Transcript

    Off for Canada!

   The colored man, Daniel Webster, or as the "nigger catchers" had it, Daniel Dangerfield, whose arrest under the Fugitive Slave Law at Harrisburg, we noticed in our last, is off for Canada! After an exciting trial before the Fugitive Slave Commissioner, Longstreth, at Philadelphia, the Virginians failed to make good their claim to the human chattel, whereupon the Commissioner promptly discharged the man from custody. Deeming "discretion the better part of valor," and fearing a rearrest, with the assistance of some of the Philadelphia anti-Slaveryites, the alleged Fugitive was immediately hurried off by the Underground Railroad to that Paradise of runaway slaves, the Canadas, where he is now safe from "nigger catchers," kidnappers and Slave Commissioners. After the arrest of Webster, there was a general stampede of runaway slaves from Harrisburg, some half a dozen or more, including two waiters at Herr's Hotel, making a "bee line" due North for Her Britannic Majesty's dominions:

                "All the way to Canada!––

                Run, darkies, run!"––Harr Tel.

Citation

"Off for Canada!," Gettysburg (PA) Adams Sentinel, April 18, 1859, p. 2

Related Escape / Stampede
Location of Stampede
Pennsylvania
Coverage Type
Original
Location of Coverage- City
Gettysburg
Location of Coverage- State
Pennsylvania
Contains Stampede Term
Yes