CHAPTER IV.

by Solomon Northup

　　CHAPTER IV.ELIZA'S SORROWS PREPARATION TO EMBARK DRIVEN THROUGH THESTREETS OK WASHINGTON HAIL, COLUMBIA THE TOMB OF WASHING-TON CLEM RAY THE BREAKFAST ON THE STEAMER THE HAPrTBIRDS AQUIA CREEK FREDERICKSBURGH — 'ARRIVAL IN RICHMONDGOODIN AND HIS SLAVE PEN ROBERT, OF CINCINNATI DAVID AND HISWIFE MART AND LETHE CLEM'S RETURN HIS SUBSEQUENT ESCAPETO CANADA THE BRIG ORLEANS JAMES H. BURCH.At intervals during the first night of Eliza's incar-ceration in the pen, she complained bitterly of JacobBrooks, her young mistress' husband. She declaredthat had she been aware of the deception he intendedto practice upon her, he never would have broughther there alive. They had chosen the opportunity ofgetting her away when Master Berry was absent fromthe plantation. He had always been kind to her.She wished that she could see him ; but she knew thateven he was unable now to rescue her. Then wouldshe commence weeping again — kissing the sleepingchildren — talking first to one, then to the other, asthey lay in their unconscious slumbers, with theirheads upon her lap. So wore the long night away ;and when the morning dawned, and night had comeagain, still she kept mourning on, and would not beconsoled.

　　PREPARATION TO EMEARK. 55About midnight following, the cell door opened,and Burch and Radburn entered, with lanterns intheir hands. Bnrch, with an oath, ordered us to rollup our blankets without delay, and get ready to goon board the boat. He swore we would be left unlesswe hurried fast. He aroused the children from theirslumbers with a rough shake, and said they wered — d sleepy, it appeared. Going out into the yard,he called Clem Ray, ordering him to leave the loftand come into the cell, and bring his blanket withhim. When Clem appeared, he placed us side byside, and fastened us together with hand-cuffs — myleft hand to his right. John Williams had been ta-ken out a day or two before, his master havingredeemed him, greatly to his delight. Clem and Iwere ordered to march, Eliza and the children fol-lowing. We were conducted into the yard, fromthence into the covered passage, and up a flight ofsteps through a side door into the upper room, whereI had heard the walking to and fro. Its furniture wasa stove, a few old chairs, and a long table, coveredwith papers. It was a white-washed room, withoutany carpet on the floor, and seemed a sort of office.By one of the windows, I remember, hung a rustysword, which attracted my attention. Burch's trunkwas there. In obedience to his orders, I took hold ofone of its handles with my unfettered hand, while hetaking hold of the other, we proceeded out of thefront door into the street in the same order as we hadleft the cell.

　　66 TWELVE TEAKS A SLAVE.It was a dark night. All was quiet. I could seelights, or the reflection of them, over towards Penn-sylvania Avenue, but there was no one, not even astraggler, to be seen. I was almost resolved to at-tempt to break away. Had I not been hand-cuffedthe attempt would certainly have been made, what-ever consequence might have followed. Radburnwas in the rear, carrying a large stick, and hurryinglip the children as fast as the little ones could walk.So we passed, hand-cuffed and in silence, through thestreets of Washington — through the Capital of a na-tion, whose theory of government, we are told, restson the foundation of man's inalienable right to life,'liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ! Hail ! Co-lumbia, happy land, indeed !Beaching the steamboat, we were quickly hustledinto the hold, among barrels and boxes of freight. Acolored servant brought a light, the bell rung, andsoon the vessel started down the Potomac, carryingus we knew not where. The bell tolled as we passedthe tomb of "Washington ! Burch, no doubt, with un-covered head, bowed reverently before the sacred ash-es of the man who devoted his illustrious life to theliberty of his country.None of us slept that night but Randall and littleEmmy. For the first time Clem Pay was whollyovercome. To him the idea of going south was ter ■rible in the extreme. He was leaving the friends andassociations of his youth ■ — ■ every thing that was dearand precious to his heart — in all probability never

　　BREAKFAST ON THE STEAMER. 57to return. He and Eliza mingled their tears together,bemoaning their cruel fate. For my own part, diffi-cult as it was, I endeavored to keep up my spirits. Iresolved in my mind a hundred plans of escape, andfully determined to make the attempt the first despe-rate chance that offered. I had by this time becomesatisfied, however, that my true policy was to say no-thing further on the subject of my having been born afreeman. It would but expose me to mal-treatment,and diminish the chances of liberation.After sunrise in the morning we were called up ondeck to breakfast. Burch took our hand-cuffs off, andwe sat down to table. He asked Eliza if she wouldtake a dram. She declined, thanking him politely.During the meal we were all silent — not a word pass-ed between us. A mulatto woman who served at ta-ble seemed to take an interest in our behalf — told usto cheer up, and not to be so cast down. Breakfastover, the hand-cuffs were restored, and Burch orderedus out on the stern deck. We sat down together onsome boxes, still saying nothing in Burch's presence.Occasionally a passenger would walk out to wherewe were, look at us for a while, then silently return.It was a very pleasant morning. The fields alongthe river were covered with verdure, far in advanceof what I had been accustomed to see at that seasonof the year. The sun shone out warmly ; the birdswere singing in the trees. The happy birds — I en-vied them. I wished for wings like them, that Imight cleave the air to where my birdlings waited0*

