"Near St. Michael's, in Talbot county, Maryland."
We were not going to Baltimore; but, in going up
the bay, we went toward Baltimore, and these pro-
tections were only intended to protect us while on
the bay.
As the time drew near for our departure, our
anxiety became more and more intense. It was truly
a matter of life and death with us. The strength of
our determination was about to be fully tested. At
this time, I was very active in explaining every dif-
ficulty, removing every doubt, dispelling every fear,
and inspiring all with the firmness indispensable to
success in our undertaking; assuring them that half
was gained the instant we made the move; we had
talked long enough; we were now ready to move;
if not now, we never should be; and if we did not
intend to move now, we had as well fold our arms,
sit down, and acknowledge ourselves fit only to be
slaves. This, none of us were prepared to acknowl-
edge. Every man stood firm; and at our last meeting,
we pledged ourselves afresh, in the most solemn
manner, that, at the time appointed, we would cer-
tainly start in pursuit of freedom. This was in the
middle of the week, at the end of which we were
to be off. We went, as usual, to our several fields
of labor, but with bosoms highly agitated with
thoughts of our truly hazardous undertaking. We
tried to conceal our feelings as much as possible;
and I think we succeeded very well.
After a painful waiting, the Saturday morning,
whose night was to witness our departure, came. I
hailed it with joy, bring what of sadness it might.
Friday night was a sleepless one for me. I probably
felt more anxious than the rest, because I was, by
common consent, at the head of the whole affair.
The responsibility of success or failure lay heavily
upon me. The glory of the one, and the confusion
of the other, were alike mine. The first two hours
of that morning were such as I never experienced
before, and hope never to again. Early in the
morning, we went, as usual, to the field. We were
spreading manure; and all at once, while thus en-
gaged, I was overwhelmed with an indescribable feel-
ing, in the fulness of which I turned to Sandy, who
was near by, and said, "We are betrayed!" "Well,"
said he, "that thought has this moment struck me."
We said no more. I was never more certain of any
thing.
The horn was blown as usual, and we went up
from the field to the house for breakfast. I went for
the form, more than for want of any thing to eat
that morning. Just as I got to the house, in looking
out at the lane gate, I saw four white men, with
two colored men. The white men were on horseback,
and the colored ones were walking behind, as if tied.
I watched them a few moments till they got up to
our lane gate. Here they halted, and tied the colored
men to the gate-post. I was not yet certain as to
what the matter was. In a few moments, in rode
Mr. Hamilton, with a speed betokening great excite-
ment. He came to the door, and inquired if Master
William was in. He was told he was at the barn. Mr.
Hamilton, without dismounting, rode up to the barn
with extraordinary speed. In a few moments, he and
Mr. Freeland returned to the house. By this time,
the three constables rode up, and in great haste dis-
mounted, tied their horses, and met Master William
and Mr. Hamilton returning from the barn; and
after talking awhile, they all walked up to the
kitchen door. There was no one in the kitchen but
myself and John. Henry and Sandy were up at the
barn. Mr. Freeland put his head in at the door, and
called me by name, saying, there were some gentle-
men at the door who wished to see me. I stepped
to the door, and inquired what they wanted. They
at once seized me, and, without giving me any satis-
faction, tied me--lashing my hands closely together.
I insisted upon knowing what the matter was. They
at length said, that they had learned I had been in a
"scrape," and that I was to be examined before my
master; and if their information proved false, I
should not be hurt.
In a few moments, they succeeded in tying John.
They then turned to Henry, who had by this time
returned, and commanded him to cross his hands.
"I won't!" said Henry, in a firm tone, indicating his
readiness to meet the consequences of his refusal.
"Won't you?" said Tom Graham, the constable. "No,
I won't!" said Henry, in a still stronger tone. With
this, two of the constables pulled out their shining
pistols, and swore, by their Creator, that they would
make him cross his hands or kill him. Each cocked
his pistol, and, with fingers on the trigger, walked
up to Henry, saying, at the same time, if he did not
cross his hands, they would blow his damned heart
out. "Shoot me, shoot me!" said Henry; "you can't
kill me but once. Shoot, shoot,--and be damned! ~I
won't be tied!~" This he said in a tone of loud defi-
ance; and at the same time, with a motion as quick
as lightning, he with one single stroke dashed the
pistols from the hand of each constable. As he did
this, all hands fell upon him, and, after beating
him some time, they finally overpowered him, and
got him tied.
