are as free as Governor Letcher.'' ELIZA. 33 But it was difficult for her to realize the blessed truth. She turned the papers over and over — "I must be dreaming." "No, honey," said the old colored woman, — "no, you are free." "Oh, is it possible? Is it possible? Blessed Lord! Who has done this for me! It is surely the work of my Jesus. Oh, my blessed Lord, I am committed to Thee for life and death! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!" "Mr. Fairbank, what is your will, that I may obey?" she asked, when her transport of joy was over. "Eliza, I would like to take you to Cincinnati, place you in a family of wealth and high social position in which you can be an equal, finish your education and live the remainder of your life in peace, plenty, honor and usefulness." "Mr. Fairbank, I will go wherever you wish to take me." It was decided. After four days we took the train for Frankfoit, and thence by boat to Cincinnati. There she was educated, there she married, and has for forty- three years filled a position of honor and usefulness in society, and none but her husband and a few chosen friends know that she was ever a slave, or that she has a drop of African blood in her veins. Her master was well-disposed. He had, just before 34 HOW "THE WAY" WAS PREPARED. the sale, paid twenty thousand dollars as the price of generosity toward an unlucky friend. It was not his wish that she should be sold, and he came to me and said: "Here, Mr. Fairbank — here is one hundred dollars; all that I have. Take seventy-five of it, save my child if you can. Keep the money, no matter what you have to pay for Eliza." But no need to dwell any longer on this sale. It was the most remarkable I ever witnessed. William Minnis was willed free by his master upon his death in Jessa mine county, Kentucky, about fifteen miles from Lex ington. He, as well as the other servants made free by this will, was kept in entire ignorance, even by the executor of the will, and others privy to it, whose sworn or implied oath bound them to inform such legatees of their right. William, knowing nothing of the law, or the fact, raised no voice, — entered no protest, which might have saved him and his friends indescribable anguish, a whole year's servitude at Little Eock, Arkan sas, where he was sold by his master's son and successor, and his friends in Lexington, Kentucky, and Cincinnati, Ohio, heavy expenditure and extreme peril. Ten months had passed away since July, 1842, and WILLIAM MINNIS. 85 Dennis Seals — I think his name was Dennis — had brooded over the fate of a boy for whose person and family he had cherished the most kindly attachment. He, with Nancy Straus in the city. Father Ferril, a minister of high repute in the city of Lexington, Henry Boyd, William Watson, Kitty Dorum, the Morrises and Taylors, and others in Cincinnati, Ohio, were soon in alliance, pledged in any amount necessary for the vin dication of the rights of this worthy young slave. May was fairly ushered. Eliza had been duly in ducted into her new home. Seals at once — as the boys say — "caught on." The case of Eliza — ^her sale — rescue — in Lexington at the mouth of hell, had stirred the public, high and low, to a ferment; and my name was in the mind and mouth of every one. Hope, glory, and shame excited the masses — hope for the oppressed, glory in the pluck of the man who dared, and shame for the crime of Kentucky. Seals drank of the hope and glory. He appeared in Cincinnati soon as we arrived; sought me out; sought out the "sentinels;" and all in convention, with the acquiescence and advice of the old hero, Levi Coffin, laid a plan for the rescue. I was summoned before the council, and approved the plan. I was to undertake the very hazardous enter prise. With two hundred and fifty dollars in my hands I 36 HOW "THE WAY" WAS PREPARED. bade farewell to friends, country, and life. I felt that the chances for life and liberty were against me : to go into wild Arkansas upon an errand of charity in behalf of an unknown boy whose character and physique were entirely strange to me — against a favorite idea and institution — among a wild, half-civilized, half -barbarous people who valued life less than money, and their social cornerstone, — less than to brook an insult. But the Eubicon was crossed. I left Cincinnati on the 13th day of May, 1843, I think, and arrived in Little Eock sometime during the 16th, and began a careful, diligent inquiry for my boy. Every one scanned me with suspicion. There were three classes : the ruling, upper class of whites ; the poor " white trash," who were, morally and intellectually, on a level with or below the slaves they watched for their subsistence ; and the slave. The whites suspected the stranger, if- he appeared at all in command of himself, as an enemy to the "Divine Institution." The slave, as an enemy to his race, — seeking bargains in human property. So, I was held at arm's-length by one, and closely, most ingeniously and treacherously interviewed by the other. But I had been in the world too long, and seen too much of men and things to be drawn on and sold. I put up at a hotel in which, after four weeks' care- WILLIAM MINNIS, 37 ful, apparently careless, indifferent investigation I dis covered that William was a servant, — hired out by his master, who lived in another part of the city. I tried all plans to learn the names of the men, and their integ rity, that I might make some inquiry for my boy. After about four weeks I conceived a plan to call for a "boy" to carry my carpet-sack to the boat, to take a short trip to the next town ; and calling one of the ser vants, I said: "Boy, see here! take this to the boat for me." "Mas', dat not my work. Dat Bill's work. He do dat are work." Well, now, I thought, I've got so much; maybe I've found my boy ; and Dimond called out, "Bill! see here. Dis here geman want you. "Bill" took my bag; and all quiet, a little way out I ventured to ask, — "What is your name?" "William Minnis." Now, just imagine my surprise. "How long have you been in this city?" "Well, massa, jis' about a year ago I lef Lexing ton, Kentucky. I was sol' to de traider, PuUum, an' he fetch me here an' sol' me. I belongs to Mr. Bren- nan, an' he hires me out here at de hotel." There! all in a lump I had the whole story. "Did your master live in Jessamine county?" 38 HOW "THE WAY" WAS PREPARED. "Yes, sir." "He died, and his son sold you, eh?" "Yes, sir. Did you know him?" " Yes. William, did you know Dennis Seals, and Nancy Straus, and Father Ferril?" "Yes, sir." "Did you ever know that your master willed you free before he died? and that your young master sold you, knowing all about it?" " No, sir, I did not." That quite overcame him. He panted like a scared bird. I said to him : " Go back with my bag. I'll not take the boat. Come to my room to-night as early as you can safely." After four weeks I had found out the riddle. I had already made the acquainta,nce of a Creole-French barber and a New-England teacher — 'a lady skilled in portraiture. I had, after four weeks' careful, prudent, anxious, mostly reticent inquiry, found the object of my mission. William Minnis was a well-developed, finely-organ ized, smooth, handsome mulatto of eighteen, worth, probably, in that vicinity, eight hundred dollars. I was satisfied at once of his integrity ; and, without the least restraint, divulged to him the whole secret. Of cotfrse, there was the possibility of danger; — of indis- WILLIAM MINNIS. 39 creet communication, — of inconsiderate words — even of treachery. But I could discover nothing from which I could draw the conclusion of the faintest probability of. danger arising from either. Now, for MY plan: my French-Creole I had found voluntarily, deeply interested in the future well-being — the oppressed side of his oppressed people. I confided in him. I withhold his name, not from any sense of danger to any one — not from policy, but because it was so peculiarly French, that, though I cultivated a pleas ant acquaintance with him for five weeks, it had evapo rated through the law of association in five more weeks, so that I entertained not the slightest conception of its form. My other assistant married and settled in Arkansas, and, for aught I know, may be living in that vicinity to-day — among a people to whom such antecedents would not only not be popular, but decidedly and dangerously unpopular. That night William met me in my room. Our plan, in a nut-shell, was: 1. To find a man like whom William could be made to appear— wig, beard, mus tache, etc. William knew a young man from up the river, Mr. Young, with whom Mr. Brennan had formed the slightest acquaintance, to whom, under like circum stances — like dress, hair, beard, and mustache, he bore 40 HOW "THE WAY" WAS PREPARED, a very strong physical resemblance, — a real facsimile. 2. My Frenchman could "do him up brown" in all that, so as to pass for Mr. Young: long black hair, a wig, whiskers and mustache, in true Southern style. 3. My Yankee girl could bring the complexion, already fair, to any required shade. This we decided next day. 4. A certain boat left the wharf about twilight for her trip to Cincinnati. We must go on that — the same boat which had just left. 5. Mr. Brennan often took this boat for Vicksburg, where he was concerned in business. In case of such a concurrence — the master and slave meeting — if necessarily involving social etiquette, Mr. Minnis must be ready to play Mr. Young. Everything was settled as to manner. The time of escape must be left for circumstances to decide; and that would probably be a word and a move. My bag was always packed after noon. Finally, on the evening before the departure of the boat, early in July — about the fourth, — we took the risk of our recitation, or rehearsal, in the private room of our Frenchman, in presence of our Yankee girl. All was most complete. Minnis presented a facsimile of the Southerner we ¦wished him to personate — good height, graceful in bearing ; speech, anent-dialect. Be it remembered, most Southern people speak with the same provincialism — anent-dialect and tone, as WILLIAM MINNIS, 41 the slaves who serve them ; as instances, Mr. Berrien, of Georgia, was accustomed to say "dis here," "dat ar." Captain Newton Craig, my old prison-keeper, used to say, "thar," for there; "far," for fair; "Farbank," for Fairbank. So, with a little training Minnis presented a fine specimen of a Southern chevalier. I had felt all through the day — it was the fourth of July — that the time was imminent; that we must be like the bird watching the approach of an enemy — "Nor willed to go, nor dared to stay. But, warbling mellow, sped away." The sun had gone behind the bluff. Our boat would be on the move in thirty minutes. The word came to me with an impression, " Such as a sudden passing bell Makes, though but for a stranger's knell." In a moment I was oft", Mr. Young (?) by my side — gold-headed cane in hand. My bill had been settled. Mr. Young accidentally struck my way ; and in a few minutes we were in the cabin. The Eubicon had been crossed. Our bridges were burned behind us. It was now, "liberty or death." There was nothing, now, to be gained by our close, particular association; and we simply associated as the other passengers. But, — Mr. Young had signified to me in an earnest way, — betraying no trepidation noticeable by others. 