　　53 TWELVE YEARS A SLAVE.vainly for their father's coming, in the cooler regionof the North.In the forenoon the steamer reached Aquia Creek.There the passengers took stages — Burch and his fiveslaves occupying one exclusively. He laughed withthe children, and at one stopping place went so far asto purchase them a piece of gingerbread. He toldme to hold up my head and look smart. That Imight, perhaps, get a good master if I behaved my-self. I made him no reply. His face was hateful tome, and I could not bear to look upon it. I sat inthe corner, cherishing in my heart the hope, not yetextinct, of some day meeting the tyrant on the soil ofmy native State.At Fredericksburo-h we were transferred from thestage coach to a car, and before dark arrived in Rich-mond, the chief city of Yirginia. At this city wewere taken from the cars, and driven through thestreet to a slave pen, between the railroad depot andthe river, kept by a Mr. Gooclin. This pen is similarto Williams' in "Washington, except it is somewhatlarger; and besides, there were two small housesstanding at opposite corners within the yard. Thesehouses are susually found within slave yards, beingused as rooms for the examination of human chattelsby purchasers before concluding a bargain. Un-soundness in a slave, as well as in a horse, detractsmaterially from his value. If no warranty is given,a close examination is a matter of particular impor-tance to the negro jockey.

　　GOODIN AND HIS SLAVE PEN. 59"We were met at the door of Goodin's yard by thatgentleman himself — a short, fat man, with a round,plump face, black hair and whiskers, and a complex-ion almost as dark as some of his own negroes. Hehad a hard, stern look, and was perhaps about fiftyyears of age. Burch and he met with great cordiali-ty. They were evidently old friends. Shaking eachother warmly by the hand, Burch remarked he hadbrought some company, inquired at what time thebrig would leave, and was answered that it wouldprobably leave the next day at such an hour. Good-in then turned to me, took hold of my arm, turnedme partly round, looked at me sharply with the air ofone who considered himself a good judge of property,and as if estimating in his own mind about howmuch I was worth." Well, boy, where did you come from ?"Forgetting myself, for a moment, I answered," From New-York."" New- York ! H — 1 ! what have you been doingup there ?" was his astonished interrogatory.Observing Burch at this moment looking at me withan angry expression that conveyed a meaning it wasnot difficult to understand, I immediately said, " O, ihave only been up that way a piece," in a mannerintended to imply that although I might have been asfar as New- York, yet I wished it distinctly understoodthat I did not belong to that free State, nor to anyother. |Goodin then turned to Clem, and then to Eliza and

　　60 TWELVE YEARS A SLAVE.the children, examining them severally, and askingvarious questions. He was pleased with Emily, aswas every one who saw the child's sweet countenance.She was not as tidy as when I first beheld her ; herhair was now somewhat disheveled ; but through itsunkempt and soft profusion there still beamed a littleface of most surpassing loveliness. " Altogether wewere a fair lot — a devilish good lot," he said, enforc-ing that opinion with more than one emphatic adjec-tive not found in the Christian vocabulary. Thereup-on we passed into the yard. Quite a number ofslaves, as many as thirty I should say, were movingabout, or sitting on benches under the shed. Theywere all cleanly dressed — the men with hats, the wo-men with handkerchiefs tied about their heads.Burch and Goodin, after separating from us, walk-ed up the steps at the back part of the main building,and sat down upon the door sill. They entered intoconversation, but the subject of it I could not hear.Presently Burch came down into the yard, unfetteredrne, and led me into one of the small houses." You told that man you came from New- York,"said he.I replied, " I told him I had been up as far as New-York, to be sure, but did not tell him I belongedthere, nor that I was a freeman. I meant no harm atall, Master Burch. I would not have said it had Ithought."He looked at me a moment as if he was ready todevour me, then turning round went out. In a few

