Historical Documents

   The Post Master at Emerson, writing to us on business, adds the following postscript:

   "The next man that comes along and enquires for Emerson, tell him that it is in the North-west corner of Marion county, Mo. A gentleman told me a short time since that he enquired two days in your city before he could fin a man that could tell him where Emerson was. 

   "A day or two since a lot of negroes in this neighborhood were making preparations for a general stampede, but the scheme was detected before they got off, and their plans defeated."

   HARPER'S FERRY.––The slave population of the region of country in which the late outbreak was located is very large, and no doubt an immense stampede was calculated upon by these people. Within twenty miles of Harper's Ferry, there are not less than 23,000 slaves, of whom probably 6,000 are men. 

      Beecher on Practicability. 

   The Independent, in some comments on John Brown's movements at Harper's Ferry, observes:

   "If we carefully analyze the action in the light of the hero's character and motive, we shall find that the criminal loses itself, in the erratic; that the sheer impracticability of the scheme is the real ground for its condemnation." 

   Ten negroes, valued at $10,000, escaped from Lagrange, Mo., into Illinois, on the 14th ult. 

The South and Southern Safety––A New Presidential Programme.

   We are informed from Washington that the failure of the South to secure a law at this session of Congress for the better protection and security of Southern institutions and Southern society will not be considered as the direct signal for disunion, but that still another effort will be made to secure the South, within the Union, against the abolition incendiaries and movements of the North. This effort, it is predicted, will be something in the shape of a Presidential ticket or platform, or both, from a caucus or convention of Southern members of Congress, the authorized and legally constituted representatives of the Southern people.

           NO DISUNION.

    We propose to show that the fire-eaters in Congress, who are now dinning the ears of peaceable Northern men with their threats of Disunion, are under bonds to keep under the guns of the Federal power, and that they dare not, if they could, rupture the tie which binds them to the North. We mean what we say––"dare not."

   WHAT GOV. WISE THINKS OF THE LOYALTY OF THE SLAVES.

   There is no consistency in the advocates of Slavery upon this point. At one time they will sing the halcyon peace and good will which reigns between master and slave, and almost defy the Abolitionists to seduce the negroes from their happy homes. Gov. Wise and the whole Southern press have dwelt with much unction upon the facts, that the slaves refused to join John Brown, and that the first Virginia martyr was a free negro fleeing from the Abolitionists. But immediately they turn about and speak of the imminent danger of insurrection, with all its train of horrors. In his recent message to the Legislature, Gov. Wise says:

    A Poor Show for Moses

….If the argument is well grounded, the condition of the ancient law-giver, int he other world, must be very deplorable, for he headed the greatest stampede of slaves of which there is any record.––Gate City.

[Editors Note: The majority of this article has been omitted from our transcription except for the portions directly mentioning the term "slave stampedes" or some variant.]

  NEGRO STAMPEDE.––The Chicago Journal says that on Thursday, the 17th inst., the Under-ground Railroad arrived there with thirty passengers, five from the vicinity of Richmond, Va., twelve from Kentucky and thirteen from Missouri. They are now all safe in Canada. The thirteen in Missouri were sold to go down the river the very day they started. A stalwart six-footer and a Sharpe's rifle were the only guides. 

      The Abolitionists to be Expelled.

   The citizens of Madison county met on Saturday, and resolved that John G. Fee and his brother Abolitionists in that county should be driven from it. They recite these as good reasons why their presence is unsafe in a community where slaves are held:

     The Entire Animal of Nothing

   ...We are tired of the whole Yankee nation, with their nasal twang, their hypocrisy, their canting, praying and cheating, preaching and swindling, lying and stealing, and creeping about the South with maps and books as men and false as their makers and authors. Always in the wake of these Aminadab Sleeks, you hear of one or more negroes making a stampede. We prefer them as open enemies to false friends. We have had quite enough of them and of this Union. The South has within itself every element of a great nation, and all we want is to cut loose from the free States and form a Southern confederacy. 

[Editors Note: The majority of this article has been omitted from our transcription except for the portions directly mentioning the term "slave stampedes" or some variant.]

   John Brown's Death - Its Effect on American Politics

…Just then took place the “invasion” of Virginia, and the development of the scheme of a slave stampede to Canada. This the pro-slavery party looked upon as a “Godsend,” for they re profane enough to think that God keeps slaves and can love slaveholders––and they thought that He had sent this in their behalf to rouse up all the sympathies of the American heart, by a powerful revelation, in favor of the South…..

