Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1881-02-24

tiOns before this, but they were very
mild, advocating the abolition Of slavery
on economical grounds. Lundy's society
went to the root of the matter, declar-
ing slavery to be a political evil, and an
unmitigated curse Six years after this,
at Mt. Pleasant, Mr.. Lundy commenced
the publication of the first distinctively
anti-slavery journal in the United States
called 1.-The Genius of Universal Eman-
cipation." Bat Lundy was not organ
lied for steady work, but became a sort
of John the Baptist "crying in the will
derness," and commenced travelling and
lecturing against slavery. He visited
Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia,
and Baltimore, Md, delivering anti
slavery addresses wherever he went. At
Baltimore he re-issued his paper, and
continued his travels eastward, lectur-
ing and soliciting subscription to his pa
per. In 1928 he visited Boston and
could not find a single abOlitionist. Here
he met William Lloyd Garrison, a jour
neyman printer, who, becoming con-
vert to Lundy's views, two years later
issued the first number of the "Libera-
tor" which gave Garrison a national
reputation, and was published down to
the close of the late war.
/ give this much of the history of Mr.
Lundy in order to introduce Mr.. Steel.
After Lundy left Ohio, his society fell
to pieces, but the seeds of the anti-sla-
very gospel had been planted, and the
first political work of Mr.. Steel engaged
in on reaching his majority. was to re-
vlve the work inaugurated by Lundy.
which he did about the year 1880, when
Garrison was starting his paper of Bos-
ton. And from that date down to the
final overthrow of the slave power at
Appomattox Court House, where Gener-
al Lee handed his sword to U. S. Grant.
William Steel was sternly pushing some
effort to wipe out the sum of all vii
lainies.
| Lundy commenced his labors in 1915 !;
Garrison and Steel enlisted in 1880;
Lovejoy commenced at st. Louis in 1885; {;
and was murdered and his printing press
destroyed at Alton, ILL.,, in 1886. Wendell
Phillips took his stand at meeting held
at the court house in Boston tO denOunce
the murder of Loyejoy in 1887. Of these
five men who might appropriately be
styled the Apostles of AbolitiOnism, but
two belonged to the learned professions.
Philips was a lawyer, and LovejOy a
Presbyterian minister Each man Sc
lected his work. Lundy went to preach
ing his grand dream of Universal
Emancipation, even to the Isles of the
Sea. Garrison became an editor; Love-
| joy also selected the same field of labor.
Philips chose the platform. and became
the finest orator in America. And what
did William Steel do?
While taking an active part in poll
tics, he early saw that much good might
be done by aiding the poor fugitive
slaves who occasionally made their es-
cape across the Ohio river. painting for
liberty. Prior to 1912, runaway slaves
coming to Ohio were treated kindly by
all classes, although no efforts were put
forth by any one to encourage slaves to
leave their masters in the slave States.
In 1912 the Ohio Legislature passed a
law making it penal offense to aid or
harbOr any runaway slaves. Mr.. Steel,
then prominent and well-tO-do mer-
chant at Woodsfeld, openly denounced
this law as a violation of every princi-
pie of justice and sentiment of humani-
ty, which God would justify every man
in disObeying. To disObey the law was
| to Imprisonment in the penitentiary.
But nothing daunted, Mr.. Steel organized
that secret society known throughout
Ohio and other western States as THE
Underground Railroad" This unincor-
porated, unrecorded society of anti-sla-
very men and women, laid regular lines
to travel and communicate from the
Ohio river to Canada, at various points
in Ohio and Indiana, extending its Oper-
ations finally to Kansas. Mr. Steels
house in Woodsfield was the first place
of rendezvous north of the Ohio river
and to this place the slaves were run
from the crossing places on the river in
both Monroe and Washington counties.
From Steels the fugitiVes were forward
ed on northward to other members of
the league. Travelling was always in
in the night time, and the average run
made each night in good weather was
twenty miles, so that it was from ten to
twelve days from the time the slave
crossed the Ohio until he landed in
Canada.
From Steeps house in Ohio the league
extended westward, so that when Con-
gress passed the fugitive slave law in
1850 the United States marshals were
everywhere met and dcircumvented by an
ever active, sleepless opposition, which
securely blocked their way, thwarted
every movement, and even stole the
slaves out of their hands.
The law and the whole power of the
government was on the side Of the
Shareholder, and to harbOr or aid the
slaves to liberty was to risk great dan
gers. But the work went on despite the
efforts to stop it. In vain did the mar
shals make visits to suspected houses
in vain did they intercept suspected let
ters. The league put nothing in writing.
They had signs and passwords so that in
midnight darkness they could detect
friend or foe, but no detective skill could