The Dallas express. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1893-1970, 1920-11-06
AND STIRRIN PAGES OF
HISTORY CREATED BY JUS
TICE RIDDELL-T0R0NTO PEG.
FROM OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
EST INCIDENTS ARE REPR0DUC-
En-
(By A. b.


Today the bootlegger holds the forS;
yesterday H., was the friend of Negro
emancipation.
Legendary narrative supplies us
with many tales of slaves who fled
the old homestead and crossed the
Imaginary ice of Lake Ontario into
the more or less warmly welcoming
arms of justice here. But it has al
ways seemed such a general subject
that one does not casually connect
up Toronto with the. fugitive slave
traffic Of thai, time.
But in recent monogram, THE
Slave in Canada" the Hon. William
Renwick Riddell mentions the name
of York (Toronto, of course, through
out.
The little work bears ample evil
Gence of painstaking research, and
is quite inaccord with the judicial
temper and literary ability of the
well-known justice of the supreme
court of On,ario. The narratives ara
historical outlines which follow are
Taken almost verbatim from his in
teresting chapters.
There had always been a goodly
influx of Negro slaves into Canada,
when in 1898 there was an acl pass
ed by which slave coming into
Upper Canada became free, whether
he was brought in by his master
or fed from him. At the same time.
certain legislation in the United
States became more stringent, per-
hitting an owner to claim his slave
after The Negro had made his escape
I to what was considered a free state,
land Eli Whitney invented the cotton
gin and caused slaves to become
very much more valuable 10 their
owners-two things which made the
Colored slave very much more de-
sirous of reaching British North
America.
| And now the celebrated exit known
as the Underground Railway passed
thousands of fugitives into Canada
and some shocking tales of escape
and recapture are told. Masters OF
runaway slaves did not always re-
main quiet when their slaves reached
this province. Sometimes they fol-
lowed them in an attempt to take
them back There are said to have
been a few instances of ao,ual kid
mapping.
Toronto is said to have received
many OF these runaways, usually
superior to most of their race, fol
none but those with more than Oh
binary qualities succeeded in reach
ing Canada" Here is one instance:
In May, young man with finely
chiselled features, bright hazel eyes
appadently a quadroon or octoroon
applied for service at the house p
one Charles Baby, at the old Baby
mansion, in the his,orical' town o.
Sandwich, on the Detroit River. H'
said he had escaped from slavery il
Kentucky, had arrived the previou!
evening in Detroit, and had crosse,
the river as quickly as possible t.
Canada. He had been a mason, hu
understood gardening and horses. H,
was engaged and proved reliable
servant. His former master cam'
from Kentucky after six months AM
offered Baby $4,000 for the Negro
which Baby Indignantly refused. Tn
Kentuckian did not appear for IN
extradition of Andrew, the forme
slave, but determined to use violence
A short time afterwards five des
peradoes from Detroit attempted t
kidnap Andrew while the famil
were az. church, but were successfully
resisted by Andrew and Baby. Find
ing 1t dangerous to keep Andrew s.
, near the border. the neighbors tool
up subscription, and he was sen
by sage to York (Toronto.) Thi
place he reached in safety. H
made. good" and lived a respectabl
and useful life, undisturbed by an
fear of planter vengeance.
Then came a number of applica
tions for the return of runawa
slaves. cloaked under criminal charg
es. the pretense being made that IN
/ slave had committed some crime an
must return to be tried and punished
One case under this heading cause
much excitement and is not yet for
gotten
: Solomon Mosely of Moseby, a Nc
| gro slave, came to the province acros
the Niagara River from Buffalo
which he had reached after man
: DAYS travel from Louisville, Ker
r lucky. His master followed him an
! charged him with larceny of hors
which the slave took to assist hiI
in his flight There was no douf
that the Negro had Saken the hors
= and had also sold it. He was al
: rested and placed in the Niagar
goal.
The people of color in the N
agra region made the Mosely cas-
S their own, and determined to pre-
vent his delivery up to the America
i, authorities to be taken to "the Ian
of the free and the home of ii
G brave" knowing that there for hi
+ to be brave meant torture and dee'i
/ and that death alone could set hi
4 free
Under the leadership of Herhel
: Holmes (alwavs called the 'yeilo
t man." busi whether imulatto. quadrool
: octoroon or other we do not know
= a teacher and preacher they Ia
around the Jail night and day
: the number of from two 70 fol
/. hundred At length the deputy she
= if, with a military guard, hrougl
y out 'he unfortunate man. shacilf
: to a wagon from the jail yard. to 8
to the ferry across the Niagal
r river. Holmes and p Colored ma
named Green grabbed the lines.
Deputy Sheriff Mcleod gave "
order IN fire and charge. Ono soldi'
Y shct. Holmes dead. and another ha'
Q onetted Green, 90 that be died n
& most at once. Mosely. who was p
athletic. leaned from rhe wagon an