xt73r20rrc92 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt73r20rrc92/data/mets.xml Brown, William Wells, 1814?-1884. 1847  books b92e444b8818472009 English The Anti-Slavery Office. : Boston, Mass. Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Slavery --Missouri. Narrative of William W. Brown, a fugitive slave. text Narrative of William W. Brown, a fugitive slave. 1847 2009 true xt73r20rrc92 section xt73r20rrc92 
P r i c e 35 C e n t s

THE

LIFE

OE

WILLIAM

W,

BROWN

FUGITIVE

SLAVE

W RITTEN B Y H IMSELF.

- Ia there not some chosen curse, Some hidden thunder in the stores of heaven, Red with uncommon wrath, to blast the man Who gains his fortuno from the blood of souls 1
COWPER.

ENLARGED

EDITION.

BOSTON:
PUBLISHED AT THE No. 21 ANTI-SLAVERY Corn h i l l . OFFICE,

1848.

  
  
  
  
NARRATIVE
OF

WILLIAM

W.

BROWN,

FUGITIVE

SLAVE.

W RITTEN B Y H IMSELF.

    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 sauls J
COWPHB.

SECOND

EDITION,

ENLARGED.

BOSTON: PUBLISHED AT THE N o . 21 ANTI-SLAVERY Cornbill. OFFICE,

184S

I MB

  
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1847, BY WILLIAM W. BROWN, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts

Stereotyped by G E O R G E A. C U R T I S ;
NEW ENGLAND TYPE AND STEREOTYPE FOUNDERY.

  
T O W E L L S B R O W N , O F OHIO.
T HIRTEEN y ears ago, I came to your door, a weary f ugitive from chains and stripes. y ou took me in. I was I was a stranger, and

hungry, and you fed me. E v e n a name by

N aked was I, and you clothed me.

w hich to be known among men, slavery had denied me. Y ou 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 ! A s a slight testimony of m y gratitude to>my earliest benefactor, I take the liberty to inscribe to you this little n arrative o f the sufferings from which I was fleeing In the multitude

w hen you had compassion upon me.

that you have succored, it is very possible that you may not remember me ; but u ntil I forget G o d and myself, I c an never forget you. Y o u r grateful friend, WILLIAM WELLS BROWN.

  
\

NOTE TO T H E THIED EDITION. T H E first and second editions of this work, consisting of five thousand copies, were sold in less than a year from the time of its publication. Encouraged by the rapid sale of the

work, I now publish a third edition with a new preface, which includes a letter from my old master. H e certifies that I am a slave. w. w. B.

  
LETTER
F ROM

EDMUND

QUINCY,

ESQ.

DEDHAM, JULY To WILLIAM W. BROWN.

1,

1847.

M Y D E A R F RIEND :     I heartily thank you for the privilege of reading the manuscript of your Narrative. with deep interest and strong emotion I have read it It preI am much mistaken

if it be not greatly successful and eminently useful.

sents a different phase of the infernal slave-system from that portraved in the admirable story of Mr. Douglass, and p-ives us a glimpse of its hideous cruelties in other portions of its domain. Y our opportunities of observing the workings of this accursed system have been singularly great. Your experiences in the F ield, 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. W hat 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 1*

  
VI

PREFACE.

stones to rise and mutiny" against the National Institution which makes them possible. Y ou will perceive that I have made very sparing use of your flattering permission to alter what you had written. T o correct a few errors, which appeared to be merely clerical ones, committed in the hurry of composition under unfavorable circumstances, and to suggest a few curtailments, is all that 1 have ventured to do. I should be a bold man, as well as a vain Some of the scenes are not one, if I should' attempt to improve your descriptions of what you have seen and suffered. unworthy of De Foe himself. I trust and believe that your Narrative will have a wide circulation. I am sure it deserves it. A t least, a man must be differently constituted from me, who can rise from the perusal of your Narrative without feeling that he understands slavery better, and hates it worse, than he ever did before. I am, very faithfully and respectfully, Y our friend, E D M U N D QUINCY.

  
PREFACE.

