Momma is a very light colored slave.  We thought that she looks like a Man-Master.  A Man-Master is the man that owns us.  He's a short, white man.   We just call him Master.  He's a nice enough man but we wanna head north for our freedom.  We made a plan then started getting ready for the big night.

         We got us a pass from the Master so we could go visit some family out of town.  He gave us one for 10 days.  Right before we left I cut Momma's hair real short to make her look more like a man.  We wrapped her arms up real good so people that saw us would think she hurt both arms.  Momma never learned how to write.  Most slaves never learned how to.  I was one of the lucky ones.  The Master's wife took a liken to me and when it wasn't fittin to cut wood outside, she would sit with me and teach me how to do some.  She had been teaching me since I came to the plantation 11 years ago. 

         We left one night after everyone had gone to sleep.  It was pitch black outside.  Momma looked like a Man-Master.  She had on a very nice pair of pants with a dark navy blue pair of suspenders, a white button down long sleeve undershirt and a freshly washed and ironed black overcoat.  She also wore a pair of shiny black shoes.  They belong to the Master but he wouldn't notice them for a while.   They were the clothes he wore for special occasions and to us this was a very special occasion. 

         We walked all night to get to the nearest train station.  It was 10 o'clock in the morning when we got there.  We had to wait for about 15 or 20 minutes for it to open up.  It cost 3 silver coins to get to Canada.  My momma had been saving up coins for this trip.  When they opened up we were real nervous.  We was afraid someone would figure out we was both slaves.  A man in a black outfit and a funny hat ask Momma what her name was.  She answered in a real deep voice.  She said, "My name is Edger John Tucket." The man then directed Momma to a real nice train car that she was to ride in.  He told Momma he would take me to the "Slave Car".  It was a very raggedy old train car and the man threw me into it.  You could tell a lot of slaves had been thrown in here before.  Nobody ever bothered cleaning it up.  It had been gutted out like a pumpkin.  Springs were sticking up where the seats used to be.

         I found out later that the train car Momma was put in was a lot nicer than mine.  Hers had windows and when it got dark outside they lit it up by lanterns.  Momma was also brought food to eat and water to drink.  She said it was so nice. 

         It was 2 days before we even got a quarter of the way there.  We both knew that if we did not come back to the plantation in 10 days Master would send a slave hunter to catch us.  If he did that, I would have to get a new outfit.  I have seen it happen plenty of times.  People have gotten a pass from their master to leave and they wouldn't make it very far.  My daddy had tried it by himself.  He was caught getting off the train.  He was sent back to the plantation where Master hung him and beat him with a very hard leather whip.  Master made me and Momma watch.  We cried and screamed but Master just laughed.  It was not funny watching my daddy hanging on a bloody rope dying.

         Anyways, when I was on the train I got a little bit of food and water.  They gave us very old tough bread and some dirty water to drink.  They treated their animals better than they do a slave.  Oh how I wish this ride was over.  Every time I was asleep on that wretched old train I was thrown to the side and hit the wall every time it went around a curve.  There were a lot of curves on the track.  Momma slept on a bunk with a real blanket and pillow. 

         We stopped at a station to pick more people up and the people on the train got out too stretch their legs.  Momma got out and had the door open so she could get me out too.  She had kept some of her food to give to me.  It tasted so good to me, fresh bread and clean cold water.  It wasn't very long and we had to get back on the train.  Momma hated that I had to ride in that train car.  She started to cry but I told her it was ok.  We were getting closer to freedom all the time.  She smiled at me and kissed me on the cheek.

         We were on our 3rd day of the trip.  I did not get much sleep.  All the slaves were talking.  I talked a little but not a lot.  I was tired and hungry.  It was cold and dark in the train car.  I was chained to many other slaves and it was hard to get any rest.  At least in the Master's train car Momma was being treated like a king.  She was getting plenty of rest and food. 

         I dozed off sometime during the night and was woken up with a sudden jolt.  I was thrown against the wall in the car.  We were all very scared;  we didn't know what was going on.  We heard a lot of yelling coming from outside the door.  There were men telling the man in the black outfit with the funny hat to open the door.  They were looking for some run-away slaves.  I was scared, it was Slave Hunters.  The man opened the door and made us all get out.  I looked up at the window in the train car in front of us and I seen Momma.  She looked scared too.  The man got down off his horse and walked up and down in front of us.  We was all scared and looking down at the ground.  He stopped in front of me and my heart stopped.  He asks me what my name was and who was my master.  I told him my name was Lou and my master was Edger John Tucket.  He asks where my master was.  I told him, he was in the train car with the rest of the masters.  He looked at me for a minute longer than grabbed the girl next to me.  She started crying and screaming.  He smacked her across the face and told her to hold her arms out.  He tied a rope around her waist then around her wrist.  He jumped back on his horse and made her run behind him.  That made me real sad.  She was only about 8 years old.  They made us get back on the train then and we headed off again.

