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Kidnappers in Philadelphia: Isaac Hopper's Tales of Oppression 1780 Routledge Revivals Kidnappers in Philadelphia Kidnappers in Philadelphia Isaac Hopper’s Tales of Oppression 1780-1843 Daniel E. Meaders First published in 1994 by Garland Publishing, Inc. This edition first published in 2018 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN and by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 1994 Daniel E. Meaders All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Publisher’s Note The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent. Disclaimer The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and welcomes correspondence from those they have been unable to contact. A Library of Congress record exists under ISBN: ISBN 13: 978-0-367-10968-4 (hbk) ISBN 13: 978-0-429-02412-2 (ebk) STUDIES IN AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE edited, by GRAHAM HODGES C olgate University A GARLAND SERIES KIDNAPPERS IN PHILADELPHIA Isaac H o pper’s T ales of O ppression 1780-1843 DANIEL E. MEADERS GARLAND PUBLISHING, Inc. New York 6c London /1994 Copyright © 1994 Daniel E. Meaders All rights reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hopper, Isaac T. (Isaac Tatem), 1771-1852. Kidnappers in Philadelphia : Isaac Hopper’s Tales of oppression, 1780-1843 / [compiled by] Daniel E. Meaders. p. cm. Studies in African American history and culture Originally published in the National anti-slavery standard as a column entitled Tales of oppression, beginning Oct. 22 1840. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 0-8153-1776-X (alk. paper) 1. Fugitive slaves—Pennsylvania—Philadelphia—History—Sources. 2. Afro-Americans—Pennsylvania—Philadelphia—History—Sources. 3. Philadelphia (Pa.)—History—Sources. 4. Philadelphia (Pa.)—Race relations—Sources. I. Meaders, Daniel, 1945- . II. Title. F158.9.N4H67 1994 974.8'1103—dc20 94-10190 CIP Printed on acid-free, 250-year-life paper Manufactured in the United States of America This book is dedicated to Wayne Gibbons, Charles Williams, Andy Gill, Fred Wallace, Tarina Meaders, and the memory of Gloria W illiams. "I most sincerely believe that slavery is the greatest sin the Lord Almighty ever suffered to exist upon this earth. As sure as God is good and just, he will put an end to it; and all opposition will be in vain." Isaac Hopper C o ntents Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xi INTRODUCTION 1 TALES: I. Haitian Slave 33 II. Peter Johnson 37 III. A Child Kidnapped 41 IV. Cyrus Field 47 V. Peter 49 VI. Kidnapped into Slavery 55 VII. Romaine 59 VIII. A Maryland Fugitive 65 IX. Richard Allen 69 X. Daniel Benson 75 XI. Samuel Curtis 79 XII. A Kidnapping Ring 83 XIII. Samuel Clark 89 XIV. Reuben Moore 93 XV. Phebe 95 XVI. Thomas Hughes 99 XVII. Emery Sadler 105 XVIII. Stephen Lamaire 111 XIX. Wagelma 117 XX. William Bachelor 121 XXI. Prince Hopkins 127 XXII. Germaine 129 XXIII. Joe 133 XXIV. Pegg 137 XXV. Sarah Roach and Child 143 XXVI. George Cooper 147 XXVII. Maryland Slave 149 XXVIII. Solomon Clarkson 157 viii Tab le of Contents XXIX. Levin Smith 159 XXX. Samuel Wilson 163 XXXI. Philadelphia Apprentice 167 XXXII. Ben 171 XXXIII. Thomas Hughes and John Darg 177 XXXIV. Anne Garrison 179 XXXV. James Poovey 183 XXXVI. Virginia Fugitive 187 XXXVII. James Davis 191 XXXVIII. Mrs. Morris 195 XXXIX. New Jersey Slave 199 XL. Maryland Slave 203 XLI. East Jersey Slave 207 XLII. Maryland Slaves 211 XLIII. Phebe Numbers 215 XLIV. Red Betsey 219 XLV. James Hall 223 XLVI. Mary Holliday 229 XLVII. A Slave Hunter Defeated 233 XLVIII. An Aged Bondman 237 XLIX. James 239 L. Uncle Beck 243 LI. Tobias Boudinot 247 LII. Ben Jackson 251 LIII. Self-emancipated Couple 255 LIV. Samuel Johnson 261 LV. Virginia Slave 265 LVI. The Foreign Slave 271 LVII. The Fraudulent Indenture 275 LVIII. Chattel Restored to Manhood 279 LIX. Charles Webster 283 LX. Tom 287 LXI. What’s in a Name? 293 LXII. William Anderson 297 LXIII. The Traitor 301 LXIV. Tender Mercies of a Slaveholder 305 LXV. Benjamin Clark 309 LXVI. Poor Amy 313 Isaac Hopper’s Tales of Oppression ix LXVII. The Patriarchal System 317 LXVIII. William Healy 321 LXIX. Theodore 325 LXX. Caesar King 329 LXXI. Maryland Slave 333 LXXII. The Slave Trader 337 LXXIII. William Wright 343 LXXIV. Peter 347 LXXV. Mary 351 LXXVI. James Williams 355 LXXVII. Thomas Harrison 359 LXXVIII. Tom 371 LXXIX. William Dixon 375 BIBLIOGRAPHY 383 INDEX OF PLANTERS’ NAMES 387 A cknowledgments John Blassingame contributed to this work by first urging me in his graduate seminars to examine "new kinds of sources viewed from