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W i kt>r> Anne 
 
 4 a. 
 
 NARRATIVE 
 
 WILLIAM Wf BEOWN, 
 
 AN AMERICAN SLAVE. 
 
 WRITTEN BY HIMSELF. 
 
 — — — Is there not some chosen curse, 
 
 Some hidden thunder in the stores of heaven. 
 Red with uncommon wrath, to blast the man 
 Who gains his fortune from the blood of souls 1 
 
 Coivpef. 
 
 ELEVENTH THOUSAND. 
 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 CHARLES GILPIN, BISHOPGATE-ST. WITHOUT. 
 
 1849*. 
 
 f^CRORLMEOBYTffh^vC 
 \X v LIBRARY PHOT F .C SERVICE 
 
Printed, chiefly from the American Stereotype Plates, by Webb and Chapman. 
 Great Brunswick-street. Dublin. 
 
 39U 
 
Library, Univ. ot 
 'JNortb Carolina 
 
 TO WELLS BROWN, OF OHIO. 
 
 Thirteen years ago, I came to your door, a weary 
 fugitive from chains and stripes. I was a stranger, and 
 you took me in. I was hungry, and you fed me. 
 Naked was I, and you clothed me. Even a name by 
 which to be known among men, slavery had denied me. 
 You bestowed upon me your own. Base, indeed, should 
 I be, if I ever forget what I owe to you, or do anything 
 to disgrace that honored name ! 
 
 As a slight testimony of my gratitude to my earliest 
 benefactor, I take the liberty to inscribe to you this little 
 narrative of the sufferings from which I was fleeing 
 when you had compassion upon me. In the multitude 
 that you have succored, it is very possible that you ma\ 
 not remember me ; but until I forget God and myself, I 
 can never forget you. 
 p( Your grateful friend, 
 
 n. William Wells Brown. 
 
 HO 
 
 b 
 
FLING OUT THE ANTI-SLAVERY FLAG. 
 
 BY W. W. BROWN. 
 
 Fling out the Anti-Slavery flag 
 
 On every swelling breeze ; 
 And let its folds wave o'er the land, 
 
 And o'er the raging seas, 
 Till all beneath the standard sheet 
 
 With new allegiance bow, 
 And pledge themselves to onward bear 
 
 The emblem of their vow. 
 
 Fling out the Anti-Slavery flag, 
 
 And let it onward wave 
 Till it shall float o'er every clime, 
 
 And liberate the slave ; 
 Till, like a meteor flashing far, 
 
 It bursts with glorious light, 
 And with its heaven-born rays dispels 
 
 The gloom of sorrow's night. 
 
 Fling out the Anti-Slavery flag, 
 
 And let it not be furled, 
 Till, like a planet of the skies, 
 
 It sweeps around the world. 
 And when each poor degraded slave 
 
 Is gathered near and far, 
 0, fix it on the azure arch, 
 
 As hope's eternal star. 
 
 Fling out the Anti-Slavery flag ; 
 
 Forever let it be 
 The emblem to a holy cause, 
 
 The banner of the free. 
 And never from its guardian height 
 
 Let it by man be driven, 
 But let it float forever there, 
 
 Beneath the smiles of heaven. 
 
NOTE TO THE FOUETH AMEKICAN EDITION. 
 
 Three editions of this work, consisting in all of eight thou- 
 sand copies, were sold in less than eighteen months from the 
 time the first edition was published. No antislavery work has 
 met with a more rapid sale in the United States than this 
 narrative. The present edition is published to meet the 
 demand now existing for the work. 
 
 THE PUBLISHER. 
 
 NOTE TO THE PKESENT EDITION. 
 
 The present Narrative was first published in Boston, (U. S.) 
 in July, 1847, and eight thousand copies were sold in less than 
 eighteen months from the time of its publication. This rapid 
 sale may be attributed to the circumstance, that for three 
 years preceding its publication, I had been employed as a 
 lecturing agent by the American Anti-slavery Society ; and 
 I was thus very generally known throughout the Free States 
 of the Great Republic, as one who had spent the first twenty 
 years of his life as a slave, in her southern house of bondage. 
 In visiting Great Britain I had two objects in view. Firstly, 
 I have been chosen as a delegate by ' ' the American Peace 
 Committee for a Congress of Nations," to attend the Peace 
 Convention to be held in Paris during the last week of the 
 present month, (August, 1849.) Many of the most distin- 
 guished American Abolitionists considered it a triumphant 
 evidence of the progress of their principles, that one of the 
 oppressed coloured race — one who is even now, by the consti- 
 tution of the United States, a slave — should have been selected 
 for this honourable office ; and were therefore very desirous 
 that I should attend. Secondly, I wished to follow up the 
 work of my friends and fellow-labourers, Charles Lenox Re- 
 mond and Frederick Douglas, and to lay before the people of 
 Great Britain and Ireland the wrongs that are still committed 
 
IV. NOTE. 
 
 upon the slaves and the free coloured people of America. The 
 rapid increase of communication between the two sides of the 
 Atlantic has brought them so close together, that the per- 
 sonal intercourse between the British people and American 
 slaveowners is now very great ; and the slaveholder, crafty 
 and politic, as deliberate tyrants generally are, rarely leaves 
 the shores of Europe without attempting at least to assuage 
 the prevalent hostility against his beloved " peculiar institu- 
 tion." The influence of the Southern States of America is 
 mainly directed to the maintenance and propagation of the 
 system of slavery in their own and in other countries. In 
 the pursuit of this object, | every consideration of religion, 
 liberty, national strength, and social order is made to give 
 way, and hitherto they have been very successful. The actual 
 number of the slaveholders is small, but their union is com- 
 plete, so that they form a dominant oligarchy in the United 
 States. It is my desire, in common with every abolitionist, 
 to diminish their influence, and this can only be effected by the 
 promulgation of truth, and the cultivation of a correct public 
 sentiment at home and abroad. Slavery cannot be let alone. 
 It is aggressive, and must either be succumbed to, or put 
 down. 
 
 It has been suggested that my narrative is somewhat defici- 
 ent in dates. From my total want of education previous to 
 my escape from slavery, I am unable to give them with much 
 accuracy. The ignorance of the American slaves is, with rare 
 exceptions, intense ; and the slaveholders generally do their 
 utmost to perpetuate this mental darkness. The perpetuation 
 of slavery depends upon it. Whatever may be said of the 
 physical condition of the slaves, it is undeniable that if they 
 were not kept in a state of intellectual, religious, and moral 
 degradation, they could be retained as slaves no longer. 
 
 In conclusion, I ask the attention of the reader to the Reso- 
 lutions of the coloured citizens of Boston, and to the other 
 documents in reference to myself, which will be found at the 
 end of the book. Of the latter, two are from the pen of 
 William Lloyd Garrison, that faithful and indefatigable 
 friend of the oppressed, whose position, as the Pioneer of the 
 anti-slavery movement, has secured to him — more than to any 
 other American abolitionist — the gratitude of the coloured 
 race and a world-wide reputation. 
 
 WILLIAM WELLS BROWN. 
 
 176, Great Brunswick-street, Dublin, 
 August Uth, 1849. 
 
LE TTER 
 
 FROM 
 
 EDMUND QUINCY, ESQ 
 
 Dedham, July 1, 1847. 
 To William W. Brown. 
 
 My Dear Friend : — I heartily thank you for the privilege 
 of reading the manuscript of your Narrative. I have read it 
 with deep interest and strong emotion. I am much mistaken 
 if it be not greatly successful and eminently useful. It pre- 
 sents a different phase of the infernal slave-system from that 
 portrayed in the admirable story of Mr. Douglass, and gives us 
 a glimpse of its hideous cruelties in other portions of its 
 domain. 
 
 Your opportunities of observing the workings of this accursed 
 system have been singularly great. Your experiences in the 
 Field , in the House, and especially on the River in the service 
 of the slave-trader, Walker, have been such as few individuals 
 have had ; — no one, certainly, who has been competent to 
 describe them. What I have admired, and marvelled at, in 
 your Narrative, is the simplicity and calmness with which you 
 ^describe scenes and actions which might well " move the very 
 
Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 
 it as near true as a man could recollect after so long a time 
 I purchased him of Mr. S. Willi, the last of September, 1833. 
 I paid six hundred and fifty dollars for him. If I had wanted 
 to speculate on him, I could have sold him for three times as 
 much as I paid for him. I was offered two thousand dollars 
 for him, in New Orleans, at one time, and fifteen hundred dol- 
 lars for him, at another time, in Louisville, Kentucky. But I 
 would not sell him. I was told that he was going to run 
 away, the day before he ran away, but I did not believe the 
 man, for I had so much confidence in Sanford. I want you to 
 see him, and see if what I say is not the truth. I do not want 
 him as a slave, but I think that his friends, who sustain him 
 and give him the right hand of fellowship, or he himself, could 
 afford to pay my agent in Boston three hundred and twenty-five 
 dollars, and I will give him free papers, so that he may go 
 wherever he wishes to. Then he can visit St. Louis, or any 
 other place he may wish. 
 
 This amount is just half that I paid for him. Now, if this 
 offer suits Mr. Brown, and the Anti-Slavery Society of Boston, 
 or Massachusetts, let me know, and I will give you the name 
 of my agent in Boston, and forward the papers, to be given to 
 William W. Brown as soon as the money is paid. 
 
 Yours respectfully, 
 
 To Edmund Quincy, Esq. E. PRICE. 
 
 Mr. Price says that he sees many things in my book which 
 are not true, and a part of it as near true as a man could recol- 
 lect after so long a time. As I was with Mr. Price only three 
 months, and have devoted only six pages to him and his fam- 
 ily, he can know but little about my narrative, except that 
 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 part which speaks of him. But I am willing to avail myself 
 of his testimony, for he says that a part of it is true. 
 
 But I cannot accept of Mr. Price's offer to become a pur- 
 chaser of my body and soul. God made me as free as he did 
 Enoch Price, and Mr. Price shall never receive a dollar from 
 me. or my friends with mv consent. 
 
 Boston, October, 1344 W. W. BROWN. 
 
NARRATIVE, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 I was bom in Lexington, Ky. The man who 
 stole me as soon as I was born, recorded the births 
 of all the infants which he claimed to be born his 
 property, in a book which he kept for that purpose. 
 My mother's name was Elizabeth. She had seven 
 children, viz. : Solomon, Leand^r, Benjamin, Jo- 
 seph, Millford, Elizabeth, and myself. No two of 
 us were children of the same father. My father's 
 name, as I learned from my mother, was George 
 Higgins. He was a white man, a relative of my 
 master, and connected with some of the first fam- 
 ilies in Kentucky. 
 
 My master owned about forty slaves, twenty- 
 five of whom were field hands. He removed from 
 Kentucky to Missouri when I was quite young, 
 ,and settled thirty or forty miles above St. Charles, 
 1 2 
 
I 
 
 14 NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 on the Missouri, where, in addition to his practice 
 as a physician, he carried on milling, merchandiz- 
 ing and farming. He had a large farm, the prin- 
 cipal productions of which were tobacco and hemp. 
 The slave cabins were situated on the back part 
 of the farm, with the house of the overseer, whose 
 name was Grove Cook, in their midst. He had the 
 entire charge of the farm, and having no family, 
 was allowed a woman to keep house for him, 
 whose business it was to deal out the provisions 
 for the hands. 
 
 A woman was also kept at the quarters to do 
 the cooking for the field hands, who were sum- 
 moned to their unrequited toil every morning at 
 four o'clock, by the ringing of a bell, hung on a 
 post near the house of the overseer. They were 
 allowed half an hour to eat their breakfast, and get 
 to the field. At half past four a horn was blown 
 by the overseer, which was the signal to commence 
 work ; and every one that was not on the spot at 
 the time, had to receive ten lashes from the negro- 
 whip, with which the overseer always went armed. 
 The handle was about three feet long, with the 
 butt-end filled with lead, and the lash, six or seven 
 feet in length, made of cow-hide, with platted wire 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 15 
 
 on the end of it. This whip was put in requisi- 
 tion very frequently and freely, and a small offence 
 on the part of a slave furnished an occasion for its 
 use. During the time that Mr. Cook was overseer, 
 I was a house servant — a situation preferable to 
 that of a field hand, as I was better fed, better 
 clothed, and not obliged to rise at the ringing of 
 the bell, but about half an hour after. I have often 
 laid and heard the crack of the whip, and the 
 screams of the slave. My mother was a field hand, 
 and one morning was ten or fifteen minutes behind 
 the others in getting into the field. As soon as she 
 reached the spot where they were at work, the 
 overseer commenced whipping her. She cried, 
 "Oh! pray — Oh! pray — Oh! pray" — these are 
 generally the words of slaves, when imploring 
 mercy at the hands of their oppressors. I heard 
 her voice, and knew it, and jumped out of my 
 bunk, and went to the door. Though the field 
 was some distance from the house, I could hear 
 every crack of the whip, and every groan and cry 
 of my poor mother. I remained at the door, not 
 daring to venture any further. The cold chills ran 
 over me, and I wept aloud. After giving her ten 
 lashes, the sound of the whip ceased, and I re- 
 
16 NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 turned to my bed, and found no consolation but in 
 my tears. Experience has taught me that nothing 
 can be more heart-rending than for one to see a 
 dear and beloved mother or sister tortured, and to 
 hear their cries, and not be able to render them as- 
 sistance. But such is the position which an 
 American slave occupies. 
 
 My master, being a politician, soon found those 
 who were ready to put him into office, for 
 the favors he could render them; and a few 
 years after his arrival in Missouri he was elected 
 to a seat in the legislature. In his absence from 
 home everything was left in charge of Mr. Cook, 
 the overseer, and he soon became more tyrannical 
 and cruel. Among the slaves on the plantation 
 was one by the name of Randall. He was a man 
 about six feet high, and well-proportioned, and 
 known as a man of great strength and power. He 
 was considered the most valuable and able-bodied 
 slave on the plantation; but no matter how good 
 or useful a slave may be, he seldom escapes 
 the lash. But it was not so with Randall. He 
 had been on the plantation since my earliest recol- 
 lection, and I had never known of his being flogged. 
 No thanks were due to the master or overseer for 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 17 
 
 this. I have often heard him declare that no 
 white man should ever whip him — that he would 
 die first. 
 
 Cook, from the time that he came upon the 
 plantation, had frequently declared that he could 
 and would flog any nigger that was put into the 
 field to work under him. My master had repeat- 
 edly told him not to attempt to whip Randall, but 
 he was determined to try it. As soon as he was 
 left sole dictator, he thought the time had come to 
 put his threats into execution. He soon began to 
 find fault with Randall, and threatened to whip 
 him if he did not do better. One day he gave him 
 a very hard task — more than he could possibly 
 do ; and at night, the task not being performed, he 
 told Randall that he should remember him the 
 next morning. On the following morning, after 
 the hands had taken breakfast, Cook called out to 
 Randall, and told him that he intended to whip 
 him, and ordered him to cross his hands and be 
 tied. Randall asked why he wished to whip him. 
 He answered, because he had not finished his task 
 the day before. Randall said that the task was too 
 great, or he should have done it. Cook said it 
 made no difference — he should whip him. Ran- 
 2* 
 
IS NAREATIVE OF THE 
 
 dall stood silent for a moment, and then said, "Mr. 
 Cook, I have always tried to please you since you 
 have been on the plantation, and I find you are 
 determined not to be satisfied with my work, let 
 me do as well as I may. No man has laid hands 
 on me, to whip me, for the last ten years, and I 
 have long since come to the conclusion not to be 
 whipped by any man living.'' Cook, finding by 
 Randall's determined look and gestures, that he 
 would resist, called three of the hands from their 
 work, and commanded them to seize Randall, and 
 tie him. The hands stood still ; — they knew Ran- 
 dall — and they also knew him to be a powerful 
 man, and were afraid to grapple with him. As 
 soon as Cook had ordered the men to seize him, 
 Randall turned to them, and said — "Boys, you 
 all know me ; you know that I can handle any 
 three of you, and the man that lays hands on me 
 shall die. This white man can't whip me himself, 
 and therefore he has called you to help him." The 
 overseer was unable to prevail upon them to seize 
 and secure Randall, and finally ordered them all to 
 go to their work together. 
 
 Nothing was said to Randall by the overseer for 
 more than a week. One morning, however, while 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 19 
 
 the hands were at work in the field, he came into 
 it, accompanied by three friends of his, Thompson, 
 Woodbridge and Jones. They came up to where 
 Randall was at work, and Cook ordered him to 
 leave his work, and go with them to the barn. He 
 refused to go ; whereupon he was attacked by the 
 overseer and his companions, when he turned upon 
 them, and laid them, one after another, prostrate 
 on the ground. Woodbridge drew out his pistol, 
 and fired at him, and brought him to the ground 
 by a pistol ball. The others rushed upon him with 
 their clubs, and beat him over the head and face, 
 until they succeeded in tying him. He was then 
 taken to the barn, and tied to a beam. Cook gave 
 him over one hundred lashes with a heavy cow- 
 hide, had him washed with salt and water, and 
 left him tied during the day. The next day he 
 was untied, and taken to a blacksmith's shop, and 
 had a ball and chain attached to his leg. He was 
 compelled to labor in the field, and perform the 
 -same amount of work that the other hands did. 
 When his master returned home, he was much 
 pleased to find that Randall had been subdued in 
 his absence. 
 
20 NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 • 
 
 Soon afterwards, my master removed to the 
 city of St. Louis, and purchased a farm four miles 
 from there, which he placed under the charge of 
 an overseer by the name of Friend Haskell. He 
 was a regular Yankee from New England. The 
 Yankees are noted for making the most cruel over- 
 seers. 
 
 My mother was hired out in the city, and I was 
 also hired out there to Major Freeland, who kept a 
 public house. He was formerly from Virginia, and 
 was a horse-racer, cock-fighter, gambler, and 
 withal an inveterate drunkard. There were ten 
 or twelve servants in the house, and when he was 
 present, it was cut and slash — knock down and 
 drag out. In his fits of anger, he would take up a 
 chair, and throw it at a servant ; and in his more 
 rational moments, when he wished to chastise one, 
 he would tie them up in the smoke-house, and 
 whip them ; after which, he would cause a fire to 
 be made of tobacco stems, and smoke them. This 
 he called "Virginia play" 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 21 
 
 I complained to my master of the treatment 
 which I received from Major Freeland; but it 
 made no difference. He cared nothing about it, so 
 long as he received the money for my labor. After 
 living with Major Freeland five or six months, I 
 ran away, and went into the woods back of the 
 city ; and when night came on, I made my way to 
 my master's farm, but was afraid to be seen, 
 knowing that if Mr. Haskell, the overseer, should 
 discover me, I should be again carried back to 
 Major Freeland ; so I kept in the woods. One day, 
 while in the woods, I heard the barking and howl- 
 ing of dogs, and in a short time they came so near 
 that I knew them to be the bloodhounds of Major 
 Benjamin O'Fallon. He kept five or six, to hunt 
 runaway slaves with. 
 
 As soon as I was convinced that it was them, I 
 knew there was no chance of escape. I took refuge 
 in the top of a tree, and the hounds were soon at 
 its base, and there remained until the hunters came 
 up in a half or three quarters of an hour after- 
 wards. There were two men with the dogs, who, 
 as soon as they came up, ordered me to descend. 
 I came down, was tied, and taken to St. Louis jail. 
 Major Freeland soon made his appearance, and 
 
22 NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 took me out, and ordered me to follow him, which 
 I did. After we returned home, I was tied up in 
 the smoke-house, and was very severely whipped. 
 After the major had flogged me to his satisfaction, 
 he sent out his son Robert, a young man eighteen 
 or twenty years of age, to see that I was well 
 smoked. He made a fire of tobacco stems, which 
 soon set me to coughing and sneezing. This, 
 Robert told me, was the way his father used to do 
 to his slaves in Virginia. After giving me what 
 they conceived to be a decent smoking, I was 
 untied and again set to work. 
 
 Robert Freeland was a "chip of the old block'' 
 Though quite young, it was not unfrequently that 
 he came home in a state of intoxication. He is 
 now, I believe, a popular commander of a steam- 
 boat on the Mississippi river. Major Freeland 
 soon after failed in business, and I was put on 
 board the steamboat Missouri, which plied between 
 St. Louis and Galena. The commander of the 
 boat was William B. Culver. I remained on her 
 during the sailing season, which was the most 
 pleasant time for me that I had ever experienced. 
 At the close of navigation I was hired to Mr. John 
 Colburn, keeper of the Missouri Hotel. He was 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 23 
 
 from one of the free states ; but a more inveterate 
 hater of the negro . I do not believe ever walked 
 God's green earth. This hotel was at that time 
 one of the largest in the city, and there were em- 
 ployed in it twenty or thirty servants, mostly 
 slaves. 
 
 Mr. Colburn was very abusive, not only to the 
 servants, but to his wife also, who was an excel- 
 lent woman, and one from whom I never knew a 
 servant to receive a harsh word ; but never did I 
 know a kind one to a servant from her husband. 
 Among the slaves employed in the hotel was one 
 by the name of Aaron, who belonged to Mr. John 
 F. Darby, a lawyer. Aaron was the knife-cleaner. 
 One day, one of the knives was put on the table, 
 not as clean as it might have been. Mr. Colburn, 
 for this offence, tied Aaron up in the wood-house, 
 and gave him over fifty lashes on the bare back 
 with a cow-hide, after which, he made me wash 
 him down with rum. This seemed to put him into 
 more agony than the whipping. After being un- 
 tied he went home to his master, and complained 
 of the treatment which he had received. Mr. 
 Darby would give no heed to anything he had to 
 say, but sent him directly back. Colburn, learning 
 
24 NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 that he had been to his master with complaints, tied 
 him up again, and gave him a more severe whip- 
 ping than before. The poor fellow's back was lit- 
 erally cut to pieces ; so much so, that he was not 
 able to work for ten or twelve days. 
 
 There was, also, among the servants, a girl 
 whose master resided in the country. Her name 
 was Patsey. Mr. Colburn tied her up one evening, 
 and whipped her until several of the boarders came 
 out and begged him to desist. The reason for 
 whipping her was this. She was engaged to be 
 married to a man belonging to Major William 
 Christy, who resided four or five miles north of 
 the city. Mr. Colburn had forbid her to see John 
 Christy. The reason of this was said to. be the 
 regard which he himself had for Patsey. She 
 went to meeting that evening, and John returned 
 home with her. Mr. Colburn had intended to flog 
 John, if he came within the inclosure ; but John 
 knew too well the temper of his rival, and kept at 
 a safe distance: — so he took vengeance on the 
 poor girl. If all the slave-drivers had been called 
 together, I do not think a more cruel man than 
 John Colburn — and he too a northern man — could 
 have been found among them. 
 
^IFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 25 
 
 While living at the Missouri hotel, a circum- 
 stance occurred which caused me great unhappi- 
 ness. My master sold my mother, and all her 
 children, except myself. They were sold to differ- 
 ent persons in the city of St. Louis. 
 3 
 
26 NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 I was soon after taken from Mr. Colburn's, and 
 hired to Elijah P. Lovejoy, who was at that time 
 publisher and editor of the "St. Louis Times." My 
 work, while with him, was mainly in the printing 
 office, waiting on the hands, working the press, 
 &c. Mr. Lovejoy was a very good man, and de- 
 cidedly the best master that I had ever had. I am 
 chiefly indebted to him, and to my employment in 
 the printing office, for what little learning I obtained 
 while in slavery. 
 
 Though slavery is thought, by some, to be mild 
 in Missouri, when compared with the cotton, sugar 
 and rice growing states, yet no part of our slave- 
 holding country is more noted for the barbarity of 
 its inhabitants than St. Louis. It was here that 
 Col. Harney, a United States officer, whipped a 
 slave woman to death. It was here that Francis 
 Mcintosh, a free colored man from Pittsburg, was 
 taken from the steamboat Flora and burned at the 
 stake. During a residence of eight years in this 
 city, numerous cases of extreme cruelty came 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 27 
 
 under my own observation; — to record them all 
 would occupy more space than could possibly be 
 allowed in this little volume. I shall, therefore, 
 give but a few more in addition to what I have 
 already related. 
 
 Capt. J. B. Brant, who resided near my master, 
 had a slave named John. He was his body ser- 
 vant, carriage driver, &c. On one occasion, while 
 driving his master through the city — the streets 
 being very muddy, and the horses going at a rapid 
 rate — some mud spattered upon a gentleman by 
 the name of Robert More. More was determined 
 to be revenged. Some three or four months after 
 this occurrence, he purchased John, for the express 
 
 purpose, as he said, "to tame the d d nigger." 
 
