USA > Pennsylvania > Delaware County > Chester > History of the Underground railroad in Chester and the neighboring counties of Pennsylvania > Part 12
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The hatreds of that hour have long passed by, and a number of those engaged in the mob have become good citizens. The person who nursed Frederick Douglass on that occasion was Elizabeth, wife of Neal Hardy. Recently, in her widowhood, this kind and motherly woman received an honored visitor, and the town which once drove him from her midst, and with him some of her best citizens, was not slow to recognize in this same orator, the favored official, Frederick Douglass, then United States Marshal for the District of Columbia. A later experience in Philadelphia with the popular hatred of the times, affected a most lovely and innocent girl just blooming into womanhood. With her friends she attended a mccting to listen to the eloquence of George William Curtis. Whilst there a shower of vitriol was thrown into the audience and it fell chiefly on her face and dress. She was so terribly burned that for weeks her face had to be excluded from the air wrapped up in wet cloths. This was Emma J., eldest daughter of Dr. Edwin and Rebecca L. Fussell. Through the care of her parents she came out of the ordeal unscarred and her bonnet, riddled with holes, was the only external memorial of the fiendish vengeance directed, not against
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her personally, but towards the assembly of abolition- ists of which she formed a part. This experience, no doubt, hastened the maturing of an earnest, deep, and thoughtful soul, such as looks out from the picture she has left behind her. In early life, this devoted girl offered her services as a teacher in the South .* In pity for her youth and in hope of the richness of her pro- mise, J. Miller McKim very kindly, but firmly refused her. He explained to the writer that he did it because he could not endure to see such a martyr. There is no doubt that he was moved by a fatherly kindness which interfered to prevent a needless sacrifice, but the refusal was most painful to her ; and to her friends, as the large tears dropped silently, she excused the author of her disappointment by saying he did not know her, nor how her heart was in it.
Soon after this, wounded men from our battles began to arrive in Philadelphia. At one time four hundred and fifty were sent to a hospital near the residence of Dr. Fussell. At midnight, with wine and cordials, father and daughter made their way to where their help was so imperatively needed. As the daughter of a physi- cian, with the knowledge and skill which many willing nurses lacked, she was everywhere in request, and, for- getful of her own needs, she only remembered to supply as far as in her power, those of the suffering around her. It was not at the South, but amid her own kin- dred that she labored until nature would bear no more. Then she laid down in death, and the martyr soul rose beyond our vision, leaving an agonized memory of what she was and what she might have been. We do not
*At Beaufort, S. C.
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question was it wise or well. We only state that it was, and that such were the spirits nurtured by the opposi- tion to slavery. Young persons through an illimitable condemnation of an illimitable wrong, rose to the height of their power for time, or else they passed to eternity, and God knows which was best. We only know that the silent dead sometimes influence us more than the living. Children yet unborn may be lifted to a higher plane by spiritual kinship with Emma J. Fus- sell, aged 23.
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NORRIS MARIS.
CHAPTER XII.
NORRIS MARIS .- LEWIS PEART .- A Dream .- EMMON KIMBER .- Sketch of Experiences of RACHEL HARRIS .- "Cunningham's Rache."- Abbie Kimber .- Gertrude Kimber Burleigh.
NORRIS MARIS .* (Fifth Month 24th, 1803.)
While Norris Maris lived on the farm of Esther Lewis and daughters, he was ever willing and ready to assist the fugitive, whether at night when fatigued from the day's labor, or in cold, dreary or stormy weather when less benevolent hearts would seek their own pro- tection and comfort rather than to endure exposure such as that merely to aid a colored stranger in securing lib- erty. He never looked upon it as a trouble; scarcely as a duty; but simply as a blessed privilege to secure the freedom and happiness of even a few individuals of an oppressed and down-trodden people.
In 1854 he purchased a farm near Kimberton, and his home at once became another "station," and con- tinued as such until the government no longer recog- nized the negro as chattel property.
