The freight having arrived in good condition, John Henrie replies.
As the Kennedy Farm is a part of history, a slight allusion to its location may not be out of place, although it has been so frequently spoken of as to be almost universally known. The Farm is located in Washington County, Maryland, in a mountainous region, on the road from Chambersburg; it is in a comparatively non-slaveholding population, four miles from Harper's Ferry. Yet, among the few traders in the souls of men located around, several circumstances peculiar to the institution happened while the party sojourned there, which serve to show up its hideous character. During three weeks of my residence at the Farm, no less than four deaths took place among the slaves; one, Jerry, living three miles away, hung himself in the late Dr. Kennedy's orchard, because he was to be sold South, his master having become insolvent. The other three cases were homicides; they were punished so that death ensued immediately, or in a short time. It was the knowledge of these atrocities, and the melancholy suicide named, that caused Oliver Brown, when writing to his young wife, to refer directly to the deplorable aspect of slavery in that neighborhood. Once fairly established, and freight having arrived safely, the published correspondence becomes significant to an actor in the scene. Emigrants began to drop down, from this quarter and the other. Smith writes to Kagi:—
Friend Henrie,—Yours of the 14th inst. I received last night—glad to learn that the "Wire" has arrived in good condition, and that our "R" friend was pleased with a view of those "pre-eventful shadows."
Shall write Leary at once, also our other friends at the North and East. Am highly pleased with the prospect I have of doing something to the purpose now, right away, here and in contiguous sections, in the way of getting stock taken. I am devoting my whole time to our work. Write often, and keep me posted up close. [Here follow some phonographic
