USA > Pennsylvania > Delaware County > Chester > History of the Underground railroad in Chester and the neighboring counties of Pennsylvania > Part 8
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one of the women to bring him a razor to shave off his beard, that the negroes might not recognize him. His beard was dark and very heavy. He removed it, wrapped it in a paper, and left it under the bed. The paper was discovered next morning and opened, and lo ! the beard was white !
In the evening he went to Levi Pownall's, He was very nervous, and apprehensive of every noise. During the night he became alarmed. He thought the negroes were marshalling near by to attack them. He could hear the toot of horns and the answer. He aroused those who were sleeping in the room with him, and his fears could not be quieted until it was discovered that the noise he heard was the sound of water dropping down a spout from the corner of the house.
The wives of Parker and Pinkney, who had formerly been slaves, went to the home of their mother. They were there captured and taken back to the town.
Pinkney's wife asked permission to return and get her baby to take with her. Her request was granted, and the man having the two women in custody took both with him in a dearborne. When arriving opposite the house, which stood across a field, with no lane to it, he allowed the women to go for the child while he re- mained in the vehicle. As they staid an unusual length of time, his suspicions became aroused. He hitched the horse and went to the house. Entering it he saw no one. An empty cradle first greeted his eye. Baby and women had gone; and he was left alone to ponder over the " vicissitude of earthly things."
By some means unknown, the slaveholders got the mother, who, it is said, gave herself up, and expressed
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a wish to return with them as a slave again. Whether, this expression was voluntary, or extorted from her, was never known, as she went with them, and was not heard from afterward. .
A further account of the two women's escape is given in the reminiscences of Joseph Fulton.
Henry C. Hopkins, colored, lived with Dr. Augustus W. Cain (born 1820), Sadsbury, Chester county, near to Christiana. On the morning of the tragedy he did not come to his work. About six o'clock the doctor saw him walking rapidly down the turnpike road with an iron rod or cane in his hand. Meeting the doctor he said hurriedly "Kidnappers at Parker's!" He was very much excited, and his usual calm, peaceable, in- offensive disposition was at once aroused to the ferocity of an enraged lion. After the lapse of about two hours he came to the doctor's holding one arm, and said he was shot. The doctor found a bullet lodged in the flesh of the forearm, removed it and dressed his wound. He was extremely anxious to tell all about the riot, but the doctor declined hearing him. He knew the event would create intense excitement, and he did not want to learn of it through any of the participants. He would then have no knowledge to convey from them to a court in case there should be a trial; but he told the colored man that unless he made his escape he would certainly be arrested. So anxious was he to tell the result of the riot, that when he was refused permission to do so he shed tears freely.
About an hour after, another colored man, John Long, came with a bullet in his thigh. The doctor ex- tracted it and dressed the limb, He then went to
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Christiana to see and hear for himself the extent of the riot. A great number of the neighbors had already collected, and the roughs and rowdies of Philadelphia and Baltimore were sweeping the country, searching barns and houses, and behaving quite rudely at some places.
Immediately after the riot, the United States Govern- ment ordered a portion of the Marine Corps from Phila- delphia, to be stationed at Christiana "to keep the peace;" while about eighty police and other officers under the government's employ, piloted by pro-slavery men of the neighborhood, scoured the country for miles around, searched the houses of abolitionists and all col- ored people, arrested every person, white or black, whom they suspected to have been in the fight, or to have en- couraged it. William Baer was now on hand, elated with the opportunity of legally rendering his profes- sional services to the government, and was notably in the height of his importance. Many of the fugitives who had long resided in the neighborhood fled through fear of being arrested. One colored man who had been taken up as a witness to the affair, and placed in Moya- mensing prison, by some means made his escape, re- turned, dug a cave in the woods, in which he lived for a long while, and was fed by the neighbors. His only ob- ject in thus escaping was to avoid being called upon to testify at the trial.
