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TASK FORCE TO STUDY THE HISTORY AND LEGACY OF SLAVERY IN MARYLAND (Final Report) 1999/12/31 MdHR 991422 MdHR 991422, Image No: 396 Print image (114K) |
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TASK FORCE TO STUDY THE HISTORY AND LEGACY OF SLAVERY IN MARYLAND (Final Report) 1999/12/31 MdHR 991422 MdHR 991422, Image No: 396 Print image (114K) |
| Unfilled 11/7/99 9:52 PM time to time were collected by the State. In these papers the name, age, color, height, and form of the freonan were described, together with any scars or other marks upon his person which could assist in his identification. This device in sane measure defeated itself—since more than one rran could be found to answer the same general description. Hence many slaves could escape hy personating the cwner of one set of papers; and this was often done as follows: A slave, nearly or sufficiently answering the description set forth in the papers, would borrow or hire than till ty means of then he could escape to a free State, and then, by nail or otherwise, would return them to the cwner. The operation was a hazardous one for the lender as well as for the borrower. A failure on the part of the fugitive to send back the papers wsuld inperil his benefactor, and the discovery of the papers in possession of the wrong man wDuld inperil both the fugitive and Ms friend. It was, therefore, an act of suprane trust on the part of a freeman of color thus to put in jeopard/ Ms own liberty that another might be free. It was, hcwever, not unfrequently bravely done, and was seldom discovered. I was not so fortunate as to reserble any of ny free acquaintances sufficiently to answer the description of their papers. But I had a friend—a sailor—who owned a sailor's protection, which answered somewhat the purpose of free papers—describing Ms person, and certifying to the fact that he was a free American sailor. The instrument had at its head the American eagle, which gave it the appearance at once of an authorized document. This protection, when in ny hands, did not describe its bearer very accurately. Indeed, it called for a man much darker than nyself, and close examination of it would have caused ny arrest at the start. In order to avoid this fatal scrutiny on the part of railroad officials, I arranged with Isaac Rolls, a Baltimore hackman, to bring rry baggage to the Philadelphia train just on the moment of starting, and jurrped upon the car rryself when the train was in motion. Had I gone into the station and offered to purchase a ticket, I should have been instantly and carefully examined, and undoubtedly arreste In choosing this plan I considered the jostle of the train, and the natural haste of the conductor, in a train crowded with passengers/ and relied upon ny skill and address in playing the sailor, as described in ny protection, to do the rest. Cne element in ny favor was the kind feeling which prevails in Baltimore and other sea-ports at the time, toward "those who go down to the sea in ships." "Free trade and sailors' rights" just then expressed the sentiment of the country. In ny clothing I was rigged out in sailor sty I had on a red shirt and a tarpaulin hat, and a black cravat tied in sailor fashion carelessly and loosely about ny neck. ^ knowledge of ships and sailor's talk came rruch to rry assistance, for I knew a ship http://www.msstate.edu/Arcbives/History/USA/Afro-Amer/dugl210.txt Page 2 of 17 |