[Editors Note: The majority of this article has been omitted from our transcription except for the portions directly mentioning the term "slave stampedes" or some variant.]

Excitement on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. 

   We learn from Captain Beckworth of the schooner Peri, of this city, that the stampede and excitement originated with a negro man belonging to Wm. Townsend, Esq., who resides some five miles from St. Michael’s.––According to her story she was met by two strange men, who, after threatening her life if she betrayed them, told her that if Brown as hung at Charlestown, a large number of whites and blacks were combined to lay the whole county of Talbot in ashes….

[Editors Note: The majority of this article has been omitted from our transcription except for the portions directly mentioning the term "slave stampedes" or some variant.]

      New York Union Meeting

…if slave States are to be invaded by Northern and British ruffians, and those escaping from Southern courts to be protected and concealed, and sympathy and kindness expressed for the motives that induced these assaults; if fanatical leaders preaching treason, insurrection, invasion, murder, and slave stampedes, are to be protected by police-officers in their unlawful and treasonable discourse; if the hands of outraged conservatism are to be stayed by Northern police from preventing these incendiary meetings….

[Editors Note: The majority of this article has been omitted from our transcription except for the portions directly mentioning the term "slave stampedes" or some variant.]

   Abolitionism of 1835 and of 1859.

   Wendell Phillips denies unequivocally that he had any knowledge of Brown's intended invasion of Virginia. He also states that he was but little acquainted with Brown personally, and had met him but a few times, and on these occasions, whenever the subject of stampeding slaves had been broached, he had discountenanced and discouraged it, and had not aided Brown with either money or advice. 

Helper's Autobiography––His Pamphlet, and the Uses that Are Made of it by the Republican Party. 

A Few Plain Questions to the South

1. Do the southern states seriously contemplate a non-intercourse with the North, or a secession from the Union, or neither?

2.In the former case, how long can they do without the necessaries, the luxuries and the amenities of the North; or, to speak figuratively, when a child from resentment refuses his dinner, how many subsequent meals does he usually omit?

3. In the case of secession from the Union, in what part of Christendom would be found a more feeble nation than the separated South, without ships, without sailors, without manufactories, without white labor or industry, without much money, and with the volcano of the black population under their feet?

4.In case of a disruption of the Union, to which side will the frontier states of Maryland, Delaware, Missouri, &c., think it most prudent to attach themselves?

NEGROES IN THE CHEROKEE NATION. – The underground railroad has been out to work in the Cherokee Nation. A large stampede of negroes was attempted from the nation to Mexico; but the chiefs having been informed, by a faithful negro, of the movement, collected their warriors, under the pretence of going on a war trail against the Comanches, and arrested the fugitives.

DAILY COMMERICAL.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1860.

Life of Capt. John Brown, by James Redpath.

TELEGRAPHIC

            TO THE

Daily Whig & Courier

XXXVI CONGRESS— 1ST SESSSION.

COLONEL HUGH FORBES TURNED UP AGAIN.

Piquant Letter from the Friend of the Colored Man and of John Brown— Reasons for Forbes’ Withdrawal— The “Well Matured Plan”— Financial Affair— That Six Hundred Dollars— Letter to Senator Mason— Forbes is Dumb as an Oysters, &c., &e,

STAMPEDE OF SLAVES.--On Monday night some eight or ten slaves, belonging to persons in Frederick city, Md., and vicinity, absconded in a body. One of them belonged to Mrs. Caroline E. Brengle, others to Mrs. Mary Hammond, Messrs. John Smith, Ezra Hock, Christian Thomas and others. 

   FIVE SLAVES RAN AWAY.––A family of five negroes, held as slaves by Edward Bredell, a few days ago ran away from his farm, situated six miles from the city, on the Clayton road. They consist of the mother, two sons, a daughter, and a young girl closely related to them. The master was on a visit to the East, and had left them in charge of an overseer. On the morning of their departure they obtained leave to visit some colored neighbors, but had not been long from the premises when their real design was suspected. The overseer soon found that they had not called at the house they pretended to visit, and his further investigations equally failed to discover them. A few years ago, Mr. Bredell emancipated thirty or forty slaves left him by a deceased relative in Baltimore.

