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RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
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Of the Firelands Historical Society, and its Board of
Directors and Trustees
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CONTINUED FROM NEW SERIES, VOLUME IV.
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Meeting of the Directors and Trustees
September 20, 1887.
PIONEER MEETING AT BERLIN HEIGHTS.
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FALL MEETING,
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AT BERLIN HEIGHTS, OCT. 27, 1887
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MORNING SESSION
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AFTERNOON SESSION.
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OLD PIONEERS.
The
following persons between the ages of 65 and 91 were present at the
Berlin Heights meeting of the Firelands Historical Society, viz.:
Cyrus Strong, Wakeman, aged 91 years; Wm.
Dawes, New Hampton, Iowa, aged 86 years; Mrs. O. C.
Tillinghast, Berlin, aged 86 years; D. W. Tenant, Berlin,
aged 85 years; Mrs. Lucretia Gregg, Norwalk, aged 83 years;
Wm. Tillinghast, Toledo, aged 82 years; J. T. Reynolds,
Berlin aged 82 years; Bowen Case, Florence, aged 82
years; Mrs. S. K. Newman, Norwalk, aged 82 years; H. L.
Hill, Berlin, aged 80 years; Capt. T. C. McGee, Sandusky,
aged 79 years; E. O. Merry, Bellevue, aged 78 years;
George Burdue, Berlinville, aged 77 years; E. P. Hill,
Berlin, aged 76 years; I. N. Reed, Berlin, aged 76 years;
Leonard Fisk, Berlin, aged 76 years; Judge Frederick
Wickham, Norwalk, aged 76 years; Lemuel Sherman,
Norwalk, aged 76 years; Isaac E. Town, Olena, aged 76 years;
J. S. Davis, Berlin, aged 75 years; Mrs. H. L. Hill,
Berlin, aged 74 years; Capt. F. A. Wildman, Norwalk, aged 74
years; Hon. E. Bogardus, North Monroeville, aged 74 years;
Judge J. R. Osborn, Toledo, aged 74 years; Thomas Harrison,
Florence, aged 74 years; J. C. Lockwood, Milan, aged 73
years; J. W. Fitch, Milan, aged 72 years; C. W. Manahan,
Norwalk, aged 72 years; S. S. Phillips, Berlin, aged 72
years; R. C. Dean, Townsend, aged
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72 years; F. G. Lockwood, Milan, aged 71
years; J. D. Easton, Monroeville, aged 71 years; George
Chase, Berlin, aged 71 years; Mrs. E. P. Hill, Berlin,
aged 70 years; Mrs. R. M. Ransom, Berlin, aged 70
years; Wm. Wait, Berlinville, aged 70 years; L. S. Stow,
Milan, aged 70 years; Mrs. Betsey Kelley,
Milan, aged 70 years; J. D. Chamberlain, Norwalk, aged 69
years; M. Lipsett, Sandusky, aged 69 years; J. M.
Wentworth, Huron, aged 68 years; Judge A. W. Hendry,
Sandusky, aged 67 years; Hon. Clark Waggoner, Toledo, aged 67
years; C. E. Newman, Norwalk, aged 67 years; Erastus Ivory,
Norwalk, aged 67 years; S. T. Howe, Norwalk, aged 67 years;
Isaac McKesson, Townsend, aged 67 years: S. A. Lockwood,
Milan, aged 67 years; Mrs. George Chase, Berlin, aged 67
years; W. G. Benschoter, Berlin, aged 66 years; H. T.
Smith, Berlin, aged 66 years; Mrs. Leonard Fisk, Berlin,
aged 66 years; Mrs. Clarissa H. Waite, Berlinville, aged 66
years; Mrs. C. E. Newman, Norwalk, aged 66 years; M. Wines,
Florence, aged 66 years; Mrs. Thomas Harrison, Florence, aged
65 years; Mrs. W. G. Benschoter, Berlin, aged 65 years; H.
P. Starr, Birmingham, aged 65 years.
A. M. Folger, of Berlin Heights, aged 94 years,
hoped to be present but was not able to come.
Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Tuttle, of Berlin Heights,
anticipated the pleasure of meeting old friends, at this pioneer
gathering, but his serious illness prevented. They are 89 and
88 years of age, respectively; they have been married 68 years and
are probably the oldest married couple on the Firelands.
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Meeting of the Directors and
Trustees
JANUARY 3, 1888
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The following notice was
published in the newspapers of the Firelands.
FIRELANDS SOCIETY MEETING.
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The following editorial notice appeared
in the Norwalk Chronicle.
FIRELANDS SOCIETY MEETING.
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WINTER MEETING,
At Milan, February 22, 1888.
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MORNING SESSION.
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Pg. 15 - RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
AFTERNOON SESSION.
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Pg. 17 - RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
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Meeting of the Directors and
Trustees
APRIL 9, 1888
F. D. Parish
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UNDERGROUND RAILROAD REMINISCENCES.
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An Address delivered at the Fall Meeting of the Firelands
Historical Society, held in Berlin Heights, Oct. 27, 1887
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By Hon. H. F. Paden, Mayor of Clyde, Ohio
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The
compromise measures of 1850, prepared by Henry Clay, and
carried through Congress largely by his influence, constitute a
marked phase in the long-waged "irrepressible conflict" between the
northern and southern sections of the Union, over the issue of human
slavery. For the information of the younger persons who may
listen to this paper, let me in a few words outline what that
compromise was.
The war with Mexico had been fought, adding vastly to
the national domain Texas, wrested by force of arms from
the neighboring republic, was in the Union as a slave-holding state;
but there remained the open, irritating question, what should be the
status of the remainder of the wide extent of territory acquired
from Mexico? The events which eleven years later culminated in civil
war were projeting their shadows plainly into view - shadows which
the statesmanship of the time sought to dissipate forever by a
breath of temporary concession and compromise. Hence the
series of measures known as the compromises of 1850, which, as
practically agreed to and carried out, were: -
First - The South conceded to the North the admission
of California as a free state, and the abolition of the slave trade
- not of slavery itself - in the District of Columbia.
Second - The North conceded to the South a stringent
fugitive slave law, and the admission of New Mexico and Utah to ter-
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territorial organization without a word pro or con on the subject of
slavery, but in the understanding that they were finally to form
slave states.
As then looked upon, the real gain in this compact was
believed to be with the North - anti-slavery being advanced two
steps, while the pro-slavery cause could gain only in the
contingency that the new territories should ultimately become slave
states; and the soil and climate of these were ill adapted to the
“peculiar institution.”
For a little while it seemed as though a permanent
settlement had been made. But the fugitive slave law feature
soon proved the entering wedge to a fierce reopening of agitation.
In operation it was cruel to brutality; harsh in its methods of
returning to bondage slaves who really had escaped from their
masters, and affording likewise a shield and support to the
kidnapping of free negroes from the Northern States. These
things shocked the morals and consciences of Northern people, a
speedy outcome of which was a greatly intensified anti-slavery
sentiment in the free states; a sentiment that alike voiced itself
in emphatic words, and at the same time organized various means to
thwart the unrighteous operations of an unrighteous law.
Hence the "Underground Railroad" and "Grapevine
Telegraph," concerning which I have been courteously invited by your
committee to read a paper here to-day.
"Underground Railroad" was simply a mythical name for
an organized system of aiding escaped slaves to reach Canada; the
“Grapevine Telegraph,” a similar mythical designation of the means
whereby intelligence as to their movements, and the movements of
pursuing parties, was carried from post to post. These “posts”
were usually the quiet homes of Quakers, and other peaceful,
liberty-loving people, in villages and country places, extending in
chains from the north bank of the Ohio river, principally across
Indiana, Ohio and Western Pennsylvania, to the south shore of Lake
Erie. Nor were they without co-operating auxiliaries in states
like Tennessee and Kentucky. At these places the flying
fugitives, singly or in bands, would find hiding, rest, refreshment,
supplies of clothing if needed, and at the proper time be forwarded
on their journey, usually in wagons under cover of night, until from
some favorable point they could travel by rail direct to the south
shore of the lake. Here again were resting and hiding
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UNDERGROUND RAILROAD REMINISCENCES
places, whence the dark-skinned
runaways would make their final strike for the "happy land of
Canaan" beyond the welcome waters.
I pass now to two reminiscences, illustrative
incidents, of the events in one of which I was an observer, and in
those of the other an humble subordinate actor.
Near the close of the bright day in the autumn of 1852
there landed at Sandusky,-from a train on the old Mad River & Lake
Erie Railroad, a party of fugitives - men, women and children.
The Kentucky owners of a part of them, aided by professional
pursuers, had successfully tracked them and at Tiffin had boarded
the same train. These owners found no Federal authorities at
Sandusky, except a Collector of Customs and a Postmaster; there was
neither a United States Commissioner nor Deputy Marshal.
Earl Bill, one of earth’s noblemen, had resigned the
Commissionership rather than perform the things required of him by
the fugitive slave act, as had likewise a Deputy Marshal, whose name
I do not remember, thrown up his office for the same reason. A
coarse, ignorant, well-meaning man named Rice was City
Marshal. To him the slave-owners applied, and just as the
escaping blacks were ready to go aboard a Canada-bound steamer,
Marshal Rice arrested them and took them to the office of
the Mayor; A moonlit evening was by this time fairly on.
Within a less number of minutes than it has taken to write one of
these sentences, the office was filled with excited, angry people.
Mayor F. M. Follett declined to assume jurisdiction over the
fugitives, in whose behalf Rush R. Sloane, then a young
lawyer with an office near by, was hurriedly called. The crowd
and the excitement swelled with every moment, till the stairway and
halls of the building in which was the Mayor’s office were thronged
with people, and an agitated multitude filled the streets below.
Pistols and knives were ostentatiously flourished, but no one seemed
to fear them. In some way Mr. Sloane was gotten
into the room. His first inquiry was for the process or
authority by which the arrest had been made, or under which the
prisoners were detained. There was none, no writ of any court
or magistrate, no process of any sort, only the word of the
Kentuckians that the “niggers” were their property and were running
away.
“Then,” said Mr. Sloane, speaking with
deliberate calmness, “my friends, there is nothing in the world to
hinder you from going when and where you please.”
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At this decisive moment I stood on a box just outside the door,
holding by the hand a young son of Earl Bill, left in
my charge by his father. As the words I have quoted fell from
Mr. Sloane’s lips, there was a rush, a roar of voices,
people plunging through halls and down stairways as though they had
been fired from something; and this is about all I have ever been
able to recall of this part of the affair. In some way or
other the boy and myself got down at the rear of the building,
passed out to Market street, and thence to Columbus avenue in front.
It seemed but an instant of time since the rush, yet both streets
were as quiet as they had been turbulent a few seconds before - very
few persons in sight, and none who could say what had become of the
negroes or their claimants, or account for the complete
disappearance of the crowd of people. The latter has been a
problem to me from that day. And beyond the fact that the
Kentuckians returned home a few days later, baffled, unattended by
their men and women chattels, twenty-five years passed before I
learned anything further.