During the scuffle, I managed, I know not how,
to get my pass out, and, without being discovered,
put it into the fire. We were all now tied; and just
as we were to leave for Easton jail, Betsy Freeland,
mother of William Freeland, came to the door with
her hands full of biscuits, and divided them between
Henry and John. She then delivered herself of a
speech, to the following effect:--addressing herself
to me, she said, "~You devil! You yellow devil!~ it was
you that put it into the heads of Henry and John
to run away. But for you, you long-legged mulatto
devil! Henry nor John would never have thought
of such a thing." I made no reply, and was imme-
diately hurried off towards St. Michael's. Just a mo-
ment previous to the scuffle with Henry, Mr. Hamil-
ton suggested the propriety of making a search for
the protections which he had understood Frederick
had written for himself and the rest. But, just at
the moment he was about carrying his proposal into
effect, his aid was needed in helping to tie Henry;
and the excitement attending the scuffle caused
them either to forget, or to deem it unsafe, under
the circumstances, to search. So we were not yet
convicted of the intention to run away.
When we got about half way to St. Michael's,
while the constables having us in charge were look-
ing ahead, Henry inquired of me what he should
do with his pass. I told him to eat it with his biscuit,
and own nothing; and we passed the word around,
"~Own nothing;~" and "~Own nothing!~" said we all.
Our confidence in each other was unshaken. We
were resolved to succeed or fail together, after the
calamity had befallen us as much as before. We
were now prepared for any thing. We were to be
dragged that morning fifteen miles behind horses,
and then to be placed in the Easton jail. When we
reached St. Michael's, we underwent a sort of exami-
nation. We all denied that we ever intended to run
away. We did this more to bring out the evidence
against us, than from any hope of getting clear of
being sold; for, as I have said, we were ready for
that. The fact was, we cared but little where we
went, so we went together. Our greatest concern was
about separation. We dreaded that more than any
thing this side of death. We found the evidence
against us to be the testimony of one person; our
master would not tell who it was; but we came to
a unanimous decision among ourselves as to who
their informant was. We were sent off to the jail at
Easton. When we got there, we were delivered up
to the sheriff, Mr. Joseph Graham, and by him
placed in jail. Henry, John, and myself, were placed
in one room together--Charles, and Henry Bailey,
in another. Their object in separating us was to
hinder concert.
We had been in jail scarcely twenty minutes,
when a swarm of slave traders, and agents for slave
traders, flocked into jail to look at us, and to as-
certain if we were for sale. Such a set of beings I
never saw before! I felt myself surrounded by so
many fiends from perdition. A band of pirates never
looked more like their father, the devil. They
laughed and grinned over us, saying, "Ah, my boys!
we have got you, haven't we?" And after taunting
us in various ways, they one by one went into an
examination of us, with intent to ascertain our value.
They would impudently ask us if we would not like
to have them for our masters. We would make them
no answer, and leave them to find out as best they
could. Then they would curse and swear at us, telling
us that they could take the devil out of us in a very
little while, if we were only in their hands.
While in jail, we found ourselves in much more
comfortable quarters than we expected when we
went there. We did not get much to eat, nor that
which was very good; but we had a good clean room,
from the windows of which we could see what was go-
ing on in the street, which was very much better
than though we had been placed in one of the dark,
damp cells. Upon the whole, we got along very well,
so far as the jail and its keeper were concerned.
Immediately after the holidays were over, contrary
to all our expectations, Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Free-
land came up to Easton, and took Charles, the two
Henrys, and John, out of jail, and carried them
home, leaving me alone. I regarded this separation
as a final one. It caused me more pain than any
thing else in the whole transaction. I was ready for
any thing rather than separation. I supposed that
they had consulted together, and had decided that,
as I was the whole cause of the intention of the
others to run away, it was hard to make the innocent
suffer with the guilty; and that they had, therefore,
concluded to take the others home, and sell me, as
a warning to the others that remained. It is due
to the noble Henry to say, he seemed almost as
reluctant at leaving the prison as at leaving home
to come to the prison. But we knew we should, in
all probability, be separated, if we were sold; and
since he was in their hands, he concluded to go
peaceably home.
I was now left to my fate. I was all alone, and
within the walls of a stone prison. But a few days
before, and I was full of hope. I expected to have
been safe in a land of freedom; but now I was cov-
ered with gloom, sunk down to the utmost despair.
I thought the possibility of freedom was gone. I
was kept in this way about one week, at the end
of which, Captain Auld, my master, to my surprise
and utter astonishment, came up, and took me out,
with the intention of sending me, with a gentleman
of his acquaintance, into Alabama. But, from some
cause or other, he did not send me to Alabama,
but concluded to send me back to Baltimore, to
live again with his brother Hugh, and to learn a
trade.
