The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1845-04-17
TALES OF OPPRESSION.
BY REV. C. T. TORREY.

| dItSI, OtluuStHS iH L icucIlCk CUuuly, WA
ryland, went into Pennsylvania with s
drove of cattle, and was gone more than
the legal twenty days. On his return
two miscreants, utterly worthless in purse
and character, but with whilish faces, com
plained of bim--got him in jail, and in
various ways con,r;ved to run up the bill
of fines and costs to over seventy dollars.
For this he was sold as q Stare for life,
purchased by stakeholder in Baltimore,
and sent to the far south. |: was this
summer.
Another case A certain DR. D.
of Howard district, sent to this Jail an old
black man, his wife a light muIatto wo-
man, and her four little children, all whi-
ter than their mother Two OF them, he
woman said, were her masters. The
husband said they all were. No doubt oil
it. They have since been sold to the
slave traders. Such occurrences are by
no means unusual here. Yet the chris
tians OF Baltimore never know anything
abou! them, when you ask. In truth, ii
would be incredible news 10 nine>tenths
of the better sort of people Of this city,
that from two to four thousand slaves are
every year sold, in their midst, including
at least five hundred members OF the body
of Christ, humble, prayerful, ignorant bat
sincere christians. Such topics they do
not inquire into. "The righteous perish
eth, and no man. of them "layelh it TO
heart" Why! The victims are poor,
black or "yelIow,' and american slares
victims Of the great American Slave
Tradc. But it is perfect folly to rebuke
the Save Trader. The trader is the mere
agent of the sIa7etrade. The GREAT
CRIME is to hold q man IN SLAVERY.
Items of ii different class 1T is very
common here for the police and other
slave hunting knaves, to play tricks on
Shareholders. will give you fe " sam
pies. One police has in pay over twenty
coored spies here, besides others in Phil
adeIphia and elsewhere. Their business
is to nveigle slaves 10 runaway, hide
them up, and betray them. When the
master misses his slave, he soon adverlses
his one hundred dollars reward often he
applies to this very police firm for aid |
la few days they are ready. of course,
10 hand over the poor victim Of their arts,
and pocket The reward, besides getting
praise as vigiant officers! They once
had in their pay an active member of a
Northern Vigilance Committee, who is
well known 10 me. He is not now on the
committee.
Another trick is somewhat similar -
Many colored people for ten mites around
are suffered to come to Baltimore. on the
Sabbath, 10 see their friends, and attend
church. A constable deslrous of raising
the wind, finds one without a pass, puts
him in jail, or some place Of confinement
sometimes one of the slave PRISONS
says nothing about i. ill the master offers
his reward, and then Mr. Constable cooiv
pockets the reward of his knavery. Be-
sides, the slave, as suspected runaway,
is commonly sold 10 the traders at low
price, and the trader, out Of pure gratitude,
gives the officer another fee. | defeated
one such precious scheme since my i'm
prisonment, by writing to The STAKEHOLDER
"A humane man--and thus saved pious
slave from being torn from his family for
life. got two enemies by it.
Another trick is managed by the conni-
vance of the jail keepers A runaway is
put in Jail, and the keeper, for a specified
fee, tive dollars) gives e1cIusirc notice to
particular trailer of the fact. This
gives the trader a chance 10 negoiale WITH
the master. at distance. and to get his
slave at half price buying him ION the
wing" This has often been done this
summer. One ofIhe visilers OF the jail ,
to whom mentioned it defended it as a
customary perqulsite of The prisoa Off
GERS
Another 'perquisile' Of these gentry, is
twenty per cent, Of the fees Tor all the ca
ses they are able to give Il lawyer, with
whom bargain is previously made. OF
course, none but very Inferior lawyer
would degrade himself by making such
bargain. This summer very amusing
quarrel took place between our keepers
and their legal coadjotor, as to the homes
~ Of the latter in PAYING over the proper
share Of the fees They lried to drive
bargain with another one Of my friends
but received no countenauce from hi,n.
You see the art OF "spongiog" is not al
together to be cIassed among The lost arts
Of primevai world
Those hungry animals are very ready
10 plumber The Shareholder, they do it
often; of course they will not scrupl lie 10 Go
the like with the free coored MAJ and
others of The more deenceipss classes.
EARLY PuBEETY IN GREECE Mr.
Strong, the Bavariau Consul at Athens,
ia recent work, Greece as a Kingdom,
vo., London Sales.--future is SO ex-
trcmeIy precocious in Greece that fe-
males attain the age ofpuberty at 10 or
II years, and men at / 5 and 6. Young
IL. Il an.l 1 z 49,, G.onA.nnil,, NTH