Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. I, Pt. 2, Part 42

Author: Greve, Charles Theodore, b. 1863. cn
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1048

USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. I, Pt. 2 > Part 42

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

This was the year, too, that the Southern and Western Anti-Slavery Convention was held in the city.

LEVI COFFIN.

With the arrival in Cincinnati on April 22. 1847, of Levi Coffin, this city became the most important station on the "Underground Rail- way." Coffin was of Nantucket ancestry but born in North Carolina in 1798. His Quaker training early enlisted his sympathies in behalf of the slaves and in 1826 he opened a store in Wayne County, Indiana, to which came many runaways. The anti-slavery interests began, a few years later, the agitation of the "free-labor goods" movement and at a convention held in Salem, Indiana, in 1846, Coffin was chosen to open a store for such goods in Cincinnati. His undertaking proved quite successful as a busi- ness proposition and his labors in behalf of the slaves increased with the increased opportunities of a large border city. He came to be known as the president of the "Underground Railway" and as such he gained a world-wide reputation. After the war he assisted in the establishment of the Freedmen's Bureau and went to Europe in behalf of this institution. He died in Avondale near Cincinnati, September 16, 1877.

Mr. Coffin says in his "Reminiscences" (page 297) that he had hoped to find in Cincinnati enough active workers to relieve him from fur- ther service but that he soon found that he would have more to do than ever. The abolitionists whom he had known at the time of his former trips had died or moved away and when he ar- rived in the city in 1847 he found that fugitive slaves generally took refuge among the colored people and were often captured and taken back to slavery. The colored people were not good managers in such affairs and the white people, however friendly they might be, were too timid. Abolitionists were so unpopular both in religious

754

CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF CINCINNATI

and political circles that to work openly would involve a loss in business and social position.

To quote his own words :

THE "UNDERGROUND RAILWAY."

"I was personally acquainted with all the active and reliable workers on the Underground Railroad in the city, both colored and white. There were a few wise and careful managers among the colored people, but it was not safe to trust all of them with the affairs of our work. Most of them were too careless, and a few were unworthy-they could be bribed by the slave- hunters to betray the hiding places of the fugi- tives. * We were soon initiated into * Underground Railroad matters in Cincinnati, and did not lack for work. Our willingness to aid * the slaves was soon known, and hardly a fugitive came to the city without applying to us for as- sistance. There seemed to be a continual in- crease of runaways, and such was the vigilance of the pursuers that I was obliged to devote a large share of time from my business to making arrangements for the concealment and safe con- veyance of the fugitives. They sometimes came to our door frightened and panting and in a destitute condition, having fled in such haste and fear that they had no time to bring any clothing except what they had on, and that was often very scant. The expense of providing suitable clothing for them when it was necessary for them to go on immediately, or of feeding them when they were obliged to be concealed for days or weeks, was very heavy. Added to this was the cost of hiring teams when a party of fugitives had to be conveyed out of the city by night to some Underground Railroad depot, from twenty to thirty miles distant. The price for a two- horse team on such occasions was generally ten dollars, and sometimes two or three teams were required. We generally hired these teams from a certain German livery stable, sending some irre- sponsible though honest colored man to procure them, and always sending the money to pay for thiem in advance. The people of the livery stable seemed to understand what the teams were wanted for, and asked no questions. * *

"Learning that the runaway slaves often ar- rived almost destitute of clothing, a number of the benevolent ladies of the city-Mrs. Sarah HI. Ernst, Miss Sarah O. Ernst, Mrs. Henry Mil- ler, Mrs. Dr. Aydelott, Mrs. Julia Harwood, Mrs. Amanda E. Foster, Mrs. Elizabeth Coleman, Mrs. Mary Mann, Mrs. Mary M. Guild, Miss K. Emery, and others-organized an Anti-

Slavery Sewing Society, to provide suitable clothing for the fugitives. After we came to the city, they met at our house every week for a number of years, and wrought much practical good by their labors.

