The Republican journal., 1881-11-10

| y Ou dlt ii IIeeuldn, maven l you Z.
Eyes, sir" | answered; have a paper
with the American eagle on it, and that
will carry me around the world'
With this drew from my deep sailors
pocket my seaman's protection, as before
described. The merest glance at the pa
per satisfied him, and he took my fare
and went on about his business. This
moment OF time was one of the most anX-
ious | ever experienced. Had the con
ductor looked closely at the paper he
could not have failed to discover that it
called for very different looking person
from myself, and in that case it would
have been his duty to arrest me on the
instant and send me back to Baltimore
from the first station. When he left me
with the assurance that | was all right,
though much relieved, realized that |
was still in great danger; | was still in
| Maryland, and subject to arrest at any
moment. | saw on the train several per
sons who would have known me in any
other clothes, and feared they might
recognize me, even in my sailor rig
and report me to the conductor, who
would then subject me to a closer eX-
animation, which knew well would be
fatal to me.
Though | was not a murderer fleeing
from Justice, | felt perhaps quite as mis-
cradle as such criminal. The train was
moving at a very high rate of speed for
tlat epoch Of railroad travel, but to my
anxious mind 1t was moving far too slow
| y. Minutes were hours, and hours were
days during this part Of my flight After
Maryland, was to pass through Delaware
another slave State, where slave catch
crs generally awaited their prey, for it
was not in the interior of the State, but
on its borders, that these human hounds
| We're most yigilant and active. The Dor
der lines between slavery ana freedom
We're the dangerous ones for the fugitves
! The heart of no fox or deer, with hungry
| hounds on his trail in full chase could
| have beaten more anNiOuSly or nOisilY
| than did mine from the time left Balti-
more till reached Philadelphia. The
passage of the Susquehanna River at
Hayre de Grace was at that time made
| 10y ferry boat on board of which met a
| young col0rcd man by the name of Mich
OILS, who came very near bGtraving me-
He was a ''hand' OH the boat, but, in
! stead Of minding his business, he insisted
! upon knowing NE, and asking me danger
! GUS questions as to where was going,
when | was coming back, etc. ! got away
! from my old and mc0nvenient acQuain-
tance as soon as cOuld decently DO SO,
and went to another part Of the boat
| once across the river, | encountered a
new danger. only q few days before,
had been at work on a revenue cutter,
! in Mr.. Prices ship-yard in Baltimore,
under the care Of Captain McGoWan. On
the meeting at this point Of the TWO trains,
the one going south stopped on the track
just opposite 10 the one gong north, and
1t SO happened that Captain McG0Wan
sat at a window where he could see me
very distinctly, and would certainly have
recognized me had he looked at me but
Tor a second. Fortunately, in the hurry
Of the moment, he did not see me and
the tr, ins soon passed each other on their
respective ways. But this was not my
| only hair breadth escape. \ German
blacksmith whom knew we'll was on the
train with NE, and looked al me very in
tently. as if he thought he had seen me
somewhere before in his travels | really
believe he knew me, but had no heart to
betray me. At any rate, he saw me
escaping ana QCIU MS peace.
The last point of imminent danger, and
the one dreaded most, was Wilmington.
Here we LETT the train and took the steam
boat for Philadelphia In making the
change here again apprehended arrest,
but no one disturbed me, and | was soon
on the broad and beautiful Delaware,
speeding away to the Quaker City. On
reaching Philadelphia in the afternoon
inquired Of a colored man how could get
on to New \ ork. He directed me to the
William street depot and thther | went,
taking the train that night | reached
New York Tuesday morning, having
completed the journey in less than TWEEN
ty-tour hours.
My free life began on the third of Sep
tember, 1898. On the morning of the
fourth OF that month, after an anxious
and most perIous but safe journey, |
found myself in the big city of New York,
tire MGll-one more added to the mighty
tlr0ng which, like the confused waves Of
the troubled sea, surged to and fro
between the lofty walls of Broadway.
Though daZzled with the wonders which
met me on every hand, my thoughts could
not have been much drawn from nv
strange situation. For the moment the
dreams Of my manhood were completely
fulfilled. The bonds that had held me
to "old MASTER were broken. No man
now had right to call Inc his slave or
assert mastery over me. ! was in the
rough and tumble of an outdoor world, to
take my chance with the rest of its busy
number. | have often been asked how |
felt when first found myself on free soil
There is scarcely anything in my eN-
perience about which could not give
more satisfactory answer. \ new world
had opened upon me- If life is more than
breath and the 'quck round of blO0d,' !
lived more in that one day than in a year
of my slave life. 1t was a time of Joyous
excitement which words can but tamely
describe. In a letter written to a friend
soon after reaching New York, said II
felt as one might feel upon escape from a
den Of hungry lions" Anguish and grief.
like darkness and rain, may be depicted;
but gladness and joy, like the rainbow,
defy the skill of pen or pencil. During
ten or fifteen years had been us it were,
dragging heavy chain which no strength
OF mine could break; was not only a
slave but a slave for life. | might be-
come husband, father, an aged man,
but through all from birth to death, from
the cradle to the grave, | had felt myself
doomed. All efforts | had previously
m2de to secure my freedom had not only
failed, but had seemed only to rivet my
letters the more firmly, and to render my
escape more difficult. Baff1ed, cntanged
and discouraged, | had at times asked
myself the question, May not my condi
ton after all be Gods work, and ordered
for wise purpose, and if 50, is not sub
mission my duty? y contest had in fact
been going on in my mind for long time
between the clear consciousness Of right
and the plausible make shifts of theology
and superstition. The one held me an
abect slave prisoner for life, punished
for some transgresson in which | had no
part and the other cOunseled me to man
II pnIp1Nlp tn SQpiIrp trpalpD1 This