" W H E N I first published this Narrative, the public had no e vidence w hatever that I had b een a s lave, e xcept m y own s tory. A s soon as the work c ame f rom the press, I sent s ev-

eral copies to slaveholders residing at the South, with whom I w as acquainted; and among others, one to M r . ' E n o c h P r i c e , t he man who claims my b ody a nd soul as his property, and f rom whom I h ad run away. A iew Weeks after the N a r -

rative w as sent, E d m u n d Quincy, E s q . , received the following l etter f rom M r . Price. It tells its own story, and forever setH e r e is the

tles the question of my having b een a s lave. l etter:
S T . LOUIS, Jan.
;

10th,

1848.

S I R :     I r eceived a pamphlet, or a Narrative, so called on t he title-page, of the L i f e of W i l l i a m W . B r o w n , a fugitive s lave, purporting to have b een w ritten by himself; and in his b ook I see a letter from you to said W i l l i a m W . B r o w n . a nd r an away from me the first day of January, 1834. This Now s aid B r o w n is named Sanford ; he is a slave belonging to me, I see many things in his book that are not true, and a part of

  
v ia

PREFACE.

i t as near true as a man could recollect after so long a time I p urchased him of M r . S . W i l l i , t he last of September, 1833. I p aid six hundred and fifty dollars for him. m uch as I paid for h i m . I f I had wanted to speculate on h i m , I could have sold him for three times as I was offered two thousand dollars But I for him, in N e w Orleans, at one time, and fifteen hundred dollars for h i m , at another time, in L ouisville, K e n t u c k y . w ould not s ell h i m . I was told that he was going to run I want you to I dp not want

a way, the day before h e ran away, but I did not believe the m an, for I had so much confidence i n Sanford. see h i m , and see i f what I say is not the t ruth.

h im as a slave, but I think that his friends, who sustain h i m and g ive him the right hand of fellowship, or he himself, could afford to pay my agent in Boston three hundred and twenty-five d ollars, and I w i l l g ive h i m free p apers, so that he may go w herever he wishes to. other place he may w i s h . T h i s amount is just half that I paid for h i m . N o w , i f this T h e n he can v isit^St. L o u i s , or any

offer s uits M r . B r o w n , and the Anti-Slavery Society of Boston, or Massachusetts, let me know, and I w i l l g ive you the name o f my agent in Boston, and forward the papers, to be given to W i l l i a m W . B r o w n as s oon as the m oney i s paid. Y ours r espectfully,
To EDMUND QUINCY, E S Q . % E. PRICE.

M r . P rice says that he sees m any things in my b ook w hich are not true, and a part of it as near true as a man could recollect after so long a time. A s I was w ith M r . Price only three

m onths, and have devoted only six p ages to h i m and his fami l y , he can know but l ittle about m y narrative, e xcept 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 fjecome a purchaser 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 my consent. Boston, October, 1848. W. W. BROWN.

  
  
  
\

/

  
NARRATIVE;

CHAPTER I WAS b orn in Lexington, K y . T h e man who

stole me as soon as I was born, recorded the births of all the infants which he claimed to be bom his p roperty, i n a book w hich he kept for that purpose. M y mother's name was E lizabeth. She had seven No two of M y father's c hildren, v i z . : Solomon, Leander, Benjamin, Joseph, M illfbrd, E lizabeth, a rid m yself. us were children of the same father. H iggins.

n ame, as I learned from m y mother, was George H e was a white man, a relative of m y master, and connected w ith some of the first families i n Kentucky. M y master owned about forty slaves, twentyfive of whom were field hands*- H e removed from K entucky to M issouri w hen I was quite young, a nd settled t hirty or forty miles above S t. Charles,

  
14

N A R R A T I V E OF T H h

on the M issouri, w here, i n addition to his practice as a physician, he carried on m illing, m erchandizing a nd farming. He had a large farm, the p rincipal p roductions of which were tobacco a nd hemp. T he slave cabins were situated on the back part o f the farm, w ith 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, w as allowed a woman to keep house for him, whose business it was to deal out the provisions for the hands. A w oman was also kept at the quarters to do the cooking for the field hands, who were summoned to their unrequited t oil e very morning at four o 'clock, b y the r inging o f a b ell, h ung on a post near the house of the overseer. T h e y were a llowed h alf an hour to eat their breakfast, and get to the field. A t half past four a horn was blown b y the overseer, which was the s ignal to commence w ork; a nd every one that was not on the spot at the time, had to receive ten lashes from the negrowhip, w ith w hich the overseer always went armed. T he handle was about three feet l ong, w ith the butt-end filled w ith l ead, and the l ash, s ix or seven feet i n length, made of cow-hide, w ith p latted wire

  
L IFE

O F WILLIAM W. BROWN.