"Our house was large, and well adapted for secreting fugitives. Very often slaves would lie concealed in upper chambers for weeks, without the boarders or frequent visitors at the house knowing anything about it. My wife had a quiet, unconcerned way of going about her work, as if nothing unusual was on hand, which was cal- culated to lull every suspicion of those who might be watching, and who would have been at once aroused by any sign of secrecy or mystery. Even the intimate friends of the family did not know when there were slaves secreted in the house, unless they were directly informed. When my wife took food to the fugitives she generally concealed it in a basket, and put some freshly ironed garment on the top, to make it look like a basketful of clean clothes. Fugitives were not often allowed to eat in the kitchen, from fear of detection."

Mr. Coffin tells many stories of the expedients to which he was put in endeavoring to aid es- caped slaves. On one instance while two negroes, evidently plantation hands, were cating heartily in the kitchen, the marshal of the city accom- panied by two planters came up the street. After a little parleying with Coffin who in response to questions described the escaping negroes very accurately, they passed on misled by his equivo- cations. Coffin said that he had seen two such boys not a half hour since pass his gate and that they inquired where the depot was and that if the marshal would make haste he might reach the depot before they left. This was all true, but he failed to state that the boys had returned after passing the gate and had no further use for the depot, as Coffin took them out of the city in his buggy.

At another time a slave girl from Covington was cating her breakfast in the kitchen and a slave hunter was heard to make inquiries in the front part of the house. The girl was hustled up the back stairway dressed in the best black silk dress that the house afforded and on her head was put a fashionable bonnet to which was attached a heavy veil. Thereupon she and a fel- low servant passed boldly out of the front door and followed the man who was inquiring after her a part of the way until she came to a side street where she turned off to a negro settlement,

755

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS

in which she was secreted until opportunity af- forded itself to permit her to escape to Canada.

At another time 28 slaves crossed the river at Lawrenceburg under the conduct of a white man, Jolın Fairfield, a true friend of the slave, who according to Coffin was utterly devoid of moral principles in that he believed that the end justi- fied the means and that as slaves were always stolen property he was entitled to steal boats or anything else that might help to gain their lib- erty. This party crossed in three large, leaky · boats, which were so heavily loaded as to en- danger the lives of all of them; in faet as they approached the Ohio bank it became necessary for Fairfield to jump out of the boat and he sank to his waist in mud and quicksand, but he was pulled out by the negroes. They finally reached the bank some miles below the city, soaking wet and many without shoes. They were obliged to walk to the city, which they did not reach until daylight. Here they were conecaled in ravines below Mill creek while Fairfield went to Coffin's house to obtain assistance. The expedient re- sorted to was certainly a novel one. Two large coaches were hired from a livery stable and a number of colored people accompanied them in buggies to the place where the fugitives were concealed. The slaves climbed into the vehicles and thereupon a procession was formed in the semblance of a funeral and the whole party marched solemnly along the road to Cummins- ville to the Methodist Episcopal Burying Ground where was also a colored cemetery. They passed the cemetery and continued on the Colerain pike to College Hill, where they were attended to by Rev. Jonathan Cable, a Presbyterian minister. The procession was in fact a funeral, for when they arrived at College Hill it was found that a young babe, which had been muffled closely to keep it warm and to keep its cries from being heard, had died on the way. The party was forwarded by Cable, whom Coffin calls a stock- holder in the "Underground Railway," to West Elkton, 25 to 30 miles from College Hill, which was the first "Underground Railway" depot where always plenty of locomotives and cars, fig- uratively speaking, were in readiness. After Elk- ton the first stop was Newport, Indiana, and from this point they were forwarded from sta- tion to station in two-horse covered wagons through Indiana and Michigan to Detroit, until at last they reached Canada.