different angles." I am deeply indebted to him, for he assigned me the enviable task of collecting and verifying Hopper’s Tales of Oppression. Grateful acknowledgments to Michelle Brenner for her computer expertise, and to Madeline Himy who typed more drafts than she cares to remember. I owe a debt to Elizabeth Vasile for her editorial assistance, and to Estelle Paris who was involved in the project in its early beginnings. I owe special thanks to Dr. Martha Ashby for her thorough reading of the manuscript. Finally, I am grateful to Dr. Graham Hodges of Garland, who believed in the project and was a decisive factor in making sure that it saw the light of day. Introduction On November 6, 1802, the Poulson’s American Daily Advertiser, a local Philadelphian newspaper, published an editorial, ’’Melancholy Effects of Slavery," that accused James Ewing, Trenton’s mayor, of having ordered several blacks, including one Romaine, along with his wife and his child, all of whom belonged to a French planter, to leave New Jersey and return to St. Domingo where they had lived as slaves. After boarding a Trenton stagecoach, the blacks and their owners rode to Philadelphia where they stopped to eat. Somehow, Romaine’s wife and child slipped away, but before Romaine could escape, the planter’s escorts ordered him into the stagecoach. Romaine "walked a few steps, and with a pruning knife, which seemed," wrote the editor, "prepared for the purpose, cut his throat in so shocking manner that he expired in a few minutes after on the pavement."1 In his anonymous editorial, Isaac Hopper, a thirty-one year- old Quaker, alias Friend Hopper, who was a member of the Abolitionists, suggested that Mayor Ewing should bear responsibility, at least partly, for Romaine’s death, and that the "legality of the permission granted by the mayor of Trenton, is much questioned and will be investigated."2 On December 10, 1840, Isaac Hopper published a story about Romaine in the National Anti-Slavery Standard noting that the "circumstances here related occurred many years ago, but they made such a deep impression on my mind, that they are now as fresh before me as though it was but yesterday."3 Lydia Maria Child, theNational Anti-Slavery Standard's editor, encouraged Hopper to write about his experiences assisting blacks pursued by their former masters, hoping that blacks such as Romaine would be immortalized. Child had arrived in New York from Massachusetts in the Spring of 1840 and needed a place to stay and "took up my abode with the family of Isaac Hopper."4 2 Isaa c Hopper's Tales of Oppression Because Hopper needed a job, Child hired him in June of 1840 as a treasurer and a book agent for the Standard, a paper that "represents itself before the world as the official organ of the American Anti-Slavery Society." On June 11,1840, Hopper penned his first narrative, "An Interesting Case of Escape." In September of 1840, one reader in a letter to the editor maintained that Friend Hopper had an "immense fund of the most graphical interesting anecdotes, stored away in his excellent memory, and his tact in the relation of them never fails to exite the liveliest attention." Eventually, Hopper received space to print his stories serially. On October 22, 1840, Hopper penned the first of seventy- nine narratives in a bi-weekly column called theTales of Oppression. The Standard said, "they will be read we have no doubt with deep interest."5 Drawn from "authentic sources, relating to the sufferings of the slaves and their efforts to escape from their fetters, and having a great abundance of such facts in my possession, I have concluded to offer them for publication in your columns," reported Hopper in his preface to the Tales of Oppression. The majority of the Tales featured black men: 55 (70%) referred to them; whereas 17 (22%) of the stories referred to black women, 4 (5%) to white men, and 3 (4%) to black children. Sixteen (29%) of the black men were free or passing for free; 10 (59%) of the women fell into the same category. Thirty-eight (40%) of the men were fugitives, as were 11 (67%) of the women. Over 90% of the blacks gave no ages or Hopper overlooked them; seven of the 11 blacks that did mention their ages were between the age of 25 and 35. About 75% of the blacks featured in the Tales came from Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. Seventeen percent came from Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Mississippi. Over 90% of the blacks either had set foot at least once in Philadelphia or had been permanent residents in that city.
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