The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-10-17
AN EARLYFRIEND OF SLAVES
A Visit to the Home of a Once Famous
Indiana Advocate of Abolition.
The Underground System" of Helping on
Fugitive Blacks in Their Flight for Free
dom-A Great Debate OH Slavery.

born county, was invited by friend to take
drive. "Come with me-" said the friend, II
want you to see man who, at one time, was
more talked about than any person in south
eastern Indana-one who, in his time, was great
and strong, man of unfinching courage and
Uncomfortable will. He was compeer of Elijah
Coffin, of Cincinnati, the famous manager of the
underground railroad in the days when, to be an
Abolitionist. in this section, brought with it an
obloquy more weighty than attaches to anarch-
lists to-day, and persecution more severe AID I'M
relenting than we can now conceive
Going over three miles of up-and-down road
the Journal man and his escort came at length
to the village of Old Milan, in the billy eastern
edge of Ripley county, and stopped in front of
! an old-fashioned two-stored frame dwelling,
with porch built into the house, and not ex-
tended from it, the supporting white wooden pill
lars staring in the sun. In its youth this patri.
archal house was considered a great mansion.
the finest house between that of Omer Tousey,
at Lawrenceburg, and indianapolis. 1t was
and is the residence of Stephen S. Harding,
who, grasping the visitors by the hand, babe
them welcome Mr. Harding is seventy-eight
years old and blind, but his mind is yet clear.
He has grandly poised head, with heavy
shock of wavy gray hair-such head in strength
and symmetry, such face with it's lines of
character and frmlv-set jaws. such nose,
beaked like eagle, as painters delight to copy.
He was Governor of Utah in 1924, after
wards Chief justice of Colorado and is full of
memories of the men and deeds of those heroic
days. having been on specially intimate terms
with President Lincoln and Salmon P. Chase
MY great regret" said the old man, lis that
l am unable to read. 1 want to know what is
going on in this great world and l have to de,
pend wholly upon others. You want to talk
| about the underground railroad! There was one
line run through this part of the country. IN
those days was young and active | had more
| business enterprises going than any man here
| abouts, for, besides attending to a law practice
| extending over many coupties, | run two large
saw mills and had other irons in the fire. To be
| an Abolitonist in that day was an exceedingly
unpopular thing The fugitive slave law
| laid fine of $500 for every breach
| of that infamous enactment 1 have
| helped many a fugitive slave on his way to free
| dom, but / never had but one brought to this
house for concealment That was fine mulatto
| fellow. He was brought here in the dead of
| night and carried up that stairway, where ply
stefan was called in to see him. 1t was no light
risk that doctor took, for the fugitive slave law
|
out of account Thirty-seven duck-shot were
taken out of the poor fellows back He was ter
ribly mangled We cared for him until he was
able to be moved and one night we slipped him
out and sent him on to the Quaker neigh borhood,
! to the north of us. You can have little idea of
| the close fraternity and confidence that existed
| among the Abolltonists of that day. All gave
| freely of their store in the great cause. Many
| time Gersham Richardson has come to re and
! whispered that he had some 'boarders,' and
asked if would let him have ham. My smoke
| house door open to all such demands, and
| the dusky sons of Ham, on their way following
the north star, were welcome to my
| There was old Ezekiel Meader, who when
a trusty friend would bring him word that par
| ty of fugitive negroes were coming along would
| fervently say, God bless them and then hasten
| to prepare for their comfort l had an old horse
that could have told many things of those days
of many night ride, if he could have spoken
| | have seen him with~darkeys on his back from
| his name to his tail. One load | especially re-
| member--a darky woman and her four little
| ones kept the old horse as long as life had
anything for him and then mercifully had him
| shot. told the bows not to shoot until got
out of hearing distance and then stopped my
| ears"
A tear rolled down the old mans cheek and
! fell upon his hand. II knew" he continued
| that damnable thing could not last, and with
| the eye Of prophecy the end long before it
came was once attending court at Vernon,
| anu d uumDer OIL CLtlZ6NS LneP6 lnSl4toQ should
make speech from my standpoint On the
| slavery question. A few bills were printed and
stuck up. The speaking was to De at the court
| house. friend came to me privately and told
covered a movement on foot to give
me some rough treatment; that some
mischevous fellows were gathering rotten eggs
and l might, in addition to this ovation, receive
more serious injury. l was firmly resolved upon
making that speech. A great crowd had gath
cred at the courthouse. got up into the judges
stand, and hardly had begun my speech when l
stepped down upon the floor. felt the fearless
lightning moving through my veins. l said
understood there were men there to egg me. |
asked that audience to look at me, to look at me
all over, from head to heel. and take note wheth-
or was a man who would submit to having
showered upon his sacred person the offal of
poultry -yard. If any one here is resolved to do
this thing said I, he will assuredly meet his
God. green in his sins, for thai man shall die
Nothing under heaven can prevent me having
the innermost drop of blood that courses in his
craven heart
THE American people like backbone Nv
audience began te cheer, and l went up into the
judges stand and made my speech undisturbed
In that speech | predicted that in twenty years
from that time the twelve hundred million dol.
lars invested ia slaves would not be worth dol
lar More than twenty years after that man
came TO me who said ne had met a Kentuckian
who, during the war, lived in Missouri and was
in the rebel army / heard a man named
Harding make a speech in the courthouse
at Vernon, Ind said he. who predicted
that slavery would go within twenty years
Somehow l thought great deal about that
prophecy, and as time went on thought more
and more about it. Nineteen years had gone
by when Lincoln issued his emancipation pTocla-
nation, and in twenty years. as he had said all
the slaves in the United States were not worth
a dollar to their masters.
About 1850 man on horseback, at o'clock
in the morning stopped in front of this house
laIlOOeQ, /
clothes, and he handed me a letter It was from
a Quaker merchant at Greenfield, inclosing a
challenge from Methodist preacher named KAY
anaugh. / had never heard of him, but it
seems that he was pro.slavery orator and
protested to argue from the Bible that slavery
was a dvnely established institution The
challenge. in effect, was that he would show that
the Bible justified the relations of master and