The Underground Railroad (13 page)

“I tell you what,” her mother replied. “If it gets too scary, we'll step out of the room. We can even go home if you want. But I think we should both try, okay?”

Tamika nodded her head slowly. I could tell she wasn't happy.

“Very well,” said the professor as he returned to his laptop. “Let me input some data into my computer. Then I want to give you a little background information on the Kentucky Raid.”

Professor Tuesday entered dates, times, and GPS coordinates into his computer. When he was finished, he took a seat at the table.

“In 1847, several spies were sent by slave owners to Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan,” the professor began. “They were looking for escaped slaves and people who helped them, like Dr. Thomas and Erastus Hussey. The spies made maps of where runaways stayed so they could be found by slave catchers.”

“I thought fugitive slaves were all heading to Canada.” Mr. Spinner noted.

“Not quite,” answered the professor. “some runaways believed that Michigan was safe because it is so far away from the southern slave states. Back then, people didn't travel like we do in our time. There were several fugitive settlements in southern Michigan.”

The professor thought for a moment. “Where was I? Oh … right. In early August of 1847, a group of about 13 men rode on horses and in covered wagons from Kentucky into Michigan. They stopped at a hotel in Battle Creek and made it known that they were in the area selling machinery. However, it was a lie. They were really in Michigan to catch runaway slaves.”

“Those dirty rats!” Tamika shouted.

I agreed with Tamika.

“Erastus Hussey figured out what the Kentuckians were doing. He confronted them in a local tavern and told them to get out of town. Mr. Hussey also informed them that the people nearby wouldn't allow them to take any slaves back to Kentucky. He also told these men that they would be in danger if they stayed.”

“What happened?” Mr. Spinner asked. Did they fight?”

“The slave catchers left,” Professor Tuesday replied. “But, they didn't go back to Kentucky.”

“Where did they go?” I asked.

“They went down to Indiana where they stayed a few days before heading north once again. This time, they went into nearby Cass County.”

Professor Tuesday went to a map on the wall and showed us where Battle Creek was, and then he traced the route of the Kentuckians to northern Indiana and back up to Cass County in southwest Lower Michigan.

“Not far from the town of Cassopolis, Michigan, the wagons stopped about two miles from the home of Josiah Osborn. The raiders left their horses and wagons and crept ahead on foot in order to move quietly. The group split up. Some went toward the Osborn house; others went in different directions. The idea was to grab as many escaped slaves as possible and meet back at the wagons before daylight. When the raid was over, they would load the wagons and make a run for the nearby Indiana border.”

“I don't like this,” Tamika said as she sank into her seat.

“It'll be okay,” Tamika's mother replied as she patted her daughter's hand. “Please tell us more, professor.”

The professor gathered his thoughts for a moment before continuing. “Several months earlier, a family of five fugitive slaves—a man, his wife, two sons and a daughter—arrived at the Osborn place. At first, they planned to go on to Canada. But they were tired and sick from their journey north. Once they got into Michigan, they thought they were safe. So they moved into a house not far from the Osborn's.”

“Were they all captured in the raid?” Miss Pepper asked.

“Not all of them,” answered the professor. “the mother and daughter jumped out of a window and hid nearby. But the father and his two sons were chained together and marched toward the wagons that were hidden down the road. When they got back to the meeting point, they were held there until the other raiders returned with the runaways they had captured.”

“Oh, no! Oh, no!” Tamika whined as she put her hands over her ears.

“While the slaves and the slave catchers waited near the wagons,” the professor explained, “they were surrounded by an crowd of angry people who demanded the release of the runaways. The crowd was mostly made up of free African-Americans and white abolitionists who were ready for a fight.” Professor Tuesday looked around before continuing. “The raiders were concerned about the crowd that surrounded them, so they moved off to the north with their captives in chains.”

“What about the other raiding parties?” Mr. Spinner asked.

