The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1886-05-23
FUGITIVE SLAVE STORIES.
AUNT Laura HAyiI.AND AND
THE UNDERGROUND RAIL
WAY.
How q Woman Tausht School, Help
ell the Slave aud Cared for the
Soldiers. An Interesting
Story of fAnte-Bellum


Story of fAn,e-Bellum
Days.
Probably You are thinking that by this
timo | should begin telling what saw
and heard over at our neishbor's house.
Well, as was PLAYING hide and seek
with the smaller children am a pretty
good chunk Of boy myself hid in Il
dark closet under the stairs. and while
there kicked nv foot against some big
irons. and hurt my toe so badly that /
fear said something naughty. At any
rate, the big irons and | together made
SD much noise that was quickly discov-
cred. And here is where my story be.
gins. pulled the offending irons out
into the sitting room, and declared
would take them down to the swamp
near the Washington Park racecourse
and drown them.
mo, you won't" said JImmy. "lou
shan't take them out Of the house. They
are Aunt Laura's slave irons. and she
wouldn't lose them for the world.
"And what in the deuce says |. b.
ing still little irritated on account Of
the ache in my toe. "what in the Il nee
iSa slave iron, ANYWAY
Aunt Laura will tell us All about
them. won't YOU, Aunt Laura:
And as Jimmy spoke an old woman.
wearing a white cap with black strings
tied under her chin, came iato the room.
She seemed to I've very old. bnt she came
in spryly, and her eyes were :, bright
that ! hardly knew whether She wa. IN
"A ,,ssl ,,.t,l lnt
wrinkled face.
Aunt Laura" said Jimmy. tell Ms
about how you got these slay" irons,
won't you. please
Certainly. my hoy. In the fall Of
1868 | was at Natchez, Miss. nurse in
the Union army. | lso did the best
could to relieve the suffering OF the
slaves on the plantations which were
swept by the armies. On one Of my
visits among the slaves on the Ralston
plantation, across the river frcm Natciez
| observed a pile OF irons lying in front
of the blacksmith shop. Placing my
foot on "A queer-shaped double iointed
ring, asked what it was.
"Dat's Uncle TINS collar said an old
woman standing near by
"But how could such a thing bc used
fnr collar" inquired. 1T could not
h~ takes utf the neck, heing 50 strongly
riveted."
"Oh. yes it could. said the old woman.
Uncle Tim he wore dat collar two vars.
workn' in dc cotton field o'er dar two
pa ;nns. DE iron it wore big holes in
tlis body clean down to de bone. and da
got full o worms afore he died. His
head and neck all swelled up. an he
prayed many times to iod to take him
ont Of his misery. lie iinly crawleh
nir in dat fence corner" pointing to the
spot. IAN died thar.
but how did they get the collar of
They didn't break the riyetS, did they"
mo. massa George Ralston had his
head cut of to git der collar OIL
This story was told bv n half dozen or
more of the slaves, and they showed mr
where n long iron rol ran up from the
collar. holding n hell two or three feet
ni,ve Uncle Tins head. The slaves of.
lrnse was trying To run away to the
swamp near by. and the las, time Mas
ter kalston caught him he swore he'd
Tx him So he could never run away
again, and he kept his word. There Were
other irons there. and took up one of
them. two rings connected bJ an iron /
rod about foot and half long. AMI in |
quired what they were for.
DEEMS knee stifiners. said an o'd I
negro. "io war on the leg to keep 'em
from runnin off in dat swamp point
ing to the swamp bordering Lake Con
rorlia, 50 fully draped with long SOUTH
ern moss that it wa, almost as dark aS
night. BY placing one Of the rings
about the ankle and the other about the
leg above the knee. the poor slaves leg
was made 80 stiil and heavy he could .
not bend it aud walk, but was able to
drag himtelf around and work. The
Ral,ton plantation had been conlisca'ed, F.
and so took the irons ava, with me
and brought them north
"But did all slave owners treat their
slaves 50 awfullv. Aunt l.luraf inquired
one of the children.
"Oh, no: there were many slave own.
ers who treated their negroes well in
everything except giving them their lib
erty. The Ralstons were among the
worst men in the south. One of their
slaves was once nailed to the fence 10y
his ear, and whipped so severely that, IN
his writings of pain. he tore his ear
loose from the nail"
Now think ought to tell you some
thing about Aunt Laura Out in our
neighhorhood we all call her Aunt Ilti-
ra. but her name /, Mrs. lIavllanl She
is almost 20 wears old. and has led a very
busy life. Her parents were good old
Quakers down in York State, and OF
course she was Quaker. too. sup
pose that's the same reason am n Meth
olis, aud Democrat Ny father is
Democrat and m, mother is Methodist.
Aunt Laura was married to a young
man named Charles Haviland in Now
cmber, 1925. What long time ago
that seems. A few years later they
moved out into what was then the wild
West and settled at Rasin. lenawee
county. Michigan. 1t seems that was
quite Quaker settlement. as they soon
organized a society Of Friends. But
about 1886 the Haviland family joined
with Elizabeth Margaret Chandler in or
ganzing the first anti-slavery society in
Michigan, and this at once raise trouble
in the church. which ended in Aunt
Laura becoming Wesleyan Methodist
About the same time she opened a man.
ual labor school for poor children. At
that time there was not school in Mich
,ean which received colored children.
An escaped slave named John White
had taken refuge at Raisin, When the
hunters came after John she shipped
him to Canada Just in the nick Of