07 - Biography of an American Bondman, By His Daughter by Josephine Brown

Delve into the captivating life of an American Bondman, as lovingly presented by his daughter, Josephine Brown. This biography not only revisits the significant experiences documented in her fathers own narratives, but also introduces fresh anecdotes and her unique perspective on his life. While the book draws heavily from previously published autobiographical accounts, it is enriched by a narrative style brimming with humor and wit. As observed by Andrews, the biographys exceptional contribution to the legacy of William Wells Brown is the insights it provides into the rhetorical strategies employed by both father and daughter in their united stand against slavery.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapters thirteen and fourteen Biography of an American Bondman by
his Daughter by Josephine Brown. This LibriVox recording is in
the public domain, Chapter thirteen. Wherever a single human breast
is crushed by pain and grief, there I would ever
be a guest and sweetly give relief. The kind and

(00:23):
benevolent Quakers would gladly have given their fugitive guest a
home during the remainder of the cold weather, but they
were afraid of his being sought after in trace to
their house by the man hunters. After being supplied with
clothes and some food, mister Brown again started on his
journey towards Canada. Although assured by his friends that he

(00:43):
could travel with a degree of safety in the day,
the fugitive felt that the night was the best time
for him, and therefore hid in the woods during the
day and journeyed when others were asleep. Soon after he
arrived at Cleveland on the banks of Lake Erie. The
mind can scarcely picture one in a more forlorn condition

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than was William Wells Brown on reaching Cleveland. Besides having
had nothing to eat for the forty eight preceding hours
and traveling through the woods in marshes and over the
frozen roads, he had worn out his shoes and clothes,
so that he made a sad appearance. The lake was
partly frozen so that vessels did not run, and all

(01:25):
hope of crossing to Canada was at an end. Wearied
by his long journey on foot, mister Brown did not
feel himself able to go on by the way of
Buffalo or Detroit, and he had once resolved to hunt
up quarters and remain in Cleveland until the opening of
navigation on the lakes. With this determination, he visited every

(01:47):
dwelling until he found a man who offered to keep
him if he would work for his board. Here he
saw wood and performed all the labor required of him
for a shelter from the inclemency of the winter. While
working at this place, the fugitive found an opportunity to
saw a court of wood for another family, for which
he received the sum of twenty five cents. With one

(02:11):
half of this money, he purchased a spelling book, and
with the other he bought candy, with which he hired
his employer's little boys to teach him to read. Some
weeks after mister Brown obtained a situation at the mansion
house kept by mister E. M. Seeger, But on all
occasions he held on to his spelling book, keeping it

(02:32):
in his bosom so that it might be handy. In
this manner was the foundation laid for an education which
has enabled him to be of use to his race.
While at Cleveland, mister Brown saw for the first time
an anti slavery paper. It was the Genius of Universal Emancipation,
edited by Benjamin Lundy. Instead of going to Canada on

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the opening of navigation in the spring, got a situation
on board the steamer Detroit Eri. He worked during the
season of eighteen thirty four, but the fugitive was destined
to undergo more hardships, for at the close of navigation,
the captain ran away with the money, and mister Brown,
with others, had to go without his pay. Added to this,

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he had married during the autumn and had taken upon
himself the duties and responsibilities of a husband. Thus, defrauded
of the avails of his nine months labor, the fugitive
went in search of employment for the winter. The following
extract from an article written by mister Brown will give
some idea of the success he met with in the

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autumn of eighteen thirty four, having been cheated out of
the previous summer's earnings by the captain of the steamer
in which I had been employed, running away with the money,
I was, like the rest of the men, left without
any means of support during the winter, and therefore had
to seek employment in the neighboring towns. I went to

(04:00):
the town of Monroe, in the state of Michigan, and
while going through the streets looking for work, I passed
the door of the only barber in the town, whose
shop appeared to be filled with persons waiting to be shaved.
As there was but one man at work, and as
I had well employed on the steamer occasionally shaved a
gentleman who could not perform that office himself, it occurred

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to me that I might get employment here as a
journeyman barber. I therefore made immediate application for work, but
the barber told me he did not need a hand. However,
I was not to be put off so easily, and
after making several offers to work cheap, I frankly told
him that if he would not employ me, I would
get a room near to him and set up an

