that the number of fugitives transported by the "Ohio Underground Line" was twenty-five per cent greater than in any previous year; "indeed, many masters have brought their hands from the Kanawha (West Virginia), not being willing to risk them there."[564] [562] Interview with Elder Anthony Bingey, Windsor, Ontario, July 31, 1895. On this point Dr. S. G. Howe says: "Of course it [the Fugitive Slave Law] gave great increase to the emigration, and free born blacks fled with the slaves from a land in which their birthright of freedom was no longer secure." _Refugees from Slavery in Canada West_, p. 15. [563] _Independent_, Jan. 18, 1855. [564] _Independent_, April 6, 1855; see also _Von Holst's Constitutional and Political History of the United States_, Vol. V, p. 63, note. That portion of Canada most easily reached by fugitives was the lake-bound region lying between New York on the east and Michigan on the west, and presenting a long and inviting coast-line to northern Ohio, northwestern Pennsylvania and western New York. Lower Canada was often reached through the New England states and by way of the coast-line routes. The fugitive slaves entering Canada were principally from the border slave states, Missouri, Kentucky, Virginia, Maryland and Delaware. Some, however, favored by rare good fortune and possessed of more than ordinary sagacity or aided by some venturesome friend, had made their way from the far South, from the Carolinas, Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee, even from Louisiana.