(Richmond) Daily Dispatch, "Effects of the Underground Railroad," April 14, 1854

    Source citation
    "Effects of the Underground Railroad," The Daily Dispatch, 19 April 1854, pg. 2.
    Newspaper: Publication
    Richmond (VA) Dispatch
    Newspaper: Headline
    Article 4 -- No Title
    Newspaper: Page(s)
    2
    Type
    Newspaper
    Date Certainty
    Exact
    Transcriber
    Sayo Ayodele
    Transcription date

    The following text is presented here in complete form, as it originally appeared in print.  Spelling and other typographical errors have been preserved as in the original.

     

    EFFECTS OF THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD-On Saturday morning last, Capt. Wilkinson of the Night Watch, received private information that a number of slaves, owned by persons in the city, had arranged to escape to the North the next night, on board of a vessel, naming the place and the hour at which they were to embark. Capt. W. at once laid his plans to detect the fugitives, and on Sunday night directed four of the watchmen to be at a certain wharf at 9 o'clock. The officers then agreed upon a signal by which they would know each other, and two of them arrived at the delegated spot in advance of the others. They then gave their signal, the rain falling in torrents at the time, and it was promptly answered. Supposing that their partners had arrived, they started in the direction the answer came from, and soon met five negro men, three of whom they seized, the other three making their escape. Both parties having adopted the same signal, led to the frustration of Captain Wilkinson's plan. which was not to stir until the negroes had gone on board the vessel that was to take them off, but it nevertheless caused the detection of six negroes, who were about making their escape, as three others have since been arrested and confined. The names and owners of these servants are: Branch, belonging to James Winston, Fleming Jackson, owned by Mr. Bailey, William, owned by Wm. Greanor, Alexander, owned by Mrs. Mettard, Joshua, hired to Mr. Greanor, and Robert, owned by George W. Gilliam. Each of these men had extra suits of clothes, some of them wearing as many as three suits, and all of them had money-one as much as $70.

    We trust that before the week closes we shall have the pleasure of giving the name of at least one of the vile agents of the Abolitionists, who are so busily engaged in sowing discord among our slave population, and compelling masters to parts with servants that otherwise would never have been separated. Capt. Wilkinson deserves credit for his promptness in this matter and we hope he may yet be successful in bringing the guilty agent to justice.

    How to Cite This Page: "(Richmond) Daily Dispatch, "Effects of the Underground Railroad," April 14, 1854," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/index.php/node/846.