42 HOW "THE WAY" WAS PREPARED. "Mr. Brennan is on the boat." I said, apparently in a joke, "Put on airs." Very soon, walking at leisure in the cabin, filled with business men and pleasure-seekers, they met — recognized with some surprise, — "Mr. Brennan!" "Mr. Young!" "O! — fine evening." " Very, sir, very." And the colloquy ended. The crisis had been passed. Our plans had more than met our expectations. We retired early ; and so avoided a second encounter, which might possibly have resulted in harm to us both. When morning dawned, the danger had passed. Mr. Brennan had left the boat, taking a down-river craft for Vicksburg. Now, maybe all this had to be done by the instru mentality of lies. I don't think so. It was strategy, to avoid injustice. That is no lie. " A lie is the mis representation of the truth to the injury of some party having a right to know the truth." — Pkes. Mahan. Mr. Minnis had changed his name from William Minnis to John Crawford, by which I knew him after ward. We were several days reaching Cincinnati, the boat stopping at all towns of any importance for trade. I said, a little while ago, "the danger had passed." WILLIAM MINNIS. 43 Often, when we think we are out of danger we are in danger. PuUum, the slave-trader of the vicinity of Lexington, Kentucky — whom I knew well — who had sold Mr. Crawford (Minnis) at Little Eock, was at Memphis, Tennessee, transacting the same class of busi ness. That was his only business. While we lay there waiting the affairs of the boat he came on board, and recognized me at once. We had a long and varied talk, about everything; and especially about Little Eock; and among other things he spoke of a "Minnis boy whom I sold there. He had belonged to Minnis, of Jessamine county. Did you know him?" " Oh, yes. He is owned by Mr. Brennan — hired at the Little Eock House. He makes a good steward." "Yes, he's smart. I made three hundred dollars on him." All this time John Crawford was giving the closest attention — heard nearly every word — walked pompously to and fro swinging his gold-headed cane in true Southern style. After an hour's talk, and trepidation lest the slave- trader might identify the gentleman once a part of his stock in trade, the bell rang as a signal to weigh anchor, and our unwelcome visitor, politely bowing all around, bade us "good bye," and left the boat. We were once more relieved. 44 HOW "THE WAY" WAS PREPARED. Several times before reaching Cincinnati I recog nized and was recognized by Kentuckians, but not under circumstances to excite any great alarm. We were at last safe in Cincinnati, in care of friends ; but deeming the situp,tion extremely dangerous, under the Black laws of Ohio, — (though free by will, all papers on the subject being destroyed through the treachery of officials whose office bound them in fidelity to all persons, he was a "niggarj" and "a black man has no rights which a white man is bound to respect. — Chief Justice Taney), — Crawford took the "flood of fortune," and went to Canada. I saw him in Toronto in 1851. Next year he went to California. At the outbreak of the Eebellion he allied himself with the army, and, upon the reception of the black man as a soldier, " shouldered arms" for the Union. CHAPTER YII. My First Imprisonment. T WAS passing Chapel Hall at Oberlin, Ohio, in -*• August^ 1844, when a call from an upper window drew my attention. "Brother Fairbank!" It was John M. Brown, now Eev. John M. Brown, D.D., a bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and resident at Washington. The case of Gil son Berry, an escaped slave, whose wife and babies had been left behind, was laid before me, as all such cases usually were. I heard the call, espoused his cause, and after commencement left for Lexington, Kentucky, where I foimd Miss Delia A. Webster of Vergennes, Vermont, then teaching in the city, and ready to second my efforts. We soon found the escape of the wife impracticable, without the combination of some other worthy person. An appointment was made for her rescue, but for reasons never explained to me, she did not meet the appointment. She was probably detected, and stopped, or so closely watched as to render her escape dangerous, and perhaps impossible. 4.5 46 HOW "THE WAY" WAS PREPARED. Another case came before us: that of Lewis Hayden, now Hon. Lewis Hayden. Mr. Hayden was a waiter at the Brennan House. To my question: " Why do you want your freedom?" he replied: "Because I'm a man." I was deeply interested in him, and at once began to plan a way for his escape* I went to Eipley, Ohio, where. Dr. Blanchard of Cincinnati had informed me, I would find friends of the fugitives ; and it was not . only to see them, but to learn the way to them, that 1 took the trip. While crossing on the ferry in the morning, from the Kentucky side, with my horse, I noticed a man above me, crossing in a skiff, and concluded instantly that he would be a good source of information. It proved true. He was Pete Driscol, a spy, a patroUer, whose business was the detection, and if possible the capture, of fugi tive slaves. I soon met him, when the following con versation took place : "Mister," are you a Kentuckian?" "Yes." "Well, what kind of a place is this?" "It is a black, dirty. Abolition hole, sir." So far, so good — ^just what I wanted to know; and now how to fool him without telling an absolute lie. I MY FIRST IMPRISONMENT. 47 must give him a false impression, so that no suspicion would be roused. "Is not this a great hiding place for runaway slaves ? " "Yes.""Well, I'm just from Lexington, and I am interested in discovering the hiding places among the Abolition ists." "Well, sir, you see that red house there? " "Yes." "There Eli C. Collins lives; and in that house Levi Collins lives; and Dr. Eankin occupies the one on the hill." I went to Collins', as directed by my Kentuckian, and as he advised me to pass for a good Abolitionist I did so. I also went to Dr. Eankin's ; but while I was On my way to his house, the people, having seen me with Pete Driscol, set me do^wn as a slave-hunter, and sent young Collins ahead of me, to put the family on their guard. So I learned nothing there, and supposed that I had been wrongly advised. I returned to Mr. Eli C. Collins'; was invited to dine; was at the table, when young Collins came in, and with fury in his man ner, ordered me to leave the house — that I was a spy, a slave-hunter. He was plucky, but I finished my dinner, and afterward tried to convince them of my 48 HOW "THE WAY" WAS PREPARED. oneness with them in the cause. And all the time Eli Collins advised the largest charity. "Maybe he is a friend. We -will see when the time comes." I then said: "I like your zeal in this cause, even though it makes you reluctant to believe in me." It was altogether an unpleasant experience, for I came near being mobbed by the girls of a hotel, and others gathered there to talk over the case, and only escaped by hastening away from the house. On Saturday, the 28th day of September, 1844, at eight p. M., in company with Miss Webster, and the Haydens, father, mother, and one son, I started from Lexington for Ohio, ¦with hack and driver (a slave). The boy, in times of danger, was stowed away under the seat of his father and mother, and they acted as servants, or passed as white lady and gentleman, veiled and cloaked, as occasion required. At Millersburg, twenty-four miles out from Lexington, we lost a horse from bots, stood an hour and a half in the street, took refreshments, played Yankee, changed horses, escaped ,by strategy, crossed the Ohio river at nine o'clock in the morning in great danger, changed teams two miles out in Ohio, passed through Eipley, and back four miles to Hopkins', where I left the Hayden family. Then I returned to Eli C. Collins' at Eipley, where I MY FIRST IMPRISONMENT. 49 had left Miss Webster, and ¦with her returned to Ken- tucl^y, resting at Washington, four miles south of Mays-?ille. This town is on the Ohio river, about sixty miles from Cincinnati, and sixty-four miles from Lexington, and Hopkins' is fourteen miles beyond, making seventy-eight miles. At Millersburg we were met, and followed closely into Lexington, so that there was no escape; and after making a hundred and fifty- six miles in forty-eight hours, we were driven to the jail, on Monday evening at eight o'clock, to await the result. I had, in my trepidation, retained on my person a letter signed "Frater," addressed to parties in Oberlin, not in my writing, which was the only testimony that could be brought against either Miss Webster, or my self. Three indictments were found against us, suffi cient to imprison us for sixty years. We employed Sam Shy and Leslie Coombs as our attorneys; then, in order to work to better advantage, we had the cases separated, upon the plea, in behalf of Miss Webster, that my case being tried upon the same indictment with hers, what was evidence against me would be evidence against her and therefore prejudicial to her case. Miss Webster's father, Benaiah Webster, came on from Vermont, and every influence to be commanded 4 50 HOW "THE WAY" WAS PREPARED, was brought into requisition for her acquittal ; but she was tried and sentenced for two years, upon the strength of that letter found on my person. Mark this, so that when you come to my trial in Louisville before Judge Bullock, in February, 1852, you can see how much liberty courts use in interpreting common law. The jail was constantly filled with slaves brought in for sale, and often visited by buyers from the sur rounding country, and from New Orleans, for that market. There were also in the jail Eobert Bartley, of South Carolina, convicted of counterfeiting; Jerry Bran, a slave, who had attempted to escape, had got into Ohio, was captured, brought back, and put in jail for sale; John Minnis, sent to jail on suspicion of longing for freedom; and Eichard Moore, sentenced to be hanged for breaking the neck of his brutal mistress, who had abused him in ways too vile to be spoken of in these pages. I had relinquished all hope of acquittal; for though no legitimate testimony could be brought against me, I realized from Miss Webster's case, that any testimony, however slight or indirect, would be used in favor of slavery, and for the punishment of those working against it. So I began to look about for a way of escape. Years before, some prisoners had broken through MY FIRST IMPRISONMENT. 