USA > Pennsylvania > A pioneer outline history of northwestern Pennsylvania > Part 32
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" At No. 4 of October Term, 1835, in the District Court of the United States for the Western District of Pennsylvania, suit in trespass, brought July 10, 1835, by Thomas G. Baylor and Anna Maria Baylor, minors, by John Yates, Esq., their guardian, all citizens of Virginia, against Elijah Heath, James M. Steadman, and Arad Pearsall.
" At No. 5, October Term, 1835, suit in trespass by Stephen Delgarn, a citizen of Virginia, against same defendants as in No. 4, brought at same time. Burke and Metcalf, Esqs., were attorneys for the plaintiffs in each case, and Alexander M. Foster for the defendants.
" Suit, as No. 4, was tried on May 3, 4, and 5, 1836, and on May 6, 1836, verdict rendered for plaintiff for six hundred dollars.
" Suit No. 5 was tried May 6 and 7, 1836, and verdict rendered May 7, 1836, for eight hundred and forty dollars. November 24, 1836, judgments and costs collected upon execution and paid to plaintiffs' attorneys.
" In suit No. 4 the allegations as set forth in the declarations filed are : That plaintiffs, citizens of Virginia, were the owners of 'a certain negro man' named Charles Brown, otherwise 'Charles,' of great value,-to wit, of the value of one thousand dollars,-to which said negro they were lawfully enti- tled as a servant or slave, and to his labor and service as such, according to the laws of the State of Virginia. That on or about the Ist day of August, 1834, the said negro man absconded, and went away from and out of the custody of said plaintiffs, and afterwards went and came into the Western District of Pennsylvania; and the said plaintiffs, by their guardian, did, on or about the 13th day of September, 1834, pursue the said servant or slave into the said Western District of Pennsylvania, and finding the said servant or slave in said district, and there and then claimed him as a fugitive from
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HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
labor, and caused him to be arrested and brought before the judges of the Court of Common Pleas of Venango County, in said Western District of Pennsylvania; and it appearing upon sufficient evidence before them pro- duced in due and legal form, that the said negro man did, under the laws of Virginia, owe service and labor unto said plaintiffs, and that the said negro man had fled from the service of his said master in Virginia into Venango County, Pennsylvania, aforesaid; and the said plaintiffs, by their guardian, did, on the said 13th day of September, 1834, obtain from the said judges of the Court of Common Pleas of Venango County aforesaid a warrant for the removal of the said negro man to Virginia aforesaid; and the said guardian was returning and taking with him, under and by virtue of the said warrant, said servant or slave to the said plaintiffs' residence in Virginia; and while so returning-to wit, on or about the day and year last aforesaid-the said guardian at Jefferson County, in the Western District of Pennsylvania afore- said, did, with the assent and by the permission of the person or persons having charge of the public jail or prison in and for said County of Jefferson, place the said servant or slave in said jail or prison for safe-keeping, until he, the said guardian, could reasonably proceed on his journey with the said aforesaid servant or slave to Virginia aforesaid. Yet the said defendants, well knowing the said negro man to be the servant or slave of the plaintiffs and to be their lawful property, and that they, the said plaintiffs, by their guardian aforesaid, were entitled to have the possession and custody of him, and to have and enjoy the profit and advantage of his labor and services; but contriving and unlawfully intending to injure the said plaintiffs, and to deprive them of all benefits, profits, and advantages of and which would accrue to these said plaintiffs from said services, then and there, on or about the day and year aforesaid at Jefferson County aforesaid, did secretly and in the night-time unlawfully, wrongfully, and unjustly release, take, and assist in releasing and taking, or procure to be released or taken, the said negro man, then being as aforesaid the servant or slave of the said plaintiffs, from and out of the said prison or jail, where said servant or slave was placed for safe-keeping by said guardian as aforesaid; whereby said servant or slave escaped, ran off, and was and is wholly lost to said plaintiffs, and said plain- tiffs deprived of all the profits, benefits, and advantages which might and otherwise would have arisen and accrued to said plaintiffs from the said services of said servant or slave.
" The allegations and declarations in No. 5 were materially the same as in No. 4."
Isaac P. Carmalt was co-operating with Heath and others at this time. Heath was a Methodist, and so was Pearsall. Heath moved away about 1846, and Pearsall died in Brookville about 1857.
Isaac P. Carmalt was a Quaker, a relative of William Penn, and was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1794. He learned the carpenter trade.
