the mother escaped from their merciless grasp,
while on their way to the State of Maryland. The plunderers, of whom
there were nearly half a dozen, conveyed their prey upon horses;
and the woman being placed on one of the horses, behind, improved an
opportunity, as they were passing a house, and sprang off. Not daring
to pursue her, they proceeded on, leaving her youngest child a little
farther along, by the side of the road, in expectation, it is supposed,
that its cries would attract the mother; but she prudently waited until
morning, and recovered it again in safety.

"I consider myself more fully warranted in particularizing this fact,
from the circumstances of having been at Newcastle, at the time that
the woman was brought with her child, before the grand jury, for
examination; and of having seen several of the persons against whom
bills of indictment were found, on the charge of being engaged in the
perpetration of the outrage; and also that one or two of them were the
same who were accused of assisting in seizing and carrying off another
woman and child whom I discovered at Washington. A monster in human
shape, was detected in the city of Philadelphia, pursuing the occupation
of courting and marrying mulatto women, and selling them as slaves. In
his last attempt of this kind, the fact having come to the knowledge of
the African population of this city, a mob was immediately collected,
and he was only saved from being torn in atoms, by being deposited in
the city prison. They have lately invented a method of attaining their
object, through the instrumentality of the laws:--Having selected a
suitable free colored person, to make a _pitch_ upon, the kidnapper
employs a confederate, to ascertain the distinguishing marks of his
body; he then claims and obtains him as a slave, before a magistrate,
by describing those marks, and proving the truth of his assertions,
by his well-instructed accomplice.

"From the best information that I have had opportunities to collect,
in travelling by various routes through the States of Delaware and
Maryland, I am fully convinced that there are, at this time, within the
jurisdiction of the United States, several thousands of legally free
people of color, toiling under the yoke of involuntary servitude, and
transmitting the same fate to their posterity! If the probability of
this fact could be authenticated to the recognition of the Congress of
the United States, it is presumed that