51 the wall on the north side of the jail-yard, and escaped, and the county had put oak planks over the break — after replacing the stones without mortar — and fastened these planks with iron bars running through from one side to the other. The planks had become warped, and cracked, and I found that by working them up and down, I could break the iron bars. Then the planks could be removed, then the stone, so that whoever wanted to escape, could do so. I was in stiff irons, weighing twenty-four pounds, and twenty-four inches long. The time for escape was fixed for the first Sunday in November. Bran went out at the breakfast hour, broke the bars, took off the planks, pulled out some stones, then replaced it all again, until dinner time, when Bartley, Bran, Minnis, and two other slaves, escaped, and had been gone an hour before it was known. Two of them I heard nothing from, but Bartley escaped, Minnis went back to his mistress, and Bran wrote, soon after, that he was earning a dollar and a half a day, smoking Spanish cigars at night, and no master to thank for it all. After they were gone, Eichard secured two of the bars from the wall, and hid them in the stove-pipe pro jecting from our window, so that if we should need them when our turn came to try and escape, they would be on hand. Very soon we made an attempt to break o2 HOW "THE WAY" WAS PREPARED. jail. Night fell, we commenced. It was Tuesday night, and Eichard was to be executed on Friday. All night we labored, sometimes together, sometimes sepa rately, standing on stools, the hea-vy irons on my ankles cutting cruelly into the fiesh; but five o'clock struck, morning had come, and found us still there. " Death struck, I ceased the tide to stem." Eichard fell despairingly upon the floor. "Oh! I'm a dead man!" My hands, in the palms, were worn deep into the flesh, and bleeding ; my beard was filled with dry lime mortar ; my hair like the brush of a sweep. I was a frightful sight. When the jailor came in, he looked around' in amazement. "Who did this?" "Dick and L" "I'll fix you for slow traveling," he said grimly; and we were then handcuffed together, day and night. Until a short time before Dick was taken out for execu tion. His peace was fully made with God. The morn ing of the execution, when the military arrived, and the door swung open, we were found on our knees, commending that soul to Him who had given it, and the armed men stood silent and awestruck in the pres ence of Jehovah, and the pleading dying man. He finished his course in peace. MY FIRST IMPRISONMENT, 53 I had petitioned the legislature and obtained the passage of a bill giving me a change of venue to Paris, Bourbon county; but the governor, William Owsley, having been petitioned for Miss Webster's release, and refusing to grant her pardon until I came to trial, I waived my claim, instructed His Excellency not to make it a law by fixing his signature, and went at once to, trial, pleaded not guilty, selected a jury, then changing my plea, pleaded guilty by Kentucky statutes, and argued my own case. In my plea to the jury I said: "Gentlemen of the jury, 'but for the grace of God there goes John Bun yan.' Had I been born and educated here, I might have been as you are. But thank God I am what I am, and I would that ye all were as I am, except these bonds. Your Honor, and gentlemen of the jury, are you aware that by the strict rules of legal interpre tation you have no legal slavery? that there is not a slave legally held in the United States of America? There is not a state in the Union in which slavery exists by positive law." But I was con^victed, and my punishment fixed at fifteen years in the Kentucky penitentiary at Frankfort, at hard labor. I was conveyed there on the 18th day of February, 1845, my head shaven close, I dressed in stripes and put to sawing stone. CHAPTER YIII. My Incarceration. CAPTAIN NEWTON CEAIG, the warden, was very considerate of me, treated me much better than I had expected he would, giving me a choice of labor, and in many other ways treating me with respect. He was a man of large self-esteem, courted the regard of wise people, thought well of Yankee excellence, and therefore bent his energies to signalize his magnanim ity in our case. I selected shoemaking as my work, and labored at the trade for about three years. But my sedentary life, my worry and dissatisfaction with imprisonment, and the poor food — old, fat, greasy bacon — and the bad air in the cell where I slept every night, soon undermined, my health. Dyspepsia fastened upon me, and I was changed to the hospital as steward. Sometimes I went into the cooper-shop, and sometimes at other work favoring proper exercise. Dui'ing this imprisonment I was supplied with money by James Canning Fuller, of New York, when ever I wrote for it, and after his death, by his widow, Lydia Fuller, and other friends and relatives. Mr. 54 MY INCARCERATION. 55 Hayden of Boston had been active in enlisting sympa thy in my behalf, in and about Boston. Captain New ton Craig was in correspondence with gentlemen and ladies in Boston of such a nature as to conciliate his dissatisfied mind and temper, and promise some remu neration to the parties claiming redress for the loss of their slaves. Benjamin Howard, Francis Jackson, and Ellis Gray Loring, were parties on each side to pay and receive a stipulated sum — six hundred dollars — when ever my release should be certified to by myself in Ohio. At the same time that these measures were in con templation, my father was also in correspondence with Captain Craig, and securing petitions from the people of Allegany and Wyoming counties, and in other ways arranging his affairs so as to be able to leave home and come to my relief. He arrived in Frankfort April 5th, 1849, leaving my mother and sisters in my brother's care. I had been a little over four years in the prison, and had won the respect of the citizens of Kentucky by my prudent behavior, and there was a strong sentiment in favor of my liberation. Upon my father's arrival in Kentucky with large petitions from Allegany and Wyoming counties. New York, he very easily obtained Governor Crittenden's promise to grant my pardon as soon as a petition from 56 HOW "THE WAY" WAS PREPARED. Lexington with the names of Judge Buckner, Common wealth-Attorney Eobinson, the jury, the claimants of the slaves, and Hon. Henry Clay could be secured. This was accomplished early in June. But now some thing else interfered. The question of emancipation was to come before the people in the August election. The question was not, "Shall the constitution be changed by convention?" but, whether anti-slavery or pro-slavery men should sit in the convention. The Governor made the plea that, he feared my pardon at that time would prejudice the election, and decided to wait until after the election was over. Cholera was raging at that time, and carrying off the people in great numbers. My father was unacoli- mated, and Captain Craig and I urged him to leave the state, to go home, and protect himself from the terrible epidemic. But no persuasions could induce him to leave me in my sore strait. He went to Lexington, en larged the petition, was attacked by cholera, recovered apparently, relapsed, and died Saturday night, July 7th, 1849, and was buried by and among strangers. CHAPTER IX. Pardoned by Governor John J. Crittenden. /^N the twenty-third of August, 1849, after an impris- " onment of four years, ten months and twenty-four days, I received my pardon. All my savings were gone, and I was somewhat broken in health. On the 24th I left for Madison, Indiana, where I obtained lodgings with Wright Eay, the famous slavehunter of that section. It was the first comfortable night's rest for near five years. In this chapter I shall give some incidents of my jail life, before finally closing its account. While I was in prison, there sprang up, through my influence, and that of others, a lively interest in religion. We had Sunday-schools and prayer-meetings, and I often preached to the prisoners, and others who came in out 8f curiosity. I had a friend in a young Baptist minis ter in Western New York — Isaac Wade — who came to see me, and soon published letters stating what I had told him of our school. Upon this, Eev. WiUiam Buck, a Baptist minister from Louisville, called upon me in the presence of Captain Craig, who was also a Baptist, .57 58 HOW "THE WAY" WAS PREPARED. to know of its truth. He seemed astonished, and wished me to explain how I justified myself, being also a prisoner. I did so in a letter as follows: "First — Paul preached in prison, in which he had been confined for ¦violation of law. Why not I? Second — The prisoners wanted instruction and encouragement. Third — That neither the verdict of men, nor the limit ation of walls, could in anywise change the need, power and application of the Gospel. Fourth — If a prisoner may enjoy, he may also teach the Gospel, and I am a child of the King." Early in my imprisonment, a very nice, well-formed boy of fifteen was sent to the prison for stealing a horse-blanket. Captain Craig, confiding in my integ rity, and taking a liking to the lad, committed him to my keeping, as my pupil, ward, and room-mate. I took him, taught and guided him for six months. One day Governor William Owsley was in the staveshop. I spoke with him, and as he left, I foUowed him out, and said: " Governor, if you can find cause to send that boy home, you will confer a great blessing on him, his mother, the community, the state, and the world. Every such thing counts. He has had lesson enough; any longer imprisonment ¦will spoil him." The boy was pardoned the next week. PARDONED BY GOVERNOR CRITTENDEN, 59 William Driver was the next one committed to my care, in the spring of 1849, and was my room-mate up to the day of my liberation. When I left, I promised to do my utmost for his release, and wrote a petition to Governor Crittenden, and sent it to the boy's mother, with a letter to this effect: " I was a prisoner with your son. After reading this letter, destroy it, and don't let any one know who wrote this petition, but get the judge, the cominon- wealth-attorney, the sheriff, and the jury to sign it, then as many more as you can, and go to Governor Crittenden with it, and he will pardon your boy." She followed my instructions, and in two weeks her son was pardoned, and free. So ends the story of my first imprisonment and pardon. CHAPTER X. Among Old Friends. T MADE my way to Cincinnati, and sought out my ¦^ old comrades in the holy work for humanity against oppression. But I must state here that the extraordinary fact of my imprisonment for an act of charity, the death of my father as a sacrifice to the ambition of the state executive, and the spleen of an inglorious public, had awakened a desire everywhere to hear from my own lips an account of what I had suffered. In Cincinnati I was welcomed by Levi and Catharine Coffin, William Watson, -Henry Boyd, Mr. Burnett, Samuel Lewis, S. P. Chase, and others, and I found an addition to the "Old Guard" — Laura S. Haviland. I had never met Mrs. Haviland before, though I had been familiar with her benevolent habits, her labors of love for the human race, her impartiality to all needy, ¦with out regard to color, descent, or sex. Levi and Catharine Coffin had already distinguished themselves as real, as well as denominational "Friends," for they were born and brought up in that most excellent class of people 60 AMONG OLD FRIENDS. 61 called "Friend-Quakers." So was Laura Haviland; but she finally, in order to be more useful to the human race, united ¦with the Wesleyan Methodists, laid all she was and all she had upon the altar for the elevation of mankind. She, with her husband, and her brother Harvey Smith, built houses, hired teachers, gave time, land and money to the poor and needy. Levi Coffin had become so noted as a friend of the slave, that whenever a fugitive could be traced into his ¦vicinity, it was considered that his house was the re treat necessary to be searched. At one time, while they lived in Indiana, two little girls were brought to them and were pursued. There was always a watch kept, a picket-guard, and no unfriendly eye could look through the line without an alarm. f he pickets gave the sig nal, and the girls were hidden between a feather bed and a mattress. WhUe the pursuers were watching the house, the little fugitives were so amused at their queer hiding-place, that they giggled and laughed so loud, it would have been quite dangerous had their master come near. Mrs. Coffin had to scold them severely, threatening them with a stick. The master with his assistant finally came and asked permission to look through the house, which they did, finding nothing of the girls. "Aunt Katie" was their pilot, directing them everywhere through the house. ' 62 HOW "THE WAY" WAS PREPARED. "Here, thee has not seen in this room. Thee wants to look sharp. Is there any other place thee wants to see?" After they had given up the hunt in despair, the master said: "I'd like to know where all the niggers go to, when they get to old Coffin's. That old Quaker must have an underground railroad, for once a slave gets here, he is never seen again." Previous to 1849, Levi had been twice or three times burned out, his home set on fire by the slave holder or his emissaries, and he had now settled perma nently in Cincinnati. Salmon P. Chase had been elected United States Senator by the Ohio legislature of 1848-49. As I understood the history of political affairs, the old Whig and Democratic parties were evenly divided. Mr. Morse (I do not remember from what county he was sent) and Dr. Townshend of Loraine county, were elected as Free-Soilers, and knew they could hold both parties in their hands. But being Whigs originally, they were really more in sympathy with that party. Several vacancies in the Ohio judiciary were to be filled, and a United States senator elected. Townshend and Morse (being in harmony with the Whigs) said to the Democrats : AMONG OLD FRIENDS. 