Thus, after an absence of three years and one
month, I was once more permitted to return to my
old home at Baltimore. My master sent me away,
because there existed against me a very great preju-
dice in the community, and he feared I might be
killed.
In a few weeks after I went to Baltimore, Master
Hugh hired me to Mr. William Gardner, an ex-
tensive ship-builder, on Fell's Point. I was put there
to learn how to calk. It, however, proved a very
unfavorable place for the accomplishment of this
object. Mr. Gardner was engaged that spring in
building two large man-of-war brigs, professedly for
the Mexican government. The vessels were to be
launched in the July of that year, and in failure
thereof, Mr. Gardner was to lose a considerable sum;
so that when I entered, all was hurry. There was
no time to learn any thing. Every man had to do
that which he knew how to do. In entering the ship-
yard, my orders from Mr. Gardner were, to do what-
ever the carpenters commanded me to do. This was
placing me at the beck and call of about seventy-five
men. I was to regard all these as masters. Their
word was to be my law. My situation was a most
trying one. At times I needed a dozen pair of hands.
I was called a dozen ways in the space of a single
minute. Three or four voices would strike my ear
at the same moment. It was--"Fred., come help me
to cant this timber here."--"Fred., come carry this
timber yonder."--"Fred., bring that roller here."--
"Fred., go get a fresh can of water."--"Fred., come
help saw off the end of this timber."--"Fred., go
quick, and get the crowbar."--"Fred., hold on the
end of this fall."--"Fred., go to the blacksmith's
shop, and get a new punch."--"Hurra, Fred.! run
and bring me a cold chisel."--"I say, Fred., bear a
hand, and get up a fire as quick as lightning under
that steam-box."--"Halloo, nigger! come, turn this
grindstone."--"Come, come! move, move! and BOWSE
this timber forward."--"I say, darky, blast your eyes,
why don't you heat up some pitch?"--"Halloo!
halloo! halloo!" (Three voices at the same time.)
"Come here!--Go there!--Hold on where you are!
Damn you, if you move, I'll knock your brains out!"
This was my school for eight months; and I might
have remained there longer, but for a most horrid
fight I had with four of the white apprentices, in
which my left eye was nearly knocked out, and I
was horribly mangled in other respects. The facts
in the case were these: Until a very little while
after I went there, white and black ship-carpenters
worked side by side, and no one seemed to see any
impropriety in it. All hands seemed to be very well
satisfied. Many of the black carpenters were freemen.
Things seemed to be going on very well. All at once,
the white carpenters knocked off, and said they
would not work with free colored workmen. Their
reason for this, as alleged, was, that if free colored
carpenters were encouraged, they would soon take
the trade into their own hands, and poor white men
would be thrown out of employment. They therefore
felt called upon at once to put a stop to it. And,
taking advantage of Mr. Gardner's necessities, they
broke off, swearing they would work no longer, unless
he would discharge his black carpenters. Now,
though this did not extend to me in form, it did
reach me in fact. My fellow-apprentices very soon
began to feel it degrading to them to work with
me. They began to put on airs, and talk about the
"niggers" taking the country, saying we all ought to
be killed; and, being encouraged by the journey-
men, they commenced making my condition as
hard as they could, by hectoring me around, and
sometimes striking me. I, of course, kept the vow
I made after the fight with Mr. Covey, and struck
back again, regardless of consequences; and while
I kept them from combining, I succeeded very well;
for I could whip the whole of them, taking them
separately. They, however, at length combined, and
came upon me, armed with sticks, stones, and heavy
handspikes. One came in front with a half brick.
There was one at each side of me, and one behind
me. While I was attending to those in front, and on
either side, the one behind ran up with the hand-
spike, and struck me a heavy blow upon the head.
It stunned me. I fell, and with this they all ran
upon me, and fell to beating me with their fists. I
let them lay on for a while, gathering strength. In
an instant, I gave a sudden surge, and rose to my
hands and knees. Just as I did that, one of their
number gave me, with his heavy boot, a powerful
kick in the left eye. My eyeball seemed to have
burst. When they saw my eye closed, and badly
swollen, they left me. With this I seized the hand-
spike, and for a time pursued them. But here the
carpenters interfered, and I thought I might as well
give it up. It was impossible to stand my hand
against so many. All this took place in sight of not
less than fifty white ship-carpenters, and not one
interposed a friendly word; but some cried, "Kill
the damned nigger! Kill him! kill him! He struck
a white person." I found my only chance for life
was in flight. I succeeded in getting away without
an additional blow, and barely so; for to strike a
white man is death by Lynch law,--and that was the
law in Mr. Gardner's ship-yard; nor is there much
of any other out of Mr. Gardner's ship-yard.
