The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1870-02-04

sometimes | was kept concealed
for three days at time, before ] could
be safely forwarded To the next depot
OF the underground
AZ needn't tell you that the thing
became terribly tiresOme; and began
to think I'd better have walked all
the way from TuscUmbia to Pittsburg.
"Once or twice did think Of giyin'
the slip To nv kind conductors; but
then ! changed my mind and resolved
10 continue on tO the Ohio, which |
knew couldn't be far ahead On reach
ing it, / took il for granted / could
easily throw off my disguise.
~ at length reached it; but instead
Of being carried across in q public fer
ry-bOat, as ] supposed would have
, been the case, | was pulled out OF the
wagon. hurried into a skiff, and rOwed
across under cover Of the night.
"Now, thought |, | am free. I've
ONLY got TO steal off from my abOlit-
ionist friends, and make my way up
the river to Pittsburg.
sBut / soon found | had made n
mistake in my TeckOnin'. When l
proposed, in true darkey tongue, to
give my kind conductors no further
trouble, they at once said no. There
was no safety for me this side the
lakes, they said. ! must be taken on
into Canada.
'T protested, and asked why. / was
told, that they dared not let me stop
i'm the State Of Ohio. / would be Ger
tain of being pursued, and taken back
to Alabama. There were spies and
informers all through the State of
Ohio, in the pay of the Southern
planters; and not only would be dis
covered, but they, who had so kindly
assisted me to escape, would get into
trouble by it. 1t might break up the
Underground line!
'The men who talked this way, and
who were now in charge of me, were
a very different iOOkin' set from those
who had hitherto been passin' me
from hand to hand. They wore rough,
staIwart fellows, dressed in homespun
their belts. They talked, and acted,
as if it would be leetle dangerous to
deny them.
"It was only afterward that l learn
ed, why they were so anxious for my
safe carriage to Canada. 1t was not
from any philanthropy in themselves,
but because of the reward which phil
anthrOpists give, to them as may do
'em service.
"These men were employed by the
; Northern abolitiOnists, and paid so
much per head for every runaway
slave they couldget clear through into
Canada.
'rThough it was in the darkness of
night, I could tell, while palaverin'
with them, that they weren't goin' to
be trified with; and that to declare my
real character, would have got me
rough treatmen-perhaps lynching
on the spot. Willin' or not, 1 saw l
should be compelled to continue the
underground journey; and continue it
l did.
HT was in hopes of being able TO es-
cape from them, before travelling far
through the free State of Ohio, and es-
pecially, when they showed me into
the railway train just starting for San
dusky.
"But one of them got on along with
me, keepin' as close as if he'd been a
sheriff7s officer talIin' me to the county
Jail. d,
az could do nOthin' until we had
reached Sanduslky. Once there, how
ever, my dander got up; for I'd come
TO he angry at bein' so long kept pris-
oner. So at length I threw off the
mask, and proclaimed the true color
of my skin. 1t was in the tavern,
where we were stoppin' TO wait for a
Detroit boat.
"Never was man more aStOnished
than my late travellin' companion
and care-talIer, when he saw the wool
wig lifted off my head, and the cork
streamin' down my cheeks under n
strong application o. soap and water.
"And not more astOnished than
angry: since the deception had caused
him a journey as expensive, as it was
without profit to him. My transform
alton had deprived him of his bounty.
'fHe'd have given me good thresh
in if it hadn't been for some Of the
Sanduskians interferin' to hinder him;
and, after cursin' me considerable, he
went his way.
''He wasn't long gone, when l be-
gun to think I'd been fool, for not
keepin' up the sham, and lettin' him
take me on into Canada. Had / done
so, / should have received sufficient
money from him to carry me back to
Pittsburg; for the undergrounds used
always give something to runaway
nigger to start him in his new life.
"As it was, / was still as far from
home as in Tuscumbia, and worse off;
! for was set down in the cold streets
of Sanduslly, in the middle o. winter,
with only thin jeans cOatOn my back
and pair of white panlaloOns on my
legs, and not cent in the pocket of
either!
Fortunately, there were some fell
lows got round me who were so tick
led at the trick I'd played the abOlit-
ioner, that they raised subscription
! to send me across the country to Pitts
! burg.
az got there at last; but too late for
nv Christmas dinner, as well as the
engagement at the theatre; which, of
course, stranger, lost"
NV feIlow-traveller in the smoking
car predicted truly. His tale caused
me to laugh, almost to the splitting OF
my sides.
iSay!, he exclaimed, after lighting
cigar had offered him, "you've not
/ heard the whole of it. There's an
other chapter to come"
"Indeed. I'm glad of that. What
is the other chapter?"
ats only a sequel, as we say in the
play-bills, and isn't exactly about
me.n
"How then?"
"Joe Collum. Joe, as I've told you,
was as tired of Tuscumbia as myself.
After I'd gone, and thinkin' I'd made
good thing of it, he determined to
try the same game. SO, followin' my
example, he painted niger, and put
himself under the care of the under
ground conductors. '-.gT -E-..
afBut the deception pd- played 'em
had come back, by grapevine tele-
graph, I reckon, along the line-ma-
kin, them more partickler as to the
sort of passengers they carried. So
when Joe had got about halfway to
the Ohio, they sponged the cork from
off o. his phiz, and then further puri-
fled him by duckin' in some Ken
lucky horse-pond, that well nigh end
ed in his bein' drOwnded. Ha! ha!
haiu
The railway trip was taking was
full fifty miles in length. In listen
ing to my fellow-smoker's story of his
'liOurney underground" it appeared
not more than five!
"OrOIde" Watches.
For n considerable time past "OrOide'
watches have heen widely advertised,
and a foo p1lIlibIe Dublic has doubtless