USA > Illinois > Marshall County > Records of the olden time; or, Fifty years on the prairies. Embracing sketches of the discovery, exploration and settlement of the country, the organization of the counties of Putnam and Marshall, biographies of citizens, portraits and illustrations > Part 47
USA > Illinois > Putnam County > Records of the olden time; or, Fifty years on the prairies. Embracing sketches of the discovery, exploration and settlement of the country, the organization of the counties of Putnam and Marshall, biographies of citizens, portraits and illustrations > Part 47
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Some of the fugitives were very ragged and none of them had money. They were of all shades of color, from the jet black African through all the gradations to nearly thai of the pure Caucasian! Among them were husbands who had left their wives, wives who had departed from their husbands, mothers who had their children to mourn for ; till in bondage, and every phase of the sad picture that could be imagined was to them a full hideous reality.
He never asked them to work, for it would have been an unsafe exper- iment even had he so desired. The only thought he had was to hurry them away beyond all possibility of capture. The "Liberty Party," as the small political faction to which he belonged was called, was very weak in those days.
In 1844 James G. Birney, for President, received but three votes in
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many miles of territory, and they were Hoyt, and James and Samuel Work, and these brave men who had done so well and risked so much for the cause of freedom, were sneered at and pointed out with derision, and scorned and despised by the community, but they were sincere abolition- ists and voted as they practiced.
Now and then they held meetings of the brethren, sometime at Mr. Work's and at other times at Morse's cabin, where these fearless men and women gathered and received such aid and encouragement in their labors as they could give one another, when not cheered by the presence of the great leaders, whose names have been previously mentioned. At these gatherings they were threatened with violence and saluted with rotten eggs and other equally objectionable marks of displeasure by their bitter neighbors, but they lived through it all, and most of them to see the per- fect triumph and reward of their labors.
SLAVE HUNTERS FOILED.
In 1837 Alexander Ross, living near Hennepin, while' on his way to Galena, when a few miles beyond Princeton encountered a couple of slave hunters returning with two young and attractive mulatto girls who had escaped from slavery. The sight of the weeping girls aroused all his manly sympathies at once. Ross was a Democrat, but not of the pro- slavery type, and he formed a resolution to rescue and save the victims if possible. So he proclaimed himself a bitter anti-abolitionist, and de- nounced the "slave stealers," as he called them, in fearful terms. The men were glad to meet one so much after their own heart, and asked his opinion as to how they could best get away with their chattels and escape the fury of the Abolitionists. He promptly told them of a friend of his at Princeton who was "all right," and offered to pilot them to his house. His proffered services being gladly accepted, they arrived and were duly · quartered for the night, when Ross volunteered to sit up and guard the slaves from any attempt at rescue. As soon as all was quiet the cunning conspirator and the lady of the house roused the girls and took them in a cutter to James W. Willis, at Florid, where they safely arrived, and he returned to Princeton by daylight next morning. The men awoke, en- quired after their property, and lo! the birds had flown. Ross was found at his post, sleeping the sleep of the just, where he appeared to have been all night, and, as he claimed, from the fatigue of watching had "fallen
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asleep in spite of himself." He was really asleep, and with some difficulty was aroused, and it took some time to make him aware of what had hap- pened-his head being unusually "thick" on this occasion. When he realized what had occurred he seemed very much chagrined, and blamed himself severely for his inability to keep awake ..
He promptly volunteered to help the fellows find their property, and led them many a wild goose chase about the town and country, but all to no purpose, and finally left them and pursued his journey to the land office. In the mean time Mr. Willis and other friends of the cause started the girls on their way to a safer retreat.
THF. MAGNOLIA UNDERGROUND RAILROAD DEPOT.
The managers of the Underground Railroad line for this section of . country were the Lewis brothers, William and Jehu, the former, however, the chief and ever active superintendent. There were two branches of the road from the South, which united at William Lewis' house, one from Parker Morse's, in Woodford, and the other from Nathaniel Smith's, at the south-western corner of Marshall County.
