The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-07-16

timent and declared that she had no fear
while crossing the fee, FOR she felt that God
would preserve her. Rev. Johnson remem-
bers many OF the remarkable scenes that
occurred in the streets Of the little town
when slave hunters arrived on the track Of
fusitives.
OUTWITTED SLAVE HUNTERS.
Many amusing incidents are related of the
m Of the bafled hunters. The
quiet Quakers never failed TO outwit the
fiery and profane Southerners and never
hinched from the grave dangers which
threatened them again and again. These
people were noncombatants, but they faced
even greater dangers than many men who
sfterward went TO the front to battle for the
cause which these quiet. determined citizens
had been fighting for for years.
1t is a remarkable fact that not one of
the f~ugitives whom Levi Coffin assisted to
freedom was ever recaptured. which is an
evidence of the thorough manner in which
he performed his work. More than two
thousand slaves were received in this house.
At times as many as twenty were enter
tanned az once. 1t Is estimated that by this
time the descendants of those persons as
sisted to freedom by Levi Coffin number
not less than one hundred thousand. Truly
the effect of Levi Cofin's work performed
in this out-of-the-way village will not cease
TO be manifest until the sun and moon be
darkened and the heavens rolled together
like a scroll.
Levi Coffin was born in North Carolina in
1898. He removed to this county in 1926.
He opened a dry goods store and afterwards
added groceries and hardware and finally
packed pork and manufactured linseed oil.
He was energetic and a man of great in
fuence in the State. During the first year
OF his residence in Indiana he became en-
gagged in aiding fugitive slaves to escape
! from bondage. His house soon became
known as the central station on all the sys-
tenn OF the underground railroad. In all
kinds Of weather, at any time Of day or
night, wherever underground trains arrived,
he received the passengers into his house.
His wife. no less brave than himself,
warmed and fed and concealed the fugitives,
TO be started northward as soon as they
were refreshed and the way was safe. Some
times the fugitives arrived worn out and
sick and clothed in rags. Under such cir
cumstances individuals were kept for
months, until thoroughly recuperated. when
they were provided with clothes and for
warded to Canada. Levi Coffin used his own
means unsparingly in the work, and his wife
dAndy dSSlSlCQ llS CAlOIlS. 4ACy uCkCI SIcW
tired of this labor of love, and when in 1S47
they removed to Cincinnati 1t was only to
widen the field of their operations in behalf
Of the slave. They continued their work
until the blacks were emancipated. During
the years of their active labors in the cause
more than $500 slaves were received in their
home and assisted to reach a land where
they would be free as soon as their feet
touched it's soil.
ABUNDANT HIDING PLACES.
Their old homestead in Fountain City re-
mains very much as 1t was when occupied
by themselves. 1t is a two-story brick,
with a wide hall and substantial winding
stairway. The rooms are finished in heavy
oak and walnut and the doors are large and
ponderous. In each room are old-fashioned
presses, and likewise in every room there is
a wide fireplace. There are little doors in
odd corners and cubby holes in the ceilings,
each Of them just about large enough to
admit a man. 1t is not known whether Levi
Coffin had these odd hooks and crannies
constructed especially with the view Of af-
fording concealment for fugitives, but they
are excellent contrivances for such a pur-
pose, and 1t was not a common form OF
architecture. In the rear Of the main two
story part of the house an oblong addition
extends a story and a half in height. Al
the side of the rooms in the second story of
this addition there is an attic, roomy, dark
and mysterious. 1t is entered through a low
narrow DOOR in which a man must stoop
very low, but after he is within the attic
he can stand upright. The roof slopes to
the floor Of the attic, and a narrow pas
sage way extends round the rooms against
which the attic Is built. 1t was within this
attic that the negroes were concealed, and
when a bed was set against the low door
its existence would not be suspected. There
Is a basement under this rear portion of the
house and its builder wrought better
than he knew IL he did not in
tend its curious construction for the pur-
pose 10 which 1t was so often applied.
AT the east end of the basement there is a
very wide fireplace with a chimney large
enough to afford concealment or egress for
several persons. In the south wall of the
basement is a small doorway opening into
a narrow room, long. like a passageway. At
one end Of this narrow room, which has a
dirt floor, was a spring, since dried up. 1t
was from this room that an underground
tunnel led to the rear Of the premises, and
by which escape was effected when the pur-
suit was hot or the place was under close
surveillance. All of the mysterious little
rooms entered by the narrow, low doors
and cubby holes have dark, remote cor
ners, into which the light even of bright
noon does not clearly penetrate. Even at
this day. when the stirring events that took
place here are over. it does not require a
vivid imagination to fancy seeing woolly
heads clustering together in the attempt TO
hide and fearful eyes shining through the
gloom. Every nook and corner about the
house is suggestive Of the purpose to which
1t was accommodated, and an influence born
of the associations takes possession Of the
beholder.
A NORTHERN INSTITUTION.
The underground railroad is a Northern
institution. 1t is not believed to have had
any formal organization in the land south
of the Ohio river, beyond a very general
desire on the part of a class of people in
the slave States TO make money by any
means whatsoever. 1t was not uncommon
for slaves to be paid small sums of money
for doing odd jobs or special service. This
money was usually carefully concealed and
kept until in some instances as much as a
hundred dollars had been saved. In the
history Of the world it has been the man.
acled hand that rescued the torch OF liber-
~ from total extinguishment and the
breath Of an oppressed people that kept
alive the watch fires of freedom along the
- -,-- $4,000.