Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1889-07-04
WILLIAM WALTER PHELPS has been
appointed Minister to Germany.
THE SLAVE GIRL.

To the Editor of the Brooklyn Eagle
think the following very interesting
sketch of the sale of beautiful slave
girl in Lexington. KY, where the slave
system existed in the mildest form, will
be new to your many readers who have
grown to adult age since the great re-
belliOn closed, and who know but little,
if anything, of that system of 'incurable
injustice" that existed so long in our
country. A series of articles from the
pen of Mr.. Fairbanks, who passed many
years of his life in Kentucky prisons,
would be read with great interest at the
present day, and would excite as much
curiosity as did the narrative of Messrs.
Robins and Riley, who were captured
and held by the Algerines. The $1,000
check handed by Mr.. n. Longworth, one
of the earliest millionaireS of the West,
tells how easy it is for us to err in our
estimate of the character of men. re-
member, a few years before 1860, Won
derfully beautiful slave girl was sold on
an auction block in New Orleans, and
bid off by a gambler for the sum of
$1,000. Thank God! the world moves.
Where once stood the auction block of
the slave is now the school house, and
where the slave pen was is now the
church. Let us educate! educated
JAMES A. BRIGGS.
Brooklyn, June 7, 1889.
EPISODE IN AN ABoLITIONIsT's CAREER.
When just and adequate history of
the abolition movement shall be written
prominent place must be given to the
life of Calvin Fairbanks, who, though he
still lives in an unpretentious farm house
in the outskirts of Angelica, n. Y, was
as true martyr to the cause of human
liberty as Elijah Parrish Lovejoy or John
Brown. The following is "a thrilling in
cident of his remarkable career, as told
by him to correspondent of the Phila-
delphia Press
"One day in March, 1843, while look
ing through the jail at Lexington, Ky.,
my attention was attracted to one of the
prisoners, young woman of exquisite
figure and singular beauty. | asked the
jailer who she was, and to my surprise.
for she was as white as lily, he told me
she was slave girl named Eliza, the
daughter of her master, who few days
later was to sell her upon the block of |
the New Orleans market, impelled by
the jealousy of his wife, because the |
slave girl was superior to her own
daughters. Then l talked with the girl. |
l found that she was intelligent as well
as beautiful, and L resolved to exert
every effort to save so magnificent a |
from such a fate. 1 told her
that l would go to Cincinnati and do
my best to raise the money with which |
to purchase her freedom. hurried away
and sought that old hero and apostle of |
freedom, Levi Coffin. He gave me
prompt and generous assistance, and in
a short time we raised 5000. | then laid
the case before Salmon z. Chase. after
ward Senator, Secretary of the Treasury
and Chief Justice, who gave me 5000
more, and went with me to see Nicholas
Longworth. The latter was worth mil
lions, but he was never known to give
dollar for anything. We feared nothing
would come from our appeal to him, but
decided to appeal to him, as it cost us
"'Mr. Longworth,' said Chase, after
we were seated in the little crib which
the millionaire called his Office, do you
yourself Christian?'
=" Il am not very good one,' was the
reply.
Well, we have got case here that
appeals to both humanity and Chris
,ianity. Mr.. Fairbanks will tell Won
about it.
81 told the story. Longworth listened
n silence, and, when / was through.
litched nervously in his chair, drew his
,heck book from drawer and began
illing out a check. While he was
writing Chase whispered:
"'We will get about $50 from him. ;
"a moment later Longworth wheeled
lround and handed me the check: il
vas for $1,000. You see the miser, as
hey called him, hadn't such a stinted ,
lature after all. A number of free col
red people raised and gave me 5000
nore, and when | went back to Lexing-
on the day before the time appointed 3
or the sale | carried 1925. Moreover q
4 my pocketboOk was an agreement. s
lgned by Chase, Longworth and viii a
am Howard, another rich Cincinnatian. i