63 "You give us Salmon P. Chase as senator in Con gress, then we will give you the judges." It was done, and Salmon P. Chase became one of the leading spirits of the Nation. A revival was in progress in the Wesleyan church at Cincinnati, and I entered into the work, preached, visited, and put myself alongside the people, regardless of color, position or race, and thereby won confidence in many timid ones toward God and the religion of His Son Jesus Christ. After- this I visited Oberlin and found many changes. Eev. Asa Mahan, owing to his opposition to the use of works of heathen authors as text books, and perhaps his Arminian views, and other facts, had left the college presidency. At one time, his opposition to the use of heathen authors was so intense that many of the young men piled their books on the Tappan Hall square, and burned them. I next visited Cleveland, gi^ving there my experi ences among the slave-holders ; then went on to Detroit. At this place I met many heroes in the anti-slavery struggle; among them the young hero George D. Baptist, an Africo- American, a very zealous defender of the faith. In one of my meetings, after I had spoken to a crowded house, he arose, and said: "Mr. Chairman, we want money now, and we want it for Brother Fairbank." Then beckoning to a 64 HOW "THE WAY" WAS PREPARED. family near him, he said: "Look here, Brother Fair- bank, do you know this crowd?" It was Coleman and his family, the man I had led through the woods and across the Ohio river in 1841. There were Coleman, his wife, the three children we had taken by night to the "promised land," and three more, born on free soil. I went home- with them, and found them all well provided for, well schooled in letters and religion. Coleman was industrious and frugal. I stayed with them several days, and was much impressed by his economy and prudence. He often worked all day and half the night, and in the years of his freedom had accumulated a handsome little property. He owned the house in which he lived, had two to rent, and his home was the home of the minister, and his hand full of supply. ' Sandusky was my next stopping-place after leaving Detroit. I had been invited to speak at Chicago, but I declined. At Sandusky I made the acquaintance of Hon. Mr. Parish, who, being a prominent lawyer and having the courage to take up the cause of the slave, was watched, and every legal or illegal advantage taken of him, involving him in suits in court which quite bankrupted him. While I was there, six fugitives in the city were hotly pursued. Father Jennings and I, with other AMONG OLD FRIENDS. 65 help, induced the captain of a small steamer to take them on board and land them in Canada. We also sent a competent business man to look after their settle ment. They had with them about twelve hundred dollars in gold. How they got it I did not inquire. Thirty minutes after they left, the hunters came on with their hired posse, savage enough for any barbarity, and asked : "Have you seen any niggers about here?" "Oh, there are plenty of people about here. What kind of people are these niggers you want to find? There are white niggers, black niggers, and yellow niggers, — all kinds, about here." "Well, there are six niggers of mine about town somewhere, and I reckoned they would come here to take a boat." " Oh, there were a man, his wife and four children, two boys and two girls, all quite light-colored, here about thirty minutes ago. I think they must be the persons you want; and if you can hire a skiff or a fast boat, or if you can run on the water, you might over take them. Do you see that boat yonder on the lake ? There they go, and I think they are out of your reach, and will soon be safe in Canada." Father Jennings smiled triumphantly, and the dis- 66 HOW "THE WAY" WAS PREPARED. appointed, enraged hunter, cursed and threatened until I said : "Do you see that stone palace up there?" pointing to a building in the distance. "That is the jail and you'd better be careful what you do and say." And he had the wisdom to take his leave. At Buffalo I became acquainted with Abner H. Francis, who was at some time near that date the Liberty party candidate for vice-president, James G. Birney being the candidate for president. I next visited my mother and family, whom my father had removed to Little Genesee, New York, and left in my brother's care before he took his departure to Kentucky. "For," said he, "I may never return." Which was the sad truth. He did not return. Two Anti-Slavery Parties. After a few days spent among the happy, hearty, liberty-loving Christians in grand old Allegany county. New York, I bent my way to Pike, Wyoming county, about fifty miles north, where I was born. From there I went on my way to Boston, stopping a week to attend the convention of two parties at Syracuse. There were in the North, two anti-slavery parties. The Libeity party was under the lead of Gerrit Smith ; the Garri son school, or the American Anti-Slavery society, was in the main under the lead of William Lloyd Garrison, TWO ANTI-SLAVERY PARTIES. 67 editor of the "Liberator" at Boston, though it was difficult to determine whether he or Wendell Phillips did the most leading. They held the constitution of the United States to be pro-slavery, because it was so understood at its formation in 1777; that the Supreme Court of the United States so interpreted it ; and as the constitution itself provided that the interpretation of that court should fix its character, it was really a part of the instrument, and they refused to vote. The Liberty party, led by Gerrit Smith, held the constitution to be anti-slavery, because the word slave, or involuntary servant, or servitude, could not be found in it; that "where rights are infringed, where funda mental principles are overthrown, where the general system of the laws is departed from, the legislative in tention must be expressed ¦with irresistible clearness, in order to induce a court of justice to suppose a design to effect such object." There being no such expression in the instrument, the words "All other persons," and "persons held to service, or labor," could not, under the rule of interpretation, be tortured into such a meaning ; no interpretation could make it pro-slavery ; that it was clearly and positively anti-slavery. Here were Mr. Garrison. Wendell Phillips, Stephen and Abby Kelly Foster, Charles Burleigh and Parker Pillsbury on one side, and Gerrit Smith, Samuel E. bS HOW "THE WAY" WAS PREPARED. Ward — a black man — an ex-slave, and editor of " Im partial citizen " — Fred Douglass, Eevs. Pryne, lAsa Wing, and James C. Jackson on the other. This was the most exciting and instructive conven tion of my life; for while all acted in harmony against the pro-slavery idea, every argument and art of learn ing was put in requisition by the strongest, most learned and thoroughly-read men and women in the land. And such earnestness! Often the audience would be held entranced and excited to the highest pitch, until one o'clock in the morning. Then after seven hours' partial rest, the same auditors would again fill the immense hall at eight next morning, to adjourn only one hour for dinner and one hour for supper. So through the first week of January, 1850. Mr. Garrison and Mr. Smith were both large- minded, cultured men. Mr. Garrison was about six feet in height, full and round in body, with a large, bold, honest face, and mouth and eyes finely expressive of earnest purpose and determination. His arguments were strong, to the point, and without any flowery rhetoric. Mr. Pillsbury was of medium height, of dark complexion, and spoke moderately and distinctly, cutting like an old kitchen knife, rough and deep. He was one of the most severe, bitter, sarcastic debaters I ever knew. . Discussing some point, I said: TWO ANTI-SLAVERY PARTIES. 69 " You don't believe in the Apostle Paul." Said he: "Who is the Apostle Paul? I'm an Apostle." Next day, Samuel E. Ward, the black orator, editor and preacher, debating some point, said: "The Apostle Paul thinks Christ to be the Son o£ God. The Apostle Parker thinks differently." Wendell Phillips was tall and symmetrical, with a beautiful face, and a silver-toned voice in which he uttered the most severe things, clothed in the most fascinating language, quoted the most learned authors, and applied his declarations, whether quoted or origi nal, in a way that, while they charmed, they destroyed. However much people might differ with him, or even hate him for his sentiments, his style and strength of argument held them for hours together, irresistibly spellbound. " Gerrit Smith was unlike any of these I have men tioned. He was of Mr. Garrison's height, slightly corpulent, and had a florid complexion. He wore the finest broadcloth trimmed with gold buttons. He dressed his neck in easy fashion, with a loose, low, wide collar, turned down over a narrow tie or ribbon. In his argument he dealt in law and gospel, ancient and modern lore, enforced ¦with that ease of delivery, and in a smooth, sonorous voice which made him one of the 70 HOW "THE WAY" WAS PREPARED. first orators of the day. To say that either Gerrit Smith or Wendell Phillips was best, would be to risk a good deal. They were not alike, and yet the world will wait awhile for two more such mighty men in speech. Samuel E. Ward was black, six and a half feet high, and always ready in speech ; and Fred Douglass was a tornado in a forest. After the adjournment of this convention, which was held for the purpose of comparing views, and con- ¦vincing one another, I went to Gerrit Smith's at Peterboro, New York, a few miles south of Utica, where I spent a few days with pleasure and profit. While there, some one asked him: "Mr. Smith, how do your finances come out this year?" "Well," was the characteristic reply, "I have paid the Astor debt, two hundred thousand dollars, given away two hundred thousand, and am now two hundred thousand richer than last year." The Fugitive-Slave Law. About this time, Henry Clay presented a bill before the United States Senate providing for the return of fugitive slaves, which sifted and tried the mettle of the Nation and wrought up to intense heat the zeal of the THE FUGITIVE-SLAVE LAW. 71 people on both sides. Daniel Webster sided with the South and the Democracy of the North in its favor. On the 7th of March, 1850, in the United States Sen ate, he made that memorable speech which killed him politically, and finally physically. Gerrit Smith had made preparations to address the New York Legislature at Albany, on the subject, and soon after the 7th of March he went before the two Houses in the Eepresentative Chamber and delivered one of the most effective and powerful speeches ever heard in that city, against the measure advocated by Clay, and supported by Webster. I shall never forget how he looked when he said: "Gentlemen, will you heed this warning? You will, when the iron pierces your heart." I went on to Boston, in March, and was the guest of the Haydens for the season, visiting, at times, differ ent parts of the state, where I was invariably received with enthusiasm by all unbiased anti-slavery people, and by many Webster Whigs. The Legislature of Massachusetts soon took up Mr. Webster's case, censuring him by a handsome majority. In that discussion I first saw Henry Wilson. He was against Mr. Webster, and poured out denunciation against the " Doughfaces with their ears and eyes filled with cotton." 