Still, William, Underground Rail Road:
A Record of Facts, Authentic Narratives, Letters, Etc.

Porter & Coales, Publishers, Philadelphia, PA, 1872
Call Number: 1400, MSA L1117

MSA L1117, Image No: 397   Enlarge and print image (51K)

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Still, William, Underground Rail Road:
A Record of Facts, Authentic Narratives, Letters, Etc.

Porter & Coales, Publishers, Philadelphia, PA, 1872
Call Number: 1400, MSA L1117

MSA L1117, Image No: 397   Enlarge and print image (51K)

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•WILLIAM AND ELLEN CRAFT. 373 same now as ever, and we pledge ourselves, at all hazards, to resist unto death any attempt upon our liberties. Resolved, That as South Carolina seizes and imprisons colored seamen from the North, under the plea that it is to prevent insurrection and rebellion among her colored .population, the authorities of this State, and city in particular, be requested to lay hold of, and put in prison, immediately, any and all fugitive slave-hunters who may be found among us, upon the same ground, and for similar reasons. Spirited addresses, of a most emphatic type, were made by Messrs. Remond, of Salem, Roberts, Nell, and Alien, of Boston, and Davis, of Plymouth. Individuals and highly respectable committees of gentlemen have repeatedly waited upon these Georgia miscreants, to persuade them to make a speedy departure from the city. After promising to do so, and repeatedly falsifying their word, it is said that they left on Wednesday afternoon, in the express train for New York, and thus (says the Chronotype), they have " gone off with their ears full of fleas, to fire the solemn word for the dissolution of the Union!" Telegraphic intelligence is received, that President Fillraore has announced his determination to sustain the Fugitive Slave Bill, at all hazards. Let him try! The fugitives, as well as the colored people generally, seem determined to carry out the spirit of the resolutions to their fullest extent. ELLEN first received information tliat the slave-hunters from Georgia were after her through Mrs. Geo. S. Hilliard, of Boston, who had been a good friend to her from the duy of her arrival from slavery. How Mrs. HLHiard obtained the information, the impression it made on Ellen, and where she was secreted, the following extract of a letter written by Mrs. Hilliard, touching the memorable event, will be found deeply interesting: " In regard to William and Ellen Craft, it is true that we received her at our house when the first warrant under the act«of eighteen hundred and fifty was issued. Dr. Bowditch called upon us to say, that the warrant must be for William and Ellen, as they were the only fugitives here known to have come from Georgia, and tbe Dr. asked what we could do. I went to the house of the Rev. F. T. Gray, on Mt. Vernon street, where Ellen was working with Miss Bean, an npholsteress, a friend of ours, who had told us she would t«ach Ellen her trade. I proposed to Ellen to come and do some work for me, intending not to alarm her. My manner, which 1 supposed to be indifferent and calm, betrayed me, and she threw herself into my arms, sobbing and weeping. She, bow-ever, recovered her composure as soon as we reached the Blreel, and was very firm ever after. • My husband wished her, by all means, to be brought to our house, and to remain under his protection, saying: 'I am perfectly willing to meet the penalty, should she be found here, but will never give her up.' The penalty, you remember, was sir months' imprisonment and a thousand dollars fine. William Craft went, after a time, to Lewia Hayden. He was at first, as Dr. Bowditch told us, ' barricaded in his shop on Cambridge street.' I saw him there, and he said, ' Ellen must not be left at your house.' 'Why? William,' naid I,' do you think we would give her up ?' ' Never,' said he, ' but Mr. Hilliard is not