From William Lewis' house the escaping negroes were usually taken to Chester Duryee's, at Lowell, in La Salle County; but occasionally some were sent to Union Grove, a few miles north of Clear Creek, where there lived several sympathizers in the cause of the slave. The Lewises, though Virginians by birth, were thorough Abolitionists, and earnest and active workers in the cause of freedom. 7
Once an old grey-headed negro came along, who wore a pair of specta- cles one glass of which was gone and the other badly cracked. He was wrinkled, and had but little hair upon his cranium. . He could give but little account of himself save that he had "runned away from marsser, on de Knaw way, in ole Virginny," and that he had "heerd that de Norf star · would lead him to a lan' ob liberty; " and he had "follered it ebber sence he left Knaw way." He had picked out the brightest star he could dis- cover in the north-west, probably Sirius, and thus he traveled mostly by night, heading his course toward that far off luminary. Mr. Lewis gave him better advice and started him on a nearer route.
Once there came an intelligent black woman, whose back and should- ers yet showed the marks of a recent terrible flaggelation at the hands of her master. It was her fourth attempt at escape, and this time she was
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successful. She reached Canada in safety, and wrote a touching letter of thanks to her friends.
Another slave came to Mr. Lewis' care, who was so near white as to escape suspicion. He was a blacksmith who worked some time at his trade and received liberal wages. His master in Kentucky was his own half brother ! He at length left here and went to Chicago, when his inas- ter wrote him a touching letter, promising all things that the young man could desire if he would return to the family. The relationship was acknowledged, and the family joined in imploring their own dear "Ed- ward" to come home; but he had tasted of freedom, and breathed the air of liberty and equality. While not doubting the sincerity of his relatives, yet he dreaded the possible consequences which the laws then entailed upon a runaway slave and refused to return. This letter he sent to Mr. Lewis, whose family still have it in their possession.
Among the fugitives at different times were several young girls, nearly white. They did not escape because of harsh treatment or any indignity, but simply to avoid the consequences that slavery was sure to bring upon them sooner or later by being sold to go South, or become the victims of brutal men, restrained by no law, moral, social or Divine, in their treatment of the unfortunate females who added youth, beauty and gracefulness to other charms of their sex.
PARKER MORSE.
The apostle of anti-slavery in Woodford County was Parker Morse, who died in 1878, and the story of the organization of the Underground Railroad we are prompted to give from his own lips. It was as follows:
About 1839 a poor negro slave, who had been captured by his master, chained by the wrists and legs was driven past his place, on his way back to bondage. The sight made his blood boil, and Mr. Morse resolved from that time onward to be an active worker in the cause of freedom.
Not long afterward Deacon John Morse, of Mt. Hope, McLean County, Illinois, a man of the same name but not a relative, called and laid before him the outlines of a prospective method of helping escaping negro slaves on their way to Canada. The plan seemed at once so entirely feasible, and withal so philanthropic, that he had no hesitancy in en- listing in the scheme. After dinner the two proceeded to the residence of Mr. John Lewis, near Magnolia, and on the road ." stuck the stakes for
4
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a track." Lewis went forward to Lowell, La Salle County, where he es- tablished a station, and soon stopping places were fixed at regular inter- vals to Chicago, and thence to Canada. To the south of Morse's, depots were arranged on two or three lines: one through Springfield, Bloomington, etc., and another from Delavan and Washington, Tazewell County. A branch line ran from the latter point up west of the Illinois River. By this arrangement slaves from Kentucky or Missouri, on crossing into Illi- nois, were taken charge of by the first station-keeper and by him carried, almost invariably in the night, to the next depot, where they were fed and secreted till the following evening, and by the agent there carried to the next place, and so on to the end of their journey.
One of the most active workers in the anti-slavery cause was Deacon Nathaniel Smith, of Lawn Ridge, a God-fearing blacksmith and member of the church militant, who could strike hard blows in debate and back them up if need be with sledge hammer accompaniments in defense of , right. He assisted many slaves on the road to. freedom, and was always ready to turn out by day or night with his team. The first human chiattel that passed through his hands was a closely pressed negro, who was brought from Princeville hid beneath a feather bed. He safely delivered him at the next station. The next was a poor fugitive, who lay hid under a bridge at Farmington all day, while the pursuers raged all around him. A third was concealed some time beneath a brush heap. One was a Baptist minister of the gospel. Once there came a load of seven in a covered wagon. One of the party lay beneath a log when his master on horseback jumped over it without finding him. A lady nearly white came along, who had been a slave to the Rev. Mr. Ely, of Balti- more. She was stewardess on a boat, and finding her saintly owner designed selling her planned an escape and got safely through, but her husband, who was a free man, was arrested for assisting her and served a long term in a Southern penitentiary.
