Collected Articles.docx

1、Collected ArticlesCollected Articles of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass In the first narrative of my experience in slavery, written nearly forty years ago, and in various writings since, I have given the public what I considered very good reasons for withholding the manner of my escape. In

2、substance these reasons were, first, that such publication at any time during the existence of slavery might be used by the master against the slave, and prevent the future escape of any who might adopt the same means that I did.The second reason was, if possible, still more binding to silence:the p

3、ublication of details would certainly have put in peril the persons and property of those who assisted. Murder itself was not more sternly and certainly punished in the State of Maryland than that of aiding and abetting the escape of a slave.Many colored men, for no other crime than that of giving a

4、id to a fugitive slave, have, like Charles T. Torrey, perished in prison.The abolition of slavery in my native State and throughout the country, and the lapse of time, render the caution hitherto observed no longer necessary. But even since the abolition of slavery, I have sometimes thought it well

5、enough to baffle curiosity by saying that while slavery existed there were good reasons for not telling the manner of my escape, and since slavery had ceased to exist, there was no reason for telling it.I shall now, however, cease to avail myself of this formula, and, as far as I can, endeavor to sa

6、tisfy this very natural curiosity.I should, perhaps, have yielded to that feeling sooner, had there been anything very heroic or thrilling in the incidents connected with my escape, for I am sorry to say I have nothing of that sort to tell; and yet the courage that could risk betrayal and the braver

7、y which was ready to encounter death, if need be, in pursuit of freedom, were essential features in the undertaking. My success was due to address rather than courage, to good luck rather than bravery. My means of escape were provided for me by the very men who were making laws to hold and bind me m

8、ore securely in slavery.It was the custom in the State of Maryland to require the free colored people to have what were called free papers.These instruments they were required to renew very often, and by charging a fee for this writing, considerable sums from time to time were collected by the State

9、. In these papers the name, age, color, height, and form of the freeman were described, together with any scars or other marks upon his person which could assist in his identification. This device in some measure defeated itself-since more than one man could be found to answer the same general descr

10、iption. Hence many slaves could escape by personating the owner of one set of papers; and this was often done as follows: A slave, nearly or sufficiently answering the description set forth in the papers, would borrow or hire them till by means of them he could escape to a free State, and then, by m

11、ail or otherwise, would return them to the owner. The operation was a hazardous one for the lender as well as for the borrower. A failure on the part of the fugitive to send back the papers would imperil his benefactor, and the discovery of the papers in possession of the wrong man would imperil bot

12、h the fugitive and his friend. It was, therefore, an act of supreme trust on the part of a freeman of color thus to put in jeopardy his own liberty that another might be free. It was, however, not unfrequently bravely done, and was seldom discovered.I was not so fortunate as to resemble any of my fr

13、ee acquaintances sufficiently to answer the description of their papers.But I had a friend-a sailor-who owned a sailors protection, which answered somewhat the purpose of free papers-describing his person, and certifying to the fact that he was a free American sailor.The instrument had at its head t

14、he American eagle, which gave it the appearance at once of an authorized document.This protection, when in my hands, did not describe its bearer very accurately. Indeed, it called for a man much darker than myself, and close examination of it would have caused my arrest at the start.In order to avoi

15、d this fatal scrutiny on the part of railroad officials, I arranged with Isaac Rolls, a Baltimore hackman, to bring my baggage to the Philadelphia train just on the moment of starting, and jumped upon the car myself when the train was in motion.Had I gone into the station and offered to purchase a t

16、icket, I should have been instantly and carefully examined, and undoubtedly arrested.In choosing this plan I considered the jostle of the train, and the natural haste of the conductor, in a train crowded with passengers, and relied upon my skill and address in playing the sailor, as described in my

17、protection, to do the rest. One element in my favor was the kind feeling which prevailed in Baltimore and other sea-ports at the time, toward those who go down to the sea in ships. Free trade and sailors rights just then expressed the sentiment of the country. In my clothing I was rigged out in sail

