m
- !Y
/ ^ yi/
TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
OF
JONATHAN WALKER,
AT PENSACOLA, FLORIDA,
FOR
AIDING SLAVES TO ESCAPE FROM BONDAGE.
WITH AN
APPENDIX,
CONTAINING A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE.
"All things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even
so unto them. For this is the law and the prophets."
BOSTON:
PUBLISHED AT THE ANTI-SLAVERY OFFICE
25 Cornhill.
1846.
CA6£
£h$0
if ft
Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1845, by
JONATHAN WALKER.
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts.
Stereotyped by
GEORGE A. CURTIS;
NEW ENGLAND TYPE AND STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY.
PREFACE.
On his return from Florida,* after his release, Captain
Walker called on me with the manuscript narrative of his
trial and imprisonment. In common with very many of the
members of the American Anti-Slavery Society, I had long
known his character as a man of the strictest veracity and
the highest conscientiousness ; and his narrative seemed to
me to cast so strong a light upon the religious, the moral,
and the political condition of the United States, from the
practical workings of their great organic law — the constitu-
tion— down to the minutest of the territorial usages and
enactments which result from that law ; and to exhibit hi
so clear a view the contrast between the principles and
ideas which at present govern the public mind, and those
which are beginning to struggle for the mastery, that I
could not but warmly urge this publication.
There are those who doubt whether the North is as
guilty as the South with respect to slavery ; whether the
system is degrading to the slave and disgraceful to the mas-
ter ; whether the slave is cruelly treated ; whether the
system is injurious to the reputation of this country, a
reproach to its Christianity, and ruinous to the character of
its people.
There are also those who, while they condemn slavery,
at the same time assert that its extinction may be best pro-
moted by studied silence, and by a quiet waiting for the
gradual operations of a moral and religious system which
declares that it is not in its nature sinful, and justifies it
from the Scriptures ; and of a political and governmental
system which is a solemn guaranty in its favor.
There are those, too, who believe the abolitionists to be
IV PREFACE.
instigated by a bitter, unkind, fanatical and insurrectionary
spirit ; hostile to law and order, sectional in their views, and
possessed by one idea.
And there are others, who, honoring the holy cause, and
respecting the disinterestedness of abolitionists, yet justify
themselves in standing aloof from the movement, under the
idea of being better able to befriend the cause by refusing to
be numbered among its adherents, and suffering themselves
to be counted in the ranks of the opponents.
It was for the sake of all these classes that I most
earnestly urged Captain Walker to give to the public, whose
great majority they compose, the manuscript which he had
prepared for the satisfaction of his friends.
When they see, in its unstudied pages, the good, forgiving,
self-denying spirit of the Christian, the indomitable deter-
mination of the Freeman, and the severe devotedness of the
Puritan, all uniting in an unconscious exhibition of the
uncompromising Abolitionist, I cannot but hope that their
hearts will be touched by the excellence of the example.
It is to be lamented that many interesting and illustrative
incidents must be suppressed, out of regard to the safety of
individuals, whose liberties and lives their publication would
endanger ; yet what could, better than such a fact, illustrate
the condition of slaves and freemen in the United States of
North America ; or better plead the cause of those few of
the inhabitants who are pronounced by the rest to be over
zealous, because they have been the first to perceive what all
will soon be obliged to acknowledge, — that the liberties of
our land are gone ? It was a deep observation of facts that
led Montesquieu to say, " A republic may lose its liberties in 'N
a day, and not find it out for a century." The day that sunk
ours, was that of the adoption of the Federal Constitution —
the day when we perpetrated, as a nation, an eternal wrong
for the sake of guilty prosperity and peace. But it now
begins to be very plainly discerned, that between slavery
and freedom there can be no covenant. The futile hope of
PREFACE. V
our fathers, in attempting' such a one, was peace ; — after the
lapse of sixty years, their descendants hear from that guilty
past,
'•' Ancestral voice3, prophesying War ! "
The narrative of Frederick Douglass gives a picture of the
condition of a slave in the land that their folly and their fear
betrayed. That of Jonathan Walker shows the condition
of the freeman whose lot is cast in the same land, little more
than half a century only after the perpetration of that
treason to humanity.
The most ignominious tortures are now the lot of him
who, in the United States of America, determines to be truly
a freeman, nor lose his own liberties with the sinking ones
of the republic ; of him whose liberty it is to choose his part
with the enslaved, and not with the slaveholder.
It may but prove, in the language of those old puritans
whose blood yet floods a Massachusetts heart so strongly,
" a greater liberty to suffer, a more freedom to die." Yet
whatever be the result, God grant, throughout the land, a
continual outpouring of that free, devoted spirit to us and to
our children ! a spirit which, by the might of its good will,
by the strength of its sense of duty, shall overcome tyranny,
prejudice and cruelty ; bigotry, avarice and knavery ; and
the whole array of sins of which slavery is at once the cause
and the effect.
This is a painful tale for an American to read, and
think, meanwhile, that it is circulating through the civilized
world ; but, if worthy of the name, he will find comfort in
the thought that it is confirming the abolitionist and con-
futing the slave-holder, showing an example to both of the
dutiful obedience to right, which is mighty to save a nation
from utter reproach and destruction.
It will be a painful tale for all, to whom the carefully
concealed features and inevitable consequences of the slave-
system have never before been exhibited. Such are to be
1#
Tl PREFACE.
found at the South as well as at tie North ; and both will
do well, in the intensity of their pain and disgust, to remem-
ber the words of Garrison :
" Let us not sentimentally shrink from such knowledge ;
we will know what we have to do, that we may more surely
do it. We go forth to take off chains ; and there is need
that our virtue should be robust."
Very consoling is the reflection that this uprising of the
heart against wrong is not a sectional one, but felt at the
south as well as at the north, by men of all parties and of
all sects.
Very exalting is the idea that the virtual slaveholder of
the north, not merely reproaching the planter, the overseer
and the driver, has begun the work of self-sacrificing reform
with his own heart, by refusing all political and ecclesiasti-
cal participation in their deed. The abolition of slavery is"1
sure, since these most guilty and efficient slaveholders begin
to make abolitionism not only an ethical statement, but a :
Christian life.
Maria Weston Chapman.
Boston, August, 1845.
TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
OF
JONATHAN WALKER
CHAPTER I.
Having been arraigned before the public by
providential circumstances of a somewhat unusual
nature, and having been the subject of much remark
and ridicule ; passing " through evil report and good
report," throughout the United States, and having
received tokens of sympathy from abroad in conse-
quence of the treatment I received from the tribunals
of my own country for an attempted act of kindness
towards some of the down-trodden of my own country-
men ; and confident that but a scanty and imperfect
knowledge of the case has found its way to the people,
who have a right to know the real facts ; it appears to
be a matter of duty to them and the cause for which I
have suffered, that I should relate the substance of the
whole transaction as it actually occurred. This I
have endeavored to do with much carefulness in avoid-
ing all false coloring or deviation from the simple
truth.
8 TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
Having never been favored with an education, and
laboring under the disadvantage of writing hastily, on
my passage home, as I found opportunity, the narrative
will not be so attractive as it otherwise might be. But
such readers as desire a simple ungarnished statement
of the case, will, I hope, find their minds led by it to a
subject of the first consideration to every American
citizen.
I look upon the southern States as the most favored
part of my country, which nature seems to have done
and to be doing much more for, than for the northern
States. Their soft and genial climate, their rich and
luxuriant soil, their long and uniform summers, their
short and mild winters, their beautiful timber forests
and great water-privileges, all far exceed those of New
England, in my opinion ; and I am fully under the
impression that I could support my family at the
south for less than half the labor and exertions that I
can at the north. Neither are the customs of the peo-
ple there more repugnant to my feelings than the cus-
toms of the northern people generally, with the
exception of what belongs to the system of slavery. I
have long since cast into oblivion all sectional and
hostile feelings toward my fellow-men. I have no ill-
will to the slave-holders, or the advocates of slavery ;
but I pity them for their awful depravity in regarding
as property those who are, by the rule of right and the
laws of God, entitled to the same privileges and bene-
fits as themselves. It is the system of slavery, that
sheds mildew upon the fair prospects of our country
— blasting its social, political, moral, and religious
prosperity — which I do unhesitatingly contend against;
OF JONATHAN WALKER. 9
since the master's true interest and rights do not suffer
in consequence of his slaves becoming free laborers ;
for they cannot, I say it emphatically, be his property,
nor can his rights consist in other people's wrongs.
I have spent a good deal of time in the southern
States, and have closely and carefully observed the
mode and operation of the slave system in several of
them ; and have lived five to six years with my fam-
ily in Pensacola, Florida ; being known by the people
generally to be hostile to the system of slavery.
Twice, while living there, I was called upon by differ-
ent persons, — the chief executive officers or mayors
for the time being, — in consequence of the reports in
circulation that I was on good terms with the colored
people ; and it was intimated that there was danger in
regard to my peace and safety, for should the people
be excited in consequence of my discountenance of
some of their rules and customs respecting the asso-
ciation of white with colored men, it would be out of
their power to shield me from violence.
CHAPTER II.
Late in the fall of 1843, 1 left my home in Harwich,
Massachusetts, and took passage on board of a vessel
bound for Mobile, where I spent the winter and spring
— mostly in working at the ship-wright business, which
is my trade.
I left Mobile on the 2d June, 1844, for Pensacola.
10 TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
in a boat belonging to myself; chiefly for the purpose
of raising a part of the wreck of a vessel sunk near
the latter place, for the sake of getting the copper that
was attached to it. I arrived on the 4th, made some
examination and some inquiry about the wreck, and
was informed that it was claimed by a citizen of the
place. Although it had been sunk there more than
thirty years, no effort had been made to raise it. I
called on the person who claimed it, but we could not
agree on terms. I passed up the bay thirty or forty
miles, to see an old friend or two, stayed a few days,
and returned to Pensacola again. Soon after, I had
an interview with three or four persons that were dis-
posed to leave the place. I gave them to understand
that if they chose to go to the Bahama Islands in my
boat, I would share the risk with them. Preparations
were made, and on the evening of the 22d, seven men
came on board the boat, and we left the place, went out
of the harbor, and followed in the direction of the
coast to the eastward. We had for several days
strong head winds, with frequent squalls and rain.
I had for two days been somewhat unwell, hav-
ing been much exposed to the violence of the sun,
and had been what is called sun-struck, and was
now exposed to the sudden changing elements night
and day in an open boat. On the 26th, we arrived at
St. Andre's harbor, where we stopped part of the day,
dried our clothing, cooked some provisions, recruited
the water-barrel, and I took an emetic. In the even-
ing we left, and the next day run up St. Joseph's
Bay, with the intention of taking the boat across into
St. George's Sound, to avoid going round Cape
OF JONATHAN WALKER. 11
St. Blass; but we found the distance too great,
abandoned the idea, and passed out of the bay again
and went round the cape. On the 28-9th, went
through St. George's Sound, stopping a few hours at
St. George's Island to cook a little, and recruit our
water. We passed Apalacha Bay, following some-
what the direction of the coast, and on the 1st of July
were in the vicinity of Cedar Keys.^ Up to this
time my sickness had still increased, and I was so
unwell as to be obliged to leave the management of
the boat pretty much entirely to those that were with
me, for by spells I wTas somewhat delirious. I
remember looking at the red horizon in the west,
soon after sun-dowTn, as I thought for the last time in
this world, not expecting to behold that glorious lumi-
nary shedding its scorching rays on me more.
While using the remaining faculties which I pos-
sessed, in aid of the slave's escape from his master, the
reader may be anxious to know the state of my mind
at that time, when in prospect of speedy dissolution,
on the subject of slavery; or, more properly, of my
anti-slavery feeling. Among other things, my mind
was occupied on that subject also, and I calmly and
deliberately thought it over ; and, as on other occa-
sions, came to the conclusion that slavery was evil
and only evil, and that continually; and that any
mode or process of emancipation, short of blood-shed
or the sacrifice of principle, would not be in violation
* From the shore of the west and south part of the peninsula of
Florida, shoal ground extends to a considerable distance, on which
are numerous small islands denominated Keys, each having its own
separate name.
12 TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
of right or duty, but the contrary; and therefore
calculated to secure the approbation of that great
" Judge of all the earth, who doeth right," and before
whose presence I soon expected to appear.
After passing this night, I scarcely know how, the
next morning I found myself more comfortable, and
felt some relief. In a day or two after, (for I was now
unable to keep the run of time,) we landed on one of
St. Martin's Keys, and cooked provisions, but could
get no water. For several days nature and my disease
seemed to be about on a balance, and it was doubtful
which would rule the day ; I took another emetic,
made free use of cayenne pepper and bitters, which
appeared to have a good effect, and in a few days my
face was nearly covered with sores, and my whole
system, which had been so much oppressed that I
could with difficulty respire, felt much relieved. But
my strength and flesh were nearly gone, and the sys-
tem so much reduced, that it is a wonder to me how,
after undergoing so much privation, exposure, and the
treatment that followed, I was enabled to recover at all.
We continued down the coast, landing several
times in search of water, without being able to get
any, but being confident that we should find some at
Cape Florida, where we intended to stop before cross-
ing the gulf. But fortunately, or unfortunately,
which, I cannot tell, at day-break on the morning
of July the 8th, we saw two sloops1* within a short
* The sloops were wrecking vessels of eighty or ninety tons,
manned with fifteen or twenty men each, and sailed very fast.
They are employed for the sake of saving or getting what they can
from vessels wrecked on the coast. They hailed from Key West.
OF JONATHAN WALKER. IS
distance, standing towards us. In a few moments
they came within hail, and inquired, " Where are you
from, and where are you bound?" I answered,
" From St. Joseph's, bound to Cape Florida."^ The
captain of one of the sloops said, " I am going that
way, and will give you a tow ;" at the same time he
ran alongside of the boat and made a rope fast to it,
and invited us on board the sloop. The men were
going on board, when I advised them to stay in the
boat. Four of them had stepped on board, but one
immediately returned. The others were not allowed
to. The sloop directly reversed her course and run
back where she had come from, and anchored. I
requested the captain to allow the men to return in the
boat ; he made no reply, but took his boat and went
on board of the other sloop, which had followed him
back to the anchorage. Soon after he returned and
requested me to come on board the vessel. I, being
then exposed to the violent heat of the sun, thought it
prudent to comply, confident that we should be
detained at all events. While on board I was treated
with civility, and permitted to pass the time in the
cabin or on deck, as I chose for my convenience or
comfort. We were then forty or fifty miles from
Cape Florida, and if we had not been detained, would
have got there before night, and been ready to cross
* The reader has seen that St. Joseph's was the last port we
left, and we intended to call at Cape Florida. This has heen used
to make it appear that I resorted to falsehood, hecause we had
started from Pensacola, and were bound, ultimately, to Nassau, New
Providence.
2
14 TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
the gulf the next morning. But our voyage was up,
and we had other prospects now before us.
We had now been fourteen days on our passage,
and had sailed and rowed more than seven hundred
miles ; but for the last eight or ten days the weather
had proved more uniform and mild, and the winds
favorable but light. Had I been well, it is probable
we should not have been more than ten or twelve days
to this place, and saved much distance by running
more direct courses. If we had been one hour sooner
or later in passing this place, we should not have
come in contact with those vessels. Since leaving St.
Martin's Keys, whenever we landed, we were harassed
with swarms of mosquitoes, each anxious to have his
bill entered without examination or delay. The sloop
lay at anchor until night, then got under way and run
for Key West, with the boat in tow, where she arrived
the next day afternoon.
CHAPTER III.
I was now taken before a magistrate, borne by two
men, not being able to walk alone. There I was re-
quired to give bail in the sum of one thousand dollars
for my appearance at the next November court ; but
being unable to do so, I was committed to jail, or rather
to the house in which the constable lived. I was placed
in a small room on the second floor, with three other
prisoners, but slept in the room with the constable and
family ; the prisoners eat at the same table the family
OF JONATHAN WALKER. 15
did, after they had eaten. I was handcuffed one
night, but was permitted to use my hands the rest of
the time while there, in fighting mosquitoes, which
were very annoying at all times.
3 Lost of my things which I had in the boat were
brought from the vessel by the sheriff, and placed in
charge of the constable, with the exception of a trunk
and bundle of clothing which I was allowed to retain
for my own use. I begged to be allowed to retain a
small trunk of botanic medicine which I had, but was
refused. After remaining at this place three days, it
was said there wras much excitement in the village,
and I was escorted by the constable, sheriff, esquire,
and district attorney, to the soldiers' barracks, and con-
fined in a room with another prisoner, where I stayed
but one night, and the next day was put on board the
steamboat General Taylor, in the United States' em-
ploy, to be taken to Pensacola. I requested that my
effects, which were in charge of the constable, might
be taken with me, but it was not complied with ; and
I have not been able to learn anything from them
since, except that they wTere sold. I subsequently
wrote twice to the sheriff, but received no answer.
They were of no great value, but to one in my cir-
cumstances, it was a good deal. I had an excellent
spy-glass, for which I paid twenty dollars, and a chest
of carpenter's tools, and several other articles, besides
some things that the sheriff said he could not find on
board of the sloop. My boat and the seven men were
put on board of another sloop, (named the Reform,)
and sent to Pensacola previous to my leaving Key
West.
16 TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
I was placed down the hold of the steamboat, on
the ceiling, where it was very filthy, and put in
double irons, (both hands and feet,) where I was
kept for six days, with the exception of being per-
mitted to come on deck a few hours in a day, and
sit or lie upon the hatches. The food given me was
salt beef, pork, and navy-bread, with a slight exception.
We left Key West on the 13th, went to Tampa Bay,
took in some wood, and on the night of the 18th
arrived at Pensacola navy-yard. The next day I was
conducted to Pensacola by the deputy-marshal in a
small boat, and 'in a rainstorm, (distance eight mil.
On landing at the wharf, there was a large col''
of people, who appeared to be very talkative, and s
were noisy; but no violence was attempted
summoning all the strength I could muster, I
ceeded in walking to the court-house. Th i
was already convened, whether solely on
count or not, I do not know. My trunk and I
were searched, but nothing taken therefrom,
required to give bail in the sum of ten thousa<
lars, or be committed to prison to await my trial v.
ever it should take place : with me there was
alternative but to comply with the latter. I attempted
to walk to the jail in company with the marshal and
constable, but gave out by the way, and was carried
there in a cart, placed in a room by myself, and
secured to a ring-bolt by a large size log-chain, and a
shackle of round iron, weighing about five pounds,
round the ankle. The marshal searched my person,
found on me about fifteen dollars in money, which
he took, but afterwards gave me again. The floor
OF JONATHAN WALKER. 17
was my bed, seat, and table ; and it was nearly a
month before I could procure anything to lie upon,
other than a few clothes which I had with me. But
I finally succeeded in getting a chair, small table, and
some straw, of which I made a pallet on the floor, and
it served for my bed during my imprisonment.
Although the rage of my disease had much abated,
I was still kept low, and suffered from alternate chills
and fever, attended with much pain in the head and
distress at the stomach ; but I gradually gained
strength, and by eating a large quantity of red-peppers
got rid of the chills, and in about three months was
nearly restored to health again.
In three or four days after I had arrived in Pensa-
cola, the sloop Reform arrived with the other men and
my boat. Soon after, Robert C. Caldwell called to
see me, and appeared very friendly, saying that he did
not intend to punish his servants for going away with
me ; and intimated that the custom-house and the
wreckers both had claims on the boat, and it was very
doubtful whether I should be able to realize anything
for her ; and as he had lost a good deal by his ser-
vants' going away with me, if I would consent for him
to have the boat, he would try to compromise with the
claimants, and might get something for it. Placing
some confidence in what he said, and thinking that a
refusal might excite a spirit of revenge, and that if
disposed, he could make my situation more desperate
than it was already, and being of the opinion that I
should not be able to realize anything from it if I
refused him, I consented for him to get wThat he could
from it ; and so put an end to what I had there in the
2* 2
18 TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
shape of property. I should be no further harassed
on that point.