A young man came through from Farmington who was hidden beneath a wagon box upon which his master, who was searching for him, sat down with an assistant and talked over their plans. They asked the "agent" if the fugitive was about, and were told they could search the premises.
Mr. Smith's house became noted, and he was once honored with a column notice in the St. Louis Republican, to which he replied.
Once he traveled in the stage with an irate slave-holder searching for
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fugitives, and after learning all the latter's plans, disclosed himself. The man evinced a strong desire to make mince-meat of the Abolitionist, but the latter's brawny fists and resolute demeanor convinced him that discre- tion was the better part of valor.
A NEGRO IN THE FAMILY BED.
[NOTE BY THE EDITOR :- The incident related below is a fact, duly attested by a son of the party referred to, who gives it for publication under a promise that names be sup- pressed. The act is so creditable to all concerned that we regret we cannot give them.]
About 1840 there resided in Marshall County, off from the line of the Underground Railroad, a "dyed in the wool Democrat" and inveterate hater of Abolitionists, whom he regarded as the paid servants of evil. At heart he was the kindest of men, deeply sympathetic, and when strongly moved capable of doing anything his conscience approved. He believed in the sanctity of legal enactments, and while, perhaps, disapproving the universally condemned "Fugitive Slave bill," gave the laws enacted for · its enforcement his hearty support. He considered Abolitionists and those aiding the escape of Negroes as disorganizers of the worst class, and declaimed against them in public and private; nevertheless, in his heart of hearts he nourished a love of justice so strong as to lead him to do that for the Negro not the most enthusiastic lover of the black man would. This sentiment was probably unknown to himself-certainly not sus- pected by the "conductors" of the line, who gave his premises a wide berth when taking fugitives through.
One winter morning he had risen earlier than usual, and going to the door beheld the crouching form of a strange Negro. His first impulse was to roughly order him to begone, but there was something in the man's countenance and manner that led him to listen to his story.
Falling on his knees, with hands uplifted and tears streaming down his bronzed cheeks, he told his story of wrong and misery, and besought him, by the love of his wife, his children, and all he held dear, to protect him. Briefly told, he was raised by an indulgent master in Ken- tucky and had happily married an estimable woman-an upper servant in the household. Two children were born to them, and though a slave his fetters were light and he had no longings for greater freedom. In time his master died and the estate and servants were sold, himself and
1
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family separated; he to go on a plantation up the Red River, and his wife became the property of a lecherous, brutal villain of the vicinity.
Together they formed a plan of escape, and leaving their little ones behind fled northward, crossing the Ohio River in a skiff loaned by- a friendly black man. They were entirely unaided, and knew nothing of the country or the inhabitants, but lay hid in the woods by day and trav- eled only at night.
They had reached somewhere in the vicinity of Springfield, and deem- ing themselves safe, ventured to travel by day. In the meantime their owners had traversed the country far and wide, scattering hand-bills and offering liberal rewards for their apprehension. Through these they were recognized, apprehended and remanded to slavery. From the first they: were separated, and no communication allowed. He found a way of ridding himself of his handcuffs while en route with his captor knocked him down, and jumping from the wagon dashed into an impenetrable swamp, where he laid until night, and then, with the north star for his guide, struck out for freedom again. By some means his pursuers had got on his track once more, and might be expected at any moment.
'His story, told with all the eloquence that a man in his situation must feel, his piteous appeals for mercy and succor, wakened the deepest feel- ings of the farmer's heart, and he determined that at least he would not inform on him. At this moment two horsemen were discovered far off on the prairie, riding hard in the direction of his house. Telling the negro to step inside (he had not been discovered), he walked down to the gate to meet them and learned as he expected they were in pursuit of the runaway, whom they had every reason to believe was concealed some- where about the premises. One of the party he recognized as a small pettifogger from a neighboring town (for whom, by the way, he enter- tained the reverse of friendly feelings), and the other was a low browed bully, armed with a long whip, while a pair of handcuffs were suspended from his saddle. Briefly they explained that their "nigger" had given them the slip-that they had the necessary authority and were going to take him back if found, dead or alive.