As to the fugitives I can now tell this much; there may
be others who know and could reveal more, but my lips are sealed for
the lifetime of my informant. That party of fugitive slaves -
for such they were in truth and in fact - was carried to Canada
concealed in the hold of a sailing vessel, by a lake captain, then
and now a robust Democrat in politics, a man with a conscience and a
heart, for many years past a well-known, honored citizen, resident
of one of the lake cities. His vessel was boarded by a
searching party, but when he was found to be in command no search
was made; his personal and political standing precluded the idea
that he could be engaged in “running off niggers.” Yet he did
land those very fugitives safely in Canada. In 1877 the
captain himself told me the story in detail, to be kept in
confidence as to his personality while he should live; and he is a
man whose word no one who knows him would dream of doubting.*
A criminal action brought by the slave-owners against
Mr. Sloane, for his part in the affair, was tried two
years later before a United States Court, at a term held in
Columbus. Mr. Sloane was mulcted in a fine, or
penal judgment, in the sum of $3,000, which he paid from the
moderate earnings of those early days in his career. It is
tolerably certain that the prominence acquired by him through this
fugitive slave episode was an important factor in
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*Capt. James Nugent, of Sandusky,
now deceased.
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REMINISCENCES.
the foundation of the future
political and personal fortunes of Rush R. Sloane, whose
conduct throughout, from the original occurrence in 1852 until final
payment of the unrighteous judgment awarded against him, was upright
and honorable; his bearing, under the trying circumstances, modest,
brave, and altogether creditable.
My next reminiscence is necessarily more personal in
its nature, but I shall try to relate it with becoming modesty.
The part I bore in it might have been popular at the time, if known,
but my own mind was ill at ease for a long while afterwards - not so
much on account of the thing itself perhaps, as because of its
possible consequences. In maturer years things appear
differently, and the misgivings of that time, between seeming duty
on the one hand and the natural promptings of humanity on the other,
which caused me frequent trouble in matters of this sort, have long
since cleared away; so that now, in the beginning of the period of
gray hairs and waning strength, what was once a thorn to the spirit
has become a beneficent memory, lighting the present with grateful
radiance borne down from the past.
The events about to be related occurred on Christmas
day and night of 1859 or 1860 - I cannot be certain as to the year.
I was at that period a passenger conductor on the old Sandusky,
Mansfield and Newark Railroad, between Sandusky and Newark.
This particular winter, cold weather came early, continued with
persistent steadiness, and lasted late. As a result Lake Erie
was passable by a bridge of ice, fractured by occasional cracks and
punctured at intervals with the openings for air upon which nature
always insists, from the south shore to Canada, the season through.
It was after the Harper’s Ferry raid and subsequent hanging of
John Brown had imparted new impetus to the
rapidly-intensifying feeling between the free labor North and the
slaveholding States; albeit the tremendous results of the marching
on of John Brown’s soul had not yet begun to be
realized.
I was in charge of a northward bound train, due in
Sandusky at or about ten o’clock at night. Within and near the
village of Utica, Licking county, lived a number of families who
maintained a post of the “Underground Railroad” heretofore
described. This post was an important one in its chain,
inasmuch as it had a direct surface rail connection via the
Sandusky, Mansfield & Newark line with Lake Erie at Sandusky.
On the down trip I had been
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informed by the company’s agent,
Col. V. B. Alsdorf, now deceased, that there would be passengers
from the Underground connection on returning, and an understanding
was had in reference thereto. At the appointed time the train
pulled up to the platform at Utica. It 'was holiday season and
there was an unusual number of passengers coming and going, so that
nine stalwart, manly negroes were scarcely observed as they went
quietly aboard the train, scattering to different seats in the
several cars, and as per previous arrangement, making no sign of
recognition nor speaking to each other on the way. Each
man was provided with a ticket to Sandusky - to them the veritable
brink of Jordan - and each received a quiet assurance of safety and
care as he gave up his ticket. Very great caution was
requisite, for notwithstanding the fever heat of the time relating
to everything that wore the mark of slavery, it was no light thing
to be “running off niggers.” Arrest, imprisonment, and all the
unpleasant concomitants of criminal prosecution might follow.
As the case stood with me, dismissal from my place would have been
certain had the act come to the knowledge of the President and
Superintendent of the Road, Wm. Durbin, since
deceased. Mr. Durbin was a Southerner by birth,
rooted and grounded in the pro-slavery doctrines of ante-bellum
days, strongly conservative in his adherence to the compromises of
the Constitution and the laws
for the protection of slave owners, and would not have tolerated for
an hour the unlawful “running off of niggers” by any one in his
employ, notwithstanding the payment of regular fare on his trains.
In thus alluding to Wm. Durbin, who was
known to other persons than myself, present here to-day, I make no
disrespect to a man then held, and whose memory is still held by me
in very high esteem. He was my friend at the time and in later
days became more pronounced in his friendship and confidence.
When the war came his voice and purse were prompt in favor of the
maintenance of the Union. On the roll of friends of my years of
railroading, there is no name I recall with stronger pride or
associate with brighter recollections than that of this remarkable
man.
The “rub” was to get quit of the fugitives at Sandusky,
unobserved and without exciting suspicion. The night was cold and
clear. It was President Durbin’s habit to be at
the station on arrival of the train, inquire after things “out the
road”, and take in with his quick eye everything that transpired.
A German brake man was on duty on the train, but it was easy to
close his mouth
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REMINISCENCES.
by stating the consequences of not
keeping it closed. After leaving Monroeville, there were only
a few passengers besides the negroes. With a little management
these others were got into the forward cars, the negroes into the
rear one; lights in the latter were extinguished and the doors
locked. The train stopped at a long out-door platform at
Sandusky, the regular landing place for passengers.
President Durbin was there but asked no unusual
questions. After the passengers had been unloaded, the cars
were pushed back on a siding, south of Washington street, and I
walked up town in company with the President, who turned into
his bachelor rooms in a block on Water street. At one o’clock
in the morning I went to the car, unlocked the door, found the
fugitives sleeping, except one who was on watch, who cautiously
waked the others and all silently followed my lead.
A mixed breed Indian and negro named Geo. J.
Reynolds, living in a comfortable two-story brick house on
Madison street, was one of several forwarding agents in Sandusky for
the Under ground line. The fugitives were conducted to his
house, Reynolds rapped out of bed, and the party admitted. The
black men had eaten nothing since noon the day before, but they were
here fed a hearty meal towards morning. They were now at ease
and I talked with them for an hour or longer. Of the nine,
five had left wives and children in the South; two of the others had
each a sweetheart, whom their masters wanted them to marry, but
rather than do this under the conditions imposed by slavery they had
chosen to run away. The brightest of the lot was a man of
thirty five, six feet tall and some inches to spare, wonderful
muscular development and of positive intelligence. The others
were less bright, but had the needful common sense and courage to
carry on the business of life for themselves. Reynolds told me
afterwards the entire party made the ice passage to Canada in
safety, getting off from Sandusky two days in advance of the arrival
of pursuers, who had lost their trail between the Ohio river and
Utica, and did not regain it until the delay made pursuit fruitless.
This was the largest party of fugitives I ever carried
at anyone time, knowing absolutely that they were escaping slaves.
My talk with these men at the house of Reynolds, or rather their
talk, brought such an awakening of mind and conscience on the
subject of slavery as had never come to me before. It was
indeed a solemn hour. The perils of their flight so far had
been safely
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gotten past, but other perils were
ahead. Between them and their goal lay Lake Erie, its waters
congealed by the forces of nature into a mighty bridge, thirty miles
across, treacherous withal, liable to be swept by furious winds and
cruel blinding storms of snow. To the certain and uncertain
places of this bridge, alike unknown to them, with a pocket compass
for their sole guide, these men were about to commit themselves,
their hopes, their dearest interests, their very lives, with
trustful confidence in a God of freedom, for one grand, final effort
to achieveownership of their own bodies and souls. The
features of every black countenance, wet with tears and beaming with
gratitude as I bade them good-bye, are forever fixed in the picture
chambers of my memory. It is scarcely possible that we shall
meet again in the flesh, but if earthly memories are to be carried
forward into the immortality voiced by the inmost soul of man, and
which our religion teaches, I shall hope therein to greet with a
cordial warmth not born of mortal years those dark-skinned fugitives
from bondage whose farewells were said that winter morning a quarter
of a century and more ago.
*
* *
* *
* *
This
completes my subject, as marked out. May I be kindly indulged
with a little further time, to speak of something else?
I ask the privilege of addressing to the middle aged
and Younger people a few words concerning the Firelands Historical
Society. This organization has been in existence for thirty
years
and upwards. In this time it has accomplished much excellent work,
rescuing from verbal tradition a large amount of very valuable
history, and placing it in permanent form through the medium of its
printed magazine. Reliable, accurate, carefully-preserved historical
data, such as pertain to the real life of the people, form one of
Earth’s potent civilizing agencies, marking the lines and forever
urging forward the spirit of enlightened progress. This
magazine of the Firelands Society cannot help but become one of the
storehouses of treasured information, on which the more
comprehensive history writers of the future shall draw. The
fathers who conceived the special work of gathering and saving this
information are passing away - some of them sleep with their
fathers, even now. They lived lives of labor, usefulness and
honor, by virtue of which the lives of you their children are cast
in
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RAILROAD REMINISCENCES.
pleasanter places than ever were
their own. You have a solemn duty in the matter of keeping up
this special work, supporting it out of the abundance that has been
vouchsafed to you, inspiring and transmitting an unabated interest
therein to your children. These meetings are of great value -
they are practical reunions of the living on behalf of the dead.
“We hold reunions,” once said Garfield to his old comrades in
arms, “not for the dead, for there is nothing in all the earth that
you and I can do for the dead; they do not need us, but forever and
forevermore we' need them.” In this spirit I ask you to record
and preserve with ceaseless care the history of the lives and deeds
of your fathers - those gone, those who are yet to go - the
hardships they bore, the virtues their lives illustrated, the
shining light of their examples. You people have especial
cause to pay good heed to the command written amid
the fire and smoke and thunders of Sinai - “Honor thy father and thy
mother, that thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God
giveth thee.” Bewildered and awe-stricken in the marvellous
light of the transfiguration, Peter said unto Jesus, “Lord,
it is good for us to be here; if thou wilt, let us make three
tabernacles, one for thee, one for Moses and one for Elias.”
My friends, it is good for us to be here; wherefore let me ask of
you who are in the prime of life, you of fewer years who are working
towards that prime, aye, and toward the shadows that lie beyond,
that you do good unto yourselves and your children by erecting on
your Mount of Transfiguration tabernacles of grateful, glad
remembrance to the fathers and mothers who laid the foundations of
material prosperity on which you are building so well - to take up
this, one of their most useful tasks, right where they have left or
shall leave it off; abating no jot of their zeal, shrinking not from
a continuance of the labor that to them has been a fulfillment and
fruition of patriotic love.
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THE
UNDERGROUND RAILROAD of the FIRELANDS
-----
An Address Delivered before the Firelands Historical Society, at
Milan, Erie Co., Ohio, Feb. 22, 188.