The jail is a brick building of two stories, about
eighteen by thirty-six feet, having upon each floor two
rooms, the lower part for the occupation of the prison-
ers, and the upper part for the jailer's family. The
rooms for the prisoners are fifteen to sixteen feet
square, with double doors, and two small grated win-
dows from six to eight feet from the lower floor. Over-
head is a single board floor, which but little obstructs
the noise of the upper part from being distinctly heard
below, and vice versa.
About twenty feet from the jail, and fronting the
windows, was a wooden building denominated the
kitchen. Its door having previously taken lefuge in
the fire, and the wooden windows shutting onl\ as
the wind blew them to, I had a pretty fai view of
what was transacted there from the only window
which I could look out of, and from which I was often
compelled to turn away, for the scene was too disgust-
ing to look upon. There was scolding and cow-
hiding dealt out without measure, and the filthiness
far exceeded anything I ever saw before connected
with cooking. The place was a common resort for all
the lank and starving domestics about the premises,
seeking to pacify their hungry rage where the cook
performed ; and one might truly say that
The cook and the hens for the kitchen went snacks,
With two horses, three dogs, and five cats ;
for there the cook, the poultry, and the horse might be
seen helping themselves from the same meal barrel, and
OP JONATHAN WALKER. 19
the dogs cleaning the cooking utensils, and some-
times taking a favorite bit from the market-basket,
before its contents had been otherwise disposed of.
The board on which the food was prepared for cook-
ing, was common to the tread of the cats and the
poultry. The cook was a slave woman, and had a
small straight-haired child, whose lungs were the
strongest of any human being I ever saw of its size,
and it made the freest use of them. For hours
and hours of each day, for months, my ears rang with
its tormenting screams, for it could not be called cry-
ing. And to make the matter still worse, there were
three more small children of the family, all, alas !
having the same habits ; and no reasonable means or
effort appeared to be put forth to reduce their noise.
The young band were allowed to continue or to cease
their music at their pleasure.
For many years I have been in the habit of being
much among children, and am passionately fond of
them, and delight to mingle in their company and
sports ; and I well know that children will cry, and to
stop them entirely, could only be done by stopping their
breath. But there is a vast difference between crying
naturally and occasionally, and screaming at the top of
one's voice with rage and passion, trying at each
breath to exceed the previous note, for hours together.
I do not wish to exaggerate, but, to speak within
bounds, I honestly think that for the first three months
I was there, crying would occupy six hours per day;
and frequently two or three would be under way at a
time.
The reader may imagine me worn down by expo-
20 TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
sure and disease almost to a skeleton ; and that deli-
cate organ, the brain, which is the seat of the nerves,
having been powerfully affected by violent action upon
it, was now rendered much more susceptible to the
least impression. My stomach, from weakness and
loss of digestive powers, rejected and loathed most of
the common food of life; and, while the system was
harassed with violent chills and fever, I was chained
to the sleepers of a solitary cell, rolling from side to
side, and shifting from one position to another on the
floor to relieve my aching bones, which were covered
with little more than the skin wrapped over them.
Let the reader imagine him or herself in this situation,
and it will be clearly seen that these, with other things
of a kindred nature, must have had a very sensible effect
to aggravate the misery and sufferings of imprisonment.
One of my first objects after I was incarcerated,
was to procure such nourishment as would not quarrel
with nature, and this I found rather difficult at first ;
a part of the jail feed I could not relish, and if I
attempted to eat it, it would sicken and distress me.
The bread, a dish of soup once a day, and sometimes
a little fish, was all that I could eat of my rations,
and it was difficult to get any one to bring me any-
thing for two or three weeks. But I finally succeeded
in getting a Dane, who kept a grocery, to let his boy
bring me such things as I needed, and by this means
I obtained much relief and accommodation throughout
my confinement; and both the father and his little
son, who was very attentive to my wrants, are entitled
to my grateful and warmest thanks.
For several months my feet and legs were much
OF JONATHAN WALKER. 21
swelled, and the first irons I had on were partly huried
in the flesh, but after some weeks' entreaty they were
taken off and replaced by others larger. On the 4th
September I was moved to the adjoining room ; and
here were two objects which attracted my attention.
On one side of the room, much of the floor was stained
with the blood of a slave, who had three days before
committed suicide by cutting open his belly and throat
with a razor ; he had been committed that morning,
charged with stealing, but it was subsequently ascer-
tained that the article which he was accused of steal-
had only been removed by some other person to
r place, and nothing had the appearance of dis-
v in the case. But life had gone, and neither
nor skill could restore it. I have no doubt
.serable condition as a slave to a severe mas-
e expectation of undergoing severe punish-
he alleged offence, was the cause of his put-
i to his degraded existence. This was one
'en slaves whom I had vainly endeavored to
bondage, and on whose aecount I was now
ed.
other object was the chain to which I was
hied, it being the same which I had noticed fas-
' to the leg of Isaac, a slave man under sentence
of death, nearly three years previous. The day
before he was to be executed, I called to see him. He
had undergone three trials, charged with committing
a rape upon a woman of doubtful character. The
two first juries did not agree, but the third rendered a
verdict of guilty, and consequently he was sentenced
to be hung the day following my visit. He still per-
22 TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
sisted in his innocence, forgiving his accusers, and
appeared much resigned to his expected fate. His
mind appeared calm, and he manifested confidence in
the mercy of God through his Son. A petition, nu-
merously signed, had been forwarded to the governor
of the territory, but as yet no intelligence had arrived.
I had conversed with the prisoner a few moments,
and we had knelt together in supplication, in His
name who is able to take away the sting of death and
smooth its rough passage, by his own blood, rendering
it safe to all who truly and faithfully trust in Him for
divine aid. We had scarcely risen, when the mar-
shal entered, and read a letter from the governor con-
taining the full pardon of the condemned man, and
ordered his irons to be taken off, and delivered him up
to his master ; and I saw him no more. But while I
am writing this, I can see and feel the same chain
attached to my leg. But few, if any, believed Isaac to
be guilty of the charge against him, but that the pros-
ecution was raised, on pecuniary considerations, out of
revenge towards his master. And what is my crime ?
what have I done ? I have attempted to assist a few
of my fellow-beings to escape from bondage, to which
they were subjected for no cause over which they or
their ancestors had any control ; but because they
were of the weaker party, and had not the power to
assert their rights among men.
From about the year 1822, I began to go amongst
slavery, and from that time, on all occasions which
presented, I tried to inform myself of its mode of
operation, and have, in several of the slave states,
scrutinized it in the parlor and in the kitchen, in the
OF JONATHAN WALKER. 23
cottage and in the field, in the city and in the country ;
and have long since made up my mind that it ranked
with the highest wrongs and crimes that ever were
invented by the enemy of man, and ingeniously con-
trived to destroy the social and kind feelings existing
between man and man, and the virtue and morals of
both the master and the slave ; subjecting one to the
deepest degradation and misery, and the other to dis-
sipation, and contempt of the laws and government of
God. It is a family, community, political, and na-
tional poison ; — obstructing the circulation of friendly
and Christian sympathy, and giving vent to the worst
passions and most debasing and corroding feelings
that human nature can experience.
CHAPTER IV.
In addition to what has been already said respecting
the jail, and what was transacted there, I will make a
short extract from a journal I kept while there, and
in so doing, shall have to be somewhat personal —
which I should be glad to avoid if I could do justice to
the subject ; but shall be careful to avoid everything
which is not strictly true, and void of false coloring ;
and if some individuals find their names here brought
in juxtaposition with some improper transactions, they
will have no occasion to charge me with falsehood or
malignity. I had scarcely been secured in my cage
like some rabid, dangerous animal, before I found I
24 TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
Had to encounter a species of torment which I had not
counted on, in the terrible amount of noise from the
domestics about the premises ; for I was continually
afflicted with a severe headache, and now it was
brought in contact with circumstances directly calcu-
lated to increase it.
The family consisted of F. T. the jailer — L. T. his
wife, and six children ; a mulatto woman and her
child, five or six months old. Of course the work
about the yard and kitchen devolved on the slave
woman, who, by the bye, was not without her faults.
She had been brought up in the family under the
lash, as the only stimulant, which, as a natural conse-
quence, had instilled the most bitter hatred and care-
lessness, with other kindred qualifications.
July 19. When I was committed, there was one
slave man in the adjoining room, for what I know not.
22. L. T. whipped the cook.^
25. I wrote to Benj. D. Wright, counsellor at law,
requesting an interview. L. T. whipped the cook
twice.
28. Four of the slaves who had left with me were
brought here and put in the adjoining room. L. T.
whipped the cook.
29. My health a little improved ; could sit up half
the day. Wrote to my wife.
Aug. 1. L. T. whipped the cook.
4. L. T. " " "
* Whenever the cook was whipped, it was done, with a few
exceptions, with a raw-hide switch, about three feet in length, gen-
erally from twenty to fifty strokes at a time.
OF JONATHAN WALKER.
25
5. The four fugitive slaves in the adjoining room
whipped fifty blows each, with a paddle.
S. Were taken out ; with much difficulty could
walk, being very sore. Cook whipped twice, once by
L. T. and once by F. T.
12. A fugitive slave man caught and committed.
L. T . whipped the cook.
14. L. T. whipped the cook.
17. « « « " " four times. Mistress
dreadfully cross.
19. L. T. whipped the cook.
21. " " " " " twice.
22. The slave man committed on the 12th, taken
out and sent to Alabama.
2S. L. T. whipped the cook ; children got some
too ; lots of scolding dealt out, in both English and
French. Slave woman committed ; had been brought
from New Orleans by mistake on board steamboat.
30. L. T. whipped the cook. L. T. confined;
brought forth a fine boy.
31. The slave woman, put in the 2Sth, was taken
out and sent back.
Sept. 1. A slave man was committed on suspicion
of larceny ; he committed suicide same day by cutting
his throat and belly open, and lived but two or three
hours after.
2. I received a letter from my wife, parent and
children, and another from J. P. Nickerson, of Har-
wich; also one from S. Underwood and E. Nicker-
son, Jr.
3. Received $25 cash, from an old shipmate, by
remittance from New York.
3
26 TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
4. I was shifted to the adjoining room ; received a
letter from B. D. Wright, counsellor at law, in answer
to a note I sent him the 25th July.
6. Wrote to my wife, S. Underwood, and E. Nick-
erson, Jr. A white man committed ; had difficulty
with his wife.
9. Let out again. We have had quite still times
since the 30th of August, but scolding revives again.
11. A slave man brought to jail — whipped twenty
blows with a paddle, and sent back.
If the reader is not acquainted with paddle-whip-
ping, he may form some idea of it from the following
description.
The paddles which I have seen, are about twenty
inches in length, made of pitch-pine board, from an
inch to an inch and a quarter thick, and seven or
eight inches of one end is three and a half or four
inches wide, having from ten to fifteen holes through
it the size of a large nail gimblet, and the other part ii
made round for the handle. The unfortunate subjects
who are to feel the effects of this inhuman drubbing,
are first tied, his or her wrists together, then made to
sit down on the floor or ground, and put the knees
through between the arms, then a stick or broom-han-
dle is inserted through the angle of the legs, directly
under the knees and over the arms, which confines
them in a doubled and helpless condition. Previous
to this arrangement, the victims are made naked from
the waist down. The operator now takes hold with
one hand of one end of the stick which has been
inserted to confine the legs and arms together, and
cants them on one side, and in the other hand holds
OF JONATHAN WALKER. 29
the before mentioned paddle, which he applies to the
backside of his helpless fellow-creature ; stopping at
short intervals to allow the sufferer to answer such
questions as are asked, or make such promises as it is
thought best to extort ; and to give the numbness
which has been excited by repeated blows, time to
subside, which renders the next blows more acute and
painful. After a requisite number of blows with the
paddle are given, which is generally from ten to fifty,
as the master or mistress may dictate, the raw-hide
switch is next applied to the bruised and blistered
parts, with as many or more blows laid on ; after
which the sufferer is loosed and suffered to get over it
the best way they can. Not only men but women are
subject to the same mode of punishment. There is
no precise rule to be observed in regard to punish-
ment, but the masters or mistresses are the sole judges
as to method and quantity ; and whenever the paddle
is brought in requisition, it means that the raw-hide
(more commonly called cow-hide) is not equal to the
offence.
The reader will pardon me for this digression, while
I return to the memorandum again.
Sept. 12. A U. S. seaman committed for not being
down to the boat in time to go on board.
13. He was taken out and sent on board steamer
Union. Cook whipped severely by L. T.'s brother,
at her request.
15. A white man from the navy-yard committed ;
he had come to the city without permission.
16. He was taken out and sent back. Received a
letter from J. P. Nickerson, Esq., of Harwich.
3*
30 TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
17. I wrote to the same.
18. A white man committed for being noisy in the
streets.
20. He was let out again, and another committed
for being too drunk to take care of himself.
23. I wrote to the sheriff at Key West.
24. L. T. whipped cook.
25. A large fire in the city. A number of houses
burnt. A white man committed on suspicion of setting
the fire. He was examined and discharged. Another
white man committed, charged with larceny.
26. He was examined and discharged. A slave
man committed, charged with attempting to steal fruit.
He was whipped four blows with a paddle, and twenty-
four with the cow-hide, and let out. A white man
committed, charged with larceny.
27. The white man committed on the 20th, dis-
charged. Tremendous scolding about this time.
29. Slave man committed; did not stay at horn.;
enough on the Sabbath to do chores ; next morning
let out. The noisy white man, mentioned the ISth,
committed again for like offence.
Oct. 1. L. T. whipped the cook ; children cry by
wholesale.
2. L. T. whipped the cook. A slave man com-
mitted for debt.
3. Two sailors from brig Wetomka committed ;
they were intoxicated, and quarrelled. Three sailors
committed, who had taken French leave from U. S.
steamer Union. The whole number now confined in
the adjoining room is seven.
4. The slave man, put in on the 29th, discharged.
OF JONATHAN WALKER. 31
A sailor belonging to U. S. vessel Vandalia, com-
mitted, and taken out the same day.
7. Three men, attached to the U. S. steamer, taken
out and sent on board.
S. L. T. whipped the cook severely, with both ends
of the cow-hide.
9. A white man committed on suspicion of partici-
pating in murder. Three seamen from the U. S.
steamer General Taylor, committed for having some
difficulty with the clerk on shore.
10. Two of them taken out and sent on board.
The two seamen from brig Wetomka, committed on
the 3d, were let out.
11. The white man committed the 9th, on suspi-
cion, discharged.
14. The other man, (the boatswain,) belonging to
the U. S. steamer General Taylor, let out. He went
on board, and made me a present of a pair of blankets.
One white man in the adjoining room and myself are
the only remaining prisoners.
15. L. T.'s mother whipped the cook.
17. A sailor, a deserter from the U. S. service,
caught and committed.
19. L. T. whipped the cook.
20. The other prisoner discharged.
25. Rather squally overhead and about the kitchen.
L. T. whipped the cook twice, and another servant
once; the children get some, scolding dealt out unspar-
ingly.
27. A white man committed for fighting.
28. Discharged. At night the prisoner in the
adjoining room broke out and went off.
32 TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
Nov. 3. L. T. whipped the cook severely with a
broomstick ; scolds tremendously ; gives unlimited
scope to passion, and tapers off by crying herself.
5. White man committed for quarrelling with his
wife.
7. Received a letter from A. B. Merrill, of Boston,
counsellor at law. L. T. whipped the cook.
9. A slave man committed for leaving wood at the
wrong place.
10. The white man, committed on the 5th, dis-
charged. Received a visit from the district attorney,
Walker Anderson.
11. The slave man, committed on the 7th, dis-
charged, and a free colored woman put in for allowing
the slave man to put wood in her yard. I was taken
to court for trial ; had it put off till the 14th ; re-
manded again.
12. The colored woman, committed yesterday, dis-
charged, and another committed for attempting to
defend herself when about to be flogged by a naval
officer, but discharged same day.
14. I was again conducted to court; tried; jury
rendered a verdict of guilty on four indictments, viz.,
aiding and inducing two slaves to run away, and steal-
ing two others.
15. F. T. whipped the cook.
16. I was again taken to court, sentenced, placed in
the pillory one hour, pelted with rotten eggs, branded
in the right hand, and remanded to prison again ; the
sheriff called soon after and served three writs upon me
for trespass and damage, to the amount of $106,000 ; I
was not put in irons as before. Received a visit and
OF JONATHAN WALKER. 33
some money from a naval officer, who had witnessed
the acts of attempted degradation which I had under-
gone, and expressed his sympathy in my behalf.
19. Slave man committed for being out too late.
20. Was flogged twenty-four blows with paddle
and discharged. Received a letter from A. Chase ;
also one from J. P. Nicholson, Esq. of South Harwich.
CHAPTER V.
The following are the particulars of my trial.
On the 11th Nov., between 10 and 11, A. M., 1
was taken from prison, conducted to the court-house,
and placed in the prisoner's box, and was asked by the
judge if I had counsel. I replied that I had not, and
that my means were too limited to provide counsel ;
but that I was daily expecting advice from friends in
regard to that point ; and I requested that my trial
might be put off a few days. The judge informed1
me that if I was not able to provide counsel for my-
self, he would furnish me with counsel, and that
I could have any one from the bar that I chose, to
defend me, (there being three, besides the prosecuting
attorney.) I said, that I would be glad to have my
trial deferred a few days ; and that if I was not then
provided with counsel, I would avail myself of his
honor's proffer. So the trial was postponed until the
14th, and I was again placed in jail. Soon after 10,
A. M., on the 14th, I was again conducted to court,
and, not having any more information from my friends,
chose Benjamin D. Wright, a member of the bar, to
defend me. 3
34 TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
The district attorney, who was the prosecuting
officer, presented four indictments against me, which
were as follows — omitting the forms of the three last,
being the same, and beginning at 1844 :
[1st.]
In the Superior Court of Escambia County, in the
District of West Florida, November Term, 1844.
Territory of Florida,
Escambia County, to wit :
The Grand Jurors of and for the Territory of Flor-
ida, summoned and sworn to inquire in and for the
body of the County of Escambia, upon their oaths pre-
sent that Jonathan Walker, late of the County of
Escambia, laborer, on the first day of July, in the
year of our Lord eighteen hundred and forty-four,
with force and arms, in the county aforesaid, one
negro man slave, named Silas Scott, of the value of
six hundred dollars, of the goods and chattels of one
Robert C. Caldwell, then and there being found, felo-
niously and unlawfully did aid and assist to run away,
thereby wilfully causing a loss of labor of the said
slave to the said Robert C. Caldwell, against the dig-
nity of the Territory of Florida, and against the form
of the statute in such case made and provided.
Walker Anderson,
U. S. Attorney for West Florida, and Prose-
cuting Officer for the Territory of Florida.
[ 2nd. ]
In the county aforesaid, one negro man slave,
known by the name of Anthony Catlett, of the value
of six hundred dollars, of the goods and chattels of one
Byrd C. Willis, then and there being found, feloni-
OF JONATHAN WALKER. 35
ously, unlawfully, and with force and arms, did steal,
take, and carry away, against the peace and dignity of
the Territory of Florida, and against the form of the
statute in such case made and provided.
Walker Anderson,
U. S. Attorney, dfc.
[3rd.]