(04:43):
opposition establishment. This threat made no impression on the barber,
and as I was leaving, one of the men who
were waiting to be shaved, said, if you want a
room in which to commence business, I have one on
the opposite side of the street. This man followed me out.
We went over and I looked at the room. He
strongly urged me to set up at the same time,

(05:04):
promising to give me his influence. I took the room,
purchased an old table and two chairs, got a pole
with a red stripe painted around it, and the next
day opened with a sign over the door, fashionable hairdresser
from New York, Emperor of the West. I need not
add that my enterprise was very annoying to the shop

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over the way, especially my sign, which happened to be
the most extensive part of the concern. Of course, I
had to tell all who came in that my neighbor
on the opposite side did not keep clean towels, that
his raisors were dull, and above all, that he had
never been to New York to see the fashions. Neither
had I. In a few weeks I had the entire

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business of the town to the great discomfiture of the
other barber. At this time, money matters in the Western
States were in a sad condition. Any person who could
raise a small amount of money was permitted to establish
a bank and allowed to issue notes for four times
the sum raised. This being the case, many persons borrowed

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money merely long enough to exhibit to the bank inspectors.
Then the barred money was returned and the bank left
without a dollar in its vaults, if indeed it had
a vault about its premises. The result was that banks
were started all over the Western States, and the country
flooded with worthless paper. These were known as wildcat banks.

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Silver coin being very scarce and the banks not being
allowed to issue notes for a smaller amount than one dollar,
several persons put out notes from six to seventy five
cents in value. These were called shin plasters. The shin
plaster was in the shape of a promisory note made
payable on demand. I've often seen persons with large rolls

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of these bills, the whole not amounting to more than
five dollars. Some weeks after I had commencement business on
my own hook, I was one evening very much crowded
with visitors, and while they were talking over the events
of the day, one of them said to me, Emperor,
you seemed to be doing a thriving business. You should
do as other men of business, issue your shin plasters. This,

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of course, as it was intended, created a laugh, but
with me it was no laughing matter, for from that
moment I began to think seriously of becoming a banker.
I accordingly went a few days after to a printer,
and he, wishing to get a job of printing, urged
me to put out my notes, and showed me some
specimens of engravings that he had just received from Detroit.

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My head, being already filled with the idea of a bank,
I needed but little persuasion to set the thing finally afloat.
Before I left the printer, my notes were partly in type,
and I studying how I should keep the public from
counterfeiting them. The next day my shin plasters were handed
to me, the whole amount being twenty dollars, and after

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being duly signed, were ready for circulation. At first, my
notes did not take well. They were too new and
viewed with a suspicious eye. But through the assistance of
my customers, and a good deal of exertion on my
own part. My bills were soon in circulation, and nearly
all the money received in return for them was spent
in fitting up and decorating my shop. Few bankers get

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through this world without their difficulties, and I was not
to be an exception. A short time after my money
had been out, a party of young men, either wishing
to pull down my vanity or to try the soundness
of my bank, determined to give it a run. After
collecting together a number of my bills, they came when
at a time to demand other money for them, and I,

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not being aware of what was going on, was taken
by surprise. As I was sitting at my table strapping
some new raisors I had just got with the avails
of my shin plasters. One of the men entered and said, Emperor,
you will oblige me if you will give me some
other money for these notes of yours. I immediately cashed
the notes with some of the most worthless of the

(09:04):
wildcat money that I had on hand, but which was
a lawful tender. The young man had scarcely left when
a second appeared with a similar amount and demanded payment.
These were paid, and soon a third came with his
roll of notes. I paid these with an air of triumph,
though I had but half a dollar left. I now
began to think seriously what I should do, or how

(09:26):
I should act, provided another demand should be made. While
I was thus engaged in thought, I saw a fourth
man crossing the street with a handful of notes, evidently
my shin plasters. I instantaneously shut the door, and, looking
out of the window, said I've closed business for the day.
Come tomorrow and I will see you on. Looking across

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the street, I saw my rival standing in his shop door,
grinning and clapping his hands at my apparent downfall. I
was completely done brown for the day. However, I was
not to be used up in this way, so I
escaped by the back door and went in search of
my friend, who had first suggested to me the idea
of issuing notes. I found him and told him of

(10:11):
the difficulty I was in, and wished him to point
out the way by which I could extricate myself. He
laughed heartily and then said, you must do as all
bankers do in this part of the country. I inquired
how they did, and he said, when your notes are
brought to you, you must redeem them, and then send
them out and get other money for them. And with
the letter you can keep cashing your own shin plasters.

