The Washington times., 1901-12-29

| ceeGinEs in the Federal Court. which re-
! suited in a decision in his tSuttlesD ia
! yor. The day the case was tried the mill
| tia was called out to guard the court
| house and prevent a mob that had gath
cred from forcibly liberating Burns.
! When the leaders Of this mob and others
| interested in abolition saw that Colonel
| Suttles had carried his point they offered
to make up a purse and purchase Burns.
1 Colonel Suttles gave them to understand
that he would sell the latter for $1,000.
| The result was that this sum was forth
coming in a very short time. and on re
rciving it Suttles turned Burfs over to
ais new-found Northern friends.
Now. The amusing feature about this
affair was that Burns. at the very highest
vas not worth over 5000, the average
price for first class, able bodied. prime,
and healthy negroes anywhere from
twenty-one to thirty-iyc years of age,
being from SGC0 TO $3.50. When Colonel
Sutties returned his friends jolte1 him
about the matter good deal. to all OF
which he replied by saying that he pre-
ferred selling this negro to bringing him
bacl: to stir up discomfort among his
slaves and post them as to how to escape
and where to go after they crossed the
Potomac.
In all movements for the betterment
Of humanity there are always persons who
seek TO turn the matter 80 their own
profit. and am convinced that while many
abOli;ioniSts were sincere. there were
dozens. aye hundreds, who engaged in the
movement for gain. This impression was
at one time so strong in this section as
to amount almost to certainty, and VIII
lell you how q came about.
Maryland was a slave state, and
negro was not on free soil until he
time / speak of there was a large num-
Der of persons living along the Pennsyi-
vania and Maryland line who made a bus
mess of coming South in the guise OF
abolitionists and spiriting away negroes.
who. as soon as they reached tile Penn
sylyania line. were promptly arrested by
the confederates of these bogus aboli
iionists and locked in cellars. This
done the parties making such arrests
would circulate notices in the the press
stating that they had captured certain
negroes, and on the arrival OF the own
eIs these border people CT nlI always rely
or a reward of never less than So for
each negro captured. You see the slave
owners were anxious to encourage these
border folk IN arrcsting all negroes. and
made it point to give liberal rewards in
every case.
For twenty years before the war these
ScOundrels proved a regular curse TO this
section. or course. any aboltionist real
or assumed. caught South was severely
dealt with but such persons were so
clever that it was seldom they were ever
apprchendc3. great deal OF what you
hear nowadays OF the work of this un-
dcrground railroad was in reality nothing !
more than the doings OF a set of border |
rascals. They operated in the nature Of a !
close corporation, and when negro /
crossed the Potomac he did so with full /
directions where TO stop for food en- route |
through Maryland. and particular in |
structions TO stop at certain places on |
the Pennsylvania border. where II had |
been arranged TO capture him by their |
co-workers.
AT one time this became so trouble |
some as to amount TO a menace TO the l
Interests Of northern Virginia. In case |
a genuine abolitionist undertook to rail- /
road negroes TO the North. he was soon |
discouraged by these parties. who, pre-