-----
By Hon. Rush R. Sloane, of Sandusky
-----
I have been
requested to present at this meeting of the pioneers, some facts
relating to the early anti-slavery movement and to give such
information as I can regarding the so-called "Underground Railroad"
upon the Firelands and in Sandusky; the names of some of the active
friends of the line, together with other matters connected with this
subject, as would be of interest. In my opinion there exists
at the present time some misapprehension upon these matters, and I
shall place before you a few facts connected with the inception of
the anti-slavery movement that will show the condition of affairs at
that time, and since. I shall refer to some of the legislation
on the subject of slaves, and shall also give some instances of
escape, and the circumstances connected therewith. It was said
by the poet that "distance lends enchantment to the view"; and in
regard to the escape of fugitive slaves by what was called the
"Underground Road," I am convinced that the number passing over this
line has ben greatly magnified in the long period of time since this
road ceased to run its always irregular trains.
Born in Sandusky upon the Firelands and familiar with
events occurring there from my early boyhood, I am fully impressed
with the belief that before the year 1837 the fugitives who escaped
through Sandusky were conducted and aided almost wholly by black
men, of whom John Jackson, Grant Ritchie, Isaac Brown, John
Hampton, William Wilson, Thomas Butler, Samuel Carr, George
Robertson, Samuel Floyd, John and
Alfred Winfield, John
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B. Loot, Robert Holmes, Bazel Brown, Andy Robinson, Peter
Anderson, Black Jack, William Butler, John Hamilton, Andrew Hamilton
and Benjamin Johnson, all then living in Sandusky, were the
most prominent. A fair presentation of these matters will
compel me to go outside the limits prescribed for some events that
will tend to show the temper of the country concerning the question
of slavery, and I may leave my subject entirely at times in order to
give a clear exposition of the circumstances that caused the
"Underground Railroad" to flourish; and I must ask your kind
indulgence, and direct your attention to some facts which though
known, perhaps, are not as vividly before you as I wish them in this
connection.
And here I will speak a word of the American
Colonization Society which was in full and successful operation for
18 years. Founded in December, 1816, at the City of
Washington, it numbered among its life members many of the foremost
men of the nation; James Madison was at its president, and
among its vice presidents, which included one from each State, were
Henry Clay, Bishop White, Daniel Webster, Richard Rush, Theodore
Frelinghuysen, Bishop McKendrie, Garrett Smith, and others.
Admitting the evil of slavery, the American society for colonizing
the free people of color, demanded and suggested the remedy, which
was not to interfere with vested rights; not to invade the
constitution; not act upon the slave population except through the
medium of the master. In 1821 the site of the colony of
Liberia was purchased by this society, and the town of Monrovia was
established. By the year 1831 over three thousand emigrants
had gone out there from the United States, of whom over one thousand
had been slaves liberated by their masters. In the year
succeeding, eleven hundred and thirteen emigrated to the colony.
Distant tribes visited it for the purposes of trade, and over ten
thousand natives in the immediate vicinity voluntarily placed
themselves under the colony and begged that their children might be
taught to use their own language "after the white man's fashion,"
and by the year 1833 over fifty thousand natives were embraced
within its territorial jurisdiction. This colony has been a
lasting benefit to the continent of Africa, and an undecaying
monument to the honor of America.
To illustrate the feeling on the question of slavery at
different periods I will cite a few instances where violent
outbreaks were
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brought about by attempts to even advocate the overthrow of slavery.
July 10th, 1834, serious riots commenced in the City of New York,
occasioned by the discussions consequent on certain anti-slavery
lectures that had been delivered. They continued until the
12th of the same month, when the Mayor was compelled to issue a
proclamation in order to suppress them. August 12th of the
same year, a riot occurred in Philadelphia from a similar cause, and
forty houses were destroyed by the mob. On July 27th, 1835, a
large mass meeting was held in the City of New York to take action
to disapprove the measures adopted by certain societies to effect
the abolition of slavery. Like meetings were held about the
same time in Boston, Philadelphia and Cincinnati. June 23d of
the same year great excitement was created in Sandusky by the
attempt of one S. G. Wilson, a traveling agent for the
Liberator, published at Boston and edited by William Lloyd
Garrison, to lecture on slavery at the Methodist church.
He had obtained the consent of John Beatty, Esq., a prominent
Methodist and Abolitionist, and then mayor of the town, to use the
church, but, on account of the hostility of the people, it was not
considered safe to allow him its use, and it was finally closed
against him. A decidedly heated discussion of the advisability
of allowing the use of the church for such a purpose took place at
the mayor's office, and was participated in by John Beatty on
behalf of the lecturer, and in favor of allowing him the use of the
church, and by Col. John N. Sloane in opposition. The
sympathy of the people was with the latter at that time.
January 22d, 1836, an immense anti-slavery meeting was
held in Cincinnati, and resolutions denouncing the course of
anti-slavery societies were adopted. July 30th of the same
year, an anti-Abolition mob at Cincinnati destroyed the printing
press of Mr. Burney, the editor of the Philanthropist,
and committed other outrages. On August 21st, 1837, the office
of the Observer, an abolition newspaper owned by Rev. E.
B. Lovejoy, and published at Alton, Illinois, was destroyed by a
mob. And afterwards, on the 7th of November, 1837, Mr.
Lovejoy's new and third press was destroyed by an angry mob,
Lovejoy himself killed, a victim to the right, to a free press,
to slavery, and the first martyr to liberty and freedom in the
United States. At the trial for these crimes, the rioters,
Lovejoy's murderers were acquitted.
On the 17th day of May, 1838, Pennsylvania Hall in
Phila-
Pg. 31 -
delphia, an elegant building which had just been erected for
scientific and political lectures including especially the discussion
of the abolition of slavery, was destroyed by a mob of many
thousands. Benjamin Lundy was the apostle of
abolition agitation, the John Baptist in this work; and before the
end of 1831 had raised his voice in Maryland, Virginia, Tennessee
and Ohio, against slave keeping, and in this year united with
William Lloyd - Garrison in the publication of the
Liberator at Boston, which was continued thirty-five years
until every slave in all our country was free. For several
years they had only few followers and in all our land this paper was
almost the only visible sign of opposition to American slavery.
The mobs and violence occurring in the years 1834 - 51 - 6 - 7
greatly advanced their work and strengthened and in creased their
followers. Lundy had published as early as 1821 at
Mount Pleasant, Ohio, a monthly journal called the Genius of
Universal Emancipation, and before which time no one had ever,
talked about other than gradual emancipation; as it was, few took to
Lundy’s views and he soon removed his paper for want of
support. He afterwards for a time published the paper monthly
in Tennessee and Maryland. Lundy and Thomas
Garrett, of Delaware, were undoubtedly the two men who first
influenced slaves to escape, but the instances were not frequent,
and those who escaped remained in hiding in the free States, and
slavery was not abolished in New York State until July 4th, 1827.
In the years 1826 and 1827 a few slaves reached Canada, and the
number of these refugees so increased that at the session of 1828, a
resolution passed the House, of Representatives of the United States
that the President be requested to open negotiations with the
government of Great Britian to surrender fugitive slaves taking
refuge in Canada or forbid their entry in the future. The
application was made by our Minister, and, let it be said to the
glory of the British Government, it was refused.
In 1829 occurred in Cincinnati a most disgraceful mob,
which continued for three days, and during which time the angry
masses held possession of the town. The trustees of the
township had attempted to remove the blacks, some two thousand or
more in number, it being contrary to law for them to remain in the
State; the blacks (all free blacks) resisted and barricaded their
houses. Blood was spilt, and at last a truce ensued; and the
result was the blacks sent a delegation to the Province of Canada
asking for a
Pg. 32 -
place of refuge under a monarchy. The reply of the Governor of
Canada was, “Tell the Republicans on your side, that we royalists do
not know men by their color.” The blacks removed, and this was
the first black settlement made in Canada and more than one thousand
found a home in the settlement called Wilberforce, before the end of
1830. And from this time, when the slaves and blacks as well
as their masters knew, that in Canada they could find a home and a
government that would not surrender them, but protect them, can be
dated the commencement of the operations of the “Underground
Railroad.”
It was not until the 4th of March, 1836, that in all
the American Union could the bare privileges of even a hearing
before a committee be awarded the abolitionists by the Legislature
of any of the States. In 1837-8-40 and as late as 1841 Gag
rules were passed by Congress to strike down the sacred right of
Petition, which should ask for the abolition of slavery, and of the
buying and selling of slaves and that the same be laid upon the
table without printing or debate, and that no action be taken
thereon. And when this was done well might Adams and
Giddings exclaim, “We are in the seething hell of American
slavery.”
An intelligent understanding of the question has
required me to point out the unpopularity of anti-slavery movements,
and compare the prevailing sentiments of those days with that which
succeeded later. Thus will you also see why such an
institution as the “Underground Railroad” was introduced. For
in the light of the present day it seems. almost impossible that it
should have been necessary to resort to such secret measures to help
a poor bondman to freedom in this free State of Ohio, and especially
across these Firelands, settled as they were with a liberty-loving
people. But slavery was not then regarded as it was
afterwards; slaves were looked upon as the rightful property of
their owners, and it was incumbent on law abiding citizens to return
them rather than aid them to escape. While people perhaps
would not actively oppose the attempts of these fugitives to escape,
they did not openly espouse their cause, and the popular feeling at
this time may safely be said to have been unfavorable to aid being
afforded them to escape. The occurrences to which I have
alluded were received by the public as the legitimate results of
'the teachings of Garrison, Lucretia Mott,
Abbey Kelly and Francis Wright.
The “Underground Railroad,” so called, was the
outgrowth
Pg. 33 -
of the concerted action of people friendly to the slaves, and who
were willing for principle’s sake to give their services, time and
money to these fugitives, though at the risk of prosecution and
pecuniary loss. The charter was of Divine authority and its
command was, “Do unto others as ye would that they should do unto
you.” Its conductors, agents and managers believed that they
should obey God rather than man. The road was secretly
operated, it published no reports, it declared no earthly dividends
to its stockholders, and to all its passengers it supplied, without
charge, free through-tickets to the land of freedom in Canada,
including lodging and meals. They established across the State
of Ohio, a line of stations from the Ohio River on the south to Lake
Eric on the north. These stations were generally at or near
farm houses, and nearly always the homes of friendly abolitionists.
Here the fugitive was concealed during the day, and at night carried
in covered conveyance to the next station, and there turned over to
other friends who would care for them, and in turn give them into
the hands of someone else for like treatment. In this way the
tedious journey was made across the State, and finally at Sandusky
passage was procured for Canada: “The goal of their desire, the
Mecca of their hope.”
It must be remembered that prior to 1850 there was no
line of steam railroad completed between the river and lake, and
that a distance of 250 miles had to be traversed in wagons, at
night, in the midst of a people largely opposed to any interference
with slavery, and with prejudice against fugitive slaves.
These facts, together with the laws then in force, rendered the
escape of a slave a difficult matter, and the act of aiding or
abetting such an escape dangerous to one’s person and property.
The men who engaged in these friendly offices said, “Duty is our’s,
consequences are God’s,” and they deserve our highest praise for
bravery and devotion to what they considered their duty, and an
impartial posterity will award them the credit they so justly merit.
