Fugitive Slaves (1619-1865). Marion Gleason McDougall
describing the runaway must be placed upon the door of the court-house, and sent to the clerk or reader of each church or chapel within the county. They were required to post all such notices every Lord's day for two months in some convenient place near the church. At the end of this time, should no claimant appear, the slave must be sent from constable to constable, till the public gaol of the government was reached. There, upon consent of the court or of two justices, he might be sold to hire by the gaoler.11 The Maryland Archives record that in 1669 ten thousand pounds of tobacco were appropriated to build one of these log-house gaols wherein fugitive servants might be lodged.12
§ 4. Regulations in New England colonies.—Let us turn now to the New England colonies. Here we must expect to find but few provisions, since the class of slaves and bound servants was so small that it could easily be controlled. The first law in Massachusetts Bay was passed in 1630, and was entitled, "An Act respecting Masters, Servants, and Laborers." In accordance with the arbitrary methods of government then pursued, it included not only runaway servants, but also any persons who should "privily go away with suspicion of evil intention," and ordered the magistrate "to press men, boats, or pinnaces," and "to bring them back by force of arms." A humane provision, usually wanting in Southern laws, though also found in New Netherlands, declared that, whenever servants fled on account of the tyranny of their masters, they should be protected until measures for their relief could be taken.13
In Connecticut and New Hampshire similar laws were passed, and in 1707 Massachusetts Bay, in regulating the free negro population, enacted that every freeman or mulatto who should harbor a negro servant in his house without his owner's consent should pay five shillings for the use of the poor of the town.14
In those days, when bridges were few, the ferrymen were apparently much relied upon as agents to detect and apprehend runaways. In 1714 we find that several negro slaves had been carried over ferries, and thus escaped out of Rhode Island. The Assembly therefore enacted that "no ferryman or boatman whatsoever, within this colony, shall carry or bring any slave as aforesaid over their ferries, without a certificate under the hands of their masters or mistresses, or some person in authority, upon the penalty of paying all costs and damages their said masters or mistresses shall sustain thereby: and to pay a fine of twenty shillings for the use of the colony for each offence, as aforesaid." All persons were also commanded to take up any slave they might find travelling about without a pass.15
Escapes in New England.
§ 5. Escapes in New England: Attucks case.—Although we do not find records of fugitive slave cases tried at this time within the New England colonies, advertisements of runaways exist in sufficient numbers to prove that escapes were common. It seems probable, therefore, that the return of a slave when within his own colony was taken as a matter of course, and roused so little opposition, and required so simple a process at law, that matters concerning it would seldom find mention in the chronicles of the time. Here is a typical advertisement:—
"Ran away from Samuel Gilbert of Littleton, an indentured Servant Boy, named Samuel Gilson, about 17 years old, of a middling Stature for his Age, and wears black curled Hair, he carried away with him a blue cloth Coat, a light colored Jacket with sleeves, one pair of worsted Stockings, two striped woolen Shirts, and one good linnen Shirt. He went away in company with a short thick set Fellow, who wore a green coat and a green Jacket double breasted, also a pair Indian green Stockings. Whoever shall take up and secure, or give information of said runaway, so that his master may find him again, shall receive a Reward of two dollars and all necessary charges from
Samuel Gilbert.
"All masters of vessels and others are cautioned against harboring," etc.16
Again a case interesting not only as an illustration of the customs of the time, but also because the fugitive himself bears a name known to history in another connection, is noticed in the Boston Gazette of 1750. Here is advertised as escaping, October 2, 1750, from his master, William Browne of Framingham, Massachusetts, "A molatto fellow about twenty-seven years of age, named Crispus." After describing his clothing and appearance, a reward of ten pounds, old tenor, is offered for his return, and "all masters of vessels and others are cautioned against concealing said servant on penalty of law."17 Tradition has it, however, that he was never arrested, but returned of his own accord after a short time, and was for the next twenty years a faithful servant.18 Then, in 1770, presumably while in town upon one of the expeditions he often undertook to buy and sell cattle for his master, he was drawn into the Boston Massacre of March 5.19
A somewhat famous case, which also occurred in Massachusetts, though many years later, may here be mentioned. About 1769 one Rotch, a Quaker, and therefore probably opposed to slavery, received on board the whaler Friendship a young negro boy named Boston, belonging to the heirs of William Swain. At the end of the voyage his master, John Swain, brought action in the court of Nantucket against Captain Folger for the recovery of the slave; the jury, whether from lack of evidence or from sympathy cannot be determined, returned a verdict in favor of the defendant.20
Dutch and Intercolonial Regulations.
§ 6. Dutch regulations in New Netherlands.—The early New Netherlands regulations furnish many interesting provisions concerning fugitive servants. Apparently the servile class was numerous, and hard to govern. In the words of the ordinance of 1640, "many servants daily run away from their masters, whereby the latter are put to great inconvenience and expense; the corn and tobacco rot in the field, and the whole harvest is at a standstill, which tends to the serious injury of this country, to their masters' ruin, and to bring the magistracy into contempt." It was therefore ordained that runaways must, at the end of their term of indenture, serve double the time of their absence, and make good all loss and damage to their masters; while persons harboring fugitives were obliged to pay a fine of fifty guilders.21
§ 7. Escapes from New Amsterdam.—Within these Dutch colonies there is recorded a case of escape as early as 1659. Four menservants of Cornelis Herperts de Jager, of New Amsterdam, ran away to Manhattan. One of them soon returned, and in accordance with the regulation made in 1630 by the West India Company,22 requiring the return of fugitives in their various settlements, one of the officers of the colony sent to Manhattan an order to arrest and bring back the remaining three in chains.23
§ 8. Intercolonial regulations.—It will be seen that most of the colonies considered some provision against runaways necessary to the welfare of the settlements. To secure such legislation in a single colony was a comparatively easy matter; but the unorganized and sparsely settled condition of the country rendered any intercolonial regulations difficult.
The first formal agreement of this kind was arranged by the New England Confederation of Plymouth, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Haven, in 1643. In their Articles of Confederation was a clause which promised: "If any servant runn away from his master into any other of these confederated Jurisdiccons, That in such Case vpon the Certyficate of one Majistrate in the Jurisdiccon out of which the said servant fled, or upon other due proofe, the said servant shall be deliuered either to his Master or any other that pursues and brings such Certificate or 24 This clause contains the earliest statement of the principles regarding the treatment of fugitive slave cases, afterward carried out in the United States statutes of 1787, 1793, and 1850. There was no trial by jury, but the certificate of a magistrate was sufficient evidence to convict the runaway.
It is probable, also, that the rendition of fugitives was considered a duty incumbent upon all colonies, whatever their relation to each other, since about this time we find an agreement made for the mutual surrender of fugitives between the Dutch at New Netherlands and the English at New Haven.25
Not only did the slaves of the Dutch escape to the English colonies, but they often fled to the forests, where recovery must have been almost impossible unless the Indians could be induced to hunt them out. Curious rewards were sometimes offered. Maryland, in 1669, ordered that any Indian who shall apprehend a fugitive may have a "match coate," or its value.26