CHAPTER XXII.

by Solomon Northup

　　CHAPTER XXII.ARRIVAL IN NEW-ORLEANS GLIMPSE OF FREEMAN GENOIS, THE RECORD-ER HIS DESCRIPTION OF SOLOMON REACH CHARLESTON INTERRUPTEDBT CUSTOM HOUSE OFFICERS PASS THROUGH RICHMOND ARRIVAL INWASHINGTON BURCH ARRESTED SHEKELS AND THORN THEIR TESTI-MONY BURCH ACQUITTED ARREST CF SOLOMON BURCH WITHDRAWSTHE COMPLAINT THE HIGHER TRIBUNAL DEPARTURE FROM WASHING-TON ARRIVAL AT SANDY HILL OLD FRIENDS AND FAMILIAR SCENESPROCEED TO GLENS FALLS MEETING WITH ANNE, MARGARET AND ELIZA-BETH SOLOMON NORTHUP STAUNTON INCIDENTS CONCLUSION.As the steamer glided on its way towards New-Orleans, perhaps I was not happy — perhaps therewas no difficulty in restraining myself from dancinground the deck — perhaps I did not feel grateful tothe man who had come so many hundred miles forme — perhaps I did not light his pipe, and wait andwatch his word, and run at his slightest bidding. IfI didn't — well, no matter."We tarried at New-Orleans two days. During thattime I pointed out the locality of Freeman's slavepen, and the room in which Ford purchased me. Wehappened to meet Theophilus in the street, but I didnot think it worth while to renew acquaintance withhim. From respectable citizens we ascertained hehad become a low, miserable rowdy — a broken-down,disreputable man.

　　THE RECORDER OF NEW-ORLEANS. 311"We also visited the recorder, Mr. Genois, to whomSenator Soule's letter was directed, and found him aman well deserving the wide and honorable reputa-tion that he bears. He very generously furnished uswith a sort of legal pass, over his signature and sealof office, and as it contains the recorder's descriptionof my personal appearance, it may not be amiss to in-sert it here. The following is a copy :" State of Louisiana — City of New- Orleans :Eecorder's Office, Second District." To all to whom these presents shall come : —" This is to certify that Henry B. Northup, Esquire, of thecounty of Washington, New-York, has produced before me dueevidence of the freedom of Solomon, a mulatto man, agedabout forty-two years, five feet, seven inches and six lines, woollyhair, and chestnut eyes, who is a native born of the State ofNew-York. That the said Northup, being about bringing thesaid Solomon to his native place, through the southern routes,the civil authorities are requested to let the aforesaid color-ed man Solomon pass unmolested, he demeaning well andproperly." Given under my hand and the seal of the city of New-Orleans this 7th January, 1853.[l. s.] "TH. GENOIS, Eecorder."On the 8th we came to Lake Pontchartrain, by rail-road, and, in due time, following the usual route,reached Charleston. After going on board the steam-boat, and paying our passage at this city, Mr. North-up was called upon by a custom-house officer to ex-plain why he had not registered his servant. He

　　312 TWELVE TEAES A SLAVE.replied that lie had no servant — that, as the agent ofNew- York, he was accompanying a free citizen of thatState from slavery to freedom, and did not desire norintend to make any registry whatever. I conceivedfrom his conversation and manner, though I may per-haps be entirely mistaken, that no great pains wouldbe taken to avoid whatever difficulty the Charlestonofficials might deem proper to create. At length,however, we were permitted to proceed, and, passingthrough Richmond, where I caught a glimpse ofGoodin's pen, arrived in "Washington January 17th,1853."We ascertained that both Burch and Radburn werestill residing in that city. Immediately a complaintwas entered with a police magistrate of Washington,against James H. Burch, for kidnapping and sellingme into slavery. He was arrested upon a warrantissued by Justice Gocldard, and returned before Jus-tice Mansel, and held to bail in the sum of three thou-sand dollars. When first arrested, Burch was muchexcited, exhibiting the utmost fear and alarm, and be-fore reaching the justice's office on Louisiana Ave-nue, and before knowing the precise nature of thecomplaint, begged the police to permit him to consultBenjamin O. Shekels, a slave trader of seventeenyears' standing, and his former partner. The latterbecame his bail.At ten o'clock, the 18th of January, both partiesappeared before the magistrate. Senator Chase, ofOhio, Hon. Orville Clark, of Sandy Hill, and Mr,