With force and arms, in the county aforesaid,
forcibly, wilfully, and unlawfully did steal and carry
away a certain negro slave, named Moses Johnson,
of the goods and chattels of one Robert C. Caldwell,
then and there being found, of the value of six hun-
dred dollars, against the peace and dignity of the Ter-
ritory of Florida, and the form of the statute in such
case made and provided.
Walker Anderson,
U. S. Attorney, 4*c.
[4th.]
With force and arms, in the county aforesaid,
one negro man slave, named Charles Johnson, of the
value of six hundred dollars, of the goods and chattels
of one George Willis, then and there being found,
feloniously and unlawfully did entice to run away,
thereby wilfully causing the loss of the labor of the
said slave to the said George Willis ; to the great
damage of the said Willis, against the peace and the
dignity of the Territory of Florida, and against the
form of the statute in such case made and provided.
Walker Anderson,
U. S. Attorney, <SfC.
My counsel objected to four indictments being
36 TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
arrayed against me for one act of offence, if it was an
act at all. On this point, a discussion of some length
took place between him and the prosecuting attorney ;
but the judge decided, that in order to come at the
subject properly, one case should be tried. Accord-
ingly, the jury were selected and sworn, and took
their seats.
Robert C. Caldwell, being qualified as witness,
testified that he accompanied the district marshal to
the steamboat Gen. Taylor, at the navy-yard, to con-
duct the prisoner to Pensacola, and in conversation
with him, prisoner said that Silas came to his boat a
little below the city, and got in with some others, but
that he did not know him, and did not recollect ever
seeing him before. This he (witness) believed to be
correct, for it agreed with what the boy (Silas) had
told him ; and that prisoner also said that he had for
a long time been of the opinion that he would aid
slaves to secure their liberty, if opportunity offered.
Richard Roberts, called and sworn, testified, that
at day-break, on the morning of the Sth of July,
about five leagues to the westward of the light ship on
Carryfut's reef, he fell in with the prisoner and seven
black men in a boat. He was suspicious that the
black men were runaway slaves ; he went alongside
of the boat with his vessel, and told his mate to make
fast to the boat, and requested prisoner and the black
men to come on board his sloop, and said that he was
bound the same way, and would give them a tow ;
but he found out, by some of the black men, that they
were runaway slaves ; consequently, he took them all
to Key West, and delivered them up to the authorities
OF JONATHAN WALKER.
39
at that place. The prisoner was very sick at the time,
but requested that he might be allowed to have his
boat and proceed on, saying that he had a family that
were dependent on him for support, and, if deprived of
his services, would suffer in consequence.
The jury were charged, in a few formal words, and
the first indictment handed to them. They retired to
their room, and in about a half an hour returned with
the verdict, that they had found the prisoner guilty,
and awarded him to be branded on the right hand
with the letters SS.
The same jury was sworn again, and by the
judge charged on the other three indictments. They
withdrew, and were out between two and three hours,
and returned with the following verdict : that they
had found the prisoner guilty of all the charges pre-
ferred against him in the other three indictments, and
awarded him to stand in the pillory one hour, to be
imprisoned fifteen days, and to pay a fine of one hun-
dred and fifty dollars.
I was again remanded to prison, until the 16th,
at 10, A. M. ; when I was conducted to court, and
on arriving at the court-house, (in front of which
was the pillory,) the marshal proceeded to place me
in the pillory. I told him that I had not yet received
sentence. The marshal replied that this was sentence
enough — referring to the pillory. But before I was
properly secured, the deputy marshal ordered me to
be brought into court. This order was obeyed ; and
I was again arraigned before the court, to receive the
following sentence : — To be placed in the pillory for
dne hour ; then brought into court, and branded in the
40 TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
right hand with the letters SS.; and then remanded
to prison for fifteen days, and remain there until the
fine (one hundred and fifty dollars) and the costs of
prosecution should be paid.^ I was then placed in the
pillory, and when I had been there about half an hour,
George Willis, mentioned in the fourth indictment,
stepped from the crowd of spectators, who were stand-
ing by, (quietly beholding the inhuman administration
of the laws of Florida,) and snatched from my head
a handkerchief, which had been placed there by the
deputy marshal, to screen me from the sun ; saying,
that he had offered a dollar to any person that would
do it j but, as no one else would, he would do it him-
self. He then took from his coat pocket two rotten
eggs, and hurled them very spitefully at my head,
which took effect, and excited a burst of indignation
from the bystanders. The said Willis was heard to
offer the boys a great price for rotten eggs ; but he
could find none vile enough to accommodate him.
He was indicted, and appealed to the December
court in Saint Rosa (adjoining) county, and was
there tried, and fined six and a quarter cents.
After the expiration of the hour, I was taken back
of the court-house, and water given me to wash with,
and then conducted into court again, to receive the
remainder of my sentence. When about to be
branded, I was placed in the prisoner's box. The
marshal, Ebenezer Dorr, formerly of Maine, pro-
ceeded to tie my hand to a part of the railing in front.
* After repeated solicitations, I was able to get at the
amount of the costs, the 6th of December, twenty-one days
after my trial.
OF JONATHAN WALKER.
43
I remarked that there was no need of tying it, for I
would hold still. He observed that it was best to
make sure, and tied it firmly to the post, in fair
view ; he then took from the fire the branding-iron,
of a slight red heat, and applied it to the ball of my
hand, and pressed it on firmly, for fifteen or twenty
seconds. It made a spattering noise, like a handful
of salt in the fire, as the skin seared and gave way to
the hot iron. The pain was severe while the iron was
on, and for some time afterwards. There appeared
to be but few that wished to witness the scene ; but my
friend. George Willis, placed himself where he could
have a fair view, and feasted his eyes upon it, appa-
rently with great delight.
I was then remanded to prison, but not put in irons
as before. A few hours after my re-commitment, the
marshal called and served three writs upon me, for
trespass and damage, to the amount of one hundred
and six thousand dollars, on the property of Robert
C. Caldwell, Byrd C. Willis, and George Willis.
The Territory of Florida was established by a law
of the United States, passed March 30, 1S22.
The fifth section of this act provides, " that the
i.slative power shall be vested in the governor, and
in thirteen of the most fit and discreet persons of the
territory, to be called the Legislative Council," &c;
that " their legislative powers shall also extend to all
the rightful subjects of legislation ; but no law shall
be valid ivhich is inconsistent ivith the constitution
and laws of the United States, or which shall lay
any person under restraint, burthen, or disability, on
account of his religious opinions, professions or wor-
44 TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
ship, in all which he shall be free to maintain his own
and not burthened with those of another."
The tenth section of the same act provides, " That
to the end that the inhabitants may be protected in
their liberty, property, and the exercise of their reli-
gion, no law shall ever be valid which shall impair,
or in any way restrain, the freedom of religious opin-
ions, professions, or worship ; they shall be entitled to
the benefit of the writ of habeas corpus ; they shall
be bailable in all cases, except for capital offences,
where the proof is evident, or the presumption great ;
all fines shall be moderate and proportioned to the
offence, and excessive bail shall not be required, nor
cruel nor unusual punishments inflicted."
The Act of March 3rd, 1823, contains the same.
provisions.
The law under which I was indicted, was enacted
by the territorial government, and provides as the
punishment for the crime therein recited, imprisonment
not exceeding six months ; standing in the pillory ;
brandings or a fine not exceeding one thousand dol-
lars, at the discretion of the jury.
It seems plain, that the law of the United States
having prohibited cruel and unusual punishments^ and
having declared that no law of the territorial govern-
ment, inconsistent with the United States laws, shall
ever be valid; this territorial law, under which I
was punished, is void.
CHAPTER VI.
26. I will conclude my memorandum. L. T. and
mother whipped the cook, alternately, spell and spell.
OF JONATHAN WALKER. 45
»
F. T. whipped the cook, severely.
Dec. 2. Received a visit from T. M. Blunt, of New
York. He had been in the city thirteen days.
5. A slave woman committed for not staying at
home enough, and taken out next day.
S. Received a letter from John Scoble, London, and
a resolution adopted by a committee of the British
and Foreign Anti-slavery Society in regard to Charles
T. Torrey and myself.^
9. A slave man committed for being in liquor and
quarrelsome, and let out next day.
16. A slave man committed for disobedience ;
whipped ten blows with a paddle, and let out next day.
25. Two seamen committed from brig Hazard, of
Portland, for attempting to obtain their discharge.
They hid refused to do duty on board.
27. A slave man committed. He was intoxicated.
28. He was let out again ; and one of the seamen
put in on the 25th, was discharged.
29. L. T. whipped the cook.
Jan. 3, 1845. L. T. whipped the cook twice.
9. Two white men committed for debt, and dis-
charged. Received a letter from J. P. Nickerson, Esq.
10. L. T. whipped the cook. A slave man com-
mitted for going out of town at Christmas, and staying
too long. A slave boy put in with me. He had
played truant. He was let out next morning.
13. A white man committed, on suspicion of plot-
ting to rob the mail.
14. L. T. whipped the cook.
15. A white man put in with me, to get sober, to
use in evidence. He was taken out next day.
* See page 84.
46 TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
16. L. T. whipped the cook twice.
20. The white man committed the 13th, on suspi-
cion, was discharged.
21. A slave boy committed for running away.
24. The other seaman, put in from brig Hazard,
on the 25th ult., was discharged. A deserting soldier
caught, committed, taken out, and sent to the navy-
yard.
26. The slave man put in on the 10th, taken out,
and sent to New Orleans, to be sold.
27. A slave woman committed for attempting to
defend herself when about to be whipped by her mis-
tress. The next day she was flogged twenty-four
blows with the paddle, and twelve with the cowhide,
and sent home.
Feb. 6. I will detail the following circumstance, for
which I have been almost censured by warm friends.
My readers can make their own comments. While
eating my dinner, I was informed, by what I thought
good authority, that the marshal would take me, at 4,
P. M., before a magistrate, to be examined on other
charges — what, my informant would not, or could not
tell ; but said that he heard the marshal say he was
coming for me at four o'clock. I was somewhat
apprehensive that it was a device of some persons ill-
disposed towards me, and not satisfied with the course
which the law had taken, and who were disposed to
make Use of other than legal means. I hinted this to
my informant. His reply was, " They are going to
play the devil with you." My suspicion was strength-
ened by the district attorney and judge being abroad
at the time, and by the lateness of the hour selected
OF JONATHAN WALKER. 47
for taking me from prison ; so I did not think it pru-
dent for me to leave the prison, except I could be con-
vinced that I should be subject to no illegal dealings.
At the above mentioned time, the marshal called, and
requested me to go with him before a magistrate. I
declined going, and gave him some reasons why ; and
told him, that whatever examination I was to undergo,
I preferred it should take place where I was. The
marshal left, and some time after returned, saying that
the magistrate refused to come to the jail ; and again
requested me to go with him. I still declined. He
then started to leave, when the jailer spoke to him a
few minutes. He then returned, and read to me a letter
from the district judge, who was then at Talahassee,
(Middle Florida,) with instructions to take me before
a magistrate for examination, on a charge of inducing
three slaves to leave the service of their masters. The
marshal then left me ; and the reader may picture to
his mind my feelings, as well as he can ; for I have
no faculty to express them on paper.
I had for several weeks been expecting to be libe-
\ from my disagreeable situation, through the
liberality of friends who had been imposed upon in
regard to my true situation, and prevented from doing
for me what they had attempted, by supplying the
pecuniary means to satisfy the demands of the court ;
and had been twice disappointed ; but now it seemed
that the most favorable issue which I could expect,
was to be chained up for three or four months longer
in that woman whipping-shop, and go through another
trial for the same offence ; with the continual accumu-
lation of obstacles to my release ; and for my family
48 TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
to remain objects of charity ; my aged parents and
other near friends, suffering affliction ; and all to gra-
tify a few God and man-haters, who were feasting
their rage upon one helpless object, whom Providence
had in some measure placed where they could wreak
their vengeance on him. These were some of the
most favorable considerations which occurred to my
mind ; and which have since been realized.
Knowing that my enemies would spare no pains in
doing me all the injury in their power, I thought it
no harm to use some pacific means to place myself
beyond their power ; feeling confident that right did
not demand the punishment my persecutors intended
for me. Neither had I much time to reflect on the
subject ; for I was confident that the next day I
should be put in irons again, and then about all
chance to rescue myself would be cut off. Seeing
that it required but little effort or ingenuity to open
the doors myself, I gave way to the impulse of present
feeling, and without any difficulty succeeded in open-
ing the doors, without doing them one dollar's worth
of injury ; although I was charged ten dollars for
repairing the door, including a new lock. For what
purpose the lock was used I know not. I am sure it
was not used on any of the jail doors, for the same
locks that were on the doors when I went there, were
on the doors when I left. But, as a very slight noise
could be heard in the rooms above, the family took
the alarm, and prevented my departure. I was made
secure until the next day, when the marshal called,
and without any ceremony, took me before three
magistrates. Satisfactory evidence against me was
OF JONATHAN WALKER. 49
produced to insure my committal until the next term
of court in May, unless I give bail in the sum of
$3,000. So I was remanded to prison again and
put in irons, to »*\»Ii the result of what might follow.
I shall mention but a few more items from my
memorandum, and then, briefly notice some other
points.
Feb. 9. A slave man and woman were committed
for being out too late, but discharged the next day.
10. The slave boy committed the 21st of last
month, taken out, and sent to New Orleans, to sell.
None but myself now in jail.
17. Two slave women and one man brought to
jail and whipped ten blows each, on the bare back,
and discharged. They were accused of using some
of their master's money without his permission.
19. L. T. whipped the cook. The jailer's family
moved to another house.
25. A slave boy committed, who received twenty
blows with the paddle, and was then sent home. He
had played truant.
27. A slave man brought to jail and whipped
twenty-five blows with cowhide. His master was
intoxicated ; lost some change ; the slave picked it up,
and attempted to use some of it. A white man com-
mitted, for being intoxicated and quarrelsome.
March 1. A slave man committed, to gratify a
drunken master, and released again the same day.
4. The white man committed on the 27th ult. was
released.
16. A slave man brought to jail and flogged twenty-
5 4
50 TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
five blows with a paddle, and twenty with a cowhide.
He was charged with not doing work enough.
19. A slave boy committed ; flogged for playing
truant, and let out the same day.
20. A sick slave man committed, I do not know for
what, and let out the next day.
31. A slave man committed for getting intoxicated,
and let out the next day.
April 1. A slave man committed ; he had been sent
to New Orleans for sale, but was returned.
2. A white man committed at his own request ; he
had been on a drinking spree, and was afraid he
should do something to get him into trouble.
7. He was discharged.
12. A slave woman brought to jail and flogged
severely. The slave man committed on the 1st, flog-
ged twenty-four blows with the paddle, and thirty with
the cowhide, to gratify his drunken mistress, as they
could not sell him to their mind, in New Orleans.
The flogging made him quite sick for several days
A white man committed, charged with assault and
battery.
15. A slave man committed for allowing a horse
to run with him in the street.
16. He was flogged fifteen blows with a cowhide,
and discharged.
19. The slave man flogged on the 12th, was taken
from jail and sent to Mobile to be sold.
This is the slave that was committed on the 10th of
January, for staying too long with his wife and chil-
dren atChristmas. His master had a plantation thirty
or forty miles from Pensacola, where he had lived
OF JONATHAN WALKER. 51
for a number of years, but had lately moved to Pensa-
cola and offered his plantation for sale ; and, not hav-
ing- employment for his slaves, was desirous to con-
vert some of them into other property. And although
this slave was permitted at Christmas to go and see
his family, who still lived in the neighborhood he had
formerly lived in, and were claimed as property by
another man, yet his staying over his time, gave suffi-
cient cause (as per slave code) for removing him for-
ever from them, notwithstanding he offered to produce
the proof of his inability to return at the time appointed,
on account of sickness. Nevertheless, he was kept in
jail sixteen days, and then sent to New Orleans. But
being too old to meet with a ready sale in that mar-
ket, he was returned again the 1st of April, and
lodged in jail until the 12th, when his mistress came
there in a rage, under the influence of liquor, and
caused him to be flogged as mentioned above; and
during the performance, she stood by and gave direc-
tions to the operator, yelping all the while at the man-
gled victim of her anger. A few days after, he was
sent to Mobile for sale. He did not meet with a mar-
ket, and was sent back; but soon after his return
escaped from his tormentors, and I have since heard
no more of him.
27. I received a letter from B. D. Wright, coun-
sellor at law, enclosing a letter to him from H. I.
Bowditch of Boston, relating to my circumstances.
May 1. A fugitive slave apprehended and com-
mitted ; he had straight hair, and looked more like an
Indian than a negro, and tried to oass himself for one.
52 TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
CHAPTER VII.
May the 8th, soon after 10 A. M., I was conducted
to the court-house by the marshal and constable.
The judge inquired if I had counsel. I replied that I
had not. He then appointed Alfred L. Woodward to
defend me, and also W. W. J. Kelly, Esq., assistant
counsel. As Mr. Woodward was not duly informed
in the case, we thought it best to have the trial put olf
until the next day. I had no desire to have counsel to
manage my defence, not thinking it would be to my
advantage, but to submit the case to the magnanimity
of the jury; but as the judge had appointed c
sel, I did not deem it advisable to reject it, — confi-
dent that it would excite his displeasure, which would
be likely to have an unfavorable effect on my c
I remarked to my counsel that I consented to a
present trial, only on condition that all relaln the
charges preferred against me, should be placed before
the court for final action; and that no part or seel
be kept back or reserved for a future consideration.
I was remanded to jail again, and that afternoon had
an interview with Mr. Woodward.
May 9th, between 10 and 11 A. M., I was arraigned
before the court, and soon after a jury was called and
qualified. The district attorney produced three indict-
ments against me, charging me with assisting as many
slaves to escape from their masters, &c. A short dis-
cussion followed between the district attorney and
counsel for the defendant, respecting the validity of
OF JONATHAN WALKER. 53
the law in the multiplication of punishments for the
same offence, and at different periods ; but the court
decided that I was liable to be tried separately for
each charge alleged against me, although there was
but one act in the commission.
Robert C. Caldwell, the only witness in the case,
was sworn, and testified that he accompanied the dep-
uty marshal to and from the steamboat General Tay-
lor, where he wTent to conduct the defendant from said
steamboat to the city, about the 20th July last, and on
the passage to the city in the boat, he heard defendent
say that he took from the shore near the city, the
slaves mentioned in the indictments, on board his
boat on the evening of the 22d June last, and wrent to
sea with them, and was taken by a sloop not far from
Cape Florida, and carried to Key West, and that
defendant told him that he had been for a long time
of the opinion that whenever an opportunity offered,
he would assist slaves to obtain their freedom.
The district attorney addressed the jury for a few
minutes, portraying the magnitude of the offence, the
abuse of rights, &c., stating the result of the trials of
Charles T. Torrey and Calvin Fairbanks, in Maryland
and Kentucky — not forgetting to direct a few shot at
the northern " fanatical abolitionists."
W. W. J. Kelly next made some very appro-
priate and feeling remarks upon the administration
and severity of the law already inflicted on the
prisoner for the same offence, and his long confine-
ment in prison and in chains, and the deprivation
entailed upon his deeply afflicted family, &c. He
was followed by A. L. Woodward, commenting on
3#
54 TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
the multiplicity of punishments for the same offence
when no act of an incendiary, or violent character had
appeared, to aggravate the case, but the prisoner had
quietly submitted, without a murmur, to the heaviest
punishments the law could inflict upon him. He
appealed to the magnanimity and humanity of the
jury to put a stop to this persecution; neither the law
nor the interest and welfare of the country demanded
more ; even common sense forbade it. He requested
them to render a verdict which their conscience would
approve, and not to heap vengeance on the head of
their helpless fellow-being, &c. &c.
