Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1858-05-06
[From the Lancaster Pa) Express, April 18Th =
Death of the Last Pennsylvania sIa,.


We some time since noticed that there ~.
but one slave IN this county Of the nnnl
manamitted under the act of abolisbing I-o7 cIo,.7
in Pennsylvania. That last relic Of the 'Ta's! 9
iized barbarism" Of our fathers now no ,o.I W.
He died on the 5th inst, at a very adyor'',
age, supposed by many to be the oldest nar,,. ,,a
in the county. His name was Abram Ei,I
and he was the slave Of Stephen Porter of H.
more township, by whom he was mannmt,.s
His exact age is not known, the Slave Rero,Ii
of the Court of Quarter Sessions in which ~
date of his birth, and other particulars ra. ,r'
no doubt registered not being among the o,S '
er records of that Office. The index js thu '.l'
in which it appears that Stephen Porter ba5'
slave registered in Book No | the miss
record referred to. 1t has been ascertoin.Ss
however, from other dates, that Kirk ~.
over 103 years old when he died, and the ~.
sumption is that he was still Of more ad,sn'
ed age He was, in maay respects, remorL
BILE negro. His memory, and indeed al hi
faculties were unusually sound to the last ,,5
he seemed to pass away in the easy natpr,,
sleep of dissolution by old age. He cor3
remember many incidents of the Reyolp,io,
some of which he related with an inter,sin,
minuteness Of detail One in particular. .wbGS
seemed to have made a deep impression pno.
his mind, referred to the services rendered hv
La Fayette in the struggle for American Ijb.:
ty. When a young man, in 1881, he ASSISTED
in rowing that General and his troops acros,
the Susquehanna, at Ball Frar, aud was o.
ten heard to relate an incident which then Or.
Cured. and the remark it called forth fron
the French patriot The boat in which Abam
was rowing having accidently run on the rock,
in the stream, La Fayette called out to tbns
in charge of the boat " Do not drown any n
my noble men / expect to have need Of them
all at Yorktown"
This old slave had scrupulous regard "a,
honesty and the truth On one occasion
some two or three years ago, be was called to
give testimony in a case then trying in our
court He told straightforward story Of
what he knew, and all present were struck
with his simplicity of manner and evident can.
dor but the attorney interested on the other
side fet called upon to ply the old fellow With
a pretty crooked croSs-examinatiOn which 10.
duced the old man to think the lawyer was
trying to induce him to depart from tie truth
"A conclusion in which he was doubtless Dot
far astray Looking the limb of the law ful
in the face with an earnest gaze, he said, DO
you think | came here to tell lie p Tli
satisfied the questioner that old Abram bad
told the truth honestly, and would not in tho
least allow himself to be led from it,
THIS old Africans funeral was largely atter.
ded for while living he had been highly re,.
pected in the neighborhood, as an honest and
inOffensve man. His remains were inferred
at Penn Hill, in Fulton township.
The last slave That solitary figure under
the head Of " Slaves" which We iud in The
census of Lancaster county for 1850 will d.
appear from the new census