They did not know it, but about this time the farmer made up his mind that the negro should be saved, and the fellows before him sent away empty handed. Telling them to hitch their beasts while he finished ; his toilet, he stepped inside with a strong belief in his mind that some-
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body then and there was about to break the law, for come what would he was determined they should not get possession of the negro. There crouching in one corner was his man and in another was the family bed, from which his wife had not yet risen. "Get into my place in bed," said he, and his tones indicated he meant it. His wife would have remon- strated, but a warning "hush " and steps at the door stopped further con- ference. The men entered and were told to search the premises well. He wanted no niggers about him, and "if the black rascal had been hiding there he hoped he would be found." Of course the man was not found, but was cared for during the day and when night came helped on his way rejoicing.
The incident related above recalls to mind a negro barber whom we knew at McGregor, Iowa, in 1859. His name was Cromwell, and he was intelligent beyond his station. We often tried to learn his history, but he was averse to talking upon the subject, and claimed he never was a slave, but the gleam of his eye when talking showed that he felt more than he dare utter. He was deeply interested in the welfare of his race and when the emancipation proclamation was issued and a call made for colored troops sold his business and went South. He made a very creditable record during the war, was at the assault on the rebel fort at Petersburg, was blown up at the explosion that killed Colonel Bross, and when mustered out was Captain in a colored regiment. Afterward he settled in New Orleans was elected State Senator, and in 1875 was one of a delegation that visited Chicago. He there met an old time friend of the writer, and at his request narrated his slave life, detailing an ex- perience identical with what is here related. After leaving his enter- tainer's premises he made his may straight to Canada, crossing the Detroit River ten miles above the city of that name. He worked at his trade in Hamilton for a number of years, and in 1855 visited his old home, hoping to find his wife and children, but only learned the former died with grief soon after her re-capture, and of his children nothing was known. With a sorrowful heart he turned northward, and under an assumed name settled at McGregor.
CAUGIIT A TARTAR.
A negro named Wilson had an eventful time in trying to get his wife, to Canada. He first ran away from his master in Kentucky, made a small home in Cana la and returnel for his wife, but was caught and put to
*
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work under a guard. In a little time he got away again and returned to Canada. Again he returned for his "other half," but was unsuccessful, and the second time caught. Nothing daunted, he got away once more, went back, put in another crop and returned to meet with a similar fate. In the meantime his wife died. The poor fellow having no other tie in that cruel country, again made his escape. He was plodding his way on foot, brooding upon nis misfortunes, and while passing a farm in Peoria County, observed a farmer stop his team where he was plowing and approach the road. Wilson put his hand in his pocket and grasped his knife. The farmer, smelling a reward, shouted in an authoritative manner, "You 're my prisoner!" Wilson simply remarked when he reached the next station on the Underground Railroad, "Guess he won't be so anxious to 'rest anudder culled pusson." A neighbor who met the farmer shortly after said he looked as though he had been run through a corn cracker, and there was an ugly cut on the arm that disabled him a long time.
WHITE SLAVES.
Mr. Morse is of the opinion that eight-tenths of all the escaping slaves had white bood in their veins. Among the many who passed through was a handsome young girl with pure blue eyes, thin, evenly-formed features, a straight nose and auburn hair, falling in ringlets down her back. It was not kinky or wavy, but in natural curls.
On another occasion two sisters stopped there, who seemed the per- fection of grace and loveliness. Their lips were neither too thick nor yet too thin; their skin was fair and their cheeks bloomed with nature's roses; their hair in long ringlets of a light brown color, their feet small and without the African heel, the nose Grecian without flaring nostrils, and the eyes a bright, tender blue. On one side their parents had been white for. generations; on the other a grand-mother was partly colored. Themselves and parents belonged to an aristocratic family, but reverses and imprudent speculations had ruined the estate and they were about to be sold, and so wisely sought their freedom.
