From Dixie to Canada: Romances and Realities of the Underground Railroad — John Shaqi
From Dixie to Canada: Romances and Realities of the Underground RailroadJohnson, H. U. (Homer Uri)
History
From Dixie to Canada: Romances and Realities of the Underground Railroad
Johnson, H. U. (Homer Uri)
Fugitive slaves -- United States; Underground Railroad
“Can you direct us to Dr. Harris?” said a sweet voiced girl to a trim,
quick-stepping, rather fashionably dressed young gentleman on the street
in the little village of Ashtabula, as she reined up a two-horse team.
“Hem, ’em ’em, Dr. Harris? ’em, why, that is what they call me.”
“Are you the only Dr. Harris in town?”
“’Em, yes, Miss. What can I do for you?”
The letters of the Jefferson attorneys was placed in his hands.
“’Em, hem,” he exclaimed, after reading it. “_Freight!_ we can not ship
now; shall have to stow it in our up-town ware-house;” saying which he
led the way out to a country home, now occupied as a city residence,
where the freight was deposited in a hay-mow, whilst the kind-hearted
old Scotchman, Deacon McDonald and his wife most graciously cared for
the intrepid drivers for the night.
The young man Ned was soon sent away, but Uncle Jake lingered in the
vicinity for considerable time. The winter of 1836 he spent at the
Harbor in the family of Deacon Wm. Hubbard, rendering valuable service
in “pointing” the walls and plastering the cellar of the house now
occupied as a store and residence by Captain Starkey. He is still well
remembered by A. F. Hubbard, Esq., whose father offered him a home in
his family; but Jake finally left and nothing is known of his subsequent
course.
Of the two young ladies so intimately connected with this history, Miss
Bushnell ultimately married a Mr. Estabrook, and was for many years one
of the most esteemed ladies of Warren, O., and now sleeps in Oakwood
Cemetery near that beautiful city. The other joined her destiny with
that of her affiance shortly after that memorable ride, and a few weeks
since I stood in the little churchyard at Burgh Hill, shrouded as it was
in a far-reaching coverlet of snow and copied the following from a small
marble headstone:
“MARY P. SUTLIFF,
Died March 1st, 1836.
AE., 23.
_First Sec’y of the Female Anti-Slavery Society of Vernon, A. D.,
1834._”
CHAPTER IV.
GEORGE GREEN,
OR CONSTANCY REWARDED.
[The circumstances of the following narrative were partially written up
when secured by the author.]
“Do you believe you can succeed, George? It is a great undertaking.”
“If we can not succeed, Mary, we can try. This servitude is worse than
death.”
“But our master is very good.”
“Yes, master is good and kind, and no harm shall come to him. But no
master is as good as freedom.”
“But then the whites have all the power on their side.”
“The whites, Mary! Who are whiter than we—than you and I? You the slave
of your own father; I sold from my mother’s arms that my features might
not bring disgrace upon a man of position. White folks, indeed!”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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