 After the purchase he took him to a blacksmith's 
 shop, and had a ball and chain fastened to his leg, 
 and then put him to driving a yoke of oxen, and 
 kept him at hard labor, until the iron around his 
 leg was so worn into the flesh, that it was thought 
 mortification would ensue. In addition to this, 
 John told me that his master whipped him regu- 
 larly three times a week for the first two months : 
 — and all this to "tame him" A more noble- 
 looking man than he was not to be found in all St. 
 
28 NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 Louis, before he fell into the hands of More ; and a 
 more degraded and spirit-crushed looking being 
 was never seen on a southern plantation, after he 
 had been subjected to this "taming" process for 
 three months. The last time that I saw him, he 
 had nearly lost the entire use of his limbs. 
 
 While living with Mr. Lovejoy, I was often sent on 
 errands to the office of the " Missouri Republican," 
 published by Mr. Edward Charless. Once, while 
 returning to the office with type, 1 was attacked by 
 several large boys, sons of slave-holders, who 
 pelted me with snow-balls. Having the heavy 
 form of type in my hands, I could not make my 
 escape by running ; so I laid down the type and 
 gave them battle. They gathered around me, 
 pelting me with stones and sticks, until they over- 
 powered me, and would have captured me, if I had 
 hot resorted to my heels. Upon my retreat the^ 
 took possession of the type ; and what to do to re- 
 gain it I could not devise. Knowing Mr. Lovejov 
 to be a very humane man, I went to the office and 
 laid the case before him. He told me to remain in 
 the office. He took one of the apprentices with 
 him and went after the type, and soon returned 
 with it; but on his return informed me that Samuel 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 29 
 
 McKinney had told him he would whip me, 
 because I had hurt his boy. Soon after, McKinney 
 was seen making his way to the office by one of 
 the printers, who informed me of the fact, and I 
 made my escape through the back door. 
 
 McKinney not being able to find me on his arri- 
 val, left the office in a great rage, swearing that he 
 would whip me to death. A few days after, as J 
 was walking along Main street, he seized me by 
 the collar, and struck me over the head five or six 
 times with a large cane, which caused the blood to 
 gush from my nose and ears in such a manner that 
 my clothes were completely saturated with blood. 
 After beating me to his satisfaction he let me go, 
 and I returned to the office so weak from the loss 
 of blood that Mr. Lovejoy sent me home to my 
 master. It was five weeks before I was able to 
 walk again. During this time it was necessary to 
 have some one to supply my place at the office, 
 and I lost the situation. 
 
 After my recovery, I was hired to Capt. Otis 
 Reynolds, as a waiter on board the steamboat En- 
 terprise, owned by Messrs. John and Edward 
 Walsh, commission merchants at St. Louis. This 
 boat was then running on the upper Mississippi. 
 3* 
 
30 ~* NARRATIVE OF THE , 
 
 My employment on board was to wait on gentlemen, 
 and the captain being a good man, the situation 
 was a pleasant one to me; — but in passing from 
 place to place, and seeing new faces every day, and 
 knowing that they could go where they pleased, I 
 soon became unhappy, and several times thought 
 of leaving the boat at some landing-place, and try- 
 ing to make my escape to Canada, which I had 
 heard much about as a place where the slave might 
 live, be free, and be protected. 
 
 But. whenever such thoughts would come into 
 my mind, my resolution would soon be shaken by 
 the remembrance that my dear mother was a slave 
 in St. Louis, and I could not bear the idea of leav- 
 ing her in that condition. She had often taken me 
 upon her knee, and told me how she had carried 
 me upon her back to the field when I was an 
 infant — how often she had been whipped for leav- 
 ing her work to nurse me — and how happy I 
 would appear when she would take me into her 
 arms. When these thoughts came over me, I 
 would resolve never to leave, the land of slavery 
 without my mother. I thought that to leave her 
 in slavery, after she had undergone and suffered so 
 much for me, would be proving recreant to the 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 31 
 
 duty which I owed to her. Besides this, I had three 
 brothers and a sister there — two of my brothers 
 having died. 
 
 My mother, .my brothers Joseph and Millford, 
 and my sister Elizabeth, belonged to Mr. Isaac 
 Mansfield, formerly from one of the free states, 
 (Massachusetts, I believe.) He was a tinner by 
 trade, and carried on a large manufacturing estab- 
 lishment. Of all my relatives, mother was first, 
 and sister next. One evening, while visiting them, 
 I made some allusion to a proposed journey to 
 Canada, and sister took her seat by my side, and 
 taking my hand in hers, said, with tears in her 
 eyes — 
 
 " Brother, you are not going to leave mother 
 and your dear sister here without a friend, are 
 you?" 
 
 I looked into her face, as the tears coursed 
 swiftly down her cheeks, and bursting into tears 
 myself, said — 
 
 " No, I will never desert you and mother ! " 
 She clasped my hand in hers, and said — 
 "Brother, you have often declared that you 
 would not end your days in slavery. I see no pos- 
 sible way in which you can escape with us ; and 
 
32 NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 now, brother, you are on a steamboat where there 
 is some chance for you to escape to a land of lib- 
 erty. I beseech you not to let us hinder you. If 
 we cannot get our liberty, we do not wish to be the 
 means of keeping you from a land of freedom." 
 
 I could restrain my feelings no longer, and an 
 outburst of my own feelings caused her to cease 
 speaking upon that subject. In opposition to their 
 wishes, I pledged myself not to leave them in the 
 hand of the oppressor. I took leave of them, and 
 returned to the boat, and laid down in my bunk ; 
 but "sleep departed from mine eyes, and slumber 
 from mine eyelids." 
 
 A few weeks after, on our downward passage, 
 the boat took on board, at Hannibal, a drove of 
 slaves, bound for the New Orleans market. They 
 numbered from fifty to sixty, consisting of men 
 and women from eighteen to forty years of age. A 
 drove of slaves on a southern steamboat, bound for 
 the cotton or sugar regions, is an occurrence so 
 common, that no one, not even the passengers, 
 appear to notice it, though they clank their chains 
 at every step. There was, however, one in this 
 gang that attracted the attention of the passengers 
 and crew. It was a beautiful girl, apparently 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 33 
 
 about twenty years of age, perfectly white, with 
 straight light hair and blue eyes. But it was not 
 the whiteness of her skin that created such a sen- 
 sation among those who gazed upon her — it was 
 her almost unparalleled beauty. She had been 
 on the boat but a short time, before the attention 
 of all the passengers, including the ladies, had been 
 called to her, and the common topic of conversation 
 was about the beautiful slave-girl. She was not 
 in chains. The man who claimed this article of 
 human merchandise was a Mr. Walker — a well 
 known slave-trader, residing in St. Louis. There 
 was a general anxiety among the passengers and 
 crew to learn the history of the girl. Her master 
 kept close by her side, and it would have been con- 
 sidered impudent for any of the passengers to have 
 spoken to her, and the crew were not allowed to 
 have any conversation with them. When we 
 reached St. Louis, the slaves were removed to a 
 boat bound for New Orleans, and the history of the 
 beautiful slave-girl remained a mystery. 
 
 I remained on the boat during the season, and it 
 was not an unfrequent occurrence to have on board 
 gangs of slaves on their way to the cotton, sugar 
 and rice plantations of the south. 
 
34 NARRATIVE JF THE 
 
 Toward the latter part of the summer Captain 
 Reynolds left the boat, and I was sent home. I 
 was then placed on the farm, under Mr. Haskell, 
 the overseer. As I had been some time out of the 
 field, and not accustomed to work in the burning 
 sun, it was very hard ; but I was compelled to keep 
 up with the best of the hands. 
 
 I found a great difference between the work in a 
 steamboat cabin and that in a corn-field. 
 
 My master, who was then living in the city, soon 
 after removed to the farm, when I was taken out of 
 the field to work in the house as a waiter. Though 
 his wife was very peevish, and hard to please, I 
 much preferred to be under her control than the 
 overseer's. They brought with them Mr. Sloane, 
 a Presbyterian minister; Miss Martha Tulley, a 
 niece of theirs from Kentucky ; and their nephew 
 William. The latter had been in the family a 
 number of years, but the others were all new- 
 comers. 
 
 Mr. Sloane was a young minister, who had been 
 at the South but a short time, and it seemed as if 
 his whole aim was to please the slaveholders, es- 
 pecially my master and mistress. He was intend- 
 ing to make a visit during the winter, and he not 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 35 
 
 only tried to please them, but I think he succeeded 
 admirably. When they wanted singing, he sung ; 
 when they wanted praying, he prayed; when 
 they wanted a story told, he told a story. Instead 
 of his teaching my master theology, my master 
 taught theology to him. While I was with Cap- 
 tain Reynolds my master "got religion," and new 
 laws were made on the plantation. Formerly we 
 had the privilege of hunting, fishing, making 
 splint brooms, baskets, &c., on Sunday; but this 
 was all stopped. Every Sunday we were all com- 
 pelled to attend meeting. Master was so religious 
 that he induced some others to join him in hiring 
 a preacher to preach to the slaves. 
 
36 NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 My master had family worship, night and morn- 
 ing. At night the slaves were called in to attend ; 
 but in the mornings they had to be at their work, 
 and master did all the praying. My master and 
 mistress were great lovers of mint julep, and every 
 morning, a pitcher-full was made, of which they 
 all partook freely, not excepting little master Wil- 
 liam. After drinking freely all round, they would 
 have family worship, and then breakfast. I cannot 
 say but I loved the julep as well as any of them, 
 and during prayer was always careful to seat my- 
 self close to the table where it stood, so as to help 
 myself when they were all busily engaged in their 
 devotions. By the time prayer was over, I was 
 about as happy as any of them. A sad accident 
 happened one morning. In helping myself, and at 
 at the same time keeping an eye on my old mis- 
 tress, I accidentally let the pitcher fall upon the 
 floor, breaking it in pieces, and spilling the con- 
 terns. This was a bad affair for me ; for as soon 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 37 
 
 as prayer was over, I was taken and severely- 
 chastised. 
 
 My master's family consisted of himself, his 
 wife, and their nephew, William Moore. He was 
 taken into the family when only a few weeks of 
 age. His name being that of my own, mine was 
 changed for the purpose of giving precedence to 
 his, though I was his senior by ten or twelve 
 years. The plantation being four miles from the 
 city, I had to drive the family to church. I always 
 dreaded the approach of the Sabbath; for, during 
 service, I was obliged to stand by the horses in the 
 hot, broiling sun, or in the rain, just as it happened. 
 
 One Sabbath, as we were driving past the house 
 of D. D. Page, a gentleman who owned a large 
 baking establishment, as I was sitting upon the 
 box of the carriage, which was very much elevated, 
 I saw Mr. Page pursuing a slave around the 
 yard with a long whip, cutting him at every jump. 
 The man soon escaped from the yard, and was 
 followed by Mr. Page. They came running past 
 us, and the slave, perceiving that he would be over- 
 taken, stopped suddenly, and Page stumbled over 
 him, and falling on the stone pavement, fractured 
 one of his legs, which crippled him for life. The 
 4 
 
38 NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 same gentleman, but a short time previous, tied up 
 a woman of his, by the name of Delphia, and 
 whipped her nearly to death ; yet he was a deacon 
 in the Baptist church, in good and regular stand- 
 ing. Poor Delphia ! I was well acquainted with 
 her, and called to see her while upon her sick bed ; 
 and I shall never forget her appearance. She was 
 a member of the same church with her master. 
 
 Soon after this, I was hired out to Mr. Walker, 
 the same man whom I have mentioned as having 
 carried a gang of slaves down the river on the 
 steamboat Enterprise. Seeing me in the capacity 
 of a steward on the boat, and thinking that I would 
 make a good hand to take care of slaves, he deter- 
 mined to have me for that purpose ; and finding 
 that my master would not sell me, he hired me for 
 the term of one year. 
 
 When I learned the fact of my having been 
 hired to a negro speculator, or a" soul driver," as 
 they are generally called among slaves, no one can 
 tell my emotions. Mr. Walker had offered a high 
 price for me, as I afterwards learned, but I suppose 
 my master was restrained from selling me by the 
 fact that I was a near relative of his. On entering 
 the service of Mr. Walker, I found that my oppor- 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 39 
 
 tunity of getting to a land of liberty was gone, at 
 least for the time being. He had a gang of slaves 
 in readiness to start for New Orleans, and in a few 
 days we were on our journey. I am at a loss for 
 language to express my feelings on that occasion. 
 Although my master had told me that he had not 
 sold me, and Mr. Walker had told me that he had 
 not purchased me, I did not believe them ; and not 
 until I had been to New Orleans, and was on my 
 return, did I believe that I was not sold. 
 
 There was on the boat a large room on the lower 
 deck, in which the slaves were kept, men and 
 women, promiscuously — all chained two and two, 
 and a strict watch kept that they did not get loose ; 
 for cases have occurred in which slaves have got 
 off their chains, and made their escape at landing- 
 places, while the boats were taking in wood; — and 
 with all our care, we lost one woman who had 
 been taken from her husband and children, and 
 having no desire to live without them, in the 
 agony of her soul jumped overboard, and drowned 
 herself. She was not chained. 
 
 It was almost impossible to keep that part of the 
 boat clean. 
 
 On landing at Natchez, the slaves were all carried 
 
40 NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 to the slave-pen, and there kept one week, during 
 which time several of them were sold. Mr. Walker 
 fed his slaves well. We took on board at St. 
 Louis several hundred pounds of bacon (smoked 
 meat) and corn-meal, and his slaves were better 
 fed than slaves generally were in Natchez, so far as 
 my observation extended. 
 
 At the end of a week, we left for New Orleans, 
 the place of our final destination, which we reached 
 in two days. Here the slaves were placed in a 
 negro-pen, where those who wished to purchase 
 could call and examine them. The negro-pen is 
 a small yard, surrounded by buildings, from fifteen 
 to twenty feet wide, with the exception of a large 
 gate with iron bars. The slaves are kept in the 
 buildings during the night, and turned out into the 
 yard during the day. After the best of the stock 
 was sold at private sale at the pen, the balance 
 were taken to the Exchange CofTee-House Auction 
 Rooms, kept by Isaac L. McCoy, and sold at pub- 
 lic auction. After the sale of this lot of slaves, we 
 left New Orleans for St. Louis. 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 41 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 On our arrival at St. Louis I went to Dr. Young, 
 and told him that I did not wish to live with Mr. 
 Walker any longer. I was heart-sick at seeing my 
 fellow-creatures bought and sold. But the Dr. had 
 hired me for the year, and stay I must. Mr. 
 Walker again commenced purchasing another 
 gang of slaves. He bought a man of Colonel John 
 O' Fallon, who resided in the suburbs of the city. 
 This man had a wife and three children. As soon 
 as the purchase was made, he was put in jail for 
 safe keeping, until we should be ready to start for 
 New Orleans. His wife visited him while there, 
 several times, and several times when she went 
 for that purpose was refused admittance. 
 ' In the course of eight or nine weeks Mr. Walker 
 had his cargo of human flesh made up. There 
 was in this lot a number of old men and women, 
 some of them with gray locks. We left St. Louis 
 in the steamboat Carlton, Captain Swan, bound for 
 New Orleans. On our way down, and before we 
 4# 
 
42 NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 reached Rodney, the place where we made our 
 first stop, I had to prepare the old slaves for mar- 
 ket. I was ordered to have the old men's whiskers 
 shaved off, and the grey hairs plucked out where 
 they were not too numerous, in which case he had 
 a preparation of blacking to color it, and with a 
 blacking brush we would put it on. This was 
 new business to me, and was performed in a room 
 where the passengers could not see us. These 
 slaves were also taught how old they were by Mr. 
 Walker, and after going through the blacking pro- 
 cess they looked ten or fifteen years younger ; and 
 I am sure that some of those who purchased slaves 
 of Mr. Walker were dreadfully cheated, especially 
 in the ages of the slaves which they bought. 
 
 We landed at Rodney, and the slaves were 
 driven to the pen in the back part of the village. 
 Several were sold at this place, during our stay of 
 four or five days, when we proceeded to Natchez. 
 There we landed at night, and the gang were put 
 in the warehouse until morning, when they were 
 driven to the pen. As soon as the slaves are put 
 in these pens, swarms of planters may be seen in 
 and about them. They knew when Walker was 
 expected, as he always had the time advertised 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 43 
 
 "beforehand when he would be in Rodney, Natchez, 
 and New Orleans. These were the principal 
 places where he offered his slaves for sale. 
 
 When at Natchez the second time, I saw a slave 
 very cruelly whipped. He belonged to a Mr. 
 Broadwell, a merchant who kept a store on the 
 wharf. The slave's name was Lewis. I had 
 known him several years, as he was formerly from 
 St. Louis. We were expecting a steamboat down 
 the river, in which we were to take passage for 
 New Orleans. Mr. Walker sent me to the landing 
 to watch for the boat, ordering me to inform him on 
 its arrival. While there I went into the store to 
 see Lewis. I saw a slave in the store, and asked 
 him where Lewis was. Said he, " They have got 
 Lewis hanging between the heavens and the 
 earth." I asked him what he meant by that. He 
 told me to go into the warehouse and see. I went 
 in, and found Lewis there. He was tied up to a 
 beam, with his toes just touching the floor. As 
 there was no one in the warehouse but himself, I 
 inquired the reason of his being in that situation. 
 He said Mr. Broadwell had sold his wife to a 
 planter six miles from the city, and that he had 
 been to visit her — that he went in the night, ex- 
 
44 NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 peering to return before daylight, and went with- 
 out his master's permission. . The patrol had taken 
 him up before he reached his wife. He was put 
 in jail, and his master had to pay for his catching 
 and keeping, and that was what he was tied up 
 for. 
 
 Just as he finished his story, Mr. Broadwell 
 came in, and inquired what I was doing there. I 
 knew not what to say, and while I was thinking 
 what reply to make he struck me over the head 
 with the cowhide, the end of which struck me over 
 my right eye, sinking deep into the flesh, leaving a 
 scar which I carry to this day. Before I visited 
 Lewis he had received fifty lashes. Mr. Broad- 
 well gave him fifty lashes more after I came out, 
 as I was afterwards informed by Lewis himself. 
 
 The next day we proceeded to New Orleans, and 
 put the gang in the same negro-pen which we oc- 
 cupied before. In a short time the planters came 
 Hocking to the pen to purchase slaves. Before 
 the slaves were exhibited for sale, they were' 
 dressed and driven out into the yard. Some were 
 set to dancing, some to jumping, some to singing, 
 and some to playing cards. This was done to 
 make them appear cheerful and happy. My busi- 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 45 
 
 ness was to see that they were placed in those 
 situations before the arrival of the purchasers, and 
 I have often set them to dancing when their cheeks 
 were wet with tears. As slaves were in good de- 
 mand at that time, they were all soon disposed of, 
 and we again set out for St. Louis. 
 
 On our arrival, Mr. Walker purchased a farm 
 five or six miles from the city. He had no family, 
 but made a housekeeper of one of his female 
 slaves. Poor Cynthia ! I knew her well. She was 
 a quadroon, and one of the most beautiful women 
 I ever saw. She was a native of St. Louis, and 
 bore an irreproachable character for virtue and pro- 
 priety of conduct. Mr. Walker bought her for the 
 New Orleans market, and took her down with him 
 on one of the trips that I made with him. Never 
 shall I forget the circumstances of that voyage ! On 
 the first night that we were on board the steam- 
 boat, he directed me to put her into a state-room he 
 had provided for her, apart from the other slaves. 
 I had seen too much of the workings of slavery no; 
 to know what this meant. I accordingly watched 
 him into the state-room, and listened to hear what 
 passed between them. I heard him make his base 
 oifers, and her reject them. He told her that if she 
 
46 NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 would accept his vile proposals, he would take her 
 back with him to St. Louis, and establish her as 
 his housekeeper on his farm. But if she persisted 
 in rejecting them, he would sell her as a field hand 
 on the worst plantation on the river. Neither 
 threats nor bribes prevailed, however, and he 
 retired, disappointed of his prey. 
 
 The next morning poor Cynthia told me what 
 had passed, and bewailed her sad fate with floods 
 of tears. I comforted and encouraged her all I 
 could ; but I foresaw but too well what the result 
 must be. Without entering into any further par- 
 ticulars, suffice it to say that Walker performed his 
 part of the contract at that time. He took her 
 back to St. Louis, established her as his mistress 
 and housekeeper at his farm, and before I left, he 
 had two children by her. But, mark the end ! 
 Since I have been at the North, I have been credi- 
 bly informed that Walker has been married, and, 
 as a previous measure, sold poor Cynthia and her 
 four children (she having had two more since I 
 came away) into hopeless bondage ! 
 
 He soon commenced purchasing to make up the 
 third gang. We took steamboat, and went to 
 Jefferson City, a town on the Missouri river. Here 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 47 
 
 we landed, and took stage for the interior of the 
 state. He bought a number of slaves as he passed 
 the different farms and villages. After getting 
 twenty-two or twenty-three men and women, we 
 arrived at St. Charles, a village on the banks of 
 the Missouri. Here he purchased a woman who 
 had a child in her arms, appearing to be four or 
 five weeks old. 
 
 We had been travelling by land for some da^s, 
 and were in hopes to have found a boat at this 
 place for St. Louis, but were disappointed. As no 
 boat was expected for some days, we started for 
 St. Louis by land. Mr. Walker had purchased two 
 horses. He rode one, and I the other. The slaves 
 were chained together, and we took up our line 
 of march, Mr. Walker taking the lead, and I bring- 
 ing up the rear. Though the distance was not 
 more than twenty miles, we did not reach it the 
 first day. The road was worse than any that I 
 have ever travelled. 
 
 Soon after we left St. Charles the young child grew 
 very cross, and kept up a noise during the greater 
 part of the day. Mr. Walker complained of its 
 crying several times, and told the mother to stop 
 the child's d d noise, or he would. The woman 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 49 
 
 tried to keep the child from crying, but could not. 
 We put up at night with an acquaintance of Mr. 
 Walker, and in the morning, just as we were about 
 to start, the child again commenced crying. 
 Walker stepped up to her, and told her to give the 
 child to him. The mother tremblingly obeyed. 
 He took the child by one arm, as you would a cat 
 by the leg, walked into the house, and said to the 
 lady, 
 
 " Madam, I will make you a present of this 
 little nigger ; it keeps such a noise that I can't bear 
 it." 
 
 " Thank you, sir," said the lady. 
 
 The mother, as soon as she saw that her child 
 was to be left, ran up to Mr. Walker, and falling 
 upon her knees, begged him to let her have her 
 child; she clung around his legs, and cried, "Oh, 
 my child! my child! master, do let me have my 
 child ! oh, do, do, do ! I will stop its crying if you 
 will only let me have it again." When I saw this' 
 woman crying for her child so piteously, a shud- 
 der — a feeling akin to horror — shot through my 
 frame. I have often since in imagination heard 
 her crying for her child : — 
 5 
 
50 NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 None but those who have been in a slave state, 
 and who have seen the American slave-trader en- 
 gaged in his nefarious traffic, can estimate the suf- 
 ferings their victims undergo. If there is one feat- 
 ure of American slavery more abominable than 
 another, it is that which sanctions the buying and 
 selling of human beings. The African slave-trade 
 was abolished by the American Congress some 
 twenty years since ; and now, by the laws of the 
 country, if an American is found engaged in the 
 African slave-trade, he is considered a pirate ; and 
 if found guilty of such, the penalty would be 
 death. 
 
 Although the African slave-trader has been 
 branded as a pirate, men are engaged in the traffic 
 in slaves in this country, who occupy high posi- 
 tions in society, and hold offices of honor in the 
 councils of the nation ; and not a few have made 
 their fortunes by this business. 
 
 After the woman's child had been given away, 
 Mr. Walker commanded her to return into the 
 ranks with the other slaves. Women who had 
 children were not chained, but those that had 
 none were. As soon as her child was disposed of 
 she was chained in the gang. 
 
 The following song I have often heard the slaves 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 
 
 sing, when about to be carried to the far soutnV 
 is said to have been composed by a slave. 
 
 " See these poor souls from Africa 
 Transported to America ; 
 We are stolen, and sold to Georgia — 
 Will you go along with me ? 
 We are stolen, and sold to Georgia — 
 Come sound the jubilee ! 
 
 See wives and husbands sold apart, 
 
 Their children's screams will break my heart ; — - 
 
 There 's a better day a coming — 
 
 Will you go along with me 1 
 
 There 's a better day a coming, 
 
 Go sound the jubilee ! 
 
 O, gracious Lord ! when shall it be, 
 That we poor souls shall all be free ? 
 Lord, break them slavery powers — 
 Will you go along with me ? 
 Lord, break them slavery powers, 
 Go sound the jubilee ! 
 
