A Strange Incident.—Six years ago, a young black man in Maryland, tired of being a slave, took advantage of a propitious night, and ran away to Canada. On sending back an occasional message to his aged father, who remained behind in bonds, he found means, for some time, of procuring answers, until at length no more answers came. Then for five years he heard nothing, and neither father nor son knew if the other were alive or dead. A few days ago, a gentleman in a public position in this city received a letter from this dusky Canadian correspondent, asking if there were any possible way of finding out something about his father. This letter was shortly afterwards enclosed to an editor of this paper, and was lying open on his desk, when the office was entered by a stranger from a Border State—an old man with a black face—and no other than the young man's father! So the letter had an unexpected and speedy answer, and by this time the father and son have seen each other face to face! Who shall say that the kind providence of God does not signally favor the poor and the lowly whom men despise?—Independent.
Relatives Found.
Mrs. Josephine Bass of Memphis, Tenn.
in the PLaNET of the 21st, advertised for
relatives whom she had not seen for
thirty-one years.
She has found them. They called at this
office this week and proceeded at once to
correspond to her. Only two are now
alive.
A gentleman in Washington found his
long lost sister in the same manner. He
had not seen her for nearly forty years.
The Lost Found.
Mr. and Mrs. D. Thornell of Brad-
ford [Bradford], Pa. are in the city on a visit to her
father, William Moss, of this city. It
seems that Mrs. Thornell has been away
for 20 years. Recently she had an en-
quiring [enquiring] notice inserted in the PLANET, in
order to find her father. He saw it and
wrote to her. The result is that she,
in company with her husband arrived
here Wednesday 29th inst. The mutual
satisfaction of the two at seeing each
other can be readily imagined. Mrs.
Thornell had been endeavoring to find
her father for seven years. She was pro-
fuse [profuse] in her thanks of the editor and the
PLANET.
MR. EDITOR: I read in your issue
of the SOUTHWESTERN, May 23,
the inquiry of Mr. W. C. Temple-
ton [Templeton], of No. 75 Donferth avenue,
Jersey City, N. J., of the where-
abouts [whereabouts] of my friend Mr. James
Harris and his estimable wife,
Mrs. Rachel Harris. We lived
with them in St. Louis, Mo., in
1869 and 1870. I also was with
him steamboating from St. Louis
to St. Paul, Minn., and Memphis,
Tenn. He was steward of some of
the finest boats on the Mississippi.
If he would write in care of the
St. Paul African Methodist Epis-
copal [Episcopal] Church (I do not know the
pastor's name), St. Louis Mo., he
will no doubt find them if living.
A FAMILY REUNION.
HOW AN ESCAPED SLAVE BECAME WEALTHY AND DISCOVERED HIS RELATIVES.
A Chicago paper tells the story of the return to the South of an escaped slave, who had amassed wealth in the North, and recently started on a journey to discover his relatives, whom he found in Louisiana. The story is as follows: "A few years ago, a runaway boy, with his face turned over his shoulder to watch against pursuit, came from the State of Kentucky and slavery to Illinois. He stole away in the night. He stole more than that, for he stole a likely mulatto boy worth a plump thousand dollars. He ignorantly forgot the guards which the Constitution and the laws had set about the sacred institutions of the South. He little reckoned that by his individual act he was swelling the amount of "aggravation," which at its height would induce its possessors to set their end of the national temple on fire. "Ten years from the time when the runaway Kentucky mulatto followed the North star, he began his return journey in broad daylight, in a first class car with his fare paid. The Fugitive Slave law was a forgotten wisp. He journeyed South as leisurely and as much at his ease as the proudest peer of the land, with a full purse and a comfortable bank account to draw upon at home. This slave boy of twelve years ago was now to make a thorough search among the ruins of the fallen prison-house of slavery for the mother and sisters he left behind him in his flight. From that journey he has just returned successful. He visited the lower landings of the Mississippi, patiently followed up every clue he could gain in New Orleans, and at the close of a day's ride a few weeks since, came upon a straggling eastern Louisiana household, and behold, his mother, brothers and sisters stood before him. "The edict of freedom had reached that place, and the freedmen were working by an arrangement with their mistress. The master was dead. He vindictively followed a brother of Mr. Ambrose into the swamps, retook him, but also took cold, lived only to flog him and sell him in Mobile for a haystack of rebel notes, and then turned his face to the wall and died. The whole family were wretchedly poor, and the mistress not too proud to receive a sum of money from her returned runaway. There is but little more to add. Mr. Ambrose, having recovered his family, intends to establish them, at their wish, on a farm near New Madrid, Missouri, according to their preference, although he offered to bring them all to Illinois. It is one of the reunions of families of which there will be many, the fruit of the great manumission."