Another story was that of a slave family of 10, -a man and wife and eight children (some grown),-who lived about 15 miles back of Cov-

ington. The old mother was a much trusted ser- vant whose liberty had been frequently prom- ised to her and who was permitted to go to Cin- cinnati from time to time with a wagon and two horses to take vegetables to market. Though often urged to escape, she had refused to do so until she learned that her master intended to sell some of her children. One night her master's family had retired and she got out the horses and wagon and loaded it as if for market, putting clothing and bedding beneath the vegetables. She induced a little white boy who lived in the neighborhood to go with her, promising him the pleasant prospect of the sight of a large city. Early in the morning the party started with the father and children concealed under the clothing and vegetables and with the white boy mounted by her side. Whenever they passed any persons, she would hand the reins to the boy, which would have a tendency to mislead any spectators as to the character of the party. She crossed on a ferry in safety and drove to the house of a col- ored friend on North street, where the wagon was unloaded and the family scattered to differ- ent places of concealment. She then drove to Broadway and finally told the boy that she must go to market and that he must remain and watch the horses. Coffin by this time had been appealed to and he planned an arrangement by which the team could be returned without afford- ing any clue to the whereabouts of the fugitives. A colored man went to a German who could speak but little English and hired him to drive the team across the ferry to Covington, where he was told that some one would take charge of it. The plan worked successfully. The pursuing owner found his team with the little boy and the German in Covington. He had the latter ar- rested, but the German soon showed entire ig- norance of any slave delivery. The police were put upon the search but failed to gain any clue as to the fugitives. These last were taken out of the city in open daylight. The males were disguised as females and the females as males and were driven in elegant carriages from the city at different points exactly at noon when most people were at dinner. In connection with this escape Mr. Coffin tells an amusing circumstance. As he needed money to defray expenses lie called at the pork house of Henry Lewis, one of tlie stockholders of the "Underground Railway." Here he found Mr. Lewis, his brother Albert and Marcellus B. Hagans, at a later time Judge Hla- gans, but then Henry Lewis' bookkeeper. There

756

CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF CINCINNATI

were also three slaveholders sitting in the office. Mr. Coffin asked for some money to help some poor people, knowing that Lewis would under- stand him. Thereupon not only did Lewis, his brother and Hagans contribute but the three Ken- tuckians also added their mite, unconscious of the fact that they were assisting slaves to escape from their masters. Some time later when some slaveholders from the same neighborhood sitting in Lewis' office were cursing the abolitionists, Lewis informed them of the fact that some of their own neighbors had helped the abolitionists with their money.

Another escape was that of Jack and Lucy, husband and wife, a very valuable pair of slaves living about a dozen miles from Cincinnati. Their master sold them to a Southern slave trader to be taken down the river, the greatest calamity that could happen to a slave family in those days. Hearing of this misfortune, they managed to escape during the night by tying bed clothing together and climbing from an upper window. They found a skiff in the river and rowed to Cincinnati, where they were immediately brought to Coffin's house. Here they were secreted for several weeks and from a small window in the garret they would frequently see their master pass the house, which of course was suspected. Coffin thereupon started out to raise money to assist in a trip to Canada. On this occasion he seems to have asked people with whose senti- ments he was but slightly acquainted. His usual formula was an inquiry as to whether the per- son approached owned stock in the "Under- ground Railway" and if the answer was favor- able he notified him that an assessment had been levied on thes stock. The first merchant gave him a dollar and the second, who was a Jew and had never expressed any sentiments on the sub- ject, gave him two dollars and several others gave him a dollar apiece. A prominent citizen, a wholesale grocer on Pearl street, was very in- (lignant when approached and did not believe in helping fugitives. Coffin told him the story of the misfortunes of this particular couple and of the great return on the investment realized by the stockholders in his undertaking in the shape of the satisfaction felt by the donor, but his argu- ments seemed in vain until he was about to leave the store, when the merchant surreptitiously slipped some money into his hands.

He did not hesitate to take great chances. On one occasion a pro-slavery merchant, profane of speech and violent in temperament, was banter- ing Coffin about stealing negroes whom he sup-

posed were kept in the cellar. Thereupon Coffin told him there was a fugitive at his house who had escaped from Mississippi, where he had been beaten until the blood ran down his back be- cause of his inability to do the amount of work the overseer expected of him. He had been pur- sued and torn by dogs, captured and put in jail and had broken from jail and finally after much suffering had reached Cincinnati and Coffin's house. The pro-slavery man was induced to go into the house and see him. He there heard the negro's story and also of the means adopted to assist in his escape and even went so far as to contribute a dollar to the expenses. Coffin fre- quently twitted him with having laid himself amenable to fine and imprisonment under the Fugitive Slave Law for assisting a slave to es- cape to Canada.