 Dear Lord, dear Lord, when slavery '11 cease, 
 Then we poor souls will have our peace ; — 
 There 's a better day a coming — 
 Will you go along with me ? 
 There 's a better day a coming, 
 Go sound the jubilee ! " 
 
 We finally arrived at Mr. Walker's farm. He 
 had a house built during our absence to put slaves 
 in. It was a kind of domestic jail. The slaves 
 were put in the jail at night, and worked on the 
 farm during the day. They were kept here until 
 
52 NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 the gang was completed, when we again started 
 for New Orleans, on board the steamboat North 
 America, Capt. Alexander Scott. We had a large 
 number of slaves in this gang. One, by the name 
 of Joe. Mr. Walker was training up to take my 
 place, as my time was nearly out, and glad was I. 
 We made our first stop at Vicksburg, where we 
 remained one week and sold several slaves. 
 
 Mr. Walker, though not a good master, had not 
 flogged a slave since I had been with him, though 
 he had threatened me. The slaves were kept in 
 the pen, and he always put up at the best hotel, and 
 kept his wines in his room, for the accommodation 
 of those who called to negotiate with him for the 
 purchase of slaves. One day, while we were at 
 Vicksburg, several gentlemen came to see him for 
 that purpose, and as usual the wine was called for. 
 I took the tray and started around with it, and hav- 
 ing accidentally filled some of the glasses too full, 
 the gentlemen spilled the wine on their clothes as 
 they went to drink. Mr. Walker apologized to 
 them for my carelessness, but looked at me as 
 though he would see me again on this subject. 
 
 After the gentlemen had left the room, he asked 
 me what I meant by my carelessness, and said that 
 
r 
 
 LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN 53 
 
 he would attend to me. The next morning he 
 gave me a note to carry to the jailer, and a dollar 
 in money to give to him. I suspected that all was 
 not right, so I went down near the landing, where 
 I met with a sailor, and, walking up to him, asked 
 him if he would be so kind as to read the note for 
 me. He read it over, and then looked at me. I 
 asked him to tell me what was in it. Said he, 
 
 " They are going to give you hell.' 5 
 
 "Why?" saidl. 
 
 He said, " This is a note to have you whipped, 
 and says that you have a dollar to pay for it." 
 
 He handed me back the note, and off I started. 
 I knew not what to do, but was determined not to 
 be whipped. I went up to the jail — took a look at 
 it, and walked off again. As Mr. Walker was 
 acquainted with the jailer, I feared that I should 
 be found out if I did not go, and be treated in con- 
 sequence of it still worse. 
 
 While I was meditating on the subject, I saw a 
 colored man about my size walk up, and the 
 thought struck me in a moment to send him with 
 my note. I walked up to him, and asked him 
 who he belonged to. He said he was a free man, 
 and had been in the city but a short time. I told 
 5* 
 
I 54] 
 
 NARRATIVE OF THK 
 
 \ \ / 
 
 Mrim I had a note to go into the jail, and get a trunk 
 to carry to one of the steamboats; but was so 
 busily engaged that I could not do it, although I 
 had a dollar to pay for it. He asked me if I would 
 not give him the job. I handed him the note and 
 the dollar, and off he started for the jail. 
 
 I watched to see that he went in, and as soon as 
 I saw the door close behind him, I walked around 
 the corner, and took my station, intending to see 
 how my friend looked when he came out. I had 
 been there but a short time, when a colored man 
 came around the corner, and said to another 
 colored man with whom he was acquainted — 
 
 "They are giving a nigger scissors in the jail." 
 
 "What for?" said the other. The man con- 
 tinued, 
 
 " A nigger came into the jail, and asked for the 
 jailer. The jailer came out, and he handed him a 
 note, and said he wanted to get a trunk. The 
 jailer told him to go with him, and he would give 
 him the trunk. So he took him into the room, and 
 told the nigger to give up the dollar. He said a 
 man had given him the dollar to pay for getting 
 the trunk. But that lie would not answer. So 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 55 
 
 they made him strip himself, and then they tied 
 him down, and are now whipping him." 
 
 I stood by all the while listening to their talk, 
 and soon found out that the person alluded to 
 was my customer. I went into the street opposite 
 the jail, and concealed myself in such a manner 
 that I could not be seen by any one coming out. I 
 had been there but a short time, when the young 
 man made his appearance, and looked around for 
 me. I, unobserved, came forth from my hiding- 
 place, behind a pile of brick, and he pretty soon 
 saw me, and came up to me complaining bitterly, 
 saying that I had played a trick upon him. I de- 
 nied any knowledge of what the note contained, 
 and asked him what they had done to him. He told 
 me in substance what I heard the man tell who 
 had come out of the jail. 
 
 "Yes," said he, "they whipped me and took 
 my dollar, and gave me this note." 
 
 He showed me the note which the jailer had 
 given him, telling him to give it to his master. 1 
 told him I would give him fifty cents for it — that 
 being all the money I had. He gave it to me and 
 took his money. He had received twenty lashes 
 on his bare back, with the negro-whip. 
 
56 NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 I took the note and started for the hotel where I 
 had left Mr. Walker. Upon reaching the hotel, I 
 handed it to a stranger whom I had not seen 
 before, and requested him to read it to me. As 
 near as I can recollect, it was as follows : — 
 
 "Dear Sir: — By your direction, I have given 
 your boy twenty lashes. He is a very saucy boy, 
 and tried to make me believe that he did not 
 belong to you, and I put it on to him well for lying 
 to me. 
 
 "I remain 
 
 "Your obedient servant." 
 
 It is true that in most of the slave-holding cities, 
 when a gentleman wishes his servants whipped, 
 he can send him to the jail and have it done. Be- 
 fore I went in where Mr. Walker was, I wet my 
 cheeks a little, as though I had been crying. He 
 looked at me, and inquired what was the matter. 
 I told him that I had never had such a whipping 
 in my life, and handed him the note. He looked 
 at it and laughed; — "And so you told him that 
 you did not belong to me?" "Yes, sir," said I. 
 "I did not know that there was any harm in 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. | ( 57 
 
 that." He told me I must behave myself, if I die 
 not want to be whipped again. 
 
 This incident shows how it is that slavery makes 
 its victims lying and mean; for which vices it 
 afterwards reproaches them, and uses them as 
 arguments to prove that they deserve no better 
 fate. Had I entertained the same views of right 
 and wrong which I now do, I am sure I should 
 never have practised the deception upon that poor 
 fellow which I did. I know of no act committed 
 by me while in slavery which I have regretted 
 more than that ; and I heartily desire that it may 
 be at some time or other in my power to make him 
 amends for his vicarious sufferings in my behalf. 
 
58 \ NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 In a few days we reached New Orleans, and 
 arriving there in the night, remained oil board until 
 morning. While at New Orleans this time, I saw 
 a slave killed ; an account of which has been pub- 
 lished by Theodore D. Weld, in his book entitled 
 '* Slavery as it is." The circumstances were as 
 follows. In the evening, between seven and eight 
 o'clock, a slave came running down the levee, fol- 
 lowed by several men and boys. [The whites 
 were crying out, " Stop that nigger ! stop that nig- 
 ger!" while the poor panting slave, in almost 
 breathless accents, was repeating, "I did not steal 
 the meat — I did not steal the meat." The poor 
 man at last took refuge in the river. The whites 
 who were in pursuit of him, run on board of one 
 of the boats to see if they could discover him. 
 They finally espied him under the bow of the 
 steamboat Trenton. They got a pike-pole, and 
 tried to drive him from his hiding place. When 
 they would strike at him he would dive under 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 59 
 
 the water. The water was so cold, that it soon 
 became evident that he must come out or be 
 drowned. 
 
 While they were trying to drive him from under 
 the bow of the boat or drown him, he would in 
 broken and imploring accents say, " I did not steal 
 the meat ; I did not steal the meat. My master 
 lives up the river. I want to see my master. I 
 did not steal the meat. Do let me go home to 
 master." After punching him, and striking him 
 over the head for some time, he at last sunk in the 
 water, to rise no more alive. 
 
 On the end of the pike-pole with which they 
 were striking him was a hook, which caught in his 
 clothing, and they hauled him up on the bow of 
 the boat. Some said he was dead ; others said he 
 was " playing possum ;" while others kicked hira 
 to make him get up ; but it was of no use — he was 
 dead. 
 
 As soon as they became satisfied of this, they 
 commenced leaving, one after another. One of the 
 hands on the boat informed the captain that they 
 had killed the man, and that the dead body was 
 lying on the deck. The captain came on deck, 
 and said to those who were remaining, "You have 
 
w 
 
 60 NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 killed this nigger ; now take him off of my boat'* 
 The captain's name was Hart. The dead body- 
 was dragged on shore and left there. I went on 
 board of the boat where our gang of slaves were, 
 and during the whole night my mind was occupied 
 with what I had seen. Early in the morning I 
 went on shore to see if the dead body remained 
 there. I found it in the same position that it was 
 left the night before. I watched to see what they 
 would do with it. It was left there until between 
 eight and nine o'clock, when a cart, which takes 
 up the trash out of the streets, came along, and the 
 body was thrown in, and in a few minutes more 
 was covered over with dirt which they were re- 
 moving from the streets. During the whole time, I 
 did not see more than six or seven persons around 
 it, who, from their manner, evidently regarded it 
 as no uncommon occurrence. 
 
 During our stay in the city I met with a young 
 white man with whom I was well acquainted in 
 St. Louis. He had been sold into slavery, under 
 the following circumstances. His father was a 
 drunkard, and very poor, with a family of five or 
 six children. The father died, and left the mother 
 to take care of and provide for the children as best 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 61 
 
 she might. The eldest was a boy, named Burrill, 
 about thirteen years of age, who did chores in a 
 store kept by Mr. Riley, to assist his mother in 
 procuring a living for the family. After working 
 with him two years, Mr. Riley took him to New 
 Orleans to wait on him while in that city on a 
 visit, and when he returned to St. Louis, he told 
 the mother of the boy that he had died with the 
 yellow fever. Nothing more was heard from him, 
 no one supposing him to be alive. I was much 
 astonished when Burrill told me his story. Though 
 I sympathized with him I could not assist him. 
 We were both slaves. He was poor, uneducated, 
 and without friends ; and, if living, is, I presume, 
 still held as a slave. 
 
 After selling out this cargo of human flesh, we 
 returned to St. Louis, and my time was up with 
 Mr. Walkeft I had served him one year, and it 
 was the longest year I ever lived. 
 6 
 
62 NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 I was sent home, and was glad enough to leave 
 the service of one who was tearing the husband from 
 the wife, the child from the mother, and the sister 
 from the brother — but a trial more severe and 
 heart-rending than any which I had yet met with 
 awaited me. My dear sister had been sold to a 
 man who was going to Natchez, and was lying in 
 jail awaiting the hour of his departure. She had 
 expressed her determination to die, rather than go 
 to the far south, and she was put in jail for safe- 
 keeping. I went to the jail the same day that I 
 arrived, but as the jailer was not in I could not seq 
 her. 
 
 I went home to my master, in the country, and 
 the first day after my return he came where 1 was 
 at work, and spoke to me very politely. I knew 
 from his appearance that something was the mat- 
 ter. After talking to me about my several jour- 
 neys to New Orleans with Mr. Walker, he told me 
 that he was hard pressed for money, and as he 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 63 
 
 had sold my mother and all her children except 
 me, he thought it would be better to sell me than 
 any other one, and that as I had been used to liv- 
 ing in the city, he thought it probable that I would 
 prefer it to a country life. I raised up my head, and 
 looked him full in the face. When my eyes caught 
 his he immediately looked to the ground. After a 
 short pause, I said, 
 
 "Master, mother has often told me that you 
 are a near relative of mine, and I have often heard 
 you admit the fact ; and after you have hired me 
 out, and received, as I once heard you say, nine 
 hundred dollars for my services — after receiving 
 this large sum, will you sell me to be carried to 
 New Orleans or some other place?" 
 
 "No," said he, "I do not intend to sell you to 
 a negro trader. If I had wished to have done that, 
 I might have sold you to Mr. Walker for a large 
 sum, but I would not sell you to a negro trader. 
 You may go to the city, and find you a good mas- 
 ter." 
 
 " But," said I, "I cannot find a good master in 
 the whole city of St. Louis." 
 
 ^Why?" said he. 
 
64 NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 " Because there are no good masters in the 
 state." 
 
 " Do you not call me a good master?" 
 
 "If you were you would not sell me." 
 
 "Now I will give you one week to find a master 
 in, and surely you can do it in that time." 
 
 The price set by my evangelical master upon 
 my soul and body was the trifling sum of five 
 hundred dollars. I tried to enter into some ar- 
 rangement by which I might purchase my free- 
 dom; but he would enter into no such arrange- 
 ment. 
 
 I set out for the city with the understanding that 
 I was to return in a week with some one to become 
 my new master. Soon after reaching the city, I 
 went to the jail, to learn if I could once more see 
 my sister ; but could not gain admission. I then 
 went to mother, and learned from her that the 
 owner of my sister intended to start for Natchez 
 in a few days. 
 
 I went to the jail again the next day, and Mr. 
 Simonds, the keeper, allowed me to see my sister 
 for the last time. I cannot give a just description 
 of the scene at that parting interview. Never, 
 never can be erased from my heart the occurrences 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 65 
 
 of that day ! When I entered the room where she 
 was, she was seated in one corner, alone. There 
 were four other women in the same room, belonging 
 to the same man. He had purchased them, he 
 said, for his own use. She was seated with her 
 face towards the door where I entered, yet she did 
 not look up until I walked up to her. As soon as 
 she observed me she sprung up, threw her arms 
 around my neck, leaned her head upon my breast, 
 and, without uttering a word, burst into tears. As 
 soon as she recovered herself sufficiently to speak, 
 she advised me to take mother, and try to get out 
 of slavery. She said there was no hope for her- 
 self — that she must live and die a slave. After 
 giving her some advice, and taking from my finger 
 a ring and placing it upon hers, I bade her fare- 
 well forever, and returned to my mother, and then 
 and there made up my mind to leave for Canada 
 sis soon as possible. 
 
 I had been in the city nearly two days, and as I 
 was to be absent only a week, I thought best to 
 get on my journey as soon as possible. In con- 
 versing with mother, I found her unwilling to 
 make the attempt to reach a land of liberty, but 
 she counselled me to get my liberty if I could. 
 6* 
 
66 NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 She said, as all her children were in slavery, she 
 did not wish to leave them. I could not bear the 
 idea of leaving her among those pirates, when 
 there was a prospect of being able to get away 
 from them. After much persuasion I succeeded in 
 inducing her to make the attempt to get away. 
 
 The time fixed for our departure was the next 
 night. I had with me a little money that I had 
 received, from time to time, from gentlemen for 
 whom I had done errands. I took my scanty 
 means and purchased some dried beef, crackers 
 and cheese, which I carried to mother, who had 
 provided herself with a bag to carry it in. I occa- 
 sionally thought of my old master, and of my mis- 
 sion to the city to find a new one. I waited with 
 the most intense anxiety for the appointed time 
 to leave the land of slavery, in search of a land 
 of liberty. 
 
 The time at length arrived, and we left the city 
 just as the clock struck nine. We proceeded to the 
 upper part of the city, where I had been two or 
 three times during the day, and selected a skiff to 
 carry us across the river. The boat was not mine, 
 nor did I know to whom it did belong; neither 
 did I care. The boat was fastened with a small 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 67 
 
 pole, which, with the aid of a rail, I soon loosened 
 from its moorings. After hunting round and find- 
 ing a board to use as an oar, I turned to the city, 
 and bidding it a long farewell, pushed off my boat. 
 The current running very swift, we had not 
 reached the middle of the stream before we were 
 directly opposite the city. 
 
 We were soon upon the Illinois shore, and, leap- 
 ing from the boat, turned it adrift, and the last I 
 saw of it it was going down the river at good 
 speed. We took the main road to Alton, and 
 passed through just at daylight, when we made 
 for the woods, where we remained during the day. 
 Our reason for going into the woods was, that we 
 expected that Mr. Mansfield (the man who owned 
 my mother) would start in pursuit of her as soon 
 as he discovered that she was missing. He also 
 knew that I had been in the city looking for a new 
 master, and we thought probably he would go out 
 to my master's to see if he could find my mother, 
 and in so doing, Dr. Young might be led to sus- 
 pect that I had gone to Canada to find a pur- 
 chaser. 
 
 We remained in the woods during the day, and 
 as soon as darkness overshadowed the earth, we 
 
68 NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 started again on our gloomy way, having no guide 
 but the north star. We continued to travel by 
 night, and secrete ourselves in the woods by day ■ 
 and every night, before emerging from our hiding- 
 place, we would anxiously look for our friend and 
 leader — the north star. And in the language of 
 Pierpont we might have exclaimed, 
 
 " Star of the North ! while blazing day 
 Pours round me its full tide of light, 
 And hides thy pale but faithful ray, 
 I, too, lie hid, and long for night. 
 For night ; — I dare not walk at noon, 
 Nor dare I trust the faithless moon, 
 Nor faithless man, whose burning lust 
 For gold hath riveted my chain ; 
 No other leader can I trust 
 But thee, of even the starry train ; 
 For, all the host around thee burning, 
 Like faithless man, keep turning, turning. 
 
 In the dark top of southern pines 
 I nestled, when the driver's horn 
 Called to the field, in lengthening lines, 
 My fellows, at the break of morn. 
 And there I lay, till thy sweet face 
 Looked in upon my ' hiding place, 5 
 Star of the North! 
 
 Thy light, that no poor slave deceiveth, 
 Shall set me free." 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 As we travelled towards a land of liberty, my 
 heart would at times leap for joy. At other times, 
 being, as I was, almost constantly on my feet, I 
 felt as though I could travel no further. But 
 when I thought of slavery, with its democratic ^ 
 whips — its republican chains — its evangelical 
 blood-hounds, and its religious slave-holders — 
 when I thought of all this paraphernalia of Amer- 
 ican democracy and religion behind me, and the 
 prospect of liberty before me, I was encouraged to 
 press forward, my heart was strengthened, and I 
 forgot that I was tired or hungry. 
 
 On the eighth day of our journey, we had a very 
 heavy rain, and in a few hours after it commenced 
 we had not a dry thread upon our bodies. This 
 made our journey still more unpleasant. On the 
 tenth day, we found ourselves entirely destitute of 
 provisions, and how to obtain any we could not 
 tell. We finally resolved to stop at some farm- 
 house, and try to get something to eat. We had 
 
70 NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 no sooner determined to do this, than we went to a 
 house, and asked them for some food. We were 
 treated with great kindness, and they not only 
 gave us something to eat, but gave us provisions to 
 carry with us. They advised us to travel by day 
 and lie by at night. Finding ourselves about one 
 hundred and fifty miles from St. Louis, we con- 
 eluded that it would be safe to travel by daylight, 
 and did not leave the house until the next morning. 
 "We travelled on that day through a thickly settled 
 country, and through one small village. Though 
 we were fleeing from a land of oppression, our 
 hearts were still there. My dear sister and two 
 beloved brothers were behind us, and the idea of 
 giving them up, and leaving them forever, made us 
 feel sad. But with all this depression of heart, the 
 thought that I should one day be free, and call my 
 body my own, buoyed me up, and made my heart 
 leap for joy. I had just been telling my mother 
 how I should try to get employment as soon as we 
 reached Canada, and how I intended to purchase 
 us a little farm, and how I would earn money 
 enough to buy sister and brothers, and how happy 
 we would be in our own free home — when three 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 71. 
 
 men came up on horseback, and ordered us to 
 stop. 
 
 I turned to the one who appeared to be the 
 principal man, and asked him what he wanted. 
 He said he had a warrant to take us up. The 
 three immediately dismounted, and one took from 
 his pocket a handbill, advertising us as runaways, 
 and offering a reward of two hundred dollars for 
 our apprehension and delivery in the city of St. 
 Louis. The advertisement had been put out by 
 Isaac Mansfield and John Young. 
 
 While they were reading the advertisement, 
 mother looked me in the face, and burst into tears. 
 A cold chill ran over me, and such a sensation I 
 never experienced before, and I hope never to 
 again. They took out a rope and tied me, and 
 we were taken back about six miles, to the house 
 of the individual who appeared to be the leader. 
 We reached there about seven o'clock in the even- 
 ing, had supper, and were separated for the night. 
 Two men remained in the room during the night. 
 Before the family retired to rest, they were all 
 called together to attend prayers. The man who 
 but a few hours before had bound my hands to- 
 gether with a strong cord, read a chapter from the 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 73 
 
 Bible, and then offered up prayer, just as though 
 God had sanctioned the act he had just committed 
 upon a poor, panting, fugitive slave. 
 
 The next morning a blacksmith came in, and 
 put a pair of handcuffs on me, and we started on 
 our journey back to the land of whips, chains and 
 Bibles. Mother was not tied, but was closely 
 watched at night. We were carried back in a 
 wagon, and after four days' travel, we came in 
 sight of St. Louis. I cannot describe my feelings 
 upon approaching the city. 
 
 As we were crossing the ferry, Mr. Wiggins, the 
 owner of the ferry, came up to me, and inquired 
 what I had been doing that I was in chains. He 
 had not heard that I had run away. In a few 
 minutes we were on the Missouri side, and were 
 taken directly to the jail. On the way thither, I 
 saw several of my friends, who gave me a nod of 
 recognition as I passed them. After reaching the 
 jail, we were locked up in different apartments. 
 7 
 
74 NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 I had been in jail but a short time when I heard 
 that my master was sick, and nothing brought 
 more joy to my heart than that intelligence. I 
 prayed fervently for him — not for his recovery, but 
 for his death. I knew he would be exasperated at 
 having to pay for my apprehension, and knowing 
 his cruelty, I feared him. While in jail, I learned 
 that my sister Elizabeth, who was in prison when 
 we left the city, had been carried off four days 
 before our arrival. 
 
 I had been in jail but a few hours when three 
 negro-traders, learning that I was secured thus for 
 running away, came to my prison-house and 
 looked at me, expecting that I would be offered for 
 sale. Mr. Mansfield, the man who owned mother, 
 came into the jail as soon as Mr. Jones, the man 
 who arrested us, informed him that he had brought 
 her back. He told her that he would not whip 
 her, but would sell her to a negro-trader, or take 
 her to New Orleans himself. After being in jail 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 75 
 
 about one week, master sent a man to take me 
 out of jail, and send me home. I Avas taken out 
 and carried home, and the old man was well 
 enough to sit up. He had me brought into the 
 room where he was, and as I entered, he asked me 
 where I had been ? I told him I had acted accord- 
 ing to his orders. He had told me to look for a 
 master, and I had been to look for one. He an- 
 swered that he did not tell me to go to Canada to 
 look for a master. I told him that as I had served 
 him faithfully, and had been the means of putting 
 a number of hundreds of dollars into his pocket, I 
 thought I had a right to my liberty. He said he 
 had promised my father that I should not be* sold 
 to supply the New Orleans market, or he would 
 sell me to a negro-trader. 
 
 I was ordered to go into the field to work, and 
 was closely watched by the overseer during the 
 day, and locked up at night. The overseer gave 
 me a severe whipping on the second day that 
 I was in the field. I had been at home but a short 
 time, when master was able to ride to the city ; 
 and on his return he informed me that he had sold 
 me to Samuel Willi, a merchant tailor. I knew 
 Mr. Willi. I had lived with him three or four 
 
NARPwATIVE OF THE 
 
 months some years before, when he hired me of 
 my master. 
 
 Mr. Willi was not considered by his servants as 
 a very bad man, nor was he the best of masters. I 
 went to my new home, and found my new mis- 
 tress very glad to see me. Mr. Willi owned two 
 servants before he purchased me — Robert and 
 Charlotte. Robert was an excellent white-washer, 
 and hired his time from his master, paying him 
 one dollar per day, besides taking care of himself. 
 He was known in the city by the name of 
 Bob Music. Charlotte was an old woman, who 
 attended to the cooking, washing, &c. Mr. Willi 
 was not a wealthy man, and did not feel able to 
 keep many servants around his house ; so he soon 
 decided to hire me out, and as I had been accus- 
 tomed to service in steamboats, he gave me the 
 privilege of finding such employment. 
 
 I soon secured a situation on board the steamer 
 Otto, Capt. J. B. Hill, which sailed from St. Louis 
 to Independence, Missouri. My f ormerj naster^ Dr. 
 Young, did not let Mr. Willi know that I had run 
 away, or he would not have permitted me to go on 
 board a steamboat. The boat was not quite ready 
 to commence running, and therefore I had to re- 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 77 
 
 main with Mr. Willi. But during this time, I had 
 to undergo a trial for which I was entirely unpre- 
 pared. My mother, who had been in jail since her 
 return until the present time, was now about being 
 carried to New Orleans, to die on a cotton, sugar, or 
 rice plantation ! 
 