18、or style.I had on a red shirt and a tarpaulin hat, and a black cravat tied in sailor fashion carelessly and loosely about my neck. My knowledge of ships and sailors talk came much to my assistance, for I knew a ship from stem to stern, and from keelson to cross-trees, and could talk sailor like an o

19、ld salt. I was well on the way to Havre de Grace before the conductor came into the negro car to collect tickets and examine the papers of his black passengers. This was a critical moment in the drama.My whole future depended upon the decision of this conductor.Agitated though I was while this cerem

20、ony was proceeding, still, externally, at least, I was apparently calm and self-possessed.He went on with his duty-examining several colored passengers before reaching me. He was somewhat harsh in tome and peremptory in manner until he reached me, when, strange enough, and to my surprise and relief,

21、 his whole manner changed. Seeing that I did not readily produce my free papers, as the other colored persons in the car had done, he said to me, in friendly contrast with his bearing toward the others:I suppose you have your free papers?To which I answered:No sir; I never carry my free papers to se

22、a with me.But you have something to show that you are a freeman, havent you?Yes, sir, I answered; I have a paper with the American Eagle on it, and that will carry me around the world.With this I drew from my deep sailors pocket my seamans protection, as before described. The merest glance at the pa

23、per satisfied him, and he took my fare and went on about his business. This moment of time was one of the most anxious I ever experienced.Had the conductor looked closely at the paper, he could not have failed to discover that it called for a very different-looking person from myself, and in that ca

24、se it would have been his duty to arrest me on the instant, and send me back to Baltimore from the first station. When he left me with the assurance that I was all right, though much relieved, I realized that I was still in great danger: I was still in Maryland, and subject to arrest at any moment.

25、I saw on the train several persons who would have known me in any other clothes, and I feared they might recognize me, even in my sailor rig,and report me to the conductor, who would then subject me to a closer examination, which I knew well would be fatal to me.Though I was not a murderer fleeing f

26、rom justice, I felt perhaps quite as miserable as such a criminal. The train was moving at a very high rate of speed for that epoch of railroad travel, but to my anxious mind it was moving far too slowly. Minutes were hours, and hours were days during this part of my flight. After Maryland, I was to

27、 pass through Delaware-another slave State, where slave-catchers generally awaited their prey, for it was not in the interior of the State, but on its borders, that these human hounds were most vigilant and active.The border lines between slavery and freedom were the dangerous ones for the fugitives

28、. The heart of no fox or deer, with hungry hounds on his trail in full chase, could have beaten more anxiously or noisily than did mine from the time I left Baltimore till I reached Philadelphia.The passage of the Susquehanna River at Havre de Grace was at that time made by ferry-boat, on board of w

29、hich I met a young colored man by the name of Nichols, who came very near betraying me. He was a hand on the boat, but, instead of minding his business, he insisted upon knowing me, and asking me dangerous questions as to where I was going, when I was coming back, etc. I got away from my old and inc

30、onvenient acquaintance as soon as I could decently do so, and went to another part of the boat. Once across the river, I encountered a new danger.Only a few days before, I had been at work on a revenue cutter, in Mr. Prices ship-yard in Baltimore, under the care of Captain McGowan.On the meeting at

31、this point of the two trains, the one going south stopped on the track just opposite to the one going north, and it so happened that this Captain McGowan sat at a window where he could see me very distinctly, and would certainly have recognized me had he looked at me but for a second. Fortunately, i

32、n the hurry of the moment, he did not see me; and the trains soon passed each other on their respective ways. But this was not my only hair-breadth escape. A German blacksmith whom I knew well was on the train with me, and looked at me very intently, as if he thought he had seen me somewhere before in his travels. I really believe he knew me, but had no heart to betray me. At any rate, he saw me escaping and held his peace.The last point of imminent danger, and the one I dreaded most, was Wilmington. Here we left the train and took the steam-boat for Philadelphia. In making the change here