manners. He was one of the first promoters of the Underground Railroad, and was one who stood by it in times of peril. He was a terror to the Southerner; but a friend to his brethren in the South. He labored for his people with unfaltering trust.
He was the most logical writer of his time; indeed, there are few now of the craft who can excel our subject in the editorial field where logic and argument have most power. He was a quick and ready writer, his articles being of that nature befitting the time and occasion.
Wm. Welles Brown, in his "Rising Sun," says,—"The first thing ever read, coming from the pen of a colored man, was D. M. Reese, M. D., used up by David Ruggles, a man of color. Dr. Reese was a noted colonizationist, and had written a work, in which he advocated the expatriation of the blacks from the American continent. Mr. Ruggles' work was a reply to it. In this argument, the Afro-American proved too much for the Anglo-Saxon, and exhibited in Mr. Ruggles those qualities of keen perception, deep thought, and originality, that mark the critic and the man of letters.
Mr. Ruggles was an editor of the indomitable stamp. He was respected by all of his constituents, as an able and fearless advocate.
Hon. Frederick Douglass says of Mr. Ruggles,—"He was not only an intelligent man, but one of the bravest and boldest spirits of the times. John J. Zuille of New York, says,—"He was a man of profound ability and force of character. During most of his active public life, he was the soul of the Under-ground Railroad in New York City, respected as an editor, and in the courts of New York for his intimate knowledge of law in slave cases." Another says,—"He was a keen and witty writer, sending his arrows directly at his opponent."
The most striking characteristic of Mr. Ruggles, with regard to his work and his time, is that he was of unmixed