 I had been several times to the jail, but could 
 obtain no interview with her. I ascertained, 
 however, the time the boat in which she was to 
 embark would sail, and as I had not seen mother 
 since her being thrown into prison, I felt anxious 
 for the hour of sailing to come. At last, the day 
 arrived when I was to see her for the first time 
 after our painful separation, and, for aught that 
 I knew, for the last time in this world ! 
 
 At about ten o'clock in the morning I went on 
 board of the boat, and found her there in company 
 with fifty or sixty other slaves. She was chained 
 to another woman. On seeing me, she immediately 
 dropped her head upon her heaving bosom. She 
 moved not, neither did she weep. Her emotions 
 were too deep for tears. I approached, threw my 
 arms around her neck, kissed her, and fell upon 
 my knees, begging her forgiveness, for I thought 
 myself to blame for her sad condition ; for if I had 
 7# 
 
78 NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 not persuaded her to accompany me, she would 
 not then have been in chains. 
 
 She finally raised her head, looked me in the 
 face, (and such a look none but an angel can give !) 
 and said, "My dear son, you are not to blame for 
 my being here. You have done nothing more nor 
 less than your duty. Do not, I pray you, weep for 
 me. I cannot last long upon a cotton plantation. 
 I feel that my heavenly Master will soon call me 
 home, and then I shall be out of the hands of the 
 slave-holders /" 
 
 I could bear no more — my heart struggled to 
 free itself from the human form. In a moment 
 she saw Mr. Mansfield coming toward that part of 
 the boat, and she whispered into my ear, "My 
 child, we must soon part to meet no more this side 
 of the grave. You have ever said that you woidd 
 not die a slave ; that you would be a freeman. Now 
 try to get your liberty ! You loill soon have no 
 one to look after but yourself!''' and just as she 
 whispered the last sentence into my ear, Mansfield 
 came up to me, and with an oath, said, "Leave 
 here this instant ; you have been the means of my 
 losing one hundred dollars to get this wench 
 back'* — at the same time kicking me with a heavy 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. EROWN. 79 
 
 pair of boots. As I left her, she gave one shriek, 
 saying, "God be with you !" It was the last time 
 that I saw her, and the last word I heard her 
 utter. 
 
 I walked on shore. The bell was tolling. The 
 boat was about to start. I stood with a heavy 
 heart, waiting to see her leave the wharf. As I 
 thought of my mother, I could but feel that I had 
 lost 
 
 " the glory of my life. 
 
 My blessing and my pride ! 
 I half forgot the name of slave, 
 When she was by my side." 
 
 The love of liberty that had been burning in my 
 bosom had well-nigh gone out. I felt as though I 
 was ready to die. The boat moved gently from 
 the wharf, and while she glided down the river, I 
 realized that my mother was indeed 
 
 " Gone — gone — sold and gone, 
 To the rice swamp, dank and lone !" 
 
 After the boat was out of sight I returned home ; 
 but my thoughts were so absorbed in what I had 
 witnessed, that I knew not what I was about half 
 of the time. Night came, but it brought no sleep 
 to my eyes. 
 
80 NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 In a few days, the boat upon which I was to 
 work being ready, I went on board to commence. 
 This employment suited me better than living in 
 the city, and I remained until the close of navi- 
 gation; though it proved anything but pleasant. 
 The captain was a drunken, profligate, hard- 
 hearted creature, not knowing how to treat himself, 
 or any other person. 
 
 The boat, on its second trip, brought down Mr. 
 Walker, the man of whom I have spoken in a pre- 
 vious chapter, as hiring my time. He had between 
 one and two hundred slaves, chained and mana- 
 cled. Among them was a man that formerly be- 
 longed to my old master's brother, Aaron Young. 
 His name was Solomon. He was a preacher, and 
 belonged to the same church with his master. I 
 was glad to see the old man. He wept like a 
 child when he told me how he had been sold from 
 his wife and children. 
 
 The boat carried down, while I remained on 
 board, four or five gangs of slaves. Missouri, 
 though a comparatively new state, is very much 
 engaged in raising slaves to supply the southern 
 market. In a former chapter, I have mentioned 
 that I was once in the employ of a slave-trader, or 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. SI 
 
 driver, as he is called at the south. For fear that 
 some may think that I have misrepresented a 
 slave-driver, I will here give an extract from a 
 paper published in a slave-holding state, Tennessee, 
 called the " Millennial Trumpeter." 
 
 " Droves of negroes, chained together in dozens, 
 and scores, and hand-cuffed, have been driven 
 through our country in numbers far surpassing 
 any previous year, and these vile slave-drivers and 
 dealers are swarming like buzzards around a car- 
 rion. Through this county, you cannot pass a few 
 miles in the great roads without having every feel- 
 ing of humanity insulted and lacerated by this 
 spectacle, nor can you go into any county or any 
 neighborhood, scarcely, without seeing or hearing 
 of some of these despicable creatures, called negro- 
 drivers. 
 
 "Who is a negro-driver? One whose eyes 
 dwell with delight on lacerated bodies of helpless 
 men, women and children ; whose soul feels dia- 
 bolical raptures at the chains, and hand-cuffs, and 
 cart-whips, for inflicting tortures on weeping 
 mothers torn from helpless babes, and on husbands 
 and wives torn asunder forever !" 
 
 Dark and revolting as is the picture here drawn, 
 
82 NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 it is from the pen of one living in the midst of 
 slavery. But though these men may cant about 
 negro-drivers, and tell what despicable creatures 
 they are, who is it, I ask, that supplies them with 
 the human beings that they are tearing asunder 1 
 I answer, as far as I have any knowledge of the 
 state where I came from, that those who raise 
 slaves for the market are to be found among all 
 classes, from Thomas H. Benton down to the low- 
 est political demagogue who may be able to pur- 
 chase a woman for the purpose of raising stock, 
 and from the doctor of divinity down to the most 
 humble lay member in the church. 
 
 It was not uncommon in St. Louis to pass by 
 an auction-stand, and behold a woman upon the 
 auction-block, and hear the seller crying out, 
 u How much is offered for this woman ? She is a 
 good cook, good washer, a good obedient servant. 
 She has got religion!" Why should this man 
 tell the purchasers that she has religion? I an- 
 swer, because in Missouri, and as far as I have 
 any knowledge of slavery in the other states, the 
 religious teaching consists in teaching the slave 
 Jhat he must never strike a white man; that God 
 made him for a slave ; and that, when whipped, 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 83 
 
 he must not find fault — for the Bible says, " He 
 that knoweth his master's will and doeth it not, 
 shall be beaten with many stripes ! " And slave- 
 holders find such religion very profitable to them. 
 After leaving the steamer Otto, I resided at 
 home, in Mr. Willi's family, and again began to 
 lay my plans for making my escape from slavery. 
 The anxiety to be a freeman would not let me rest 
 day or night. I would think of the northern cities 
 that I had heard so much about; — of Canada, 
 where so many of my acquaintances had found a 
 refuge. I would dream at night that I was in 
 Canada, a freeman, and on waking in the morning, 
 weep to find myself so sadly mistaken. 
 
 " I would think of Victoria's domain, 
 
 And in a moment I seemed to be there ! 
 But the fear of being taken again 3 
 Soon hurried me back to despair." 
 
 Mr. Willi treated me better than Dr. Young ever 
 had ; but instead of making me contented and 
 happy, it only rendered me the more miserable, for 
 it enabled me better to appreciate liberty. Mr. 
 Willi was a man who loved money as most men 
 do, and without looking for an opportunity to sell 
 me, he found one in the offer of Captain Enoch 
 
84 NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 Price, a steamboat owner and commission mer- 
 chant, living in the city of St. Louis. Captain 
 Price tendered seven hundred dollars, which was 
 two hundred more than Mr. Willi had paid. He 
 therefore thought best to accept the offer. I was 
 wanted for a carriage driver, and Mrs. Price was 
 very much pleased with the captain's bargain. 
 His family consisted of himself, wife, one child, 
 and three servants, besides myself, — one man and 
 two women. 
 
 Mrs. Price was very proud of her servants, 
 always keeping them well dressed, and as soon as 
 I had been purchased, she resolved to have a new 
 carriage. And soon one was procured, and all 
 preparations were made for a turn-out in grand 
 style, I being the driver. 
 
 One of the female servants was a girl some 
 eighteen or twenty years of age, named Maria. 
 Mrs. Price was very soon determined to have us 
 united, if she could so arrange matters. She 
 would often urge upon me the necessity of having 
 a wife, saying that it would be so pleasant for me 
 to take one in the same family ! But getting mar- 
 ried, while in slavery, was the last of my thoughts : 
 and had I been ever so inclined, I should not have 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 60 
 
 married Maria, as my love had already gone in 
 another quarter. Mrs. Price soon found out that 
 her efforts at this match-making between Maria 
 and myself would not prove successful. She also 
 discovered (or thought she had) that I was rather 
 partial to a girl named Eliza, who was, owned by 
 Dr. Mills. This induced her at once to endeavor 
 the purchase of Eliza, so great was her desire to 
 get me a wife ! 
 
 Before making the attempt, however, she deemed 
 it best to talk to me a little upon the subject of 
 love, courtship, and marriage. Accordingly, one 
 afternoon she called me into her room — telling me 
 to take a chair and sit down. I did so, thinking it 
 rather strange, for servants are not very often asked 
 thus to sit down in the same room with the master 
 or mistress. She said that she had found out that 
 I did not care enough about Maria to marry her. I 
 told her that was true. She then asked me if 
 there was not a girl in the city that I loved. Well, 
 now, this was coming into too close quarters with 
 me ! People, generally, don't like to tell their love 
 stories to everybody that may think fit to ask 
 about them, and it was so with me. But, after 
 blushing a while and recovering myself, I told her 
 8 
 
86 NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 that I did not want a wife. She then asked me if 
 I did not think something of Eliza. I told her that 
 I did. She then said that if I wished to marry 
 Eliza, she would purchase her if she could. 
 
 I gave but little encouragement to this proposi- 
 tion, as I was determined to make another trial to 
 get my liberty, and I knew that if I should have a 
 wife, I should not be willing to leave her behind ; 
 and if I should attempt to bring her with me, the 
 chances would be difficult for success. However, 
 Eliza was purchased, and brought into the family. 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 87 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 But the more I thought of the trap laid by Mrs. 
 Price to make me satisfied with my new home, by 
 getting me a wife, the more I determined never to 
 marry any woman on earth until I should get my 
 liberty. But this secret I was compelled to keep 
 to myself, which placed me in a very critical posi- 
 tion. I must keep upon good terms with Mrs. 
 Price and Eliza. I therefore promised Mrs. Price 
 that I would marry Eliza ; but said that I was not 
 then ready. And I had to keep upon good terms 
 with Eliza, for fear that Mrs. Price would find out 
 that I did not intend to get married. 
 
 I have here spoken of marriage, and it is very 
 common among slaves themselves to talk of it. 
 And it is common for slaves to be married ; or at 
 least to have the marriage ceremony performed. 
 But there is no such thing as slaves being lawfully 
 married. There has never yet a case occurred 
 where a slave has been tried for bigamy. The 
 man may have as many women as he wishes, 
 
88 NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 and the women as many men; and the law 
 takes no cognizance of such acts among slaves. 
 And in fact some masters, when they have sold 
 the husband from the wife, compel her to tak«* 
 another. 
 
 There lived opposite Captain Price's, Doctor 
 Farrar, well known in St. Louis. He sold a man 
 named Ben, to one of the traders. He also owned 
 Ben's wife, and in a few days he compelled Sally 
 (that was her name) to marry Peter, another man 
 belonging to him. I asked Sally "why she mar- 
 ried Peter so soon after Ben was sold." She said. 
 " because master made her do it." 
 
 Mr. John Calvert, who resided near our place, 
 had a woman named Lavinia. She was quite 
 young, and a man to whom she was about to be 
 married was sold, and carried into the country 
 near St. Charles, about twenty miles from St. 
 Louis. Mr. Calvert wanted her to get a husband ; 
 but she had resolved not to marry any other man, 
 and she refused. Mr. Calvert whipped her in such 
 a manner that it was thought she would die. 
 Some of the citizens had him arrested, but it was 
 soon hushed uo. And that was the last of it. The 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 89 
 
 woman did not die, but it would have been the 
 same if she had. 
 
 Captain Price purchased me in the month of 
 October, and I remained with him until December, 
 when the family made a voyage to New Orleans, 
 in a boat owned by himself, and named the 
 "Chester." I served on board as one of the 
 stewards. On arriving at New Orleans, about the 
 middle of the month, the boat took in freight for 
 Cincinnati; and it was decided that the family 
 should go up the river in her, and what was of 
 more interest to me, I was to accompany them. 
 
 The long looked for opportunity to make my 
 escape from slavery was near at hand. 
 
 Captain Price had some fears as to the propriety 
 of taking me near a free state, or a place where it 
 was likely I could run away, with a prospect of 
 liberty. He asked me if I had ever been in a free 
 state. " Oh yes," said I, iC I have been in Ohio; 
 my master carried me into that state once, but I 
 never liked a free state." 
 
 It was soon decided that it would be safe to take 
 me with them, and what made it more safe, Eliza 
 was on the boat with us, and Mrs. Price, to try 
 
 me, asked if I thought as much as ever of Eliza. 
 
 8* 
 
90 NARRATIVE OF THv 
 
 I told her that Eliza was very dear to me indeed, 
 and that nothing but death should part us. It was. 
 the same as if we were married. This had the 
 desired effect. The boat left New Orleans, and 
 proceeded up the river. 
 
 I had at different times obtained little sums of 
 money, which I had reserved for a " rainy day." 
 I procured some cotton cloth, and made me a bag 
 to carry provisions in. The trials of the past were 
 all lost in hopes for the future. The love of liberty, 
 that had been burning in my bosom for years, and 
 had been well-nigh extinguished, was now resus- 
 citated. At night, when all around was peaceful, 
 I would walk the decks, meditating upon my happy 
 prospects. 
 
 I should have stated, that, before leaving St. 
 Louis, I went to an old man named Frank, a 
 slave, owned by a Mr. Sarpee. This old man 
 was very distinguished (not only among the slave 
 population, but also the whites) as a fortune-teller. 
 He was about seventy years of age, something 
 over six feet high, and very slender. Indeed, he 
 was so small around his body, that it looked as 
 though it was not strong enough to hold up his 
 head. 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 91 
 
 Uncle Frank was a very great favorite with 
 the young ladies, who would go to him in great 
 numbers to get their fortunes told. And it was 
 generally believed that he could really penetrate 
 into the mysteries of futurity. Whether true or 
 not, he had the name, and that is about half of 
 what one needs in this gullible age. I found Uncle 
 Frank seated in the chimney corner, about ten 
 o'clock at night. As soon as I entered, the old 
 man left his seat. I watched his movement as 
 well as I could by the dim light of the fire. He 
 soon lit a lamp, and coming up, looked me full in 
 the face, saying, "Well, my son, you have come to 
 get uncle to tell your fortune, have you V " Yes," 
 said I. But how the old man should know what 
 I came for, I could not tell. However, I paid the 
 fee of twenty-five cents, and he commenced by 
 looking into a gourd, filled with water. Whether 
 the old man was a prophet, or the son of a prophet. 
 I cannot say ; but there is one thing certain, many 
 of his predictions were verified. 
 
 I am no believer in soothsaying ; yet I am some- 
 times at a loss to know how Uncle Frank could 
 tell so accurately wiiat would occur in the future. 
 Among the many things he told was one w r hich 
 
92 NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 was enough to pay me for all the trouble of hunt- 
 ing him up. It was that I should be free ! He 
 further said, that in trying to get my liberty I 
 would meet with many severe trials. I thought 
 to myself any fool could tell me that ! 
 
 The first place in which we landed in a free 
 state was Cairo, a small village at the mouth of 
 the Ohio river. We remained here but a few 
 hours, when we proceeded to Louisville. After 
 unloading some of the cargo, the boat started on 
 her upward trip. The next day was the first of 
 January. I had looked forward to New Year's 
 day as the commencement of a new era in the 
 history of my life. I had decided upon leaving the 
 peculiar institution that day. 
 
 During the last night that I served in slavery 1 
 did not close my eyes a single moment. When 
 not thinking of the future, my mind dwelt on the 
 past. The love of a dear mother, a dear sister, 
 and three dear brothers, yet living, caused me to 
 shed many tears. If I could only have been 
 assured of their being dead, I should have felt 
 satisfied ; but I imagined I saw my dear mother 
 in the cotton-field, followed by a merciless task- 
 master, and no one to speak a consoling word to 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 93 
 
 her ! I beheld my dear sister in the hands of 
 a slave-driver, and compelled to submit to his 
 cruelty ! None but one placed in such a situation 
 can for a moment imagine the intense agony to 
 which these reflections subjected me. 
 
94 NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 At last the time for action arrived. The boat 
 landed at a point which appeared to me the place 
 of all others to start from. I found that it would 
 be impossible to carry anything with me but 
 what was upon my person. I had some provi- 
 sions, and a single suit of clothes, about half worn. 
 When the boat was discharging her cargo, and 
 the passengers engaged carrying their baggage on 
 and oft shore, I improved the opportunity to con- 
 vey myself with my little effects on land. Taking 
 up a trunk, I went up the wharf, and was soon 
 out of the crowd. I made directly for the woods, 
 where I remained until night, knowing well that I 
 could not travel, even in the state of Ohio, during 
 the day, without danger of being arrested. 
 
 I had long since made up my mind that I would 
 not trust myself in the hands of any man, white or 
 colored. The slave is brought up to look upon 
 every white man as an enemy to him and his 
 race ; and twenty-one years in slavery had taught 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. / 95/ 
 
 me that there were traitors, even among colored 
 people. After dark, I emerged from the woods 
 into a narrow path, which led me into the main 
 travelled road. But I knew not which way to go. 
 I did not know north from south, east from west. 
 I looked in vain for the North Star; a heavy- 
 cloud hid it from my view. I walked up and 
 down the road until near midnight, when the 
 clouds disappeared, and I welcomed the sight of 
 my friend — truly the slave's friend — thg North. 
 Sta**"""*"" 
 
 As soon as I saw it, I knew my course, and 
 before daylight I travelled twenty or twenty-five 
 miles. It being in the winter, I suffered intensely 
 from the cold ; being without an overcoat, and my 
 other clothes rather thin for the season. I was 
 provided with a tinder-box, so that I could make 
 up a fire when necessary. And but for this, I 
 should certainly have frozen to death ; for I was 
 determined not to go to any house for shelter. I 
 knew of a man belonging to Gen. Ashly, of St. 
 Louis, who had run away near Cincinnati, on the 
 way to Washington, but had been caught and car- 
 ried back into slavery; and I felt that a similar 
 
96 NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 fate awaited me, should I be seen by any one. I 
 travelled at night, and lay by during the day. 
 
 On the fourth day my provisions gave out, and 
 then what to do I could not tell. Have something 
 to eat I must ; but how to get it was the question ! 
 On the first night after my food was gone, I went 
 to a barn on the road-side and there found some 
 ears of corn. I took ten or twelve of them, and 
 kept on my journey. During the next day, while 
 in the woods, I roasted my corn and feasted upon 
 it, thanking God that I was so well provided for. 
 
 My escape to a land of freedom now appeared 
 certain, and the prospects of the future occupied a 
 great part of my thoughts. What should be my 
 occupation, was a subject of much anxiety to me ; 
 and the next thing what should be my name? 1 
 have before stated that my old master, Dr. Young, 
 had no children of his own, but had with him a 
 nephew, the son of his brother, Benjamin Young. 
 When this boy was brought to Dr. Young, his 
 name being William, the same as mine, my mother 
 was ordered to change mine to something else. 
 This, at the time, I thought to be one of the most 
 cruel acts that could be committed upon my rights; 
 and I received several very severe whippings for 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 97 
 
 telling people that my name was William, after 
 orders were given to change it. Though young, I 
 was old enough to place a high appreciation upon 
 my name. It was decided, however, to call me 
 " Sandford," and this name I was known by, not 
 only upon my master's plantation, but up to the 
 time that I made my escape. I was sold under 
 the name of Sandford. 
 
 But as soon as the subject came to my mind, I 
 resolved on adopting my old name of William, and 
 let Sandford go by the board, for I always hated 
 it. Not because there was anything peculiar in 
 the name ; but because it had been forced upon 
 me, It is sometimes common, at the south, for 
 slaves to take the name of their masters. Some 
 have a legitimate right to do so. But I always 
 detested the idea of being called by the name of 
 either of my masters. And as for my father, I 
 would rather have adopted the name of '•'• Friday,'' 
 and been known as the servant of some Robinson 
 Crusoe, than to have taken his name. So I was 
 not only hunting for my liberty, but also hunting 
 for a name; though I regarded the latter as of little 
 consequence, if I could but gain the former. Trav- 
 elling along the road. I would sometimes speak to 
 9 
 
98 NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 myself, sounding my name over, by way of get- 
 ting used to it, before I should arrive among civil- 
 ized human beings. On the fifth or six day, it 
 rained very fast, and froze about as fast as it fell, 
 so that my clothes were one glare of ice. I trav- 
 elled on at night until I became so chilled and 
 benumbed — the wind blowing into my face — that 
 I found it impossible to go any further, and accord- 
 ingly took shelter in a barn, where I was obliged 
 to walk about to keep from freezing. 
 
 I have ever looked upon that night as the most 
 eventful part of my escape from slavery. Nothing 
 but the providence of God, and that old barn, 
 saved me from freezing to death. I received a 
 very severe cold, which settled upon my lungs, 
 and from time to time my feet had been frost- 
 bitten, so that it was with difficulty I could walk. 
 In this situation I travelled two days, when I 
 found that I must seek shelter somewhere, or die. 
 
 The thought of death was nothing frightful to 
 me, compared with that of being caught, and again 
 carried back into slavery. Nothing but the pros- 
 pect of enjoying liberty could have induced me to 
 undergo such trials, for 
 
 " Behind I left the whips and chains, 
 Before me were sweet Freedom's plains !" 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 99 
 
 This, and this alone, cheered me onward. But 
 I at last resolved to seek protection from the in- 
 clemency of the weather, and therefore I secured 
 myself behind some logs and brush, intending to 
 wait there until some one should pass by ; for I 
 thought it probable that I might see some colored 
 person, or, if not, some one who was not a slave- 
 holder ; for I had an idea that I should know a 
 slaveholder as far as I could see him. 
 
 The first person that passed was a man in a 
 buggy- wagon. He looked too genteel for me to hail 
 him. Very soon another passed by on horseback. 
 I attempted to speak to him, but fear made my 
 voice fail me. As he passed, I left my hiding- 
 place, and was approaching the road, when I ob- 
 served an old man walking towards me, leading a 
 white horse. He had on a broad-brimmed hat and 
 a very long coat, and was evidently walking for 
 exercise. As soon as I saw him, and observed his 
 dress, I thought to myself, " You are the man that 
 I have been looking for !" Nor was I mistaken. 
 He was the very man ! 
 
 On approaching me, he asked me, " if I was not 
 a slave." I looked at him some time, and then 
 asked him " if he knew of any one who would 
 
[ 100/ NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 help me. as I was sick." He answered that he 
 would : but again asked, if I was not a slave. I 
 told him I was. He then said that I was in a 
 very pro-slavery neighborhood, and if I would 
 wait until he went home, he would get a covered 
 wagon for me. I promised to remain. He mount- 
 ed his horse, and was soon out of sight. 
 
 After he was gone, I meditated whether to wait 
 or not; being apprehensive that he had gone for 
 some one to arrest me. But I finally concluded to 
 remain until he should return; removing some 
 few rods to watch his movements. After a sus- 
 pense of an hour and a half or more, he returned 
 with a two-horse covered wagon, such as are 
 usually seen under the shed of a Quaker meeting- 
 house on Sundays and Thursdays; for the old 
 man proved to be a Quaker of the George Fox 
 stamp. 
 
 He took me to his house, but it was some time 
 
 v • before I could be induced to enter it ; not until the 
 
 \* J ( S old lady came out, did I venture into the house. I 
 
 V V^ ( thought I saw something in the old lady's cap that 
 
 CO 
 
 u* 1 told me I was not only safe, but welcome, in her 
 j house. I was not, however, prepared to receive 
 V their hospitalities. The only fault I found with 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 101 
 
 them was their being too kind. I had never had a 
 white man to treat me as an equal, and the idea of 
 a white lady waiting on me at the table was still 
 worse! Though the table was loaded with the 
 good things of this life, I could not eat. I thought 
 if I could only be allowed the privilege of eating in 
 the kitchen I should be more than satisfied ! 
 
 Finding that I could not eat, the old lady, who 
 was a "Thompsonian," made me a cup of ''com- 
 position," or "number six;" but it was so strong 
 and hot, that I called it '•'number seven!" How- 
 ever, I soon found myself at home in this family. 
 On different occasions, when telling these facts, I 
 have been asked how I felt upon finding myself 
 regarded as a man by a white family ; especially 
 just having run away from one. I cannot say 
 that I have ever answered the question yet. 
 