I went directly home, and told the story of my
wrongs to Master Hugh; and I am happy to say of
him, irreligious as he was, his conduct was heavenly,
compared with that of his brother Thomas under
similar circumstances. He listened attentively to my
narration of the circumstances leading to the savage
outrage, and gave many proofs of his strong indigna-
tion at it. The heart of my once overkind mistress
was again melted into pity. My puffed-out eye and
blood-covered face moved her to tears. She took a
chair by me, washed the blood from my face, and,
with a mother's tenderness, bound up my head,
covering the wounded eye with a lean piece of fresh
beef. It was almost compensation for my suffering
to witness, once more, a manifestation of kindness
from this, my once affectionate old mistress. Master
Hugh was very much enraged. He gave expression
to his feelings by pouring out curses upon the heads
of those who did the deed. As soon as I got a little
the better of my bruises, he took me with him to
Esquire Watson's, on Bond Street, to see what could
be done about the matter. Mr. Watson inquired who
saw the assault committed. Master Hugh told him
it was done in Mr. Gardner's ship-yard at midday,
where there were a large company of men at work.
"As to that," he said, "the deed was done, and there
was no question as to who did it." His answer was,
he could do nothing in the case, unless some white
man would come forward and testify. He could
issue no warrant on my word. If I had been killed
in the presence of a thousand colored people, their
testimony combined would have been insufficient
to have arrested one of the murderers. Master Hugh,
for once, was compelled to say this state of things
was too bad. Of course, it was impossible to get any
white man to volunteer his testimony in my behalf,
and against the white young men. Even those who
may have sympathized with me were not prepared
to do this. It required a degree of courage unknown
to them to do so; for just at that time, the slightest
manifestation of humanity toward a colored person
was denounced as abolitionism, and that name sub-
jected its bearer to frightful liabilities. The watch-
words of the bloody-minded in that region, and in
those days, were, "Damn the abolitionists!" and
"Damn the niggers!" There was nothing done, and
probably nothing would have been done if I had
been killed. Such was, and such remains, the state
of things in the Christian city of Baltimore.
Master Hugh, finding he could get no redress, re-
fused to let me go back again to Mr. Gardner. He
kept me himself, and his wife dressed my wound
till I was again restored to health. He then took me
into the ship-yard of which he was foreman, in the
employment of Mr. Walter Price. There I was im-
mediately set to calking, and very soon learned the
art of using my mallet and irons. In the course of
one year from the time I left Mr. Gardner's, I was
able to command the highest wages given to the
most experienced calkers. I was now of some impor-
tance to my master. I was bringing him from six
to seven dollars per week. I sometimes brought him
nine dollars per week: my wages were a dollar and
a half a day. After learning how to calk, I sought
my own employment, made my own contracts, and
collected the money which I earned. My pathway
became much more smooth than before; my condi-
tion was now much more comfortable. When I could
get no calking to do, I did nothing. During these
leisure times, those old notions about freedom would
steal over me again. When in Mr. Gardner's employ-
ment, I was kept in such a perpetual whirl of ex-
citement, I could think of nothing, scarcely, but
my life; and in thinking of my life, I almost forgot
my liberty. I have observed this in my experience
of slavery,--that whenever my condition was im-
proved, instead of its increasing my contentment,
it only increased my desire to be free, and set me to
thinking of plans to gain my freedom. I have found
that, to make a contented slave, it is necessary to
make a thoughtless one. It is necessary to darken his
moral and mental vision, and, as far as possible, to
annihilate the power of reason. He must be able to
detect no inconsistencies in slavery; he must be made
to feel that slavery is right; and he can be brought
to that only when he ceases to be a man.
I was now getting, as I have said, one dollar and
fifty cents per day. I contracted for it; I earned it;
it was paid to me; it was rightfully my own; yet,
upon each returning Saturday night, I was compelled
to deliver every cent of that money to Master Hugh.
And why? Not because he earned it,--not because
he had any hand in earning it,--not because I owed
it to him,--nor because he possessed the slightest
shadow of a right to it; but solely because he had
the power to compel me to give it up. The right of
the grim-visaged pirate upon the high seas is exactly
the same.