Another fugitive was Jane, a handsome slave girl who lived in Covington, where she was very kindly treated as a house servant. Upon the death of her old master, she became the property of his son, who was attracted by her beauty and she became the mother of a little girl, who was perfectly white. When the girl was about three years old, the master concluded to sell Jane and his own child down the river. Jane was able to escape with her daughter by reason of the assist- ance of Coffin and finally reached Canada, where she married and lived very happily for many years.

Another slave girl who had taken refuge at Coffin's house at the corner of Sixth and Elm was accompanied by Mrs. Coffin, who attired herself in her most fashionable clothes. The girl carried a rag baby properly dressed and cov. ered with a veil and as the couple passed along they presented the appearance of a fashionable lady and her nursery maid with an infant in her arms. They made their way out of the public part of the city to a house of a friend, where the girl was properly cared for.

Jackson, the property of Vice-President King of Alabama, escaped to Cincinnati, where for some years he plied his vocation as a barber. Finally a slave hunter attempted to take possession of him without procuring a writ as required by law. Accompanied by a posse of armed men, he seized Jackson one day at noon at the corner of Fifthi and Walnut and dragged him down the street to the wharf where the ferry boat was in readiness. As most of the people of the stores had gone to dinner at that hour, Jackson's cries for help were not heeded and he was taken across to Kentucky and finally to Alabama. He remained several

757

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS

years in slavery and finally married a free woman, a creole of Mobile who possessed some prop- erty. She was quite handsome but dignified in appearance with straight hair and olive complex- ion and when properly attired presented the ap- pearance of a well-to-do Southern woman of po- sition. She disguised her husband, who was small, as a woman, and the two went on board the regular vessel for New Orleans and took passage as a lady traveling on business accom- panied by her servant. At New Orleans they took an up-river boat for Cincinnati. She or- dered her servant about in a very haughty man- ner and treated him at all times in accordance with his assumed character. Some of the South- ern ladies on board advised her not to land at · Cincinnati as Ohio was a Free State and under the laws of the State all slaves were free who were brought there by their owners. On the other hand some of the Northern ladies advised the supposed slave girl of the opportunity she would have of escaping when they reached Ohio. The supposed mistress expressed confidence in the servant and the servant insisted upon her de- votion to the mistress. When the boat reached the wharf at Cincinnati, a carriage was taken and they were driven to the Dumas House, a public hotel kept by a colored woman. Jackson, who was well acquainted with the city, had Coffin sent for with a statement that a lady wished to see him on business. Accompanied by John Hat- field, a colored man who had received a similar message, Coffin called in the ladies' parlor, where he was introduced to the fine looking, well dressed creole from Alabama. She was very po- lite and dignified in her manner and told them that she wished to consult them with regard to emancipating her slave "Sal." "Sal" was brought out, but although both of the Cincinnatians had known Jackson they failed to recognize him. After some conversation and a change in gar- ments Jackson appeared in his own person and was finally sent to Cleveland, where his wife followed him.

The device of dressing men in women's clothes was paralleled by the similar one of dressing women in men's clothes, which sometimes re- sulted in rather amusing situations. A slave woman Sally belonging to a couple of maiden ladies in Covington was the mother of five chil- dren. Her husband had been sold South when her youngest child was but three months old and she never heard of him again. Learning that she and her three youngest children had been sold, she succeeded in making hier escape and secreting

herself in the house of a friendly neighbor. A search was made among the colored people but the very proximity of her refuge to her former home saved her. When the ardor of the search had abated, she was dressed in a man's apparel of black summer cloth in which she made a very presentable appearance, although it was rather thin for the season. She was taken across the river by William Casey, a colored man who aided many of his people in their escape, to Coffin's house, at that time on the corner of Franklin and Broadway, near Woodward Col- lege, and arrived there after midnight. Coffin, deceived by her appearance, took her for a boy. After an explanation he sent her up to the fourth story of the house to the room of theil colored hired girl and neglected to explain that it was a woman and not a man that was asking for lodging. This resulted in some confusion, which, however, disappeared after proper expla- nations. Much against her will, as she was loath to leave the neighborhood of her chil- dren, she was finally sent to Canada. One of her daughters finally escaped to Canada, but the mother died before she ever saw any of her family again.

