File:Life and times of Frederick Douglass (1882) (14592652119).jpg

Identifier: lifetimesoffrede1882doug (find matches)
Title: Life and times of Frederick Douglass
Year: 1882 (1880s)
Authors: Douglass, Frederick, 1818-1895
Subjects: Douglass, Frederick, 1818-1895 Antislavery movements Slavery
Publisher: Hartford, Conn. : Park
Contributing Library: Wellesley College Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Boston Library Consortium Member Libraries

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son was, ifpossible, still more binding to silence—for publication of detailswould certainly have put in peril the persons and property ofthose who assisted. Murder itself was not more sternly andcertainly punished in the State of Maryland, than that of aid-ing and abetting the escape of a slave. Many colored men,for no other crime than that of giving aid to a fugitive slave,have, like Charles T. Torrey, perished in prison. The aboli-tion of slavery in my native State and throughout the country,and the lapse of time, render the caution hitherto observed nolonger necessary. But even since the abolition of slavery, Ihave sometimes thought it well enough to baffle curiosity bysaying that while slavery existed there were good reasons fornot telling the manner of my escape, and since slavery hadceased to exist there was no reason for telling it. I shall now,however, cease to avail myself of this formula, and, as far asI can, endeavor to satisfy this very natural curiosity. I should (22(0
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HOW HE ESCAPED. 223 perhaps have yielded to that feeling sooner, had there beenanything very heroic or thrilling in the incidents connectedwith my escape, for I am sorry to say I have nothing of thatsort to tell; and yet the courage that could risk betrayal and thebravery which was ready to encounter death if need be, in pur-suit of freedom, were essential features in the undertaking.My success was due to address rather than courage; to goodluck rather than bravery. My means of escape were providedfor me by the very men who were making laws to hold andbind me more securely in slavery. It was the custom in theState of Maryland to require of the free colored people to havewhat were called free papers. This instrument they wererequired to renew very often, and by charging a fee for thiswriting, considerable sums from time to time were collectedby the State. In these papers the name, age, color, height,and form of the free man were described, together with anyscars or other marks upon his

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