The Underground Railroad from Slavery to Freedom: A comprehensive historySiebert, Wilbur Henry
History
The Underground Railroad from Slavery to Freedom: A comprehensive history
Siebert, Wilbur Henry
Fugitive slaves -- United States; Underground Railroad
disguised as sportsmen, walked to Iowa City, enlisted the services
of Mr. William Penn Clark, an influential anti-slavery citizen of
that place, and by his efforts, supplemented by those of Hon. J.
B. Grinnell, a freight car was got and held in readiness at West
Liberty. The negroes were then brought down from Springdale (distant
but six miles) and, after spending a night in a grist-mill near the
railway station, were ready to embark."[505] They were stowed away
in the freight-car by Brown, Kagi and Stephens, and the car was made
fast to a train from the West on the Chicago and Rock Island Road.
"On reaching Chicago, Brown and his party were taken into friendly
charge by Allen Pinkerton, the famous detective, and started for
Detroit. On March 10 they were in Detroit and practically at their
journey's end."[506] On the twelfth the freedmen were, under Brown's
direction, ferried across the Detroit River to Windsor, Canada.
[505] Irving B. Richman, _John Brown among the Quakers, and Other
Sketches_, pp. 46, 47, 48.
[506] Irving B. Richman, _John Brown among the Quakers, and Other
Sketches_, pp. 46, 47, 48.
The trip from southern Kansas to the Canadian destination had
consumed three weeks. The restoration of twelve persons to "their
natural and inalienable rights with but one man killed"[507] was a
result which Brown seems to have regarded as justifiable, but one
the tragedy of which he certainly deplored.[508] The manner in which
this result had been accomplished was highly dramatic, and created
great excitement throughout the country, especially in Missouri.
Brown's biographer, James Redpath, writing in 1860, speaks thus
of the consternation in the invaded state: "When the news of the
invasion of Missouri spread, a wild panic went with it, which in a
few days resulted in clearing Bates and Vernon counties of their
slaves. Large numbers were sold south; many ran into the Territory
and escaped; others were removed farther inland. When John Brown
made his invasion there were five hundred slaves in that district
where there are not fifty negroes now."[509] The success of the
expedition just narrated was well fitted to increase confidence
in John Brown's determination, and to arouse enthusiasm among his
numerous refugee friends in Canada. The story of the adventure was
not unlikely to penetrate the remote regions of the South, and
perhaps find lodgment in the retentive memories of many slaves.
The publication in the _New York Tribune_ of his letter defending
his abduction of the Missouri chattels just as he was beginning
his journey east shows that Brown was not unwilling to have his
act widely known. It was almost the middle of March when Brown
arrived in Canada; his letter had been made public in January;
it had had ample time for circulation. Before he left Kansas he
said significantly, "He would soon remove the seat of the trouble
elsewhere,"[510] and it was but six months after his arrival in
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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