A colored man living near Penningtonville (now Atglen), was arrested with some others on suspicion of being connected with the riot, and incarcerated in Moyamensing prison. Here he was identified by some slaveholders as being a slave. After the trial of Cast-
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ner Hanway for treason he was removed to Lancaster prison to await a trial upon charge of complicity in the riot. No bill being found against any of them, they were discharged. He was then taken in custody by the slaveholders, driven to Penningtonville in the night, hand-cuffed and placed in charge of two men in the bar- room of a hotel until morning. Before daylight, the hostler seeing the men were drowsy, went to the door, quietly unfastened it and beckoned to the slave who, seeing the opportunity offered him to escape, quickly left and ran across the fields to the house of William Williams, a colored Methodist minister living in a tene- ment of Diller Ferree's, near Parkesburg. The preacher filed off his fetters, which the slave put in his pocket as a memento of the occasion, and then started for Phila- delphia, accompanied by Williams, taking the ridge on north valley hill to avoid the public highway. As they were crossing a stream near Parkesburg they met some men, when Williams, feeling apprehensive of detection, told the colored man he would better get rid of the cuffs. Accepting the suggestion, he dropped them in the stream. He arrived safely in Philadelphia, and from there was forwarded to Canada. Joseph P. Scarlett, learning where he had left those interesting (?) relics went to the place, found them, and kept them in his pos- session for several years.
The wife of this slave went to Lindley Coates', and . from there was sent through other agents to Canada.
One of the colored prisoners, a pious man, who was arrested and put in Moyamensing jail, was heard by Anthony E. Roberts, United States Marshal, praying to the Lord to " shake Kline over Hell," but in the ful-
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ness of his charity he ejaculated, "but Lord, don't drap him in."
A letter was found in the hat of Edward Gorsuch, giving information of his slaves with names, aliases, etc. A description of some colored people in the vicinity of Christiana, the locality of Parker's house, etc. The writing corresponded with that of a white man in the neighborhood who professed to be an abolitionist, and who had frequently endeavored to elicit from them such knowledge as he supposed they possessed in refer- ence to certain colored persons whom he suspected to be slaves. Among the negroes he assumed to be their faithful friend. The letter was signed with his initials. After the fear of the colored people had somewhat abated, their feeling of indignation toward him for this treacherous act became so intense, that, apprehending revenge from them, he disappeared from that section, and has not been known to return there since.
Parker came back to Pennsylvania in the summer of 1872. In August he spoke at a political meeting in Christiana, and spent several days there visiting friends.
Castner Hanway and Elijah Lewis, who refused to as- sist the slaveholders in capturing their slaves when the warrant was read to them, were arrested upon charge of Treason, and Joseph P. Scarlett and thirty-five negroes were arrested with them. They were all taken to Phila- delphia, and confined in Moyamensing prison 97 days. Castner Hanway was tried in the Circuit Court of the United States, for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, held in Philadelphia in November and December, 1851, before Judges Grier and Kane. The jury, after being out about fifteen minutes, returned a verdict of NOT F*
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.
GUILTY. After this J. W. Ashmead, District Attor ney for the United States, addressing the Court said : " May it please your Honor. It is not my intention to try the cases of the other defendants who are in custody, charged with having committed High Treason against the United States. Judge Grier has decided, that tak- ing the whole of the evidence given on the part of the government in the trial of Hanway to be true, it does not constitute the crime charged in the indictment. He does say, however, that the facts proved make out the offenses of riot and murder, and that they are cogniza- ble only in a State court. Under these circumstances, it is my design to enter a nolle prosequi on all the un- tried bills for treason, and to transfer the custody of the prisoners to the county of Lancaster, to await the result of such proceedings as the State authorities may deem it necessary to institute."
They were therefore transferred to the Lancaster county jail. When their cases were brought up at the next term of court in that county, to answer to the charge of riot and murder, the grand jury ignored the bills, and the prisoners were all released ..
Thus ended the prosecutions which grew out of the Christiana tragedy. No one was convicted upon either the charge of " Treason," or of "Riot and Murder."
CHAPTER IX.
J. WILLIAMS THORNE .- Incidents .- Kidnapping at Michael Myers .- SEYMOUR C. WILLIAMSON .- JAMES FULTON, JR. AND GIDEON PIERCE .- Incidents .- GRAVNER AND HANNAH MARSH .- Incidents .- Sarah Marsh marries Eusebius Barnard .- Work of Station Closes.