72 HOW "THE WAY" WAS PREPARED. Then Moses Stuart wrote a pamphlet in justification of Mr. Webster — "Conscience and Constitution," which was read and commented on throughout the country. This called out from John G. Whittier the famous poem — "Conscience and Constitution." Scarce had the solemn Sabbath bell Ceased quivering in the steeple, — Scarce had the parson to his desk Walked stately through his people. When down the summer-shaded street A wasted female figure, With dusty brow and naked feet. Came rushing, wild and eager! She saw the white spire through the trees, She heard the sweet hymn swelling; — O, pitying Christ! a refuge give This poor one in Thy dwelling! Like a scared fawn before the hounds, Straight up the aisle she glided, When close behind her, whip in hand, A lank hired hunter strided. She raised a keen and bitter cry, To heaven and earth appealing: — Were manhood's generous pidses dry? Had woman's heart no feeling? "CONSCIENCE AND CONSTITUTION," 73 A score of stout hands raised between The hunter and the flying: — Age clenched his staff, and maiden eye Flashed tearful, yet defying. "Who dare profane this house and day?" Cried out the angry pastor. " Why, bless your soul! the wench's a slave; And I'm her lord and master. "I've law and Gospel on my side; And who shall dare refuse me ? " Down came the parson, bowing low — " My good sir, pray excuse me ! " Of course I own your right divine To work, and sell, and whip her. Quick! deacon, drop the Polyglot Before the wench, and trip her." Plump dropped the holy tome; and o'er Its sacred pages stumbling, Bound hand and foot, a slave once more. The hapless wretch lay trembling. I saw the parson tie the knot. The while his flock addressing, The scriptural claims of slavery With text on text impressing. " Although," said he, " on Sabbath day All secular occupations Are deadly sins, we must fulfil Our moral obligations. 74 HOW "THE WAY" WAS PREPARED: "And this commends itself as one. To every conscience tender; As Paul sent back Onesimus, My Christian friends, we send her." Shriek rose on shriek; — the Sabbath air Her wild cries tore asunder: — I listened with hushed breath to hear God answer with his thunder. All still — the very altar cloths Had smothered down her shrieking, As pale she turned from face to face, For human pity seeking. "Is this the end — is this," I cried, "The end of prayer and preaching? Then down with pulpit; down with priest; And give us nature's teaching! "Foul shame and scorn be on you all Who turn the good to evil, Aad steal the Bible from the Lord, And give it to the Devil!" Just then I felt the deacon's hand In wrath my coat-tail seize on; I heard the priest cry "Infidel!" — The la'wyer mutter "Treason! " And there upon the window-sill. O'er which the white blooms drifted, The pages of a good old book The winds of summer lifted. "CONSCIENCE AND CONSTITUTION," 75 And there upon the cherry bough Above the casement swinging, With golden bosom to the sun The oriole was singing. As bird and flower made plain of old The lesson of the teacher, So now I heard God's written word Interpreted by nature. I woke; and lo, the fitting cause Of all my dreams' vagaries: — Two bulky pamphlets: Webster's text. And Stuart's Commentaries. This poem was hawked about everywhere by all the newsboys, hung in all the news windows, distributed and read at all the Anti-Slavery gatherings. In June Webster appeared in the front porch of the Eevere House in Boston, and attempted in a speech to teach New England her constitutional duties, how to conquer her prejudices, — looking through the moral and politi cal confusion of the present to a calm political future in which law and order should reign through the sur render of the distinctly avowed purpose to "protect life, liberty and property." And here, on a drizzling June day, he repeated the lesson delivered on the 7th of March in the United States Senate Chamber, — "You must conquer your prejudices.' 76 HOW "THE WAY" WAS PREPARED. It was soon after this that Mr. Seward offered that amendment to the Fugitive-Slave Law, supported by Hale, Chase, Wade, and Tom Benton, and in the House by Mann, Giddings, Thad. Stevens and others ; and Pratt of Maryland made his memorable reply mentioned in a former chapter. Horace Mann in the House said: " Given, the height at which the whip shall fall from the driver's hand, or the shackle from the slave.'-' These became the watchwords on every loyal tongue, the alarm rung on the ear of every public gathering. Wendell Phillips, in the convention at Worcester, while discussing the position of Moses Stuart, President at Andover, and a leader of the church, said : "What is the Church? It is a weather-cock. What is the pulpit? It is what the pews make it." John Milton Earle, State Senator from the Wor- ceister district, and a Quaker, said: " When it comes to that point — when we are required, not to merely stand and see humanity out raged, but to assist in the outrage, we must resist." Stephen Foster asked: "But, Milton, thee won't fight, wiU thee?" "Yes, fight! fight! We must fight, for resistance to tyrants is obedience to God. " CHAPTER XI. ' The Fugitive-Slave Law Passed. T^HAT infamous act known as the Fugitive-Slave -*¦ Law had passed the United States Senate; and coming before the House was forced to its third read ing, and without any deliberation, after taking its last form, by an evident pre-arrangement with the Speaker, Howell Cobb, was hurried through upon the "previous question," moved by Hon. M. Thompson, a Democrat from Erie, Pennsylvania, September 12th. It was signed on the 18th by President Fillmore, and became a law of the land. I quote from Kinley's "American Con flict" : "When the bill was reached in the Lower House, ^udge Thompson, a Democrat from Erie, Pennsylvania, obtained the floor — doubtless by pre-arrangement with the Speaker, Howell Cobb, and spoke in favor of the measure as just and necessary, closing by a demand for the 'previous question'" ; and the bill finally passed with every member from the slave states, and twenty- eight Democrats and three Whigs from the free states in its favor. The three Whigs from the free states were Samuel A. Elliott of Massachusetts; John L. Taylor of 77 78 HOW "THE WAY" WAS PREPARED. Ohio, and Edward McGaughey of Indiana. In the Senate the vote stood twenty-seven for, and twelve against it, with twenty- one absentees. The most infa mous feature of this law was the law; and next to it, was the provision that whether he or she be free born, set free by deed, — white or black — never more exalted and honorable, if any one swears to him or her as held to service or labor, and ha^ving escaped, there was no redress, even by habeas corpus, in him or herself. Tbe-Fugitivo Slave Lafw-ef—t&SO stood upon the books of the Nation as the law of the land until 1864. A bill for its repeal had passed the Senate, but failed in the House, as I understand it, before the Congress of 1863-64— during 1863; James M. Ashley of Toledo, Ohio, voting in the affirmative, with the minority. Then seeing the necessity of a reconsideration^ know ing that, by a rule in the House, he who moves a recon sideration must have voted with the majority, obtained leave, and changed his vote to the negative — with the majority. Then, in the spring of 1864, moved to reconsider, and secured a majority in favor of repeal; and thus, by one of the most adroit strokes — a coup de maitre of statesmanship, wiped out the foulest blot upon the Nation's escutcheon. I had fought this through the summer of 1850, and continued to resist it after its enactment as far as possible with any show of safety. MARRIAGE OF WILLIAM AND ELLEN CRAFT. 79 William and Ellen Craft had taken refuge in Boston ¦with Mr. and Mrs. Hayden. Mr. Craft was of pure blood; Mrs. Craft was just a dark-skinned white woman, though of African extraction. Legal advice induced the conclusion that protection on British soil was more secure than in America. A meeting of tried friends had been called — Wendell Phillips, Charles Sumner, Ealph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wilson, William Lloyd Garrison and Theodore Parker were there. Lewis Hayden, unconscious of who were present, having in his mind only the rescue of his friends, rose and began to speak with his whole soul, and was just pouring out one of his most fervid strains of native eloquence, when, turning toward another portion of his audience, he saw those notable, noble men, embodying the lore and "wisdom of the Bay State, and sank into his seat abashed and silent. Then Wendell Phillips, fol lowed in turn by all the other great lights of the time, made the occasion one of the most extraordinary in my memory. A large sum of money was raised, and it was then decided that at the house of Lewis Hayden, next morning, Eev. Theodore Parker would solemnize the marriage of William and Ellen Craft. It was done ; and Mr. Parker then taking from his pocket a Bible, and handing it to Mr. Craft, said: "Will- 80 HOW "THE WAY" WAS PREPARED. iam, take that, and make it the man of your counsel." Then, drawing a poniard of fearful length and propor tions, and holding it by the shining blade, extending to him the hilt, said: "Take this, and defend your wife." The nuptials completed, William and Ellen took train for Halifax, whence they sailed for England, and there remained until the death of slavery in America. Mr. Craft enjoyed the confidence of the British Govern ment and her patronage during a number of years, filling important missions to states of Africa; returning to the United States and his old home in Georgia after the settlement of peace, and the question which kept so many pale during their lives. Since his return he has built dwelling-houses on his own land for the free people of his race, and school-houses for the education of their children. William L. Chaplin, a lawyer, and the editor of a paper, had, while at Washington, become interested in two slaves, the body-servants of Toombs and Stephens of Georgia, and in obedience to his sympathies gave them the hand of charity in violation of law, was apprehended and thrown into jail in Washington, and his bail fixed at six thousand dollars. Eemembering them that are in bonds as bound with them, and how much I wanted help under the same circumstances, I FILLMORE AND HIS CABINET. 