Page:The Under-Ground Railroad.djvu/25

 it was literally under the ground, consequently it is denominated "underground." This Slave was, as Slaves are now, taken beyond the probability of recovery. So quick, and with such accelerating velocity, that we very appropriately call it Rail-road! This is the derivation of the term Under-ground Rail-road. The reader will now understand, the so-called Rail-road is a mutual agreement between the friends of the Slaves, in the Northern States, to aid Fugitives on their way to Canada. They are taken from one friend to another, which is done only by night, until they reach Canada; this is the whole secret of this mysterious phrase. In this way we convey 1200 Slaves annually into Canada. The distance which they are led in a night varies. I have taken them 20 miles in a night, but that is not a usual distance, 6 to 12 miles is more commonly the length of each journey. It is supposed by some persons who are not so well acquainted with the Policy of the American Government, that the Fugitive Slaves are safe from the death-like grasp of their masters on their arrival into the Free States, but to them there are no Free States, and for them there is no safety or freedom within the jurisdiction of the United States' Government; no, not an inch of ground in the land of his birth, on which he can claim his title to liberty. Though there are Fugitive Slaves, even now in the so-called Free States their claimants are ignorant as to their whereabouts,