Philadelphia in 1855.
According to a pamphlet published by the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society in that year, and according to the black abolitionist
William Still, who wrote about Jane Johnson’s escape in his book,
The Underground Railroad
(1872), John Hill Wheeler arrived in Philadelphia on Wednesday, July 18, 1855, on his way from Washington, D.C., to Nicaragua,
to take up his position as “the accredited Minister of the United States to Nicaragua.” 24 Traveling with Wheeler were Jane Johnson, whom he had purchased in 1853 in Richmond, and her two sons, one six or seven,
the other eleven or twelve.
When the foursome arrived in Philadelphia, Wheeler took them to Bloodgood’s Hotel, located near the Walnut Street wharf. When
Wheeler went to dinner in another part of the hotel, Johnson “spoke to a colored woman who was passing, and told her that
she was a slave, and to a colored man she said the same thing, afterwards adding, that she wished to be free.” William Still,
chairman of the Acting Vigilant Committee of the Philadelphia Branch of the Underground Railroad, wrote in a letter published
in the
New York Tribune
on July 30, 1855, that he was handed a note at 4:30 in the afternoon “by a colored boy whom I had never before seen, to my
recollection.” The note read as follows:
Jane Johnson.
(from
Underground Railroad
by William Still)
Rescue of Jane Johnson and her children.
(North Carolina Collection, University of North Carolina Library at Chapel Hill)
M. Still—
Sir:
Will you come down to Bloodgood’s Hotel as soon as possible—as there are three fugitive slaves here and they want liberty.
Their master’s here with them, on his way to New York. [Still, pp. 87–88]
Still, “without delay,” ran to Passmore Williamson’s office. Williamson was the secretary of “The Pennsylvania Society for
Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, and for the Relief of Free Negroes unlawfully held in Bondage, and for improving the condition
of the African Race.” The society was incorporated in 1789, and Benjamin Franklin served as its first president. Williamson
told Still to go to the slave and get the names of both the slaveholder and the slave; then he would telegraph this information
to New York, where they would be arrested when they landed there by boat. By the time Still arrived at the hotel, however,
he discovered that Williamson had changed his mind and decided to go himself.
Williamson and Still were told that the slaves and their master had left the hotel and had boarded a boat. Still interviewed
one of the four black people who had seen them at the hotel, and was told that the slave “was a tall, dark woman, with two
little boys.” Still and Williamson rushed to the boat and found Wheeler and his slave, Jane Johnson, along with her two sons
on the second deck; they then implored Jane to leave her master, flee with them, and seek her freedom in the courts. “If you
prefer freedom to slavery, as we suppose everybody does,” Still recalled saying to her, “you have the chance to accept it
now. Act calmly—don’t be frightened by your master—you are as much entitled to your freedom as we are, or as he is.”
Wheeler kept interrupting Still and Williamson as they sought to persuade Johnson to flee with them, saying that she had no
wish to leave. To the contrary, however, Still wrote, Jane “repeatedly said, distinctly and firmly, ‘I am not freed, but I
want my freedom—ALWAYS wanted to be free! But he holds me.’” According to Still, when Jane rose to leave, Wheeler attempted
to interfere, taking “hold of the woman and Mr. Williamson.” Williamson shook off Wheeler, and the party left the boat. Once
rested, Jane was said to proclaim that she and her sons had been so “providentially delivered from the house of bondage.”
Still later informs us that Wheeler had instructed her twice not to speak to the hotel’s colored waiters or listen
According to a pamphlet published by the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society in that year, and according to the black abolitionist
William Still, who wrote about Jane Johnson’s escape in his book,
The Underground Railroad
(1872), John Hill Wheeler arrived in Philadelphia on Wednesday, July 18, 1855, on his way from Washington, D.C., to Nicaragua,
to take up his position as “the accredited Minister of the United States to Nicaragua.” 24 Traveling with Wheeler were Jane Johnson, whom he had purchased in 1853 in Richmond, and her two sons, one six or seven,
the other eleven or twelve.
When the foursome arrived in Philadelphia, Wheeler took them to Bloodgood’s Hotel, located near the Walnut Street wharf. When
Wheeler went to dinner in another part of the hotel, Johnson “spoke to a colored woman who was passing, and told her that
she was a slave, and to a colored man she said the same thing, afterwards adding, that she wished to be free.” William Still,
chairman of the Acting Vigilant Committee of the Philadelphia Branch of the Underground Railroad, wrote in a letter published
in the
New York Tribune
on July 30, 1855, that he was handed a note at 4:30 in the afternoon “by a colored boy whom I had never before seen, to my
recollection.” The note read as follows:
Jane Johnson.
(from
Underground Railroad
by William Still)
Rescue of Jane Johnson and her children.
(North Carolina Collection, University of North Carolina Library at Chapel Hill)
M. Still—
Sir:
Will you come down to Bloodgood’s Hotel as soon as possible—as there are three fugitive slaves here and they want liberty.
Their master’s here with them, on his way to New York. [Still, pp. 87–88]
Still, “without delay,” ran to Passmore Williamson’s office. Williamson was the secretary of “The Pennsylvania Society for
Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, and for the Relief of Free Negroes unlawfully held in Bondage, and for improving the condition
of the African Race.” The society was incorporated in 1789, and Benjamin Franklin served as its first president. Williamson
told Still to go to the slave and get the names of both the slaveholder and the slave; then he would telegraph this information
to New York, where they would be arrested when they landed there by boat. By the time Still arrived at the hotel, however,
he discovered that Williamson had changed his mind and decided to go himself.
Williamson and Still were told that the slaves and their master had left the hotel and had boarded a boat. Still interviewed
one of the four black people who had seen them at the hotel, and was told that the slave “was a tall, dark woman, with two
little boys.” Still and Williamson rushed to the boat and found Wheeler and his slave, Jane Johnson, along with her two sons
on the second deck; they then implored Jane to leave her master, flee with them, and seek her freedom in the courts. “If you
prefer freedom to slavery, as we suppose everybody does,” Still recalled saying to her, “you have the chance to accept it
now. Act calmly—don’t be frightened by your master—you are as much entitled to your freedom as we are, or as he is.”
Wheeler kept interrupting Still and Williamson as they sought to persuade Johnson to flee with them, saying that she had no
wish to leave. To the contrary, however, Still wrote, Jane “repeatedly said, distinctly and firmly, ‘I am not freed, but I
want my freedom—ALWAYS wanted to be free! But he holds me.’” According to Still, when Jane rose to leave, Wheeler attempted
to interfere, taking “hold of the woman and Mr. Williamson.” Williamson shook off Wheeler, and the party left the boat. Once
rested, Jane was said to proclaim that she and her sons had been so “providentially delivered from the house of bondage.”
Still later informs us that Wheeler had instructed her twice not to speak to the hotel’s colored waiters or listen
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