of the others, and with seemingly superhuman strength, and after a short but decisive struggle hurled them with a stunning thud upon the hard macadamized road. Leaving them bruised and almost senseless upon the ground, he ran to the house and told of his encounter. The family then secreted him in the house until night, when, with money and provisions, which they gave him, he started for Canada. He wrote them afterwards that he had arrived there safely. The slave-catchers however did not pursue him further, nor were they heard of again in that neighborhood, except that all were more or less crippled from the rough handling he gave them.

"What are fifty, what a thousand slaves, Match'd to the sinew of a single arm

That strikes for liberty?"

"Black Charles and Jane," were two

66 runaways

who came to John Vickers' in 1820. The family needing help, they remained two or three months and seemed perfectly happy. This was a characteristic condition of all the fugitives while under their care. They felt they were safe while in the hands of friends who were interested in securing their liberty. Charles was kidnapped in Africa, and was as black as pigment-cells could make him. He still longed for the home of his birth, and intended when he could save sufficient means to return to the dear native spot from which he was stolen. His wife, by that Southern custom and social abomination of relationship between slave and master, was several shades lighter than he. From John Vickers they were passed on to Canada.

A number of slaves were purchased in one of the Northern Slaves States and put on board a vessel to be

taken to Louisiana. Among them was the wife of James Cummichael, a slave quite affable in his demeanor and possessing an unusual degree of cunning and sagacity. He resolved that his wife should not be taken to those Southern plantations of rice and cotton to work under the lash of brutal drivers. The slaves always had a horror of being "sold to go South." It was this great dread which impelled hundreds to leave their masters, and especially when they had an intimation that such sales were about to be made. Cummichael in the shrewdness of his device took money with him which he had earned by overwork, went to the men who had the vessel and cargo of slaves in charge, talked pleasantly with them about the prospects of his wife and others having a happy time "down in de souf," and said he thought he would like to go along. He pleased them with his conversation, played games with them, and like a liberal good fellow, paid for the liquor of which they drank largely at his expense until they grew stupid, when he took advantage of the besotted condition into which he had seduced them, took his wife and several others off the boat, fled to a grove, and there esconced himself and his companions until night when they started on their hazardous but determined journey northward to that section of country which had an existence in reality, and not simply in song, as

"The land of the free and the home of the brave."

Having successfully made their escape, they reached Pennsylvania and were conducted along the Underground Railroad to John Vickers. Here they remained awhile and assisted on the farm. So grateful was James for the release of himself and wife from Southern bond

age, that the very utmost he could do for the family seemed in his mind but a meagre compensation for their manifold acts of kindness and generosity.

Twe men came one morning in a wagon of peculiar make belonging to their master. The horse and wagon were put in the barn, and the men sent to the tenanthouse in the woods, occupied by the colored family, Robinson. Next day about noon the owners arrived at Lionville, having tracked their slaves so far. The tavern-keeper said the most probable place to hear of them would be at John Vickers', and he accompanied them to the place. The wife of Paxson Vickers, son of John, who now did most of the active work for his father, as the latter was advanced in years, told them to be seated in the house and she would send to the field for her husband who would know about them, for she had heard him say that two men drove there that morning in a peculiar-looking wagon. She entertained them by talking, and treating them to apples, nuts, etc., until Paxson arrived. Before going to the house he sent the colored man home to take the two men to a cornfield and put them under the shocks. On meeting the slaveholders he told them there was a horse and wagon at the barn which had been driven there by two men, but they left, and if they were about his buildings they were hidden unknown to him. But he would help look for them, being careful to not say he would help find them. He then accompanied them through his buildings and to the tenant-house-but the men were not found. The owners then returned with the horse and wagon.

Paxson Vickers was a man of sound thought, a clear

profound analytical and synthetical reasoner, and well versed in science. He enjoyed debates upon subjects involving a wide latitude of thought, embracing scientific facts and political economy. He spoke upon various subjects at public meetings as occasions demanded, and his grove in which he erected a stand for speakers, was a well-known place in that part of the county for the holding of temperance, anti-slavery and political meetings.

He fulfilled various duties of a public character to which he was frequently appointed. In the fall of 1856 he was elected a member of the State Legislature and took an active interest in all important bills that came before that body at its regular session in 1857, among which was an Act authorizing the sale of the Pennsylvania Railroad. He also took an active part in analyzing, and in considering the best means for adjusting the financial difficulties for which the Legislature was convened in extra session during the fall of that year.

At the following election, the opposite political party having obtained a majority in Chester county, he failed to be re-elected.

He died after a brief illness on the 22d of 10th mo. (Oct.) 1865, aged 48 years.

CHARLES MOORE.

Charles Moore lived near Lionville, but at such distance from the main route along which slaves were generally moved without much delay, that they were not very frequently sent to his place. Yet his "latch-string hung outside the door" at all times, and he was ever

willing to give assistance when called upon. He was a remarkably quiet, modest person, humane and benevolent, true to his convictions, a devoted member of the Society of Friends, and moved but little outside of that society and his immediate associations.

MICAJAH AND WILLIAM A. SPEAKMAN.

Of the hundreds of fugitives who passed through the hands of Micajah (1781-May 22d, 1852) and William A. Speakman (Born 1810) in Wallace township, Chester county, as in the instance of many other agents, no record was kept nor any effort made to learn of them concerning their bondage and escape. Should any that they had assisted ever be captured and they be colled upon to testify, they wished to have as little knowledge as possible to disclose. This was the policy of many others. They aided all who came, clothed those who needed, and gave especial care to the sick. Their place for sheltering them was at the barn. When they sent them to other stations on foot, specific directions were given. When it was required to take them in a vehicle, William accompanied them.

Slaves came to their place from Maryland and Virginia, through the hands of Thomas Garrett, Lindley Coates, Daniel Gibbons, Thomas Whitson, Gravner Marsh and others, and were either taken or directed, chiefly to the house of Jacob Haynes.

Many were sent on branch routes to Benjamin Schofield, Richard Janney and Dr. Fell, in Bucks county. Three came at one time from Maryland. One hired with Micajah; the others found places in the neighborhood. In about six weeks some person betrayed two of