ELLEN CRAFT AND HER MOTHER
NEW YORK, July 31, 1865. To the Editor of the Standard:
THE following autograph letter from Maj.-Gen. Wilson was elicited by an enquiry in behalf of Ellen Craft, now resident in England, for her mother, one of the redeemed from out of the house of bondage. The good will and courtesy of the General need no commendation from me. W. P. G.
[COPY.] MACON (Geo.), July 19, 1865. DEAR SIR : Your letter of June 28th was received day before yesterday. I have the pleasure of informing you that Maria Smith, the mother of Mrs. Craft, is now living comfortably with some colored friends within two hundred yards of my headquarters. Having discovered her residence, I sent for her yesterday, and read your letter to her. She was delighted to hear from her daughter and son-in-law, and requests me to say that she wishes to join them just as soon as they can send the money necessary to pay her travelling expenses. She is in good health, very hale, and young-looking for a woman of her age. I shall take great pleasure in transmitting any letters that may be sent to my care for her. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, (signed) Jas. H. WILSON, Maj.-Gen.
We find this paragraph in the Charleston Advocate:
Milton Douglas, an Edgefield (S. O.) negro, was married while a slave in 1859 to a colored girl in that county. After three months of wedded life he was sold and sent West. His wife married again, her second husband dying a few months ago. Milton, who had not been heard from since 1859 returned the other day and renewed connubial relations with his old spouse.
MR. EDITOR-- I have just learned that four years ago a notice appeared in your paper inquiring the whereabouts of Jo Hill, colored, signed Betsy Hill, Margaret Hill, Fanny Hill. I am the said Jo Hill. Betsy was my mother, the other two my sisters. I am here, and own a good plantation, and am anxious to learn their address, which appeared in your paper. Can you refer to any files, or which is the best way. Please inform me which is the best course to pursue. I am willing to pay you for any information to get their address, or for a notice or advertisement in your paper. Please write me and state particulars. Address Jo Hill, Bryan, Brazos county, Texas, in care of Capt. Adams.
MR. EDITOR-I noticed an inqury for Green Hicks, of Bedford county, Tenn. I know Green Hicks, he lives in Nashville, Tenn. I have written to a friend there for his address. But if the inquirer will send any word to my care at Alamo, Tenn , for Hicks I will see that he gets it. Rev. P. H. Wade, Box 23, Alamo, Tenn.
DEAR EDITOR-- I wish to inquire for the connections of the Rodgers family. My name is Letitia Rodgers. I came from Virginia in 1845. I had two brothers, Dennis and StephenBurg. I left them in Virginia; Dennis in Rye Valley, Marrian Smith county. Some time since I saw in an issue of the SOUTHWESTERN, the name of one James Kellogg, supposed to be in Kansas. This person is my brother-in-law, I suppose. He married my only sister in Virginia. Her name was Sarah Jane Henderson; our mother's was Milly Henderson. If this Rev. James Kellogg is my brother-in-law I hope that he will write to m at once. Address me at Lavernia. Wilson county, Texas. LETITIA RODGERS
A SLAVE'S ROMANCE. Reunited at Eighty with the Husband of Her Youth. A colored woman, bent nearly double with eighty years and a heavy bundle, was seen to board the Cincinnati Mail line packet yesterday afternoon, says the Louisville (Ky.) Post. Approaching the clerk of the boat she slowly untied a knot in the corner of her red bandana handkerchief and produced enough cash to purchase a deck ticket for Cincinnati. The wrinkled and feeble old negress is the heroine of a romance. In antebellum days she was a slave and was owned by a planter near Asheville, N. C. At an early age she was married to a slave of the same master. By him she had several children. Over half a century ago her husband was torn from her and her children and was sold to another planter. The woman continued to work on the North Carolina plantation, and in a short time was again married. Her whole family was then put on the block and sold to a Virginia man. When the emancipation proclamation was promulgated the family took advantage of their freedom and journeyed northward, finally taking up their home in Louisville. The husband died after the close of the war, and the children one by one left their mother to seek their fortunes elsewhere. The mother toiled and labored to make a livelihood. She heard nothing of her first husband until about a month ago, when one of her sons found that the old man was living in Newport, Ky. The old negress journeyed thither and found the husband of her youth. He had also been married the second time and had several children by the second wife. The latter was dead, however, and the reunited couple decided to again live together. The woman returned to Louisville, disposed of her effects, and yesterday afternoon completed the romance of fifty years by returning to her husband.