Another slave girl living near New Orleans was so slightly tinged with negro blood as to be perfectly white and a white mechanic engaged in work in a sugar mill desired to marry lier. This was impossible under the laws of that State. The girl's master became suspicious of the re- lationship existing between the two and although she had been a house servant he sent her to the plantations to work as a common field hand. Her husband in all but name finally procured her es- cape and paid a man $200 to take her to Cincin- nati. The man gambled away the money and when she arrived at this city the captain of the boat attempted to hold her for passage money. Fortunately communication was had with Coffin and the attorney Jolliffe and a writ was obtained and served just as the captain was about to leave the Ohio shore in a skiff carrying the slave girl with him to Kentucky. Judge Burgoyne of the Probate Court ordered hier released as there was no proof that she was a slave. She was shel- tered by the Coffins tor some time but finally a letter written by some of her friends to her hus- band was intercepted and her whereabouts learned by hier master. The latter came to the city and obtained a writ from United States Commissioner Pendery, but the marshal let the secret out to a newspaper man and Coffin was properly warned. With the assistance of Birney,

758

CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF CINCINNATI

the attorney, and Salmon P. Chase, the girl was taken from Coffin's house, at that time on Elm and George, to a more secluded place on Mount Auburn. She was dressed in clothes of much better quality than her master had ever seen her wear and accompanied by two young ladies all closely veiled passed her master, who was stand- ing at the corner of Sixth and Elm watching the house. He was apparently entirely unsus- picious of the character of the people whom he saw leave the house. Her husband was subse- quently arrested in the South while endeavoring to gain possession of his children. He escaped to Louisville but was finally captured there. At St. Louis, however, he' succeeded in escaping again and finally joined the girl in Michigan, where they were married under the laws of that State in order not to leave any question as to the legality of their union. One of the children died in slavery but the other rejoined the parents after the war.

Another slave girl who escaped through Cof- fin's aid was so white and so absolutely free from any trace of negro blood that she remained for some time in the city and was introduced by Coffin to a large number of citizens, including Judge Storer and other members of the bar, who were utterly unable to discover either in her ap- pearance or in her conversation any indication of her servile origin.

Among the people who assisted Mr. Coffin in liis efforts to free so many from the curse of bondage were Joseph Emery ( the city mission- ary), Henry Lewis, John J. Jolliffe, Robert Bir- ney, Salmon P. Chase, Edward Harwood, Sam- nel Reynolds, John H. Coleman and particularly the Burnett family, who lived on Fifth street.

ELIZA HARRIS' ESCAPE.

Probably the slave whose escape became most known throughout the world was Eliza Harris, whose story was afterwards told by Mrs. Stowe in "Uncle Tom's Cabin." Mr. Coffin and his wife were the originals of the Quaker family men- tioned in that book under the name of Halliday and although the episodes of Eliza's escape hap- pened before Coffin came to Cincinnati to live it occurred so near this city and became so gen- erally known as to be a part of the history of the "Underground Railway" operations at this point. Eliza was the property of a man who lived a few miles back of the river below Ripley. She had been treated kindly but her master had be- come involved financially and she heard that she was to be separated from her two-year-old child.

This determined her to make her escape at once and at nightfall she started with her child in her arms for the Ohio River, which was usually. frozen over at that season of the year. When she reached its bank at daylight, she found that the ice had broken up and was slowly drifting by in large cakes. She concealed herself in the neighborhood during the day but in the evening learned that pursuers were after her. Althoughi the ice had become more broken and more dan- gerous during the day she determined to cross the river or perish in the attempt. Clasping her child in her arms she dashed to the river fol- lowed by her pursuers, who had just dismounted from their horses when they caught sight of her. Without fear of personal danger, as she was de- termined to drown rather than be separated from her child, with her babe clasped to her bosom, she sprang to the first cake of ice and from that

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. I, Pt. 2, Part 42

Author: Greve, Charles Theodore, b. 1863. cn Publication date: 1904 Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1048

Author: Greve, Charles Theodore, b. 1863. cn
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1048