16

on the end of it.

T h i s whip was put in requisi-

tion v ery frequently and freely, and a s mall offence on the part of a slave furnished an occasion for its use. D uring the time that M r. C ook was overseer, I w as a house s e r v a n t     a situation preferable to that o f a field hand, as I was better fed, better c lothed, and not obliged to rise at the r inging o f the b ell, b ut about half an hour after. I have often l aid a nd heard the crack of the whip, and the screams of the slave. M y mother was a field hand, A s soon as she She cried. a nd one morning was tenor fifteen minutes behind the others in getting into the f ield. overseer commenced reached the spot w here they were at work, the whipping her. " O h ! p r a y     O h ! p r a y     O h ! pray"   these are g enerally the words of slaves, when imploring m ercy at the hands of their oppressors. b unk, a nd went to the door. I heard her voice, and knew it, and jumped out of my T hough the field w as some distance from the house, I could hear e very crack of the whip, and every groan and cry o f my poor mother. I remained* at the door, not After giving her ten d aring to venture any further. T h e cold c hills r an over me, and I wept aloud. lashes, the sound of the whip ceased, and I re-

  
16 m y tears.

NARRATIVE

OF T H E

t urned to my bed, and found no consolation but i n Experience has taught me that nothing c an 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 assistance. But such is the position which an A merican s lave occupies. M y master, being a p olitician, soon f ound those w ho were ready to put him into office, for the favors he could render them; and a few years after his a rrival i n M issouri he was elected to a seat i n the legislature. In his absence f rom home e verything was left in charge of M r . Cook, the overseer, and he soon became more tyrannical a nd c ruel. Among the slaves on the plantation H e was a man He w as one by the name of R andall.

about six feet h igh, and well-proportioned, and k nown as a man of great strength and power. w as considered the most valuable and able-bodied s lave on the plantation; but no matter how good or useful a slave may be, he seldom the l ash. escapes He B ut it was not so w ith R andall.

h ad been on the plantation since my earliest recollection, a nd I had never known of his being flogged. N o t hanks were due to the master or overseer for

  
L I F E O F WILLIAM

W.

BROWN.

ir

t his.

I h ave often heard him declare that no

w hite man should ever w hip h i m     t h a t he would die first. C ook, from the time that he came u pon the p lantation, h ad frequently declared that he could a nd w ould flog any nigger that was put into the f ield to work under him. M y master had repeatA s soon as he was H e soon began to edly told him not to attempt to whip R andall, b ut he was determined to try it. put his threats into execution. h im i f he did not do better. left sole d ictator, he thought the time had come to find f ault w ith R andall, a nd threatened to whip One day*fcie gave h i m a v ery hard task   more than he could possibly d o; and at night, the task not being performed, he t old R andall that he should remember n ext morning. him the On the following morning, after

the hands had taken breakfast, Cook called out to R andall, a nd told him that he intended to whip h im, a nd ordered him to cross h is hands and be tied. R andall a sked w h y he wished to whip him. R andall s aid that the task was too Cook said it RanH e a nswered, because he had not finished his task the day before. great, or he should have done i t. 2*

made no d ifference   he s hould whip him.

