Evening journal., 1907-08-21


Gilpin. grocer. But now we are at
Tenth and Market streets, and 1 am
tired and doubtless, you are, 50 we will
call "our revels ended for this time"
| We might go on "out the walk" where
some of the "nabob s. lived, and over
the Brandywine bridge to the great
-four mills-said to be the greatest of
their kind then in the country--the
principal OF which was that Of Will
liam Lea, father of the present Gov
ernor of Delaware and see If we might
catch a glimpse of some Of the men,
who owned and operated them, and
who contributed their share to the
| thigh reputation Of the business men of
wilmington of that day; but, we are
tired. and so viii postpone our visit
over to THE Village" to some other
Afternoon, if the evening and the night
do not overtake us before we have the
opportunity.
I must not however pass from this
very incomplete review of old time
men without mentioning Thomas Car
rett, who was not only one OF the
most prominent, but also one of the
most noted and interesting men Of that
period in Wilmington. Mr.. Garrett
owned large iron and hardware busi-
ness on Shipley street above Second,
which he had conducted for many
years, and accumulated a comfort
able fortune; the larger part of which
he lost, in fact 1 think, the whole Of
It, through his devotion TO the anti
slavery cause and his hatred of human
slavery. He allowed nothing; business,
| friendship, reputation, fear of violence
with which he was often threatened
insult, abuse, absolutely nothing to in
terfcre with, or deter him from help
| ing fugitive slaves from the South to
gain their liberty whenever the OPP
portunity was afforded; and he created
the opportunity himself. if il seemed to
be too tardy i'm coming. Fugitive
slaves not only always found his door
always open, and he and his good wife
ready to take them i'm and feed and
clothe and nurse Them If sick and
speed them on their way to freedom,
but he often, hearing of their being
hidden away somewhere down the
Delaware Maryland Virginia peninsula,
went himself to the rescue and got
them, and brought them along. He was
President General Manager, Division
Superintendent, conductor, brakeman.
baggage MASTER engineer, fireman and
track walker: all of these at times,
and sometimes all of them at once
for, though the harvest was truly
| plenteous the laborers were few
Of the great North Bound, Interstate,
/ Underground Railroad, Of this part of
the country; and he understood his
business. He knew his road and its
equipment from the ground up" from
the coupling pin of the locomotive 10
the spike in the cross-tie; and every
little way station, and switch, and sid
ing, and turnout and refreshment
room also, from Cape Charles to Buff
falo and Niagara Falls. His peculiar
telegraph line and communication were
also perfect, and he kept them always
in working order, and promptly trans
mitting his messages, long before
Morses invention. Nobody could tap
his wires" and steal his messages. be-
cause nobody but himself and his CO.
ladjutors and trusted agents had the
key The line may have been some
what slower than the telegraph lines OF
to-day, but it was safe, and it never
Leaked"
People used to wonder how Tommy"
Garrott-he was called thus by his
friends not out of any disrespect but
anection-could run this great rail-
road, carrying its human freight with
out pay, altogether on passes" but
nobody except his officers and agents
ever found out: because he never told
he simply kept quiet and went right
along doing business That is, doing his
Under ground Railroad business He
was hated and maligned and insulted,
and slandered and prosecuted in every
conceivable way by United States Mar
shals. mores the shame. and the friends
of slavery-and they were many i'm this
community at that time-untl his
business paper went to protest and his
iron business went TO smash; but his
Underground Railroad business con-
tinued to prosper and flourish to the
ond-the Emancipation Proclamation.
Then the managers Of the Under
ground Railroad. which began business
long before many of us We're born took
account of stock paid its debts. wound
up it's affairs and retired on the only
fortune It over sought or worked for.
Nation without slave within its
borders.
Such was Thomas Garrett; a man
"of whom the world was not worthy"
at that day. at least. During, au4 after
the War. Mr.. Garrett was engaged in
business with his son. the late Eli
Garrett, an able and highly esteemed
business man. and retrieved to a great
extent, his broken fortune; and lived
TO a ripe old age. honored and loved
by all; and died at peace with God
and his fellowmen.
(To be continued)
Northern FLORIDA and Northern Georgia
can boast Of some Of the largest tobacco
/ nlanfatlons In the world