 The fact that I was in all probability a freeman, 
 sounded in my ears like a charm. I am satisfied 
 that none but a slave could place such an appre- 
 ciation upon liberty as I did at that time. I 
 wanted to see mother and sister, that I might tell 
 them "I was free!" I wanted to see my fellow- 
 slaves in St. Louis, and let them know that the 
 chains were no longer upon my limbs. I wanted 
 9* 
 
102 NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 to see Captain Price, and let him learn from my 
 own lips that I was no more a chattel, but a man ! 
 I was anxious, too, thus to inform Mrs. Price that 
 she must get another coachman. And I wanted to 
 see Eliza more than I did either Mr. or Mrs. 
 Price ! 
 
 The fact that I was a freeman — could walk, 
 talk, eat and sleep, as a man, and no one to stand 
 over me with the blood-clotted cow-hide — all this 
 made me feel that I was not myself. 
 
 The kind friend that had taken me in was 
 named Wells Brown. He was a devoted friend 
 of the slave; but was very old, and not in the 
 enjoyment of good health. After being by the fire 
 awhile, I found that my feet had been very much 
 frozen. I was seized with a fever, which threat- 
 ened to confine me to my bed. But my Thomp- 
 sonian friends soon raised me, treating me as 
 kindly as if I had been one of their own children. 
 I remained with them twelve or fifteen days, 
 during which time they made me some clothing, 
 and the old gentleman purchased me a pair of 
 boots. 
 
 I found that I was about fifty or sixty miles 
 from Dayton, in the State of Ohio, and between 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 103 
 
 one and two hundred miles from Cleaveland, on 
 Lake Erie, a place I was desirous of reaching on 
 my way to Canada. This I know will sound 
 strangely to the ears of people in foreign lands, but 
 it is nevertheless true. An American citizen was 
 fleeing from a democratic, republican, Christian 
 government, to receive protection under the mon- 
 archy of Great Britain. While the people of the 
 United States boast of their freedom, they at the 
 same time keep three millions of their own citizens 
 in chains; and while I am seated here in sight of 
 Bunker Hill Monument, writing this narrative, I 
 am a slave, and no law, not even in Massachu- 
 setts, can protect me from the hands of the slave- 
 holder ! 
 
 Before leaving this good Quaker friend, he in- 
 quired what my name was besides William. I 
 told him that I had no other name. " Well," said 
 he, "thee must have another name. Since thee 
 has got out of slavery, thee has become a man, 
 and men always have two names." 
 
 I told him that he was the first man to extend 
 the hand of friendship to me, and I would give 
 him the privilege of naming me. 
 
 "If I name thee," said he, "I shall call thee 
 Wells Brown, after myself." 
 
104 NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 "But," said I, "I am not willing to lose my 
 name of William. As it was taken from me once 
 against my will, I am not willing to part with it 
 again upon any terms. 
 
 "Then/' said he, "I will call thee William 
 Wells Brown." 
 
 " So be it," said I; and I have been known by 
 that name ever since I left the house of my first 
 white friend, Wells Brown. 
 
 After giving me some little change, I again 
 started for Canada. In four days I reached a pub- 
 lic house, and went in to warm myself. I there 
 learned that some fugitive slaves had just passed 
 through the place. The men in the bar-room 
 were talking about it, and I thought that it must 
 have been myself they referred to, and I was there- 
 fore afraid to start, fearing they would seize me ; 
 but I finally mustered courage enough, and took 
 my leave. As soon as I was out of sight. I went 
 into the woods, and remained there until night, 
 when I again regained the road, and travelled on 
 until next day. 
 
 Not having had any food for nearly two days. I 
 was faint with hunger, and was in a dilemma 
 what to do, as the little cash supplied me by my 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 105 
 
 adopted father, and which had contributed to my 
 comfort, was now all gone. I however concluded 
 to go to a farm-house, and ask for something to 
 eat. On approaching the door of the first one pre- 
 senting itself, I knocked, and was soon met by a 
 man who asked me what I wanted. I told him 
 that I would like something to eat. He asked me 
 where I was from, and where I was going. I 
 replied that I had come some way, and was 
 going to Cleaveland. 
 
 After hesitating a moment or two, he told me 
 that he could give me nothing to eat, adding, 
 "that if I would work, I could get something to 
 eat." 
 
 I felt bad, being thus refused something to sus- 
 tain nature, but did not dare tell him that I was 
 a slave. 
 
 Just as I was leaving the door, with a heavy 
 heart, a woman, who proved to be the wife of this 
 gentleman, came to the door, and asked her hus- 
 band what I wanted. He did not seem inclined 
 to inform her. She therefore asked me herself. I 
 told her that I had asked for something to eat. 
 After a few other questions, she told me to come 
 in, and that she would give me something to eat. 
 
106 NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 I walked up to the door, but the husband 
 remained in the passage, as if unwilling to let me 
 enter. 
 
 She asked him two or three times to get out of 
 the way, and let me in. But as he did not move, 
 she pushed him on one side, bidding me walk in ! 
 I was never before so glad to see a woman push a 
 man aside! Ever since that act, I have been in 
 favor of " woman's rights !" 
 
 After giving me as much food as I could eat, 
 she presented me with ten cents, all the money 
 then at her disposal, accompanied with a note to a 
 friend, a few miles further on the road. Thanking 
 this angel of mercy from an overflowing heart, I 
 pushed on my way, and in three days arrived at 
 Cleaveland, Ohio. 
 
 Being an entire stranger in this place, it was 
 difficult for me to find where to stop. I had no 
 money, and the lake being frozen, I saw that I 
 must remain until the opening of the navigation, 
 or go to Canada by way of Buffalo. But believ- 
 ing myself to be somewhat out of danger, I secured 
 an engagement at the Mansion House, as a table 
 waiter, in payment for my board. The proprietor, 
 however, whose name was E. M. Segur, in a short 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. / 107 
 
 time, hired me for twelve dollars a month; on 
 which terms I remained until spring, when I found 
 good employment on board a lake steamboat. 
 
 I purchased some books, and at leisure moments 
 perused them with considerable advantage to my- 
 self. While at Cleaveland, I saw, for the first 
 time, an anti-slavery newspaper. It was the 
 " Genius of Universal Emancipation" published 
 by Benjamin Lundy ; and though I had no home, 
 I subscribed for the paper. It was my great 
 desire, being out of slavery myself, to do what I 
 could for the emancipation of my brethren yet in 
 chains, and while on Lake Erie, I found many 
 opportunities of "helping their cause along." 
 
 It is well known that a great number of fugi- 
 tives make their escape to Canada, by way of 
 Cleaveland; and while on the lakes, I always made 
 arrangement to carry them on the boat to Buffalo 
 or Detroit, and thus effect their escape to the 
 " promised land." The friends of the slave, know- 
 ing that I would transport them without charge, 
 never failed to have a delegation when the boat 
 arrived at Cleaveland. I have sometimes had 
 four or five on board at one time. 
 
 In the year 1842, I conveyed, from the first of 
 May to the first of December, sixty-nine fugitives 
 
r ) 
 
 108/ narrative of the 
 
 v over Lake Erie to Canada* In 1843, I visited 
 Maiden, in Upper Canada, and counted seventeen 
 in that small village, whom I had assisted in reach- 
 ing Canada. Soon after coming north I subscribed 
 for the Liberator, edited by that champion of free- 
 dom, William Lloyd Garrison. I had heard 
 nothing of the anti-slavery movement while in 
 slavery, and as soon as I found that my enslaved 
 countrymen had friends who were laboring for 
 their liberation, I felt anxious to join them, and 
 give what aid I could to the cause. 
 
 I early embraced the temperance cause, and 
 found that a temperance reformation was needed 
 among my colored brethren. In company with a 
 few friends, I commenced a temperance reformation 
 among the colored people in the city of Buffalo, 
 and labored three years, in which time a society 
 was built up, numbering over five hundred out of 
 
 \ a population of less than seven hundred. 
 
 J In the autumn, 1843, impressed with the impor- 
 tance of spreading anti-slavery truth, as a means 
 to bring about the abolition of slavery, I com- 
 menced lecturing as an agent of the western New 
 York Anti-Slavery Society, and have ever since 
 devoted my time to the cause of my enslaved 
 countrymen. 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. EROWN. 109 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 During the autumn of 1S36, a slaveholder by 
 the name of Bacon Tate, from the State of Ten- 
 nessee, came to the north in search of fugitives 
 from slavery. On his arrival at Buffalo he heard 
 of two of the most valuable of the slaves that he 
 was in pursuit of. They were residing in St 
 Catharine's, in Upper Canada, some twenty-five 
 miles from Buffalo. After hearing that they were 
 in Canada, one would have supposed that Tate 
 would have given up all hope of getting them. 
 But not so. Bacon Tate was a man who had long 
 been engaged in the slave-trade, and previous to 
 that had been employed as a negro-driver. In 
 these two situations he had gained the name of 
 being the most complete "negro-breaker" in that 
 part of Tennessee where he resided. He was as 
 unfeeling and as devoid of principle as a man 
 could possibly be. This made him the person, 
 above all others, to be selected to be put on the 
 track of the fugitive slave. He had not only been 
 10 
 
110 NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 commissioned to catch Stanford and his wife, the 
 two valuable slaves already alluded to, but he had 
 the names of some twenty others. 
 
 Many slaves had made their escape from the 
 vicinity of Nashville, and the slaveholders were 
 anxious to have some caught, that they might 
 make an example of them. And Tate, anxious to 
 sustain his high reputation as a negro-catcher, left 
 no stone unturned to carry out his nefarious ob- 
 jects. 
 
 Stanford and his little family were as happily 
 situated as fugitives can be, who make their 
 escape to Canada in the cold season of the year. 
 Tate, on his arrival at Buffalo, took lodgings at 
 the Eagle Tavern, the best house at that time in 
 the city. And here he began to lay his plans to 
 catch and carry back into slavery those men and 
 women who had undergone so much to get their 
 freedom. He soon became acquainted with a prof- 
 ligate colored woman, who was a servant in the 
 hotel, and who was as unprincipled as himself! 
 This woman was sent to St. Catharine's, to spy out 
 the situation of Stanford's family. Under the pre- 
 tence of wishing to get board in the family, and 
 at the same time offering to pay a week's board 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. Ill 
 
 in advance, she was taken in. After remaining 
 with them three or four days, the spy returned 
 to Buffalo, and informed Tate how they were 
 situated. By the liberal use of money, Tate soon 
 found those who were willing to do his bidding. 
 A carriage was hired, and four men employed to 
 go with it to St. Catharine's, and to secure their 
 victims during the night. 
 
 The carriage, with the kidnappers, crossed the 
 Niagara river at Black Rock, on Saturday eve- 
 ning, about seven o'clock, and went on its way 
 towards St. Catharine's ; no one suspecting in the 
 least that they were after fugitive slaves. About 
 twelve o'clock that night they attacked Stanford's 
 dwelling by breaking in the door. They found 
 the family asleep, and of course met with no ob- 
 stacle whatever in tying, gagging, and forcing 
 them into the carriage. 
 
 The family had one child about six weeks old 
 That was kept at its mother's breast, to keep it 
 quiet. The carriage re-crossed the river, at the 
 same place, the next morning at sunrise, and pro- 
 ceeded to Buffalo, where it remained a short time, 
 and after changing horses and leaving some of its 
 company, it proceeded on its journey. The car- 
 
112 NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 riage being closely covered, no one had made the 
 least discovery as to its contents. But some time 
 during the morning, a man, who was neighbor to 
 Stanford, and who resided but a short distance 
 from him, came on an errand ; and rinding the 
 house deserted, and seeing the most of the family's 
 clothes lying on the floor, and seeing here and 
 there stains of blood, soon gave the alarm, and the 
 neighbors started in every direction, to see if they 
 could find the kidnappers. One man got on the 
 track of the carriage, and followed it to the ferry 
 at Black Rock, where he heard that it had crossed 
 some three hours before. He went on to Buffalo, 
 and gave the alarm to the colored people of that 
 place. The colored people of Buffalo are noted 
 for their promptness in giving aid to the fugitive 
 slave. The alarm was given just as the bells were 
 ringing for church. I was in company with five 
 or six others, when I heard that a brother slave 
 with his family had been seized and dragged 
 from his home during the night previous. We 
 started on a run for the livery-stable, where we 
 found as many more of our own color trying to 
 hire horses to go in search of the fugitives. There 
 were two roads which the kidnappers could take, 
 and we were at some loss to know which to take 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 113 
 
 ourselves. But we soon determined to be on the 
 right track, and so divided our company, — one 
 half taking the road to Erie, the other taking the 
 road leading to Hamburgh. I was among those 
 who took the latter. 
 
 We travelled on at a rapid rate, until we came 
 within half a mile of Hamburgh Corners, when we 
 met a man on the side of the road on foot, who 
 made signs to us to stop. We halted for a mo- 
 ment, when he informed us that the carriage that 
 we were in pursuit of was at the public house, and 
 that he was then in search of some of his neigh- 
 bors, to assemble and to demand of the kidnappers 
 the authority by which they were taking these 
 people into slavery. 
 
 We proceeded to the tavern, where we found the 
 carriage standing in front of the door, with a pair 
 of fresh horses ready to proceed on their journey. 
 The kidnappers, seeing us coming, took their vic- 
 tims into a room, and locked the door and fastened 
 down the windows. We all dismounted, fastened 
 our horses, and entered the house. We found four 
 or five persons in the bar-room, who seemed to 
 rejoice as we entered. 
 
 One of our company demanded the opening of 
 10* 
 
114 NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 fae door, while others went out and surrounded 
 the house. The kidnappers stationed one of their 
 number at the door, and another at the window. 
 They refused to let us enter the room, and the 
 tavern-keeper, who was more favorable to us 
 than we had anticipated, said to us, " Boys, get 
 into the room in any way that you can ; the house 
 is mine, and I give you the liberty to break in 
 through the door or window." This was all that 
 we wanted, and we were soon making preparations 
 to enter the room at all hazards. Those within 
 Bad warned us that if we should attempt to enter, 
 they would " shoot the first one." One of our com- 
 pany, who had obtained a crow-bar, went to the 
 window, and succeeded in getting it under the 
 sash, and soon we had the window up, and the 
 kidnappers, together with their victims, in full 
 view. 
 
 One of the kidnappers, while we were raising 
 the window, kept crying at the top of his voice, 
 "HI shoot, I'll shoot!" but no one seemed to 
 mind him. As soon as they saw that we were 
 determined to rescue the slaves at all hazards, they 
 gave up, one of their number telling us that we 
 might "come in." 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 115 
 
 The door was thrown open, and we entered, and 
 there found Stanford seated in one corner of the 
 room, with his hands tied behind him, and his 
 clothing, what little he had on, much stained with 
 blood. Near him was his wife, with her child, but 
 a few weeks old, in her arms. Neither of them 
 had anything on except their night-clothes. They 
 had both been gagged, to keep them from alarm- 
 ing the people, and had been much beaten and 
 bruised when first attacked by the kidnappers. 
 Their countenances lighted up the moment we 
 entered the room. 
 
 The most of those who made up our company 
 were persons who had made their escape from 
 slavery, and who knew its horrors from personal 
 experience, and who had left near and dear rela- 
 tives behind them. And we knew how to " feel 
 for those in bonds as bound with them." 
 
 The woman who had betrayed them, and who 
 was in the house at the time they were taken, had 
 been persuaded by Tate to go on with him to Ten- 
 nessee. She had accompanied them from Canada, 
 and we found her in the same room with Stanford 
 and his wife. As soon as she found that we were 
 about to enter the room, she ran under the bed. 
 
116 NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 We knew nothing of her being in the room until 
 Stanford pointed to the bed and said, " Under there 
 is our betrayer." She was soon hauled out, and 
 it was as much as some of us could do to keep the 
 others from lynching her upon the spot. The curses 
 came thick and fast from a majority of the com- 
 pany. But nothing attracted my attention at the 
 time more than the look of Mrs. Stanford at the 
 betrayer, as she sat before her. She did not say a 
 word to her, but her countenance told the feelings 
 of her inmost soul, and we could but think, that 
 had she spoken to her, she would have said, " May 
 the world deny thee a shelter ! earth a home ! the 
 dust a grave ! the sun his light ! and Heaven her 
 God!" 
 
 The betrayer begged us to let her go. I was 
 somewhat disposed to comply with her request, 
 but I found many to oppose me ; in fact, I was en- 
 tirely alone. My main reason for wishing to let 
 her escape was that I was afraid that her life 
 would be in danger. I knew that, if she was taken 
 back to Buffalo or Canada, she would fall into the 
 hands of an excited people, the most of whom had 
 themselves been slaves. And they, being compar- 
 atively ignorant of the laws, would be likely to 
 take the law into their own hands. 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 117 
 
 However, the woman was not allowed to escape, 
 but was put into the coach, together with Stanford 
 and his wife ; and after an hour and a half's drive, 
 we found ourselves in the city of Buffalo. The 
 excitement which the alarm had created in the 
 morning had broken up the meetings of the col- 
 ored people for that day ; and on our arrival in the 
 city we were met by some forty or fifty colored 
 persons. The kidnappers had not been inactive ; 
 for, on our arrival in the city, we learned that the 
 man who had charge of the carriage and fugitives 
 when we caught up with them, returned to the city 
 immediately after giving the slaves up to us, and 
 had informed Tate, who had remained behind, of 
 what had occurred. Tate immediately employed 
 the sheriff and his posse to re-take the slaves. So, 
 on our arrival in Buffalo, we found that the main 
 battle had yet to be fought. Stanford and his 
 wife and child were soon provided with clothing 
 and some refreshment, while we were preparing 
 ourselves with clubs, pistols, knives, and other 
 weapons of defence. News soon come to us that 
 the sheriff, with his under officers, together with 
 some sixty or seventy men who were at work on the 
 canal, were on the road between Buffalo and Black. 
 
118 NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 Rock, and that they intended to re-take the slaves 
 when we should attempt to take them to the ferry 
 to convey them to Canada. This news was any- 
 thing but pleasant to us, but we prepared for the 
 worst. 
 
 We returned to the city about two o'clock in the 
 afternoon, and about four we started for Black 
 Rock ferry, which is about three miles below Buf- 
 falo. We had in our company some fifty or more 
 able-bodied, resolute men, who were determined to 
 stand by the slaves, and who had resolved, before 
 they left the city, that if the sheriff and his men 
 took the slaves, they should first pass over their 
 dead bodies. 
 
 We started, and when about a mile below the 
 city, the sheriff and his men came upon us, and 
 surrounded us. The slaves were in a carriage, 
 and the horses were soon stopped, and we found it 
 advisable to take them out of the carriage, and we 
 did so. The sheriff came forward, and read some- 
 thing purporting to be a " Riot Act," and at the 
 same time called upon all good citizens to aid him 
 in keeping the " peace." This was a trick of his, 
 to get possession of the slaves. His men rushed 
 upon us with their clubs and stones, and a general 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 119 
 
 fight ensued. Our company had surrounded the 
 slaves, and had succeeded in keeping the sheriff 
 and his men off. We fought, and at the same 
 time kept pushing on towards the ferry. 
 
 In the midst of the fight, a little white man made 
 his appearance among us, and proved to be a val- 
 uable friend. His name was Pepper; and he 
 proved himself a pepper to the sheriff and his posse 
 that day. He was a lawyer ; and as the officers 
 would arrest any of our company, he would step 
 up and ask the officer if he had a "warrant to 
 take that man ;" and as none of them had war- 
 rants, and could not answer affirmatively, ha 
 would say to the colored man, "He has no right to 
 take you ; knock him down." The command was 
 no sooner given than the man would fall. If the 
 one who had been arrested was not able to knock 
 him down, some who were close by, and who were 
 armed with a club or other weapon, would come 
 to his assistance. 
 
 After it became generally known in our compa- 
 ny that the "little man" was a lawyer, he had a 
 tremendous influence with them. You could hear 
 them cry out occasionally, "That's right, knock 
 him down ; the little man told you to do it, and he 
 
120 NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 is a lawyer; he knows all about the law; that's 
 right, — hit him again ! he is a white man, and he 
 has done our color enough." 
 
 Such is but a poor representation of what was 
 said by those who were engaged in the fight. Af- 
 ter a hard-fought battle, of nearly two hours, we 
 arrived at the ferry, the slaves still in our posses- 
 sion. On arriving at the ferry, we found that some 
 of the sheriff's gang had taken possession of the 
 ferry-boat. Here another battle was to be fought, 
 before the slaves could reach Canada. The boat 
 was fastened at each end by a chain, and in the 
 scuffle for the ascendency, one party took charge 
 of one end of the boat, while the other took the 
 other end. The blacks were commanding the fer- 
 ryman to carry them over, while the whites were 
 commanding him not to. While each party was 
 contending for power, the slaves were pushed ' on 
 board, and the boat shoved from the wharf. Ma- 
 ny of the blacks jumped on board of the boat, 
 while the whites jumped on shore. And the swift 
 current of the Niagara soon carried them off, amid 
 the shouts of the blacks, and the oaths and impre- 
 cations of the whites. We on shore swung our 
 hats and gave three cheers, just as a reinforcement 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 121 
 
 came to the whites. Seeing the odds entirely 
 against us in numbers, and having gained the 
 great victory, we gave up without resistance, and 
 suffered ourselves to be arrested by the sheriff's 
 posse. However, we all remained on the shore 
 until the ferry-boat had landed on the Canada side. 
 As the boat landed, Stanford leaped on shore, and 
 rolled over in the sand, and even rubbed it into his 
 hair. 
 
 I did not accompany the boat over, but those 
 who did informed us that Mrs. Stanford, as she 
 stepped on the shore, with her child in her arms, 
 exclaimed, " I thank God that I am again in Can- 
 ada ! " We returned to the city, and some forty 
 of our company were lodged in jail, to await their 
 trial the next morning. 
 
 And now I will return to the betrayer. On our 
 return to Buffalo, she was given over to a commit- 
 tee of women, who put her in a room, and put a 
 guard over her. Tate, who had been very active 
 from the time that he heard that we had recaptured 
 the carriage with the slaves, was still in the city. 
 He was not with the slaves when we caught up 
 with them at Hamburgh, nor was he to be found 
 in the fight. He sent his hirelings, while he re- 
 11 
 
122 NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 mained at the hotel drinking champagne. As soon 
 as he found the slaves were out of his reach, he 
 then made an offer of fifty dollars to any person 
 who would find the betrayer. He pretended that 
 he wished to save her from the indignation of the 
 colored people. But the fact is, he had promised 
 her that if she would accompany him to the south, 
 that he would put her in a situation where she 
 would be a lady. Poor woman ! She was foolish 
 enough to believe him ; and now that the people 
 had lost all sympathy for her, on account of her 
 traitorous act, he still thought that, by pretending 
 to be her friend, he could induce her to go to the 
 south, that he might sell her. But those who had 
 her in charge were determined that she should 
 be punished for being engaged in this villanous 
 transaction. 
 
 Several meetings were held to determine what 
 should be done with her. Some were in favor of 
 hanging her, others for burning her, but a majori- 
 ty were for taking her to the Niagara river, tying 
 a fifty-six pound weight to her, and throwing her 
 in. There seemed to be no way in which she 
 could be reached by the civil law. She was kept 
 in confinement three days, being removed to differ- 
 ent places each night. 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 123 
 
 So conflicting were the views of thoi§e who had 
 her in charge, that they could not decide upon 
 what should be done with her. However, there 
 seemed to be such a vast majority in favor of 
 throwing her into the Niagara river, that some 
 of us, who were opposed to taking life, succeeded 
 in having her given over to another committee, who, 
 after reprimanding her, let her go. 
 
 Tate, in the mean time, hearing that the colored 
 people had resolved to take vengeance on him, 
 thought it best to leave the city. On Monday, at 
 ten o'clock, we were all carried before Justice 
 Grosvenor ; and of the forty who had been com- 
 mitted the evening before, twenty-five were held 
 to bail to answer to a higher court. When the 
 trials came on, we were fined more or less, from five 
 to fifty dollars each. 
 
 During the fight no one was killed, though there 
 were many broken noses and black eyes ; one 
 young man, who was attached to a theatrical 
 corps, was so badly injured in the conflict that he 
 died some three months after. 
 
 Thus ended one of the most fearful fights for 
 human freedom that I ever witnessed. The read- 
 er will observe that this conflict took place on the 
 
124 NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 Sabbath, and that those who were foremost in 
 getting it up were officers of justice. The plea 
 of the sheriff and his posse was, that we were 
 breaking the Sabbath by assembling in such large 
 numbers to protect a brother slave and his wife 
 and child from being dragged back into slavery, 
 which is far worse than death itself. 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. / 12 
 
 From the Liberty Bell of 1848. 
 