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HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
In 1818 he left his native city with two horses and a Dearborn wagon, and in three weeks he crossed the Allegheny Mountains and located in Indiana County, Pennsylvania. In 1821 he moved to Punxsutawney. In 1822 he bought a farm near Clayville. In 1823 he married Miss Hannah A. Gaskill, a Quakeress, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. But little can be given of his great work in this direction owing to his death. His daughter, Mrs. Lowry, writes me as follows :
" The last slave that came to our house was after the insurrection at Harper's Ferry. He claimed to have been in the insurrection. He came with a colored man who lived near Grampian Hills, whose name was George Hartshorn. This one was a mulatto, and claimed to be the son of Judge Crittenden, who, I think, held some important office at Washington,-Sena- tor or Congressman. The slave was very nervous when he came, and asked for a raw onion, which, he said, was good to quiet the nerves. He was also quite suspicious of Joe Walkup, who was working at our house at the time. He called him out and gave him his revolver, and told him he would rather he would blow his brains out than to inform on him, for if he was taken he would certainly be hung. He left during the night for Brookville. Most of the fugitives came through Centre and Clearfield Counties. One of the underground railroad stations was in Centre County, near Bellefonte, kept by a friend by the name of Iddings, who sent them to the next station, which was Grampian Hills, from thence to our house, and from here to Brook- ville. I remember well one Sabbath when I was coming home from church; Lib Wilson was coming part way with me. We noticed a colored man ahead of us. I paid but little attention, but she said, 'I know that is a slave.' I knew Wilson's pro-slavery sentiments, and replied very carelessly that 'there was a colored family living near Grampian Hills. I supposed he was going to our house, as we had been there a short time before, wanting to trade horses for oxen to haul timber with.' But as soon as she left me I quickened my pace and tried to overtake him. I was afraid he might go through Clay- ville, where I knew there was a perfect nest of pro-slavery men, who had made their threats of what they would do if father assisted any more slaves to gain their freedom. Among them were the Gillespies, who boasted of being overseers or slave-drivers while they were in the South. He kept ahead of me and stopped at James Minish's, and I thought it was all over with him, as they and the Gillespies were connected, and most likely were of the same sentiment in regard to slavery. But imagine my surprise when I came up, Mr. Minish handed me a slip of paper with the name of ' Carmalt' on it, and remarked that I was one of the Carmalt girls. (I suppose it was the name of a station.) But he hurried the fugitive on, and I directed him to go up over the hill through the woods. I then hurried home for father to go and meet him. But when I got home, father was not there, so I put on my sun-bonnet and went but a short distance, when I met him. There were
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HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
several persons in the house, so I slipped him in the back way. He seemed to be in great misery and could not eat anything, but asked for something to bathe his foot in. Then he gave a short account of his escape from slavery three years previous. After escaping he stopped with a man near Harris- burg, at what he called Yellow Breeches Creek, and worked for him, during which time he married and had a little home of his own. One day when ploughing in the field he discovered his old master from whom he had escaped and two other men coming toward him. He dropped everything and ran to his benefactor's house, and told him who he had seen. His bene- factor then pulled off his coat and boots and directed him to put them on, as he was in his bare feet, having left his own coat and boots in the field. Being closely pursued, he ran to the barn, and the men followed him. He was then compelled to jump from a high window, and, striking a sharp stone, he received a severe cut in one heel, not having had time to put on the boots given him by his benefactor. When he came to our house he was suffering terribly, not having had an opportunity to get the wound dressed. His benefactor had charged him not to tarry on the road. But father, seeing the seriousness of his wound, persuaded him to go to bed until midnight. But the poor fellow could not sleep, but moaned with pain. We gave him his breakfast, and then father had him get on a horse, while he walked, and it was just breaking day when they arrived at Brookville. A gentleman by the name of Christopher Fogle was waiting to receive them. We heard afterwards that the poor slave succeeded in reaching Canada, but returned for his wife, and was captured and taken back to slavery.
" There is just one more incident that I will mention, which occurred at an earlier date. One morning I went to the door and saw four large colored men hurrying to the barn. I told father, and he went out and brought them in. Our breakfast was just ready. We had them sit down and eat as fast as they could, taking the precaution to lock the door, for several persons came along while they were eating. Father noticed that one of the slaves looked dull and stupid, and inquired if he was sick. One of the others replied that he was only a little donsey. When they were through eating, father hurried them to the woods and hid them somewhere near the old school- house then on the farm. When father went to take their dinner to them, the one said he was still a little donsey, and then showed father his back. His shirt was sticking to his back. He had been terribly whipped, and they had rubbed salt in the gashes. They then gave a short history of their escape. They said they had a good master and mistress, but their master had died and the estate was sold. The master's two sons then sold them, and they were to be taken to the rice-swamps to toil their lives away. They were determined to make their escape, but the one who had been so terribly whipped was cap- tured and taken back. Their old mistress planned and assisted him to make his escape by dressing him as a coachman, and with her assistance he found
326
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HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
his way to Washington, where he met his companions and friends. From Washington they were guided by the north star, travelling only by night.