The judge charged the jury to find the prisoner
guilty, and not to allow any sympathy for the accused
to sway them from inflicting strict justice on him, for
it was not the accused who had the right to complain
of the severity of the law, or demand their sympathy ;
but those that were dead and their friends.^ The
rights, safety, and honor of the country demanded
justice from its courts.
The cases were submitted to the jury at about 12
M., and I was soon after remanded to jail again, and
placed in irons as usual. The next day I received a
note from W. W. J. Kelly, stating that the jury had
that morning returned in court, and rendered a verdict
of guilty in each case, and assessed me a fine of $5
in each case ; and that I was to remain in custody
until the fines and costs were paid.
The judge, district attorney, and my counsel were
* I know not what he meant hy this expression, except he had his
eye on that old St. Domingo hobby horse so often backed by the
advocates of slavery.
OF JONATHAN WALKER. 55
slave-holders, and some of the jury also. Surrounded
by slave-holders, and in a section of the country
where slavery is held to be one of their most sacred
rights, what had I to expect at their hands ; well
known, and thoroughly proved to be hostile in the
highest degree to the system of American slavery, and
placed in their power, subject to their will, for the
commission of an act, which is now held to be a capi-
tal offence, and punishable with death ?^ In considera-
tion of these, and some other things which might be
brought into the account, it shows that vengeance has
not yet buried humanity, nor destroyed all the sym-
pathy existing between men and those whose opinion
differs from their own upon subjects of great impor-
tance.
The jury was an intelligent one, and among them
was the city mayor, and I submitted my case cheer-
fully to their decision, confident that the verdict would
be as mild as their responsible situation would admit
of; and my expectations were more than realized; for
which mild and humane verdict they are entitled to
my grateful thanks and high consideration, for they
have shown themselves to be untrammelled by preju-
dice, or actuated by revenge toward their helpless fel-
low-being.
I thought the judge manifested a considerable de-
gree of prejudice against me, especially in this last
trial ; " Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad."
But I saw no display of any unkind feelings from any
* The recommendation of the Legislative Committee, (see page
93,) was adopted at the same session.
56 TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
other persons, in or out of court, except by those who
considered themselves so grievously injured and im-
posed upon by my allowing some of their two-legged
chattels to walk off in company with me ; or rather,
to allow the wind to blow them away from that mill
which is constantly grinding the faces of the poor,
and whose owner, like the greedy horseleech, thirsts
for more, " and saith, it is not enough."
CHAPTER VII.
Having gone through with the principal events in
relation to my capture, return, imprisonment, and legal
dealings, I shall notice a few points which may not be
altogether improper or unimportant. And if it be ne-
cessary to make some personal allusions or pointed
remarks, it shall not be done at the expense of truth,
or in a spirit of ill-will to any. But as they in
some instances have sacrificed truth and right for the
sake of casting obloquy and envy upon me and the
abolitionists, and to excite a greater degree of hatred
against those who sympathize with their unfortunate
and deeply injured fellow-beings, they have no reason
to complain if I should expose them a little. All
those who have had any control over me, will only be
spoken of as relates to their conduct to my positive
knowledge.
I have before said, that Captain Richard Roberts, of
OF JONATHAN WALKER. 57
the sloop Eliza Catherine, treated me with civility
while on board of his vessel. But who delegated to
him the right to take charge of me and my boat by
force on the high seas, without consent or ceremony,
and convey me more than a hundred miles from my
course, to a distant island, where I could have no
means of self-defence, without any knowledge of my
being in any way liable ?
Is not this food for skepticism ? Here are two indi-
viduals brought in contact, both professing the same
religious faith, both having privately and publicly
declared, before God and man, that they have resolved
to be followers of him who taught his disciples to
have compassion on, and extend their aid to their suf-
fering fellow-men, and who illustrated the same by
numerous precepts and examples of his own life ; — one
endeavoring to rescue some of those who had fallen
among thieves and been cruelly dealt with, and try-
ing to assist them to obtain their lost but natural
rights, to which they are entitled by the declaration
of American Independence, and by the laws of God
u to men. The other, being in possession of supe-
rior power, not only opposing the efforts of the former,
and preventing him from complying with the com-
mand of their divine Master, of doing unto others as
he would that others would do unto him, were he in
similar circumstances,— but placing his helpless bro-
ther in a situation where his life would be in jeopardy,
and his dependant family and friends made misera-
ble.
I do not wish to cast any undue reflections upon
Captain Roberts; but I do lament the lack of moral
58 TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
courage, and the deep depravity of such professors of
Christianity; for surely he that hath no pity on those
of his fellow-creatures " whom he hath seen, how can
he love God whom he hath not seen?" For saith
Jesus, "As ye have not done it unto one of these, ye
have not done it unto me."
Captain Roberts manifested great seriousness and
devotion to the cause of religion. Yet profanity
passed freely in the cabin and about his vessel's
decks unrebuked. And I could not but think that he
did not pay any too strict regard to honesty, as several
articles that were taken from my boat on board of his
vessel, could not be found by the sheriff, who went on
board for them. I tried to have some conversation
with him while on board, but that he carefully avoided
by keeping at a distance. But Captain Roberts may
be assured that I have no unkind feelings toward
him; if he acted under the conviction of duty and
justice, he has nothing to fear ; but if otherwise his
conscience and his Judge will adjust it.
The treatment of Sheriff Page, at Key West, was
kind and obliging, and of him I should have no occa-
sion to complain, if he had, as I requested, informed
me what disposition was made of my effects which
were in his charge.
Esquire Balany (I think that was the name of the
magistrate to whom my case was submitted) mani-
fested no unkind feelings towards me, and allowed
me as much indulgence as circumstances would
admit of. But the district attorney, whom I saw on
two occasions, appeared to have " taken pepper in his
nose," and soon gave me to understand that I had no
OF JONATHAN WALKER. 59
favors to expect from that quarter. I also received
kind treatment from the jailer at that place — but did
not stay long enough at the Soldiers' barracks to form
any acquaintance there.
As to Commander Ferrand,. of the steamboat Gen-
eral Taylor, on board of which I was shipped to
Pensacola, he did not make any great display of good
feeling in my behalf, although he indulged me in a
steam bath a considerable part of the passage, by hav-
ing me placed in the hold of the boat, where the engine
and fire were, to my no small discomfort. Also good
care was taken that I should neither dance nor play
on the Middle, by closely confining both hands and feet
in irons. The lieutenant was a South Carolina
chicken, well stuffed with McDuffieism, from whom no
ver to any question could be obtained, or any
reply directly to me. His name, I think, was Ander-
son. He had got his lesson from the nullification
roost, and was prepared to look daggers at everything
in the shape of abolitionism.
Soon after my committal to jail in Pensacola, a
printed hand-bill was presented to me, offering a
reward of $700 for the apprehension and delivery at
Pensacola of seven slaves, at one hundred dollars
each, if taken out of the territory; and if within its
limits, fifty dollars each ; and after giving some de-
scription of each, it goes on at a considerable length in
detailing some truths and some falsehoods, and con-
cludes in the following words: "From these and
other circumstances, the belief exists that said Jona-
than Walker has carried these slaves off in his boat.
And therefore, for his apprehension and conviction of
60 TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
said offence, the subscribers will pay a further reward
of one thousand dollars.
" R. C. Caldwell,
Geo. Willis, by
Jas. Quigles, Agent."
CHAPTER IX.
It may not be improper to introduce to the reader
John M'Kinlay, editor of the Pensacola Gazette. Al-
though he had no control over me, yet, as he had con-
trol over the only paper published in Pensacola, it was
in his power to give an unfair statement of the circum-
stances, which he did not fail to do. But feeling per-
fectly willing to credit him with truth when he utters
it, I here annex a paragraph in the Gazette of July
22d — only remarking that the last word is incor-
rect. But unfortunately in the next number (July 27th)
he crowded into a part of a column of that small
paper, twenty odd lies at my expense. Whether that
libellous statement was voluntary on the part of its
crouching editor, or whether he was dictated to, I
know not. But to the paragraph :
" The man Jonathan Walker, who recently abduct-
ed the seven negro slaves belonging to Messrs. Wil-
lis and Caldwell, was captured with the negroes, in his
whaleboat, about fifteen miles from the light-boat at
Careyfut's Reef, on the 8th inst. by the wrecking
sloop ' Eliza Catherine,' and brought to Key West on
OF JONATHAN WALKER. 61
the 9th. The negroes are on board the sloop Reform,
and are expected every hour.
" The U. S. steamer Gen. Taylor, Lt. Com. E. Far-
rand, arrived here last Thursday evening from Key
West, brought prisoner Walker under a commitment
from the civil authority ; and on being taken before the
U. S. District Judge, the court being in session, was
immediately remanded to prison, on failing to give the
necessary bail, to await his trial at the next term of
the court. The indignation felt by this community on
the subject of this outrage is very great. When the
prisoner landed on the wharf the crowd was immense,
and as he was escorted to the court-house by the
deputy marshal, the crowd thronged the streets and
side-walks, and the court-room was filled to overflow-
ing with a highly excited mass of people. Great as
the excitement was, however, and aggravated as its
cause, to the credit of our good citizens be it said, not
the least attempt was made to commit violence upon
the person of the offender ; on the contrary, while a
few could not refrain from openly expressing their
feelings of resentment, the great body seemed to look
upon the prisoner as a miserable object of pity. How
far he is truly to be pitied, however, we are not pre-
pared to say, for the Gen. Taylor brings the rumor
from Key West that Walker said his conduct was
rash, but that he had done nothing wrong, and that he
would do the same thing again if he had oppor-
tunity."
But to show with what sacredness he regards truth
before the public, I quote a few statements made in
the Gazette of November 23d. After some prelimi-
6
62
TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
nary remarks and observations upon my first trial, he
says :
" On the first of these indict-
ments the prisoner was arraigned
and plead not guilty, lint before
proceeding to ofler his testimony,
the district attorney, with a
frankness which cannot be too
highly commended, disclosed to
the jury, the prisoner's counsel,
and the public, that he held in
his hand lour indictments against
the prisoner, embracing as many
distinct offences."
" Several hours were spent in
the discussion of this question,
during which a host of authori-
ties were arrayed on the part of
the prosecution, to justify the
course taken by the district attor-
ney— while, on the other hand,
many long arguments of great
force were advanced by the oppo-
site counsel."
" The court held the matter
under advisement until next day,
and after sleeping on the point,
gave it clearly in favor of the dis-
trict attorney.
No jury had yet been empan-
neled, and no disclosures or allu-
sions were made to the public ;
he (the district attorney) frankly
stated to the court that he had
four indictments against the pris-
oner for slave stealing.
Not more than forty minutes
were consumed in discussion on
the subject, and but two authori-
ties (on cases) were cited to jus-
tify the course taken by the dis-
trict attorney — so that all the
long arguing of great force on
the discussion was done in less
than 40 minutes.
The court did not hold the
matter under advisement until
next day, for the whole trial, from
commencement to end, did not ex-
ceed three hours, with the excep-
tion of the time consumed by the
jury on the last indictments, and
including that time the whole
did not exceed five hours. (See
first trial.)
Two days after the verdicts
were rendered the prisoner was
called, sentenced, &c.
"The day after the verdicts
were rendered, the prisoner was
called to the bar, and the sen-
tence of the court pronounced
upon him accordingly. He was
placed in the pillory," &c.
I will notice one or two more of the Gazette man's
editorial displays, and so leave him for the present.
Three days after the three last writs were served
on me, and I was strongly chained in prison, to
await a trial four months hence, the Gazette man
belches forth — " It is a matter of wonder here, that
OF JONATHAN WALKER. 63
the zeal and benevolence of Walker's abolition friends
have not led to his being furnished with the means of
release." In a short time after this, the proprietor of
the same paper writes to a friend of mine in Boston,
who made the inquiry through him to know on what
conditions I could be released ; and his reply was,
that " it was impossible for anything to be done until
after my trial at May court."
Since writing the foregoing, I have fallen in with
the Pensacola Gazette, of June the 29th, 1844, in which
an attempt was made to tell how and when I came
there, and my business and course of conduct while
there, &c; but in that description they only succeeded
in getting at now and then a truth. I here insert a
short paragraph, which contains most of the truth in
the statement :
" He was employed, after the bursting of the rail-
road and New Town bubble, to live at the depot, and
take care of the railroad property. — He is a carper"^,
or boat-builder, and occasionally employed as a
mechanic. — He seemed a very devout Christian, and
by his uprightness and integrity, had gained the con-
fidence of many highly respectable members of our
community. Whilst he lived at the depot, however,
he had frequent occasions to have negroes to work for
him, and he associated with them on terms of equality
and intimacy — seating them by himself, at his table,
while his daughters, (half grown girls,) waited on the
table. He preached to the negroes, and exhorted them
with brotherly affection, telling them that they were
just as good as he was, and that the difference of color
was a mere shadow, &c. He was suspected of tarn-
64 TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
pering with the negroes, and being accessory to the
concealment on board of a vessel and the escape of
two slaves, about three or four years ago."
CHAPTER X.
I have before stated that I was escorted from the
steamboat General Taylor to the court-house by the
deputy marshal. Although this officer had but little
to do with me, yet so far as he had anything to do with
me, he manifested a kind and friendly feeling. Those
who have never been in critical circumstances cannot
tell how sensibly every look, action and word is felt
by one in my situation. The name of this officer is
James Gonzalez, who is entitled to my thanks for his
humane deportment towards me.
The marshal of the district, Ebenezer Dorr, was
formerly from the State of Maine, with whom I had
been well acquainted for eight or nine years, and we
had always been on terms of friendship; but now our
mutual feelings were about to be tested ; for circum-
stances having rendered our situations very different,
there was no more equality. He was a practical
slave-holder and a strong advocate of the system ; I an
uncompromising opponent of American slavery in all
its forms ; he holding a high office under the terri-
torial government ; I, a prisoner for a violation of the
territorial law, placed in his custody, and subject
almost entirely to his control. I do not pretend that
OF JONATHAN WALKER. 65
our former acquaintance or friendly intercourse enti-
tled me to any unusual indulgence, or that he should
violate any duty, or deviate from the path of justice
to accommodate me, or ameliorate my condition ; but
I did suppose that there should be some consideration
made on the score of humanity, towards any one in
so feeble a state as I was at the time of my committal,
which might aid in the restoration of health, or that
would not tend to reduce me still more ; for the reader
has already been informed that I was placed in heavy
irons, without even a handful of straw to lie on, or
anything done to provide me with food suitable for a
sick person — for it was impossible for me to recover
solely on my jail fare. Not but the quantity was
sufficient, but the quality was not suitable for one out
of health ; and I deprived, as was supposed, of what
money I had for several days ; so that all means were
thwarted of providing for myself. But, as I wish not
to forget any favor shown me, I pass to his credit a
bottle of milk which he gave me, and an occasional
call and inquiry after my health, and the loan of some
newspapers, &c.
My correspondence had to pass under his inspec-
tion, and for one or two words in a private letter to
my wife, respecting my situation, I received from him
a severe reprimand. But suffice it to say, that he
might have made my situation more irksome, or he
might have ameliorated it, without infringing upon
his official duties. He permitted George Willis to
take from my head a handkerchief, which his deputy
had placed there to keep off the violence of the sun,
and heave rotten eggs at me, whilst standing in the
6* 5
66 TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
pillory, without interfering other than saying, " Don't,
Mr. Willis, for we have got to take him into court," —
as much as to say, "he would appear indecent," or
" some one's senses will be offended."
Walker Anderson, the district attorney, who, by
the bye, was the prosecuting officer, is entitled to my
thanks for his kindness and humanity towards me,
both in his private and official capacity. He is a
mild, considerate and intelligent man ; and were he
not surrounded by a powerful slavery influence, any
society might be proud of such a member. I have for
a number of years known him, and can say that he is
of the most amiable disposition of any person I ever
knew in Pensacola — notwithstanding a few misstate-
ments in his letter to the governor of Florida, in reply
to a letter from the secretary of Massachusetts to that
functionary, which I may notice hereafter. For a
considerable part of my confinement, he furnished me
with reading matter and the news of the day ; and in
his absence, his kind and amiable wife would supply
me with literary food.
It may not be out of place here to make mention of
George Willis and Robert C. Caldwell, the claimants
of the slaves that went away with me. George "Willis
claims a high standing in society, is considered a man
of considerable property ; said to be the owner of a
considerable number of slaves, with whom he is very
severe ; he is a haughty, overbearing and cruel man,
and associates with but few. He was marshal of the
west district of Florida, two or three years, whilst I
lived in Pensacola ; during which time he had
the honor of hanging three or four colored men.
OF JONATHAN WALKER. 67
From my previous knowledge of him, I was prepared
to expect no favor from that quarter, and had he been
at home when I was brought back to Pensacola, I
have no doubt he would have sought i] legal revenge
upon me ; — the manner in which he displayed his
feelings at the court-house, when undergoing the
penalties of my first trial, may be considered a speci-
men of the man.
R. C. Caldwell was at this time, a second lieutenant
in the navy, but has since been promoted to a first
lieutenancy. He is from the State of Ohio ; and, as
I have been credibly informed, had studied for the
ministry, but finally entered the navy ; and two or
three years ago, married a wealthy young woman in
Pensacola, who had a number of slaves, and in this way
became in possession of property and slaves. — Thus he
is year after year receiving pay from the United States
government, for overseeing his own or his wife's
slaves. My first personal acquaintance with this man.
took place in the boat in which I was brought from
the steamboat General Taylor to Pensacola, while
in charge of the deputy marshal. He visited me
several times soon after my committal, appeared very
friendly and seemed disposed to urge upon my mind
some religious considerations, and had the politeness
to bring me some pound-cake, as he called it ; but
no sooner had he succeeded in getting possession of
what little I had in the shape of property, than every
friendly and social consideration was abandoned, and
he spared no pains to persecute me to the extent of
his ability ; and was still anxious to gratify his malig-
nant appetite on the victim of his rage, to the very last.
68 TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
With some reluctance, I introduce to the reader
Francis Torward, the jailer, or constable, but more
commonly designated by the title of city marshal.
The jail is the property of the city, and the jailer (city
marshal) is chosen yearly by a vote of the city, and is
paid a salary per month. His duty is to look after the
peace and quiet of the city ; to commit and release all
prisoners ; to ring the city bell on all proper occasions,
especially at the hours of 8, P. M., in winter, and 9, P.
M., in summer; and to take up all slaves found in the
streets without a pass after the bell has been rung, &c.
He provides the prisoners with their food and drink, for
which he is allowed 37J cents each, per day. He
also inflicts punishment upon slaves sent there by their
masters or mistresses to be punished. I know not
whether he is under any official obligation to perform
this task, or whether custom has made it a rule. For
this service, I believe he is entitled to extra pay from
the persons who employ him for that purpose. It is
by no means a general rule for masters or mistresses
to have their slaves flogged by the city marshal, for it
frequently costs them some loss of their service or
time, besides what they have to pay the marshal ; so
that but few are disposed to incur the expense, when
they can save it by a few minutes' exertion of their
own muscular powers, and at the same time feed
their rapacious revenge upon their helpless slaves. I
am not prepared to say what the compensation is for
flogging, or whether it is in all cases the same, or
proportioned to the degree of infliction ; but I am
inclined to think there is a stipulated price, and I had
grounds for the conclusion that it is 75 cents, each
OF JONATHAN WALKER. 69
time. There appears to be no amount of punishment
fixed by any law or rule, but the kind and quantity is
prescribed by the master or mistress, as their feelings
or inclination may influence them.