         I sat there thinking about that little girl.  I didn't even ask her what her name was and we had been sitting beside each other for almost 4 whole days.  I didn't even know she was a runaway.   That sort of information you don't just give out to people.  They will tell the wrong people if it is gonna save them.

         The train stopped again the next morning.  Momma got me off the train and we decided maybe we should travel some on foot.  She had been hearing people talk about the "Slave Hunters" checking the train for more runaways up at the next station.  She said that last episode scared her a lot.  She didn't want to take any more chances than we had to.  So we hid in the bushes when the train took off.  We waited till it got way out of sight before we started walking.  Momma had been planning this so she didn't eat her last few meals that they had given her.  She said we would just have to eat a little at a time for it to last us awhile.  We walked in the woods close to the train tracks.  We wasn't sure where we was at but Momma figured we was close to Kentucky.  There was a lot of hills and woods around here.  We could stay hidden pretty good for a while.

         We must have been walking for about 4 hours when we came upon an old shack.  We kneeled down in the woods and watched to see who lived there.  Momma said she knew it was a safe house.  We would be able to get something to eat and drink there.  I ask her how she knew that.  We didn't know anyone in this area.  She said, "You see that quilt stretched out on the porch railing?"  I said, "Yeah I see it."  Then she told me the center had a black ban going around it.  That was to let a slave know it was safe.  This house must be part of the Underground Railroad.  I had heard stories about that but I'd never seen it before.  Momma said, "We'll sit here for a little while Lou, then we'll go to the door after dark."  I said, "Momma I'm scared!  What if they are just trickin us?"  Momma said, "Only the slaves know about the black on a quilt.  We will be ok!" 

         Momma was right.  We waited till dark then we walked slowly to the door.  A tall white man opened the door and told us to hurry up and get inside.  We went inside and there was a woman and 5 little kids in there.  The man ask momma where we was headed.  She told him we was going to Canada.  We wanted our freedom and we wanted to be as far away from the south as we could get.  He ask who I was and momma told him I was her daughter and the only family she had left.  She told him about what happen to daddy and after losing him she didn't ever want another husband again.  She couldn't go through that no more.  He ask her where we came from and who owned us.   She told him Alabama and our Master's name was Fredrick John Myers.  He had a big plantation in Alabama and owned about 200 slaves.  He worked everyone hard but if you was good and done what you was supposed to he was nice.  She told him some stories of things that happen to some slaves that tried to run away or that just didn't want to do the work.  Them was some awful stories; scared me just listening to them. 

         The man told his wife to get us something hot to eat.  He said we looked like we could use a good hot meal.  Boy was he right.  I didn't realize how hungry I was till I started smelling that food cooking.  I couldn't wait to eat it.  Momma and the man talked way up till the morning hours.  Momma said we needed to start going again; we didn't want to stay in one place for too long.  The man told his wife to fix us up a sack with some biscuits and water in it.  As she was doing that the man told Momma about some more shacks that was on down the path that we could stop at.  He said, "The farther you go north, the more places there will be."  The people up there don't think slavery is right!"  Momma said, "Thank you for all you have done!  We will be forever in your debt."  We took off after that.

         We stayed in the woods for most of our trip.  We tried to avoid any towns or places where more than one house was.  We didn't want to take any chances.  We came up over one hill and there on the other side was a family of bears.  They scared me and Momma.  We just stopped in our tracks.  They played for a while then went on down the hill.  They didn't even act like they seen us.  We was real careful after that.  We didn't know where they went to but we didn't want to find them again. 

         We walked for a long time and we knew our time was running out.  Momma said after the 10 days was up Master would send somebody lookin for us.  We weren't the strongest or best slaves on the plantation but he wouldn't have a slave running off on him.  One time an old lady run off and he found her. Brought her back and tied her to a tree with her arms around it then ripped her shirt off and beat her every hour till she died.  He didn't care that she wasn't capable of doing anything anymore.  He just told all of us that no one was to leave his place unless he told us we could.  He didn't care what the government or anyone else said.  We was his property, he owned us fair and square. 

         He once told us that he heard there was a lady up North that was causing a riot over slavery.   He said her name was Harriet Tubman.  He said, "If that lady ever came around here she would get more than she bargained for!"  We didn't know what he was talking about but she sounded like a lady me and Momma wanted to meet.