" I think but few fugitives came by the way of Indiana, though I remem- ber of hearing father tell of one or two that he brought with him when he first came from Indiana who had escaped by way of Philadelphia. I think most came through Baltimore, where a Quaker friend by the name of Needles assisted the runaways through this branch of the underground railroad. From Baltimore they came through the Quaker settlements in Centre and Clearfield Counties. Father was the only one who conveyed them from our house near Clayville to Brookville. This he generally did by going himself or by sending some reliable person with them. Father concealed a man from Baltimore, a German, who used to smuggle slaves through. He had a furniture wagon, in which he concealed them, but was discovered and put in jail at York, Pennsylvania, but he escaped to Iddings, near Bellefonte, thence to Grampian Hills, and from there to father's, where he worked five years. He then left, and moved to Ohio. He became afraid to stay, for there were a few who had an inkling of his history and knew there was a reward of three thousand dollars for his arrest. One day in going to his work he met the sheriff from Baltimore, who knew him well, and told him to keep out of his sight, that there was a big reward offered for him. When he was first arrested he had a colored girl concealed in a bureau which he was hauling on his wagon."
Christopher Fogle was born in Baden, Germany, in 1800. His father came with his family to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1817, and Christopher learned the tanning trade in Germantown. On June 26, 1826, he was mar- ried in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. About this time he joined the Metho- dist Church. In 1835 he migrated to Heathville, Jefferson County, Pennsyl- vania, and built a tannery. In 1843 he moved to Troy and had a tannery. This he afterwards sold out to Hulett Smith, when he moved to Brookville and purchased from Elijah Heath and A. Colwell what was called the David Henry tannery. Rev. Fogle was in the underground railroad business in Heathville, and Mrs. Jane Fogle, his second wife, who still survives him, informs me that he continued in that business until the war for the Union, and she assisted him. The points in and around Brookville where the Rev. Fogle lived and secreted fugitives were, first the old tannery; second, the K. L. Blood farm; third, the little yellow house where Benscotter's residence now is; and, fourth, the old house formerly owned by John J. Thompson, opposite the United Presbyterian church. Officers frequently were close after these fugitives, and sometimes were in Brookville, while the agents had the colored people hid in the woods. The next station on this road to Canada was at the house of William Coon, in Clarington, Pennsylvania. Coon would ferry the slaves over the Clarion, feed, refresh, and start them through the wilder- ness for Warren, Pennsylvania, and when Canada was finally reached, the
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HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
poor fugitive could sing, with a broken heart at times, thinking of his wife. children, and parents yet in bonds,-
" No more master's call for me, No more, no more. No more driver's lash for me, No more, no more. No more auction-block for me, No more, no more. No more bloodhounds hunt for me, No more, no more. I'm free, I'm free at last ; at last, Thank God, I'm free !"
The following census tables are taken from Williams's " Memoirs and Administration," published in 1850:
PROGRESS OF POPULATION IN THE UNITED STATES FOR FIFTY YEARS, FROM
1790 TO 1840
First Census, August 1, 1790.
Whites.
Free States
1,900,772
Free Colored. 26,83I
Slaves. 40,850 645,047
Total. 1,968,453
Slave States
1,271,692
32,635
1,961,374
Total
3,172,464
59,446
697,897
3,929,827
Second Census, August 1, 1800.
Free States
2,601,509
47,154
35,946
2,684,609
Slave States
1,702,980
61,24I
857,095
2,621,316
Total
4,304,489
108,395
893,041
5,305,925
Third Census, August 1, 1810.
Free States
3,653,219
78,181
27,510
3,758,910
Slave States
2,208,785
108,265
1,163,854
3,480,904
Total
5,862,004
186,446
1,191,364
7,239,814
Fourth Census, August 1, 1820.
Free States
5,030,37I
102,893
19,108
5,152,372
Slave States
2,842,340
I35,434
1,524,580
4,502,224
Total
7,872,7II
238,197
1,543,688
9,654,596
Fifth Census, June I, 1830.
