Daily Republican. [volume] ([Wilmington, Del.]) 1874-1890, 1889-01-29
THOMAS GARRETT.
EIGHTEENTH ANNIVERSARY
OF HIS DEATH.
ing "Reminiscences OF His Life In the
First Unitarian Church Tho
Friend of Humanity.

v rsary Of the death OF the late Thomas
Garrett, the Rev. w. p. Tildep, In a lee
ture to large and interested audience in
the First Unitarian Church last night,
gave an interesting sketch Of the life of
| that great friend to the oo,ored race and
to humanity.
| Eighteen years ago to-day, said Mr..
Tiiden, this city was full Of people, and
whyl 1t was to DO honor to one Of the
nooleet benefactors OF the human race.
Seldom, If ever, had there been such
large concourse Of people to do honor to
any one man in the city. Who was he,
and why was he 30 highly honoredl He
was not an educated man, for his educa-
uon was confined to what he could OBJ
tain from the country school of his day.
He was not distinguished for oraiory nor
eloquence. No special credit was due
him as leader OF mems minds.
4 He was simply plain man. Why
then did the people come by boats and
! cars from all directions to Wilmington
to honor hint Because he was a man of
a great heart. Because the people had
learned to love him for his sincere, rugged
honesty. Because OF his ardent devotion
TO the cause OF the poor down-trodden
flave away back In ante-bellum times. l
might maze from bis history thrilling
| oNoay u Dootou pAptI, vi
t!vasure II up and tell IL 10 the children
NJ the freside, but have preferred to
1 Pive It here In the city where, he was dis
| tingaishe and where he was known best.
What have put togethsr have CLEANED
principally from your city papers which
gave full accounts OF his lie, bis death
and bis funeral.
Thoma. Garrett, was born In Upper
Darby, Delaware County, Pa, Ausust
| 2lst 1888, five years before the birth of
| this great nation and he was SIX years
old when Washington was inaugurated
President. lie was rocked in the cradle
OF the excitement attending the revolu-
| tion that brought cur nation into being.
| The discussion OF the inAlienabie rights
OF man was tie fool upon which our
hero fed. His early life was attended
with no glittering generalities. His
father was not ony plain, practical
farmer oil those times, but besides he was
u blacksmith and he was Quaker. Cur
hero, SCION OF UGH oble stock, was in
structed and reared In the habits of In
dustry, temperance and morals. He
lear"ed blacksmithing, trade which
served him 4 noble purpose in alter life.
He showed no iondness for books, but
there was no doubt un active thinking
going on iu lis mind which culmin
In sincere hatred OF slavery when he
contrdsted the condition OF the slave with
that of the white man. IL WAS not III til
he had grown to mannool that his mind
broke out in open hostility to slavery.
Ona day he came home and found that
the kldnapper had beel there and had
ken oil iemae servant. A spirit OF
rightc Us Indignation burned upon his
heart and he Immediately started IN pur-
"n" He trhcsd the kidrapper by the
VIII els oi his carriage otie Navv Yard
in Philadelphia AMI from theuce on up
TO Ktnsington, where he ovefhaulei the
parties and brought home the kidnEppe
servant In victory. He never, howe yer,
encouraged slaves 10 leave their masters,
but when thtY once LEFT them they
always found In him u friend.
In 1920, with hls wife and several chill
dren, ne removed TO Wilmington and en-
gagged in tine iron builness, laying the
foundations for the largest iron store 10
the city. A rival store tried TO run him
out by Ut derselllng him, but he got a
man to run bis busin ass while he bucked
on his leather apron and carried on the
trade of blscksmithing. He had fine,
strong physique, and he had good sense
of humor. He locked on the bright side
of life. With mis- broad-brimmed hat
sn1 hi, clothes cut In the Quaker styie,
honesty. Once desperately rough man
threatened to shoot him If he ever came
where he lived. Having octa:ion to go
down South he called upon the man, and
reaching out his hand said, How does
thee doi i am her shoot ME II thee
likes" 1t is needless TO say that no
shooting WAS done.
Wilmington was q chief city on the
line from slavery to freedom. Mr.. Gar
rett was All agent OF the underground
railroad that ran through It. The lecturer
gave a very amusins description of the
perations of that railroad. The presi-
dent OF the rasd was chosen without bal
| Is and served without salary. The
stockholders received no IN ried par
centages, but like Jonathan Walker they
some lines got two "Ss" branded in the
heart Of their hand for "5laye Stealer,"
but which in the lapse Of years stood for
"3lave Saw or"
The methods of transportation were
unique aud varied. Sometimes In bag
gage car, sometimes in freight car be-
tween ba es of goo's, sometimes In a box
or chest, with q gimlet hole for ventila
ton, labeled "this side up with care"
AS earl as 1913 our hero had sent 1913
laves over this railroad to the land OF
freedom, and In all he helped 270O
towards the moth star, One time his
house was sn rounded with officers and \
crowd in search of q fugitive. Mr.. and
Mrs. Garrett came out in the face of the
crowd, and stepping down the steps to
the pavement he said to hs wife, very
afiectionately, MY dear, take my arm"
The officers struck by such apparent
family affection cleared way to let the
couple through, aud In few minutes
the women, who was net his wife but
nearly white fugitive, was taken to sta
ton on the underground railroad and
ssnt on her way rejoicing. While the
great Daniel of he east preferring popu-
lar op nipn to facing raging lions like
the prophet Daniel, our Daniel was en-
gagged in giving liberty 10 fsing fugitises
from the slave masters. On ore occasion
baggage carload oil tweaty-iour fugi-
ttves was sent north on tain with a
passenger car attached, and in which
were he masters In pursuit.
Mr. Jilden here read several character
istic letters which Thomas Garrett sent
with messengers in charge of iugitives TO
the next underground alton. One OF
them read snmetnilg like this:
l send to thy care some OF Gods crea-
lures / gave Johusou ", which will
pay their fares and leave each OF hem 20
cents. knos they will need 1t. Thine,
THOMAS GARRETT.
Our hero was q square honest man,
but he considered IL no harm to resort to
q ruse at times to accomplish his pnr-
pose.
One day fugitive came to his house
for advice He wanted TO go to PhilA-
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