A II V N T F. R 'S I. I FE. 15 



making nothing, and my sister was 16 or IT years old, 

 when a young man by the name of James Harvey then 

 addressed her, and they were married, much against my 

 mother's will. Then it was that she determined to leave 

 Frederick county, and go out to the backwoods. Shortly 

 after, she wrote to her friends in the West that she wished 

 to move out to them ; and a brother-in-law of hers ar- 

 ranged to get a Mr. Jacobs, who lived in Oldtown, as he 

 was coming from Baltimore with goods, to take our 

 things in his wagon and help us as far as Oldtown, 

 within a few miles of his house ; and in a few days Mr. 

 Jacobs's wagoner, a large negro, called on us to go to 

 the backwoods, then so called. We hurried and bustled 

 into the wagon, while Joshua was sent to Mr. Lee's for 

 Jeremiah to accompany us ; but, to our great disappoint- 

 ment and grief, he was not to be found. Having our 

 property all in the wagon, off went the horses, with whiji 

 cracking, mother crying, negro cursing and swearing, 

 until we were in the main road to Frederick — then the 

 insolent negro became quiet ; and an old man met us 

 with another horse, to help out with our too Iieavy load. 



We went on in good order until we reached Sideling 

 Hill, where the road was very rough and rocky : by and 

 by we arrived at a very sideling place, with a considerable 

 precipice on our left — the wheels struck a rock on the 

 other side, and away went wagon, horses, and all down 

 the hill, rolling and smashing barrels of rum, hogsheads 

 of sugar, sacks of salt, boxes of dry-goods, all tumbling 

 through one another, smashing the bed of the wagon, and 

 gpilling rum, molasses, sugar, and all. 



My frightened mother called out, " Where is Meshach ?" 

 — knowing that I was riding in the wagon when it turned 

 the dreadful somerset. All was bustle and alarm, until 

 at length I was found under some straw and rubbish, 

 8tunned, breathless, mangled, and black with suffocation. 