(10:34):
This was a new idea to me. I immediately commenced
putting in circulation the notes which I had just redeemed,
and my efforts were crowned with so much success that
before I slept that night, my shin plasters were again
in circulation, and my bank once more on a sound basis.
The next spring, mister Brown again found employment on the lake,

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and from this time until the winter of eighteen forty three,
he held a lucrative situation on one of the lake steamboats.
Having felt the iron of slavery in his own soul,
the self emancipated slave was always trying to help his
fellow fugitives, many of whom passed over Lake Erie while
escaping from the Southern States to Canada. In one year alone,

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he assisted sixty fugitives in crossing to the British Queen's dominions.
Many of these escapes were attended with much interest. On
one occasion, a fugitive had been hit in the house
of a noted abolitionist in Cleveland for ten days while
his master was in town and watching every steamboat and
vessel that left the port. Several officers were also on

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the watch, guarding the house of the abolitionist every night.
The slave was a young and valuable man of twenty
two years of age, and very black. The friends of
the slave had almost despaired of getting him away from
his hiding place when mister Brown was called in and
consulted as to the best course to be taken. He'd
once inquired if a painter could be found who would

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paint the fugitive white in an hour. By mister Brown's directions,
the black man was as white and with as rosy
cheeks as any of the Anglo Saxon race, and disguised
in the dress of a woman with a thick veil
over her face. As the steamer's bell was tolling for
the passengers to come on board, a tall lady dressed

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in deep mourning and leaning on the arm of a
gentleman of more than ordinary height, was seen entering the
lady's cabin of the steamer North America, who took her
place with the other ladies. Soon the steamer left the wharf,
and the slave catcher and his officers, who had been
watching the boat since her arrival, went away, satisfied that

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their slave had not escaped by the North America, and
returned to guard the house of the abolitionist. After the
boat had got out of port and fairly on her
way to Buffalo, mister Brown showed the tall lady to
her stateroom. The next morning, the fugitive, dressed in his
plantation suit, snapped his fingers at the stars and stripes

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that his native land farewell crossed the Diagara River and
took up his aboat on the soil of Canada, where
the American bondman is free. End of Chapter thirteen, Chapter fourteen.
The weakest and the poorest made this simple pittance, give

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and bid delight to with at heart's return again and live.
William Wells Brown early became a reader of The Liberator, Emancipator,
Human Rights, and other papers published during the first stages
of the anti slavery discussion, and consequently took great interest
in the movement intended to abolish the cruel system under

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which his own relations, in common with others that were
near and dear to him, were held as one of
the pioneers in the temperance cause. Among the colored people
in Buffalo, he did good service. He regarded temper and
education as the means best calculated to elevate the free
people of color and to place them in a position

(14:08):
where they could give a practical refutation to the common
belief that the negro cannot attain to the high stand
of the Anglo Saxon. But Buffalo being a place through
which many fugitives passed while on their way to Canada,
mister Brown spent much time in assisting those who sought
his aid. His house might literally have been called the

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fugitive's house. As ni Agara Falls were only twenty miles
from Buffalo. Slaveholders not unfrequently passed through the latter place
attended by one or more slave servants. Mister Brown was
always on the lookout for such to inform them that
they were free by the laws of New York, and
to give them necessary aid. The case of every colored

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servant who was seen accompanying a white person was strictly
inquired into. Mister Brown's residents also became the home of
anti slavery agents and lectures on all reformatory movements. After
investigating every phase of anti slavery, he became satisfied that
the course pursued by William Lord Garrison and his followers

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was the best calculated to free the slave from his chains,
and he has ever since been an advocate of the
doctrines put forth by the great pioneer of the abolition cause.
End of Chapter fourteen.