Afterwards came a little girl, so purely Caucasian in form and features that no one could believe she was aught else. Mrs. Morse was strongly tempted to keep her and finish the education her mistress had begun, and adopt her into the family; but fearing to create an attachment that might
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be broken by the southern master, she let the child go on her way with a devout prayer for her future happiness.
Moses Pettengill, of Peoria, is a life long Abolitionist, who proved his faith by his works in the cause of human freedom. He was once ap- pealed to by a friend named Brown, living east of Peoria, to aid him in helping two men, a woman and several children on the road to freedom. He had started with them the night before and was turned back at the Peoria bridge with threats of being shot if he persisted. A friend of his ran a boat upon the river in whom he could confide, and to him he sent the women and children, and came to Mr. Pettengill to aid in getting the men through. As handbills were posted all around accurately describing them, and offering large rewards for their apprehension, it was not safe for, them to be seen. So P. arranged to meet his friend across the river at ten o'clock that night with a skiff. He then engaged two trusty young men, one of whom was Josiah Babcock, now a prominent business man of Galesburg, to assist. The men were safely brought across, given a good supper prepared by Mrs. P., and before daylight safely delivered to Chas. Stone, at Lawn Ridge, who forwarded them on their way. One of the negroes was the husband of the woman and father of the children previ- ously referred to, and had been owned by a christian widow woman not far from St. Louis, from whom he rented the services of himself and and wife, paying them $200 yearly. But hard times came, and finding he could not support them and pay his mistress the exhorbitant sum demanded he determined to escape. To get safely out of the city was the difficulty, and to accomplish it he bargained with a close- mouthed, mercenary farmer, living in Jerseyville, Ill., to convey himself and family boxed up as merchandise to his destination, giving him in ad- vance $50.00-every penny he possessed. Imagine if we can their con- dition. The man in one box, the woman and children in the other, driven slowly over the rough broken roads, incapable of changing their positions, uttering a word, or getting a breath of fresh air, and compelled to remain so all the day long. It was fifty-two miles of agony, and for sixteen hours they endured it. How inexpressibly dear must be the boon of free- dom purchased at such dreadful hazard.
Another instance is remembered where a slave-catcher was baffled, oc- curred a year later, at Florid. A couple of slaves, a woman and her
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daughter, traveling by the Underground Railroad, had reached Wm. M. Stewart's, and were stopping for the night. While there, a sharp fellow, who claimed to own the fugitives, appeared and demanded them. He too remained over night, when, to gain time, Mr. Stewart had him arrested on a charge of attempted kidnapping. The slave hunter, familiar with our odious laws, managed his own case and cleared himself, but the wo- men in the meantime had been hidden in Geo. McCoy's smoke-house, and couldn't be found. They got away safely. Ten years afterward Mr. McCoy, while passing through Indiana in the timber, passing a neat com- fortable cabin, was astonished by hearing his name spoken by a good looking black woman, who proved to be one of the two above mentioned. She had since married and was in happy circumstances, and her mother also lived near by and was satisfactorily provided for.
* In 1849, a young slave named John, ran away from his master in Missouri, located in Princeton, and became quite a favorite among the people. His master hearing of his whereabouts, and accompanied by a friend to prove property, came after him. The slave was mowing in an out lot in the north part of the town, and did not observe the slave catchers until they came upon him, each of whom presented a pistol to his head, which caused him to make no resistance. His hands were tied behind him, and his master holding one end of the rope led him like a dog through the streets of the town. News of the boy's capture flew like lightning, and people, much excited, were seen running hither and thither, marshaling their forces for the rescue. A warrant was issued and the slave catchers arrested on a charge of kidnapping, and with the slave were taken to the Court House for trial. The court room was filled with ex- cited people, some of whom sympathized with the slave and others his master. While the trial was progressing some one cut the rope that bound the slave, and during the confusion he escaped from the court room followed by the excited crowd, some to catch and others to assist him in making his escape. A horse with a woman's saddle on was hitched in the street, on which they placed the slave and ordered him to ride with . all speed to the residence of Mr. Lovejoy, which he did, followed by the court and excited people. The house of Mr. Lovejoy was quickly surrounded, some to protect and others to capture the slave. Behind the barn a man was seen to mount a horse, and a cry was raised, "There goes the negro."
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