It is one thing to champion a cause when it is in disfavor, quite
another when it has become popular and strong with the people.
Humane and generous in its conception, thorough and complete in its
simple methods, this institution accomplished much good, and brought
everlasting happiness and joy to the heart of many a human soul.
The first runaway slave known as such at Sandusky was
in
Pg. 34 -
the fall of the year 1820. He had come on foot across the
State, stopping here and there as he found a friend in the sparsely
settled country, and his master, named James Riley,
had tracked him to Abner Strong’s, on Strong Ridge,
when in the night he was taken by friends to Marsh’s tavern
in Sandusky, (then standing on the corner of Water and Wayne
streets) and secreted by John Dunker, the black
hostler, and Captain Shephard, who sailed a small
'vessel but who lived at Marsh’s Tavern when in port.
When Riley came in pursuit he offered Shephard $300 if
he would find his runaway for him, and for three days they watched
and hunted, but with no success. The steamboat
“Walk-in-the-Water” came in port bound for Detroit, and Riley
thinking his slave might have gone there went on the boat, and soon
after the departure of the steamer Captain Shephard
also left the port with the slave on board his little vessel and
soon safely landed him at Malden. On the steamer’s return trip
Riley came back to Sandusky, paid his horses keeping and his own
bill at Marsh’s Tavern and sadly departed for Kentucky
without his slave. This was the very first slave going to
Canada of whom I have been able to find any account.
Among the first white men upon the Firelands then in
the old county of Huron, and residing in Huron township, and one of
the first men in the State of Ohio, to aid fugitive slaves, was
Judge Jabez Wright, one of the first three
associate judges who held the first term of Court in old Huron
county in 1815. He never failed when opportunity offered to
lend a helping hand to the fugitives; secreting them when necessary,
feeding them when hungry, clothing and employing them. A
rarely good and excellent man. My father knew him well since
1815 when he first met him at Court at Avery—the year my father came
into the State. Judge Wright always had one or more
fugitives upon his farm and lands. This statement I have
confirmed by a lady of perfect reliability, Mrs. Henry F. Merry,
of Sandusky, now 78 years of age, and the first white person born
upon the Firelands. She told me that early in the year 1824
she was living at Judge Wright’s, teacher of his
children, and-at that time a fugitive slave was in his employ who
had been there several years, and was the first black man she
ever saw. This fugitive’s name was James, and in 1825
he was reclaimed by his master and taken away, but he escaped,
returned and again lived at Judge Wright’s.
Bazel Brown, spoken of above, lived some time at
Judge Wright’s.
Pg. 35 -
In
September, 1830, Josiah Hansen escaped .from slavery
in Kentucky with his wife and four children, and in October arrived
at Venice where a kind Scotchman, captain of a small two masted
vessel agreed to take himself and family on board and carry them to
Buffalo. Venice at that time was quite a town and Sandusky in
those days was described in the Cleveland Herald as a place (near
Venice) where steamboats sometimes stopped to wood. After
loading the vessel with corn the Captain sailed over to Bull’s
Island and there “came too,” and at night sent back the small boat
for the blacks; they were soon on board and after a two days passage
safely reached Buffalo and the kind-hearted Scotch Captain on the
28th day of October landed the escaped slaves in Canada.
In the year 1881 a fugitive named Tice Davids
came over the line and lived just back of Sandusky. He had
come direct from Ripley, Ohio, where he crossed the Ohio River; he
remained some time at Sandusky, and then went to Canada. It
was told of him that he gave the name to the “Underground Road” in
this way: When he was running away, his master, a Kentuckian, was in
close pursuit and pressing him so hard that when the Ohio River was
reached he had no alternative but to jump in and swim across.
It took his master some time to secure a skiff in which he and his
aid followed the swimming fugitive keeping him in sight
until he had landed. Once on shore, however, he could not find
him. No one had seen him; and after a long and unsuccessful
search the disappointed slave-master went into Ripley, and when
inquired of as to what had become of his slave, said he could not
tell, that he had searched all the openings, but he could not find
him; that he was close behind him when the boy got on shore, and he
thought “the nigger must have gone off on an underground road.” This
story was repeated with a good deal of amusement, and this incident
gave the name to the line. First the “Underground,” afterwards
“Underground Railroad.”
The colored man, Grant Ritchie,
previously mentioned, opened the first barber shop in Sandusky, and
was the earliest and most active agent of the line and always
successful in his operations. On one occasion when through his
interference and efforts, several fugitives had escaped to Canada,
and there being no responsible person to sue for the value of the
lost chattels, the slave owners caused Ritchie to be arrested
before a justice of the peace, and prosecuted for an assault upon
the claimant. The lawyer for the
Pg. 36 -
prosecution was F. D. Parish; L. S. Beecher being
counsel for Ritchie. The justice bound Ritchie
over to the Court of Common Pleas of Huron county. At the next
term when this case was called at Norwalk, Mr. Beecher
appeared as counsel for Ritchie, and after the defendant had
pleaded not guilty, Mr. Beecher asked him in a voice
loud enough to be heard over the court room, (the court and lawyers
knowing he had a barber-shop in Sandusky) “What his business was
'there; whether he had come over to shave the court?”
Ritchie replied that he did not have his kit with him, and Mr.
Beecher in a sotto 'voice then told him, “To go and get it.”
Soon after when the prosecution was ready to go on with the case
Ritchie was not in-court, and this was the last of the
prosecution. It was not supposed that anyone was anxious to
convict him, now that the slave-masters were not there.
Ritchie removed to Canada in 1834 and afterwards returned to
Sandusky I in 1841, visiting Rev. Thomas Boston,
to whom he expressed his great surprise at learning that Mr.
Parish had become an abolitionist; he said that when he left
Sandusky, Mr. Parish was as bitter an enemy as the
fugitive slaves had. Mr. Boston could hardly
believe this, and called on Mr. Parish to learn the
facts. Mr. Parish said to him, “Yes, what
Ritchie says is true; I did prosecute them, but the Lord opened
my eyes, and I intend to make up for those acts.” And he did.
Benjamin Johnson, a slave, came to
Sandusky over the road about the time Ritchie left. He
was soon after arrested under the claim of his owner and brought
before John Wheeler, Esq., in Portland township
(Sandusky); F. D. Parish appearing for the claimant, and
L. S. Beecher for Johnson. It was claimed by Mr.
Parish that Johnson was a fugitive slave, and owned by
the claimant. Mr. Beecher admitted that the man
was a fugitive slave but that he was not the property of the
claimant. Mr. Beecher told his counsel that he had
never seen the claimant before. The testimony of the claimant
himself disclosed the fact that after Johnson’s escape he had
met Johnson’s former owner in this State and that while in
Ohio he purchased of him the fugitive. That the bill of sale
was drafted, dated and executed in Ohio. On these facts Mr.
Beecher claimed Johnson could not be held. Ohio was a
free State and a transfer and sale of slave property could not be
legally made within its domain. Squire Wheeler
sustained this position, and Johnson was discharged. He
died many years ago
Pg. 37 -
in Sandusky. For years after securing the discharge of
Johnson, Mr. Beecher would speak of him as “his
nigger,” because he had cleared him in the above manner. This
was probably the only attempt ever made to sell a slave in Ohio.
Who that has known F. D. Parish since 1835 could believe that
he ever, even professionally, was engaged in the attempt to reclaim
fugitive slaves; or that he was ever other than an Abolitionist?
Yet such was the fact, and up to the year 1835 Mr. Parish
was not an Abolitionist, but a member of the Colonization Society.
After this time he became as zealous in the cause as William
Lloyd Garrison; and like Paul after his
conversion, “Abounded in good Works.”
And it was not until October 21st, 1835, that
Garrett Smith of New York severed his connection with the
Colonization Society, and joined the ranks of the Abolitionists, of
which body he soon became so conspicuous a member. One can
scarcely comprehend the extent of the hostility that existed in 1835
to the Abolitionists. Something of its force can be infered
from the fact that not a single church in the city of Boston, the
“Cradle of Liberty and the Seat of Learning, and Liberal Thought,”
could be obtained for a lecture on slavery. And in New York
the demand was made of Arthur Tappan, a wholesale merchant,
to resign at the peril of the loss of his business, the office of
president of “The American Anti-Slavery Society,” to which demand he
made the emphatic reply, “I will be hanged first.” 1838 one
Davis came to Sandusky by Underground. Afterwards he
removed to Cleveland, where he died, having accumulated quite a
property. Another of the early runaways from Kentucky was
William Hamilton, who came by railroad to Xenia, and
thence to Sandusky, traveling only at night. Soon after this
came father Lason and his wife, bringing with them a little girl.
The latter, now Mrs. Nancy Boyd, still resides at Sandusky.
Also about same time came Daniel Brown and wife.
Mr. Brainard, of Berlin, used to conduct slaves,
generally aided with money and teams by Mr. O. C. Tillinghast,
also of Berlin, most reliable and earnest men; both now dead.
Seth and Elder Ben Parker, of Peru, Huron county,
Ohio, received, cared for and placed in charge of good conductors
any slaves that might be brought to that station. Abner
Strong of Strong’s Ridge, Lyme, Huron county, Ohio,
was always ready to receive, care for, and send to Sandusky, in good
conveyance, the fugitives who reached that “Strong” and safe
station. I am proud to say he was my mother’s father.
After
Pg. 38 -
the year 1836 there was hardly a time that H. F. Merry, of
Sandusky, had not one or more fugitives in his employ. He was
a good and early friend of theirs, and always ready to assist them
in any way. S. Bell, a fugitive, lived with Mr.
Merry in 1839. In the winter of 1839-40, a party of
four runaways arrived in Sandusky, but were so closely pursued by
their owners that it was thought best they should not be kept in
town, even if secreted, and as the ice in the Lake was not strong
enough to bear a horse and sleigh, they were conducted over the bay
to the Penninsula Point, whence next morning on a bright, clear day,
they started on their perilous journey to Canada. They had to
proceed with the greatest caution, hugging close to the shore of
Kelly’s Island, and thence on to Point an Pelee, where in the
evening they arrived in safety. In 1843 a fugitive named Joe
Daniel came over the line to Sandusky. Mr. Parish
took him to Rev. Thomas Boston, then living in
Perkins township. He remained some time, but fearing he might
be captured, Mr. Boston advised him to go to Canada,
and he embarked with the intention of going there. While in
Detroit en route he obtained a situation on- the steamboat Sultana,
and had made trips on her, but was discovered while thus employed,
by his master who was traveling on the boat, and who at once
reclaimed him, and carried him back to Virginia. In less than
three weeks Daniel was a passenger over the line a second
time. He reached Sandusky in safety, and after a short stop made his
way to Canada.
In 1829 a fugitive about 22 years of age named Price
arrived in Sandusky over the Underground road and after a time went
to work in Perkins township, burning lime for Samuel
Walker. He was a faithful, excellent boy, and strong as a
giant. He had left behind him in Kentucky a sweet-heart for
whom he pined, and to whom he seemed greatly attached. His
master learned where he was at work, and arranged with a couple of
men to capture and deliver the boy into his hands, which
accomplished he would take him before an officer and prove his
property. Knowing his fondness for this girl, the men hired to
effect his capture were instructed to tell him that she had also run
away, and on a certain night would be at the “Sulphur Spring,” a
place in the woods just south of Oakland Cemetery near Sandusky.
