th, were enabled to know these hunters of
men, their agents, spies, tools, and betrayers. They knew who performed
this work in Richmond, Alexandria, Washington, Baltimore, Wilmington,
Philadelphia, Lancaster, and Harrisburg, those principal depots of
villany, where organized bands prowled about at all times, ready to
entrap the unwary fugitive.

They also discovered that this nefarious business was conducted mainly
through one channel; for, spite of man's inclination to vice and crime,
there are but few men, thank God, so low in the scale of humanity as to
be willing to degrade themselves by doing the dirty work of four-legged
bloodhounds. Yet such men, actuated by the love of gold and their own
base and brutal natures, were found ready for the work. These fellows
consorted with constables, police-officers, aldermen, and even with
learned members of the legal profession, who disgraced their respectable
calling by low, contemptible arts, and were willing to clasp hands with
the lowest ruffian in order to pocket the reward that was the price of
blood. Every facility was offered these bad men; and whether it was
night or day, it was only necessary to whisper in a certain circle that
a negro was to be caught, and horses and wagons, men and officers, spies
and betrayers, were ready, at the shortest notice, armed and equipped,
and eager for the chase.

Thus matters stood in Philadelphia on the 9th of September, 1851, when
Mr. Gorsuch and his gang of Maryland kidnappers arrived there. Their
presence was soon known to the little band of true men who were called
"The Special Secret Committee." They had agents faithful and true as
steel; and through these agents the whereabouts and business of Gorsuch
and his minions were soon discovered. They were noticed in close
converse with a certain member of the Philadelphia bar, who had lost the
little reputation he ever had by continual dabbling in negro-catching,
as well as by association with and support of the notorious Henry H.
Kline, a professional kidnapper of the basest stamp. Having determined
as to the character and object of these Marylanders, there remained to
ascertain the spot selected for their deadly spring; and this required
no small degree of shrewdness, resolution, and tact.

Some one's liberty was imperilled; the hunters were abroad; the time was
short, and the risk imminent. The little band bent themselves to the
task they were pledged to perform with zeal and devot