Slaves came to his place from the eastern shore of Maryland, from Virginia and from John Vickers. John being a potter, frequently gave them a slip of paper containing the words : " Thy friend Pot," and gave di- rections how to find the place. In the fall of the year
*The editors think proper to put upon record here a statement made by Dr. R. C. Smedley to a friend before his death, viz. : that to the in- terest aroused in his mind by Norris Maris, who told him of what was done by the Lewis family, was owing his determination to give this work to the world.
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he impressed the locality more forcibly upon their memory by telling them that after passing a-place where they would smell pomace-which was at Abraham Buckwalter's cider press-they were to stop at the first house by the roadside or the right. After delivering the paper to Norris they were free to converse with him and family. With all others they maintained profound reticence.
Norris either took them to Elijah F. Pennypacker's or Lewis Peart's, or sent them in charge of persons living with him. John A. Groff, then a lad, and now an ex-Justice of the Peace in West Chester, was one of his trustworthy conductors. Frequently he gave directions how to find the next stations ; and his son George, who was then a small boy, often drew a map of the road for them as far as E. F. Pennypacker's.
While Norris lived on the farm of Graceanna Lewis and sisters, a party of twenty-one came and were cared for by the two families.
So frequently did fugitives come and go that Norris's children while young looked upon providing for them with the same calm, cheerful, "matter of course" feel- ing as they did upon preparing the daily meals, or at- tending to the various departments of housekeeping.
LEWIS PEART.
(Born September 26th, 1808 .- Died February 14th, 1882.)
Lewis Peart, of Lampeter township, Lancaster coun- · ty, was one of those quiet, cautious men whose calm, cool determination, serene, deliberate forecast, and un- wavering judgment made him a reliable agent on this line of secret transportation. Slaves were sent to him chiefly from Daniel Gibbons and direct from Columbia.
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From his house they were sent to Lindley Coates, Thomas Whitson, Thomas Bonsall and others. Some were secreted in the house, and some in the barn. He generally took them himself, after dusk, to other sta- tions, as it were dangerous for negroes to go when the Gap gang was prowling around. When he sent them he gave verbal directions. If pursuers were close be- hind, or there was danger, he sent a swift messenger in advance to the next station agent to apprise him of the necessity of hurrying the fugitives along without delay.
In the spring of 1844 he removed to Chester county, near Valley Forge. Here his work in this line of travel was quadruple that which he was called upon to perform while in the Lancaster section of the route; slaves were sent to him chiefly by the Lewis sisters and by Norris Maris. He always kept plenty of horses and either took the fugitives, or sent them by Henry Richards, to Dr. J. L. Paxson, or the Corsons, in Nor- ristown; also to Charles Adamson, Schuylkill, and to James Wood, both of whom were ever willing to assist all who came to them.
Henry Richards owned, and lived on, a lot near Lewis Peart's. He and his wife had both been slaves in Delaware.
One night Lewis saw John A. Groff, in a dream, coming at a distance along the road, with a lot of fugi- tives he was bringing from Norris Maris. He watched him until he came to the house, when a loud rap at the door awoke him. He arose, went down stairs, and on opening the door, there stood the very boy with the load of slaves he had been watching in his dream.
He believed that many of the African race possessed J
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peculiar susceptibilities, and he had strong faith that in their flight from bondage they were frequently guided to a re-union with their friends by the force and inten- sity of their affections. In corroboration of this he re- lated an instance of a party of slaves that were con- cealed in a covered wagon at his place ready to be con- veyed by him to another station. Before starting, a colored man from another region came up, and learning that there were fugitives in the wagon, felt a strong and peculiar drawing toward it. Going up, he gave a low tap on the side, and received from the interior the de- sired reply, which proved to be from his niother. After long wanderings, and wide separation, they were thus re-united. Many instances of a similar character came under his immediate observation.
EMMOR KIMBER.
(Born 1775 .- Died Ninth Month Ist, 1850.)
Among those who took on early and active part in the cause of the slave was Emmor Kimber, of Kim- berton, Chester county. His house was a welcome refuge to all who sought his aid. He was a man of su- perior intelligence, extensive education, firm in his con- victions, strict in discipline, and was a " recommended minister " in the Society of Friends. In 1818 he estab- lished a boarding school for girls, which he conducted successfully for a period of twenty years.