  
18

N A R R A T I V E OF T H E

d all stood silent for a moment, and then s aid, " M r . C ook, I have always t ried to please you since you h ave been on the plantation, and I f ind y ou are determined not to be satisfied w ith m y work, let me do as w ell as I may. No man has l aid h ands on me, to whip me, for the last ten years, and I h ave long since come to the conclusion not to be w hipped b y any man l iving." C ook, finding by R andall's determined look and gestures, that he w ould resist, called three of the hands from their w ork, a nd commanded them to seize R andall, a nd tie h im. T h e hands stood s t i l l ;     t h e y k new R a n As d a l l     a nd sjhey also knew him to be a powerful m an. a nd were afraid to grapple w ith h im. soon as Cook had ordered the men to seize him, R andall t urned to them, and s a i d     " B o y s , you a ll k now me; you know that I can handle any three of you, and the man that lays hands on me s hall die. T h i s white man can't whip me himself, T he a nd therefore he has called you to help h i m . "

overseer was unable to prevail upon them to sei^e a nd secure R andall, a nd finally ordered them all to go to their work together. N othing w as said to R andall b y the overseer for more than a week. One morning, however, while

  
L IFE O F WILLIAM W .

BROWN.

19

the hands were at work in the field, he c ame i nto i t, a ccompanied by three friends of h is, T hompson, W oodbridge and Jones. T h e y came u p to where He R andall w as at work, and Cook ordered him to l eave his work, and go w ith t hem to the b arn. refused to go; whereupon he was attacked by the overseer and his companions, when he turned upon t hem, a nd l aid t hem, one after another, prostrate o n the ground. Woodbridge drew out his pistol, a nd fired at him, and brought him to the ground b y a pistol b all. T h e others rushed upon h i m w ith their c lubs, and beat him over the head and face, u ntil t hey succeeded i n t ying h im. H e was then Cook g ave t aken to the barn, and tied to a ueam.

h im over one hundred lashes w ith a h eavy c owhide, h ad h i m washed w ith s alt and water, and left h im tied during the day. T h e next day he H e was w as untied, and taken to a blacksmith's shop, and h ad a b all a nd chain attached to his leg. c ompelled to labor in the field, a nd perform the   ame a mount of work that the other hands did. W hen h is master returned home, he was much pleased to find t hat R andall h ad been subdued in h is absence.

  
so

NARRATIVE OF THE

CHAPTER

II.

SOON a fterwards, my master removed to the c ity of St. Louis, and purchased a farm four miles f rom there, which he placed under the charge of a n overseer b y the name of F riend H askell. w as a regular Yankee from New England. seers. M y mother was hired out i n the city, and I was also hired out there to Major Freeland, who kept a p ublic house. He was formerly from V irginia, a nd w as a horse-racer, cock-fighter, gambler, and There were ten w ithal a n inveterate drunkard. He The

Y ankees are noted for making the most cruel over-

or twelve servants i n the house, and when he was present, it was cut and slash   knock down and d rag out. I n his fits of anger, he would take up a c hair, a nd throw it at a servant; and i n his more r ational moments, when he wished to chastise one, he would tie them up i n the smoke-house, and w hip t hem; after which, he would cause a fire to be made of tobacco stems, and smoke them. he called " V i r g i n i a play." This

  
L I F E O F WILLIAM W .

BROWN.

21

I c omplained to my master of the treatment w hich I r eceived from Major Freeland; hut it made no difference.
long

He cared nothing

about

i t. so

as he received the money for my labor. After

l iving w ith M ajor Freeland five or six months, I r an a way, and went into the w oods b ack of the c i t y ; a nd when night came on, I made m y way to m y master's farm, but was afraid to be seen, k nowing t hat i f M r . H askell, the overseer, should discover me, I should be M ajor F reeland; so I
kept again

c arried

back

to

i n the woods. O ne day,

w hile i n the woods, I h eard the b arking a nd h o w l ing o f dogs, a nd i n a short time they came so near that I k new them to be the bloodhounds of Major B enjamin O 'Failon. r unaway slaves
Avith.

H e kept five or six, to hunt

A s soon as I was convinced that it was them, I k new there was no chance of escape. its base, and there remained u ntil
up the

I took refuge h unters
hour came

i n the top of a tree, and the hounds were soon at in a
half

or three quarters of an

a fterw ho,

wards.

T here

were t w o m e n w i t h the dogs,

as soon as they came up, ordered me to descend. I came down, was tied, and taken to St. Louis j ail. M ajor F reeland soon made his appearance, and

  
2:2

N ARRATIVE

OF T H E

took me out, and ordered me to follow him, which I d id. After we returned home, I was tied up i n the smoke-house, and was very severely whipped. A fter 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 s moked. He made a fire of tobacco stems, which This, soon set me to coughing and sneezing. to his slaves i n V irginia.

