[471] See the Annual Reports of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society. The largest number of abduction cases occurred through the activities of those well-disposed towards fugitives by the attachments of race. There were many negroes, enslaved and free, along the southern boundaries of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa, whose opportunities were numerous for conveying fugitives to free soil with slight risk to themselves. These persons sometimes did scarcely more than ferry runaways across a stream or direct them to the homes of friends residing near the line of a free state. In the vicinity of Martin's Ferry, Ohio, there lived a colored man who frequented the Virginia shore for the purpose of persuading slaves to run away. He was in the habit of imparting the necessary information, and then displaying himself in an intoxicated condition, feigned or real, to avoid suspicion. At last he was found out, but escaped by betaking himself to Canada.[472] In the neighborhood of Portsmouth, Ohio, slaves were conveyed across the river by one Poindexter, a barber of the town of Jackson.[473] In Baltimore, Maryland, two colored women, who engaged in selling vegetables, were efficient in starting fugitives on the way to Philadelphia.[474] At Louisville, Kentucky, Wash Spradley, a shrewd negro, was instrumental in helping many of his enslaved brethren out of bondage.[475] These few instances will suffice to illustrate the secret enterprises conducted by colored persons on both sides of the sectional line once dividing the North from the South. [472] Conversation with Mrs. Joel Woods, at Martin's Ferry, Aug. 19, 1892. [473] Conversation with Judge Jesse W. Laird, Jackson, O., June, 1895. [474] Conversation with Mr. Robert Purvis, at Philadelphia, Dec. 23, 1895. [475] Conversation with John Evans, at Windsor, Ont., C.W., Aug. 2, 1895; John Evans was a slave near Louisville, but was given his liberty in 1850, when his master became financially involved.