Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-01-03
LETTERS FROM WHITTIER.
How the Poet fsoomed the Abolition Cause
in the Beaver yalley-The Underground
Railroad Up There-Petitions TO BE Sent
to CONGRESS-
WRITTEN FOR THE DISPATCH.

WRITTEN FOR THE DISPATCH.l
The birthday anniversary of John G..
Whittier the Quaker poet and abolitionist,
set Joseph B. Coale, of New Brighton, to
ransackiDg the drawers of an old secretary
belonging to his father, whose name was
the same as the son. In them he found
much relating to the stirring times when
the Abolitionists were feeble folk in the
martyr stage and when the South, behind
its bulwark of the pentateuch, the
Constitution and the decisions of the Su-
preme Court, was rejoicing in its strength
One branch of the Underground Railway
ran up the Beaver Valley as far as Old
Brighton, now Beaver Falls, and then,
crossing the ridge into the Little Beaver
Valley, passed through Darlington, Hell's
Hollow, Enon, etc, until Salem and Ds-
mascus were reached, where passengers re-
cuperated before attempting the last stage
which carried them to the lake.
This section of the road was largely
operated by the Quakers, of whose tenets
/, the father of the present Mr.. Coale was o
devoted adherent. j. B. Coale, the elder,
was one Of the conductors. He was a
which were often hidden more negro than
-four. Ordinarily his run ended at Dar-
lington. though he sometimes conveyed the
pugnacious sons and daughters of Ham as
far as Salem. The wife of one of the pres
ent leading citizens of Salem was one Of
Mr.. Coale's passengers. She is SO nearly
white that only an ethnologist would sus-
pect q tincture of African blood in her
veins
Petitions Relative to Slavery.
In the old secretary Mr. Coale found some
letters from Whittier and Juliana A.
Tappan. The man addressed died in his 29th
year, but he had won name along that
line of the road beginning at Virginia and
ending in Canada. Among the letters were
two written in 1887 relative to accompany
ing petitions, which the recipients were ad-
iured to have signed by as many people as
possible. They we're issued by the Ameri-
can Anti-Slavery Society of New York.
People were asked to memorabilia Congress
on the subject of liberating the slaves in
the District of Columbia: on the question
of slavery in the Territories; concerning
slave trade between States; to oppose the
admission of Florida as slave State; to
protest against the admission of Texas,
the memorialists fearing that admission
would not only blast all hone of
freedom, but involve the United States in
war with Mexico; asking that fugitive
slaves be allowed trial by jury; asking for
the repeal of all laws making distinctions
among citizens on account of color, as did
the ''anti-Republican and unchristian stat
utes of Ohio and New York, =" and, in short,
covering all the ground in issue between
the Abolitionists and the Government.
The memorial stated that it was i'm
hot = H. L.
by 500, 600 names. Speaking of Congress
the memorialists said: ''That BODY is more
powerfully moved by large numbers than
bv strong arguments" Information needed
was to be had from the late Henry B. Stan
ton. Whittier writes:
DEAR FEIESD:-We send thee our petitions
earnestly requesting tnee to do ali in thy
power 20 circulate them in the towns of
New Brighton, BolesvilIe, Fairport and
Freedom. Friend Townsend will assist
thee.
In Behalf OF the Am. A. s. Soc.
JNo. &. WHITTIER
EnIistinZ the Women.
The other letter has nothing of the
Quaker phraseology about it 1t is as fol-
lows:
SIR:-Permit me in behalf OF a committee
appointed by the Female Anti-Slavery So
cieties in this city to request that you will
furnish females with separate copies of the
annexed petitions and urge them to visit
every family and give every woman an op-
portunity to sign.
BY continuing to do this until the rights of
the oppressed are established bv law they
may greatly aid n cause that peculiarly ap-
peals to woman for sympathy, prayer and
active effort Respectfully,
JULIANA A TAPPAN,
Secretary of Committee.
The writers paid the postage, and took
care to mark it Paid" on the letter, and
the postmaster has stamped the same in
formation in red ink. Letter envelopes
had not then been made, and this letter is
folded so as to hide the contents, and is
sealed with wafer.
-Four wears before that time the American
Anti-Slavery Society was formed in Phila-
dslphia, and Whittier was chosen Secre-
tary. Some people had a great deal of
fun at the expense of the fanatics, and
tarring and feathering was common sport.
Henry Lloyd Garrison had served q por-
tiou of his time in Jail, being unable to pay
fine of $50 and costs for denouncing a yes
sci owner of Newberryport, in the Genius of
Uni0ersdI Emancipation, for carrying slaves
Arthur Tappan, Of New York, paid the
fine. The newsboys would have broken
their jaws had they tried to cry that paper,
and many of the leading citizens would
have broken the boys heads had they at
tempted it. Even in Boston, Garrison was
put into jail to save him from the violence
of the mob composed" as Horace Greely
said, Sin good part of merchants" d.
The Kidneys Are Dpyoured