Late on the night agreed the fugitive repaired to the
Spring to meet his sweet-heart, but to his surprise and
disappointment did not find her, and was leaving the place when he
was suddenly set
Pg. 39 -
upon by these men, knocked down, and bound hand and foot. He
soon recovered from the effects of the blow he had received, and
began to cry out, and kicked and struggled so effectually that he
freed himself from the cords and made his escape. Returning to
Mr. Walker's house he drew the money that was due him and
started at once for Canada, satisfied with his experience that
night, and not being willing to again subject himself to the risk of
recapture. Mrs. John Hull, of Perkins, and Mrs.
William H. DeWitt, of Sandusky, both remember this occurrence
perfectly, and it was well known in Sandusky at the time.
In 1842 a brave woman named Armstrong with her
husband and one child escaped from a plantation in Kentucky, some
ten miles back from the Ohio river. After quite a delay they
reached Sandusky by the Underground, and soon were safe in Canada.
Two years later this woman determined to rescue her children, seven
of whom she had left on the Kentucky plantation from which she had
escaped. Dressed as a man, she after some delays reached her
old plantation and hid at night near to a spring she knew her
children visited early every morning. She was not
disappointed, and next morning her eldest daughter came to the
spring, she made herself known and it was arranged that the
succeeding night at bed-time they should all meet at the spring and
make their start for freedom. Five of the seven started with
her; the other two the master had so located in or near his own room
for that night that they could not start, but the mother dare not
wait; she had five more of her dear ones and they started.
They walked rapidly all night and by early morning light crossed the
Ohio near Ripley and going from station to station on the
Underground at length reached Sandusky, and after a short delay were
safely forwarded and soon joined the husband and father and child
which had first been carried off, in Maiden. I have it on good
authority that this Mrs. Armstrong made another trip
and returned in safety bringing her other two children.
At all times the assistance given fugitives was done
secretly, and especially so at Sandusky, for knowing this to be the
terminus of one of the routes of the Underground road, the
slave-catchers made frequent visits to the place and kept a sharp
watch for runaways. The laws of the country were framed to
assist in a recovery of the fugitive by his master and once
discovered it was an easy matter for him to legally obtain
possession of his property.
Pg. 40 -
Hence secrecy was indispensable to secure the safe passage of the
fugitive from bondage into freedom. That slaves were brought
through Sandusky prior to 1837 is certainly true; yet the instances
were so infrequent and the circumstance so little noticed at the
time, that I have found it exceedingly difficult to gain much
information as to the names of the fugitives, and the incidents of
the escape.
Recently I had the pleasure of a long talk with
Josiah Fowler, Esq., a gentleman 89 years of age, now
residing in Margaretta Township, Erie county, Ohio, on his farm,
where he has lived for the past 60 years. He was always a
pronounced Abolitionist and much interested in the cause. He
remembers but few instances of runaway slaves prior to 1845. The
total black population of Sandusky as late as 1841 did not exceed
forty; and there were prior to that date not more than seven
Abolitionists among the white population to whom fugitives could be
directed safely, and from whom they could expect aid. The exciting
discussions of the political campaign of 1844 increased the number
of Abolitionists, and at the October election in that year, the
abolition candidate for Governor, Mr. King, received
in Erie county, votes as follows: Vermillion, 11; Florence, 8;
Berlin, 15; Huron, 1; Oxford, 8; Groton, 1; Margaretta, 5; Perkins,
1; Milan, 2; Portland and Sandusky City, 21; one of these two-votes
cast in Milan at this election was voted by Mr. George Barney, now residing at Sandusky,
who was the candidate on that ticket for the office of Sheriff, and
received a total in the county of 66, but was not elected; Isaac
Fowler, a Whig, being the successful candidate. Your
fellow citizen E. Merry, Esq., was at this same
election chosen to the office of County Recorder, upon the Whig
ticket, and I conclude therefore he was not the man who voted the
other abolition ticket in Milan at that election. Who cast the
other vote I do not know. Prior to this time we have seen that
the great bulk of the- people of the north had quietly submitted to
the enforcement of the laws for the reclaimation of slaves.
The fugitive act of 1793 had been acquiesced in, and its powers
enforced when evoked. Enacted by the Fathers of the Country
recommended and approved as a law by Washington, their
descendants felt its binding obligation almost as sacred as the
National constitution itself. In demonstration of which fact I
point to the meeting at Sandusky, March 6, 1845, at the Court House,
about the time two runaway slave boys had been captured in the town.
A meeting as related in the col-
Pg. 41 -
umns of the papers published at that time, to have been largely
composed of and attended by the best citizens of the place.
Erastus Cooke, brother. of Hon. Eleuthreous
Cooke was chairman, and James D. Lea secretary of the
meeting, and John Wheeler, Charles Rice,
John N. Sloane, William Carkufff and James Wright
committee on resolutions, and William B. Smith on printing
the proceedings of the meeting. It was stated in the printed
report that the meeting was called to correct an eroneous
impression, that the citizens of Sandusky are so generally
abolitionists, that they offer every facility to the fugitive to
make good his escape, and this meeting is more particularly called
at this time in consequence of the treatment to which certain
citizens of Kentucky were subjected a few days since, who came here
to reclaim several fugitives from labor. The immediate cause
of said meeting arose from the following transactions, which I will
give here, though not properly in order of time.
About noon of the 28th day of February, 1845,
Charles S. Mitchell, Andrew J. Driskell, Alexander B. Martin and
Dennis Luony, seized two black boys as fugitives from
labor from the state of Kentucky. One was taken in the
wood-house of the gentleman with whom he lived, while sawing wood.
The other in the street. The boys were carried to an upper
room in the “Mansion House” and held under keepers. For these
acts the captors were arrested on a writ issued by Z. W. Barker,
Esq., and on an examination before him, assisted by E. B.
Sadler, then the Mayor of the town, were ordered to give bonds
in the sum of $100 each, for their appearance at the next court of
common pleas, on charge of riot. Immediately an affidavit was
made that the boys, called Dock and William, were
unlawfully detained and writs of habeas corpus were at once served
on those having them in custody. On Saturday night by
agreement of parties Judge Farwell ordered the Sheriff
to take the negro boys from the custody of their keep ere at the
Mansion House and confine them in jail until the result of the
proceedings could be known. On Monday following they were
produced before Moors Farwell an associate Judge of
Erie county, and return made of the cause of caption and detention.
F. D. Parish and L. S. Beecher appeared as counsel for
the boys, and John Wheeler and John N. Sloane
as counsel for claimants. The examination and argument of the
cases closed about noon on Tuesday, and the Judge took the questions
under advisement until
Pg. 42 -
nine o’clock the next morning. At which time it was held that
they were not detained in a legal manner, and. they were discharged.
As soon as the decision was proclaimed, the boys were
released from confinement, hurried out of town and sent to Canada.
There is no doubt in this case, except for Mr. Parish no
proceedings would have been had, and the boys would have been
returned to slavery. It was not, however, for aiding these
boys to escape that Mr. Parish was sued, but for the
part he took in behalf of other slaves which these same Kentuckians
sought to reclaim on the same day. Of 'which latter case the
circumstances were as follows. There were at this same time
two colored persons, Jane Garrison and her little boy
Harrison, stopping at the house of Mr. Parish.
The son of the man claiming to own them called at Mr.
Parish’s house to see them, and stated to Mr. Parish
that he was there to reclaim them, that they were the property of
his father, Peter Driskell, of Kentucky. Mr.
Parish asked by what authority, and the reply was by Power of
Attorney, offering to produce it. “You need not show it,” said
Mr. Parish, "as nothing but judicial authority will
do. The slaves went into the house, and were not seen
afterwards. Suit was brought in the Circuit Court of the
United States against Mr. Parish for the value of the
slaves, and a jury found a verdict against him for hindering and
obstructing the arrest, and awarded damages against him in the sum
of $500, the proved value of the slaves at the time of their escape.
The amount of the judgment and the costs and expenses in the suit,
$1000 in all, was collected by subscription in sums of $1 each, and
presented to Mr. Parish. A full report of this
case can be found in 5th Vol. McLean’s Reports.
These events go to show the strong pro-slavery, or at
least want of anti-slavery feeling prevalent on the Firelands at
that time, and the result of this case against Mr. Parish
shows the efficacy of the slave laws then in force, and the remedy
it afforded the slave owner for recovering the value of his slave
from anyone interfering with his right to reclaim it, and also the
penalty it dealt out to the persons so intermeddling. Its
proceedings were summary in their character, comprehensive in their
results, protecting the rights of the slave owner to his property,
punishing anyone attempting to abridge that right, and had it been
allowed to remain in force we cannot tell how long slavery might
have held
Pg. 43 -
its unholy sway. But the rapacity of the slave power had been
constantly increasing. In 1842 they censured Mr.
Giddings for offering in Congress a resolution that slavery did
not extend on the high seas beyond the jurisdiction of the state.
In 1845 they demanded the annexation of Texas with slavery, by which
a territory as large as France was added as a slave State to the
Union. And not until this year did the American Anti-Slavery
Society assume its famous position of opposition to the
Constitution, which it affirmed was pro-slavery, “A covenant with
death, and an agreement with Hell.” In 1846 they forced the
war with Mexico in order to extend slave territory by compelling
Mexico to abandon its claim to a large portion of Texas. A
gradual change had been taking place from 1844 which was hastened by
these acts, and culminated in 1850 on the passage of the fugitive
slave bill, which opened the whole of the northern States as a
hunting-ground for slave owners whose chattels had escaped.
This was one of the indemnities demanded by the slave. States
and conceded by the free States at that time. It was part of a
series of compromise measures which were to give repose to the body
politic and heal one of the “Five bloody wounds,” the healing of
which was to forever post pone the dissolution of the Union.
“Man proposes, but God disposes.”
Never was this truthful utterance more powerfully
exemplified than in connection with these so-called compromise
measures, the adoption of which so aroused the people of the free
States that their indignation was expressed in almost as violent
form as it had before been vented against the Abolitionists, in the
instances of riot to which I have alluded. Especially was the
moral sense of the nation shocked by the iniquities of the fugitive
slave act. Its giving United States Commissioners $5 only, if
they refused a certificate, but $10 if they granted it; its making
certificates thus granted evidence in all cases that the person
claimed was a fugitive; its providing that United States marshals
who failed to execute the process issued on such certificate, and
the slave escape, whether such escape occur with or without their
consent, forfeit $1000 for each fugitive who escaped; its fixing the
value of each fugitive at $1000, no proof of value being required;
its providing that all officials employed in the arrest of fugitives
shall be paid out of the United States Treasury; its provision that
all other expenses from the time of the arrest until the fugitive
has been
Pg. 44 -
returned to the place from which he escaped shall be paid by the
government; its fixed and excessive penalties; its assaults upon
individual rights in the virtual suspension of the habeas corpus;
its cruel and summary process; its requirements, that all citizens
shall turn slave-catchers at the behest of a United State marshal;
its dispensing with trial by a jury; and lastly, its daring invasion
of State Rights by withdrawing all jurisdiction under the act from
State Courts and officials. What a munificent provision was
this “act” for American Freemen. Can we be surprised at the
almost universal feeling of indignation which it created? The
free States were wild with excitement. Party lines were no
longer binding and meetings in opposition to the act and declaring
it unconstitutional were daily held in all of the free States.
