The persons who had taken passage on board the Pearl had been held in
bondage by no less than forty-one different persons. Great was the
wonder at the sudden and simultaneous disappearance of so many "prime
hands," roughly estimated, though probably with considerable
exaggeration, as worth in the market not less than a hundred thousand
dollars,--and all at "one fell swoop" too, as the District Attorney
afterwards, in arguing the case against me, pathetically expressed it!
There were a great many guesses and conjectures as to where these people
had gone, and how they had gone; but it is very doubtful whether the
losers would have got upon the right track, had it not been for the
treachery of a colored hackman, who had been employed to carry down to
the vessel two passengers who had been in hiding for some weeks
previous, and who could not safely walk down, lest they might be met and
recognized. Emulating the example of that large, and, in their own
opinion at least, highly moral, religious and respectable class of white
people, known as "dough-faces," this hackman thought it a fine
opportunity to feather his nest by playing cat's-paw to the
slave-holders. Seeing how much the information was in demand, and
anticipating, no doubt, a large reward, he turned informer, and
described the Pearl as the conveyance which the fugitives had taken;
and, it being ascertained that the Pearl had actually sailed between
Saturday night and Sunday morning, preparations were soon made to pursue
her. A Mr. Dodge, of Georgetown, a wealthy old gentleman, originally
from New England, missed three or four slaves from his family, and a
small steamboat, of which he was the proprietor, was readily obtained.
Thirty-five men, including a son or two of old Dodge, and several of
those whose slaves were missing, volunteered to man her; and they set
out about Sunday noon, armed to the teeth with guns, pistols,
bowie-knives, &c., and well provided with brandy and other liquors. They
heard of us on the passage down, from the Baltimore steamer and the