　　BUKCII AEEESTED. 313Northup acted as counsel for the prosecution, and Jo-seph H. Bradley for the defence.Gen. Orville Clark was called and sworn as a wit-ness, and testified that he had known me from child-hood, and that I was a free man, as was my father be-fore me. Mr. ISTorthup then testified to the same, andproved the facts connected with his mission to Avoy-elles.Ebenezer Radburn was then sworn for the prosecu-tion, and testified he was forty-eight years old ; thathe was a resident of Washington, and had knownBurch fourteen years ; that in 1841 he was keeper ofWilliams' slave pen ; that he remembered the fact ofmy confinement in the pen that year. At this pointit was admitted by the defendant's counsel, that I hadbeen placed in the pen by Burch in the spring of1811, and hereupon the prosecution rested.Benjamin O. Shekels was then offered as a witnessby the prisoner. Benjamin is a large, coarse-featuredman, and the reader may perhaps get a somewhatcorrect conception of him by reading the exact lan-guage he used in answer to the first question of de-fendant's lawyer. He was asked the place of his na-tivity, and his reply, uttered in a sort of rowdyishway, was in these very words —" I was born in Ontario county, New-York, andweighed fourteen pounds /"Benjamin was a prodigious baby ! He further tes-tified that he kept the Steamboat Hotel in Washing-ton in 1841, and saw me there in the spring of thatN

　　314: TWELVE TEAKS A SLATE.year. lie was proceeding to state what lie had heardtwo men say, when Senator Chase raised a legal ob-jection, to wit, that the sayings of third persons, be-ing hearsay, was improper evidence. The objectionwas overruled by the Justice, and Shekels continued,stating that two men came to his hotel and represent-ed they had a colored man for sale ; that they had aninterview with Burch ; that they stated they camefrom Georgia, but he did not remember the county ;that they gave a full history of the boy, saying he wasa bricklayer, and pla} T ed on the violin ; that Burchremarked he would purchase if they could agree ; thatthey went out and brought the boy in, and that I wasthe same person. He further testified, with asmuch unconcern as if it was the truth, that I rep-presented I was born and bred in Georgia ; thatone of the young men with me was my master ; thatI exhibited a great deal of regret at parting with him,and he believed " got into tears !" — nevertheless, thatI insisted my master had a right to sell me ; that heought to sell me ; and the remarkable reason I gavewas, according to Shekels, because he, my master," had been gambling and on a spree !"He continued, in these words, copied from the min-utes taken on the examination : " Burch interrogatedthe boy in the usual manner, told him if he purchas-ed him he should send him south. The boy said hehad no objection, that in fact he would like to gosouth. Burch paid $650 for him, to my knowledge.I don't know what name was given him, but think it

　　SIIEKELS AND THORN. 315was not Solomon. Did not know the name of eitherof the two men. They were in my tavern two or threehours, during which time the hoy played on the vio-lin. The bill of sale was signed in my bar-room. Itwas a printed Manic, filled up oy Burch. Before 1838Burch was my partner. Our business was buyingand selling slaves. After that time he was a partnerof Theophilus Freeman, of JSTew-Orleans. Burchbought here — Freeman sold there !"Shekels, before testifying, had heard my relation ofthe circumstances connected with the visit to "Wash-ington with Brown and Hamilton, and therefore, itwas, undoubtedly, he spoke of " two men," and of myplaying on the violin. Such was his fabrication, ut-terly untrue, and yet there was found in Washingtona man who endeavored to corroborate him.Benjamin A. Thorn testified he was at Shekels' in1811, and saw a colored boy playing on a fiddle." Shekels said he was for sale. Heard his master tellhim he should sell him. The boy acknowledged to mehe was a slave. I was not present when the moneywas paid. Will not swear positively this is the boy.The master came near shedding tears : 1 'think the boy .did! I have been engaged in the business of takingslaves south, off and on, for twenty years. When Ican't do that I do something else."I was then offered as a witness, but, objection be-ing made, the court decided my evidence inadmissible.It was rejected solely on the ground that I was a col-