The compromise measures of 1850. Oh, what a compromise.
Truly in the course of these acts and this legislation so quickly
following is verified. “Whom the gods would destroy, they
first make mad”.
One of the immediate results was the increased travel
upon the Underground railroad through the state of Ohio and
passengers over its line came almost daily. Elijah
Anderson, a brave and fearless colored man, was the general
superintendent of the Underground system in this section of Ohio,
and probably conducted more fugitives than any other dozen men up to
the time he was arrested, tried and convicted in Kentucky and
sentenced to the state prison at Frankfort where he died in 1857.
Anderson said when coming to Sandusky in 1855 that he had
conducted in all over one thousand fugitives from slavery to
freedom; over 800 of whom he brought after the act of 1850 had
passed. All of these did not come to Sandusky, for after the
opening of the Cleveland & Cincinnati railroad he took many to
Cleveland, but Sandusky was the favorite and most important station.
One great advantage it possessed was its proximity to Canada and its
sheltered position by reason of the islands of Lake Erie, which
rendered it possible and safe to make the passage, in an emergency,
in a small sail or even an open row boat, if that was all that could
be obtained at the moment, both of which means of transportation
were often resorted to when it was known that the slave catchers
were on the ground watching for their prey, as was frequently the
case, and when an attempt to take passage on any regular boat would
have been hazardous and unsafe. Sometimes the fugitives would
arrive in Sandusky in the winter, and then they would be
Pg. 45 -
taken across in sleighs to Point au Pelee. James
Wright who for many years kept a livery-stable at Sandusky, and
who will be remembered by the old citizens, was always ready to hire
his teams, thus affording assistance though he was not an
Abolitionist as they then called them. He was an officer at
the meeting in Sandusky in 1845 heretofore described. I should
name among the early and earnest friends of the line, John
Beatty, F. D. Parish, (and whose house was called the
“Depot”) Samuel Walker, R. J. Jennings, Clifton Hadley,
(still living at Sandusky) J. N. Davidson, Isaac Darling.
Rev. John Thorpe was an efficient conductor on the
Underground road, and willing assistant to all passengers. (John
Thorpe now living at Castalia, is his son.) And since 1848
John Irvine, Thomas Drake, William H. Clark, Sr., and Jr., L. H.
Lewis, Otis L. Peck, John G. Pool, S. E. Hitchcock, Homer Goodwin,
Thomas C. McGee, George Barney, Herman Ruess, C. C. Keech, Samuel
Irvine, O. C. McLouth, J. M. Root, and H. C. Williams; others
might be included, but these all gave money and, the “Irvines”
especially, their personal aid at all times to effect the escape of
a slave. Richard Veecher, while a slave in
Kentucky earned enough money to purchase his wife and children and
sent them to some point in Ohio, where he, having run away shortly
after, joined them, and brought them to Sandusky in 1848. He
is still living there.
I should perhaps have said before, that our line of
road after leaving Sandusky, its great northern depot, and passing
south to Huron county, had two distinct lines; one extending to
Gallipolis, opposite the Virginia shore, and the other by way of
Xenia to Madison, Indiana, a town on the Ohio river opposite
Kentucky. These were the principle routes of the Underground line
until after the completion of the Little Miami and Mad River and
Lake Erie railroads, by means of which in the year 1850 a direct
connection was made from Cincinnati to Sandusky. And here let
me say in a retrospective view, that it seems almost like a
providence of the Almighty, that this improved, rapid, and easy mode
of conveyance, which added so wonderfully to getting a fugitive
across the State should have been opened in the same year, that the
infamous law of 1850 went into effect.
In 1850 a slave named Lewis escaped from
Kentucky and after a time arrived at Columbus, Ohio, where the man
lived several years, when his master discovered and reclaimed him,
and in
Pg. 46 -
charge of the United States marshal the slave was taken to
Cincinnati en route to his old master’s home, but on the arrival of
the party at the Little Miami depot in that city the master was
arrested on a warrant procured by the well known lawyer and apostle
of anti-slavery, John Joleff, Esq., for
kidnapping in Ohio; Joleff claiming the negro was not a
slave. The master went to Kentucky for evidence and after his
return the trial was had, and when the
decision was about being pronouned the negro quietly backed into the
crowd, and aided by two or three was soon out of the Court House and
secreted; his absence was at once discovered and pursuit made, but
he was not to he found; he was safe, in the sure protection of of
Levi Coffin, that kind old Quaker who had aided so many
others to freedom; in a few weeks on a Sunday afternoon, dressed as
a woman, he was taken from church placed in a carriage, driven to a
safe station of the Underground, some thirty miles distant, and,
after a delay of some weeks, in October 1853 he arrived at our
Sandusky depot, and was soon afterwards safe at Malden. This
was the first and only slave who ever escaped from the court room to
freedom. The marshal of the United States in this case,
although the escape was without his fault was liable under the law
of 1850 for $1000 to the master, which, however, be compromised
without suit by the payment of $800.
In the autumn of 1850 a party of three came by the
Underground to Sandusky, the story of whose escape has brought tears
to the eyes of multitudes, not only in this country, but in Europe;
yes, in every home where Uncle Tom’s Cabin has been read and
where the-story of Eliza Harris and her little boy
crossing the Ohio river on the ice is known. George
Harris, her husband, escaped some time after his wife Eliza
had fled with her little boy, and they all after several months,
safely reached Sandusky, where for two days they were secreted;
Eliza cutting short her hair and dressing as a man, her little
boy dressed as a girl, and claimed by a kind-hearted white Woman as
her own, for Eliza and her boy were almost white. This
was the party that on a beautiful day boarded the steamer “Arrow” at
Sandusky at a time when Eliza’s master was on the wharf, and
after a few hours were all safely landed at Maiden' on the free soil
of Canada.
I will now give as briefly as consistent with accuracy,
an account of the first fugitive slave prosecution and excitement
which occurred under the fugitive slave act of 1850; not only in
Pg. 47 -
the Firelands but in the United States, and with which your speaker
was somewhat prominently connected. This case resulted in my
being convicted under said act, the defense of which occupied my
time quite a portion of two years, and I was finally compelled to
pay 43000 in damages, $330.30 in court costs and $1000 attorney
fees. My neighbors at Sandusky, incensed at the results of the
case, organized a committee consisting of Captain T. C. McGee, W.
E. Stone and George J. Anderson, to solicit funds for the
purpose of assisting me to defray the costs and expenses I had been
adjudged to pay. These gentlemen collected $393 which paid the
court and marshal's costs; I insisted that I should pay the judgment
without regret, which I did; and that I must have the honor and
satisfaction of handling it down as an heirloom to my children.
I have the original subscription book that was circulated by the
committee which was left with me by those gentlemen. In memory
of the liberal men who were willing to give of their means for such
a purpose, I give an accurate list of those persons, and the amount
paid by each: Homer Goodwin, $50; E. Lane, $50; E.
B. Sadler, $24.50; L. S. Beecher, $5; S. Miner,
$25; W. F. Stone, $15; W. F. Converse, $40; J. G.
Bigelow, $5; O. C. McLouth, $10; George Reber,
$25; H. Wildman, $25; W. F. Giddings, $4; Rice
Harper, $25; Thorpe, Norcross & Thorpe, $44.50; C. C.
Keech, $25; James D. Whitney, $5; T. C. McGee,
$10; O. L. Peck, $5; total, $393. These were all
residents of Sandusky. No other opportunity was ever offered
for subscription in Sandusky or elsewhere, and none other were ever
made or paid.
But to proceed with my story. On the afternoon of
the 20th day of October, 1852, the city of Sandusky was the scene of
very great excitement, growing out of the arrest of two men, two
women, and three children, by some Kentuckians aided by O. Rice,
then city marshal. Three of the slaves were claimed by one
Lewis F. Weimer, and four by Charles M. Gibbons. The
slaves had arrived by the afternoon train, and were going on board
the steamer “Arrow” at the time of her departure for Detroit.
The negroes were forcibly dragged ashore and taken at
once to the mayor’s office. The citizens were told by' the
marshal, as he flourished his cane, that it was a legal arrest, and
the fugitives would be discharged unless the mayor should so decide.
It was only on this understanding that he was suffered to take the
Pg. 48 -
negroes through the streets to the mayor’s office, a distance of
over half a mile, without molestation. Meanwhile Mr. S. E.
Hitchcock, John Irvine and John B. Lott
came hurriedly into my law office, and requested me to appear before
the mayor and learn if the negroes were properly arrested and
legally detained. Upon reaching the mayor’s office we found
the negroes there, and the room filled with excited people, pistols
and bowie knives were in the hands of many. After waiting a
short time I asked by what authority were these persons held in
custody? There was no reply. “Are there any papers or
writs to show why they are held?” There was no reply. I then
said, speaking particularly to the men who sought my services, "I
see no authority for detaining these persons,” and at this John
B. Lott, a colored man, cried out in an excited voice, "Hustle
them out.” Immediately the people carrying the negroes along
crowded out of the office, and as they started, one of the
Kentuckians, all of whom had been standing near during the whole of
the proceedings, turned to me and said, “Here are the papers,
I own the negroes; I’ll hold you individually responsible for their
escape.” I gave him the consoling reply that I was “good for
them.” The above facts substantially were published in the
Sandusky Register at that time.
The negroes were that same night placed in a sailboat
in charge of trusty conductors, and were received from the small
boat the next day by Captain James Nugent, a noble man, now
dead, then living at Sandusky, and secreted on board the vessel he
commanded. And on the second day after were safely landed in
Canada. Soon after two suits were commenced against me in the
District Court of the United States, at which time the whole State
constituted the district, and Columbus the place where the Courts
were held. At the October term, 1854, the cases came on for
trial. In the case of Charles M. Gibbons against
Rush R. Sloane, who claimed to own four of these slaves; the
Court instructed the jury that the Power of Attorney was defective,
and to find a verdict in favor of the defendant. In the case
of Lewis F. Weimer vs. Sloane, the man who owned three
of the slaves, the plaintiff obtained a judgment of $3000 and costs,
which on motion, the Court refused to set-aside. Hon. Henry
Stanbury, and one Coffin were the attorneys of the plaintiff.
Hon. Thomas Ewing, the father of the present
Hon. Thomas Ewing, H. H. Hunter and S. F. Vinton,
were attorneys for defendant. Judge Levitt presided.
