The Deacon was the first man to whom Henry had confided his history since he left the ship in Baltimore. He landed safely in Canada, since which we have no account of him, but we have no fears as to his conduct and success as a citizen of his adopted country. Henry escaped from slavery about the time the U. G. R. R. was first organized, and before the lines were all arranged hence he worked his way without aid until he arrived almost in sight of Canada.
The New York Tribune quoted from the Mobile Sunday Times of July 12th, 1868, an article in which the editor, a rebel Democrat, made the following admission: “The negro population, who are easily led away by novelty and excitement, and extravagant promises, are very quick to perceive where their vital interests lie, and to return to the path of common sense when they make the discovery.” On reading the above article one morning, 1 was reminded of a conversation I had with a gentleman in Carlisle, Nicholas Co., Kentucky, which directly corroborated Henry’s story. I had stopped one evening at the hotel in said towTn ; at the table a gentleman sat opposite to me whose face and voice seemed familiar. After dinner he came into the public room and sat down near to us, (my brother was Avith me) and said, “Gentlemen, you are from the North. May I ask what State?” “New York,” I answered “Ah!” said he, “I thought so; from the town of Fabius, Onondaga Co. I was sure I had seen you before; your name is Pettit.” “Yes,” said I, “and you are Frank Chapel, of Pompey. You taught the school in our town when I was a boy.” After cordial greeting and congratulations on having met each other so far away from the scenes of our boyhood, he invited us to meet him at his office in the evening.
Chapel had studied law and gone to Kentucky some ten years previous to the time I met him. His talents,