R obert told me, was the way his father used to do A fter giving me what t hey conceived to be a decent s moking, I was u ntied a nd again set to work. R obert Freeland was a " c h i p of the old block." T hough quite young, it was not unfrequently that he came home i n a state of intoxication. boat on the M ississippi r iver. He is n ow, I believe, a popular commander of a steamMajor Freeland soon after failed in business, and I was put on b oard the steamboat M issouri, w hich plied between S t. L ouis and Galena. T h e commander of the I remained on her boat w as W i l l i a m B . Culver.

d uring the s ailing season, which was the most pleasant time for me that I had ever experienced. A t the close of navigation I was hired to M r . John C olburn, keeper of the M issouri H otel. He was

  
L I F E O F WILLIAM W .

BROWN.

23

f rom one of the free states; but a more inveterate hater of the negro I do not believe ever walked G od's green earth. T h i s hotel was at that time one of the largest i n the city, and there were employed in it twenty or t hirty s ervants, mostly slaves. M r. C olbum was very abusive, not only to the s ervants, but to his wife also, who was an excellent w oman, and one from whom I never knew a s ervant to receive a harsh w o r d ; but never did I k now a k ind one to a servant from her husband. A mong the slaves employed h i the hotel was one b y the name of A aron, w ho belonged to M r . John F . D arby, 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. M r . Colbum, for this offence, t ied Aaron up i n the w ood-house, a nd gave h im over fifty lashes on the bare back w ith a c ow-hide, after which, he made me wash h im d own w ith r um. T h i s seemed to put h i m into more agony than the whipping. After being u n Mr. tied he went home to his master, and complained of the treatment which he had received. s ay, but sent him directly back. D arby w ould give no heed to anything he had to C olburn, l earning

  
24

N A R R A T I V E OF T H E

t hat he had been to his master w ith c omplaints, tied h im u p again, and gave h im a more severe whipping t han before. T h e poor f ellow's back was l iterally c ut to pieces; so much so, that he was not able to work for ten or twelve days. T here was, also, among the servants, a g irl whose master resided in the country. w as Patsey. Her name M r . Colburn tied her up one evening, T h e reason for

a nd w hipped her u ntil s everal of the boarders came out and begged h i m to desist. w hipping her was t his. S he was engaged to be

m arried to a man belonging to Major W i l l i a m C hristy, w ho resided four or five miles north of the city. C hristy. M r . Colburn had forbid her to see John T h e reason of this was said to be the She

r egard which he himself had for Patsey. home w ith her.

w ent to meeting that evening, and John returned M r . Colburn had intended to flog J ohn, i f he came w ithin the inclosure; but John k new too well the temper of his r ival, a nd kept at a safe distance:   so he took vengeance o n the poor g irl. I f all tSe slave-drivers had been called together, I do not think a more cruel man than J ohn C o l b u r n     a n d he too a northern man   could h ave been found among them.

  
LIFE O F WILLIAM W. BROWN.

85

W hile l iving at the Missouri hotel, a circumstance occurred which caused me great unhappiness. M y master sold m y mother, and all her T h e y were sold to differ* c hildren, except m yself. 3

ent persons i n the city of St. Louis.

  
25

NARRATIVE O F THE

CHAPTER

III.

I WAS soon after taken from M r . Colburn's, and h iredlto E l i j a h P . Lovejoy, who was at that time p ublisher a nd editor of the " S t . Louis Times." M y w ork, while w ith h im, was mainly in the p rinting office, waiting on the hands, working the press, Sec. M r . Lovejoy was a very good m an, and deI am cidedly the best master that I had ever had.

c hiefly indebted to him, and to'my employment in the p rinting office, for what l ittle l earning I obtained w hile i n slavery. T hough slavery is thought, by some, to be m ild i n M issouri, w hen compared w ith the cotton, sugar a nd r ice growing states, yet no part of our slaveholding c ountry is more noted for the barbarity of i ts i nhabitants than St. Louis. s lave woman to death. It was here that C ol. H arney, a United States officer, whipped a It was here that Francis M cintosh, a free colored man from Pittsburg, was t aken f rom the steamboat F lora a nd burned at the s take. D uring a%esidence of eight years i n this c ity, n umerous cases o f extreme cruelty c ame

  
L I F E O F W I L L I A M W.