Pg. 49 -
What the slave ordinance, miscalled law, of 1850, was, and what its
demands and penalties were, can be seen in the now celebrated case
Weimer vs. Sloane. In this trial, occurring at
Columbus, the capital of the State of Ohio, a State which by the
ordinance of 1787 had been forever dedicated to freedom, and with
the facts in the case clearly proved, the United States Judge gave
the law of the case to the jury based on decisions made under the
law of 1793, and not under the act of 1850, to which act no
reference was made in his charge. The slaves in this case had
been taken by their masters before a State Court as provided by the
act of 1793, and which provision was repealed by the act of 1850,
which latter act did provide that slaves when arrested by a master
without warrant, but on certificate only, should be taken at once
before the officials named in the act, and they were officials of
the United States. And yet, under the ruling in this case, in
face of the law, in a free State, judgment was had as before stated.
A full report of said case can be found in McLain’s United
States Reports, Volume 6. I have with me to-day the original
receipts for said judgment and costs in this case of Weimer
vs. Sloane, which anyone may look at who has the curiosity to
do so. I have given the same to my namesake Rush R. Sloane,
Jr., the son of Thomas M. Sloane, of Sandusky, in whose
hands they will be placed for safe-keeping. The following is a
certificate of the Clerk of the United States Court regarding said
receipts and other matters:
Louis F. Weimer vs. Rush R. Sloane.
United States District
of Ohio, in debt.
October Term, 1854.
Judgment for Plaintiff for $3000 and costs.
Received July 8th, 1856, of Rush R. Sloane, the
above Defendant, a receipt of Louis F. Weimer, the above
Plaintiff, hearing date Dec. 14th, 1854, for $3000 acknowledging
full satisfaction of the above judgment, except the costs; also a
receipt of L. F. Weimer, Sr., per Joseph Doniphan,
attorney, for $85, the amount of Plaintiff’s witness fees in said
case; also certificates of Defendant’s witnesses in above case for
$162; also $20 in money, the attorney’s docket fees attached, which,
with the clerk and marshal’s fees heretofore paid, is in full of the
costs in said case.
(Signed) WILLIAM MINER, Clerk.
In the summer of 1853 four fugitives arrived at
Sandusky
Pg. 50 -
coming over' the Cincinnati & Sandusky Railroad, and who were
allowed by a noble hearted conductor to leave the train just east of
Mills’ Creek, and before reaching the cribbing where the road runs a
short space in deep water. Just north of where these negroes
were left there was on the north side of the railroad a little
cluster of bushes and trees, and here until night the party was
secreted. Meanwhile Mr. John Irvine, whom
I mentioned before, had arranged for a “Sharpee,” a small sailboat
used by fishermen, with one George Sweigels to sail
the boat to Canada with this party, for which service Captain
Sweigels was to and did receive $35. One man
accompanied Captain Sweigels and at 8 o’clock in the
evening this party in this small boat started to cross Lake Erie;
the wind was favorable, and before morning Point an Pelee Island was
reached, and the next day the four escaped fugitives were in Canada.
Captain Sweigels now resides in Sandusky.
In the year 1854 a party of seven runaway slaves were
put on the cars of the Sandusky, Mansfield & Newark Road, and safely
brought to Sandusky; the earnest men of the different stations from
time to time received Grape Vine telegraph dispatches and were
always ready to act with promptness in facilitating the onward
progress of the fugitive. In the above instance when the
slaves reached the City of the Bay, a small two masted sail boat was
in waiting, as it had been learned that it would not be safe to send
the party by the Detroit boat; the agents of the owners being in
town, and watching the Steamer daily. Captain
Sweigels was also engaged in this exploit, and it came near
being a disastrous one, for after the boat was in the lake the wind
increased so much that she was almost swamped, but at last was run
safely into a small creek on the shore of Canada. The
Messrs. Irvine, H. F. Merry, George Reynolds, and
a conductor on the railroad above named could have given further
particulars of this incident.
The largest number of fugitives that was ever brought
over the road at one time was 20. This party were put on board
the steamer United States on Sunday, a day on which writs could not
be served, and when their masters were on the wharf. These
latter at once boarded the steamer and made a contract with the
Captain not to land until they reached Detroit, for which agreement
they paid 81550. As the Steamer approached Malden, the Captain
put her as near the Canada Shore as he safely could, and singular as
it may seem, the small boat was lowered, in which
Pg. 51 -
were placed the 20 fugitives, and sent ashore. The Steamer did
not land until it reached Detroit, and the Captain did not consider
this act a violation of his contract, but the slave owners $50 out
of pocket and with no chance to recover their slaves vowed vengeance
against the Captain and the Steamer. Among others who should
be mentioned in connection with those who assisted in the
Underground movement, was Mr. Nelson Parker,
then living in Norwalk, a most faithful conductor over the road;
also Lemuel Sherman, of Norwalk; he always aided
willingly and gave freely of his time and money; a generous,
kind-hearted and Christian man. William Wilson, who
lived at Peru, Huron county, was a brave conductor, frequently
bringing fugitives from Peru and other points to Sandusky, where
they were generally secreted in the house of the Rev. Thomas
Boston, a pure-hearted and faithful Christian colored man.
Mr. Boston would care for them in his own house or
would find some place where he knew they would be safe, if his house
happened to be full.
One escape that occurred in 1855 is worth notice.
A poor slave had been able by slow stages, now a ride, and then a
walk, to reach Shelby, and to which place he had been tracked; the
departure of each train was watched, and the kind friend (in need)
at whose house he was secreted, conceived a plan for his escape
which he effected, communicating by Grape Vine telegraph the details
to Sandusky friends. On a certain train going north was placed
in charge of the express agent, a coffin containing a poor man, but
whose friends wanted his remains carried to Sandusky, for interment.
The rough box had knotty holes and plenty of shavings had been put
in around the “body.” The train started and in about two hours
the “remains” were taken in charge by S. R. Irvine and
others, taken to a friendly house, and the “casket” opened; the eyes
were blood-shot, the mouth was foaming, the poor man nearly dead.
A doctor was quickly summoned and soon the “corpse” was in a healthy
state. He was kept for a few days and then in safety sent over
the line to Canada.
In the winter of 1858 a party of six women and five men
arrived; it was a cold winter, and the lake frozen across; this
party had come on foot, in wagons, on railroad, and again on foot
walking into Sandusky at night, some had shoes, or what had been,
some had stockings, and some had only old rags tied around their
feet. The party at midnight of the second day after their
arrival
Pg. 52 -
was started off in a double sleigh, the moon was full, and every
thing promised a nice journey, and an early arrival in Canada.
All went well until they were nearly across, when a blinding snow
storm came up and they wandered all night on the lake, and when
daylight came they found themselves back near Marblehead Light,
almost where they had started. The driver was determined to
return to Sandusky (he had been engaged to drive the negroes to
Canada by their Sandusky friends) but the blacks compelled him to I
turn around and drive them to the Queen's domain, Point au Pelee
Island, where they were left, and remained during the winter.
In the winter of the year 1858 Wiley Jones
drove by land around from Sandusky to opposite Maiden, there
crossing the Detroit River to Canada with a two-horse wagon,
containing fifteen fugitives, for which service he was to be paid in
case the slaves were landed safe in Canada. Jones
returned in due time, having made a successful trip.
Of the fugitives who have been brought to Sandusky
since 1850 by the Underground Road, I can give the following names:
William Larkins, John Butler, Simpson Young, Moses Frances,
William Resby, R. Dooty, George Bartlett, John Bartlett, S.
Bartlett, William Bartlett, Nancy Young, Martha Young, Allen Smith,
Claracy Gibson, one Gilkner, B. Howard, M. Coleman, H.
Mackey, Jack Crockett, William Coleman, B. McKees, William
Roberson, B. Franklin, T. Maddocks, L. Howard, J. Freeman, H. Moss,
R. Anderson, William Hamilton, I. Gleason, wife and daughter,
I. Moore, Sarah Moore, C. Boyd, R. Green,
R. Taylor, D. Bell, H. Washington, T.
Roberson, F. Bush, wife and son, E. Bell, I.
Fremat, H. Cole, H. Johnson, J. W. Coleman, Palmer
Pruitt and wife, (1855) William Bryan, G. Bryant, W.
Bryant, W. M. Pruitt, T. Burnett and wife and three children,
S. Falkner, K. Gatewood, I. D. Brant, H. Bartlett, J. Hanshaw,
wife and two children, H. Hanshaw, P. Scott, I. Howard, Va.,
G. Brown, Va., G. Brown Kentucky, I. Marshall,
wife and four children. A very small proportion of the whole
number, but no records wee kept, of course, and in the lapse of time
the names have been forgotten.
On the 13th day of September, 1858, an escaped slave
boy about 18 years of age named John, was claimed as the
property of I. D. Bacon, of Kentucky, and was seized just
outside of the village of Oberlin and hurried to Wellington to take
the cars south. While waiting for the train the boy was
rescued and taken over
Pg. 53 -
the Underground to Sandusky and from there over “Jordan.” The
arrest of this boy John was the cause of the celebrated
Oberlin-Wellington rescue cases, which at the time seemed to
threaten the political fabric of our State.
I cannot here recite the story of the wrongs and
outrages committed in the name of law, by the officers and judges of
the United States under the fugitive act of 1850 in the prosecutions
of the rescuers in this case. At one time, a bloody collision
seemed inevitable between the people and United States authorties.
A grand mass meeting of the opponents of the law was held on the
public square in Cleveland, May 24th, 1859, and was largely
attended; thousands came by cars that day and the city was crowded
to repletion; delegation after delegation, with banners flying,
filed up the streets from the depot to the public square. One
I remember was inscribed “Sons of Liberty 1765; Down with the Stamp
act, 1850, Down with the Fugitive act”; on another, “Here is the
Government, Let Tyrants beware.” Hon. Joshua R. Giddings
was made president of the day, and my friend Dr. A. Skellinger,
of New London, was one of the vice presidents. Frank Sawyer,
now General Sawyer of Norwalk, was one of the
committee on resolutions, and P. N. Schuyler, of Bellevue,
one of the committee on permanent organization. Mr.
Giddings ever since the meeting had been called on the 12th of
May openly stated that he should not mince matters, and would
precipitate a crisis if he could. The state of public feeling
was such that a few bold men could have brought on a collision, and
one was gravely apprehended. You must remember that at this
time the rescuers of the boy John, 37 in number, residents of
Oberlin and Wellington, had all been indicted, and two of them,
Bushnell and Langston, convicted and
sentenced, and were in jail serving out the term of their punishment
which was both fine and imprisonment.
The United States officials were claiming that they
would not recognize any writs of habeas corpus from the Supreme
Court of Ohio, and did openly protest against the removal of the
prisoners from the jail of Cuyahoga county until the expiration of
their sentence. Cleveland on May 24th, 1859, was full of armed
men who felt that a crisis was at hand and they were ready for it;
the gravest apprehension had prevailed for several days, and on
Monday the 23d it was believed by some that only one man in Ohio
could prevent a resort to arms on the day of the mass meeting.