81 volunteered my services and helped to raise his bail, which was forfeited, and he released. I returned to Bolivar, Allegany county. New York, in the spring of 1851; at that place Eev. Gilbert De LaMatyr was pastor of the M. E. Church. I preached several times in his pulpit, and with his support was successful in securing the M. E. Church for my warfare against the Fugitive-Slave Law. We had secxu-ed the church froin the proper authorities for a week, — I mean six nights and days. On the fourth night I was dealing with this infamous law, without bringing Mr. Fillmore or his Cabinet forward as responsible, simply because I knew very well that that would stir up opposition, when an official of the church, now living at Bolivar, rose and asked: "What do you say of Fillmore and his cabinet?" "I have not come here to talk about FiUmore and his Cabinet, or any other responsible party, but about the diabolical character and dangerous disposition of the law in question." "But we want to hear about it." "Well, I am not inclined to talk about it." "But you must." "But I won't." "This is our house, and we have some right here to say what you shall talk about." 82 HOW "THE WAY" WAS PREPARED. "This is not your house. It is my house until Saturday night at ten o'clock, and I'll not be fright ened to talk." Finally, upon the suggestion of Mr. De LaMatyr, I said: "Well, if you are anxious to hear my sentiments on President Fillmore and his Cabinet, they are a brotherhood of thieves." And the doctor hunched me. "Give it to them! I'll stand by you." "This Church- endorses Fillmore and his cabinet." "Well, this Church is a den of thieves." Then the doctor again — "Give it to them!" "I am an officer of this Church, and I endorse Fill more and his Cabinet' " Well, then, you are one of the thieves. How do you like that?" And the doctor again — "Stand up to them!'' Then the mob — "eggs! — eggs! — eggs!" swelled the chorus, when about a dozen gentlewomen and three or four gentlemen sprang from their seats and surrounded the altar; and two or three gentlewomen and girls who could not get out from their pews soon enough, being obstructed by roughs on the other side, sprang right over the tops of the seats in front of them, and even over the heads of their occupants, like so many cha mois, shouting " Come down here! Come down here! " And the leading spirit among the heroines shouted. \ "LIBERTY PARTY" CONVENTION. 83 " Now throw your eggs if you dare!" But I finished up my week's work with but little more molestation. Such was the public sentiment then ; and such the warfare we had to sustain against the foes of impartial justice. But, in 1856, public sentiment had changed, and I received from these parties assurance of their approval of my course. In June following, we held a convention at Friend ship for the expression of our contempt for the Fugi tive-Slave Law, and for the election of delegates to the "Liberty Party" Convention at Buffalo which occurred in September, 1851. At this convention were C. C. Foot of Michigan, J. W. Logan of Syracuse, New York, William L. Chaplin, and other notables. At the Buffalo convention were many distinguished men and women from different states. As important a delegation as represented a constituency was that from lUinois, which furnished some able debaters and com mittee men. Mr. Z. Eastman and Eev. Mr. Eumley were the leading geniuses of the body. Gerrit Smith was nominated for president, and Charles Durkee of Iowa, for vice-president. This was in 1851, — a year in advance. But, before election day in November, 1852, T was booked for fifteen years more in Kentucky, and political changes in regard to 84 HOW "THE WAY" WAS PREPARED. parties had taken place to justify the abandonment of the "Liberty Party" ticket. Sojourner Truth. I must not forget Sojourner. I met her first at Worcester, Massachusetts, about August or September, 1850, at a Woman's Eights convention at which Lucre, tia Mott presided. Stephen S. Foster had expressed some sentiments that were rather unorthodox. Sojourner was seated on the steps to the desk. A young grad uate from the Andover Theological school arose and said: " Madam chairman, I should not be astonished if God should open the earth and swallow us all up." Sojourner rose, — tall, gaunt, with her white kerchief tied about her head — "Chile, don't be skeered. I queshen if de Lord ever hearn tell on ye." CHAPTER Xn. Second Imprisonment. A FTEE my liberation in 1849, the great desire of -^^ oui" family was the rescue of our father's body, which lay among strangers, far from any one who cared for him, or revered and loved his memory. At the time of my release the removal of the body was not admissible for hygienic reasons; but now it could be safely done, and I went South for that purpose. On arriving in Cincinnati, I found the weather too warm for such an undertaking, and was forced to wait awhile. Indiana was at white heat over a proposed amend ment to her constitution, prohibiting persons of African descent from settling in the state. I entered the field with several others against it, took the river tier of counties, was watched by Kentucky, and often met her citizens in debate. The weather continued warm. The Fugitive-Slave law was in force, but I was appealed to to rescue Tamar, a young mulatto woman doomed to be sold on the block. I consented, and crossed the river by night, at Louisville, in a leaky, sinking old skiff. While Tamar, with a cup taken for the purpose, kept the 85 86 HOW "THE WAY" WAS PBEPARED. water below shoe-mouth, I, with a piece of board four feet long and four inches wide, propelled the boat to the Indiana shore. At four o'clock next morning, November 3, 1851, we were speeding on our way toward Salem, Indiana. About thirty miles out my buggy was disabled on the rough roads, which led to my detention. After taking her to a place of safety, by rail and on foot, I returned to Jefferson ville, Indiana. Sunday, the 9th of November, I was planning that the next day I would go to Lexington, take up my father's body, and hasten home with it. But, as was said of Caesar, "while meditating these things" ["mors prevenit :" idem in me), I was attacked and kidnaped into Kentucky by A. L. Shotwell, Marshals Eonald and Hamlet of that state, despite my protest, and given up by the sheriff, contrary to law, and lodged in jail, charged with the highest crime known to the public sentiment of Kentucky. Every intrigue and baseness was put in requisition to convict me. My name was not yet known. My safety greatly — almost entirely — depended upon that; for there was no fact that could be produced which could be used as legal evidence against me. But, my name known as an Aboli tionist, and once convicted of "violation of the slave code, was sufficient to convict me with no other evidence of fact. That was soon known. My friends at Cincinnati SECOND IMPRISONMENT. 87 took the alarm ; and Laura S. Haviland, then of Adrian, Michigan, came to my relief against the wishes . and protestations of nearly all the others. Dr. Brisbane, Levi Coffin and S. P. Chase protested strongly that she would forfeit her life — that it was enough that I should fall. But she was braver than them all ; came — -saw — conquered; supplied me with bedding, money and courage; made some friends and returned in safety. She, -with Levi Coffin of Cincinnati and others in Adrian and Detroit, and Mandana Tileston of Williamsburg, Massachusetts, stood by me unto the last hour, supplying, encouraging, pointing to a brighter future, until the signal-gun at Sumter broke the spell. Miss Tileston had left her New England home and engaged as a teacher at Oxford, Ohio, where she remained to watch across the border until day da^wned upon me. I had been kidnaped from Indiana. The high sheriff of Clark county had given me into the hands of iiTesponsible citizens of Kentucky, in violation of the fundamental law of the land. Had I been held in Indiana, it was well known that no cause could be found for rendering me up to Kentucky. For, 1. If it had been shown that I had aided Tamar in Indiana, only the United States court for the District of Indiana could adjudicate my case and punish me under the 00 HOW "THE WAY" WAS PREPARED, Fugitive-Slave law of 1850. That would fine me one thousand dollars and imprison me three or six months (I have forgotten which). 2. But they knew that they could not do even that; for no one knew who the girl was. Even in the court at Louisville no one could swear who she Avas. If, therefore, I had been tried by a court of Indiana, I should have been discharged, and neither convicted under the Fugitive-Slave law, nor sent back. The Inmates. In order to prepare the reader to follow me, I think best to show the ground over which we are to pass and the obstacles and helps on the way. There were in jail Mr. Adams, from New Orleans, charged with tam pering with the United States mail; Mr. Forsyth, who seemed at the time a fast friend to Adams. I was inclined to be cautious of both. Forsyth was a rascal, but smart, — of fine appearance, dress and address, — and easily ingratiated himself into favor with the public ; and I soon came to the conclusion to avoid exposing any secrets, however much I might need advice, unless I could see beyond any doubt that it would enhance his highest interest to advance mine. For I felt sure he would play into any hands that would help him. There was, also, a young man by the name of William "AXES TO GRIND." 89 Baker, to all intents and purposes white, though of African extraction, and a fugitive slave who had been in Ohio and Indiana. He knew fi-eedom, and how to use it; but having been a hand on a boat, and, as Moses did in his day, seeing a man of the privUeged class. smiting one of his own blood, he — did not quite slay him, but hurt him. Another was John Marshall, — a nice-looking, smart-appearing mulatto; but he was the quintessence of knavery. Now, I was at a loss what to do. I wanted help. I wrote a letter to Frederic Douglass, which, in a nut shell, said: " I'm in jail at Louis^ville, Kentucky, charged ¦with again aiding my fellowmen, contrary to law; and though no testimony appeared against me in the police court, and though kidnaped into Kentucky contrary to law, which -will cast a fire-brand into this owl's nest of despotism that must by and by make the ears of this Nation tingle, I am in danger." Forsyth, Adams, Baker, Marshall and I had " axes to grind." Mine was dullest of all. Adams wanted some one outside to do something for him. Forsyth could do it if he would ; and there was every reason to believe he would; for he not only felt no kindness for Kentucky, but real enmity; and he and Adams had been friends. Forsyth's wife was there, — smart, pretty, and of fascinating address; and that worked in his favor. 90 HOW "THE WAY" WAS PREPARED. I had no objection to putting obstacles in Shotwell's way in his effort to capture Tamar. If I could get him to send Forsyth on a wild-goose chase after her, with no probability of finding her, I would succeed in crip pling my enemy, at any rate. I gradually became familiar with Forsyth. I in vited him to my cell, and soon broke to him the idea that I might enhance his interest, and mine, in one enterprise; — that he might induce Shotwell, the claim ant of the escaped girl, to enter bail for him, and send him in pursuit. He knew enough for the rest of it. So I said to him, "Go to Indianapolis." I knew from his make that he would not try to capture Tamar ; that he would not if he could ; and he could not if he would. I also knew that he would do me no harm. So Shotwell entered -bail for one thousand dollars, put into his hands two hundred dollars for expenses and salary, and started him off. Forsyth went to Indian apolis, told some of the people his mission, pretending to be so drunk that his judgment was at fault, was arrested, put in jail by some of Shotwell's friends there who had been instructed to watch him, sued out a writ of habeas corpus, and was discharged. That was the last of Forsyth. His axe was ground, — he had got out of Kentucky, and what Shotwell did "HALLELUJAH! I'M VICTORIOUS!" 