J. WILLIAMS THORNE. (Born December 25th, 1816.)
Anti-slavery advocates, like all other thinking men and women, entertained different views as to their duty in relation to the system of holding human beings as chattel property. In a political discussion upon this subject in Christiana, J. Williams Thorne on the part of the "Liberty Party," the purpose of which was to - abolish slavery through voting and legislation, and which had for its advocates such prominent men as John G. Whittier, William A. Goodell and Gerrit Smith. maintained that political action was essential to the suc- cess of their object. Thomas Whitson, who was among the non-voting abolitionists with William Lloyd Garri- son and others, believed that we could not take political action under existing circumstances without compro- mising tlie principles of liberty by endorsing the pro- slavery clauses in the Constitution of the United States, and remarked interrogatingly to Williams, " would thee be willing, against the pro-slavery clauses of the Con- stitution to assist fugitives in escaping from bondage ?"
" Yes," replied Thorne promptly, "there is nothing in the Constitution to prevent it. The very spirit of the preamble commands that I shall do it."
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" Thee shall have the opportunity," said Whitson.». "I will be glad of it," said Thorne emphatically ; and he had abundant opportunities after that, and gave as- sistance to all who came to this newly established sta- tion. This was in 1850, after the passage of the "Fu- gitive Slave Law."
Many were sent to him by Thomas Whitson and many others by Lindley Coates, Joshua Brinton, Joseph Moore, Joseph Fulton and James Williams. He sent them in the night to other stations-generally Bonsall's -in a covered wagon in care of trusty colored men. Some remained a few weeks and worked for him, for which he paid them the full customary wages. No case was ever proved to his knowledge of any anti-slavery men employing fugitives for weeks, and then startling them with a report that slaveholders were in the vicin- ity, and hurrying them off under plea of security, giving them two or three dollars when they owed them much more. This was an accusation commonly and falsely made against the Underground Railroad men by their pro-slavery neighbors.
A negro called "Tom-up-in-the-barn," living near the Gap, started early one morning to Caleb Brinton's to assist in threshing, and was never heard from after- wards. As there were kidnappers known to be lurking in the neighborhood at that time, the supposition was that he had been captured.
MICHAEL MYERS.
Michael Myers, two miles east of Coatesville, fre- quently hired fugitives who came to him from James Williamson's. One of them, Thomas Hall, living in his tenant house was aroused at daylight one morning
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by four men who proved to be kidnappers. The early call made him suspicious that something was wrong. Arming himself with an axe he approached the door and opened it. The men rushed in. He struck at one, but failed to hit him. A pistol was then fired at him, but the ball missing him, entered the shoulder of one of their own party. They then seized him, dragged him out upon a platform, bound and handcuffed him. The man who was to appear at this juncture missed the road, and did not arrive on time. The firing of the pistol and the noise aroused Michael, and he went to the sceue of action. So much were the colored people iu that neighborhood incensed against kidnappers, or even the lawfully authorized slave-hunters, and so much were they always on the alert for them, that in one-half hour from the firing of that pistol about thirty of them had assembled armed with clubs, hoes, pitchforks, etc., and it was with difficulty they were restrained by neighbors who had then arrived, from murdering the whole party of slave-catchers. They seemed utterly regardless, or destitute, of fear, even when the threatening pistol was pointed at their heads. During the detention Isaac Preston went to 'Squire Robert Miller's, for a warrant to arrest the kidnappers. It was obtained and they were arrested. The handcuffs were then filed off Hall's wrists, the slave-hunters refusing to remove them. During the detention and arrest on one side of the house, Hall was allowed to escape from the other side. He afterwards acknowledged that he belonged to one of the party, but they had come without a warrant, and had attempted to take him without legal authority. After giving bail they returned home, but came back
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at the time for trial. When the case came before Court the grand jury ignored the bill. A colored man, well-known in West Chester, was suspected of having given the owner information of Hall. Two men named Windle and Cooke were professionally engaged in hunt- ing up fugitives, but were never known, in Chester county, at least, to claim any others.
Not long after this another colored man living with Michael Myers went to a colored Quarterly Meeting at New Garden, and was never heard of afterwards. It was supposed he was kidnapped.
SEYMOUR C. WILLIAMSON. (1813-Eighth month 23d, 1880.)
The residence of Seymour C. Williamson, in Caln, Chester county, was a branch station. He assisted many, and some of his experiences were quite exciting. Those who arrived there came chiefly through the hands of Thomas Hambleton and James Fulton, and were taken to William A. and Micajah Speakman's.