Free States
6,876,620
137,529
3,568
7,017,717
Slave States
3,660,758
182,070
2,005,475
5,848,303
Total
10,537,378
319,599
2,009,043
12,866.020
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HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
Sixth Census, June 1, 1840.
Whites.
Free Colored.
Slaves.
Total.
Free States
9,557,065
170,727
1,129
9,723,92I
Slave States
4,632,640
215,568
2,486,226
7,334,434
Total
14,189,705
386,295
2,487,355
17,063,3.55
.
SUMMARY OF THE CENSUS OF THE UNITED STATES, JUNE 1, 1840 Free or Non-Slaveholding States.
States and Territories.
Whites.
Free Colored.
Slaves.
Total.
Maine
500,438
1,355
501,793
New Hampshire
284,036
537
I
284,574
Vermont
291,218
730
. .
291,948
Massachusetts
729,030
8,668
737,698
Rhode Island
105,587
3,238
5
108,830
Connecticut
301,856
8,105
17
309,978
Total, New England.
2,212,165
22,633
23
2,234,821
New York
2,378,890
50,027
..
2,428,921
New Jersey
351,588
21,044
674
373,306
Pennsylvania
1,676,115
47,854
64
1,724,033
Ohio
1,502,122
17,342
3
1,519,467
Indiana
678,698
7,165
3
685,866
Illinois
472,254
3,598
331
476,183
Michigan
211,560
707
. .
212,267
Wisconsin
30,749
185
II
43,112
Iowa
42,924
172
16
30,945
Total, Free States
9,557,065
170,727
1,129
9,728,92I
Slaveholding States.
Delaware
58,561
16,919
2,605
78,085
Maryland
318,204
62,078
89,737
470,019
District of Columbia
30,657
8,361
4,694
43,712
Virginia
740,968
49,842
448,987
1,239.797
North Carolina
484,870
22,732
255,817
753.419
South Carolina
259,084
8,276
327,038
494,398
Georgia
407,695
2,753
280,944
691,392
Florida
27,943
817
25,717
54,477
Alabama
335,185
2,039
253,532
590,756
Mississippi
179,074
1,369
195,21I
375.654
Louisiana
158,457
25,502
168,45I
352,4II
Arkansas
77,174
465
19,935
97,574
Tennessee
640,627
5,524
183,059
829,210
Kentucky
590,253
7,317
182,258
779,828
Missouri
323,888
1,574
58,240
383,702
Total, Slave States
4,632,640
215,568
2,486,226
7.334-434
Total, United States
14,189,705
386,295
2,487,355
17,063,355
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HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
INDENTURED APPRENTICES, WHITE SLAVERY, AND REDEMPTIONERS
Colored people were not the only class held in servitude by Pennsyl- vanians. Another form of slavery was carried on by speculators called New- landers. These traders in "white people" were protected by custom and legal statutes. They ran vessels regularly to European seaports, and induced people to emigrate to Pennsylvania. By delay and expensive formalities these emigrants were systematically robbed during the trip of any money they might have, and upon their arrival at Philadelphia would be in a strange country, without money or friends to pay their passage or to lift their goods from the villanous captains and owners of these vessels which brought them to the wharves of Philadelphia. Imagine the destitute condition of these emigrants. Under the law of imprisonment for debt the captain or merchant either sold these people or imprisoned them.
The Newlanders were the first German emigrants to Pennsylvania. Ac- tuated by sinister motives, the Newlander would return to Germany, and rely on his personal appearance and flattering tongue to mislead and induce all classes, from the minister down to the lowest strata of humanity, to migrate to the New World. The Newlanders would receive from the owner or cap- tain of a vessel a stipulated sum per passenger. By arts and representations the Newlander ingratiated himself into the confidence of the emigrant, securing possession of his property, and before taking passage the emigrant had to subscribe to a written contract in English, which enabled the New- lander the more fully to pluck his victim, for when the vessel arrived at Philadelphia the list of passengers and their agreements were placed in the hands of merchants. The Newlander managed it so that the emigrant would be in his debt, and then the poor foreigners had to be sold for debt. The merchants advertised the cargo; the place of sale on the ship. The pur- chasers had to enter the ship, make the contract, take their purchase to the merchant and pay the price, and then legally bind the transaction before a magistrate. Unmarried people and young people, of course, were more readily sold, and brought better prices. Aged and decrepit persons were poor sale ; but if they had healthy children, these children were sold at good prices for the combined debt, and to different masters and in different States, per- haps never to see each other in this world. The parents then were turned loose to beg. The time of sale was from two to seven years for about fifty dollars of our money. The poor people on board the ship were prisoners, and could neither go ashore themselves or send their baggage until they paid what they did not owe. These captains made more money out of the deaths of their passengers than they did from the living, as this gave them a chance to rob chests and sell children. This was a cruel, murdering trade. Every cruel device was resorted to in order to gain gold through the misfortune of these poor people. One John Stedman, in 1753, bought a license in Hol- land that no captain or merchant could load any passengers unless he had two
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HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
thousand. He treated these deluded people so cruelly on ship-board that two thousand in less than one year were thrown overboard. This was monopoly.