 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE. 
 
 BY WILLIAM WELLS BROWN. 
 
 Of the many features which American slavery 
 presents, the most cruel is that of the slave-trade. 
 A traffic in the bodies and souls of native-born 
 Americans is carried on in the slave-holding 
 states to an extent little dreamed of by the great 
 mass of the people in the non-slave-holding states. 
 The precise number of slaves carried from the 
 slave-raising to the slave-consuming states we have 
 no means of knowing. But it must be very great, 
 as forty thousand were sold and carried out of the 
 State of Virginia in one single year I 
 
 This heart-rending and cruel traffic is not con- 
 fined to any particular class of persons. No person 
 forfeits his or her character or standing in society 
 by being engaged in raising and selling slaves to 
 supply the cotton, sugar, and rice plantations of 
 the south. Few persons who have visited the 
 11* 
 

 I 12^ 
 
 NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 slave states have not, on their return, told of the 
 gangs of slaves they had seen on their way to the 
 southern market. This trade presents some of the 
 most revolting and atrocious scenes which can be 
 imagined. Slave-prisons, slave-auctions, hand 
 cuffs, whips, chains, bloodhounds, and other instru- 
 /ments of cruelty, are part of the furniture which 
 l belongs to the American slave-trade. It is enough 
 to make humanity bleed at every pore, to see these 
 implements of torture. 
 
 Known to God only is the amount of human 
 agony .and suffering which sends its cry from these 
 slave-prisons, unheard or unheeded by man, up to 
 His ear; mothers weeping for their children — 
 breaking the night-silence with the shrieks of their 
 breaking hearts. We wish no human being to 
 experience emotions of needless pain, but we do 
 wish that every man, woman, and child in New 
 England, could visit a southern slave-prison and 
 auction -stand. 
 
 I shall never forget a scene which took place in 
 the city of St. Louis, while I was in slavery. A 
 man and his wife, both slaves, were brought from 
 the country to the city, for sale. They were taken 
 to the rooms of Aust t -n & Savage, auctioneers 
 
 : 
 
LIFE OF WILLAIM W. BROWN. 127 
 
 Several slave-speculators, who are always to be 
 found at auctions where slaves are to be sold, 
 were present. The man was first put up, and sold 
 to the highest bidder. The wife was next ordered 
 to ascend the platform. I was present. She 
 slowly obeyed the order. The auctioneer com- 
 menced, and soon several hundred dollars were 
 bid. My eyes were intensely fixed on the face of 
 the woman, whose cheeks were wet with tears. 
 But a conversation between the slave and his new 
 master attracted my attention. I drew near them 
 to listen. The slave was begging his new master 
 to purchase his wife. Said he, "Master, if you 
 will only buy Fanny, I know you will get the 
 worth of your money. She is a good cook, a good 
 washer, and her last mistress liked her very much. 
 If you will only buy her how happy I shall be." 
 The new master replied that he did not want her 
 but if she sold cheap he would purchase her. „ 
 watched the countenance of the man while the 
 different persons were bidding on his wife. When 
 his new master bid on his wife you could see the 
 smile upon his countenance, and the tears stop; 
 but as soon as another would bid, you could see 
 the countenance change and the tears start afresh. 
 
128 NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 From this change of countenance one could see 
 the workings of the inmost soul. But this sus- 
 pense did not last long ; the wife was struck off to 
 the highest bidder, who proved not to be the owner 
 of her husband. As soon as they became aware 
 that they were to be separated, they both burst 
 into tears ; and as she descended from the auction- 
 stand, the husband, walking up to her and taking 
 her by the hand, said, " Well, Fanny, we are to 
 part forever, on earth ; you have been a good wife 
 to me. I did all that I could to get my new 
 master to buy you; but he did not want you, and 
 all I have to say is, I hope you will try to meet 
 me in heaven. I shall try to meet you there." 
 The wife made no reply, but her sobs and cries 
 told, too well, her own feelings. I saw the coun- 
 tenances of a number of whites who were present, 
 and whose eyes were dim with tears at hearing 
 the man bid his wife farewell. 
 
 Such are but common occurrences in the slave 
 states. At these auction-stands, bones, muscles, 
 sinews, blood and nerves, of human beings, are 
 sold with as much indifference as a farmer in 
 the north sells a horse or sheep. And this great 
 American nation is, at the present time, engaged 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 129 
 
 in the slave-trade. I have before me now the 
 i Washington "Union," the organ of the govern- 
 ment, in which I find an advertisement of several 
 slaves to be sold for the benefit of the government. 
 They will, in all human probability, find homes 
 among the rice-swamps of Georgia, or the cane- 
 brakes of Mississippi. 
 
 With every disposition on the part of those who 
 are engaged in it to veil the truth, certain facts 
 have, from time to time, transpired, sufficient to 
 show, if not the full amount of the evil, at least 
 that it is one of prodigious magnitude. And what 
 is more to be wondered at, is the fact that the 
 greatest slave-market is to be found at the capital 
 of the country ! The American slave-trader 
 marches by the capitol with his "coflle-gang," — 
 the stars and stripes waving over their heads, 
 and the constitution of the United States in his 
 pocket ! 
 
 The Alexandria Gazette, speaking of the slave- 
 trade at the capital, says, " Here you may behold 
 fathers and brothers leaving behind them the 
 dearest objects of afTection, and moving slowly 
 along in the mute agony of despair; there, the 
 young mother, sobbing over the infant whose inno^ 
 
130 NARRATIVE OF THE 
 
 cent smile seems but to increase her misery. From 
 some you will hear the burst of bitter lamentation, 
 while from others, the loud hysteric laugh breaks 
 forth, denoting still deeper agony. Such is but a 
 faint picture of the American slave-trade." 
 Boston, Massachusetts. 
 
 PLIGHT OF THE BONDMAN. 
 
 DEDICATED TO WILLIAM W. BROWN, 
 
 And simg by the Hutchinsons. 
 
 BY ELIAS SMITH. 
 
 From the crack of the rifle and baying of hound, 
 Takes the poor panting bondman his flight ; 
 
 His couch through the day is the cold damp ground, 
 But northward he runs through the night. 
 
 O, God speed the flight of the desolate slave, 
 
 Let his heart never yield to despair ; 
 There is room 'mong our hills for the true and the brave, 
 
 Let his lungs breathe our free northern air ! 
 
 O sweet to the storm-driven sailor the light, 
 Streaming far o'er the dark swelling wave : 
 
 But sweeter by far 'mong the lights of the night, 
 Is the star of the north to the slave. 
 
 Cold and bleak are our mountains and chilling our winds, 
 
 But warm as the soft southern gales 
 Be the hands and the hearts which the hunted one finds, 
 
 'Mong our hills and our own winter vales. 
 
 Then list to the 'plaint of the heart-broken thrall, 
 
 Ye blood-hounds, go back to your lair ; 
 May a free northern soil soon give freedom to all, 
 
 Who shall breathe in its pure mountain air. 
 
LIFE OF WILLIAM W. BROWN. 131 
 
 FREEDOM'S STAR. 
 
 Respectfully Dedicated to William Wells Brown, as a testimony of 
 
 regard for his uncompromising advocacy of the cause of his 
 
 enslaved brothers and sisters, by D. B. Harris. 
 
 As I strayed from my cot at the close of the day, 
 
 I turned my fond gaze to the sky ; 
 I beheld all the stars as so sweetly they lay, 
 
 And but one fixed my heart or my eye. 
 Shine on, northern star, thou 'rt beautiful and bright 
 
 To the slave on his journey afar ; 
 For he speeds from his foes in the darkness of night, 
 
 Guided on by thy light, freedom's star. 
 
 On thee he depends when he threads the dark woods, 
 Ere the bloodhounds have hunted him back ; 
 
 Thou leadest him on over mountains and floods, 
 With thy beams shining full on his track. 
 
 Unwelcome to him is the bright orb of day, 
 
 As it glides o'er the earth and the sea ; 
 He seeks then to hide like a wild beast of prey, 
 
 But with hope, rests his heart upon thee. 
 
 May never a cloud overshadow thy face, 
 
 While the slave flies before his pursuer ; 
 Gleam steadily on to the end of his race, 
 
 Till his body and soul are secure. 
 
132 LAMENT OF THE FUGITIVE SLAVE. 
 
 LAMENT OF THE FUGITIVE SLAVE. 
 
 " My child, we must soon part, to meet no more this side of the grave. You 
 have ever said that you would not die a slave ; that you would be a free man. 
 Now try to get your liberty ! " — W. W. Brown's Narrative. 
 
 I've wandered out beneath the moonlit heaven, 
 
 Lost mother ! loved and dear, 
 To every beam a magic power seems given 
 
 To bring thy spirit near ; 
 For though the breeze of freedom fans my brow, 
 My soul still turns to thee ! oh, where art thou ? 
 
 Where art thou, mother ? I am weary thinking ; 
 
 A heritage of pain and woe 
 Was thine, — beneath it art thou slowly sinking, 
 
 Or hast thou perished long ago ? 
 And doth thy spirit 'mid the quivering leaves above me, 
 Hover, dear mother, to guard and love me ? 
 
 I murmur at my lot ; in the white man's dwelling 
 
 The mother there is found ; 
 Or he may tell where spring-buds first are swelling 
 
 Above her lowly mound ; 
 But thou, — lost mother, every trace ef thee 
 In the vast sepulchre of Slavery 1 
 
 Long years have fled, since sad, faint-hearted, 
 
 I stood on Freedom's shore, 
 And knew, dear mother, from thee I was parted, 
 
 To meet thee never more ; 
 And deemed the tyrant's chain with thee were better 
 i ban stranger hearts and limbs without a fetter. 
 
 Yet blessings on thy Roman-mother spirit ; 
 Could I forget it, then, 
 * x $ The parting scene, and struggle not to inherit 
 A freeman's birth-right once again ? 
 O noble words ! O holy love, which gave 
 Thee strength to utter them, a poor, heart-broken slave ! 
 
 Be near me, mother, be thy spirit near me, 
 
 Wherever thou may'st be ; 
 In hours like this bend near that I may hear thee, 
 
 And know that thou art free ; 
 Summoned at length from bondage, toil and pain, 
 To God's free world, a world without a chain ! 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 In giving a history of ray own sufferings in slavery, as well 
 as the sufferings of others with which I was acquainted, or 
 which came under my immediate observation, I have spoken 
 harshly of slaveholders, in church and state. 
 
 Nor am I inclined to apologize for anything which I have 
 said. There are exceptions among slaveholders, as well as 
 among other sinners ; and the fact that a slaveholder feeds his 
 slaves better, clothes them better, than another, does not alter 
 the case ; he is a slaveholder. I do not ask the slaveholder to 
 feed, clothe, or to treat his victim better as a slave. I am not 
 waging a warfare against the collateral evils, or what are some- 
 times called the abuses, of slavery. I wage a war against 
 slavery itself, because it takes man down from the lofty posi- 
 tion which God intended he should occupy, and places him 
 upon a level with the beasts of the field. It decrees that the 
 slave shall not worship God according to the dictates of his 
 own conscience ; it denies him the word of God ; it makes him 
 a chattel, and sells him in the market to the highest bidder ; it 
 decrees that he shalTnot protect the wife of his bosom ; 
 it takes from him every right which God gave him. Cloth- 
 ing and food are as nothing compared with liberty. What 
 care I for clothing or food, while I am the slave of another ? 
 You may take me and put cloth upon my back, boots upon my 
 feet, a hat upon my head, and cram a beef-steak down my 
 throat, and all of this will not satisfy me as long as I know 
 that you have the power to tear me from my dearest relatives. 
 12 
 
134 \ APPENDIX. 
 
 All I asl^ of the slaveholder is to give the slave his liberty. It 
 is freedom I ask for the slave. And that the American slave 
 will eventually get his freedom, no one can doubt. You cannot 
 keep the human mind forever locked up in darkness. A ray of " 
 light, a spark from freedom's altar, the idea of iaheifint right, 
 each, all, will become fixed in the soul ; and that moment his 
 " limbs swell beyond the measure of his chains," that moment 
 he is free ; then it is that the slave dies to become a freeman ; 
 then it is felt that one hour of virtuous liberty is worth an eter- 
 nity of bondage ; then it is, in the madness and fury of his blood, 
 that the excited soul exclaims, 
 
 "From life without freedom, oh ! who would not fly ; 
 For one day of freedom, oh ! who would not die?" 
 
 The rising of the slaves in Southampton, Virginia, in 1831, 
 has not been forgotten by the American people. Nat Turner, 
 a slave for life, — a Baptist minister, — entertained the idea that 
 he was another Moses, whose duty it was to lead his people 
 out of bondage. His soul was fired with the love of liberty, 
 and he declared to his fellow-slaves that the time had arrived, 
 and that " They who would be free, themselves must strike 
 the blow." He knew that it would be "liberty dr death" 
 with his little band of patriots, numbering less than three hun- 
 dred^ He commenced the struggle for liberty ; he knew his 
 cause was just, and he loved liberty more than he feared 
 death. He did not wish to take the lives of the whites ; he 
 only demanded that himself and brethren might be free. The 
 slaveholders found that men whose souls were burning for lib- 
 erty, however small their numbers, could not be put down at 
 their pleasure ; that something more than water was wanted to 
 extinguish the flame. They trembled at the idea of meeting 
 men in open combat, whose backs they had lacerated, whose 
 wives and daughters they had torn from their bosoms, whose 
 hearts were bleeding from the wounds inflicted by them. 
 
APPENDIX. 135 
 
 They appealed to the United States government for assistance. 
 A. company of United States troops was sent into Virginia to 
 put down men whose only offence was, that they wanted to be 
 free. Yes ! northern men, men born and brought up in the 
 free states, at the demand of slavery, marched to its rescue. 
 They succeeded in reducing the poor slave again to his chains ; 
 but they did not succeed in crushing his spirit. 
 
 Not the combined powers of the American Union, not the 
 slaveholders, with all their northern allies, can extinguish that 
 burning desire of freedom in the slave's soul ! Northern men 
 may stand by as the body-guard of slaveholders. They may 
 succeed for the time being in keeping the slave in his chains ; 
 but unless the slaveholders liberate their victims, and that, too, 
 speedily, some modern Hannibal will make his appearance in 
 the southern states, who will trouble the slaveholders as the 
 noble Carthaginian did the Romans. Abolitionists deprecate 
 the shedding of blood ; they have warned the slaveholders 
 again and again. Yet they will not give heed, but still persist 
 in robbing the slave of liberty. 
 
 " But for the fear of northern bayonets, pledged for the mas- 
 ter's protection, the slaves would long since have wrung a 
 peaceful emancipation from the fears of their oppressors, or 
 sealed their own redemption in blood." To the shame of the 
 northern people, the slaveholders confess that to them they are 
 " indebted for a permanent safe-guard against insurrection;" 
 that " a million of their slaves stand ready to strike for liberty 
 at the first tap of the drum ;" and but for the aid of the 
 north they would be too weak to keep them in their chains. I 
 ask in the language of the slave's poet, 
 
 " What ! shall ye guard your neighbor still, 
 While woman shrieks beneath his rod,- 
 And while he tramples down at will 
 The image of a common God % 
 Shall watch and ward be 'round him set, 
 Of northern norve and bayonet?" 
 
136 j APPENDIX. 
 
 The countenance of the people at the north has quieted the 
 the fears of the slaveholders, especially the countenance which 
 they receive from northern churches. " But for the counte- 
 nance of the northern church, the southern conscience would 
 have long since awakened to its guilt : and the impious sight 
 of a church made up of slaveholders, and called the church of 
 Christ, been scouted from the world." So says a distinguished 
 writer. 
 
 Slaveholders hide themselves behind the church. A more 
 praying, preaching, psalm-singing people cannot be found than 
 the slaveholders at the south. The religion of the south is 
 referred to every day, to prove that slaveholders are good, 
 pious men. But with all their pretensions, and all the aid 
 which they get from the northern church, they cannot succeed 
 in deceiving the Christian portion of the world. Their child- 
 robbing, man-stealing, woman-whipping, chain-forging, mar- 
 riage-destroying, slave-manufacturing, man-slaying religion, 
 will not be received as genuine ; and the people of the free 
 states cannot expect to live in union with slaveholders, without 
 becoming contaminated with slavery. They are looked upon 
 as one people ; they are one people ; the people in the free and 
 slave states form the " American Union." Slavery is a 
 national institution. The nation licenses men to traffic in the 
 bodies and souls of men ; it supplies them with public buildings 
 at the capital of the country to keep their victims in. For a 
 paltry sum it gives the auctioneer a license to sell American 
 men, women, and children, upon the auction-stand. The 
 American slave-trader, with the constitution in his hat and his 
 license in his pocket, marches his gang of chained men and 
 women under the very eaves of the nation's capitol. And this, 
 too, in a country professing to be the freest nation in the world. 
 They profess to be democrats, republicans, and to believe in 
 the natural equality of men ; that they are " all created with 
 certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and 
 
APPENDIX. 13? 
 
 the pursuit of happiness." They call themselves a Christian 
 nation ; they rob three millions of their countrymen of their 
 liberties, and then talk of their piety, their democracy, and 
 their love of liberty ; and, in the language of Shakspeare, say, 
 
 " And thus I clothe my naked villany. 
 And seem a saint when most I play the devil." 
 
 The people of the United States, with all their high profes- 
 sions, are forging chains for unborn millions, in their wars for 
 slavery. With all their democracy, there is not a foot of land 
 over which the " stars and stripes" fly, upon which the Amer- 
 ican slave can stand and claim protection. Wherever the 
 United States constitution has jurisdiction, and the American 
 flag is seen flying, they point out the slave as a chattel, a thing, 
 a piece of property. But I thank God there is one spot in 
 America upon which the slave can stand and be a man. No 
 matter whether the claimant be a United States president, or 
 a doctor of divinity ; no matter with what solemnities some 
 American court may have pronounced him a slave ; the moment 
 he makes his escape from under the " stars and stripes," and 
 sets foot upon the soil of Canada, " the altar and the god sink 
 together in the dust ; his soul walks abroad in her own maj- 
 esty ; his body swells beyond the measure of his chains, that 
 burst from around him ; and he stands redeemed, regenerated, 
 and disenthralled, by the irresistible genius of universal eman- 
 cipation." 
 
 But slavery must and will be banished from the United 
 States soil : 
 
 "Let tyrants scorn, while tyrants dare, 
 The shrieks and writhings of despair ; 
 The end will come, it will not wait. 
 Bonds, yokes, and scourges have their date ; 
 Slavery itself must pass away, 
 And be a tale of yesterday." 
 
 12* 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 — ^ But I will now stop, and let the slaveholders speak fol 
 fhemselves. I shall here present some evidences of the treat- 
 ment which slaves receive from their masters ; after which I 
 will present a few of the slave-laws. And it has been said, 
 and I believe truly, that no people were ever found to be 
 better than their laws. And, as an American slave, — as one 
 who is identified with the slaves of the south by the scars 
 which I carry on my back, — as one identified with them by the 
 tenderest ties of nature^ — as one whose highest aspirations are 
 to serve the cause of truth and freedom, — I beg of the reader 
 not to lay this book down until he or she has read every page 
 it contains. I ask it not for my own sake, but for the sake of 
 three millions who cannot speak for themselves. 
 
 From the Livingston County (Alabama) Whig of Nov. 16, 1845. 
 " Negro Dogs. — The undersigned having bought the entire 
 pack of Negro Dogs, (of the Hays & Allen stock,) he now 
 proposes to catch runaway Negroes. His charge will be three 
 dollars per day for hunting, and fifteen dollars for catching a 
 runaway. He resides three and a half miles north of Living- 
 ston, near the lower Jones' Bluff road. 
 
 " William Gam^rel. 
 "Nov. 6, 1845." 
 
 The Wilmington [North Carolina] Advertiser of July 13, 
 1838, contains the following advertisement : 
 
 " Ranaway, my Negro man Richard. A reward of $25 
 will be paid for his apprehension, DEAD or ALIVE. Satis- 
 factory proof will only be required of his being killed. He has 
 with him, in all probability, his wife Eliza, who ran away from 
 Col. Thompson, now a resident of Alabama, about the time he 
 commenced his journey to that state. 
 
 "D. H. Rhodes." 
 
APPENDIX, 139 
 
 The St. Louis Gazette says — 
 
 "A wealthy man here had a boy named Reuben, almost 
 white, whom he caused to be branded in the face with the 
 words ' A slave for life.' " 
 
 From the N. C. Standard, July 28, 1838. 
 "Twenty Dollars Reward. — Ranaway from the sub- 
 scriber, a negro woman and two children ; the woman is tall 
 and black, and a few days before she went off I burnt her 
 
 ON THE LEFT SIDE OF HER FACE '. I TRIED TO MAKE THE 
 
 letter M, and she kept a cloth over her head and face, and a 
 fly bonnet over her head, so as to cover the burn ; her children 
 are both boys, the oldest is in his seventh year ; he is a mu- 
 latto and has blue eyes ; the youngest is a black, and is in his 
 fifth year. 
 
 "Micajah Ricks, Nash County." 
 
 " One of my neighbors sold to a speculator a negro boy, about 
 14 years old. It was more than his poor mother could bear. 
 Her reason fled, and she became a perfect maniac, and had to 
 be kept in close confinement. She would occasionally get out 
 and run off to the neighbors. On one of these occasions she 
 came to my house. With tears rolling down her cheeks, 
 and her frame shaking with, agony, she would cry out, '■Don't 
 you hear him — they are whipping him now, and he is calling 
 for me!'' This neighbor of mine, who tore the boy away 
 from his poor mother, and thus broke her heart, was a member 
 of the Presbyterian churchy — Rev. Francis Hawley, Baptist 
 minister, Colebrook, Ct. 
 
 A colored man in the city of St. Louis was taken by a 
 mob, and burnt alive at the stake. A bystander gives the fol- 
 lowing account of the scene : — 
 
 " After the flames had surrounded their prey, and when his 
 clothes were in a blaze all over him, his eyes burnt out of his 
 head, and his mouth seemingly parched to a cinder, some one 
 
140 APPENDIX. 
 
 in the crowd, more compassionate than the rest, proposed to 
 put an end to his misery by shooting him, when it was replied, 
 that it would be of no use, since he was already out of his 
 pain. ' No,' said the wretch, ' I am not, I am suffering as much 
 as ever, — shoot me, shoot me.' 'No, no,' said one of the 
 fiends, who was standing about the sacrifice they were roast- 
 ing, ' he shall not be shot ; I would sooner slacken the fire, if 
 that would increase his misery;' and the man who said this 
 was, we understand, an officer of justice." — Alton Telegraph. 
 
 " We have been informed that the slave William, who mur- 
 dered his master (Huskey) some weeks since, was taken by a 
 party a few days since from the sheriff of Hot Spring, and 
 burned alive ! yes, tied up to the limb of a tree and a fire built 
 under him, and consumed in a slow lingering torture." — Ar- 
 kansas Gazette, Oct. 29, 1836. 
 
 The Natchez Free Trader, 16th June, 1842, gives a horrible 
 account of the execution of the negro Joseph on the 5th of that 
 month for murder. 
 
 " The body," says that paper, " was taken and chained to 
 a tree immediately on the bank of the Mississippi, on what is 
 called Union Point. The torches were lighted and piaced in 
 the pile. He watched unmoved the curling flame as it grew, 
 until it began to entwine itself around and feed upon his body ; 
 then he sent forth cries of agony painful to the ear, begging 
 some one to blow his brains out ; at the same time surging 
 with almost superhuman strength, until the staple with which 
 the chain was fastened to the tree, not being well secured, 
 drew out, and he leaped from the burning pile. At that 
 moment the sharp ring of several rifles was heard, and the 
 body of the negro fell a corpse to the ground. He was picked 
 up by two or three, and again thrown into the fire and con- 
 sumed." 
 
APPENDIX. 141 
 
 " Another Negro Burned. — We learn from the clerk of 
 the Highlander, that, while wooding a short distance below the 
 mouth of Red river, they were invited to stop a short time and 
 see another negro burned." — New Orleans Bulletin. 
 
 " We can assure the Bostonians, one and all, who have em- 
 barked in the nefarious scheme of abolishing slavery at the 
 south, that lashes will hereafter be spared the backs of their 
 emissaries. Let them send out their men to Louisiana ; they 
 will never return to tell their sufferings, but they shall expiate 
 the crime of interfering in our domestic institutions by being 
 burned at the stake." — New Orleans True American. 
 
 " The cry of the whole south should be death, instant death, 
 to the abolitionist, wherever he is caught." — Augusta (Geo.) 
 Chronicle. 
 