　　316 TWELVE YEARS A SLAVE.ored man — the fact of my being a free citizen of!New-York not being disputed.Shekels having testified there was a bill of sale executed, Burch was called upon by the prosecution toproduce it, inasmuch as such a paper would corrobo-rate the testimony of Thorn and Shekels. The pris-oner's counsel saw the necessity of exhibiting it, orgiving some reasonable explanation for its non-pro-duction. To effect the latter, Burch himself was offer-as a witness in his own behalf. It was contended bycounsel for the people, that such testimony should notbe allowed — that it was in contravention of everyrule of evidence, and if permitted would defeat theends of justice. His testimony, however, was receiv-ed by the court ! He made oath that such a bill ofsale had been drawn up and signed, hut he had lost it,and did not know what had oecorne of it ! Thereup-on the magistrate was recpiested to dispatch a policeofficer to Burch's residence, with directions to bringhis books, containing his bills of sales for the year1841. The request was granted, and before any meas-ure could be taken to prevent it, the officer had ob-tained possession of the books, and brought them intocourt. The sales for the year 181:1 were found, andcarefully examined, but no sale of myself, by anyname, was discovered !Upon this testimony the court held the fact to beestablished, that Burch came innocently and honestlyby me, and accordingly he was discharged. .

　　% AEEEST OF SOLOMON". 317An attempt was then made by Burch and his sat-ellites, to fasten upon me the charge that I had con-spired with the two white men to defraud him — withwhat success, appears in an extract taken from an ar-ticle in the New-York Times, published a day or twosubsequent to the trial : " The counsel for the defend-ant had drawn up, before the defendant was dis-charged, an affidavit, signed by Burch, and had awarrant out against the colored man for a conspiracywith the two white men before referred to, to defraudBurch out of six hundred and twenty-five dollars.The warrant was served, and the colored man arrest-ed and brought before officer Goddard. Burch andhis witnesses appeared in court, and EL B. ISTorthupappeared as counsel for the colored man, stating hewas ready to proceed as counsel on the part of the de-fendant, and asking no delay whatever. Burch, afterconsulting privately a short time with Shekels, statedto the magistrate that he wished him to dismiss thecomplaint, as he would not proceed farther with it.Defendant's counsel stated to the magistrate that ifthe complaint was withdrawn, it must be without therequest or consent of the defendant. Burch thenasked the magistrate to let him have the complaintand the warrant, and he took them. The counsel forthe defendant objected to his receiving them, and in-sisted they should remain as part of the records of thecourt, and that the court should endorse the proceed-ings which had been had under the process. Burchdelivered them up, and the court rendered a judg-

　　318 TWELVE YEARS A SLAVE.merit of discontinuance by the request of the prosecu-tor, and filed it in his office. "There may be those who will affect to believe thestatement of the slave-trader — those, in whose mindshis allegations will weigh heavier than mine. I am apoor colored man — one of a down-trodden and de-graded race, whose humble voice may not be heededby the oppressor — but knowing the truth, and with afull sense of my accountability, I do solemnly declarebefore men, and before God, that any charge or as-sertion, that I conspired directly or indirectly withany person or persons to sell myself; that any otheraccount of my visit to Washington, my capture andimprisonment in Williams' slave pen, than is contain-ed in these pages, is utterly and absolutely false. Inever played on the violin in Washington. I neverwas in the Steamboat Hotel, and never saw Thorn orShekels, to my knowledge, in my life, until last Jan-uary. The story of the trio of slave-traders is a fab-rication as absurd as it is base and unfounded. "Wereit true, I should not have turned aside on my wayback to liberty for the purpose of prosecuting Burch.I should have avoided rather than sought him. Ishould have known that such a step would have re-sulted in rendering me infamous. Under the circum-stances — longing as I did to behold my family, andelated with the prospect of returning home — it is anoutrage upon probability to suppose I would have runthe hazard, not only of exposure, but of a criminal

