The Story of the House of Cassell
I confess that my emotion overcame me as I looked upon this hunted fellow-being, who had committed no crime, but who, in this so-called land of liberty, had shown himself worthy of his freedom by the intelligence, the courage, and the fortitude he had displayed in his endeavour to obtain it. I conversed with him and found him a most valuable piece of property, whether owned by himself or another. He was a blacksmith, and had fled from Tennessee. His anxiety was great, owing to the fact that his master was on his track, and he had only escaped capture by the perilous feat of swimming across the Ohio. I am happy to say that this man afterwards got clear off to British territory."
In 1859, during the period of semi-partnership with Petter and Galpin, Cassell crossed the Atlantic for a longer business visit. Convinced that he could do a highly profitable trade with America, he had no hesitation in leaving La Belle Sauvage to the care of his associates for a considerable time while he developed the interests of the firm in the New World. His wife and daughter accompanied him on what proved to be a most interesting journey through the United States and Canada, fruitful not only of business but of much sagacious reflection and comparison.
New York had grown enormously in the five years since Cassell last saw it. But the great city did not impress him favourably. The municipal spirit, which even then was strong in England, seemed to have a frail existence in America, and the public amenities of an English town were nearly all absent. "The state of the streets," he said, "was so bad as to surpass ordinary powers of description. The arrangements for removing dust from the houses in the best part of the city would be ridiculous if not cruel. On rising in the morning and looking from my window in the hotel, I observed a number of carts passing to and fro, a man being in the shafts of each cart, and three dogs underneath. These carts were the recognized means by which rubbish was removed from the
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