BROWN.

27

under my own observation;   to record them all w ould o ccupy more space t han could possibly be a llowed in this l ittle v olume. a lready related. C apt. J . B. B rant, w ho resided near my master, h ad a slave named John. vant, c arriage driver, &c. He was his b ody serOn one occasion, while I s hall, therefore, g ive but a few more i n addition to what I have

d riving h is master through the c i t y     t h e streets b eing very muddy, and the horses going at a rapid r ate   some mud spattered upon a gentleman by the name of Robert More. to be revenged. More was determined Some three or four months after d nigger."

this occurrence, he purchased John, for the express purpose, as he said, " t o tame the d A fter the purchase he took h im to a blacksmi'Ys shop, and had a b all a nd chain fastened to his leg, a nd then put him to driving a yoke of oxen, and kept him at hard labor, u ntil the iron around his l eg w as so worn into the flesh, that it was thought m ortification w ould ensue. In addition to t his, J ohn t old me that his master whipped him regularly three times a week for the first two months:     a n d a ll this to "tame him." A more noblelooking m an than he was not to be found i n a ll S t.

  
28

NARRATIVE OF THE

L ouis, before he f ell i nto the hands of M o r e ; and a more degraded and spirit-crushed looking being w as never seen on a southern plantation, after ho h ad been subjected to this ''-tamifig" process f o r three months. T h e last time that I saw him, he h ad n early lost the entire use of his limbs. W hile l iving w ith M r. L ovejoy, I was often sent on e rrands to the office of the " M issouri R epublican," p ublished b y M r . E d w a r d Charless. Once, while who r eturning to the office w ith t ype, I was attacked by s everal l arge boys, sons o f slave-holders, pelted me w i t h s now-balls. H a v i n g the heavy

f orm of type i n m y hands, I could not make m y escape b y running; so I l aid d own the type and gave t hem battle. They gathered around me, p elting me w ith stones and sticks, u ntil t hey overpowered me, and would have captured me, i f I had not resorted to my heels. gain i t I could not devise. l aid the case before h im. t he office. Upon m y retreat they K n o w i n g M r . Lovejoy He told me to remain in took possession of the type; and what to do to reto be a very humane man, I went to the office a nd H e took one of the apprentices w ith

h im a nd went after the type, and soon r eturned w ith i t; but on his return informed me that Samuel

  
LIFE

O F WILLIAM W .

BROWN.

29

M cKinney h ad

told him he would whip me,

because I h ad hurt his boy. Soon after, M c K i n n e y w as seen making his way to the office b y one of the printers, who informed me of the fact, and I made my escape t hrough the back door. M cKinney not being able to find me on his a rrival, left the office i n a great rage, swearing that he w ould whip me to death. A few days after, as I w as walking along M a i n street, he seized me by the collar, and struck me over the head five or six times w ith a l arge cane, which caused the blood to g ush from my nose a nd ears i n such a manner that m y clothes were completely saturated w ith b lood. A fter beating me to his satisfaction he let me go, a nd I r eturned to the office so weak from the 'loss of blood that M r . Lovejoy sent me home to m y master. It was five weeks before I w as able to D uring t his time it was necessary to w alk a gain.

h ave some one to supply my place at the office, a nd I lost the situation. A fter m y recovery, I was hired to Capt. Otis R eynolds, a s a waiter on board the steamboat E n terprise, o wned by Messrs. John and E d w a r d W alsh, c ommission merchants at St. Louis. 3* This boat w as then running on the upper M ississippi.

