The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1890-04-22
THE DAUGHTER OF THE CONFEDERACY.
Miss Winnie Davis's Engagement
to Samuel Mays Grandson.
Its Announcement Recalls the Work
of the AboIitlonist.
An Event In the History of the Under
ground Road.

SYRACUSE, n. Y, April 21.-The engage
ment of Miss Winnie Davis, the Daughter
of the Confederacy," to Mr.. Alfred Wilkin-
son of this city, is the one topic of converse
tion here in society. Everybody regards the
matter as most remarkable, to say the least,
surprising the conception of the boldest i'm
agination. The story of the wooing is most
simple in itself, but the relation it bears to
men and things of the past generation gives
it almost wonderful significance, and cannot
fail to attract the widest attention in both
Europe and America. 1t was President
White. of Cornell University, who said that
Judge Francis Miles Finch's poem, "The
Blue and the Gray" did more to heal the
wounds of the North and South than any
other single event. If this be true, what
shall be said Of the approaching wedding
between the children OF two families. hereto
fore the most deadly foes, and to whose la
bors and efforts the fierceness and fervor of
the great civil war were largely due?
The prospective husband of Miss Winnie
Davis is. on his mothers side, grandson of
the Rev. Samuel j. May, the great Aboli-
May memorial church here He was asso-
ciated with Emerson, Lowell, Longfellow,
and Garrison in the great abolitionist move
ment. Alter his removal to Syracuse, Mr..
may COulluuCQ W Uc fClJ dCtlN6 anu
nent in promoting the anti-slavery reform.
He soon became known far and wide as
fearless and uncompromising AbolitiOniSt.
As early as 1874, while living at Brooklyn,
Conn.,, he had fugitive slaves consigned to
his care, and 1.l he TO forwarded them to the next
Syracuse great deal of human freight
passed through his hands upon the invisible
route. Hundreds of men, women and chill
dren, fleeing from bondage and bound for
Canada, came to him for protection and help
and never came in vain. In his "Recollec
tions of the Anti-Slavery Conflict" he gives
an account of the appearance and adventures
of some Of these victims of American des
potism.
In October, 1850 many of the best citizens
OF Syracuse publicly declared that the fugi-
tive slave law should not be enforced here,
and vigilance committee was appointed. A
large number of persons made an agreement
to stand by each other in resisting the law.
A rendezvous was fixed upon; and it was
agreed that any member of the association
who might hear of person in danger should
toll the bell of an adjoining meeting house in
particular manner, and that on hearing
that signal all the rest should hasten to the
spot. On the first day of October, 1851, just
as Mr. May was about to rise from dinner,
he heard the signal bell, and hurried to the
appointed place, a mile from his house. On
the way he learned that Jerry McHenry ad
been arrested as fugitive slave, and taken
TO the Office OF the commissioner. Proceed
ing to the court room Mr.. May found the
prisoner manacled, and not allowed to state
his own case nor to refute the testimony of
his adversary. Not being very closely
guarded, Jerry soon slipped out of the room
and ran for his liberty He got off nearly
half mile before he was retaken, and then
surrendered only after a furious fight, in
which he was seriously injured. He was
thrown into wagon, two policemen sat up
on him, and so they rode through the central
streets of the city back to the commissioners
office.
The people were very much excited and
word they would have Jerry out. But he
advised them to wait until it should become
dark. The chief of police asked Mr.. May
to talk with Jerry, who needed to be Soothed.
In the course of the interview Mr.. May man.
aged to make Jerry understand that he had
friends who did not mean that he should be
taken back to slavery. Mr.iMay then went
found 20 or 80 picked men, including Gerrit
ing a Liberty Party convention; The plan
rangements for 1t were made with skill ana
dispatch. Strict injunctions were give not
to injure the policemen Intentionally, and
Mr.. May said: IF any one is to be hurt in
this fray, hope it may be one of our own
party. About s o'clock in the evening the
police Office was in the possession of the op-
ponents of the law, and the officers were 0v-
empowered. Jerry was taken to a place OF
after several days concealment, he was sent
to Canada, in spite of the utmost vigilance
on the part of the administration.
Mr.. May and the other leaders in the res
cue of the negro, announced their readiness
to stand trial but were not prosecuted