New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1858-07-14
FROM PHILADELPHIA.
uow GREAT DEFALcATIoSs BESlS-THE UNDER
GROUND RAILROAD AHUPA CTUREs-sTEAM
YIRR-EN6iNRs.

Prem Our Own Cor-ssponaent.
PHILADELPHIA, Jaly 10, 1859.
II 10 one Of the marked pecahari.ies Of modern
,ala:py, that The great s.indlsrs who rob public
institutions, commit wholesale forgeries, or clean
cut two. million bank Of It's entire ea1ita turning
countless families into beggars never coDdescend
70 eonfem their crimes. On the contrary, they
Are more apt 10 turn short round and Ju'tny
their villsinies. That profession which blaes-
stone declared was the perfection OF hhmAh
reason, but whore sole business is Ihe H.
discriminate defense Of night or wrong, ne'er
hcks its willing champions of The blackes. rascal
for consideration In ancient times when the
thief was caught and the stealing proved upon him.
he forthwith confessed 10 the chaplain, and swung
of with penitential alscrity, if NOT to the public
e1ihca.iop at lesst to their Immense Satisfaction
But low the order Of proceedings is reversed.
WHAT confession Of bis plundenDe practices has
ADbone vOachsafed ~ this community, or Wne
among the money changing thieves who coilnded
with that pous man to break the Bank Of Pennsyl-
vana, has condesceIded TO any weakness Of that
Hind On the contrary, al that money can DO
with law and lawyers has been secretly invoked 10
prevent INC COUpUttOSy VI '.ii"io''0
which ought long ago t. have been exposed.
Imagine, then, our ss.onishment az beng
tea that one great public defau.er has
violated oil the prophecies Of swindllng ethics,
and made full confession. Frederick W. Porter,
hate of the Sunday School Union, has up aud told
when he became defaulter, how he did IT, ana
what causes operated to make him such. ine Con
kssiOn is full and complete, such as man oi hiS
lQng pretensiOD 10 religious cOnVIctloh ought 10
make The revelation is of course Illuminating 10
the last degree, and conveys at the same tiine
most impressive warning 10 all men 10 shun Tue
very first temptation 10 conceal the moderate loss
10 a bad speculation by resOrtDg 10 dishonest
means. Porter mdueed with hundreds OF
Others, sOme twenty years ago, I'D specuating 10
mulberries. Like many others he lost much money;
but unlike them, instead of honestly avowng losses
fairly made in business, he sought to conceal them
by issuing paper in the name of the Union To psy
them. He confesses that it sin from the be-
ginning but that he intended to make all good.
For nineteen years he carried on the game OF de-
ceptiOn, high professor of religion, and enjoying
the full confidence Of the Union all the time But
the deficiency continued to grow on his hands, and
though he had no family but wife, anu though he
lived moderately and INDUCED in no excesses, yet
usury in the end devOured him. The crisis of 1857
proved too severe for the amount he bad TO carry,
and the crime was revealed. The Union loses over
$4,000 This unhappy man is over 40 years OF
age, and is now stripped of character and money.
He has given up all he had. cOncealiDg nothing. 1t
possible he has been sufficiently punished already,
and that his voluntary pentence may get him clear
Of the law.
This city and your own are the great central sta
tiOns of that glorious humanitarian institution of
modern times, the Underground Railroad. As or
ganzed effort at emancipation IL has been infinitely
successful than any of its stockholders dare TO
ayow. All its officers from what Southern /
Brethren facetOusly call the head devil down to the
humblest conductor preserve discreet and dlgn-
fed silence to its proceedings. But the amount
Of stock transported over it is annually ncreas-
ING in amount and the stockholders quite salts
6ed with its returns. The note-boo Of the Secre-
tary il an eloquent record OF the acts OF those VINO
DO good by stealth and blush to find it fame. The
tyranny which sent Passmore Williamson to lal
caused no fall in the value of it's stock, but rather
increased the demand. That little circumstance
was capital advertisement, from which 1t prohted
largely. Last week chattel from Delaware took
the train under peculiar circumstances. His name
was not Bob, but let him be so called. Wen, Bob
WAS 20 years old, and fellow of infinite parts, good
for 81, 600 any day that his master might become
hard up for that amount. lie was also capita
nurse for masters two little boys, whom he dandled
on his knee in the kitchen regularly every evening.
One night last week while singing TO the boys IN the
Kitchen one of the little fellows nnocently told
him, "Bob, papp's sole you for Georgy. seed
de money for YOU" "lIush minute responded
Bob, who put the child down and stepped out the
door, and reaching the sittiOg-room OF bis master,
Jaw stranger actually counting out bank notes be-
fore him.
Bob had noticed the stranger about the farm
during the day. but no suspicion of his object had
crossed his mind. But he saw the money IN his
hand and the iron manacles lying on the table lie
turned aud was of on the nstant-no hat, no shoes.
As he cleared the barn-yard, only short distance
from the house. he heard his master calling for hun.
Bat he was gone, and as If by instinct, the TWO
wretches snuffed his design immediately. They
both mounted horses in pursuit Bob steered
directly for Philadelphia, lodged them repeatedly
on the road, and twice heard them trampiug over
the wooden bridges under which he had suddenly
concealed himself. Just as day was half breaking,
his pursuers entered the city by the Marketstreet
bridge. Bob guided by the fugitye's God, entered
il by crossing at Gray's Ferry. A light streaming
from an old wooden shanty attracted him, and as
he approached it he discovered an lrishwOman
milking her COW. Now, Bob had but one friend III
the wOrld-an old father, who had bought his free
dom years ago and settled in Philadelphia. Our
people know him well, and you don't care what
name he bears. But Bob, thinking of this only
friend, with characteristic simplicity asked the
woman if she knew where Billy Bowser lived.
"Bless YOU" she replied, "to be sure i do.
Don't l serve his mix every morning Bob
quickly found his father, but only to be compelled
to be prisoner in his garrett until ticket on the
Underground could be procured. But recently
eight other chattels from the same State spproprl-
ated boat in the river, crossed safely into New
Jersey, soon found a conductor of the road, and
are now their own masters in Canada. Talk of
Underground stock being quoted below par while
such trade as this in live stock is doing
have spent week among the manufacturing es-
Establishments within few miles of our city. eSpe-
clally those engaged I'm prOdncinv niece cnnds A