66 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
Detroit. When the steamer was under way the fugitive removed her 
veil and gave a farewell greeting to her master, whose turn it now was 
to be chagrined. The Quaker veiled bonnet and shawl were admirable 
disguises, and Brother Aminabab or Jonathan tenderly convoyed on his 
arm a feeble and decrepit companion, who soon proved to be a very alert 
negress. A young slave mother with her two children were placed under 
the convoy of an ardent pro-slavery man, who little thought, so fair 
was their complexion, that he was acting as an agent of the Under- 
ground Railway. 
A black nurse, brought with her mistress to Connecticut, refused to 
take advantage of being in a free state. “ Don’t you wish to be free?” 
she was asked. With impressive earnestness, she replied, “ Was there 
ever a slave that did not wish to be free? I long for liberty. I will 
get out of slavery if I can, the day after I have returned; but go back I 
must, because I promised that I would.” 
As may well be supposed, considerable amounts of money were 
needed to meet the wants and travelling expenses of these fugitives, who 
after years of toil owned not a penny, nor even themselves. Yet these 
needs were always met, humble donors giving lavishly to help the 
escaped slaves. 
The “conductors ” of this railway ran no small risk. Vigilance 
committees were organized to guard the route, aid the slave and prevent 
pursuit. Theodore Parker writes: “ Money, time, wariness, devotedness 
for months and years, that cannot be computed, and will never be 
recorded except, perhaps, in connection with cases whose details had 
peculiar interest, were nobly rendered by the true anti-slavery men.” 
They were known even to storm the Court House where a fugitive 
was confined and rescue the prisoner, not to lynch but to save him. John 
Brown, the hero of Harper’s Ferry, organized in Springfield, Mass., a 
league of “ Gileadites” to resist the enforcement of the fugitive slave 
law,—* Whosoever is fearful or afraid let him return and depart early 
from Mount Gilead.” Brown urged bold measures, the carrying of 
weapons, the rescue of the prisoners, the creating a tumult in court by 
burning gunpowder in paper packages and similar practices. “ Stand 
by one another while a drop of blood remains,” he said, “ and be hanged 
if you must, but tell no tales.” 
The fugitives were often penniless, naked and hungry. Sometimes 
they came “ in droves.” Levi Coffin had seventeen fugitives at his table 
at one time. Companies of twenty-eight or thirty were not unknown. 
They needed food, clothing and money to help them on their way. 
Although it was forbidden by law under heavy penalties to give the 
slightest assistance, yet the friends of the slaves did not hesitate to vio- 