Pg. 54 -
That man had refused to come to Cleveland, for objections
satisfactory to himself and difficult to answer, and here I wish to
state at the risk of seeming somewhat egotistical, that two young
men, natives of the Firelands, were largely instrumental in securing
at the very last moment the attendance of this man, whose presence
there on that occasion, in my opinion, saved a bloody struggle on
May 24th, and the credit and honor of the State of Ohio, and that
too without a sacrifice of principle; these young men were Henry
D. Cooke, afterwards Governor of the District of Columbia, (now
deceased) and the other one was your speaker. The man whose
presence was so potent, whose words of counsel were heeded, whose
courage was conceded, and who gave his promise without bravado, was
Governor Salmon P. Chase. I must quote the whole of his
inimitable speech on that day following the exciting and eloquent
address of Mr. Giddings, in which he, Mr.
Giddings, said among other things, “For thus obeying the high
behests of Heaven’s King, these men are now thrust into a gloomy
prison which would disgrace the southern portion of Africa.
Again, “I know that the Democratic party press throughout the
country has represented me as counseling forcible resistance to the
law, and God knows it is the first truth they have ever told about
me.” And again, “Now let me take a vote, now let all those who
are ready, and resolved to resist when all other means fail, when
your rights are trampled into the dust, when the yoke is fixed upon
your necks, and when the heel of oppression crushes your very life
out, all those who are thus ready to resist the enforcement of the
infamous slave law, speak out.” The roar which arose from
thousands of voices was deafening. Again, “I would have this
voice sound in the mouth of the cannon, I would have it resound over
every hill, through every vale, by every winding stream, and every
rushing river. I would have it go roaring in every mountain wind
which rocks your forests until all the world shall hear.”
Cheers deafening, and prolonged applause.
Other speeches followed, not calculated to quiet an
already excited multitude, and when Governor Chase
arose everyone almost felt and knew that the action of the day hung
upon his words. As a model of diction, of earnest, honest
thought, of prophecy, and sound advice, his speech has not an equal
in history. The Governor was received with most hearty and
tremendous cheers; he said: A few hours ago he was sitting in his
office at Columbus,
Pg. 55 -
not expecting to be present to-day, but having received a summons to
meet with them to-day, he had felt it his duty to come, but he had
not come to advise them to do anything which they hereafter might
have occasion to regret. He had not come to counsel any
violence. The American people having the control of all power
by the ballot boxes, it was for them to do it in their legitimate
way. It was not necessary that we, the sovereigns of the land
should resort to any measures which could not be carried out at all
times and under all circumstances. Some of the most respected
citizens of the State whom 'he had' known for years had done what
they believed to be right, and which not one man in ten thousand
would look up into the blue sky with his hand on heart and say was
not right; they had been thrown into confinement. This was
Wrong, and what should we do? We exist under a State
government, and a federal government and if the government does
wrong, turn it out. Dismiss the unworthy servants and put in
those who will do your will. So with the State governments.
Take the right course always, and look to the governments, and
reform them. The federal government is now acting under a
fugitive slave law of which he had often expressed his opinion, and
what is our redress for those who are imprisoned under that act?
The first thing to do was to ably defend them as had been done.
It was said that this law was unconstitutional. If this be so,
all done under that law, is null and void. He believed when
the law was passed and believed now that that act was in tended
rather as a symbol of the supremacy of the Slave States, and the
subjugation of the free. This case has been brought before the
Courts of the State and they are bound to carry out their duty under
such a view of it. If the process for the release of any
prisoner should issue from the Courts of the State, he was free to
say that so long as Ohio was a sovereign State, that process should
be executed. He was in favor of reciprocity, but if the State
Court issued papers and process the Federal Court must show the same
deference to the State Court that was at other times shown the
Federal Court. We can reform the judiciary, the Congress and
the administration, and although the process may be too slow to suit
some the more excited of the audience, yet none of them were so old
that they might not see the operation of this remedy; he did not
counsel revolutionary measures but when his time came, and his duty
was plain, he, as the Governor of Ohio, would meet it as a man.
Pg. 56 -
He then
reviewed the circumstances of the arrest and seizure of the negro
boy John, under a power of attorney, and this process of a
power of attorney gave to the agents of the power the right to take
John wherever he was found, although at that time he was a
citizen of Ohio. Consequently that paper of authority was not
peace, but war, against a citizen of Ohio. His deliberate
judgment was that no person could be seized and captured while he
was a citizen of any sovereign State, under the constitution of the
United States. He entered into a brief analysis of the
constitutionality of this law, showing it to be at variance with the
letter and spirit of that document, giving it as it does, the power
of the judges to the commissioners under this act. Who does
not see in all these unrighteous accusations and prosecutions the
doom of this law? He remembered the statement of the Plain
Dealer of a few days ago, which said that the origin of this law was
infernal, and that it must be repealed, whether constitutional or
not, but it was never intended by this clause, which permits slavery
in the land, that it was to spread farther than the states in which
it then existed, and had they believed otherwise, the constitution
would never have been enacted. Let the Courts be appealed to
and let them act in accordance with their consciences and their duty
between themselves and their God. The great remedy is in the
people themselves, at the ballot box. Elect men with backbone
who will stand up for their right no matter what forces are arrayed
against them. See to it, too, what president you elect again.
Let such a man be selected as will do as you desire, a man who will
represent the people in the spirit of freedom and right, and
administer the constitution of our fathers, the securer of liberty,
and not the prop of slavery. I have said just what I feel and
think, just what I will live by, and just what I will die by.
Go on and be faithful to your charge, do your duty to yourselves,
your country, and your God. This calm, wise, and prophetic
speech of Governor Chase, delivered in his most
earnest manner, and with an unflinching eye, settled the action of
the day, which was to await the decision of the Supreme Court upon
the writs of habeas corpus issued in behalf of Bushnell and
Langston, and then pending. That decision was against
their discharge, yet, in the intervening time the excitement of the
masses had cooled, blood had not been spilt, but the seed had been
sown, the manna fed, the leaven scattered, which, in the providence
of an Almighty God,
Pg. 57 -
greatly aided, speedily to break off the manacles from every slave.
In the winter of 1858-59 there came over our line a
consign ment of nine fugitives who were soon in the care and safe
keeping of George J . Reynolds, a black man who had lived at
Sandusky some years, and who was always very watchful of the
passengers over our line of road. These blacks had come up in
the night over a portion of the Sandusky, Mansfield & Newark
Railroad. I do not know from what station, nor did Mr.
Reynolds tell me who was conductor on the train, but he must
have been friendly to the cause or those fugitives would never have
left the train, as the president and manager of the road at that
time was Willliam Durbin, a fine man, but intensely
pro-slavery, and a Maryland man by birth. These slaves all
went over to Canada where they arrived in safety. In 1859 two
slave families arrived in Sandusky. One by the name of Marshall
consisting of a man, his wife and four children and the other named
Burnett, and comprising a man, his wife, and three children.
The men found employment in the woods some miles.west of Sandusky,
where James P. Gay and E. Merry (the latter of whom
now resides at Milan, as did also the former before his coming to
Sandusky) had been engaged in clearing off a large quantity of
timber, and had erected in the vicinity a number of cheap wooden
houses for their laborers, in two of which these black people made
their homes, and where in safety they could have remained but for
the interference of a craven hearted white miscreant named Thomas
Davis, who lived near by, and who for a reward, informed the
owners of these slaves of their whereabouts. Do not confound
this man Davis with Thomas R. Davis, who also lived
near this place, for the latter was friendly to the negroes, and was
among those who engaged in the pursuit of which I speak later on.
These owners and their agents in the evening seized these two
families, and hurried them across the country to the Sandusky,
Dayton & Cincinnati Railroad some two miles distant; Louis
and Palmer Pruitt, now living in Sandusky, and then
residing at the place above described, hearing the screams of the
captives hastened to their aid, and though Louis used his old
musket to some advantage, as the blood tracks showed the next
morning, the Pruitts alone, unassisted could not cope with
the superior arms and numbers of the slave catchers who succeeded in
getting away with their prey. They did however crowd them so,
that in their haste they left a small child about
Pg. 58 -
two years of age in the woods, where it was found the second day
following. The child was cared for and some years after its
father returned and took it back to Maysville, Kentucky, but not
into slavery, as there were no slaves then in all our land.
The Pruitts organized a party and hurried on to Castalia to
intercept the train, but to prevent a rescue there the train was
started before they could get on board.
From the Pruitts themselves, I have had the
following account of this capture: They say that the slave-catchers
took a direct route for the track of the Sandusky, Dayton &
Cincinnati Railroad, and that at a point near Venice, the night
express going south stopped by prearrangement, for this point was
not used as a stopping place, and was where no signal could be
given, and the night was dark; yet at this point the train stopped,
the poor fugitives hustled into an extra car attached to the train
and next morning were in Kentucky. This capture, the only one
ever made in Erie county, was one of the most disgraceful affairs
that ever occurred in our State, and created great indignation and
excitement in Sandusky, and in the county. The officials of
the road at that time made no explanation to the public, that I am
aware of, as to the stopping of the train, the extra passenger car,
that night, or the unusual incidents connected therewith, but to
those who sought information, said they knew nothing about it.
The person responsible for this act will never be known in this
world, “But God is his own interpreter, and he will make it plain.”
The last escape of fugitives through the Underground within my
knowledge was in 1861 immediately preceding the inauguration of
President Lincoln; two slaves reached Sandusky, bright,
active boys, and they were after a short time safely carried over
the border. And the story connected with their escape, is most
interesting; it brings up a fact which I ought to have stated
earlier and that is
that many slaves escaped not from their own idea, or from the
suggestion and instance of abolitionists who were charged with it
all, but at the instance of two classes, both living at the south;
one class having grudges against certain owners of slaves, and
seeking their revenge, secretely in this way, afraid to
openly attack them; the other class were known as “Nigger Catchers,”
and kept dogs; this class visited the plantations, advised the
slaves to run away,
and then would be employed by the owners to catch them, which they
often failed to do. In the fall of 1860 a young Kentuckian
Pg. 59 -
living 20 miles back of Maysville, said in a public bar-room that he
would vote for Lincoln, his uncle who was present, got up,
took a drink, and swore that the young man should be “rode upon a
rail.”
This uncle was a desperate man, and owned a dozen
slaves. The nephew was called aside by the landlord who
advised him to mount his horse, then standing with the saddle on,
and ride for his life, as he knew what the threat meant. The
horse was mounted and away the young man flew for Maysville, going
down to the ferry boat he was soon on his way over the river.
Looking back he saw his uncle and six of his neighbors in hot
pursuit riding down the bank, but the young man was safe; not safe
in his own home, or in his native state, but safe because he was in
free Ohio. That young man made a vow to steal every slave his
uncle owned. He became a conductor on the “Underground;” one
or two at a time, he quietly enticed the slaves away, and these two
who had reached Sandusky in March, 1861, were the last of that
uncle’s slaves. The young man had kept his word, and Hannibal’s
oath of eternal hostility to Rome was not more sacredly kept than
was that young man’s vow. Of the years since 1860, and of the
events since that period, of the war and its consequences, the
emancipation of the slaves, and our country’s prosperity, I will not
speak; it is familiar to you all. I have now concluded the
facts and incidents which I have desired to place before you.
A plain and unvarnished story of events, of some of our Country’s
laws, of the escape and kidnapping of fugitives which even now, but
much more in the time to come, will seem like fiction or a fairy
tale.
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