Sketches in the History of the Underground Railroad/Chapter XXII
CHAPTER XXII.
One thing was always observable, by which we knew a fugitive slave from an imposter, namely, a restless, sharp sense of danger, a sudden start if a person was heard approaching the house, while the opening of a door or the barking of a dog would produce in them intense excitement.
One of our most active agents lived in the town of New Haven, Oswego Co., within sight of Lake Ontario. He was a farmer by the name of French. Going, one evening, to return his cows to the pasture, he saw a man in the woods suddenly coming into sight, and then trying to hide. Going towards him, the man moved off, but seemed unable to run from some cause. French ran towards him and told him to stop. As he approached he saw that the man was a negro, and thinking he was a fugitive, said to him, “Don’t be afraid, I am an abolitionist;” whereupon the poor fellow put forth all the strength he had to effect his escape, but it was a feeble effort, and he soon fell to the ground. When Mr. French came up to him the man began begging for his life. “Don’t be frightened,” said French, “we are all abolitionists in this neighborhood.” “Yes, massa,” said the negro, “but den ye see I’se good for nufhn, I’se so pore, only bones and skin; I’se eat nuffin amost dese six weeks—do massa, let me lib!” “Come with me,” said Mr. French, “and I will feed yon and take care of you.” He tried to beg off, but was too weak to resist, and French took him home. Mrs. French prepared for him an excellent supper, but he could not be induced to taste of it. The sight of food seemed to distress him; he was evidently starving, but was afraid to eat. It was a singular case; French could not understand it. He repeatedly told him that they were all abolitionists, which frightened the negro almost out of his senses. Finally, Mrs. French made the remark that the slaves were sometimes told that the abolitionists are cannibals. “Talk with him,” said she, “and find out what he is afraid of.” Mr. French talked kindly to him, telling how many fugitives he had assisted and sent them to Canada. “Dey so pore,” pleaded the negro, “dey good for nufhn! I'se pore, too—do, massa, let me go!” “Yes,” said French, “I will send you to Canada, but you must stay here till you are able to go. You are starved; eat something and go to sleep; we will talk more about it in the morning.” “No,” he replied, “I rather die than be killed and eat up.” French saw that some terrible fear was controlling the poor fellow, and determined to ascertain what it was. It required a long continued and patient effort to induce the negro to tell the cause of his fear. When he had done so his friends soon found means to dispel his fears, and he ate all that was deemed safe for him, and was put on a comfortable bed, from which he did not get up for many weeks. He was so far gone when French found him that one or two more days of starvation would have finished him. Had he not been taken in when he was, he must have died in the woods.
In Georgia, where Moses (he said they called him Mose) lived, the slaves were partially educated. Their mothers taught them a short lesson in astronomy, namely, the position of the north star and how to find it. Their masters lectured them on the manners and customs of dogs and men; when one of them ran off he was hunted with dogs; when baffled in the pursuit and the slave escaped, the fact was never acknowledged, but the slaves were called together and told how the fugitive had been torn in pieces by the dogs and left to rot in the woods, and the occasion was generally improved by telling them how much better it was for the poor negro to he killed by the dogs than it would have been to fall into the hands of the savage abolitionists, a kind of people living in the North, who, when they could catch a negro, would fatten him, if he would eat, and then kill and eat him. Such was their education. It will be readily understood, that there were two reasons why Moses, when found by our enterprising agent, was so nearly famished. First, his journey had been prolonged many weeks by his fear of falling into the hands of the abolitionists, so that he had gone all the way to the shore of Lake Ontario without having been seen by any of our agents; and second, he thought that if he was very “pore” the cannibal abolitionists would regard him as of no account, and let him go. It may be doubted that any slave was ever so ignorant as to believe such stories, but many of them have spoken of having been told the same thing, and it is not strange that some of them believed it. Moses had hut a short ride on our cars, and shipped for Kingston, C.W., on a lumber vessel, from the mouth of Salmon River.