ANOTHER SLAVE STAMPEDE— Supposed Work of Abolitionist. – A few slaves since five negroes belonging to Mr. Edward Bredell, disappeared very suddenly from their master’s farm, some six miles from the city, on the Clayton road. The runaway party consists of woman, aged about sixty, her two sons and daughter, aged respectfully seven, twelve, and twenty-one years, and a young girl, closely related to the family. The negro “Ike,” twenty-one years old, was Mr. Bredell’s coachman, and enjoyed the most unlimited confidence of his owner. Mr. Bredell himself, is on a visit to the East, the slaves at the time of their stampede, being in charge of an overseer. The mother, it seems, devised the plan of departure from the farm, though there are circumstances which lead to the belief that the negroes had previously been tampered with by white men.

INSURRECTIONARY MOVEMENTS IN TEXAS.

Quite a stampede took place among the negroes in this neighborhood on Saturday night last, and some three of them succeeded in getting within a few miles of the Ohio river, but were fortunately captured by some gentlemen in Lewis county, brought back, and are now in jail. The names of these would be Free Soilers are Jake, the property of Thos. R. Botts; Grant, or Gran, the property of Walker Thornton, of Bourbon county, but hired by Isaac Johnson, of this vicinity, and Lewis, the property of Lake Stockton. Another slave from the neighborhood of Sherburne, was also lodged in jail on Monday night, he having "declared his intention" of running away.–Fleming Star.

 While the fire eaters of the South are blustering about disunion, there are thousands of Shrew, practical men in that section who are alive to the effects of such threats upon their pockets. A writer in the Atlanta (Ca.) American states that the mere prospect of disunion has caused a fall in the price of cotton which will result in a loss of the South of $5,000,000,000 before the 6th of November. He sees no prospect, if the disunion project is carried out, of anything but starvation and would drive up the prices to an alarming figure. The writer says that the South would have the alternative of purchasing from the Northwest or starving, before the first of March. Utter prostration of business, and financial ruin, would follow any treasonable movement.

A Sensible Southern Man.

The Louisville (Ky.,) Journal contains a letter from J.R. Buchannan, to the governor of Kentucky, from which we make brief extracts:

To resist the abolition agitation by disunion is as sensible as the course of the lunatic who, when a few drops of water had dropped through his roof ran out indignantly from his house into the pelting storm.

STAMPEDE OF NEGROES FROM SOUTH CAROLINA.––A law has recently been passed in South Carolina, requiring all free colored persons to wear a badge of distinction. This many of the colored families living in Charleston deemed an indignity; and some have left the State in consequence of it. They have come North, and it is stated that about eighty families have arrived in Philadelphia. Most of these have means which place them above poverty. They are generally mulattoes of various shades of lightness.––Leader.

Black Republicans Bolting–A Grand Stampede Brewing.

As we have often predicted, the Republicans are preparing to jump Jim Crow on their Intervention dogma and adopt Popular Sovereignty as the permanent creed of the party. In less than one year, whether Lincoln is elected or licked, "Non-intervention" will be their rallying cry.

See what the Cincinnati Commercial, a loud and leading Republican organ, says about "Intervention:"

[From the Maysville Eagle.]

A few facts about Slaves in Kentucky.

LEAVING FOR CANADA.––We hear of a number of colored men, fugitives, who have left the city for Canada within a few days. We perceive that a panic exists among the fugitives in other cities, who had heretofore believed themselves safe, trusting to the assurances of the Republicans. In Toledo, as we learn for the Herald and Times, there is quite a stampede for Canada among the blacks.––Cleveland Plaindealer.

A STAMPEDE.––The issue of the recent fugitive slave case at Cleveland, Ohio, has caused a stampede among the negroes there in Toledo. They have left for Canada large numbers.

A Prospective Stampede

No rational men does or can entertain a doubt, that Kentucky, if she secede from the Union, will, by the speediest of operations, be drained of her slaves––that there will be upon her soil at the end of two or three years at farthest no slaves except those, who, from their helplessness, will be a burden to their owners.

Men clearly see all this, and they are preparing for it. A great many are making arrangements to quit Kentucky with their slaves in the event of her secession and to establish themselves further South where slave stampedes into free territory will be less easy. Men have deposited money in our banks, state in that they will have no occasion for it if Kentucky remains in the Union, but that, if she shall secede, they will need it to purchase and open Southern plantations.