As will be seen in this chapter, under the head of advertisements, many of the leading merchants in Philadelphia were engaged in this nefarious business. In answer to the daily advertisements of "Redemptioners for Sale," citizens from all parts of Pennsylvania and adjoining States visited Philadelphia and bought these poor white people, the same as sheep and oxen. Many of the best families and people in this State are descendants of these " white slaves." We have some such descendants in Jefferson County and through the northwest. I could name them.
Under this debasing system of indentured apprentices, the legal exist- ence of African slavery, and the legalized sale of white emigrants in our State, is it any wonder that among the people intemperance, illiteracy, lottery schemes for churches, gambling, and profanity were the rule, or that to the poor, the weak, and the wretched the prisons were the only homes or hospitals for them, and that the " driver's lash" fell alike on the back of the old and young, black and white, minister, school-master, and layman ?
"I pity the mother, careworn and weary, As she thinks of her children about to be sold; You may picture the bounds of the rock-girdled ocean, But the grief of that mother can never be told."
ACT OF 1700
"AN ACT FOR THE BETTER REGULATION OF SERVANTS IN THIS PROVINCE AND TERRITORIES
" For the just encouragement of servants in the discharge of their duty, and the prevention of their deserting their masters' or owners' service, Be it enacted, That no servant, bound to serve his or her time in this province, or counties annexed, shall be sold or disposed of to any person residing in any other province or government, without the consent of the said servant, and two Justices of the Peace of the county wherein he lives or is sold, under the penalty of ten pounds; to be forfeited by the seller.
" II. And be it further enacted, That no servant shall be assigned over to another person by any in this province or territories, but in the presence of one Justice of the Peace of the county, under the penalty of ten pounds ; which penalty, with all others in this act expressed, shall be levied by distress and sale of goods of the party offending.
" III. And be it enacted, That every servant that shall faithfully serve four years, or more, shall, at the expiration of their servitude, have a dis- charge, and shall be duly clothed with two complete suits of apparel, whereof one shall be new, and shall also be furnished with one new axe, one grubbing- hoe, and one weeding-hoe, at the charge of their master or mistress.
33I
HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
"IV. And for prevention of servants quitting their masters' service, Be it enacted, That if any servant shall absent him or herself from the service of their master or owner for the space of one day or more, without leave first obtained for the same, every such servant shall, for every such day's absence, be obliged to serve five days, after the expiration of his or her time, and shall further make such satisfaction to his or her master or owner, for the damages and charges sustained by such absence, as the respective County Court shall see meet, who shall order as well the time to be served, as other recompense for damages sustained.
" V. And whosoever shall apprehend or take up any runaway servant, and shall bring him or her to the Sheriff of the county, such person shall, for every such servant, if taken up within ten miles of the servant's abode, receive ten shillings, and if ten miles or upwards, twenty shillings reward, of the said Sheriff, who is hereby required to pay the same, and forthwith to send notice to the master or owner, of whom he shall receive five shillings, prison fees, upon delivery of the said servant, together with all other disburse- ments and reasonable charges for and upon the same.
" VI. And to prevent the clandestine employing of other men's servants, Be it enacted, That whosoever shall conceal any servant of this province or territories, or entertain him or her twenty-four hours, without his or her master's or owner's knowledge and consent, and shall not within the said time give an account thereof to some Justice of the Peace of the county, every such person shall forfeit twenty shillings for every day's concealment. And in case the said Justice shall not, within twenty-four hours after complaint made to him, issue his warrant, directed to the next constable, for apprehend- ing and seizing the said servant, and commit him or her to the custody of the Sheriff of the county, such Justice shall, for every such offence, forfeit five pounds. And the Sheriff shall by the first opportunity, after he has received the said servant, send notice thereof to his or her master or owner; and the said Sheriff, neglecting or omitting in any case to give notice to the master or owner of their servant being in his custody as aforesaid, shall forfeit five shillings for every day's neglect after an opportunity has offered, to be proved against him before the next County Court, and to be there adjudged.
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