|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 64
Being now in a free state, he thought he might with perfect safety
travel on towards Canada. He had, however, gone but a few miles, when he
discovered two men on horseback coming behind him. He felt sure that
they could not be in pursuit of him, yet he did not wish to be seen by
them, so he turned into another road, leading to a house near by. The
men followed, and were but a short distance from George, when he ran up
to a farm house, before which was standing a farmer-looking man, in a
broad-brimmed hat and straight collared coat, whom he implored to save
him from the "slave-catchers." The farmer told him to go into the barn
near by; he entered by the front door, the farmer following, and closing
the door behind George, but remaining outside, and gave directions to
his hired man as to what should be done with George. The slaveholders by
this time had dismounted, and were in the front of the barn demanding
admittance, and charging the farmer with secreting their slave woman,
for George was still in the dress of a woman. The Friend, for the farmer
proved to be a member of the Society of Friends, told the slave-owners
that if they wished to search his barn, they must first get an officer
and a search warrant. While the parties were disputing, the farmer began
nailing up the front door, and the hired man served the back door in the
same way. The slaveholders, finding that they could not prevail on the
Friend to allow them to get the slave, determined to go in search of an
officer. One was left to see that the slave did not escape from the
barn, while the other went off at full speed to Mount Pleasant, the
nearest town. George was not the slave of either of these men, nor were
they in pursuit of him, but they had lost a woman who had been seen in
that vicinity, and when they saw poor George in the disguise of a
female, and attempting to elude pursuit, they felt sure they were close
upon their victim. However, if they had caught him, although he was not
their slave, they would have taken him back and placed him in goal, and
there he would have remained until his owner arrived.
After an absence of nearly two hours, the slave owner returned with an
officer and found the Friend still driving large nails into the door. In
a triumphant tone, and with a corresponding gesture, he handed the
search-warrant to the Friend, and said, "There, Sir, now I will see if I
can't get my Nigger." "Well," said the Friend, "thou hast gone to work
according to law, and thou can now go into my barn." "Lend me your
hammer that I may get the door open," said the slaveholder. "Let me see
the warrant again." And after reading it over once more, he said, "I see
nothing in this paper which says I must supply thee with tools to open
my door; if thou wishes to go in, thou must get a hammer elsewhere." The
sheriff said, "I will go to a neighbouring farm and borrow something
which will introduce us to Miss Dinah;" and he immediately went in
search of tools. In a short time the officer returned, and they
commenced an assault and battery upon the barn door, which soon yielded;
and in went the slaveholder and officer, and began turning up the hay
and using all other means to find the lost property; but, to their
astonishment, the slave was not there. After all hope of getting Dinah
was gone, the slave-owner in a rage, said to the Friend, "My Nigger is
not here." "I did not tell thee there was any one here." "Yes, but I saw
her go in, and you shut the door behind her, and if she was not in the
barn, what did you nail the door for?" "Can't I do what I please with my
own barn door? Now I will tell thee; thou need trouble thyself no more,
for the person thou art after entered the front door and went out at the
back door, and is a long way from here by this time. Thou and thy friend
must be somewhat fatigued by this time, wont thou go in and take a
little dinner with me?" We need not say that this cool invitation of the
good Quaker was not accepted by the slaveholders. George, in the
meantime, had been taken to a Friend's dwelling some miles away, where,
after laying aside his female attire, and being snugly dressed up in a
straight collared coat, and pantaloons to match, was again put on the
right road towards Canada. Two weeks after this found him in the town
of St. Catharines, working on the farm of Colonel Strut, and attending a
night school.
George, however, did not forget his promise to use all means in his
power to get Mary out of slavery. He, therefore, laboured with all his
might, to obtain money with which to employ some one to go back to
Virginia for Mary. After nearly six months' labour at St. Catharines, he
employed an English missionary to go and see if the girl could be
purchased, and at what price. The missionary went accordingly, but
returned with the sad intelligence that on account of Mary's aiding
George to escape, the court had compelled Mr. Green to sell her out of
the State, and she had been sold to a Negro trader and taken to the New
Orleans market. As all hope of getting the girl was now gone, George
resolved to quit the American continent for ever. He immediately took
passage in a vessel laden with timber, bound for Liverpool, and in five
weeks from that time he was standing on the quay of the great English
seaport. With little or no education, he found many difficulties in the
way of getting a respectable living. However, he obtained a situation
as porter in a large house in Manchester, where he worked during the
day, and took private lessons at night. In this way he laboured for
three years, and was then raised to the situation of a clerk. George was
so white as easily to pass for a white man, and being somewhat ashamed
of his African descent, he never once mentioned the fact of his having
been a slave. He soon became a partner in the firm that employed him,
and was now on the road to wealth.
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|