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But one incident is related in detail of the assistance given by him to a long line of fugitives extending over many years. A few are referred to in the accounts of others who forwarded them to his place. Among the most noted who came under his roof, whose character-
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istic traits and ability distinguished her from all others and made an impression upon the memory which a mul- titude of other events could never efface, was "Cun- ningham's Rache," who was afterwards long and well known in West Chester as RACHEL HARRIS. She was tall, muscular, slight, with an extremely sensitive ner- vous organization, a brain of large size, and an expres- sion of remarkable sagacity. She was owned by a man in Maryland named " Mort" Cunningham. She passed into the hands of Henry Waters, a gentleman of estima- ble character, in Baltimore. But whether he bought her, or hired her of Cunningham for a period of time, is not known. He was in delicate health, and wished Rachel to accompany him and his wife to New Orleans as their servant. After remaining a short time he re- turned. On the voyage he grew worse, and one night when about to die, a fearful storm arose. In relating the incident to the Kimber family, with her remarkable dramatic powers, she depicted the scenes and surround- ings with suchi powers of speech and expression and apposite gesticulation as almost to make them feel they were witnessing the scenes in reality. She impersonated the howling wind, the tumultuous sea, the lurching ship, the bellowing of a cow, frightened by the storm, and finally the dying man in his last moments of earth. She described the landing at their place of destination, and the appearance of the cow as she stepped upon terra firma, and, taking a snuff of the land-breeze, darted through the crowd. The captain beckoned to Rache and pointed toward the cow. Rache took in the mean- ing at once, and taking advantage of that moment when her mistress was occupied in thought, she, like the cow,
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darted through the crowd with the quickness of a flash, and disappeared. Making her way northward, she arrived at the house of Emmor Kimber. The family being in need of a servant employed her as cook, in which capacity she served them for a long time faith- fully, and was much esteemed. Her slave-name then was Henrietta Waters.
She had a most thorough abhorrence of her former master, "Mort" Cunningham.
She married Isaac Harris, who had formerly been a a slave of William Taylor, Maryland. His slave-name was Joe Lusley.
After their marriage they resided in West Chester many years ; the latter part of the time they occupied a small house on West Miner street, where Dr. Thomas Ingram's house now stands. She was ever cheerful and lively, and her clear, strong, musical voice, as she sat in her doorway in the evenings and sang, was heard in all that part of the town. She was employed by as many familes as she could serve to do their weekly washing and ironing; and in house-cleaning times her services were always in demand.
Alarge reward had been offered for her, and a man in West Chester learning this, and having a more sel- fish love of money than a regard for her liberty, in- formed the advertiser where she was living. He came, engaged a constable to go with him, proceeded to her house, arrested her and took her before Judge Thomas S. Bell, to prove her to be his property. While the ex- amination was going on in the judge's office, then lo- cated at the southeast corner of Church and Miner streets, she asked permission to step out into the back-
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yard, which was granted, the officer accompanying her. The moment she entered the yard she ran to the board fence surrounding it, about seven feet high, and, as if assisted by an Unseen Hand, scaled it with the agility of a cat, and fled. The constable had not time to seize her, for she left him in the quickness of a flash, nor could he with his best effort climb that fence to pursue her.
Rachel sped out the alley and down Miner street to High, up High to Samuel Auge's hat store, down an alley and through the hat shop, over a vat of boiling liquid, frightening the men as though an apparition had suddenly darted among them, out through an alley back of Dr. Worthington's stable, and into the kitchen of John T. Worthington's house, where Caleb E. Chambers' leather store is now situated. Rushing up to Mrs. Worthington she threw her arms around her.
"For God sake, take me in, save me, my master is after me !" cried the poor affrighted woman.
"Oh! I guess not," said Mrs. Worthington, trying to soothe her.
" He is! he is! they had me, but I got away from them. Oh hide me somewhere quickly, do !"
Her emotion and piteous appeals convinced Mrs. Worthington that she was actually pursued, and imme- diately she took her up to the garret, hid her in a cubby- hole, fastened the door, and returned, Shortly after, her husband came home to dinner; the family took their seats around the table, and no sign was manifest that anything unusual had occurred.