　　DEPARTURE FROM WASHINGTON. 319prosecution and conviction, by voluntarily placingmyself in the position I did, if the statements ofBurch and his confederates contain a particle of truth.I took pains to seek him out, to confront him in acourt of law, charging him with the crime of kidnap-ping ; and the only motive that impelled me to thisstep, was a burning sense of the wrong he had inflict-ed upon me, and a desire to bring him to justice.He was accpiitted, in the manner, and by such meansas have been described. A human tribunal has per-mitted him to escape ; but there is another and ahigher tribunal, where false testimony will not pre-vail, and where I am willing, so far at least as thesestatements are concerned, to be judged at last.We left "Washington on the 20th of January, andproceeding by the way of Philadelphia, New- York,and Albany, reached Sandy Hill in the night of the21st. My heart overflowed with happiness as I look-ed around upon old familiar scenes, and found myselfin the midst of friends of other days. The followingmorning I started, in company with several acquaint-ances, for Glens Falls, the residence of Anne and ourchildren.As I entered their comfortable cottage, Margaretwas the first that met me. She did not recognize me.When I left her, she was but seven years old, a littleprattling girl, playing with her toys. Now she wasgrown to womanhood — was married, with a bright-eyed boy standing by her side. Not forgetful of his

　　320 TWELVE TEAKS A SLAVE.enslaved, unfortunate grand-father, she had named thechild Solomon Northup Staunton. When told whoI was, she was overcome with emotion, and unable tospeak. Presently Elizabeth entered the room, andAnne came running from the hotel, having been in-formed of my arrival. They embraced me, and withtears flowing down their cheeks, hung upon my neck.But I draw a veil over a scene which can better beimagined than described.When the violence of our emotions had subsided toa sacred joy — when the household gathered roundthe fire, that sent out its warm and crackling comfortthrough the room, we conversed of the thousandevents that had occurred — the hopes and fears, thejoys and sorrows, the trials and troubles we had eachexperienced during the long separation. Alonzo wasabsent in the western part of the State. The boyhad written to his mother a short time previous, ofthe prospect of his obtaining sufficient money to pur-chase my freedom. From his earliest years, that hadbeen the chief object of his thoughts and his ambi-tion. They knew I was in bondage. The letter writ-ten on board the brig, and Clem Bay himself, hadgiven them that information. But where I was, untilthe arrival of Bass' letter, was a matter of conjecture.Elizabeth and Margaret once returned from school — ■so Anne informed me — weeping bitterly. On inquir-ing the cause of the children's sorrow, it was foundthat, while studying geography, their attention hadbeen attracted to the picture of slaves working in the

　　ARRIVAL HOME, AND FIRST MEETING WITH HIS WIFE AND CHILDREN

　　CONCLUSION. 821cotton-field, and an overseer following them with hiswhip. It reminded them of the sufferings their fa-ther might be, and, as it happened, actually was, en-during in the South. Numerous incidents, such asthese, were related — incidents showing they still heldme in constant remembrance, but not, perhaps, ofsufficient interest to the reader, to be recounted.My narrative is at an end. I have no comments tomake upon the subject of Slavery. Those who readthis book may form their own opinions of the " pe-culiar institution." "What it may be in other States,I do not profess to know ; what it is in the region ofTied River, is truly and faithfully delineated in thesepages. This is no fiction, no exaggeration. If I havefailed in anything, it has been in presenting to thereader too prominently the bright side of the picture.I doubt not hundreds have been as unfortunate asmyself; that hundreds of free citizens have been kid-napped and sold into slavery, and are at this mo-ment wearing out their lives on plantations inTexas and Lonisiana.^But I forbear. Chastenedand subdued in spirit by the sufferings I have borne,and thankful to that good Being through whose mer-cy I have been restored to happiness and liberty,I hope henceforward to lead an upright though lowlylife, and rest at last in the church yard where my fa-ther sleeps.N* 21

　　ROARING RIVER.