He was emphatic in his denunciation of slavery with its concomitant evils, earnest in the work of assisting fugitives, and rejoiced in passing them further on their way from the land of chains and masters to that of free- dom. When about to give the author some reminis- cences of his labors, he was suddenly removed by death, shortly after leaving Chester county for a residence in Kansas.
JAMES FULTON, JR.
(Born Fourth mo. (April) 8th, 1813 .- Died Eighth mo. (Aug.) 25th, 1850.)
One of the most noted stations on the slaves' route to freedom was Ercildoun, Chester county. The families of James Fulton and Gideon Pierce, living near each other
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in the same village, worked together on all occasions, so that the homes of the two families were, in reality, as one station, and it mattered not to which place fugitives were sent. James Fulton, jr., being from his youth a peacemaker, and being earnest, able and active in all moral and educational reforms, a clear writer and a cogent and logical speaker, became widely known and highly respected. It was as natural then for him to assist the slave in gaining freedom as for a stream to flow from its fountain.
The greater number of slaves who arrived at this station crossed the Susquehanna at Wrightsville, and came by way of Daniel Gibbons and Lindley Coates. Many crossed at Havre-de-Grace, and came by way of Hambleton's, in Penn township.
The men generally came on foot, but the women and children were brought in wagons. At one time twenty- five men, women and children arrived, and were kept two or three nights. They were taken to Nathan Evans by Lukens Pierce, son of Gideon (born July 29th, 1821 .- Died April 25th, 1872), in a large covered wagon with four horses. To provide for such a family must neces- sarily draw heavily upon the resources of charity. But it was freely and cheerfully given. No stinginess cramped their souls. No thought arose in their minds, except, that the greater number they thus assisted, the greater amount of good they were doing for a suffering people. Upon the arrival of these, supper had to be prepared. One item of this meal was a washboiler of potatoes. Add to this the amount of bread and other things required, and we must naturally conclude that no one but a kind-hearted, benevolent spirit could, in those
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times, be an abolitionist, and especially an Under- ground Railroad agent. People may assume goodness when it costs nothing, or in a business point of view when a money-making object is the underlying motive, or give to a public charity, however, grudgingly, for reputation's sake; but these people, in the secret of their homes, without a thought or hope of compensation, gave of their time, labor and money, to the oppressed of a down-trodden race who sought their aid, while the pub- lic reviled them, society ostracized them, and the spirit of denunciation was manifested toward them by indi- viduals of all ranks, from a scavenger to a President.
Sixteen fine looking intelligent men, all waiters and coachmen from Washington and the District of Colum- bia, came at one time, were provided for, and taken to Nathan Evans. And thus for many years, until the abolition of slavery, they were coming and going, in large and in small numbers. Some remained and worked in the neighborhood.
Three brothers, Jacob, Joseph and Richard Carter, from Leesburg, Va., arrived there in the autumn of Buchanan's election (1856). Jacob and Joseph had been sold and sent to Richmond where they were put in a slave pen with a lot of others to be sold again. In the meantime they were hired out temporarily ; and taking advantage of the occasion, they left, returned " home," got their brother Richard, and all started for the North. They came to Dr. Joseph Gibbons; he sent them to Lindley Coates, and he to Ercildoun. On their way through the slave section they encountered the usual difficulties and dangers of fugitives. They were pursued by their overseer, who came so close to them as
SARAH MARSH BARNARD.
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to be on one side of a stream, or river as they called it, while they were on the opposite. They challenged him to come across. But he, no doubt doubting the feasi- bility of such a step, declined the invitation. Quickly gathering reinforcements he renewed the chase and ar- rived in sight of them as they reached and entered a dense thicket
" Where hardly a human foot could pass, Or a human heart would dare : On the quaking turf of the green morass, Each crouched in the rank and tangled grass, Like a wild beast in his lair."
Here they successfully eluded all pursuit. After re- maining until they considered all danger past they came out and made the rest of the journey in safety.
Joseph and Richard hired in the neighborhood. Jacob remained in Ercildoun, was industrious and sav- ing, purchased a property on which he still resides, is a minister and much respected.
GRAVNER AND HANNAH MARSH.