The constable, exasperated at her successful escape and mortified at his discomfiture, went back into the
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office and told his tale. Bewildered and amazed at such an instanteous flight, the slaveholder and his aids knew not for a moment what to do. Gathering their senses again they determined upon an immediate and vigorous pursuit. Rushing to the street they looked both ways, but the fleet-footed Rachel was nowhere to be seen. Not an individual was in sight save one old man named James Hutchinson. Hurrying up to him they inquired if he had seen a colored woman running past there. He had seen her, and wondered what she was running after. Taking in at once the facts of the case that these were negro hunters he promptly replied, "Yes, I did."
" Which way did she go?"
"Shure an' she shot along there like a rabbit," he answered, pointing in the opposite direction to that in which she ran. The men being thus misled searched for her in that part of town.
Hearing in the afternoon that something like a phan- tom had passed through "Sammy " Auge's hat-shop that day, they went thither immediately, examined the alley and Dr. Worthington's stable, and passed by John T. Worthington's house without calling. The Beneficent Hand that guided her to this place still threw the pro- tecting mantle around her, and it did not enter the minds of her pursuers to make enquiries there, but meeting John on the street, they asked if he had seen or heard anything of her. He told them he had not. His wife had fortunately revealed nothing to him.
Rachel had washed for Mrs. Worthington for many years, and was beloved by her as a faithful, honest woman, and now, in her distress, she could return the measure of faithfulness. The colored woman had fre-
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quently said she would rather be cut to pieces than be returned to slavery.
Her husband at that time was working in the brick- yard of Philip P. Sharples. By some means, informa- tion reached them of where she was. Philip immedi- ately set to work to devise some measures for her re- moval from West Chester. Active search was made for her during the entire afternoon and evening, and every movement of those known to be in sympathy with the fugitive was as closely watched as the movements of an army by the scouts of the enemy. It would not be safe for an abolitionist in West Chester to attempt to convey her from town, for the scrutinizing eyes of the hunters were vigorously on the alert. Philip knew, that as Benjamin Price's sons were attending the Friends' school at the High Street Meeting House, and he drove in town on that evening of the week to take them to a lecture, the appearance of his carriage standing there would excite no suspicion. He visited Benjamin, a quiet but faithful Underground Railroad agent who lived two and a-half miles from the borough, and the proper ar- rangements were made.
About dusk he drove into the sheds as usual, hitched his horses and went into the school-room where the pupils were engaged in their evening studies. As the hour approached for the lecture, he and his son Isaiah took their seats in the carriage while the others went to the lecture.
During this time Rachel was being dressed in male attire at Mrs. Worthington's, and at the appointed hour walked out of the house with her husband, attracting no more attention than two men would ordinarily do, and
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went directly to the carriage at the sheds, arriving there a few minutes after Benjamin and Isaiah had entered.
" Is that you, boys?" was inquired from within. " Yes."
" Then hop right in; we shall be late at the lecture, and we have to go on an errand first."
The darkness of the night, and a drizzling rain de- scending favored their eluding the observation of any who might be on the watch. They started northward out High street "to attend to an errand first," then turning to the right at the road below Taylor's brewery they drove along a by-way to the State road, and then proceeded directly on their course through Norris- town to the residence of a relative, William H. John- son, in Bucks county, about forty-five miles from West Chester, arriving there about ten o'clock next day. They were warmly received, and the fugitives were taken into the care of the family. Being so far from West Chester, and so little danger of their being discovered there, they remained for a considerable time, and then removed to Canada.
This statement of how she was conveyed from West Chester, differing from that which is given in the History of Chester county, requires an explanation.
The account of her escape from the officer, and her flight from Judge Bell's to John T. Worthington's house, was given by Samuel M. and Cyrus Painter, ard others. Her entrance into Worthington's house, her rushing up to Mrs. Worthington and pleading for pro- tection, and the way in which she was secreted, was related by Mrs. Worthington herself. She could not remember who among the abolitionists of the borough
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she spoke to about bringing a carriage for her, but thought it was Samuel M. Painter, as he conveyed more from West Chester than any other person. He said he did not remember taking her, that he took so many he could not now separate one incident entirely from another, unless something at the time made a special impression upon his mind ; but if he did take her, it was to John Vickers', as it was there he took all. Not being able to ascertain anything different from all enquiries I could make, I accepted that as most likely to be correct.