“One went to a settlement of runaways in the area of Calvin, Michigan. There they battered down the door and captured three men and a two-year-old child. Somehow, the child's mother escaped … but not for long.”

“What do you mean, not for long?” Mrs. Jones asked.

Professor Tuesday swallowed hard, twice. “One of the men in the raid claimed to own the mother and her child. When the mother escaped and couldn't be found, he picked up her little one and walked outside. As he walked through the dark, he made the baby cry. The baby's mother couldn't stand the sound of her little child crying, and she gave herself up to the raiders.”

“I don't want to hear this,” Tamika whined. “Get me out of here right now.”

“Are you sure you don't want to find out what happened?” her mother asked.

Tamika nodded her head sharply. “This is just too much for me.”

Mrs. Jones took Tamika by the hand and led her toward the door of the conference room. Before leaving, she turned to the professor. “We brought Tamika's homework with us tonight. If it's okay with you, I'll get Tamika settled in your office. Then, I would like to come back to find out what happened.”

“It's fine with me, as long as everyone else is okay with it,” the professor answered.

We all agreed. Tamika and her mother left the room. We all stood up for a stretch and grabbed something to drink.

“I have to admit,” I noted, “this is getting a little scary.”

“It is frightening to think that things like this really happened,” Miss Pepper said.

“The story gets a little scarier from this point on,” the professor added.

Before long, Tamika's mother returned and we all sat down again.

A
fter Mrs. Jones sat down, the professor reached out and picked up a cardboard box that was on the table next to him. He turned the box over and its contents poured out on the table, making a loud clanging sound. On the table in front us were rusty, old chains with big iron rings attached to them.

“I wasn't going to show these to you if Tamika was here,” said the professor, “but I thought you'd like to see what slave chains looked like.”

“They are horrible!” Miss Pepper said in a gasp.

“When these metal rings were put around their ankles and were chained together, it was very painful to walk. And it was almost impossible to get away,” said the professor as he shook his head in sadness.

We all looked on in shock.

“How could people be so mean and cruel to each other?” I thought to myself.

Professor Tuesday put the chains away and shook his head twice before continuing with his story. “After the Kentucky raiders gathered up the men and the mother and her child, the raiders headed for the house of another fugitive family nearby.”

“How many people lived in that house?” Miss Pepper asked.

“Two,” the professor answered, “a man and his wife. They moved into the area after having escaped. They leased some land from a man named Zachariah Shugart, a very strong abolitionist.”

“What happened there?” I asked.

“The raiders walked up to the house quietly. Then, they broke through the door and grabbed the man. His wife managed to escape. She ran to Zachariah Shugart's house, woke him up, and told him about the raid. Immediately, Shugart hopped on his horse and rode for about two miles to the home of Stephen Bogue.”

“Was Mr. Bogue an abolitionist, too?” I asked.

“Yes, yes, he was,” answered the professor. “When Zachariah Shugart told him about the raid that was going on near his house, Bogue mounted his fastest horse and headed to Cassopolis to see if he could have the raiders arrested.”

Everyone was on the edge of his or her seat as Professor Tuesday continued. “While Bogue was riding to Cassopolis, the raiders drove on to the house of another fugitive, a man who was living in a cabin on Bogue's farm. When the raiders got to the cabin, the door was locked tight.”

“What happened then?” Mrs. Jones asked.

“The fugitive's former owner shouted out, demanding that the man inside open the door,” the professor began. He rubbed his hands together as he continued. “The fugitive recognized the voice of his former master and refused to open the door.” Professor Tuesday looked down at the table. “The raiders battered down the door and broke into the house. The fugitive fought for all he was worth, but it was no use. He was outnumbered.”

“Was he killed?” I asked. “Don't say he was killed.”

“No,” Professor Tuesday, “but his former master hurt him badly. He was hit with the end of a heavy riding whip. That cut him from his ear across to the side of his head.”

“Ew-w-w-w,” I said, “maybe I should be in the professor's office doing my homework with Tamika! This is creeping me out.”

