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

Front matter

OF

JONATHAN WALKER,

AT PENSACOLA, FLORIDA,

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 constitution— down to the minutest of the territorial usages and enactments which result from that law ; and to exhibit in 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 master ; 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 promoted 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 wl^ich 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 determination 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 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,

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 M^hose 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 eifect.

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 confuting 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 slavesystem have never before been exhibited. Such are to be 1# n PREFACE.

found at the South as well as at the North ; and both will do well, in the intensity of their pain and disgust, to remember 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."

Yery 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 ecclesiastical participation in their deed. The abolition of slavery is sure, since these most guilty and eflicient slaveholders begin to make abolitionism not only an ethical statement, but a Christian life.

Maria Weston Chapman.

Boston, August, 1845.

OF

JONATHAN WALKER

Chapter I

Having been arraigned before tbe 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 consequence 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 countrymen ; 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 avoiding all false coloring or deviation from the simple truth.

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 people there more repugnant to my feelings than the customs 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 benefits 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;

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 or six years with my family 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 different 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 association 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 IMPRISONBIENT

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 eflbrt 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 disposed 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 ea,stward. We had for several days strong head winds, with frequent squalls and rain. I had for two days been somewhat unwell, having been much exposed to the violence of the sun, and had been what is called sun-struck, and W2ls 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 evening 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.

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 somewhat 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 was somewhat delirious. I remember looking at the red horizon in the west, soon after sun-down, as I thought for the last time in this world, not expecting to behold that glorious luminary shedding its scorching rays on me more.

While using the remaining faculties which I possessed, 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 occasions, 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.

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 system 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 crossing the gulf. But fortunately, or unfortunately, which, I cannot tell, at day-break on the morning of July the 8th, we saw two sloops^ 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 T^Tccked on the coast. They hailed from Key West.

OF JONATHAN WALKEIl. It

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 been used to make it appear that I resorted to falsehood, because we had started from Pensacola, and were bound, ultimately, to Nassau, New Providence.

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 wath 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 required 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 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.

Most 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 was much excitement in the village, and I was escorted by the constable, sheriff, esquire, and district attorney, to the soldiers' barracks, and confined 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' employ, 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 were sold. I subsequently wrote twice to the sheriff, but received no answer. They were of no great value, but to one in my circumstances, 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.

ySf 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 permitted 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 rain storm, (distance eight miles.) On landing at the wharf, there was a large collection of people, who appeared to be very talkative, and some were noisy; but no violence was attempted. By summoning all the strength I could muster, I succeeded in walking to the court-house. The court was already convened, whether solely on my account or not, I do not know. My trunk and bundle were searched, but nothing taken therefrom. I was required to give bail in the sum of ten thousand dollars, or be committed to prison to await my trial whenever it should take place : with me there was no alternative but to comply with the latter. I attempted to v/alk 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 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 chilis, and in about three months was nearly restored to health again.

In three or four days after I had arrived in Pensacola, 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 servants' 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 what he could from it ; and so put an end to what I had there in the 2=^ 2 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 prisoners, 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 windows from six to eight feet from the lower floor. Overhead 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 3vindows, was a wooden building denominated the kitchen. Its door having previously taken refuge in the fire, and the wooden windows shutting only as the wind blew them to, I had a pretty fair 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 disgusting to look upon. There was scolding and cowhiding 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

OF JONATHAN WALKER. £ft

the dogs cleaning the cooking utensils, and sometimes 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 cooking, 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 crying. 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 exposure and disease almost to a skeleton ; and that delicate 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 w^as harassed wath 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 w^ere covered with little more than the skin wrapped over them. Let the reader imagine him or herself in this situation, and it wdll 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.