 " Let us declare through the public journals of our country, 
 that the question of slavery is not and shall not be open for dis- 
 cussion : that the system is too deep-rooted among us, and 
 must remain forever ; that the very moment any private indi- 
 vidual attempts to lecture us upon its evils and immorality, 
 and the necessity of putting means in operation to secure us 
 from them, in the same moment his tongue shall be cut out 
 and cast upon the dunghill." — Columbia (S. C.) Telescope. 
 
 From the St. Louis Republican. 
 " On Friday last the coroner held an inquest at the house of 
 Judge Dunica, a few miles south of the city, over the body of 
 a negro girl, about 8 years of age, belonging to Mr. Cordell. 
 The body exhibited evidence of the most cruel whipping and 
 beating we have ever heard of. The flesh on the back and 
 limbs was beaten to a jelly — one shoulder-bone was laid bare 
 — there were several cuts, apparently from a club, on the 
 head — and around the neck was the indentation of a cord , by 
 which it is supposed she had been confined to a tree. She had 
 
1 42 APPENDIX. 
 
 been hired by a man by the name of Tanner, residing in the 
 neighborhood, and was sent home in this condition. After 
 coming home, her constant request, until her death, was for 
 bread, by which it would seem that she had been starved as 
 well as unmercifully whipped. The jury returned a verdict 
 that she came to her death by the blows inflicted by some per- 
 sons unknown whilst she was in the employ of Mr. Tanner. 
 Mrs. Tanner has been tried and acquitted." 
 
 A correspondent of the N. Y. Herald writes from St. Louis, 
 Oct. 19 : 
 
 " I yesterday visited the cell of Cornelia, the slave charged 
 with being the accomplice of Mrs. Ann Tanner (recently 
 acquitted) in the murder of a little negro girl, by whipping and 
 starvation. She admits her participancy, but says she was 
 compelled to take the part she did in the affair. On one occa- 
 sion she says the child was tied to a tree from Monday morn- 
 ing till Friday night, exposed by day to the scorching rays of 
 the sun, and by night to the stinging of myriads of musquitoes ; 
 and that during all this time the child had nothing to eat, but 
 was whipped daily. The child told the same story to Dr. 
 McDowell." , 
 
 From the Carrol] County Mississippian, May 4th ; 1844. 
 
 " Committed to jail in this place, on the 29th of April last, a 
 runaway slave named Creesy, and says she belongs to William 
 Barrow, of Carroll county, Mississippi. Said woman is stout 
 built, five feet four inches high, and appears to be about 
 twenty years of age ; she has a band of iron on each ankle, and 
 a trace chain around her neck, fastened with a common pad- 
 lock. 
 
 "J. N. Spencer, Jailer. 
 
 " May 15, 1844." 
 
 The Savannah, Ga } Republican of the 13th of March, 
 
APPENDIX. 143 
 
 1845, contains an advertisement, one item of which is as fol- 
 lows : — 
 
 " Also, at the same time and place, the following negro 
 slaves, to wit : Charles, Peggy, Antonnett, Davy, September, 
 Maria, Jenny, and Isaac — levied on as the property of Henry 
 T. Hall, to satisfy a mortgage fi. fia. issued out of Mcintosh 
 Superior Court, in favor of the board of directors of the Theo- 
 logical Seminary of the Synod of South Carolina and Georgia, 
 s. said Henry T. Hall. Conditions, cash. 
 
 " C. O'Neal, Deputy Sheriff, m. c." 
 
 In the " Macon (Georgia) Telegraph," May 28, is the fol- 
 lowing : 
 
 " About the first of March last, the negro man Ransom left 
 me, without the least provocation whatever. I will give a 
 reward of $20 dollars for said negro, if taken dead or alive, 
 — and if killed in any attempt an advance of $ 5 will be paid. 
 
 " Bryant Johnson. 
 
 "Crawford Co., Ga." 
 
 From the Apalachicola Gazette, May 9. 
 
 " One Hundred and Fifty Dollars Reward. — Ranaway 
 from my plantation on the 6th inst., three negro men, all of 
 dark complexion. 
 
 " Bill is about five feet four inches high, aged about 
 twenty-six, a scar on his upper lip, also one on his shoulder, 
 and has been badly cut on his arm ; speaks quick and broken, 
 and a venomous look. 
 
 "Daniel is about the same height, chunky and well set, 
 broad, flat mouth, with a pleasing countenance, rather inclined 
 to show his teeth when talking, no particular marks recol- 
 lected, aged about twenty-three. 
 
 " Noah is about six feet three or four inches high, twenty- 
 eight years old, with rather a down, impudent look, insolent in 
 Jus discourse, with a large mark on his breast, a good many 
 
144 APPENDIX. 
 
 large scars, caused by the whip, on his back — has been shot in 
 the back of his arm with small shot. The above reward will be 
 paid to any one who will kill the three, or fifty for either one, 
 or twenty dollars apiece for them delivered to me at my plan- 
 tation alive, on Chattahoochie, Early county. 
 
 "J. McDonald." 
 
 From the Alabama Beacon, June 14, 1845. 
 
 " Ranaway, on the 15th of May, from me, a negro woman 
 named Fanny. Said woman is twenty years old ; is rather 
 tall, can read and write, and so forge passes for herself. Car- 
 ried away with her a pair of ear-rings, a Bible with a red 
 cover, is very pious. She prays a great deal, and was, as sup- 
 posed, contented and happy. She is as white as most white 
 women, with straight light hair, and blue eyes, and can pass 
 herself for a white woman. I will give five hundred dollars 
 for her apprehension and delivery to me. She is very intelli- 
 gent. "John Balch. 
 
 " Tuscaloosa, May, 29, 1845." 
 
 From the N. O. Commercial Bulletin, Sept. 30. 
 
 " Ten Dollars Reward. — Ranaway from the subscribers, 
 on the 15th of last month, the negro man Charles, about 45 
 years of age, 5 feet 6 inches high ; red complexion, has had 
 the upper lid of his right eye torn, and a scar on his forehead; 
 speaks English only, and stutters when spoken to ; he had on 
 when he left, an iron collar, the prongs of which he broke off 
 before absconding. The above reward will be paid for the 
 arrest of said slave. W. E. & R. Murphy, 
 
 " 132 Old Raisin." 
 From the N. O. Bee, Oct. 5. 
 
 " Ranaway from the residence of Messrs. F. Duncom & Co., 
 the negro Francois, aged from 25 to 30 years, about 5 feet 1 
 inch in height ; the upper front teeth are missing ; he had 
 chains on both of his legs, dressed with a kind of blouse made of 
 
APPENDIX. 145 
 
 sackcloth. A proportionate reward will be given to whoever 
 will bring- him back to the bakery, No. 74, Bourbon street." 
 From the N. O. Picayune of Sunday, Dec. 17. 
 " Cock-pit. — Benefit of Fire Company No. 1, Lafayette. 
 — A cock-fight will take place on Sunday, the 17th inst., at 
 the well-known house of the subscriber. As the entire pro- 
 ceeds are for the benefit of the fire company, a full attendance 
 is respectfully solicited. Adam Israng. 
 
 11 Corner of Josephine and Tchoupitolas streets, Lafayette." 
 From the N. O. Picayune. 
 " Turkey Shooting. — This day, Dec. 17, from 10 o'clock, 
 a. m., until 6 o'clock, p. m., and the following Sundays, at 
 M'Donoughville, opposite the Second Municipality Ferry." 
 
 The next is an advertisement from the New Orleans Bee, an 
 equally popular paper. 
 
 " A Bull Fight, between a ferocious bull and a number of 
 dogs, will take place on Sunday next, at 4| o'clock, p. m., on 
 the other side of the river, at Algiers, opposite Canal street. 
 After the bull fight, a fight will take place between a bear and 
 some dogs. The whole to conclude by a combat between an 
 ass and several dogs. 
 
 " Amateurs bringing dogs to participate in the fight will be 
 admitted gratis. Admittance — Boxes, 50 cts.; Pit, 30 cts. 
 The spectacle will be repeated every Sunday, weather permit- 
 ting. "Pepe Llulla." 
 
 The following is from the Christian Index, published at Pen- 
 field, Ga. ; 
 
 "Executors' Sale. — Will be sold at the late residence of Jes- 
 se Perkins, deceased, late of Greene county, on Wednesday, the 
 1st of March next, the following property, viz : 
 
 Allen, about 30 vears old : Claiborn, 25 ; Dick, 25 • Anderson, 
 13 
 
146 < APPENDIX. 
 
 20 ; Asa, 15 ; Israel, 14 ; Harrison, 13 ; Nathan, 13 ; Sirena,14 ; 
 Adaline, 12 ; and Wesley, 10. 
 
 "Also, stock of hogs, stock of cattle, horses, corn, fodder and 
 oats, plantation tools, &c. 
 
 "All sold as the property of the said Jesse Perkins, deceased, 
 under his last will, in order to make a division among the lega- 
 tees of said estate. Terms on day of sale. 
 
 Vincent Sanford, j Ex , rs „ 
 Nicholas Perkins, ) 
 
 Jan. 15, 1848. 
 
 " The sale of about one hundred and sixty negroes, 44 mules 
 and horses, 250 or 300 pork hogs, stock hogs, cattle, corn, fodder, 
 oats, plantation tools, cooking utensils, &c, &c, will commence 
 on Friday, the 10th of December, at the plantation of John Jones, 
 deceased, near "Warsaw, Sumter county. 
 
 " The sale will be continued on Monday, 13th of December, at 
 the late residence of John Jones, deceased, in Greene county — 
 say one hundred and fourteen or fifteen negroes, 33 mules and horses, 
 7 yoke of oxen, pork hogs, stock hogs, cattle, road-wagon, ox- 
 wagon, horse-carts, cart-wheels, cotton-gins, corn, fodder, oats, 
 plantation tools, &c. 
 
 " The terms of sale, twelve months credit. Notes with two ap- 
 proved securities — interest to be added from sale. All sums un- 
 der $20, cash. "William Jones, Jr., ) A^w^rc" 
 
 John P. Evans, \ Aam rs ' 
 
 — Eutam {Ala.) Whig. 
 
 "$100 Reward — Will be given for the apprehension of my 
 negro (!) Edmund Kenney. He has straight hair, and com- 
 plexion so nearly WHITE, that it is believed a stranger would 
 suppose there was no African blood in him. He was with my 
 boy Dick a short time since in Norfolk, and offered him. for sale, 
 and was apprehended, but escaped under pretence of being a 
 WHITE MAN. Anderson Bowles." 
 
 Richmond Whig, 6th Jan., 1836. 
 
 " $50 Reward will be given for the apprehension and delivery 
 to me of the following slaves : Samuel, and Judv his wife, with 
 
APPENDIX. 147 
 
 their four children, belonging to the estate of Sacker Dubberly, 
 deceased. 
 
 "1 will give ten dollars for the apprehension of "William Dub- 
 berly, a slave belonging to the estate. William is about nine- 
 teen years old, QUITE WHITE, and would not readily be mis- 
 taken for a slave. John T. Lane." 
 
 Newbern Spectator, 13th March, 1837. 
 
 ".$100 Reward. — Ran away from the subscriber, a bright 
 mulatto man slave, named Sam. Light sandy hair, blue eyes, 
 ruddy complexion — is so WHITE as easily to pass for a free 
 WHITE MAN. ' Edwin Peck. 
 
 "Mobile, April 22, 1837." 
 
 " $50 Reward. — I will give the above reward of fifty dol- 
 lars for the apprehension and securing in any jail, so that I get 
 him again, or delivering to me in Dandridge, E . Tennessee, my 
 mulatto boy named Preston, about twenty years old. It is sup- 
 posed he will try to pass as a free WHITE MAN. 
 
 " Oct. 12, 1838." John Roper. 
 
 " Ran away from the subscriber, working on the plantation 
 of Colonel H. Tinker, a bright mulatto boy named Alfred. Al- 
 fred is about eighteen years of age, pretty well grown, has blue 
 eyes, light flaxen hair, skin disposed to freckle. He will try to pass 
 as FREE BORN. S. G. Stewart. 
 
 " Greene County, Alabama." 
 
 "Notice. — The subscriber, living on Carroway Lake, on 
 Hoe's Bayou, in Carroll Parish, sixteen miles on the road lead- 
 ing from Bayou Mason to Lake Providence, is ready with a pack 
 of dogs to hunt runaway negroes at any time. These dogs are 
 well trained, and are known throughout the parish. Letters ad- 
 dressed to me at Providence will secure immediate attention. 
 
 " My terms are five dollars per day for hunting the trails, wheth- 
 er the negro is caught or not. Where a twelve hours' trail is 
 shown and the negro not taken, no charge is made. For taking 
 a negro, twenty-five dollars, and no charge made for hunting. 
 
 "James W. Hall." 
 
 The above advertisement we cut from the Madison Journal, 
 published in Richmond, La., Nov. 26, 1847. 
 
148 APPENDIX. 
 
 The following advertisement is from the Charleston. S.C., Cou- 
 rier, of Feb. 12, 1835 : — 
 
 "Field Negroes. By Thomas Gadsden. On Tuesday, the 
 17th inst., will be sold, at the north of the Exchange, at ten 
 o'clock, A. M., a prime gang of ten negroes, accustomed to the 
 culture of cotton and provisions, belonging to the Independent 
 Church, in Christ's Church Parish. Feb. 6th." 
 
 In 1833, the Rev. Dr. Furman, of North Carolina, addressed 
 a lengthy communication to the Governor of that State, express- 
 ing the sentiments of the Baptist church and clergy on the sub- 
 ject of slavery. This brief extract contains the essence of the 
 whole : — " The right of holding slaves is clearly established in 
 the Holy Scriptures, both by precept and example." 
 
 Not long after, Dr. Furman died. His legal representative 
 thus advertises his property : — 
 
 " Notice. On the first Monday of February next, will be put 
 up at public auction, before the court-house, the following property, 
 belonging to the estate of the late Eev. Dr. Furman, viz : — 
 
 " A plantation or tract of land, on and in the Wataree Swamp. 
 A tract of the first quality of fine land, on the waters of Black 
 River. A lot of land in the town of Camden. A Library of 
 a miscellaneous character, chiefly Theological. Twenty-seven 
 Negroes, some of them very prime. Two mules, one horse, and 
 an old wagon." 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM THE AMERICAN SLAVE 
 CODE. 
 
 The following are mostly abridged selections from the stat- 
 utes of the slave states and of the United States. They give 
 
APPENDIX. 149 
 
 but a faint view of the cruel oppression to which the slaves are 
 subject, but a strong one enough, it is thought, to fill every 
 honest heart with a deep abhorrence of the atrocious system. 
 Most of the important provisions here cited, though placed 
 under the name of only one state, prevail in nearly all the 
 states, with slight variations in language, and some diversity in 
 the penalties. The extracts have been made in part from 
 Stroud's Sketch of the Slave Laws, but chiefly from authorized 
 editions of the statute books referred to, found in the Philadel- 
 phia Law Library. As the compiler has not had access to 
 many of the later enactments of the several states, nearly all 
 he has cited are acts of an earlier date than that of the present 
 anti-slavery movement, so that their severity cannot be ascribed 
 to its influence. 
 
 The cardinal principle of slavery, that the slave is not to be 
 ranked among sentient beings, but among things — is an article 
 of property, a chattel personal— obtains as undoubted law in 
 all the slave states.* — Stroud's Sketch, p. 22. 
 
 The dominion of the master is as unlimited as is that which 
 is tolerated by the laws of any civilized country in relation to 
 brute animals — to quadrupeds ; to use the words of the civL 
 law. — lb. 24. 
 
 Slaves cannot even contract matrimony. f — lb. 61. 
 
 LOUISIANA. — A slave is one who is in the power of his 
 master, to whom he belongs. The master may sell him, dis- 
 pose of his person, his industry and his labor ; he can do 
 nothing, possess nothing, nor acquire anything, but what must 
 belong to his master. — Civil Code, Art. 35. 
 
 * In accordance with this doctrine, an act of Maryland^ 1798, enumerates 
 among articles of property, " slaves, working beasts, animals of any kind, 
 stock, furniture, plate, and so forth." — Jb. 23. 
 
 t A slave is not admonished for incontinence, punished for adultery, nor 
 prosecuted for bigamy. — Attorney General of Maryland, Md. Rep. Vol I. 
 661. 
 
 13* 
 
150 APPENDIX. 
 
 Slaves are incapable of inheriting or transmitting property. 
 t — Civil Code, Art. 945 ; also Art. 175, and Code of Practice, 
 Art. 103. 
 
 Martin's Digest, Act of June 7, 1806. — Slaves shall always 
 be reputed and considered real estate ; shall be as such sub- 
 ject to be mortgaged, according to the rules prescribed by law, 
 and they shall be seized and sold as real estate. — Vol. I., p. 
 612. 
 
 Dig. Stat. Sec 13. — No owner of slaves shall hire his 
 slaves to themselves, under a penalty of twenty-five dollars for 
 each offence. — Vol. I., p. 102. 
 
 Sec. 15. — No slave can possess anything in his own right, 
 or dispose of the produce of his own industry, without the con- 
 sent of his master. — p. 103. 
 
 Sec. 16. — No slave can be party in a civil suit, or witness 
 in a civil or criminal matter, against any white person. — p. 103. 
 See also Civil Code, Art. 117, p. 28. 
 
 Sec. 18. — A slave's subordination to his master is suscepti- 
 ble of no restriction, (except in what incites to crime,) and he 
 owes to him and all his family, respect without bounds, and 
 absolute obedience. — p. 103. 
 
 Sec. 25. — Every slave found on horseback, without a writ- 
 ten permission from his master, shall receive twenty-five 
 lashes. — p. 105. 
 
 Sec. 32. — Any freeholder may seize and correct any slave 
 found absent from his usual place of work or residence, with 
 out some white person, and if the slave resist or try to escape, 
 Ije may use arms, and if the slave assault* and strike him, he 
 may kill the slave. — p. 109. 
 
 Sec. 35. — It is lawful to fire upon runaway negroes who 
 are armed, and upon those who, when pursued, refuse to sur- 
 render. — p. 109. 
 
 * The legal meaning of assault is to offer to do personal violence. 
 
APPENDIX. 151 
 
 Sec. 38. — No slave may buy, sell, or exchange any kind 
 of goods, or hold any boat, or bring up for his own use any 
 norses or cattle, under a penalty of forfeiting the whole. — p. 
 110. 
 
 Sec. 7. — Slaves or free colored persons are punished with 
 death for wilfully burning or destroying any stack of produce or 
 any building. — p. 115. 
 
 Sec. 15. — The punishment of a slave for striking a white 
 person, shall be for the first and second offences at the discre- 
 tion of the court,* but not extending to life or limb, and for the 
 third offence death ; but for grievously wounding or mutilating 
 a white person, death for the first offence ; provided, if the 
 blow or wound is given in defence of the person or property of 
 his master, or the person having charge of him, he is entirely 
 justified. 
 
 Act of Feb. 22, 1824, Sec. 2. — A slave for wilfully striking 
 his master or mistress, or the child of either, or his white over- 
 seer, so as to cause a bruise or shedding of blood, shall be pun- 
 ished with death. — p. 125. 
 
 Act of March 6, 1819. — Any person cutting or breaking 
 any iron chain or collar used to prevent the escape of slaves, 
 shall be fined not less than two hundred dollars, nor more 
 than one thousand dollars, and be imprisoned not more 
 than two years nor less than six months. — p. 64 of the 
 session. 
 
 Law of January 8, 1813, Sec. 71. — All slaves sentenced to 
 death or perpetual imprisonment, in virtue of existing laws, 
 shall be paid for out of the public treasury, provided the sum 
 paid shall not exceed $ 300 for each slave. 
 
 Law of March 16, 1830, Sec. 93. — The state treasurer shall 
 pay the owners the value of all slaves whose punishment has 
 
 * A court for the trial of slaves consists of one justice of the peace, and three 
 freeholders, and the justice and one freeholder, L e., one half the court, may 
 sonvict, though the other two are for acquittal. —Martin's Dig., I. 646. 
 
152 APPENDIX. 
 
 been commuted from that of death to that of imprisonment for 
 life, &c. 
 
 If any slave shall happen to be slain for refusing to surrender 
 him or herself, contrary to law, or in unlawfully resisting any 
 officer or other person, who shall apprehend, or endeavor to 
 apprehend, such slave or slaves, &c, such officer or other 
 person so killing such slave as aforesaid, making resistance, 
 shall be, and he is by this act, indemnified, from any pros- 
 ecution for such killing aforesaid, &c. — Maryland Laws, act 
 of 1751, chap xiv., § 9. 
 
 And by the negro act of 1740, of South Carolina, it is 
 declared : 
 
 If any slave, who shall be out of the house or plantation 
 where such slave shall live, or shall be usually employed, or 
 without some white person in company with such slave, shaH 
 refuse to submit to undergo the examination of any white per- 
 son, it shall be lawful for such white person to pursue, appre- 
 hend, and moderately correct such slave ; and if such slave 
 shall assault and strike such white person, such slave may be 
 lawfully killed.'.' — 2 Brevard's Digest, 231. 
 
 MISSISSIPPI. Chapt. 92, Sec. 110. — Penalty for any 
 slave or free colored person exercising the functions of a min- 
 ister of the gospel, thirty-nine lashes ; but any master may per- 
 mit his slave to preach on his own premises, no slaves but his 
 own being permitted to assemble. — Digest of Stat., p. 770. 
 
 Act of June 18, 1822, Sec. 21. — No negro or mulatto can 
 be a witness in any case, except against negroes or mulattoes. 
 — p. ^49. New Code, 372. 
 
 Sec. 25. — Any master licensing his slave to go at large 
 and trade as a freeman, shall forfeit fifty dollars to the state foi 
 the literary fund. 
 
 Penalty for teaching a slave to read, imprisonment one. year. 
 For using language having a tendency to promote discontent 
 among free colored people, or insubordination among slaves, 
 
APPENDIX. 153 
 
 imprisonment at hard labor, not less than three, nor more than 
 twenty-one years, or death, at the discretion of the court. 
 
 — L. M. Child's Appeal, p. 70. 
 
 Sec. 26. — It is lawful for any person, and the duty of every 
 heriff, deputy-sheriff, coroner and constable to apprehend any 
 slave going at large, or hired out by him, or herself, and take 
 him or her before a justice of the peace, who shall impose a 
 penalty of not less than twenty dollars, nor more than fifty dol- 
 lars, on the owner, who has permitted such slave to do so. 
 
 Sec. 32. — Any negro or mulatto, for using abusive lan- 
 guage, or lifting his hand in opposition to any white person, 
 (except in self-defence against a wanton assault,) shall, on 
 proof of the offence by oath of such person, receive such 
 punishment as a justice of the peace may order, not exceeding 
 thirty-nine lashes. 
 
 Sec. 41 — Forbids the holding of cattle, sheep or hogs by 
 slaves, even with consent of the master, under penalty of for- 
 feiture, half to the county, and half to the informer. 
 
 Sec. 42 — Forbids a slave keeping a dog, under a penalty 
 of twenty-five stripes ; and requires any master who permits it 
 to pay a fine of five dollars, and make good all damages done 
 by such dog. 
 
 Sec. 43 — Forbids slaves cultivating cotton for their own 
 use, and imposes a fine of fifty dollars on the master or over- 
 seer who permits it. 
 
 Revised Code. — Every negro or mulatto found in the state, 
 not able to show himself entitled to freedom, may be sold as a 
 slave. — p. 389. The owner of any plantation, on which a 
 slave comes without written leave from his master, and not on 
 lawful business, may inflict ten lashes for every such offence. 
 
 — p. 371. 
 
 ALABAMA. — Aiken's Digest. Tit. Slaves, $c, Sec. 31. 
 
 — For attempting to teach any free colored person, or slave, to 
 
154 APPENDIX. 
 
 spell, read or write, a fine of not less than two hundred and 
 fifty dollars, nor more than five hundred dollars ! — p. 397. 
 
 Sec. 35 and 36. — Any free colored person found with slaves 
 in a kitchen, outhouse or negro quarter, without a written per- 
 mission from the master or overseer of said slaves, and any 
 slave found without such permission with a free negro on his 
 premises, shall receive fifteen lashes. for the first offence, and 
 thirty-nine for each subsequent offence ; to be inflicted by mas- 
 ter, overseer, or member of any patrol company. — p. 397. 
 
 Toulmiri's Digest. — No slave can be emancipated but by a 
 special act of the Legislature. — p. 623. 
 
 Act Jan. 1st, 1823 — Authorizes an agent to be appointed 
 by the governor of the state, to sell for the benefit of the state 
 all persons of color brought into the United States and within 
 the jurisdiction of Alabama, contrary to the laws of congress 
 prohibiting the slave trade. — p. 643. 
 