Suppose the slave whom I have so often mentioned
as being flogged by her mistress, had cost her master
75 cents for each whipping, the amount would have
been about $30 from the 19th July, when I was com-
mitted, to the 19th February, when the family moved
from the jail. The reader will have perceived that
those whippings were much more frequent in the warm
weather than in the cold, and also before her mistress'
confinement, than afterwards. The reader is at lib-
erty to make his or her comments or conjectures as to
the cause of this.
It may be thought that those whippings were of no
great severity, and merely administered as a parent
would correct a child ; but to test the quality let a
person be covered only with a thin cotton frock, and
let a woman, excited to uncontrolled passion, apply
a raw-hide switch to the back of the other with her
greatest strength from twenty to fifty blows, and they
would not need a repetition of it to ascertain its mild-
ness. But some of those floggings were applied by a
more powerful arm than that of the mistress ; and the
marks and scars were visible upon the slave's neck
and face from the time I was first committed to the
day of my release. My senses have conveyed to my
heart inexpressible feelings of disgust and abhorrence
for such a mode of discipline or punishment upon
rational human beings. Often when these exhibi-
70 TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
tions have taken place, have I thought of the follow-
ing lines :
" Hate's quivering lip, the fix'd, the starting eye,
The grin of vengeance, and the forehead pale,
The deep drawn breath, the short hyena cry,
All in connection tell the dreadful tale"
Where cowhide, paddle, chains, and slavery does prevail.
If any parents, guardians or masters, wish their child,
minor, or servant, to hate them with a perfect hatred,
let them flog them ! If parents, guardians or their
masters, wish to destroy all good will and ready obe-
dience to superiors, and all self-respect in their chil-
dren, minors or servants, let them flog them, and they
may be assured that they are in a fair way to obtain
that object.
I was somewhat acquainted with the jailer before
my incarceration, but not at all with any of his fam-
ily; but I soon found that what St. Paul called the
weaker vessel was the stronger vessel, for none could
carry so great a press of sail as my hostess. Her
colors were nailed at mast-head, and all about the
premises were to be controlled by her undisputed
sway.
It may be asked what treatment I received at their
hands ? I answer, that for the most part of the time, it
was better than that which fell to the lot of other pris-
oners ; after being there for some time, by some cause
or other, I seemed to get partly into their good grace,
and was treated by her with perfect civility and some
degree of kindness ; and frequently found in my dish
some little luxuries, unusual, I presume, for prisoners
to receive except at their own expense, or by the kind-
OF JONATHAN WALKER. 71
ness of friends. But if I had had no means to provide
anything for myself, I should much of the time have
gone hungry, as the portion given me which I could eat,
was insufficient. My food consisted mostly of bread
and fish for breakfast, and bread and a dish of soup
or some calavance beans for dinner. The bread was
generally good, made of flour, and most of the time
raised ; and the rest was mixed up and baked in thin
cakes without raising. I had the curiosity to weigh
it for two weeks, and the result was ten pounds seven
ounces for fourteen successive days, two pounds thir-
teen and one half ounces of which was Johnny-cake,
or flour and water kneaded up and baked by the fire
as above. Some days I had but little other than bread
given me.
The district attorney says in his letter to Governor
Branch, Nov. 9th, 1S44, that I " informed him that I
was in perfect health," and that " I assured him that
I had nothing to complain of in the treatment of the
jailer and his family." He should have said that I
informed him that my health was as good as my sit-
uation would admit of; and that I did not complain
of the treatment of the jailer or his family.
It was for my benefit to make as little complaint as
possible, and therefore, having a little money, I sup-
plied at my own expense what was lacking on their
part, which amounted to little more than a dollar per
week during my imprisonment, for food, washing,
and a little clothing".
The reader may not readily understand how I
ascertained the weight of the bread I have spoken of.
By the use of a small stick and a little paper and
72 TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
twine, I made a balance, and for weights I used silver
coin ; and in this way I also weighed the chain
attached to my leg, by weighing one link of medium
size, and multiplying the others by that, which pro-
duct was twenty-two and one-half pounds, beside the
shackle which encircled my ankle.
As to the persons, whose names I have here been
using, I have no inclination to misrepresent or abuse
them, for T delight not in vilifying my fellow-crea-
tures, but would far rather speak well of them ; and
what I have here said, has been under a sense of deep
moral feeling, and I have suppressed much that might
have been said with propriety, and in strict accordance
with truth. But if any, whose names I have here
dealt with, or may deal with, can show in any
instance where I have misused them, I will hasten to
make public confession, and beg their pardon.
CHAPTER XI.
I now introduce some correspondence, and the
expressions of others in relation to my case. As soon
after I was committed to prison in Pensacola, as I was
able to write, I sent a note to Benjamin D. Wright,
counsellor at law, requesting an interview with him.
My object was to obtain information in regard to some
points of law relating to my case, as then there -was a
probability of my coming to a trial before the Novem-
ber term ; and after the lapse of several weeks, I
received the following reply :
OF JONATHAN WALKER. 73
Pe?isacola, Aug. 30, 1844.
Sir, — I have for some time thought I ought to
answer your note, handed me some weeks ago, in
which you request me to call and see you. I have
not called for reasons which I will frankly state.
In common with all who know you as a citizen
here, I was very indignant, not so much at the injury
which your offence occasioned, as at the insult which
it implied to the whole community. This feeling is
still strong in me, but I feel that it is gradually giving
way to gentler impulses.
It is the indignant feeling above mentioned that has
hitherto prevented me from seeing you. If the object
of your note was to avail yourself of my professional
services, I can only say that after thinking the matter
over, I do not see how I can refuse them, nor do I
think that by the time the November court comes on,
I should desire to refuse, so that if you cannot do
better, I will then attend to your defence.
Yours, &c.
Benjamin D. Wright.
Mr. J. Walker.
The reason of my requesting an interview with B.
D. Wright, was, knowing that he was a candid man,
and experienced in his profession, and that I should
be likely to obtain correct information from him.
In a day or two after I wrote to my family giving
them a statement of what had taken place, and my
present condition ; the substance of which has been
made public through the newspaper press. And in
due time I received several letters from friends ; from
one. I make an extract, and another I give entire.
7
74 TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
Harwich, Aug. 17th, 1844.
My very dear suffering friend Jonathan ; — after
much concern, we have had a letter from thine own
hand ; the truth of which we can confide in. Thy
family are all in health. Some days after the news
of thy capture came, I went over to see thy wife and
thy parents, and they expressed much concern about
thee. I mentioned to them the well-known passage
of Scripture : " if ye suffer for righteousness, happy
are ye," &c. " Be not afraid of their terror, neither
be troubled, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts."
At a meeting, on the first day of August, we made
a small collection for thy family. We also chose a
committee to see to thy family. It was a consolation
to many, to have a letter from thee ; many sympathize
with thee. I think I can see the good hand of God
with you, in chastening and afflicting you. I rejoice
to see thy integrity and thy confidence in Christ ; thy
believing that he has stood by thee, and that thou
canst not part with him ! Yea, let everything else go
first ! Yea, let life go before Him. Jesus says, " he
came not to do his own will, but the will of his Father
that sent him ! " and he has left us an example that we
should walk in his steps ; " for he that hath suffered
in the flesh, hath ceased from sin." When liberty,
truth and right, has been trampled upon for a long
time ; the authority, law, and government of God
been disregarded ; human inventions set up ; the laws;
usages, and customs of men been considered para-
mount to the will, law, or government of God, it will,
surely, cost more or less suffering to make a change.
E. NlCKERSON.
OF JONATHAN WALKER. 75
In a subsequent letter the same person says, " My
dear brother, you have a glorious trial ; make a right
use of it."
Harwich, Aug. 20, 1844.
Capt. J. Walker :
Dear Sir, — When your condition became known
here, a good deal of interest was excited in your
behalf. A meeting of the citizens was held at the
congregational meeting-house yesterday, (19th,) agree-
ably to previous notice, to take into consideration your
case ; and the undersigned were made a committee to
ascertain through you, your friends, or the authorities
of Pensacola, in what way, if at all, your condition
may be ameliorated.
We learn that you were committed to prison for
want of bail ; and we wish to know whether . you
would be now released from confinement if the neces-
sary bail should be obtained ? Do you wish for bail ?
or had you rather remain confined until your trial ?
Have you any counsel ? And if not, do you wish for
any ? And if so, have you the means of employing
counsel ? Or does the government furnish counsel for
you ? You state in your letter that you are chained
so that you cannot walk your room. This we cannot
but regret ; as we know that a little exercise would
afford you much relief, and we trust that the humanity
of those who have you in keeping, will prompt them
to afford you some relief in this particular. Is the
room in which you are confined, so ventilated that
you can have a supply of fresh air? Are you con-
fined alone, or are there others in the room with you ?
76 TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
if so, how many? Will there be a special court for
your trial, or shall you wait till the regular term in
November? An early answer to the above inquiries,
or so many of them as may be of importance to you,
is desired.
From our long acquaintance with you, we are
assured, that the act for which you have been arrested,
and are now suffering, was done under a high sense
of moral obligation. How far that sense has been
mistaken, is not for us to determine. We can only
regret the occurrence; leaving the adjustment of its
morality between you and your own conscience.
Have you a comfortable supply of good and whole-
some food ? Is there any way in which we can be of
any service to you ? If so, inform us, and our efforts
to render your condition more comfortable shall not be
wanting.
Sidney Underwood.
Elkanah Nickerson, Jr.
I prefix here a copy of three official letters ; the
first written by John G. Palfrey, Secretary of the State
of Massachusetts to the Governor of Florida; the
second by Governor Branch, of Florida, to Walker
Anderson, District Attorney for the Western District
of West Florida ; the third by Walker Anderson,
in reply to the two first.
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, )
Secretary's Office, Boston, >
October 2nd, 1844. )
Sir, — I have it in charge from the Governor of this
Commonwealth, respectfully to ask your Excellency's
OF JONATHAN WALKER. 77
attention to the case of Jonathan Walker, a citizen of
Massachusetts, said to be now in prison in Pensacola«
in the Territory of Florida, awaiting his trial on a
charge of abducting certain slaves from that terri-
tory.
It is represented to the Governor, by respectable
persons, that the confinement of said Walker is
attended with circumstances of unusual hardship :
that, in a feeble state of health, he is loaded with
heavy irons, and suffering from other severe treat-
ment, unnecessary for his safe keeping and endanger-
ing his life. It is further alleged that his friends are
confident of his having a good legal defence against the
charge for which he stands committed, but that they
need time to take the proper steps for his vindication,
he being a poor man, the head of a numerous family
dependent upon his labor, and unable to command the
necessary professional aid, without assistance, which
cannot be immediately obtained. And the Executive
of this Commonwealth is invoked to interest itself in
any manner consistent with its constitutional obliga-
tions, to obtain a mitigation of the hardships which he
is said to be enduring, and such a delay of proceed-
ings as may afford opportunity for securing that high-
est object of justice, safety to the innocent.
The Governor feels it to be due to the importance
of the occasion, as well as to the high respectability
of the sources whence these representations proceed,
and to the sensibility which exists upon the subject,
among the good people of this Commonwealth, to
apprize your Excellency of the circumstances, as they
are reported to him, and respectfully request such
7^
78 TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
exertion of influence or authority, on your part, as
official obligations may permit, and the claims of jus-
tice and humanity may dictate, to prevent the exercise
of needless severities in this case by subordinate offi-
cers, and to cause the legal proceedings to be delayed
for a sufficient time to afford the accused party every
reasonable advantage for establishing his innocence.
I am accordingly directed, respectfully to request your
Excellency to cause this prosecution to be stayed long
enough to admit of arrangements being made to obtain
for said Jonathan Walker, such able and effectual
assistance as may enable him to maintain his rights
before the tribunals of his country. And I am further
instructed to request that your Excellency will be
pleased to take care that he may be relieved from any
illegal or unusual severity in the manner of his con-
finement.
Assured that your Excellency will estimate justly
the solicitude on the part of the Governor of this Com-
monwealth, for the safety of its helpless citizens, which
dictates this communication, I have the honor to sub-
scribe myself, Most respectfully,
Your Excellency's obedient servant,
John G. Palfrey, Secretary.
To his Excellency, the Governor of Florida.
Executive Office, October 25th, 1844.
My Dear Sir, — I herewith transmit to you a copy
of a somewhat extraordinary communication which I
have received from the Secretary of the Common-
wealth of Massachusetts. I have not, and probably
may not take any official notice of it, for reasons which
OF JONATHAN WALKER. 79
will readily occur to you. You are, however, at lib-
erty to make such use of it as you may think proper ;
as I have entire confidence in your discretion and
ability to do justice to a subject which seems to excite
the sensibility of the good people of that Common-
wealth, and which cannot be one of indifference to the
southern slave-holder.
With the highest respect and esteem,
I am yours truly,
John Branch.
To Walker Anderson, U. S. Att'y for West Florida.
Office of the Attorney of the U. S. for West Florida.
Pensacola, November 9th, 1844.
Sir, — On my return a few days since from Walton
Court, I found your Excellency's letter of the 2oth
October, enclosing a copy of a communication to your-
self from the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Mas-
sachusetts, on the subject of Jonathan Walker, now in
prison here, awaiting his trial on a charge of negro
stealing.
Though I have kept myself informed, generally, as
to Walker's condition in prison ever since his arrest, 1
have taken pains since the receipt of your letter, to
procure more precise information on the subject, both
from himself and from the officers who have had him
in charge, and I am happy to inform your Excellency,
that the Governor of Massachusetts has been entirely
misled by the " respectable persons " who have repre-
sented to him, " that the confinement of said Walker
is attended with circumstances of unusual hardship,
and that in a feeble state of health, he is loaded with
80 TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
heavy irons, and suffering from other severe treatmen
unnecessary for his safe keeping, and endangering his
life."
When he was committed, he was in very feeble
health, resulting from his long exposure at sea in an
open boat ; but notwithstanding his confinement, his
health has gradually ameliorated until the present
moment, when, as he informs me, and as he looks to
be, he is in perfect health. He assures me that there
is nothing he has to complain of in the treatment of
the jailer and his family towards him, and that his
prison fare has been satisfactory to him, except that for
a short time after his arrest, his feeble health made his
ordinary fare distasteful to him ; but that he was soon
able to supply himself with such things as he wished.
It is true that he has been confined with a single
chain around his ankle, but this was not regarded as
" unnecessary to his safe keeping," nor as being a
"circumstance of unusual hardship." The crime
with which he is charged is characterized by our law
as a very grave one, and the executive officers of our
court have looked to that law for their guidance,
rather than to the opinions of those to whom they at
least owe no accountability. Their duty required
them to keep their prisoner securely, and I think I
may assure your Excellency, that in performing this
duty they have in no degree violated the dictates of
humanity, or infringed any of the rights of the unfor-
tunate man.
I trust that these representations, when conveyed by
your Excellency to the Governor of Massachusetts
OF JONATHAN WALKER. 81
may allay " the sensibility which exists upon the sub-
ject among the good people of that Commonwealth."
The Secretary of the Commonwealth proceeds to
say, " I am directed to request your Excellency to
cause his prosecution to be stayed long enough to
admit of arrangements being made to obtain for said
Jonathan Walker such able and effectual assistance as
may enable him to maintain his rights before the tri-
bunals of his country." There is no disposition, I am
sure, in any of the officers of this court to press this
trial with unusual precipitancy, but on the contrary,
there is a sincere desire to do justice, and no more
than justice, to the accused ; and I may add that there
prevails a wish to receive with due respect, the inter-
position of the authorities of Massachusetts in his
behalf; but I apprehend to postpone the trial indefi-
nitely, and thereby prolong a confinement considered
so irksome, could scarcely be yielded with propriety
to the request of the Governor of Massachusetts, if
opposed to the wishes of the prisoner himself. He
has a right to demand his immediate trial, and I have
been assured by him only to-day that he is anxious
that his case should be disposed of during the present
term of the court. This desire of his, so natural in
itself, we shall feel bound to regard as paramount in
its claim upon us, to the wishes of his friends abroad
— to say nothing of his right to enforce it. I trust,
therefore, that his Excellency of Massachusetts will
perceive that we are prevented from complying with
his request by the superior duty of yielding to the
wrishes of the prisoner in this regard.
Walker has expressed a wish that his trial should
6
82 TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
be postponed to as late a period of the term as practi
cable, and it has accordingly been fixed for the second
week of the term, and I doubt not it will be put off to
a still later period of the term, if the prisoner should
chow good cause therefor.
I deem it scarcely necessary to assure your Excel-
lency that the delay so earnestly pressed upon your
Excellency by the Secretary of the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts, is not indispensable " to obtain for
Walker such able and effectual assistance as may en-
able him to maintain his rights before the tribunals of
his country." Counsel is within his reach here, fully
competent to the task of maintaining his rights any-
where, and your Excellency, I am sure, anticipates me,
in the assurance that his poverty will oppose no ob-
stacle to his procu^ng the aid of such counsel.
I remain, Sir, with much respect,
Your Excellency's ob't serv't,
Walker Anderson.
U. S. Atfy. for West Florida.
To his Excellency, John Branch,
Governor of Florida, Tallahassee.
Through the kindness of a friend in New York, I
received the following resolution and the annexed
epistle, just two months from its adoption. But the
original paper, with some others, was wrested by force
from me, and laid before a committee of the legislative
council of the Territory of Florida, for their action,
which report I place below. By some exertion I suc-
ceeded in obtaining all the papers except the one of
which I place a copy here.
OF JONATHAN WALKER. 83
British and Foreign Anti- Slavery Society, for the
Abolition of Slavery and the Slave trade through
out the world.
27 New Broad street, London.
At a meeting of the British and Foreign Anti-
Slavery Society, held at 27 New Broad street, on
Friday, October 4, 1844, George Stacy, Esq., in the
chair, it was resolved unanimously,
That, considering the enormous wickedness of
American Slavery, whether viewed in relation to the
iniquity of its principle, which deprives nearly three
millions of human beings of their personal rights, or
to the atrocity of its practice, which subjects them to
the deepest degradation and misery ; this committee
feel it to be their duty, publicly and warmly, to ex-
press their sympathy with those devoted friends of hu-
manity, the Rev. Charles T. Torrey and Captain Jona-
than Walker — who are now incarcerated in the prisons
of Maryland and West Florida, for having aided or
attempted to aid some of their countrymen in their
escape from bondage ; and to assure those Christian
philanthropists that they consider the cause for which
they may hereafter be called to suffer, honorable to
them as men and as Christians ; and the laws under
which they are to be arraigned, as utterly disgraceful
to a civilized community, and in the highest degree
repugnant to the spirit and precepts of the gospel.
On behalf of the committee,
Thomas Clarkson, President.
John Scoble, Secretary.
To Capt. Jonathan Walker.
October 8, 1844.
84 TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
27 New Broad street. London.
Dear Sir — The painful circumstances in which
you have been placed by your humane and Christian
attempt to deliver some of your fellow-men from the
sufferings and degradation of slavery, are not, as you
will perceive by the accompanying resolution, un-
known to the Abolitionists in Great Britain.
They truly sympathize with you in your affliction,
and they trust that the efforts which are to be made
for your deliverance from the power of evil men and
evil laws, will be succeeded by the divine blessing.
Your faith and patience may be greatly tried, but I
trust you will be divinely sustained through the con-
flict, and that you will have a large share in the
prayers, as well as in the sympathies and assistance
of your friends.
Trusting that you will meet with becoming forti-
tude your approaching trial, and that whatever may be
its issue, you may find the " joy of the Lord to be
your strength,"
I am, dear sir, with great respect and esteem,
Yours very truly,
John Scoble, Secretary.
