New-York daily tribune., 1844-11-29
Tales of Oppression.

of the wind, some CT them from as lar up as uranu
River. ladVertsel.
Tales of Oppression.
Rev. Charles T. Torrey, who has been for
several months confined in the Baltimore Jail on
charge of aiding slaves to run away from their
mssters, tells the following tales in letter pub
lisbed in the Boston Chronicle:
A colored man, poor, free, of good character
belonging in Frederick county, Md, went into
Pennsylysnia with drove OF cattle, and was
gone more Than the legal twenty days. On his
return, two miscrcents utterly worthless in purse
and character, but with wbitsh faces, complained
of him, got him in Jail, and in various ways con-
trived 10 run up the bill of fine and costs 10
over SO. For this he was sold as slave for hJe,
purchased by slsve-traderln this city, and sent
TO the far South. 1t was this summer
Another case: A certain Or. D, OF
Howard district, sent TO this jail an old black
man, his wife, light mulatto woman, and her
four little children, all iohiter than their mother
Two Of them, the woman said, were her masters.
The husband said they ell were. No doubt of 1t.
They have since been sold 10 the saye-traders.
Such occurrences are by no means unusual here.
Yetthe CHRISTIANS of Baltimore never know any
thing about them, when you ask; in truth, 1t
would be incredible news to nlne-tenihs of the
better sort of people Of this city that from two to
four thousand slaves every year sold, In their
midst, including at least FIVE hundred members
of the body Of Christ, humble prayerfu, ignorant,
but sincere Christians. Such topics they do not
inquire into. "1he righteous perishath and no
man. of them "layetn it TO heart" Why J
The victims are poor, black, or yellow" and
AMERICAN SLAVES; victims of the great Ameli-
can slave.trade. But it is perfect folly to rebuke
! the s,are.srade. The trader is the mere agent
of the STAKEHOLDER. The GREAT CRIME is 10 hold
| man in S!drery.
Items OF a different class 1t is very COM
mon here for the police, and other slave. hunting
knaves, to play tricks on shareholders l will
rive you few ples One police firm has in
paw, over twenty colored spies here, besides
others in Philadelphia and elsewhere. Their bu-
sness is to inveigle slaves 10 run away, hide
them up, aud betray them. When the master
misses his slave, he soon advert;ses his 800 re-
ward often he applies to this very police firm
for aid In few days they are ready, or course,
to hand over the poor victim of their arts, and
pocket the reward, besides getting praise as rery
rigiiant officers! They once had in their pay
an active member of Northern vigilance CON-
mittee, who is well known to me. He is not no,o
on the committee.
Another trick is somewhat similar. Many
coored people, for ten miles round, are suffered
to come TO Baltimore, on the Sabbath, to see
their friends and attend church. A constable,
desirous of raising the wind finds one without
pass, puts him in jail, or some place of conhne-
ment-sometimes one Of the slave prisons-says
nothing about it till the master offers his reward
and then Mr.. Constable cooily pockets the re-
ward of his knavery. Besides, the slave, as a
suspected runaway, is commonly sold to the ira.
ders a. low price, and the trader, out of pure
gratitude (D, gives the officer another fee. l
defeated one such precious scheme since my i'm
prlsonment, by writing to the slave-h e-holder-a
humane man-and thus saved pious slave from
being torn fiom his family for life. l got t,ro
enemies by it.
Another trick is managed by the conuivance
of the jail keepers. A runaway is put in jail,
and the keepers, for specified fee, (S500D give
exclusive notice to particular trader of the fact
This gives the trader chance to negotiate with
the master, at distance, and get his slave at
half price, buying him "on the wing" This
has often been done this summer. One Of the
visitors of the jail, 10 whom mentioned it, de-
Tended Ii as customary perquisite OF the prison
officers.
Another "psrquisi.e" of these gentry. is 90
per cent. of the fees for all the cases they are
able to give lawyer, with whom bargain is
previously made. Of course, none but very in
ferior lawyer would degrade himself By making
such bargain. This summer, very amusing
quarrel took place between our keepers and their
legal coadjutor as to the honesty OF the latter in
paying over the proper share of The fees They
uled TO drive bargain with another-oue Of
my friends-but received no countenance from
him. You see the art of sponging" is not al
together to be classed among the lost arts" OF
prmeval world.
These hungry animals are very ready to plum.
der the slave holder; they do it often of course
they will not scruple to do the like with the free
colored man, and others of the more defenceless
classes.
FIRE at BLooMlsGDALE.-We learn that Burn
bar upell hofs tta 1o1a acd