In my subsequent gleaning of incidents I asked Capt. Isaiah Price for some reminiscences of his father's Underground Railroad work. Among them he related the incident of their taking Rachel Harris away while her pursuers were searching for her. This could be accepted then as correct, and was the first positive in- formation received.
Rachel afterwards wrote to Hannalı Jeffries and others in West Chester, saying she was contented and happy.
The slaveholder and his assistants continued their search in the borough for two days, and then abandoned it.
For the part Mrs. Worthington took in the grand success, her friends for a long time humorously called her " the little abolitionist."
Some time during their sojourn at Johnson's Rachel and her huband were met by Dr. Bartholomew Fussell and Graceanna Lewis. As was his wont this kind hearted- man soon entered into conversation with her, and in a few minutes discovered that she had once been a pupil of his during his residence in Maryland many years before. At the moment of recognition she sprang up, overwhelm- J*
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ing him with her manifestations of delight, crying : "You Dr. Fussell? You Dr. Fussell ? Don't you remember me? I'm Rache-Cunningham's Rache, down at Bush River Neck." Then receding to view him better, she ex- claimed, " Lord bless de child ! how he is grown !" The Doctor by this time had become quite corpulent.
She then recounted her wretched experiences in slavery while the property of " Mort " Cunningham, who had come to capture her, and rehearsed the inci- dents of her escape in her naturally dramatic style, and said that from her hiding place in the garret she heard the men hunting for her in the alley below.
Graceanna Lewis, shortly after this event, in a private company, was impersonating Rachel in her description of her escape from West Chester, without telling who the fugitive was, when Abbie Kimber, recog- nising the description of the woman, and her perfectly natural manner of dramatizing scenes and incidents, at once exclaimed : "That's our Rache."
ABIGAIL KIMBER.
(Born 1804 .- Died Third Month 22d, 1871.)
Abigail Kimber, daughter of Emmor Kimber, was a woman of superior mind and excellent traits of charac- ter. At the early age of fourteen she became a teacher in her father's school, and soon exhibited rare capabilities for her vocation. Her quick perceptions enabled her to comprehend without an effort the intellectual needs of her pupils, and she applied herself with diligence and tact to supply the helps which each required. Her high standard of worth, her own example and her en- thusiastic love for her pupils inspired them with a
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proper idea of their duty, and no one, it is said, ever left the school that did not carry with her grateful re- collections of the care and kindness of Miss Abbie, as well as a warm admiration of her superior intellect and noble nature. She continued in the profession of teach- ing for thirty years.
At a very early period of the anti-slavery cause she enrolled herself among its advocates, and from that hour she labored with rare devotion and activity in its behalf. At different periods she filled the offices of President, Vice President, and Recording Secretary of the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society, and for many years she was a member of the Executive Com- mittee of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society.
In those days when Government officials gave up anti-slavery meetings to the mercy or the fury of mobs, and abolitionists walked to their assemblies and sat therein, solemnly, as confronting mortal peril, she never faltered, nor shrank from the duty of maintaining frec- dom of speech, and demanding freedom for the slave.
She was a delegate to the World's Convention which met in London in the summer of 1840.
To what great extent the influence of her example and the noble aims and purposes in life she instilled into the minds of her pupils have spread throughout the world as they left the school-room, and in their turn became teachers and mothers, or to what extent she swayed the sceptre of good over matured minds in those days when it required a vast amount of heroism and moral stamina in woman to come publicly to the front and advocate the rights of humanity, no pen can tell, nor mind can adequately conceive.
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" As tiny pebbles cast in sea Make circles to the farther shore, Brave woman shall thy power be felt The wide world o'er."
GERTRUDE KIMBER BURLEIGH,
sister of Abigail Kimber, was also endowed with supe- rior intellectual gifts and moral force of character. She became the wife of that able apostle of anti-slavery and temperance, so well known and beloved throughout Chester county, Charles C. Burleigh. I append a com- munication sent ine by one of her friends and a former pupil of their school.
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