To Capt. Jonathan Walker.
TO THE COMMITTEE OF THE BRITISH AND FOREIGN
ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY, LONDON.
New York City, July 12th, 1845.
Very kind and highly esteemed friends :
I arrived this day in this city, and embrace the ear-
liest convenient opportunity to acknowledge the recep-
OF JONATHAN WALKER. 85
tion of the kind letter of your worthy secretary, John
Scoble, and the accompanying1 resolution adopted at
your meeting in London, on the 4th of October, 1844,
expressive of your opinion of, and feelings towards
Charles T. Torrey and myself. The letter was for-
warded through the kindness of a friend in New
York, and reached me just two months after its date.
But it is impossible for me to express upon paper the
feelings which the reception of the letter and resolu-
tion excited.
I am an American-born citizen, and have lived
forty-five years under this republican form of gov-
ernment, but I am ashamed to acknowledge that,
while enjoying the greatest social and religious priv-
ileges of any nation upon the earth, boasting of our lib-
eral and free institutions, of the inherent right of all men
to " life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," of our
arts and sciences, civilization, and the dispensation of
the gospel ; yet we cherish in our midst the most
heinous, unjust, oppressive, and God-provoking sys-
tem that ever cursed the dwellers of earth, nourishing
jealousy and discord through the land, poisoning the
life-streams of our Union, corroding the vitals of this
young and growing nation, and destroying the mental
and moral faculties of one portion of its inhabitants, to
corrupt and debase the other ; and if any one is found
among her sons whose humane feelings prompt him
to extend an act of sympathy towards his deeply in-
jured fellow-subjects — who have nowhere to look with
any earthly hope for the mitigation of their wretched-
ness, but in the hearts of the few, and are denied the
privilege of seeking redress from the laws and coun-
8
86 TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
sels of their country — such an one is sought out and
hunted like a beast of prey, and dealt with as a traitor
to his country, and as a slayer of his fellow-men ; and
this, notwithstanding every precaution has been used
to prevent any act of violence on the part of the truly
wronged, and none but pacific means are countenanced
to obtain relief.
While my mind has been filled with such consider-
ations, and while undergoing the most degrading pun-
ishments that human invention has produced, from the
hands of my own countrymen, I receive from a high
and honorable source in a foreign and monarchical
country, the warm and cordial sympathies, and favor-
able consideration and approbation of the cause for
which I suffer, and detestation of the course pursued
against me, from entire strangers, whom I never saw,
and probably never shall see this side of another
world.
I heartily respond, gentlemen, to the declaration in
the last clause of the resolution which you adopted,
that " the laws under which we were to be arraigned
are utterly disgraceful to a civilized community, and
in the highest degree repugnant to the spirit and pre-
cepts of the gospel"
You are probably aware ere this of the result of my
first trial in November last, under four indictments.
Since that time I have been detained in prison until
the 16th of June, when, after having undergone a
second trial, on the 9th. of May, under three indict-
ments, I was released by the liberality of friends,
in paying the fines and costs of prosecution, which
were charged against me. "With the exception of two
OF JONATHAN WALKER. 87
and, a half months, I was kept in chains during the
whole of my imprisonment.
Let me assure you again, my dear friends, of my
gratitude for your kind and humane consideration. It
is a source of deep regret to me that the original letter
and resolution were taken from me while in prison by
the authorities, but not however till I had secured a
copy of each, which I hold invaluable. They were
laid before the legislative council of Florida, and a
report made thereon, a copy of which I enclose.
Trusting that all needful blessings from our divine
Lord may attend you individually and collectively in
all coming time, and enable you to accomplish much
in the righteous cause you have espoused for the
amelioration of the condition of the deeply-injured and
oppressed children of men,
I remain, respectfully, your grateful friend,
Jonathan Walker.
report of the legislative council of florida.
Mr. Ferguson, from a joint select committee, made
the following report :
The joint select committee, to which was referred
the governor's communication in relation to the cor-
respondence of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery
Society with Jonathan Walker, with the accompany-
ing papers, beg leave to report :
That they regard the right of denning crimes and
passing laws to prevent or punish such crimes, as
amongst the clearest and most valuable rights of a free
people, and the interference of foreign states with the
exercise of that right, as insulting and unwarrantable,
88 TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
and that it should be repelled promptly and indig-
nantly.
This principle, so undeniable in the abstract, ac-
quires additional interest and importance from the cir-
cumstances of the particular case to which the duty of
the committee has directed its attention. It can no
longer be denied that systematic and powerful influ-
ences are at work throughout a large portion of Eu-
rope and many parts of our own country, the direct
tendency of which is to impair our rights of property,
and to involve ourselves and the unconscious objects
of this false philanthropy in one common ruin. A
vicious fanaticism, clothed in the garb of religion, is
prowling around our borders, and by means of its more
reckless and abandoned instruments, invading our in-
most sanctuaries, whose direct purposes, scarcely con-
cealed, are to deluge our very hearth-stones in blood,
and to rear an altar to its false principles upon the
ruin of all that is precious to us as freemen and dear
to us as men.
The most sanguine and forbearing amongst us must
long since have been painfully convinced of the exist-
ence of this unfriendly feeling towards us among
some of our own countrymen; and the public mind
throughout the whole of the Southern States has been
roused to a state of distrust and watchfulness, which
augurs ill for that harmony which is becoming be-
tween members of the same great family. The South
has no cause for self-reproach, growing out of this
feeling of estrangement. Their position has been
eminently that of self-defence ; and they are prompted
to maintain that position by every consideration of
OF JONATHAN WALKER. 89
duty and of self-interest. They would be recreant to
themselves, and unworthy of the rank which they hold
among the nations, if they were to falter in the asser-
tion of their rights and their resistance of this foul
injustice.
In the unhappy dissensions which have grown up
between ourselves and our countrymen of the North,
there are, however, considerations prompting us to still
longer forbearance. It is not easy to forget that we
are brothers, enjoying the same great heritage of lib-
erty which was purchased by the blood of our common
sires. We are reluctant to let go our confidence in
the returning sense of justice of those who are bound
to us by such endearing ties, and we will not willingly
dissever from our soil the blood-honored fields of Lex-
ington, of Bunker Hill, and of Saratoga— we will "suffer
long and be kind " — will bear many things, hope many
things, and endure many things. And we do this the
more readily because there is no hesitation amongst
us as to the limits of this endurance. Among the
millions of bosoms that are throbbing under a sense of
the injury and outrage which have been so wantonly
inflicted upon us by our Northern brethren, though
there are many that plead for longer forbearance and
forgiveness, there is probably not one that does not
feel that there is a point beyond which forbearance
would be ruin and dishonor — there is not one that
would not unhesitatingly fling to the winds all the
cherished recollections of the past, and all the exulting
hopes of the future, rather than bow down in slavish
abasement to the demands of those who seek to sacri-
fice us upon the shrine of their unholy fanaticism.
8*
90 TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
But the feelings which thus prompt us to forbearance
under the injuries done to us by the abolition incen-
diaries of the North, teach no such forbearance towards
the foreign incendiaries, who intermeddle with our
domestic institutions, and seek to interfere with the
administration of our laws. We regard their false
and intrusive philanthropy with unmingled resentment,
and it becomes us to resist at once, and in the most
effectual manner, all their efforts to control us in
Our internal police. The committee regret that the
only means which are within our reach to counteract
their hostile designs, and to avert danger from our-
selves, consist of increased penalties for the violation
of our laws, and in stricter police arrangements in
regard to the negro population. It is to be regretted
that the punishment for such flagrant crimes should
fall rather upon the less responsible agent, who is
induced by a desire of gain or by an ignorant fanati-
cism to come among us on his unholy crusade, than
on the more wicked and intelligent felon, who plots
his cowardly schemes of mischief in the security of a
foreign country and still more is it to be regretted
that we are constrained, in self-defence, to cut off some
of those indulgences to our Slaves, which has made
their situation hitherto one of happy contentedness.
But the responsibility is not with us. Heavy is the
accountability of the Abolitionists, both in Europe and
at the North, not so much for the happiness and har-
mony of a great nation, which he has disturbed and
perilled by his ignorant and wicked intermeddling
with the affairs of which he knows but little, as for
the new burdens which he has imposed on the slave,
OF JONATHAN WALKER. 91
and the new obstacles which he has interposed to the
gradual amelioration and improvement of his condi-
tion.
Self-protection is the primary law, and we shall
stand justified, in the eyes of God and of man, in
defending ourselves from unjust aggressions, though
the means of safety may bring punishment and suffer-
ing where it is not most deserved.
The crime of negro-stealing has heretofore been
punished by our laws with exceeding leniency, and in
the very striking case to which the attention of the
committee is now directed, where the offence was
flagrant, and the evidence conclusive, the punishment
of the guilty man was so slight as to prove that, here-
tofore, in punishing this crime, we have not in any
degree been moved by undue resentment. Hencefor-
ward we are compelled to regard negro-stealing, by the
instruments of the abolitionists, as a crime of a differ-
ent character. It is no longer a mere larceny, but a
species of treason against the State — a direct assault
upon the very existence of our institutions. The
negro-stealer, too, is now armed with new powers ;
he is upheld, encouraged, aided, and almost canonized
by men in high places, whose commendation and sym-
pathy inspire new vigor and fresh perseverance. The
thief is taught to regard himself as an agent in the
hand of Providence, and he encounters danger with
the spirit of a martyr. Slight punishments will not
deter him from renewed offences ; for he is taught to
believe that his sufferings excite the sympathies, and
bring down upon his head the blessings and the pray-
ers of the Christian world.
92 TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
In obedience, then, to the rule which requires that
the punishment of an offence should be commensurate
with the difficulty of preventing it, as well as its enor-
mity, the committee feel constrained to recommend
that the crime of negro-stealing, and of aiding and
abetting negro-stealing, be made punishable here-
after by death. They make this recommendation
not lightly, but with a deep and impressive sense of
the responsibility which they assume ; but they feel
that the responsibility, in its heaviest extent, rests
elsewhere. They believe that such a law is necessary
to the safety of the country in the new aspect in which
this crime must now be regarded ; and if blood be the
penalty which the negro-stealer has to pay for his
crime, it will be upon the skirts of those whose excite-
ments and applause have driven him to his doom.
As there is a bill now before the Senate making
negro-stealing punishable with death, the committee
content themselves on this head with earnestly recom-
mending its enactment into a law.
Some of the circumstances developed in this case of
Jonathan Walker have satisfied the committee that
there are evil-disposed persons amongst us who per-
mit themselves to be made channels of intercourse
between the convicted felons in our prisons and their
accomplices abroad, and in other ways lend their aid
to the dissemination of unsound and dangerous doc-
trines on the subject of slavery. Towards such offend-
ers the law should be unsparing in its penalties. To
punish such of this class as are found among us with
sufficient severity, and exclude those who may be offi-
ciously intruded upon us, its most solemn sanction
OF JONATHAN WALKER. 93
should be invoked ; but the committee apprehend that
while we remain in a territorial government some
embarrassment might arise in the enforcement of
police laws adequate in their rigor to the suppression
of the mischief; and as we are about to assume, under
the blessing of God, the privileges and the powers of
a free sovereign State, the committee recommend
that this subject, together with that of new police regu-
lations, with regard to the slaves themselves, be post-
poned till the meeting of the first General Assembly
of the State of Florida and they earnestly invoke its
serious attention to the whole subject, in all its rela-
tions and bearings.
The committee, having considered all the subjects
referred to them, beg to be discharged from their fur-
ther consideration.
Walker Anderson,
Chairman of the Senate Committee.
I. Ferguson, Jr.,
Chairman of the House Committee.
The reader has already seen that I have repeatedly
been stigmatized with the epithet of " slave-stealer ;"
to which charge I did, and do still plead not guilty —
although punished for that offence ; neither was it
ever my intention to commit it, and God forbid it ever
should be.
Have not the fathers of our nation proclaimed to the
world, by the declaration of independence, that " all
men are born free and equal ? " and that they " are
endowed by their creator" " with an inalienable right
to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ?" And
94 TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
is peaceably assisting those who have been robbed ol
these rights, without in any way infringing upon the
rights of others, slave-stealing ? Was the benevolent
and humane conduct of the Samaritan, in assisting
the man, who had fallen among thieves and was rob-
bed, to get to the inn where he could be provided for,
stealing? Is practising on that invaluable rule, of
doing to others as we would they should do unto us
under similar circumstances — enjoined upon all Chris-
tians, by Jesus Christ himself — slave-stealing ?
As to my infringing upon any man's rights, or tres-
passing upon any man's property, I deny it in toto.
Neither Byrd C. Willis, George Willis, nor Robert C.
Caldwell had any more right to Anthony Catlet,
Charles Johnson, or Silas Scott, than I or any other per-
son had ; nor did they ever have a right to those -men.
Under God, they had a right to themselves, which they
had never forfeited; and those who claim them as
property or chattels, assume authority over the
Almighty Creator of all things.
Much has been said about invading -the rights of
the slave-holder, by opposing the system of slavery.
As to any of the honestly gained property of the
slave-holder, or any one else, I have nothing to say ; but
I deny that he has any right or just claim to his fellow-
beings, without their forfeiture or consent, in the shape
of property or chattels ; — one American-born citizen
being the property of another American-born citizen
is ridiculous in the highest degree, and repugnant to
every true republican and Christian feeling, and should
never be countenanced for a moment by any one hav-
ing the least idea of liberty or equal rights. All that can
OF JONATHAN WALKER. 95
be said in favor of American slavery can be said in
support of robbery or piracy.
I know that many are ready to say, they are guar-
antied to their holders by the laws of this govern-
ment, and so are held by right. But neither this
government nor these States have the right to guar-
anty one part of the home-born citizens to become the
property of another part, nor to delegate the inherent
rights and liberties of one portion to the absolute con-
trol and disposal of another portion. From whence
do rights proceed ? I repeat again that they never had
such rights.
What the slave-holder calls his right of property in
human beings, consists of the slave's wrongs ; handed
over from the inhuman kidnapper, who stole his human
prey, and transferred it to the human flesh-buyer ;
and how many such flagrant wrongs does it take to
make one reasonable right ?
If there be a just God, to whom man is accountable,
what is our hope for the perpetrators of these repeated
wrongs, when they shall have passed on through life
down to the oppressor's grave ?
" But what beyond that goal may be —
What portion in eternity,
For those who oppress to gain their wealth,
And die without a hope in death ?
I know not — and I dare not think ;
Awhile I shudder o'er the brink
Of that unfathomable deep,
In which heaven's secret judgments sleep."
" Your riches are corrupted, and your garments
are moth-eaten ; your gold and silver is cankered,
and the rust of them shall be a witness against you,
96 TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
and shall eat your flesh as it were fire." — "Ye
have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton ;
ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaugh-
ter ; ye have condemned and killed the just, — and he
did not resist you."
" Remember that in thy lifetime thou hast received
thy good things," &c. Luke xvi. 25.
No community,, society, sect, creed, or any persons
or individuals, are accountable for, or chargeable with
my opinions or conduct, with respect to the system of
slavery, — I alone am responsible ; and, as I trust, under
the influence of the spirit of God. If I have erred
through the weakness of human judgment, then be the
offence mine, and the mercy-seat my resort for pardon.
To those who charge me with having by over-zeal gone
too far in aid of suffering humanity, I would say, let
none other be charged with participating in what has
taken place in my case — I will bear the blame alone.
Be it known to all people, that I made no bargain,
contract, or agreement with any of those persons for
any pecuniary remuneration for the aid and expense
which I devoted to their escape from bondage, other
than this : that I remarked to one or two of the men,
that if they succeeded in getting where they could be
free, and accumulate something for themselves, they
might give me what' they felt able or disposed to, in
payment of the expense of their passage, as it might
suit their convenience or circumstances ; and when
we arrived at New Providence, they would, be at liberty
to go where they pleased, or remain there.
I am aware that many innocent and well-disposed
persons have suffered under the tongue of slander and
OF JONATHAN WALKER. 97
calumny on my account, and that my case has been
misrepresented and made a hobby-horse to ride into
the anti-slavery ranks, and vilify the true philanthro-
pists.
Since my return I have been credibly informed that
some persons in my vicinity, in Massachusetts, have
attempted to promulgate the belief that some of those
warm-hearted friends in Harwich, who have endea-
vored to afford me such aid as was in their power,
were interested in the transaction, and were expecting
to reap some pecuniary benefit therefrom. But I wish
it to be distinctly understood, that no one but myself
and those who were with me in the boat, had any
knowledge of the undertaking; and I never gave the
hint to any other person.
Some editorials of the Barnstable (Massachusetts)
Patriot have gone forth, to prejudice the people's minds
against every reasonable measure calculated to aid the
abolition of slavery, and to cherish a pro-slavery feeling,
and a most unsocial and unchristian spirit. I lament
the depravity and lack of dignity which seem to
preside over the genius of its editor.
Let those who sport with the good feelings of
others, and ridicule the efforts which are made to
rescue the oppressed from the hands of the oppressor,
remember, that they, too, are accountable for the part
they act, and for the influence they attempt to dissemin-
ate. Let them not build their hopes of the decline of
the anti-slavery cause upon my failing to accomplish
my undertaking, in aiding a few individuals to obtain
some of their rights ; for I doubt not but it will event-
ually be the cause of awakening many sleepers to
9 7
98 TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
look upon the hideous monster, slavery, in its natural
and true form ; and may God grant that this nation
may soon have right views and right feelings in regard
to this corroding system, which is eating up its vitals,
and threatening speedy distraction and destruction
through the land, unless an overruling and benignant
Providence should ward off the blow, and spare us
from our just deserts.
It seems to have been a matter of wonder to many
here at the north, to know what I expected to gain by
aiding those slaves to escape from their masters. In
reply, I will also ask what did the good Samaritan expect
to gain by helping the man who had fallen among
thieves, and was robbed and wounded, to a place of
refuge and health ?
In Pensacola, and in the south generally, I believe
there is but one opinion in regard to my motive — that
it was to aid the slaves in obtaining their freedom,
because I considered it their right.
The following is the bill of costs, brought against
me by the territory of Florida : —
[Copy.]
Territory of Florida J Abducting Seven Slaves.
vs. > Verdict,
Jonathan Walker. ) Guilty.
Cost of Court, and fines in seven suits, . . $291 05
Paid Witness from Key West, .... 57 75
do. R. C. Caldwell, ... 3 75
do. R. C. Caldwell, ... 2 50
11 Deputy for travelling to navy-yard, to
arrest, 3 00
Carried forward, S35S 05
OF JONATHAN WALKER. 99
Brought forivard, $358 05
Paid Lock for Jail, 0 87 J
" Blacksmith, repairing Jail, &c. . . 9 13
" D. Quind, for guarding Jail, . . 87 50
" City of Pensacola for use of Jail, . 25 00
" City Jailer, for board up to May 23rd,
1*845 115 50
$596 05i
(Signed) E. Dorr,
U. S. Marshal.
Received, Pensacola, 20th May, 1845, of C. C.
Keyser, Esq., Five hundred ninety-six 5-100 dollars
in full for the above bill of cost.
(Signed) Eben. Dorr,
U. S. Marshal for West Florida.
100 TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
REMARKS.
" City of Pensacola, to use of Jail, $25." This to
me, I confess, is rather a singular charge to bring
against a prisoner.
" City marshal's bill for board," was at the rate of
37| cents per day ; but a small part of which was
expended for me, as I was under the necessity of
using about forty dollars, to provide myself with food,
which consisted mostly of bread and molasses.
" Cost of court and fines, in seven suits, $291 05."