Gravner (1777-1848), and Hannah Marsh (1789- 1864), were among the early abolitionists whose home became one of the first "regular stations " on the fugi- tives' route through Chester county. They resided in Caln township, five miles west of Downington. The husband felt it a duty to encourage political action against the national evil of holding the descendants of one country as chattel slaves for no other cause than that of being black ; while the government threw open its doors and invited the white inhabitants of all other countries to come, settle on our lands and become free citizens under the ægis of our laws. He therefore united himself with the Free-soil Party who considered that-
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" Man is one,
And he hath one great heart. It is thus we feel With a gigantic throb athwart the sea Each other's rights and wrongs."
R4
Hannah was also an active worker in the cause, and attended all anti-slavery meetings in the neighborhood when the public denounced them as not respectable gatherings. She was known as being a very kind woman -a real mother to all.
Slaves came to their place from Daniel Gibbons, Joseph Haines, James Fulton, Lindley Coates, Mordecai Hayes, Thomas Bonsall, and others.
When sent on foot they were generally given a slip; of paper with writing which the family would recog- nize. James Fulton frequently wrote but the single word " Ercildoun," or "Fallowfield." They were to know the place by its having large stone buildings with extensive white-washed stone walls around them. These came in daytime. When brought, it was chiefly at night, or after dusk. The barking of the watch-dog, announced their coming and aroused the family who would raise a window and call. A known voice would reply "Thomas Bonsall's carriage;" or similar replies would be given by conductors from other places.
These fugitives were always provided with food; the women were secreted in the house, the men in a hay- mow at the barn. Sarah Marsh, daughter of Gravner and Hannah, took them to Allen Wills, John Vickers, Grace Anna Lewis, Micajah Speakman, and occasion- ally, when she could not go so far, to Dr. Eshleman. These journeys were made in day-time until after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law-the women riding with her while the men went on foot. Sometimes her
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dearborn was so full that she rode in front with her feet on the shafts. This attracted no attention, as she at- tended Philadelphia markets and was frequently com- pelled to ride in that way when her wagon was packed with marketing.
When danger was apprehended, the women were dressed in plain attire, to make them look like Friends, with large bonnets and veils as was the custom in those days.
After the passage of that punitive law they felt it ne- cessary to be even more wary and careful than before, and she seldom ventured with them in day-time. If they came in the early part of night, a supper was given them and she took them to the stations mentioned, and returned before morning, regardless of the condition of roads, darkness or the weather.
She took nine, men, women and children, one night, to John Vicker's, a distance of nine miles. She paid toll on the turnpike road, as if going to market. The men walked, and when arriving at the toll gates, went around them through the fields. They arrived at 11 o'clock, and she returned by morning.
Their neighbors were pro-slavery, and knew that they assisted fugitives, but yet bore a respectful regard for them, and manifested no disposition to inform upon them. The curiosity, however, of one woman to know how many slaves passed through their hands in one year was aroused to such a degree that she watched the road for twelve months, and counted sixty ; and " she knew that they and James Fulton and others didn't do all that for nothing. They wouldn't harbor and feed that many in a year without getting paid for it in some way."
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But of the number that may have passed when she was "off guard," at meals or otherwise, and of the number that were brought at nights, she had no conception. The idea of pecuniary compensation for services rendered these poor human beings never entered the minds of their Christian benefactors. A purer, loftier, nobler purpose actuated their hearts than that of doing mercenary work under the semblance of charity and benevolence.
"Hast thou power ? the weak defend ; Light ?- give light; thy knowledge lend; Rich ?- remember Him who gave ; Free ?- be brother to the slave."
While Richard Gibbs, a colored man, was at work after harvest in the barnyard of Gravner Marsh, a slave master drove up in his " sulkey," followed by his drivers ' in another vehicle. So intent was the colored man upon his work that he did not notice any one coming until he was accosted with "Well, Gibbs, you are hard at it." There was something alarmingly familiar in the sound of that voice. He raised his eyes, and there, behold! was his old master close upon him. He did not stop to parley about matters, but dropping his fork, he put his hands upon a fence close by, leaped it and ran down a hill toward a grove along side of which was Beaver creek. The men jumped from their carriage and pursued, gaining on him, as he wore heavy boots. The master was a cripple and could not run. When he reached the fence at the foot of the hill the men were but a few feet behind him; but he sprang for the top rail, tumbled over it with a somersault, ran through a a creek and into a thicket of grape vines and briers where he disappeared from their sight while they halted on the swampy bank of the stream as if reluctant to
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