e was to have received
forty-five dollars for restoring the slave to his master. Friend Hopper
told him if he would give an order upon Mr. Peacock for that amount, to
go toward buying the slave's freedom, he should be released from
confinement, on condition of leaving the city forthwith. He agreed to do
so, and the money was paid. But the slave was found to be in debt more
than his small house was worth, and the price for his ransom was so
exorbitantly high, that it was impossible to raise it. Under these
circumstances, Friend Hopper thought it right to return the forty-five
dollars to David Lea; but he declined receiving it. He would take only
three dollars, to defray his expenses home; and gave the following
written document concerning the remainder: "I request Isaac T. Hopper to
pay the money received from the order, which I gave him upon Nathan
Peacock, to the managers of the Pennsylvania Hospital, or to any other
charitable institution he may judge proper."

His
DAVID x LEA.
Mark.

He was discharged from prison, and the money paid to the Pennsylvania
Hospital. Next year, the following item was published in their accounts:
"Received of David Lea, a noted negro-catcher, by the hands of Isaac T.
Hopper, forty-two dollars; he having received forty-five dollars for
taking up a runaway slave, of which he afterward repented, and directed
the sum to be paid to the Pennsylvania Hospital, after deducting three
dollars to pay his expenses home."

The slave was carried back to the South, but escaped again. After
encountering many difficulties, he was at last bought for a sum so
small, that it was merely nominal; and he afterward lived in
Philadelphia unmolested.

WILLIAM BACHELOR.

It was a common thing for speculators in slaves to purchase runaways for
much less than their original value, and take the risk of not being able
to catch them. In the language of the trade, this was called buying them
running. In April, 1802, Joseph Ennells and Captain Frazer, of Maryland,
dealers in slaves, purchased a number in this way, and came to
Philadelphia in search of them. There they arrested, and claimed as
their property, William Bachelor, a free colored man, about sixty years
old. A colored man, whom the slave-dealers brought with them, swore
before a magistrate that William Bachelor once belonged to a gang of
slaves, of which he was overseer; that he had changed his name, but he
knew him perfectly well.