The fines were one hundred and sixty-five dollars,
and the cost of court consisted of the district attorney's,
marshal's *and clerk's fees, and the evidence before the
grand jury.
There were other charges in the case, and I sup-
pose they were brought against the United States ;
and the whole cost and expense would have been
charged to the United States, if my friends had not
paid it, in order to my release.
It may not be improper to remark here that I had
no witness, nor asked for any ; and those whose fees
are charged in the bill are — Richard Roberts, of Key
"West, master of the vessel that took me, near Cape
Florida, and the other, Robert C. Caldwell, who
claimed to be an owner of three of the slaves that left
Pensacola in my boat. These were summoned by
the prosecution to testify against me.
The charge for guarding the jail, $S7 50, is a
mooted point with me ; at one time I was told that
it was guarded to prevent people without from molest-
ing me, and at another time, that it was guarded to
prevent my escape from prison ; but I think, probably,
more to make a show than anything else.
OF JONATHAN WALKER. 101
" Blacksmith— repairing jail, &c. $9 13."
A slave man came to jail one day, and worked on
the doors about two hours, and fastened a piece of
iron athwart an aperture in the door, through which I
had been in the habit of receiving my food ; and I do
not know what the " &c." is for, except for riveting
the irons on my leg, and making the branding iron.
The lock was not used on or about the jail.
Since my return home, I have often heard the
expressions used, " We never expected to see you
here again j" and " How is it that they let you come
so soon ?" My answer is this : — Although what they
term the laws of Florida could have been executed
with greater severity, and I subjected to more cost
and longer imprisonment, yet there was a strong
abhorrence on the part of the citizens of Pensacola,
generally, to any further infliction of punishment ; and
many were opposed to its execution thus far. Dur-
ing my residence in Pensacola, I had formed an
acquaintance with most of the people of that place,
and was on social and friendly terms with all ; never
having any difficulty or misunderstanding with any.
Another reason is, — that there was, as I believe I
have before stated, but one opinion as to the motives
which induced me to commit the act for which I was
called to suffer ; — all seeing that I was acting upon
the principle which I believed to be true, just and
right — that " God has made of one blood all nations
of men to dwell on the face of the whole earth," and
" that all men are born free and equal," and are enti-
9*
102 TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
tied to the same rights, by the laws of God and nature
All the people saw that I was not influenced by pecu-
niary considerations, and that I had no intention of
trespass or fraud upon the rights or property of any
one.
There was less indignant feeling towards me on
another account. A large part of the inhabitants
were Creoles, (descendants of French and Spanish
parents,) and not generally so irresistibly devoted to
the system of slavery as the American-born and bred
citizens were ; and this Creole population manifested
more sympathy for me than the rest of the community
did.
There has also been much inquiry of me in regard
to the doings of Thomas M. Blunt, who was employed
in New York to manage my defence at the November
Court, in Pensacola, — or to take an appeal to the
United States Supreme Court, and have the case pre-
sented there. I have not attempted to give any account
of him, other than noting his visits to me at the prison
in December last; feeling that his being sent was
nearly the greatest insult that friends at the north
could impose on me.
I was sufficiently well acquainted with the man,
and his course of behavior and conduct, for seven
or eight years and knew him to be void of any good
principle, and pro-slavery to the back-bone ; bred
and practised in the hot-bed of that soul-destroy-
ing system, which is one of the greatest scourges
arrayed against the well-being and happiness of man,
and one of the highest insults against the authority
and government of God, who has provided ample
OF JONATHAN WALKER. 103
means for the happiness and welfare of the great
human family. Thomas M. Blunt was also looked
upon by the inhabitants there as a very corrupt-minded
man, and a base and common swindler.
The first knowledge I had of his having anything
to do with my case, was the 2nd of December
last, eighteen days after I had my trial. He then
called at the prison, and talked with me a few minutes
through the window, without offering to come in. He
stated to me that he had seen Amos B. Merrill before
he left New York, and he got him to attend to my
case ; but in consequence of the high (!) or low (!)
stage of the water in some of the rivers near there,
he was prevented from being in the place in time to
attend to my trial. He had then been in the place
twelve or thirteen days, and said he had told people
there, that he was paid two hundred dollars to manage
my case, and that my friends wished to take an appeal
to the Supreme Court of the United States, and wanted
to know if I would consent to an appeal. I told him
that I would, in case I could be bailed out, and not
be subjected to illegal treatment. He said he would
try to get an appeal on the case. He wanted to know
what the expense amounted to ; I told him that I had
not yet been able to ascertain what it was. He left me,
and, after a few days, called again ; when I gave him
a schedule of the charges then against me, which had
been handed me a day or two before by the marshal,
the amount of which was $421 45. I informed
him that the " fine, $150," could be paid in Territorial
scrip, which could be bought at a large discount,
and that a sum of less than four hundred dollars would
104 walker's trial and imprisonment.
be sufficient to effect my release. I asked him if he
could not make some arrangement to satisfy the
demand, so that I might leave the place. He said
that he was going to the next county, where he had
some money owing him, and if he could get that, he
would release me ; but that he could not get an appeal
on the case, for the bail would be so high that it could
not be given. He handed me a paper in which was
enclosed a letter, and resolution from the British and
Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, and left, until the 25th,
when he called again, and said he was then going to
New York, and would stir up my friends about the
matter, and urge them to have the means necessary to
my release forthcoming.
This is the substance of my positive knowledge of
the doings of Thomas M. Blunt, in regard to my case ;
but since my return, I have been informed that he
received from a committee, who had been acting in the
case, seven hundred and fifty dollars, which had been
subscribed to provide me with counsel, and my family
with such aid as they might need.
OF JONATHAN WALKER. 105
In writing the first edition of my narrative, under
somewhat unfavorable circumstances, I seemed to pass
over some things a little too briefly ; and am some-
times asked, by those who have read my book, the fol-
lowing questions :
What became of the slaves who attempted to obtain
their freedom by my assistance ? and how, or in what
manner, I left Florida ?
Under page 15 I mentioned that they were sent
from Key West to Pensacola, in the sloop Reform, and
page 24, that they had arrived, and four of them were
lodged in jail near me. The other three were put to
their several places of labor again, without being
punished. Their names were Silas and Henry Scott,
(brothers,) and Moses Johnson ; these were claimed by
Robert C. Caldwell, an officer in the U. S. navy, as
mentioned page 66. $6.25 were extorted from me in
the name of the United States ! and paid to him for
giving testimony in court against me. [See bill, p. 99.]
Three of the four slaves that were put in prison
were named Charles, Phillip and Leonard Johnson.
They, and Moses, above named, were brothers, and
claimed as the property of George Willis. The name
of the other was Anthony Cotleti — claimed by Byrd
C Willis. These four were kept in prison from July
28th to August 8th, when they were taken out and
sent to their unpaid toil again, after having been
severely punished, as mentioned page 25. George
Willis was quite a large slaveholder. He had been in
106 TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
the habit of hiring many of them to the United States
to work at the forts and navy-yard, for whose services
he had been paid large sums by the government ; and
had been himself for several years employed as a
United States hangman for West Florida, as mentioned
page 66.
Byrd C. Willis lived in Virginia ; was a relation of
George Willis ; and the slave claimed by him was in
charge of George Willis, and shared the same fate of
the others.
The manner of my discharge, and -leaving Pensa-
cola, was in substance as follows. It will be remem-
bered, that after my last trial I was detained in prison
for the want of means to pay the cost and fines, until
a short time before I left ; when a draft was forward-
ed to a merchant at Pensacola, covering the sum
necessary to effect my release, from an old and true
friend. The merchant, immediately on the reception
of the draft, called at the prison and acquainted me
with the fact ; and read to me a letter of instructions
to him touching my case.
As there was no opportunity of getting a passage
direct to the north from that place, I was under the
necessity of remaining there upwards of two weeks
longer; when an opportunity offered, and I took pas-
sage on board the brig Lowellen, of Boston, for New
York, where we arrived on the 10th of July. I was
released from prison on the 16th of June, went imme-
diately on board the brig, and sailed the next day. I
had an opportunity to speak with but few persons of
the place after I left the prison, and they all treated me
with entire civility and respect.
OF JONATHAN WALKER. 107
Soon after my return to Massachusetts, the follow-
ing stirring lines appeared, from the pen of John G.
Whittier, the poetical friend at Amesbury, Mass.
And by special request of many, and in compliment to
the author, I place them here in my book.
THE BRANDED HAND.
Welcome home again, brave seaman ! with thy thoughtful brow and gray,
And the old heroic spirit of our earlier, better day —
With that front of calm endurance, on whose steady nerve, in vain
Pressed the iron of the prison, smote the fiery shafts of pain !
Is the tyrant's brand upon thee? Did the brutal cravens aim
To make God's truth thy falsehood, His holiest work thy shame ?
When, all blood-quenched, from the torture the iron was withdrawn,
How laughed their evil angel, the baffled fools to scorn !
They change to wrong, the duty which God hath written out
On the great heart of humanity too legible for doubt !
They, the loathsome moral lepers, blotched from foot-sole up to crown,
Give to shame what God hath given unto honor and renown!
Why, that brand is highest honor !— than its traces never yet
Upon old armorial hatchments was a prouder blazon set;
And thy unborn generations, as they crowd our rocky strand,
Shall tell with pride the story of their father's branded hand!
As the templar, home was welcomed, bearing back from Syrian wara
The scars of Arab lances, and of Paynim scimetars,
Tb.3 pallor of the prison and the shackle's crimsori span,
So we meet thee, so we greet thee, truest friend of God and man!
He suffered for the ransom of the dear Redeemer's grave,
Thou for His living presence in the bound and bleeding slave;
He for a soil no longer by the feet of angels trod,
Thou for the true Shechinah, the present home of God!
For, while the jurist sitting with the slave-whip o'er him swung,
From the tortured truths of freedom the lie of slavery wrung,
And the solemn priest to Moloch, on each God-deserted shrine,
Broke the bondman's heart for bread, poured the bondman's blood for wine
108 TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
While the multitude in blindness to a far off Saviour knelt,
And spurned, the while, the temple where a present Saviour dwelt;
Thou beheld'st Him in the task-field, in the prison shadows dim,
And thy mercy to the bondman, it was mercy unto Him !
In thy lone ami long night watches, sky above and wave below,
Thou did'st learn a higher wisdom than the babbling school-men know;
God's stars and silence taught thee as His angels only can,
That, the one, sole sacred thing beneath the cope of heaven is MAN !
That he, who treads profanely on the scrolls of law and creed,
In the depth of God's great goodness may find mercy in his need ;
But woe to him who crushes the SOUL with chain and rod
And herds with lower natures the awful form of God !
Then lift that manly right hand, bold ploughman of the wave !
Its branded palm shall prophesy, "Salvation to the Slave ! "
Hoid up its fire-wrought language, that whoso reads may feel
His heart swell strong within him, his sinews change to steel.
Hold it up before our sunshine, up against our Northern air —
Ho ! men of Blassachusetts, for the love of God look there !
Take it henceforth for your standard — like the Bruce's heart of yore,
In the dark strife closing round ye, let that hand be seen before !
And the tyrants of the slave land shall tremble at thai, sign,
When it points its finger Southward along the Puritan line:
Woe to the State-gorged leeches, and the church's locust band,
When they look from slavery's ramparts on the coming of that hand !
More than twenty years I have had a considerable
knowledge of American Slavery, and used to think the
guilt (which is without a parallel) mainly rested on
the people of the slave States. But a more extended
knowledge and experience has convinced me that such
is not strictly the fact. When I take under considera-
tion the existing circumstances, I am more and more
compelled to believe that the people of the (so called,
for in reality I know of none,) free States are mainly
responsible for the present existence of American chat-
tel slavery, and its consequences.
OF JONATHAN \VALKE*R. 109
It is not natural to expect that those who are born,
brought up, and have always lived where slavery is
recognized as laudable, and its trade respectable, and
where the inhabitants have been educated from their
youth to disregard the rights of others, and trample
upon, and trifle with the liberties and feelings of those
who have not the means or ability to contend for their
rights, — it is not, I say, naturally to be expected that
they will be the advocates of right. But of those who
have been placed under widely different circumstances
we have a right to expect a better state of feeling, and
a more liberal and humane course of conduct and
actions toward the destitute and the helpless victims
of this country's oppression. But mortifying as it is,
careful observation convinces me that such is not the
case, but to a great extent it is the reverse.
If any considerable portion of the influential inhabi-
tants of the (so called) free states had taken sides with
freedom, and used their influence and their possessed
means for the removal of the abomination ten years
ago, I have no doubt but by this time slavery would
have been fast dwindling away, instead of deluging
the country in disgraceful, exterminating wars, to
enlarge its limits and power to an alarming extent.
But instead of trying to check and diminish the gigan-
tic power of the destroying monster, the church and
state have combined with their physical and intellec-
tual, their political and religious influence and power
to keep down and control the long abused, oppressed,
plundered and outraged objects of their oppression, and
to place every possible obstacle in the way of the few
unflinching friends of the slave, and their efforts to
10
110 TRIAL AND IMPRISONMENT
benefit mankind. Yes, when they can do nothing'
more, they resort to low, base and cowardly means ;
and hesitate not to vilify, slander, and use falsehood
to prevent the influence of the true friends of human
rights among those who would be willing to aid in the
cause, and obtain correct information of the demoral-
izing, dehumanizing effects of the cursed system.
Surely the people have been led astray by their
leaders, and it may be said, as of old, " The prophets
have prophesied falsely ; by their means the priests
bear rule, and the people love to have it so."
The signs of the times to me indicate plainly that
the time is at hand, when the iniquity of this nation
and people is to be exposed in its true form, and the
conflict between slavery and liberty to take place. And
let me beseech the reader, in the name of God, right
and humanity, to make a right choice of his or her
position — remembering that this is the most hypocritical
people and nation on the face of the whole earth —
professing democracy, and practising slaveocracy ;
professing republicanism, and practising despotism of
the worst kind ; professing Christianity, and practising
the most dangerous infidelity.
Is it reasonable to suppose that we shall go un-
punished ? Had we not better heed the true proverb,
that " Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also
reap?" We have for our rulers, to whom we are
giving voluntary support, and with whom we have
entrusted our rights and the control of this whole
nation — the fornicator, the adulterer, the kidnapper,
slave breeder, the slaveholder, and the human flesh
trader. These are the leaders and rulers of the people,
OF JONATHAN WALKER. Ill
" and many shall follow their pernicious ways ; by
reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken
of." " And through covetousness shall they with
feigned words make merchandize of you ; whose judg-
ment now of a long time lingereth not, and their dam-
nation slumbereth not." " Woe unto them that decree
unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which
they have prescribed ; to turn aside the needy from
judgment, and to take away the right of the poor, that
widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the
fatherless. And what will ye do in the day of visita-
tion, and in the desolation which shall come from afar ?
to whom will ye flee for help ? and where will ye
leave your glory ? "
Remember, kind reader, " that God has no attribute
that takes sides with slavery," and may you ever be
found on the side of the true and the right.
APPENDIX.
My mind has for a long time been strongly impressed
with the conviction that a more than ordinary providence
has attended me thus far through life. The variety of
scenes and situations which I have passed through, and
many a narrow escape from death, cause me greatly to
wonder that I am yet a spared subject upon God's footstool ;
and for his great power and preserving care, attended with
numerous and great mercies towards me, I delight to
acknowledge him as my Governor, King, and God, to whom
be glory in the highest ! In view of the numerous causes
that have a tendency to shorten frail man's earthly exis-
tence, I will unite with Watts in saying,
" Strange that a harp of thousand strings
Should keep in tune so long ! "
When about fifteen years of age, one severe cold day,
while sliding on the ice upon a deep pond, 1 incautiously
went over a part that was scarcely frozen, broke through and
went in, and was almost miraculously rescued by the assist-
ance of another boy about the same age.
In the year 1817, at the age of eighteen, for twenty odd
days I was stretched upon a sick couch, in a thatched bam-
boo* shantee, suffering with, and but scarcely surviving, a
violent and raging fever, more than eight thousand miles
from home, kindred and friends, among strange people and
of a strange language — watched over mostly at night by
wizards — innocent little creatures I never wish to forget.
With what apparent earnestness and anxiety they seemed
to regard me, as they crept over me and about the walls of
my humble abode, by the light shining from a clay dish of
cocoa-nut oil, with a string one end in the oil and the other
♦Large reed that grows in the East ladies.
APPENDIX.
113
on the side of the dish, lit up as a substitute for a lamp
Many long, silent and wakeful hours have I observed the
harmless little reptiles in their movements, while their bright
and sparkling eyes surveyed me as though they felt a deep
interest in my case. Their looks and actions were always
pleasant and agreeable, and aided me in beguiling away the
long and tedious nights.
Before I had so far recovered as to be able to prosecute
any employment, my small purse was exnausted, and I was
left destitute and dependent upon the kindness of those
whom I never saw before, and could neither speak their
language nor they mine ; but a kind Providence interposed,
and I was soon again in comfortable circumstances.
Less than one year from that time I was knocked down
senseless and washed into the lee scuppers, on board of a
ship lying to in the English channel, in a severe gale,
while at the pump. A sea struck her midships with great
violence, staving in much of the bulwarks and carrying with
it all that was moveable, and me with the rest ; and the
next thing I knew, I was lying on the cabin floor, and was
told, that when the water had cleared from the decks, I was
found crawling out between the lanyards of the lee main
rigging, and would, if let alone, in a few seconds have been
overboard, and clear of the vessel.
Within a few days of one year from that time, in March,
1820, while on a passage from Europe to the United States
in a brig, I was precipitated from the fore top-sail yard-arm
head-foremost overboard, in a dark night and gale of wind.
The weather being cold, I had on at that time heavy boots
and thick clothing, which greatly obstructed my exertions
in the water ; and the first thing I came in contact with
was the bottom of the vessel, and after some struggling to
gain the surface, and before I was sensible of reaching it, I
caught a rope and seized it with my whole strength, and
soon found myself raised partly out of water, and the next
instant plunged under again and dragged forcibly through
10*
114 APPEMUX.
it, at a rapid rate. Thus, for three or four minutes, as neai
as I can judge, I remained in that situation, hallooing at
the top of my voice whenever my head was above water,
and was nearly losing my hold when I was seized by the
captain, mate, and another man, who, with some difficulty,
succeeded in getting me on board.
There were two men on the same yard, and a third com-
ing up, when I fell off, and neither knew that I had fallen
off until they had reefed the topsail and come down upon
deck. Had I fallen on the vessel in my headlong position,
it would have insured instant death. Had I fallen in any
other position than I did in the water, the concussion would,
in all probability, have rendered me incapable of immediate
exertion. Had I gained the surface at any other place than
I did, there would have been nothing to get hold of, and in
less than one minute the vessel would have passed away
from me altogether and forever ; for there was no possi-
bility of getting to me with vessel or boat at such a time as
that, if such an attempt should have been thought of.
I was at Havana in the sickly summer of 1824, when
the yellow fever was multiplying its victims among for-
eigners at a %jrful rate, and carrying them off with the
black vomit, while death hoisted his desolating ensign over
the fleet of shipping that was then in port, and sending its
cart-loads daily of European and American citizens and
seamen out of the city, and from on ship-board, to their last
earthly abode, no more to return to the social circle and
their active vocations, in which they had acted their part ;
but leaving gloom and despair in the countenances of many
a gallant crew. In some cases there were not men enough
left to pass their sleeping shipmate over the vessel's side into
the waterman's boat, to be transferred to the dead-cart.