　　KQBEKT, OF CINCINNATI. 61minutes he returned. " If ever I hear you say a wordabout ISTew-York, or about your freedom, I will be thedeath of you — I will kill you ; you may rely onthat," he ejaculated fiercely.I doubt not he understood then better than I did,the danger and the penalty of selling a free man intoslavery. He felt the necessity of closing my mouthagainst the crime he knew he was committing. Ofcourse, my life would not have weighed a feather, inany emergency requiring such a sacrifice. Undoubt-edly, he meant precisely what he said.Under the shed on one side of the yard, there wasconstructed a rough table, while overhead were sleep-ing lofts — the same as in the pen at "Washington. Af-ter partaking at this table of our supper of pork andbread, I was hand-cuffed to a large yellow man, quitestout and fleshy, with a countenance expressive ofthe utmost melancholy. He was a man of intelli-gence and information. Chained together, it was not•long before we became acquainted with each other'shistory. His name was Robert. Like myself, hehad been born free, and had a wife and two chil-dren in Cincinnati. He said he had come south withtwo men, who had hired him in the city of his resi-dence. Without free papers, he had been seized atFredericksburgh, placed in confinement, and beatenuntil he had learned, as I had, the necessity and thepolicy of silence. He had been in Goodin's penabout three weeks. To this man I became muchattached. "We could sympathize with, and understand

　　62 TWELVE YEARS A SLAVE.each other. It was with tears and a heavy heart,not many clays subsequently, that I saw him die, andlooked for the last time upon his lifeless form !Robert and myself, with Clem, Eliza and her chil-dren, slept that night upon our blankets, in one of thesmall houses in the yard. There were four others, allfrom the same plantation, who had been sold, andwere now on their way south, who also occupied itwith us. David and his wife, Caroline, both mulat-toes, were exceedingly affected. They . dreaded thethought of being put into the cane and cotton fields ;but their greatest source of anxiety was the apprehen-sion of being separated. Mary, a tall, lithe girl, of amost jetty black, was listless and apparently indiffer-ent. Like many of the class, she scarcely knew therewas such a word as freedom. Brought up in the ig-norance of a brute, she possessed but little more thana brute's intelligence. She was one of those, andthere are very many, who fear nothing but their mas-ter's lash, and know no further duty than to obey hisvoice. The other was Lethe. She was of an entirelydifferent character. She had long, straight hair, andbore more the appearance of an Indian than a negrowoman. She had sharp and spiteful eyes, and con-tinually gave utterance to the language of hatredand revenge. Her husband had been sold. Sheknew not where she was. An exchange of masters,she was sure, could not be for the worse. She carednot whither they might carry her. Pointing to thescars upon her face, the desperate creature wished

　　CLEM EAT. 63that she might see the day when she could wipe themoff in some man's blood !"While we were thus learning the history of eachother's wretchedness, Eliza was seated in a corner byherself, singing hymns and praying for her children."Wearied from the loss of so much sleep, I could nolonger bear up against the advances of that " sweetrestorer," and laying down by the side of Robert, onthe floor, soon forgot my troubles, and slept until thedawn of day.In the morning, having swept the yard, and wash-ed ourselves, under Goodin's superintendence, wewere ordered to roll up our blankets, and make readyfor the continuance of our journey. Clem Ray wasinformed that he would go no further, Burch, for somecause, having concluded to carry him back to Wash-ington. He was much rejoiced. Shaking hands, weparted in the slave pen at Richmond, and I have notseen him since. But, much to my surprise, since myreturn, I learned that he had escaped from bondage,and on his way to the free soil of Canada, lodged onenight at the house of my brother-in-law in Saratoga,informing my family of the place and the conditionin which he left me.In the afternoon we were drawn up, two abreast,Robert and myself in advance, and in this order, driv-en by Burch and Goodin from the yard, through thestreets of Richmond to the brig Orleans. She wasa vessel of respectable size, full rigged, and freightedprincipally with tobacco. We were all on board by

　　TWELVE YEARS A SLAVE.ve o'clock. Burcli brought us each a tin cup and aspoon. There were forty of us in the brig, being all,except Clem, that were in the pen."With a small pocket knife that had not been takenfrom me, I began cutting the initials of my nameupon the tin cup. The others immediately flockedround me, requesting me to mark theirs in a similarmanner. In time, I gratified them all, of which theydid not appear to be forgetful.We were all stowed away in the hold at night, andthe hatch barred down. We laid on boxes, or where-ever- there was room enough to stretch our blanketson the floor.Burch accompanied us no farther than Richmond,returning from that point to the capital with Clem.!Not until the lapse of almost twelve years, to wit, inJanuary last, in the Washington police office, did Iset my eyes upon his face again.James H. Burch was a slave-trader — buying men,women and children at low prices, and selling themat an advance. He was a speculator in human flesh— a disreputable calling — and so considered at theSouth. For the present he disappears from the scenesrecorded in this narrative, but he will appear againbefore its close, not in the character of a man-whip-ping tyrant, but as an arrested, cringing criminal ina court of law, that failed to do him justice.