            A NEGRO CONFEDERACY

The Rochester Express, in speaking of the probability, at a future day, of a great negro confederacy in the Southern States, says:

 OUR CHARLESTON LETTER.

THREE CLASSES OF POLITICIANS––THE DECISION OF THE RHETT CLIQUE––GOV. DICKENS, JUDGE MAGRATH AND MR. MEMMINGER––NEGROES ON A STAMPEDE––THE TRUE SECURITY––THE MEN WHO CAN PREVENT VIOLENCE––THE UNION FEELING––PATRIOTISM––NEGRO DISAFFECTION––THE FLOATING BATTERY––THE INSPIRATION FROM THE ASPECT OF THINGS, LTC.

 From Our Own Correspondent.

                  CHARLESTON, March 7, 1861.

Interesting from Charleston—Three Classes of Politicians.

The Charleston correspondent of the Philadelphia Inquirer, writes on the 7th:

                                                            Southern Conciliation

                                           Stampede of Slave from Southern Carolina.

DRUNKEN REMARKS OF THE KEITT-ENGLAND AND SLAVERY- PATRIOTIC WOMEN- SLAVE PLOTS.

From Our Own Correspondent. 

Charleston, March 28, 186.

   The Fugitive Slave Case in Chicago.

The Chicago Slave Case.–The Chicago Tribune speaking of this case says:–

The Harris family lived near St. Louis, and had been fugitives for nearly a month. Their error was in stopping in Chicago to see a maternal relative of the wife, under the stupid fallacy that a nigger has any right to have a mother, other than a mere matter of business. The warrants for their arrest were made out by U.S. Commissioner Corneau of Springfield.

There was a general stampede on Wednesday among the fugitive slaves harbored and residing in this city and within a day or two hundreds of them will have left for Canada, a course we advise to all, who cannot make up their minds to save the country by going back to their masters.

         From the Chicago Post.

      THE AFRICAN EXCITEMENT.

   Fugitive Slaves and the Underground Railroad.

Reign of Terror Among the Colored People of Chicago.

         [From the Chicago Tribune.]

   The United States Marshal and his standing advertisement that he has fully equipped his office in the city with fellows of the right kidney, and is now willing to answer all orders, and catch all runaways, guaranteeing promptness and dispatch in so doing, has created a wonderful state of feeling among our colored citizens, to which we have before referred. In saloons and bar-rooms about town, the zealous Federal officer is praised, but good men and humane hang their heads, Republicans finding this one more consolation in the matter,––just this, that the Marshal does well to choose his tools from the party that has always kept blood-hounds in leash, ready at the slave-driver’s beck and bidding. No Republican has yet, we believe received an appointment of the Marshal.

RENDITION OF FUGITVE SLAVES FROM CHICAGO— STAMPEDE FOR CANADA— PRACTICAL ABOLISTIONIST IN KENTUCKY. — It appears, that from some cause or other, the fugitive slave law is more efficiently executed in Northern Illinois now than it was during either Pierce’s term or Buchanan’s. Few or no fugitive slaves, for instance, were returned from Chicago between the years 1853 and 1861. The consequence was that a very large number of fugitives congregated in that city, feeling themselves perfectly secure against arrest and rendition to service.

The recent instances of the arrest, and rendition of fugitive slaves, escaped into Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Illinois, under the fugitive slave law--without disorder tumult, or attempt at resistance--may be mentioned as far as these instances go, as a favorable sign of the times. It is shown that the matter, which has given such just cause of offence at the South, is still capable of being controlled by law. The carrying out of the law, too, has caused a stampede of runaway negroes in the free States, into Canada. In one sense, then, the "Canada line," is removed further from us. If runaways can only be safe in Canada it will break up the "free State trade" in the line of harboring and concealing what belongs to their neighbors under the Constitution of the country.

A general stampede of negroes is taking place. Three hundred passed over into Canada from Detroit, between Saturday and Monday evening. One hundred and six, left Chicago by Railroad on Monday evening, for Canada, and it is said that nearly one thousand fugitive slaves, who have survived in Chicago, nine last Fall, are now on their way out of the United States.

...So strongly impressed are those interested with the fact that in that region, which has heretofore been regarded as an abolitionist pandemonium, the fugitive slave law, with all other laws, will be observed, that at this moment there is a perfect stampede for Canada of the runaway slaves who felt themselves perfectly secure against recapture when the Executive power was in Democratic hands, in and about Chicago....