ane place, but dangerous to move, unless
you do it through some of the old wealthy friends of the trade. I must
now say to you that I have done well in my small way. I have cleared
over two hundred per month. I found our friend, of the Blue Lick region,
who tells me the house trade is good along the road; that the coloured
boys do it all, and are not suspected. (_In speaking of the house trade,
he had reference to the entering of houses by the slaves, pillaging,
&c., which would be laid to white men._) Well, now, I am through with my
travels for the present. Let me give you some little of the history of
our Dearborn brother, which I assure you is novel. I told you he would
never do, and I suppose, ere this, you have found I was right. I cannot
be fooled easy. You thought that from the simple fact that he traded in
horses well, (_meaning that he stole horses well_,) that he would not
fail to be useful anywhere I wished to place him; but he returned home,
I suppose you discover, without a dollar, and made sixty the first night
we arrived in Cincinnati, off of a cheese trader that slept in the
adjoining room. He wanted to return the next day to the burgh, but I
prevailed upon him to stop, as suspicion rested not upon us. He remained
according to my request, and I never have come across such an
industrious man; but he had not much courage, less than any man of his
age I ever met, and not one particle of judgment in human nature. When
we arrived, I cautioned him about trading with any of the brethren of
the city without my consent, knowing, as I did, the city brethren were
"celish;" however, he assured me his trade was "bogus;" that you had
supplied him with cut quarters, which no other person dare offer, and
that he had done well even with them. (Cut money was, at an early date,
used as change; one dollar cut in four pieces answered as twenty-five
cents each.) I found he was bent on the "bogus" trade, and I told him to
hold on a few days, and that I would assist him to some; that I had not
the first dollar, but would find out through the brethren when I
returned from our friend's in the country--nine miles. I then left him
at the boarding-house, and promised to return the next day. I returned
according to promise; called at our boarding-house, and upon inquiry
learned he was out in the city. I took a stroll up to our friend's, the
coffee-house keeper, in Market street. While I was passing through the
market-house, I passed by