91 about the one thousand dollar bail I never knew. But Forsyth had the two hundred dollars. In a short time Colonel Buckner, the jailor, came to me and said: " Bank, your friend Forsyth has played a rascally game on Mx., Shotwell. He went to Indianapolis, told what he was after, gave them a chance to slip her away, and played the devil generally; and Mr. Shotwell has lost the girl, the two hundred dollars, and "will have to settle for his bail." I was lying on my back in my cell, and springing up, clapped my hands and shouted, " Hallelujah! I'm viCTOEious!" That was just what they wanted to find; that was their thermometer by which they found my moral temperature; and they were satisfied that my choice was on the side of the fugitive, and that I had aided Tamar in her escape. Next day there came out in one of the Louis^ville papers the following: "Eev. CaMn Fairbank was told, the other day, that Tamar, the runaway slave, had gone beyond recovery; that Forsyth had purposely let her slip out of the way, and there was no hope of getting her back, when he sprang upon his feet shout ing 'Hallelujah! I feel like shouting victory!''" Hon. James Speed called on me and spent the greater part of a day, and upon discussing the situation 92 HOW "THE WAY" WAS PREPARED. — my ¦views of the slavery question — the Constitution of the United States — the legality of slavery in any sense, — he held precisely with me. Said he: " I have seen the United States Constitution to be anti-slavery ever since I became a student of common law ; that it is in contravention of the law of the civil ized world, to create or sustain slavery under such an instrument. And more, as you say, Mr. Fairbank: there is not a state in the Union in which slavery is established by positive law, and that Mr. Pratt well knew." This kindly visit, and such expression from a man standing as high in community , as did Mr. Speed, greatly encouraged me, not only in my constitutional doctrine, but in my sense of a Highee Law than any Constitution. CHAPTER XIII. Laura S. Haviland. T^HIS very estimable woman who had for many years -*- given her time and means for the promotion of the highest interests and the protection of the defense less of all classes, and especially the African people in America, still labored for my rescue. It was my wish that some man of ability — that Mr. Chase should defend me; and to feel secure, I should have bail, in order myself to make preparations for trial. My plan was to get bail, see the witnesses from Indiana and buy them off, then go into trial and beat Kentucky. Mrs. Haviland in the sixth chapter of her Woman's Life Work, gives an account of her efforts for me. "Bail or Break Jail." I saw no way out of my dilemma but to break jail or get bail. To go out by bail would cost five thousand dollars. To break jail would cost just fitting keys, getting them into the jail, together with saws, etc., for cutting the bars out of the window after getting out of my celL Baker and Marshall were to be let out of 93 94 HOW "THE WAY" WAS PREPARED jail. I became responsible for Baker's lawyer's fee. Two plans lay before them. First, to prepare keys and saw, and get them into the jail. To this end, I, with Mike Cronan, a friendly prisoner, who also had an axe to grind, made a hardwood key that would fit, took an impression of the face of the lock, key-hole and all, on a piece of wet sole-leather. Second, Baker and Marshall were to go to work at once to collect money for my bail, so that if the plan for jail-breaking should fail, bail could be given. They both went to work, Marshall collecting pledges for money, and Baker making preparations for letting me out, and at the same time collecting money. I knew Marshall was very smart, but .dared not trust him with the money; and I had charged Baker to hold the papers himself and coUect and hold all the money. The keys were all fitted and sent in by the brother of another prisoner in jail who had more of an axe to grind than any of us. He had killed Drihaus and was to be hanged, but had got a rehearing and a change of venue to Shelby county. His "wife and brother visited him often ; and in one visit, the turnkey being absent, passed keys, saws, etc., to the doomed prisoner, who passed them to me with a letter saying: "I will come next Saturday night; throw over into the jail-yard beef with strychnine for the dogs, and MARSHALL PLAYS THE KNAVE. 95. stand on the wall in the tower; and when you get out into the yard, I'll let down a rope for you." So he did. The dogs all died but one, — a big bull dog; and he, in spite of strychnine, stood the storm. Baker stood on the wall, until he saw that the plan was discovered, and that was in this way: Colonel Buckner, the jailor, had gone out at about eight p. m., shut our door (I was then in the large room with Howard, Jones, H. Olover, and Mike Cronan), and shoved the bolt outside the loop. So it was open. About eleven P. M., just as we were contemplating our escape — so lucky — so easy, the turnkey brought in a drunken man, and discovered the door open, old Bull vomiting up his dose, the other dogs lying dead in the yard. So ended that plan. Marshall Plays the Knave and Skips to Liberia. Marshall surreptitiously got hold of my letters of instruction, outwitted the honest Baker, went to my mother in Bolivar, New York, got all my portraits and steel-plate engraving, which cost me fifty dollars, then went into Massachusetts, Ehode Island and other New England States and collected an immense amount of money. He married the daughter of Dr. Bunningham, traveled ¦with her, representing her as an escaped slave and his own sister, until she peremptorily refused to .96 HOW "THE WAY" WAS PREPARED. be used in such a way — to gather money by fraud; then to avoid trouble arising from his fraud, he fled to Liberia, lea-ving his wife behind. She had already left him. He subsequently wrote Mr. Hayden and others asking leave to return. But his request was denied. Lewis Hayden had ¦written to Cincinnati, found out the truth, and threatened Marshall with prosecution. So now nothing remained for me but to try post ponement in order, if possible, to secure bail; — but I was obliged to write to my friends: "Postponement of my trial impossible." Lovell H. Eousseau, my attorney, wrote " There is no doubt of postponement." And they believed him, and I was slaughtered. CHAPTER XIT. Trial and Conviction. T WAS in irons ; had been put in irons after the dogs -*¦ were found dead. That night turnkey Casenbine came in in a rage, tore about, lifted up one end of our bed, then the other, and went out. All this time the key and saws were right under the middle of the bed; and as soon as he had shut the door behind him, they went down the sewer, and were never heard from, that I know of. 'But I was kept in irons until my trial in February — the 18th, I think. Mr. Eousseau made an affidavit setting forth reasons why I should be allowed a postponement. First, that at present my friends dare not come to my defense on account of the excitement. Second, that the excitement was" so high a jury could hardly consider the case unbiased. Third, there were important witnesses who could not now be obtained. But the commonwealth attorney, Nathaniel Wolfe, re sisted it; our motion was overruled, and I forced into trial ¦with no defense, — no argument except my own. The jury was sifted as closely as could be. I per emptorily rejected twenty-four — at any rate, all the law 7 97 98 HOW "THE WAY" WAS PREPARED. allowed, and seventy-two for cause. In selecting a jur/, two teachers, one of music and the other of letters, were called upon the stand, and, giving satisfac tion of their ability to try the case, were accepted by the state.. Then to my questions "Are you teachers? What do you teach?" their answers were satisfactory, and I accepted them. One man, a slave-trader, I re jected upon that ground. One man whom I had seen before had lived at Frankfort. I mistook him for a former friend, and accepted him. I found afterward that he voted to send me up for twenty years; but the two teachers voted to send me for two years. Finally they agreed to add together all the time ex pressed in all the votes, divide the product by twelve, and make that their verdict. They did so, and found their verdict fifteen years. The Testimony. Mr. Shotwell, the owner, testified to owning a mulatto girl of about twenty-two years : — that he had hired her to Judge Purtle ; that she was about five feet in height; that she had a dove-colored shawl. Judge Purtle said: "The girl in question was in my employ; answers Mr. Shotwell's description; was missed about nine p. m., Sunday, November 2d. I had bought her a piece of striped linsey black and red THE TESTIMONY. 99 I have not seen her or the cloth since seven p. m., Sim- day, November 2d." Gibson: "1 saw Mr. Fairbank driving a horse and buggy, "with a bright mulatto girl of about twenty years old in the buggy, on the morning of November 3d. He was driving quite fast. His buggy was dis abled, and he left it for me to repair, while he put the girl aboard the cars. The girl wore a dove-colored shawl and had a white handkerchief marked Mary BuUock." Senix: "I saw Mr. Fairbank put the girl described, on the cars. She had a bundle "wrapped in paper. I tore a hole in the paper "with my finger and saw striped linsey in it." Now here was some fun as I cross-questioned him. Though the linsey in question went off in a box, and the witness was not "within eight feet of anything the girl had, he said, in answer to my question, "What is linsey?" "Why, striped cloth." "What kind of cloth? — any kind, I suppose." "Yes." Turning to Judge Purtle I asked, "Judge, what is Unsey?" "Cotton and wool mixed." 100 HOW "THE WAY" WAS PREPARED. "Then, your Honor, you see that this man is not only a knave, but a fool." Again I asked the witness, " What is linsey?" "Why, cotton and wool." "Who told you that?" "Why a he Judge Purtle." This raised a laugh. "Well, what kind of linsey was it?" " Striped linsey." (Judge Purtle put into his mouth "Checked linsey.") I objected to the whole of that testimony; but it went do"wn, just the same. Then I called Shotwell and Purtle and asked, "How many girls in this city answer the description you give of the girl Tamar and wear the described clothing, etc?" "Five hundred," was the answer. Policeman Rust: "I was in the negro church, where Bird Parker preaches, at eight o'clock Sunday, November 2d, and saw Mr. Fairbank there: saw him shake hands with Wash Spradley. The cigar shop (calling it by name) was burned that night." Then sending for the clerk of the fire department, I proved that the fire occurred on the 19th of October, two weeks before that. THE TESTIMONY. 