Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1846-02-27
MISCELLANEOUS.
From The Liberty Bell.
FUGITIVE SLAVES IN NORTHERN
OHIO.
ny J. r GIDDiNGs.

NY J. r GIDDiNGs.
1t was on a pleasant evening in the month
of May, 4. d. 1910, justas the sun had sunk
from view, when the laborers were returning
from their fields, that a husband, wife, and
two children, on foot, with wearied steps,
were seen entering the village of -, in
Northern Ohio. The Oldest child was a lad
of some fourteen, the other a daughter, appa-
rently two years his junior. Each carried a
small bunG'e Of what appeared to be clothing.
From their dusky compilations, their anxious
countenances, and their tattered dresses, it
was apparent that they were fleeing from the
land of bondage.
The people of the village were noted for
their sympathy for the down-trodden slave
1t was known for hund reds of miles as an
asylum for the painting fugitive. The friends
Of humanity would direct their course to this,
as a place Of safety from the rapacious slave
holder, and the despicable slave-catcher.-
These facts were also known to the owners
of slaves in Virginia and Kentucky. When
they once learned that their locomotive prop
erty had directed its course to this village,
they usually gave up the pursuit altogether,
or came hither for it without further inquiry
hoping that by some means they might sue
ceel in arresting their victims even in this
citadel of liberty. So on the present occa-
sion, the owner Of the family to which | have
introduced to the reader, having found that the
objects of his pursuit had bent their course
directly to the village in question, made no
further stop for inquiry, bat with his two as
s~istants, drove with all possible speed to the
very place where the fugitive family had be-
lieved themselves free from his fangs. In
the meantime, the father. mother and their
little ones, on their first arrival, were welcom-
ed to the house of a well known friend of hui
mainly, and, after being d ly refreshed, were
conducted in the darkness of the evening, to
a neighborlng house to lodge. This was done
to prevent all trace of their wnereabouts.-
b 1t it so happened that even here, there were
those whose tender sympathies are all in ia
vor of the STAKEHOLDER, and are ready at all
times to advocate the right of the oppressor to
his property, in the bodies of their fellow-men.
One of these had watched the movements OF
the friends of humanity, and when the slave
holder and his assistants arrived, at one or
two O'Clock tho next morning, they found him
in the road, ready, for a small compensation
to conduct them to the building in which the
fugitive family were sleeping. THROWING
him two or three dollars, without alighting,
they desired him TO point out the dwelling
where the slaves might be found. Gather
lhS up the ttiCc VI HIS ptIuuy, without any
further remark, he passed on before them.
and stopping, silently pointed them to the door,
and then, as if conscious of his guilt. disap-
peared and hid himself from view in his own
bedroom. One of the slave-hunters remain
ed with their horses, as if conscious that their
property was not safe in a land where a man
could be hired t. betray his fellow man
while the other two, with pistols and bowie.
knives In hand, entered the dwelling, and de-
manded their slaves. Thus suddenly arous-
ed from their slumbers, the inmates were dis
mayed at the loud threats with which thew
were saluted. They regarded escape as i'm
possible, and suffered themselves to be seiz-
ed and tound, and in less time than | have
occupied In relating these facts, they were on
their way to a land of bondage. will leave
my readers to imagine the horror of these pa
rents as they were thus compelled toturn their
footsteps towards the scene of their former
degradation, and, in contemplation, to behold
themselves and children sold to the far South,
destined to drag out miserable existence up-
on the cotton or sugar plantations of Missis-
sippi or Louisiana.
But the news of their escape spread rapid