ism by which they propose to demolish each other, is merely going halves with the devil.”
That year business on the U. G. Road became very active, and both the above gentlemen became zealous agents. They had seen some service before, and that explained in some measure “what was the matter.” The first arrival at our station, direct from that of Captain Cooper, came in charge of his son as conductor. The name of the fugitive, or the name by which he called himself, was Robert. He was evidently a very valuable man, and had escaped from a party of Congressmen on their way to Washington from Mississippi, one of whom was his master, and as he said, his half brother. He escaped from some point between Wheeling and Baltimore, and made his journey across Pennsylvania in a rambling way, suffering incredible hardships, hunger, and almost nakedness. His home had been so far from the Free States that he had never heard of this institution, therefore he dared not apply for aid. When almost starved, he fell into the hands of one of our agents south of Jamestown, near the State line, thence came through Ellington, Leon, Dayton and Perrysburgh, arriving at our station early in the evening.
He had been so long wandering in the Pennsylvania mountains that we supposed the pursuit must, of course, have been abandoned, and this idea nearly proved fatal. The spies along the lake shore came near eluding the vigilance of our agents, and had established a strict watch at new points, but they were trapped by the proslavery conversation of one of our detectives, and the fact was disclosed that there was “danger.” So close were the slave-hunters upon Robert’s track that he was obliged to turn backward, and passed our place in the evening. The hunter, coming from the east, crossed the river into the village just about the time that Robert