  
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N A R R A T I V E OF T H E

M y e mployment on board -was to wait on gentlemen, a nd the captain being a good m an, the s ituation w as a pleasant one to me;     b u t i n passing from p lace to place, and seeing new faces e very day, and k nowing that they could go where they pleased, I soon became u nhappy, and several times thought o f leaving the boat at some l anding-place, and t rying to make my escape to Canada, which I had h eard m uch about as a place where the slave might l ive, be free, and be protected. jjjgMg B ut w henever such thoughts would come i nto m y m ind, m y resolution would soon be shaken by the remembrance that my dear mother was a slave i n S t. L ouis, a nd I could not bear the idea of leaving her in that condition. She had often taken me u pon her knee, and told me how she had carried m e upon her back to the f ield w hen I was an i nfant   how often she had been whipped for leaving her work to nurse m e     a n d how happy I w ould appear when she would take me into her a rms. W hen these thoughts came over me, I I thought that to leave her w ould resolve never to leave the l and of slavery w ithout m y mother. i n s lavery, after she had undergone and suffered so m uch for me, would be proving recreant to the

  
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d uty w hich I owed to her. Besides t his, I h ad three brothers and a sister there   two of my brothers h aving d ied. M y mother, .my brothers Joseph and M illford, a nd m y sister Elizabeth, belonged to M r . Isaac M ansfield, f ormerly from one of the free states, ( Massachusetts, I believe.) lishment. He was a tinner by trade, a nd carried on a large manufacturing estabO f all my relatives, mother was first, One evening, while v isiting t hem, a nd sister next.

I made some a llusion to a proposed journey to C anada, a nd sister took her seat by my side, and t aking m y hand i n hers, said, w ith tears in her e yes    " B rother, you are not going to leave mother a nd y our dear sister here without a friend, are y ou?" I l ooked into her face, as the tears coursed s wiftly d own her cheeks, and bursting into tears m yself, s a i d     " N o, I w ill never desert you and mother! " She clasped m y hand i n hers, and s a i d     " Brother, y ou have often declared that you w ould not end your days i n slavery. I see no p ossible way in which you can escape w ith u s; and

  
32

NARRATIVE OF THE

n ow, brother, you are on a steamboat where there is some chance for you to escape to a land of l iberty. I beseech y ou not to let us hinder you. If w e cannot get our liberty, we do not wish to be the means of keeping you from a land of freedom." I c ould restrain m y feelings no longer, and an outburst of m y own feelings caused her to cease s peaking u pon that subject. h and of the oppressor. In opposition to their w ishes, I pledged myself not to leave them i n the I took leave of them, and returned to the boat, and l aid d own i n my bunk; b ut "sleep departed from mine eyes, a nd slumber f rom mine eyelids." A f ew weeks after, on our downward passage, the boat took on board, at H annibal, a drove of slaves, bound for the New Orleans market. They A n umbered from fifty to sixty, consisting of men a nd w omen from eighteen to forty years of age. d rove of slaves on a southern steamboat, bound for the cotton or sugar regions, is an occurrence so c ommon, that no one, not even the passengers, appear to notice it, though they clank their chains at every step. a nd c rew. There was, however, one in this g ang that attracted the attention of the passengers It was a beautiful g irl, a pparently

  
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about twenty years of age, perfectly white, w ith s traight l ight h air a nd blue eyes. B u t it was not the whiteness of her s kin t hat created such a sen0 sation among those who gazed upon h e r     i t was l ier almost unparalleled beauty. She had been on the boat b ut a short time, before the attention o f a ll the passengers, including the l adies, h ad been c alled to her, and the common topic of conversation w as about the beautiful slave-girl. She was not i n c hains. The man who claimed this article of T here h uman m erchandise was a M r . W a l k e r     a w ell k nown s lave-trader, residing in St. L ouis. c rew to learn the history of the g irl. w as a general anxiety among the passengers and H er master kept close b y her side, and it would have been considered i mpudent for any of the passengers to Iiave spoken to her, and the crew were not allowed to h ave any conversation w ith t hem. W h e n we reached St. L ouis, the slaves were removed to a boat b ound for New Orleans, and the history of the b eautiful s lave-girl remained a mystery. I r emained on the boat d uring the season, and it w as not an unfrequent occurrence to have on board gangs of slaves on their way to the cotton, sugar a nd rice plantations of the south.

  
34

NARRATIVE

OF T H E

T o w a r d the latter part of the summer Captain R