it was decided that Jack should join a family of Coffins who
were moving to Indiana.

At the same time a negro by the name of Sam had for several months been
abiding in the Quaker neighborhood. He belonged to a Mr. Osborne, a
prototype of Simon Legree, who was so notoriously cruel that other
slave-owners assisted in protecting his victims. After the Coffins, with
Jack, had been on the road for a few days, Osborne learned that a negro
was with them and, feeling sure that it was his Sam, he started in hot
haste after them. This becoming known to the Friends, young Levi Coffin
was sent after Osborne to forestall disaster. The descriptions given of
Jack and Sam were practically identical and it was surmised that when
Osborne should overtake the party and discover his mistake, he would
seize Jack for the sake of the offered reward. Coffin soon came up with
Osborne and decided to ride with him for a time to learn his plans.
In the course of their conversation, it was finally agreed that Coffin
should assist in the recovery of Sam. Osborne was also generous and
insisted that if it proved to be the other "nigger" who was with the
company, Coffin should have half the reward. How the young Quaker
outwitted the tyrant, gained his point, sent Jack on his way to liberty,
and at the same time retained the confidence of Osborne so that upon
their return home he was definitely engaged to assist Osborne in finding
Sam, is a fascinating story. The abolitionist won from the slaveholder
the doubtful compliment that "there was not a man in that neighborhood
worth a d--n to help him hunt his negro except young Levi Coffin."

Sam was perfectly safe so long as Levi Coffin was guide for the
hunting-party, but matters were becoming desperate. For the fugitive
something had to be done. Another family was planning to move to
Indiana, and in their wagon Sam was to be concealed and thus conveyed to
a free State. The business had now become serious. The laws of the State
affixed the death penalty for stealing a slave. At night when young
Coffin and his father, with Sam, were on their way to complete
arrangements for the departure, horsemen appeared in the road near by.
They had only time to throw themselves flat on the ground behind a
log. From the conversation overheard, they were assured that they had
narrowly escaped the night-riders on the lookout for stray negroes. The
next year, 1822, Coffin himself joined a party going to Indiana by the
south