THE FRIEND.
205
For "The Friend."
Consequences of Slavery.
It is unpleasant to spread upon the pages of " The
Friend," such tragicalacts as a mother destroying
her children under any circumstances. But the
evidence which the following account gives of
the natural love of liberty in the poor slave, the
dread of a life of cruel vassalage and indignity, in
which the man and woman of colour are held in
our Southern states, lead us to believe that every
event which may increase a horror for the dreadful system should be published on the house-top.
We are shocked at the use of such means to release a child from future hopeless servitude, and
altogether disapprove of the use of firearms, either
to procure or to defend liberty. Citizens of the
free States who have no direct intercourse with
slavery, should be frequently apprised of its debasing influence upon the master and his menial.
The profits of dealing in slave produce, the desire
to obtain southern help to secure a full proportion
of the honours and gains of office in government,
may blind the Northern man to the gross iniquity
of slave-holding, and hence the need of constantly
keeping the subject before his view.
"A mother murdering her child rather than see
it in Slavery.—In the Cincinnati papers we find
the full particulars of the arrest of the fugitive
slaves.
"About ten o'clock on Sunday, a party of eight
slaves, two men, two women, and four children,
belonging to Archibald K. Gaines and John Marshall, of Richwood Station, Boone county, Kentucky, about 16 miles from Covington, escaped
from their owners. Three of the party are father,
mother and son, whose names are Simon, Mary
and Robert, the others are Margaret, wife, of Robert, and her four children. The three first are
the property of Marshall, and the others of Gaines.
They took a sleigh and two horses belonging to
— Marshall, and drove to the river bank, opposite the foot of Western Row, where they left them
standing in the road, and crossed over to the city
on the ice. They were missed a few hours after
their flight, and — Gaines, springing on a horse,
followed in pursuit. He proceeded to the office
of U. S. Commissioner John L. Pendry, and, procuring the necessary warrants, with U. S. Deputy
Marshal Ellis, and a large body of assistants, went
at once to the place where his fugitives were concealed. It it as well here to state that Kite had
been formerly owned in the neighbourhood of Rich-
wood Station, and was purchased from bondage by
his father. On reaching the house, Major Murphy,
a neighbour of Gaines, and who was acquainted
with Kite, called on him to open the door, and
said that resistance would be useless. This Kite
agreed he would do, but delayed so long that the
officers attempted to force it open, when a window
was suddenly thrown up, and one of the negro
men, Robert, presented a pistol and fired. The
ball wounded — Patterson, a resident of the Fourth
ward, who had been deputised to assist in the arrest. A second party of officers came up, and the
doors were forced open, and after a short but desperate resistance the slaves were secured, but not
until Robert had fired three times, but without
effect. After the conflict was over, a bloody and
melancholy spectacle presented itself. One of the
slave children was discovered lying on the floor
with its head nearly severed from its body; two
others, boys, aged about four or fi,ve years, were
bleeding from wounds in the neck and head, and
an infant in the arms of Margaret had its head
much swollen, and was bleeding freely at the nose.
The officers state that Simon and Mary, the eldest
of the party, made no resistance, but that Margaret and Robert fought with the ferocity of tigers,
and that during the affray she struck her infant
son on the head with a fire-shovel, in the opinion
of many, with the intention of taking its life.
" During a conversation with Margaret, she stated
to us that she was eating breakfast in company
with the other fugitives when she heard some one
cry out, " They are coming, they are coming."
They sprang up in alarm, but before they had time
to fly, their captors burst in upon them. She
fought with all the strength with which she was capable, and cannot tell how her child was killed and
the others wounded, but only knows that the death
and the wounding occurred during the affray.
This is her story, but it is evident that the bloody
tragedy was perpetrated while the officers were
seeking admittance, and she is said to have acknowledged the fact of killing her child and
wounding the others during the excitement incident to the arrest.
"The captives, as soon as arrested, were placed
in express wagons, and driven to the office of the
U. S. Marshal, on Fourth street, between Main
and Walnut, followed by a large crowd of excited
people. On reaching the Marshal's office, the
wounds of the children were examined, when it
was found that one of them had received a flesh
wound on the neck, about three inches in length,
but barely penetrating the skin—the other a scalp
wound about the same length. They are but little
hurt, and yesterday afternoon were playing about
the Marshal's office, apparently unconcerned. On
questioning the little fellows, they said that some
one in the house threw them down and tried to
kill them, but they either did not know, or would
not reveal who it was. The slaves, on reaching
the Marshal's office, seated themselves around the
stove with dejected countenances, and preserved
a moody silence, answering all questions propounded to them in monosyllables or refusing to answer them at all.
"The slaves were then taken down stairs to the
street door, when a wild and excited scene presented itself—the sidewalks and the middle of
the street were thronged with people, and a couple
of coaches were at the door in order to convey the
captives to the Station House. The slaves were
guarded by a strong posse of officers, and as they
made their appearance in the street, it was evident
that there was a strong sympathy in their favour.
When they were led to the carriage doors, there
were loud cries of "drive on," "don't take them."
The slaves claim that they have all been on this
side of the river frequently by the consent of their
masters.—Ledger."
