Before attempting to prepare a new account of the Underground Railroad, from new materials, something should be said of previous works upon it, and especially of the seven books which deal specifically with the subject: _The Underground Railroad_, by the Rev. W. M. Mitchell; _Underground Railroad Records_, by William Still; _The Underground Railroad in Chester and the Neighboring Counties of Pennsylvania_, by R. C. Smedley; _The Reminiscences of Levi Coffin_; _Sketches in the History of the Underground Railroad_, by Eber M. Pettit; _From Dixie to Canada_, by H. U. Johnson; and _Heroes in Homespun_, by Ascott R. Hope (a _nom de plume_ for Robert Hope Moncrieff). While several of these volumes are sources of original material, their value is chiefly that of collections of incidents, affording one an insight into the workings of the Underground Railroad in certain localities, and presenting types of character among the helpers and the helped. In composition they are what one would expect of persons who lived simple, strenuous lives, who with sincerity record what they knew and experienced. They have not only the characteristics of a deep-seated, moral movement, they have also an undeniable value for historical purposes. Mitchell's small volume of 172 pages was published in England in 1860. Its author was a free negro, who served as a slave-driver in the South for several years, then became a preacher in Ohio, and for twelve years engaged in underground work; finally, about 1855, he went to Toronto, Canada, to minister to colored refugees as a missionary in the service of the American Free Baptist Mission Society.[4] It was while soliciting money in England for the purpose of building a chapel and schoolhouse for his people in Toronto that he was induced to write his book. The range of experience of the author enabled him to relate at first hand many incidents illustrative of the various phases of underground procedure, and to give an account of the condition of the fugitive slaves in Canada.[5] [4] Mitchell, _Underground Railroad_, Preface, p. vi; p. 17. [5] Mr. Mitchell divides his little book into two chapters, one on the "Underground Railroad," occupying 124 pages, the other on the "Condition of Fugitive Slaves in Canada," occupying 48 pages.