“From here on,” the professor said with a smile, “it really gets interesting.”

“So what happened after the raiders captured that guy?” I asked.

“The last of the Kentucky raiders gathered up their hostages and headed south to meet the other group that was hiding out with the wagons near the Osborn place. That group was planning their getaway to the Indiana border. But the local abolitionists had another idea.”

Just then we heard a knock at the door of the conference room. It was so scary, we all jumped out of our seats. When the door opened, it was Tamika.

“I don't like being alone in the professor's office,” she said.

“The scary stuff is mostly over,” the professor said kindly. “Why don't you join us again?”

My friend darted across the room and plopped down in a chair next to her mother.

Professor Tuesday tapped the ENTER key of his computer with two fingers. Once again, the room lit up like the Fourth of July. Before long the teleporter cloud formed, and Mr. Adams drove the Critter Cam through time. We were all eager to see how this was going to end.

The Critter Cam moved out of the green cloud and into the early morning sunlight. We could see the captives in chains. They looked sad and pained as they were being loaded onto the wagons. Once the raiders mounted their horses, they finalized their plans. Suddenly, a loud commotion broke out and the raiders and their captives were surrounded by an angry crowd of local people. We watched as the groups shouted at each other. It was clear that a fight was going to break out at any minute.

Tamika put her hands over her eyes.

“Mr. Bogue, the man who rode to Cassopolis,” the professor commented, “managed to gather up a large crowd to stop the raiders.”

“What's going to happen?” I asked. “Are they going to fight?”

T
he shouting match between the two groups got louder and more heated as the morning sun rose. Any act of violence on either side was sure to spark an ugly battle. Things were nearly out of control.

“Watch what happens here,” said the professor.

Some of the Michigan crowd began talking to the leader of the raiders. It was so noisy with all the shouting and tussling going on that we couldn't make out what was being said. The Kentuckians talked and argued amongst themselves. Finally, it appeared as though there was some kind of agreement.

“What's going on?” Tamika asked, peeking between her fingers at the screen. “Are they going to fight?”

“No,” answered the professor. “Although earlier in the raid, a man named Bill Jones was confronted by a raider who drew a pistol. The man threatened to shoot, but Jones managed to take the bad guy's gun away.”

“So what are they doing now?” I asked.

“Things were starting to get out of control,” the professor replied. “But remember that many of the locals were Quakers.”

“So what?” Tamika said.

“In addition to being against slavery,” the professor answered, “they are also people who don't believe in violence of any kind. People such as Erastus Hussey, Stephen Bogue, Zachariah Shugart, and Josiah Osborn were willing to stand up to the raiders, but they weren't going to fight. Instead, the Quakers convinced the raiders that they couldn't get away with their captives. It was suggested that they all go to Cassopolis and seek lawful means to settle the whole matter.”

“You mean they were going to have a judge settle everything?” Mr. Spinner asked.

“I mean exactly that,” answered the professor.

We watched the Kentuckians head off with the angry mob following close behind.

“As the group headed toward Cassopolis, word about the raid passed through the countryside,” the professor noted as he cleaned his glasses. “More and more people came to join the mob as it walked along. The raiders were greatly outnumbered.”

Professor Tuesday had Mr. Adams bring the Critter Cam back into the conference room. Then he turned on the lights. I squinted as my eyes adjusted to the brightness.

“What happened in Cassopolis, professor?” Miss Pepper asked.

“The whole mass of people got to Cassopolis at about 9:00 AM. There were the 13 raiders from Kentucky, the nine chained captives, and a group of at least 300 citizens who wanted the African-Americans freed on the spot.”

Professor Tuesday leaned back in his chair as he continued. “The fugitives were taken to a tavern in town where they were held. The raiders then hired a local attorney named George Turner. Though Turner told the Kentuckians that while the law was on their side, it would be almost impossible for them to get out of the county with their captives.”