1854 Sophia, Elizabeth, and Lewis Escape

At three o'clock on Friday afternoon, September 1, 1854, 32-year-old Elizabeth, 28-year-old Sophia, and Elizabeth's 11-year-old son Lewis escaped from slavery in St. Louis. Their enslaver, W.G. Pettus, suspected that they had "been seduced from my service by a thieving Abolitionist scoundrel." Pettus offered a $300 reward for the trio's recapture.