 GEORGIA. — Prince's Digest. Act Dec. 19, 1818. — Pen- 
 alty for any free person of color (except regularly articled sea- 
 men) coming into the state, a fine of one hundred dollars, and 
 on failure of payment to be sold as a slave. — p. 465. 
 
 Penalty for permitting a slave to labor or do business for 
 himself, except on his master's premises, thirty dollars per 
 week. — p. 457. 
 
 No slave can be a party to any suit against a white man, 
 except on claim of his freedom, and every colored person is pre- 
 sumed to be a slave, unless he can prove himself free. — p. 446. 
 
 Act Dec. 13, 1792 — Forbids the assembling of negroes 
 under pretence of divine worship, contrary to the act regulating 
 patrols, p. 342. This act provides that any justice of the 
 peace may disperse any assembly of slaves which may endan- 
 ger the peace ; and every slave found at such meeting shall 
 receive, without trial, twenty-five stripes ! — p. 447. 
 
 Any person who sees more than seven men slaves without 
 
APPENDIX. 155 
 
 any white person, in a high road, may whip each slave twenty 
 lashes. — p. 454. 
 
 Any slave who harbors a runaway, may suffer punishment 
 to any extent, not affecting life or limb. — p. 452. 
 
 SOUTH CAROLINA. —Brevard's Digest. — Slaves shall 
 be deemed sold, taken, reputed, and adjudged in law to be 
 chattels personal in the hands of their owners and possessors, 
 and their executors, administrators, and assigns, to all intents, 
 constructions and purposes whatever. — Vol. ii., p. 229. 
 
 Act of 1740, in the preamble, states that " many owners of 
 slaves and others that have the management of them do con- 
 fine them so closely to hard labor, that they have not sufficient 
 time for natural rest," and enacts that no slave shall be com- 
 pelled to labor more than fifteen hours in the twenty-four, from 
 March 25th to Sept. 25th, or fourteen in the twenty-four for the 
 rest of the year. Penalty from £5 to .£20. — Vol. ii., p. 243. 
 
 [Yet, in several of the slave states, the time of work for 
 criminals whose punishment is hard labor, is eight hours a day 
 for three months, nine hours for two months, and ten for the 
 Test of the year.] 
 
 A slave endeavoring to entice another slave to run away, if 
 provision be prepared for the purpose of aiding or abetting such 
 endeavor, shall suffer death. — pp. 233 and 244. 
 
 Penalty for cruelly scalding or burning a slave, cutting out 
 his tongue, putting out his eye, or depriving him of any limb, 
 a fine of .£100. For beating with a Aorse-whip, cow-skin, 
 switch or small stick, or putting irons on, or imprisoning a 
 slave, no penalty or prohibition. — p. 241. 
 
 Any person who, not having lawful authority to do so, shall 
 beat a slave, so as to disable him from working, shall pay 
 fifteen shillings a day to the owner, for the slave's lost time, 
 and the charge of his cure. — pp. 231 and 232. 
 
 A slave claiming his freedom may sue for it by some friend 
 who will act as guardian, but if the action be judged ground- 
 
156 APPENDIX. 
 
 less, said guardian shall pay double costs of suit, and such 
 damages to the owner as the court may decide. — p. 260. 
 
 Any assembly of slaves or free colored persons, in a secret or 
 confined place, for mental instruction, (even if white persons 
 are present,) is an unlawful meeting, and magistrates must dis- 
 perse it, breaking doors if necessary, and may inflict twenty 
 lashes upon each slave or colored person present. — pp. 254 
 and 255. 
 
 Meetings for religious worship, before sunrise, or after 9 
 o'clock, p. m., unless a majority are white persons, are forbid- 
 den ; and magistrates are required to disperse them. — p. 261. 
 
 A slave who lets loose any boat from the place where the 
 owner has fastened it, for the first offence shall receive thirty- 
 nine lashes, and for the second shall have one ear cut off. — p. 228. 
 
 James* Digest. — Penalty for killing a slave, on sudden heat 
 of passion, or by undue correction, a fine of $ 500 and impris- 
 onment not over six months. — p. 392. 
 
 NORTH CAROLINA. — Haywood's Manual. — Act of 
 1798, Sec. 3, enacts, that the killing of a slave shall be 
 punished like that of a free man ; except in the case of a slave 
 out-lawed* or a slave offering to resist his master, oin a slave 
 dying under moderate correction. — p. 530. 
 
 Act of 1799. — Any slave set free, except for meritorious 
 services, to be adjudged of by the county court, may be seized 
 by any freeholder, committed to jail, and sold to the highest bid- 
 der. i — p. 525. 
 
 Patrols are not liable to the master for punishing his slave, 
 unless their conduct clearly shows malice against the master. 
 — Hawk's Reps., vol. i., p. 418. 
 
 * A slave may be out-lawed when he runa away, conceals himself, and, to sus- 
 tain life, kills a hog, or any animal of the cattle kind. — Haywood's Manual, 
 p. 521. 
 
 t In South Carolina, any person may seize such freed man and keep him as 
 his property. 
 
APPENDIX. 157 
 
 TENNESSEE. — Stat. Law, Chap. 57, Sec. 1. — Penalty 
 on master for hiring to any slave his own time, a fine of not 
 less than one dollar nor more than two dollars a day, half to 
 the informer. — p. 679. 
 
 Chap. 2, Sec. 102. — No slave can be emancipated but on 
 condition of immediately removing from the state, and the per- 
 son emancipating shall give bond, in a sum equal to the slave's 
 value, to have him removed. — p. 279. 
 
 Laws of 1813. Chap. 35. — In the trial of slaves, the 
 sheriff chooses the court, which must consist of three justices 
 and twelve slaveholders to serve as jurors. 
 
 ARKANSAS. — Rev. Stat., Sec. 4, requires the patrol 
 to visit all places suspected of unlawful assemblages of slaves ; 
 and sec. 5 provides that any slave found at such assembly, or 
 strolling about without a pass, shall receive any number of 
 lashes, at the discretion of the patrol, not exceeding twenty. — 
 p. 604. 
 
 MISSOURI. — Laws, I. — Any master may commit to jail, 
 there to remain, at his pleasure, any slave who refuses to obey 
 him or his overseer. — p. 309. 
 
 Whether a slave claiming freedom may even commence a 
 suit for it, may depend on the decision of a single judge. 
 — Stroud's Sketch, p. 78, note which refers to Missouri laws, 
 L, 404. 
 
 KENTUCKY. — Dig. of Stat., ActFeb. 8, 1798, Sec. 5.— 
 No colored person may keep or carry gun, powder, shot, club or 
 other weapon, on penalty of thirty-nine lashes, and forfeiting the 
 weapon, which any person is authorized to take. 
 
 VIRGINIA. — Rev. Code. — Any emancipated slave remain- 
 ing in the state more than a year, may be sold by the over- 
 seers of the poor, for the benefit of the literary fund ! — Vol. 
 i., p. 436. 
 
 Any slave or free colored person found at any school for 
 teaching reading or writing, by day or night, may be whipped, 
 14 
 
158 APPENDIX. 
 
 at the discretion of a justice, not exceeding twenty lashes. — 
 p. 424. 
 
 Suppl. Rev. Code. — Any white person assembling with 
 slaves, for the purpose of teaching them to read or write, shall 
 be ftied, not less than 10 dollars, nor more than 100 dollars ; 
 or with free colored persons, shall be fined not more than fifty 
 dollars, and imprisoned not more than two months. — p. 245. 
 
 By the revised code, seventy-one offences are punished with 
 death when committed by slaves, and by nothing more than 
 imprisonment when by the whites. — Stroud's Sketch, p. 107. 
 
 Rev. Code. — In the trial of slaves, the court consists of five 
 justices without juries, even in capital cases. — I., p. 420. 
 
 MARYLAND. — Stat. Law, Sec. 8. — Any slave, for ram- 
 bling in the night, or riding horses by day without leave, or run- 
 ning away, may be punished by whipping, cropping, or brand- 
 ing in the cheek, or otherwise, not rendering him unfit for 
 labor. —p. 237. 
 
 Any slave convicted of petty treason, murder, or wilful burn- 
 ing of dwelling houses, may be sentenced to have the right hand 
 cut off, to be hanged in the usual manner, the head severed from 
 the body, the body divided into four quarters, and the head and 
 quarters set up in the most public place in the country where 
 such fact was committed! ! — p. 190. 
 
 Act 1717, Chap. 13, Sec. 5 — Provides that any free colored 
 person marrying a slave, becomes a slave for life, except mu- 
 lattoes born of white women. 
 
 DELAWARE. — Laws. — More than six men slaves, 
 meeting together, not belonging to one master, unless on law- 
 ful business of their owners, may be whipped to the extent of 
 twenty-one lashes each. — p 104. 
 
 UNITED STATES.— Constitution. — The chief pro- 
 slavery provisions of the constitution, as is generally known, 
 are, 1st, that by virtue of which the slave states are represented 
 
APPENDIX. 159 
 
 in congress for three-fifths of their slaves ;* 2nd, that re- 
 quiring the giving up of any runaway slaves to their masters ; 
 3rd, that pledging the physical force of the whole country to 
 suppress insurrections, i. e., attempts to gain freedom by such 
 means as the framers of the instrument themselves used. 
 
 Act of Feb. 12, 1793 — Provides that any master or his 
 agent may seize any person whom he claims as a " fugitive 
 from service," and take him before a judge of the U. S. court, 
 or magistrate of the city or county where he is taken, and the 
 magistrate, on proof, in support of the claim, to his satisfac- 
 tion, must give the claimant a certificate authorizing the 
 removal of such fugitive to the state he fled from.f 
 
 DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. — The act of congress 
 incorporating Washington city, gives the corporation power to 
 prescribe the terms and conditions on which free negroes and 
 mulattoes may reside in the city. City Laws, 6 and 11. By 
 this authority, the city in 1827 enacted that any free colored 
 person coming there to reside, should give the mayor satisfac- 
 tory evidence of his freedom, and enter into bond with two 
 freehold sureties, in the sum of five hundred dollars, for his 
 good conduct, to be renewed each year for three years ; or fail- 
 ing to do so, must leave the city, or be committed to the work- 
 house, for not more than one year, and if he still refuse to go, 
 may be again committed for the same period, and so on. — 
 lb. 198. 
 
 Colored persons residing in the city, who cannot prove their 
 title to freedom, shall be imprisoned as absconding slaves. — 
 lb. 198. 
 
 * By the operation of this provision, twelve slaveholding states, whose white 
 population only equals that of New York and Ohio, send to congress 24 sena- 
 tors and 102 representatives, while these two states only send 4 senators and 59 
 representatives. 
 
 t Thus it may be seen that a man may he doomed to slavery by an authority 
 not considered sufficient to settle a claim of ticenty dollars. 
 
160 APPENDIX. 
 
 Colored persons found without free papers may be arrested 
 as runaway slaves, and after two months' notice, if no claim- 
 ant appears, must be advertised ten days, and sold to pay their 
 jail fees.* — Stroud, 85, note. 
 
 The city of Washington grants a license to trade in slaves, 
 for profit, as agent, or otherwise, for four hundred dollars. 
 — City Laws, p. 249. 
 
 Reader, you uphold these laws while you do nothing for their 
 repeal. You can do much. You can take and read the anti- 
 slavery journals. They will give you an impartial history of 
 the cause, and arguments with which to convert its enemies. 
 You can countenance and aid those who are laboring for its 
 promotion. You can petition against slavery ; you can refuse 
 to vote for slaveholders or pro-slavery men, constitutions and 
 compacts ; can abstain from products of slave labor ; and can 
 use your social influence to spread right principles and awaken 
 a right feeling. Be as earnest for freedom as its foes are for 
 slavery, and you can diffuse an anti-slavery sentiment through 
 your whole neighborhood, and merit " the blessing of them 
 that are ready to perish." 
 
 The following is from the old colonial law of North Carolina : 
 Notice of the commitment of runaways — viz., 1741, c. 24, 
 § 29. " An act concerning servants and slaves." 
 
 Copy of notice containing a full description of such runaway 
 and his clothing. — The sheriff is to " cause a copy of such 
 notice to be sent to the clerk or reader of each church or 
 chapel within his county, who are hereby required to make 
 
 * The prisons of the district, built with the money of the nation, are used ai 
 store-houses of the slaveholder's human merchandize. " From the statement of 
 the keeper of a jail at Washington, it appears that in five years, upwards of 
 450 colored persons were committed to the national prison in that city, for safe 
 keeping, i. e., until they could be disposed of in the course of the slave tradt 
 besides nearly 300 who had been taken up as runaways." — Miner's Speec 
 in H. Rep., 1829. 
 
APPENDIX. 161 
 
 publication thereof by setting up the same in some open and 
 convenient place, near the said church or chapel, on e very- 
 Lord's day, during the space of two months from the date 
 thereof." 
 
 1741, c. 24, §45. — "Which proclamation shall be pub- 
 lished on a Sabbath day at the door of every church or chapel, 
 or, for want of such, at the place where divine service shall be 
 performed in the said county, by the parish clerk or reader, im- 
 mediately after divine service ; and if any slave or slaves, 
 against whom proclamation hath been thus issued, stay out and 
 do not immediately return home, it shall be lawful for any person 
 or persons whatsoever to kill and destroy such slave or slaves 
 by such way or means as he or she shall think fit, without 
 accusation or impeachment of any crime for the same." 
 
 AN ACT IN RELATION TO FREE NEGROES AND MULATTOES. 
 
 Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Mis- 
 souri, as follows : 
 
 § 1. No person shall keep or teach any school for the in- 
 struction of negroes or mulattoes, in reading or writing, in this 
 state. 
 
 § 2. No meeting or assemblage of negroes or mulattoes, for 
 the purpose of religious worship or preaching, shall be held or 
 permitted, where the services are performed or conducted by 
 negroes, unless some sheriff, constable, marshal, police officer, 
 or justice of the peace, shall be present during all the time of 
 such assemblage, in order to prevent all seditious speeches, and 
 disorderly and unlawful conduct of every kind. 
 
 § 3. All meetings of negroes or mulattoes, for the purposes 
 mentioned in the preceding sections, shall be considered un- 
 lawful assemblies, and shall be suppressed by sheriffs, consta- 
 bles, and other public officers. 
 
 § 5. If any person shall violate the provisions of this act, he 
 shall, for every such offence, be indicted and punished by fine 
 14* 
 
162 APPENDIX. 
 
 not exceeding five hundred dollars, or by both fine and impris- 
 onment. 
 
 Approved, February 16, 1847. 
 
 MENTAL INSTRUCTION PROHIBITED. 
 
 South Carolina may lay claim to the earliest movement in 
 legislation on this subject. In 1740, while yet a province, she 
 enacted this law : 
 
 " Whereas, the having of slaves taught to write, or suffer- 
 ing them to be employed in writing, may be attended with 
 great inconveniences, Be it enacted, That all and every person 
 and persons whatsoever, who shall hereafter teach, or cause 
 any slave or slaves to be taught to write, or shall use or employ 
 any slave as a scribe in any manner of writing whatsoever, 
 hereafter taught to write, every such person or persons shall, 
 for every such offence, forfeit the sum of one hundred pounds 
 current money." — 2 Brevard's Digest, 243. 
 
 Similar in Georgia, by act of 1770, except as to the penalty, 
 which is twenty pounds sterling. — Prince's Digest, 455. 
 
 In the same state the following additional restraints were en- 
 acted in 1800 : 
 
 " That assemblies of slaves, free negroes, mulattoes and 
 mestizos, whether composed of all or any of such description 
 of persons, or of all or any of the same and of a proportion of 
 white persons, met together for the purpose of mental instruc- 
 tion in a confined or secret place, &c. &c, is (are) declared to 
 be an unlawful meeting; and magistrates, &c. &c, are here- 
 by required, &c, to enter into such confined places, &c. &c, 
 to break doors, &c, if resisted, and to disperse such slaves, 
 free negroes, &c. &c; and the officers dispersing such unlaw- 
 ful assemblies may inflict such corporal punishment, not exceed- 
 ing tioenty lashes, upon such slaves, free negroes, dec, as they 
 may judge necessary, for deterring them from the like 
 unlawful assemblage in future." — Brevard's Digest, 254. 
 
TESTIMONIALS. 
 
 TO THE FEIENDS OF FREEDOM AND EMANCI- 
 PATION IN EUROPE. 
 
 Boston, July 17, 1849. 
 
 Inconsequence of the departure for England of their esteemed 
 friend and faithful co-labourer in the cause of the American 
 slave, William W. Brown, the Board of Managers of the Mas- 
 sachusetts Anti- Slavery Society would commend him to the 
 confidence, respect, esteem, and hospitality of the friends of 
 emancipation wherever he may travel : — 
 
 1 . Because he is a fugitive slave from the American house 
 of bondage, and on the soil which gave him birth can find no 
 spot on which he can stand in safety from his pursuers, pro- 
 tected by law. 
 
 2. Because he is a man, and not a chattel ; and while as the 
 latter he may at any time be sold at public vendue under the 
 American star-spangled banner, we rejoice to know that he 
 will be recognised and protected as the former under the flag 
 of England. 
 
 3. Because for several years past, he has nobly consecrated 
 his time and talents, at great personal hazard, and under the 
 most adverse circumstances, to the uncompromising advocacy 
 of the cause of his enslaved countrymen. 
 
 4. Because he visits England for the purpose of increasing, 
 consolidating, and directing British humanity and piety against 
 that horrible system of slavery in America, by which three 
 millions of human beings, by creation the children of God, are 
 ranked with four-footed beasts, and treated as marketable com- 
 modities. 
 
164 TESTIMONIALS 
 
 5. Because he has long been in their employment as a lec- 
 turing agent in Massachusetts, and has laboured to great 
 acceptance and with great success ; and from the acquaintance 
 thus formed, they are enabled to certify that he has invariably 
 conducted himself with great circumspection, and won for 
 himself the sympathy, respect, and friendship of a very large 
 circle of acquaintance. 
 
 In behalf of the Board of Managers, 
 
 WM. LLOYD GARRISON, 
 ROBERT F. WALLCUT, 
 SAMUEL MAY, JUN. 
 
 Boston, July 18, 1849. 
 My dear friend, 
 
 To-day you leave the land of your nativity, in 
 which you have been reared and treated as a slave — a chattel 
 personal — a marketable commodity — though it claims to be a 
 republican and Christian land, the freest of the free, the most 
 pious of the pious — for the shores of Europe ; on touching 
 which, your shackles will instantly fall, your limbs expand, 
 your spirit exult in absolute personal freedom, as a man, and 
 nothing less than a man. Since your escape from bondage, a 
 few years since, you have nobly devoted yourself to the cause 
 of the three millions of our countrymen who are yet clanking 
 their chains in hopeless bondage — pleading their cause elo- 
 quently and effectively, by day and by night, in season and 
 out of season, before the people of the Eree States (falsely so 
 called) of America, at much personal hazard of being seized 
 and hurried back to slavery. Not to forsake that cause, but 
 still more powerfully to aid it, by enlisting the sympathies, 
 and consolidating the feelings and opinions of the friends of 
 freedom and universal emancipation in the old world in its 
 favour and against the atrocious slave system, do you bid 
 
TESTIMONIALS. 1*)5 
 
 farewell to the land of whips and chains to-day. God— the God 
 of the oppressed, the poor, the needy, the defenceless — be with 
 you, to guide, strengthen, aid and bless you abundantly ! Three 
 millions of slaves are your constituents, and you are their legi- 
 timate and faithful representative. With a mother, sister, and 
 three brothers yet pining in hopeless servitude, with the marks 
 of the slavedriver's lash upon your body, you cannot but "re- 
 member them that are in bonds as bound with them. " Speak in 
 trumpet tones to Europe, and call upon the friends of " liberty, 
 equality, and fraternity" there, to cry, " Shame upon recreant 
 and apostate America, which nourishes the Declaration of 
 Independence in one hand, and the wbip of the negro overseer 
 in the other !" Challenge all that is free, all that is humane, 
 all that is pious, across the Atlantic, to raise a united testi- 
 mony against American slaveholders and their abettors, as the 
 enemies of God and the human race ! So shall that cry and 
 that testimony cause the knees of the oppressor to smite toge- 
 ther, the Bastile of slavery to tremble to its foundation, and 
 the hearts of the American abolitionists to be filled with joy 
 and inspired afresh ! Tell Europe that our watchword is, 
 " Immediate, unconditional emancipation for the slave" — and 
 the motto we have placed on our anti-slavery banner is, " No 
 Union with Slaveholders, religiously or politically !" 
 
 You have secured the respect, confidence, and esteem of 
 thousands of the best portion of the American people ; and 
 may you continue faithful to the end, neither corrupted by 
 praise, nor cast down by opposition, nor intimidated by any 
 earthly power ! 
 
 Accept the assurances of my warm personal regard, and 
 believe me to be, 
 
 Your faithful co-labourer and unwearied advocate of the best 
 of causes, 
 
 WM. LLOYD GARRISON, 
 
 President of the American Anti- slavery Society. 
 WM. W. BROWN. 
 
1G6 TESTIMONIALS. 
 
 RESOLUTIONS OF THE COLORED CITIZENS OF 
 BOSTON, ADOPTED AT THE FAREWELL MEET- 
 ING FOR WILLIAM WELLS BROWN, July 16, 1849. 
 
 At a very large Meeting, held under the auspices of the 
 Colored Citizens of Boston, at the Washingtonian Hall, on 
 Monday evening, July 16th, 1849, a Silver Pitcher was pre- 
 sented to Wm. Lloyd Garrison, in grateful testimony of his 
 undeviating devotion to the cause of universal emancipation. 
 A Farewell was then tendered our brother, William Wells 
 Brown, which was responded to on his part in an eloquent 
 and affecting manner. The following Resolutions were adopted 
 unanimously by the Meeting : — 
 
 Resolved, —That we bid our brother, William Wells Brown, 
 God speed in his mission to Europe, and commend him to 
 the hospitality and encouragement of all true friends of 
 humanity. 
 Resolved, — That we forward by him our renewed protest 
 against the American Colonization Society ; and invoke 
 for him a candid hearing before the British public, in reply 
 to the efforts put forth there by Rev. Mr. Miller,- or any 
 other agent of said society. 
 Resolved,— That the views entertained by William Lloyd 
 Garrison of the American Colonization Society meets 
 the entire approbation and hearty concurrence of the 
 Colored Citizens of Boston. 
 
 JOHN T. HILTON, President. 
 
 ISAAC H. SNOWDEN, \ c , . 
 WM. T. RAYMOND, f secretaries. 
 
167 
 
 OPINIONS OF THE AMERICAN PRESS. 
 
 " Narrative of the Life of William Wells Brown, 
 a fugitive slave, written by himself." — We have re- 
 ceived a copy of the above book, and have read it. Wells 
 Brown, the Christian philanthropist, who fed, clothed, and 
 otherwise assisted this panting fugitive, and to whom this 
 little book is dedicated, is truly a happy man. This act 
 of humanity, though among perhaps the hundreds in his 
 life of a similar character, and in defiance of the law so- 
 lemnly made, will, we doubt not, redound even to his everlasting 
 happiness. The thoughts and feelings which naturally arise 
 from the perusal of this little narrative, make all questions of 
 party and sectarian rivalry appear utterly insignificant. We 
 would that a cop)'- of this book could be placed in every school 
 library in Massachusetts. We hope and believe that it will be 
 widely circulated Boston Whig. 
 
 "Narrative of the Life of Wm. W. Brown, a fugi- 
 tive slave, written by himself." — This is the title of a 
 book that has just made its appearance, and a copy of which 
 is upon our table. The author is well known in this com- 
 munity as an able advocate of his enslaved countrymen, and 
 his narrative will, we doubt not, get an extensive circulation. 
 We have read the narrative, and consider it a fair history of 
 the author's life and of slavery at the South. It is an inter- 
 esting narrative, and should be read by every person in the 
 country. We commend it to the public, and venture the 
 assertion, that no one who takes it up and reads a chapter will 
 lay it down until he has finished it. — New Bedford Bulletin. 
 
 "William W. Brown on Slavery." — This talented 
 American slave has delivered three lectures in this town, to 
 crowded and very attentive audiences. We did not attend the 
 
168 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
 
 lectures, but a friend informed us that they evinced much 
 ability, and though rather spicy for the tender ears of those 
 who despise a man on account of the color of his skin, they 
 were not as much so as might to have been expected from one 
 who has himself felt the scourge of involuntary servitude ; not 
 as much so as might have been expected from one who is 
 hunted as a fugitive slave from one end of this notable " land 
 of the free" to the other. We have read Mr. Brown's Narra- 
 tive with great interest, and found it a thrilling tale. We 
 would recommend it to all who feel any interest in the cause 
 of the American slaves — it will quicken their devotion to the 
 cause. We would advise the indifferent to read it — it will 
 touch them with sympathy for the oppressed bondman. — 
 Lawrence Courier.