The Underground Railroad
Arrival from Baltimore
ELIJAH BISHOP AND WILLIAM WILLIAMSON.
Elijah represented to the Committee that he had been held under the enthrallment of a common “gambler and drunkard,” who called himself by the name of Campbell, and carried on his sporting operations in Baltimore.
Under this gambler Elijah had been wronged up to the age of twenty-eight years, when he resolved to escape. Having had several opportunities of traveling through the United States and South America with his sporting master, he managed to pick up quite an amount of information. For the benefit of Elijah’s relatives, if any should have occasion to look for particulars concerning this lost individual, we add, that he was a spare-built man of a dark color.
William Williamson fled from Mrs. Rebecca Davidge, of Perrymanville. He declared that he had been used badly—had been worked hard and had been fed and clothed but poorly. Under such treatment he had reached his twenty-fourth year. Being of a resolute and determined mind, and feeling considerably galled by the burdens heaped upon him, he resolved that he would take his chances on the Underground Rail Road. The only complaint that he had to make against his mistress was, that she hired him to a man named Smith, a farmer, and a slave-holder of the meanest type, in William’s opinion. For many a day William will hold her responsible for abuses he received from him.