101 We rested the case as to the testimony. After Mr. Wolfe's argument I said: " May it please the Court, Gentlemen of the jury: — You are sitting upon the destiny, and trying the validity of inalienable right. And first, your Honor, I plead jurisdiction of this Court. This Court — the State of Kentucky, has no jurisdiction in the case. It belongs to the United States Court for the District of Indiana. Second, I ask the Court to charge the jury that, as no testimony has been offered to show that the girl in question was the Tamar in question, no cause of action attaches. Then, gentlemen, I have proven that there are five hundred girls in the city of that descrip tion. So that I have five hundred chances to one, for an acquittal." A letter which I had written and handed the jailor was brought into court, which ran thus : " I am charged with aiding a slave girl to escape. I know nothing of her. But; the public being preju diced, I am in danger." Judge Bullock would not admit it as evidence, until its authorship could be proven. I acknowledged its authorship. But that was not satisfactory. Some one had to swear to my manuscript, which Mr. Casen bine did without ever ha"ving seen me write, and the letter was admitted as evidence. And I was glad of it. 102 HOW "THE WAY" WAS PREPARED. because it was clearly in my favor, — a fiat denial of any knowledge of the person in question. Then I showed the discrepancy between Bust's testimony and that of the clerk of the fire department, two weeks. But the case was prejudged and I was con"victed. I was left in jail until Saturday, March 7th, when, with sixteen others, I think, I was taken out for sen tence. The question being asked: "Have any of you any reason to give why the sentence of the law should not be passed upon you?" I rose, and said, among other things: "I object to the sentence of the law because the case does not come within the jurisdiction of this Court. This case is one coming clearly under the Fugitive- Slave La"w op Eighteen Hundeed and Fifty; and should be tried in the District Court of the United States for the District of Indiana." But my plea amounted to just so much wind; and I was ordered to stand up, and was sentenced to be con fined in the Jail and Penitentiaey House of the State for the term of fifteen years at hard labor! When writing of a letter I had heedlessly kept on my person — not in my manuscript — not over my own name, but "Featbe," I said, "mark this." Judge Buckner in January, 1845, allowed that letter to go before the jury as e"videnc6 against Miss Webster, be- LEAVE THE JAIL IN IRONS. 103 cause she was in my company, and no other evidence could be found. At Louisville, in the February term, 1852, as I have already said. Judge Bullock refused a letter "with my own name, taken by the jailor from my o"wn hand : and stiU, after I had said to the Couit " It is my voluntary letter," he would not aUow it to go to the jury, as e"vidence, until some one who had seen me "write could swear to my manuscript. That is the dif ference in courts. Law is an elastic sti'ing. My bail was five thousand doUars, and my friends in Cincinnati were anxious ; but no one dared ventui'e into the city, or the state either, to offer bail or defend me before the court. So my cause feU by default — without even an ordinary effort of an advocate, though General Lovell H. Eousseau stood nominally as my attorney. On the 9th of March, 1852, I left the jail in irons for Frankfort. On the 8th I was told that it was the purpose to iron me to a negro. But finding, that that would enhance my pride the plan was abandoned and I was ironed by myself, wearing my poorest clothes, ha"ving boxed my best and sent them home. CHAPTER XT. My Reception — Craig's Reign. CAPTAIN CEAIG was still in charge, and having been educated under pro-slavery infiuences, and being a slave-holder himself, he was constitutionally unfit to do me justice. He was purposely absent, and I was locked into my cell until his return, on the 11th, when I was summoned to the chapel before the governor and a large audience of invited guests — cursed, misrepresented, traduced, — to all of which I replied without modification. This order was then given: "Mr. Da"vis, take Fairbank to the hackling houSe and kill him. Don't let him speak to any one, or any one to him. If his own family, — if his mother comes to see him, he is not to speak to her, or notice her." To this I respectfully replied: "Captain Craig, "with due regard for your authority and due regard for my manhood, I beg to say if my mother comes to me I shall speak to her and submit to consequences." This, instead of exciting wrath, excited admiration for my pluck. That was sanctified pluck, and this same 104 MY RECEPTION— CRAIG'S REIGN. 105 kind of pluck protected me through a great many dangerous places during those seventeen years of mar tyrdom, to April 15th, 1864, when I was pardoned by Lieutenant-Governor E. T. Jacob. Prison Government and Prison Life. During my acquaintance with the Kentucky state prison, from February 18th, 1845, to August 23d, 1849, and from March 9th, 1852, to April 15th, 1864, and the interim from August 23d, 1849, to March 9th, 1852, it passed under the rule or administration of four wardens: Captain Ne"wton Craig assumed the warden- ship March 1st, 1844, and again in 1848, holding until 1854 as a partner with the state, furnishing one-third the expenses, and sharing one-third the net results. Zebulon Ward, from March 2d, 1854 to 1858; at first as one-third partner, but at the Legislatui'e of 1854-5 obtained it as lessee, at six thousand dollars per annum. Jeremiah W. South, "with Bowen as partner, from 1858 to 1863, as lessee at twelve thousand dollars. Harry I. Todd, from March, 1863, at conditions unknown, simply for reasons I "will try to illustrate. South fell into misfortune in taking the prison at such a price, just on the eve of war. Hemp was the staple. The war cut off the market. South was loser. The prison was impoverished — came to rags and hun- 106 HOW "THE WAY" WAS PREPARED. ger. No one would take the job in 1862, the expira tion of South's time ; and South was allo"wed to hold it a year free of cost. He held it in this way until men could think — one year; until the obtuse, untaxed, un cultivated mind of Kentucky chivalry could grasp the question economically, and dig out of the conglomera tion. I do not mean to intimate, even, that there were no men of mind in Kentucky who could see a way out of the dilemma. There were some, but very few. But the majority, who could vote do"wn every measure for improvement, who had always relied upon the life and energy of the slave for their thrift and independence, voted do"wn every measure of economy for resuscitation. Finally, finding no other way, — convinced that under Mr. South the condition of the prison grew no better, the wardenship was given to Colonel Harry I. Todd, with the agreement that he should put the insti tution into a good condition, which he did, for Ken tucky, up to March 1, 1864. The occupations at which the prisoners were em ployed were carpentry, blacksmithing, coopering, tail oring, shoemaking, stonecutting, and hackling, spinning, and weaving hemp. Hemp was really the staple, and employed at least four-fifths of the men ; and any branch of it was very destructive to life, not so much from the amount of "BLACK HOLE OF CALCUTTA." 107 physical energy to be put in requisition, as the dust necessarily arising from the abrasion indispensable to the work. Of these branches the " hackling house " was worst of all. Here was the place where the hemp — sometimes eight feet long — was di'essed on steel- toothed hackles, after being broken from the stalk, filling the room so full of dust — poison dust — that on a still dry day it was impossible to distinguish a man from a block of wood, even in a window or door. I have seen six men out of twenty-four in one week, taken to the hospital from that " Black Hole of Cal cutta," and die in another week. Spinning stood next in its destructive effect upon the prisoner. This was done by fastening a belt about the body, "with an eight-inch string attached, to which was fastened a stick "with a notch, called a drag, which was hitched to a rope running on pulleys at each end — for hemp spun into warp fifty-two yards long, for filling, longer or shorter, to suit convenience. These ropes turned the wheels, so that the faster the spinner went backward, the faster the wheel turned — with the dust rising right under his nose, and inhaled at every breath ; and the thread, if warp or chain, as it is called — about twice the size of wrapping twine — cutting right through to the bones of the hand; and it must be done! If filling — about half the size of sheep- 108 HOW "THE WAY" WAS PREPARED. t"wine — sometimes full of hemp sticks — often a fouith, or less, or more — half a stick half an inch through, running into the spinner's hand — eip! clear to the bone; for he must pull out his tow with one hand, right under his mouth, and hold and regulate the twist with the other; and any sticks must break, or break the hand. The wea"ving shop was physically more irksome, though not so dusty as spinning, and this less so than hackling. The warp — fifty-two yards long — was ready beamed ; and the weaver had to draw in, or tie in, his piece, and weave from one hundred and four to two hundred and eight yards per day — by hand, — ^treading — throwing his shuttle by a string attached to plungers, or blocks, each side, and working a seventy -five pound lathe "with the left hand. Thus the hemp was made into sacking, or bagging for cotton, for the New Orleans market. As early as 1844 a slave's task at weaving was seventy-five yards a day. The task in the prison rested on the kind of man, the price of hemp and bagging, — contracts — really, the market. CHAPTER XYI. My Own Experience — Craig's Conduct. r\UEING my first imprisonment, I was treated with -*-^ more consideration than Northern people were expecting from Kentucky. Captain Craig was a mem ber of the Baptist Church, had some acquaintance with Northern people, was a friend of the Eev. Howard Malcom, a Northern man, then president of Georgeto"wn CoUege, and was proud to be caUed magnanimous by Northern people. Upon my second imprisonment, I found him inex orable. I was sent to the hackling house, kept there four weeks, and there felt from the hand of the reluc tant overseer, W. W. Davis, the first ten cuts from a rawhide. At one time I fell upon the ground floor for relief, my face down. Some one said: "Mr. Davis is coming." ' I lay still. He came in, looked, turned, and went out. At another time I felt desperate. I ran out, leaned my back against the house, my face to the wind, gasped a few times for breath, then ran to the hospital whispering: 109 110 HOW "THE WAY" WAS PREPARED. "Chloroform! chloroform!" A few inhalations from a saturated handkerchief — some vertigo — the spasms ceased; I breathed easy, and returned again to my torture. After Craig's "wrath had somewhat abated, I was sent to the filling walk, the place where the filling was spun from the tow dressed out of the hemp. An ordinary task at that work required a walk — half "walk and half trot — of thirteen miles a day backward. I have often seen the new spinner with his ankles so swollen that he was just able to hobble to his cell at night: sore, tired, hungry; lungs filled with hemp dust; head aching, and feverish; hands gashed by the thread, and flesh gashed with the rawhide for some trifling mishap, or slight to avoid what it purchased with usury. I worked at this about one year in all; sometimes in the shoe-shop, when the press was intense for that Avork; and once I was sent