The other was, Jerry, once a free man, went to Conneaut and established himself as a barber, but unable to bear prosperity, he soon fell into habits of drinking and dissipation, thus rendering worthless the investment philanthropy and generosity had made in him.
The following is the subscription referred to above, together with the names of donors and the amount given so far as they can be deciphered:
We whose names are hereto affixed, promise to pay to Eliphalet Austin the sums put to our names, for the purpose of liberating from slavery a colored man whose master is supposed to be in pursuit, and offers to free him for three hundred and fifty dollars.
Eliphalet & Aaron E Austin. $50. J. Austin, $40.00. J. S. Mills, $2.00. A. A. Barr, $1.00. G. W. St. John, $25.00. Luman Whiting, $2.00. I. Hendry, $5.00. Amos Fisk, $5.00. Daniel Hubbard, $1.00. Mr. Sawtell, $2.00. L. M. Austin, $5.00. Dr. A. Hawley, $2.00. Ward, $5.00. Jefferson, $20.00. Orestes K. Hawley, $50. L. Bissell, $20.00. T. H. Wells, $3.00. Harvey Ladd, Jr., $2.00. James Sillak, $3.00. Benjamin Whiting, $1.00. Giddings & Wade, $10. Russell Clark, $2.00. Henry Harris, $1.00. E. Austin, Jr., $15.00. Ros. Austin, $5.00. W. Webb, Jr., $5.00. Henry, $5.00. A Friend, 50 cents.
The $20.00 from Jefferson was a kind of _religious_ collection.
Apropos the deliberation of Mr. Austin, there comes an incident from southern Ohio illustrating how cool a woman may be in case of emergency. A slave named Zach had escaped from Virginia and was resting and recuperating himself in the family of a benevolent man in one of the southern counties previously to pursuing his onward course, when one evening the house was surrounded by his owner and a number of other men, and the right of searching the premises demanded. The husband was much agitated and appealed to his wife to know what was to be done.
“Why,” said she, “let them in, and search the lower part of the house first, and leave Zack to me.”
“But I tell you, wife, the man can’t be got off without being caught.”
The husband took her advice, and whilst he was leading a searching party through the cellar and lower rooms of the house, she placed the fugitive carefully between the feather and straw ticks of the family bed, and by the time the posse reached the room she was composedly in bed as though nothing unusual was transpiring. The result was that the search proved a bootless one, and the whole party left, believing they had been misdirected by some one bent on deceiving them.