I too was singled out, and prostrated by that scourge of
humanity, but after five days of severe conflict, the pale
horse and his rider passed by, and permitted mercy to
attend, and nature to revive again, contrary to human
APPENDIX. 115
expectation ; for I knew not the second one that could say
that he was rescued from the clutches of the fell destroyer.
I will briefly notice one more circumstance of my life,
and then would gladly have them all, with many other
transactions, forever erased from my mind, were it not that
I can see something in them that looks like the goodness of
God in his merciful dealings with rebellious dust, and that
elevates my grateful feelings to him, " for his wonderful
works to the children of men."
In the fore part of the year 1835, I had some correspon-
dence with the late Benjamin Lunday, then residing in
Philadelphia. That eminent philanthropist had previously
travelled and spent a considerable time in Mexico, and had
obtained a grant to settle a colony in the northern part of
the province of Tamaulipas, on very liberal terms, and I
had a mind to favor the scheme to the best of my ability,
and began to look that way for my earthly home ; but
thought it best to see the promised land before adopting it as
my local resting-place with my family. In order to do so,
I left New Bedford, Massachusetts, in the following No-
vember, in a vessel of twelve tons, if so small a craft may
be called a vessel. Our number was three; myself and
son, of the age of twelve years, and another young man.
a mechanic.
We had a long and rough passage, and encountered five
gales before we reached Mexico. When we arrived at
Matamoras I found the country in a very unsettled state,
and strong and growing prejudices were arrayed against cit-
izens of the United States, on account of the war that was
then raging between Mexico and her rebellious Texas, car-
ried on mainly by assistance from the United States. I
remained there some time expecting to be joined by others,
but none appeared ; they were prevented doubtless by the
war.
I was chartered b)r mercantile houses in Matamoras' to
run several trips between that place and New Orleans, as a
■« 16 APPENDIX.
courier to carry letters for them on mercantile business.
Returning on my last trip, we got ashore on the coast, and
in the act of getting off, we were attacked by a gang of
robbers. My young friend, R. Marble, attempted to escape
by flight, but was pursued by two of the armed assassins,
and I saw him no more. My son plunged into the surf and
swam to sea. They fired at me, and I received two of their
musket balls, and made supplication for mercy, but they soon
convinced me, by attempting to use a pistol and their knives
upon me, that if I looked to them for quarter, I looked in
vain. My only chance to escape immediate death, was to
follow if possible the example of my son, and while they
were making the attempt to despatch me, T succeeded in
gaining the surf, and joined my son in the offing. We
found it necessary to divest ourselves of what clothing we
had on, to enable us to exercise ourselves with more activity
and ease.
And now let the reader imagine our situation. On one
side was the shore guarded by the robbers ready to butcher
us if we landed, and on the other side was the whole bay
of Mexico ; and myself deprived of the use of one hand by
a bullet, being shot through the wrist joint. The blood
oozing freely from that and another bullet-wound in the
abdomen, was well suited to invite a greedy shark to finish
the work of his two-legged brothers on shore.
From whence now could we look for aid or hope, but to
God, the only sure source and fountain of hope and safety,
in times of need and danger 1 And thither did we look, and
not in vain ; for, by divine assistance, we were enabled to
keep our heads above water until the darkness of night
afforded us an opportunity to elude their vigilance, and land
at some distance from the place where we first swam. We
carefully surveyed the shore, before landing, to see that we
were not observed by any of the banditti, and took the
direction of the shore toward the nearest inhabited place I
knew of, in search of aid and protection. It was nearly
APPENDIX.
117
sun-down when we were attacked, and I think we were in
the water something over one hour. After travelling that
night and the greater part of the next day, suffering severely
from pain, raging thirst, weakness by loss of blood, and the
heat of a burning sun acting upon our naked bodies, — [if
memory serves, this circumstance took place on the 6th of
June, 1836, in the latitude of 36° North,] — on the after-
noon of the 7th, we presented our miserable and almost
exhausted persons at a Rancho, (small village,) at the
mouth of the Rio del Norte, where we found aid and hos-
pitable treatment from its poor inhabitants, for which we
were very grateful.
Thus we were thrown upon the charity of strangers more
than two thousand miles from home, entirely naked, and
pennyless, myself severely wounded and in a very delicate
state of health. The distance we had travelled was esti-
mated by the inhabitants at forty miles, and we were unable
to procure any fresh water during the whole distance. I
if **e frequently compelled to lie down, being overcome with
thir and pain. The wound in the wrist continued to bleed
upwards of fifteen hours, and could only be stanched by
keeping the wound higher than the shoulder, and in order
to do that I was obliged to hold it up with the other hand.
I am of the opinion that I lost but very little, if any, short
of four quarts of blood before it stopped ; and before reaching
the Rancho, I was reeling and staggering like a drunken
person, and could with difficulty make any progress.
The last special circumstance or transaction which I have
encountered, has been related in the preceding narrative.
Except the foregoing, I do not suppose that I have expe-
rienced anything more or stranger than thousands of others,
who, like myself, have passed upwards often years of their
lives on the salt blue sea, and gone among as many different
nations ; inhaling the atmosphere of each quarter of the
globe ; sometimes shivering with Russia's cold piercing
winds in her ice-bound seas, and anon wilting under a
IIS
APPENDIX.
burning vertical sun ; whilst gliding through the torrid
zone, gently moved along by the refreshing breeze that
always blows one way ; and at other times scarcely able
to turn the weather-beaten face to the furious howling blasts,
while my habitation majestically mounted the lofty wave
which it had hove up, — the next instant rushing down its
declivity with the rapidity of thought, as if bound in haste
to the nether regions, almost ingulfed between two water
hills ; tumbling, careening, and again rearing the summit,
like a thing of life. Then again all is hushed, and the
troubled ocean exhibits a surface as if it was one sheet of
polished glass, without a ripple, or any visible object, except
now and then a homeless Mother Cary's chicken, wander-
ing over the vast expanse of water, as if moved by instinct,
regardless of its course, or where night may overtake it.
Thus nature seems to have forgotten her activity, and to
have fallen asleep.
But again the heavens gather blackness ; the smooth,
lamb-like, uniform appearance of all around, changes its
aspect, and assumes the leopard's skin, and the tiger's
nature. Jack's eyes brighten ; he looks at the thickening
cloud, then at the distant horizon ; he paces the decks with
hurried steps, glancing an occasional eye at the spread can-
vass, and begins to talk about tying it up. Old ocean's
face is again about to suffer agitation, and its infant peaks
begin to put on their white caps. All now is hurry and bus-
tle ; the halyards, sheets, clue-lines and gaskets, are put in
requisition ; the wind whistles through the rigging ; the
awakened craft rolls up her sea-washed side, and trembles
like a frightened horse ; the rumbling of the clouds' chariot-
wheels is heard approaching from the upper regions ; tor-
rents of cold water descend from their beds above, and the
busy mariner is immersed without consultation or consent.
The forked lightnings shoot forth ; and the little floating
world seems to be wrapped up in a frightful thunder cloud.
The bold blasphemer feels that the weapons of death are
APPENDIX.
119
suspended over his head, and shunning those objects most
likely to attract the liquid fire, he casts off his atheistical
faith, which can only serve him in less threatening hours,
when conscience is smothered and deprived of its office.
But a kind Providence presides, and the heavens assume a
milder hue ; sail after sail is spread to catch the declining
breeze ; and the valiant craft speeds on towards her port of
destination, regardless of the past. But in due time, the
delightful sound of Land, ho ! falls from the mast-head ;
joy brightens up each countenance, and imagination stands
tiptoe. Soon the landward eye surveys the approaching
hills, forests and fields, that produce food for men and
beasts. Then comes to view a whitened pinnacle-formed
edifice, fixed on some projecting point or sea-worn rock, to
warn the watchful mariner of his danger when surrounded
by the darkness of night. Soon new objects attract the
attention ; for now are seen the clustered buildings which
contain a complicated multitude with their numerous avoca-
tions, with here and there a towering steeple of some public
edifice established for the improvement of the physical,
mental, or moral faculties of the children of men.
Some might be led to suppose that the inward-bound
sailor would there find a recess from his multiplied cares
and exposed situation, — a refuge from the furious contending
elements ; but not so ; other and greater dangers and expo-
sures are here in reserve for those who have escaped the
perils incident to a sea-faring life. Not the mighty dashing
billows, nor the swift rushing blasts that pack up the sea
in heaps and ridges, not the lee iron-bound coasts, nor the
much dreaded thunder-cloud, dealing out His chain-light-
nings, are half s'o dangerous as the snares and gins there
laid to entrap, deceive and destroy those, whose " heart is
not fixed on the Lord their God," who " openeth the eyes
of the blind," " who preserveth the strangers," and " giv-
eth grace to the humble and contrite ones."
There Beelzebub has established his active agents, and
120 APPENDIX.
furnished them with a recruiting- robe, and instructed them
to appear in numerous attractive forms; and, at every
unguarded place, heave out their baits to induce the lover of
pleasure and the inexperienced youth to enter and partake
of their dainties, — the flowing bowl, a pack of cards, the
jovial song, the merry dance, the gamingtable, — and to min-
gle in the social circle of the house that leads to death.
The end is poverty, degradation, misery, delirium and
death, with awful forebodings of the future, without one
cheering ray of hope beyond the grave. Of such exposures
and of such vicissitudes is a sailor's life made up ; and what
father would like to place his boy in such a situation ? — or
what mother would not use all her influence to direct or
induce her son to seek some other honest or useful employ-
ment, that would not cause her heart to be wrung by day
and by night, at the thoughts of his exposed condition 1 — or
to break at the knowledge of his untimely, sudden, or
inglorious death, without any adequate preparation for a
safe landing
" On that blest shore of endless joy,
Where troubles come no more ! "
I hope the reader will not charge me with a total depart-
ure from the subject, or with designed inconsistency, if I
have somewhat digressed from the main course which I
have attempted to keep, and whose importance demands the
ablest pens, and the first talents, and the warmest sympa-
thies of the land, to combat the evils and expose the true
causes which entail so much shame, sin, and the fruit of
both, on a laudable calling. For I think that next to the
slave, the sailor is thrown most shamefully 'into the scale of
oppression, wrong, and neglect. Although some efforts
have been made by many well-disposed persons for the
improvement of those brave and useful sons of the main,
yet nothing equal to the importance of the case has come to
my knowledge. I would not be understood to overlook 01
APPENDIX.
121
lightly esteem the benevolent and humane efforts that have
been put forth by the Seaman's Friend Society, and others
favorably disposed toward the amelioration of their condi-
tion. But so long- as the numerous and active schools of
deception and vice are in full operation, and parents cannot,
or will not, prevent their children from receiving instruction
in them, we cannot or should not expect much of a refor-
mation, or think that we have any reasonable grounds for
hope of the removal of the evil.
By personal observation, I am compelled to believe that
there is a great obligation and responsibility resting upon
parents and guardians, ship-owners and the nation. When
parents and guardians so far neglect their duty to their
children and minors, as to induce them to embark on the
dangerous experiment, by their neglecting to aid them in
some other pursuit or employment, or drive them away by
improper treatment, they have iio right to complain if they
have to partake of the bitter cup of sorrow and remorse
themselves, as the natural fruit of their unnatural conduct
towards those for whom they are, by the laws of nature and
of God, held accountable. 1 do not intend to charge the fact
upon all the parents that have children who follow the seas ;
neither do I contend that there is anything dishonorable or
improper necessarily connected with that vocation. But I
do unhesitatingly, and without the fear of contradiction, say
that no way of life in the United States places a young man
in so critical a situation as is common to a seafaring life ; or
one in which he is so likely to make shipwreck of his soul,
unless guarded by the strongest moral feelings, or merci-
fully dealt with by a kind and overruling Providence.
Especially is this true of the United States service.
I have hinted that ship-owners are the responsible party ;
but those who can truly plead not guilty to the charge,
(and I hope and believe there are some, although the num-
ber is by far too small,) are not intended to come under it.
When the owner is about to fit his ship for a voyage, he
. 11
1*22 APPENDIX.
is perfectly aware that she must be manned, in order to
perform her voyage. And does he not incur a responsi-
bility in regard to the rights and welfare of those who have
to leave home and friends, the watchful care of parents, and
the restraints of civilized society, to check them from par-
ticipating in those vices incident to a sailor's life, intemper-
ance and profanity, which are the highway to numerous
other vices ? I would ask, if the owner has no other duty or
obligation resting on him, than to furnish his vessel with
such master and officers as in his opinion would be likely to
perform a voyage with the least possible expense, and aid
him in the accumulation of the greatest number of dollars,
regardless of all pertaining to the welfare of those he
employs, whether physically, mentally, or morally? Will
he attempt to satisfy his conscience, and say that he has
done all that he should do for them, when he has paid
them their small wages, while they have undergone much
privation and risked their lives for his benefit 1
The owner, if he chooses, can place his ship, without
making any sacrifice or incurring any risk, in charge of
masters and officers who are of temperate habits and humane
hearts ; such as can control themselves, and not allow their
own passions and outbreaks of improper conduct and lan-
guage to disgrace them in the eyes of the crew, and excite
them to disobedience, anger and rebellion. Self-control is
no small part of the qualification of a master or officer ; and
by judicious authority, and a reasonable course of correct
conduct towards the crew, he will insure respect and ready
obedience on the part of the crew, and bind the cords of
friendship and good-will stronger, and excite to a faithful
discharge of their duty, more than by all the curses, threats,
blasphemy, blows, floggings and pistols that could be dis-
played on a ship's deck.
Seamen, as well as other people, are in some measure
creatures of circumstances, and partake much of the cus-
toms and spirit of those whom they have constant inter-
APPENDIX.
123
course and business with. If the master and officers do not
indulge in improper language and conduct themselves, they
have a right, and it is their duty, to insist on the same from
the crew, and I doubt not but they would generally be met
by a response on the part of the crew. " As iron sharpen-
eth iron, so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his
friend." " As in water face answereth to face, so the
heart of man to man."
Another point worthy of serious consideration, and for
which, owners should be entitled to the censure of every
sailor's friend, is the careless manner in which they ship, or
have their crews shipped ; which frequently causes much
and serious damage and difficulty on the voyage. It is
very common for sailors to go or be carried on board of ves-
sels, ignorant of the purport of the articles of agreement
which they have signed or others have signed for them ; for
their consent is too often given, and their signatures are
affixed, while under the influence of intoxicating liquors, or
instigated by other improper agents, and soon after they find
cause to regret it, without the ability to retract the un-
guarded transaction.
There is nothing more common than for sailors to be
sadly deficient in a knowledge of the law by which they are
governed, and for the violation of which, they frequently
have to suffer severely. Many serious occurrences and dif-
ficulties have passed under my own observation, both at sea
and in port, in consequence of their ignorance of the purport
of the articles of agreement, and the law by which they are
bound and by which they are to be governed ; and this, con-
sequently, is the means of constantly furnishing jails and
prisons with inmates, and courts with employment ; which
attempted remedy often proves worse than the disease.
How much would it cost to furnish each outward-bound
vessel with a copy of so much of the maritime law as
relates to their obligation and duty, so that each man could
124
APPENDIX.
know for himself his limits, and shape his course of conduct
and actions accordingly ?
It is not my intention to go into a minute investigation, or
notice this subject here at any length ; but a sense of duty
to that class of citizens, for whose welfare I feel very solic-
itous, and for whose wrongs much abhorrence, induces me
to say thus much.
The cabin and quarter deck are frequently lit up by
instruction, conversation and reading ; but darkness and
silence generally hang over the forecastle and main deck,
except it is broken by notice of some misdemeanor on
Jack's part. Then, if he speaks, or attempts to defend him-
self or his shipmates from violent abuse or blows from
an intemperate, overbearing, foul-mouthed captain, he is
charged with mutiny, and hove into a distant prison, desti-
tute and despised, to await the pleasure of the assaulting
party, and to undergo a mock trial, with overwhelming
prejudices and power arrayed against him. While I am
writing this, a part of the crews of two brigs are now incar-
cerated with me, as I have intimated, without any adequate
means for their defence.
This nation has incurred disgrace abroad, and shame and
guilt at home, by the course she has pursued in the instruc-
tion of her sons in the arts of vice and immorality, by her
schools of sin and degradation.
It is a notorious fact, that a large portion of those who
serve on board of a man-of-war, leave that service in a far
worse condition than when they joined it, if they leave it
alive. How can it be otherwise, when a young man is
confined for years in a crowd that make the most liberal use
of the most licentious, blackguard and profane language
that can be spoken ; and receiving with his daily rations the
bewitching, destructive and poisonous draught, which stim-
ulates and excites the worst passions, and inflames the
mind, while learning the art of killing his fellow-men to
gratify a few avaricious, self-willed, cruel monsters in human
APPENDIX. 12-5
shape, who neither fear God nor regard the welfare of men ?
And if these lessons do not sufficiently destroy all the best
feelings and dignity of the man, then take him to the gang-
way and give him two or three dozen, in view of all his
associates, on the bare back, with the cat-o'-nine-tails, as
the reward of some misconduct that he has just been trained
to. He is then qaalified to be anything that a man should
not be, and to participate in the most degrading vice that
can fall in his way. He is then rigged out with his life
diploma ; stamped with indelible stripes across his back,
only to be obliterated when death shall remove him from his
degraded earthly tabernacle !
I again repeat, that if this drilling and fostering in the
cradle of vice and immorality do not sufficiently debase and
ruin the poor victim, it will not be for the want of national
support and countenance.
In the few passing remarks I have here made, I intend no
disrespect to seamen generally, though I very much regret
to say they yield too readily to their own downfall and ruin ;
yet I am proud and prepared to say, that of all classes of
men, none possess more open or greater hearts than do the
sailors ; or are so ready to run any risk or make any sacri-
fice in aid of their suffering fellow-beings. To such I am
indebted, more than others, for their active and manifest
sympathies toward me when in prison and in chains. They
did not, as did some others, call to see what kind of a look-
ing animal an abolitionist was ; but to see in what way they
could contribute to my comfort, or ameliorate my condition ;
and their purses were tendered me cheerfully, although
some were entire strangers. Sailors generally, if they have
not been spoiled by unreasonable and inhuman treatment,
by brutal blows and cursing, can be managed under almost
all circumstances without difficulty. They are the most
sensible of favors of any people that I have ever had the
privilege to be among ; and though their appearance and
manner is rough, and in many respects different from others,
11*
126
APPENDIX.
yet they are susceptible of the finest feelings, and possess
warm hearts. Those who have read the circumstances
attending- the fate of the ship Dorchester on her passage
from Liverpool to the United States last December, have in
that transaction seen an example of their fortitude, heroism
and resignation, in the magnanimity of her brave captain
and crew toward each other and their passengers in their
helpless and perilous situation.
I do not intend to say that it is a universal thing for
owners to pay no attention to the moral qualifications of their
captains, or that, whenever difficulties occur on ship-board,
it is always the fault of the masters or officers. But I
do intend to be distinctly understood to say, that owners
generally, are guilty of great neglect in the selection and
instruction of their masters, and in their duty to their sea-
men ; and that the masters or officers do, either by improper
conduct, language, or neglect of proper pacific means,
excite or permit the excitement of a large proportion of the
difficulties which occur on shipboard. Neither do I take
sides with the sailor because he is a sailor, nor the slave
because he is a black man, but because they are the injured
and oppressed party. For " on the side of the oppressor
there is power ;" " the spoil of the poor is in their houses."
Since writing the foregoing, I have run afoul of a neat
little book entitled, " Thirty-two Years from Home, or a
Voice from the Main Deck," which I recommend to the care-
ful perusal of all parents before sending their children to
sea, and to all persons that are interested either in seafaring
business, or the welfare of seafaring people, particularly
that of the navy.
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