oad. In fact he was approaching the climax of
his career when the Underground Railroad became an efficient agency in
offering relief to the large number of Negro slaves who found
themselves reduced to the plane of beasts in the rapidly growing
cotton kingdom. One of the striking cases in which he figured was that
of the escape of the Weims family, so well known for the almost
unparalleled deliverance from bondage of the entire family with one
exception.

Exactly how the freedom of these slaves was obtained appears to better
effect in the language of Ray himself. "But I must say a word about
the younger girl, the price of whom they held as high as we gave for
Catherine. We proposed another method for her freedom and carried it
out, in which the mother acted a good part, as she could; we proposed
to run her off. I was written to, to know whether a draft for three
hundred dollars would be forwarded, conditioned upon the appearance of
Ann Maria in my house or hands--the sum being appropriated to
compensate the one who should deliver her safely in the North. I
answered, of course, in the affirmative."[12]

The escape of Ann Maria, as proposed by this new plan, can best be
explained by the correspondence between Mr. Ray and Mr. Bigelow in
Washington, who, writing according to a method often adopted in those
days in order the more effectually to secure concealment, designates
Ann Maria as the parcel sent.[13] The letter reads thus:

"WASHINGTON, D. C., Nov. 17, 1855.

"REV. CHAS. B. RAY,

"_Dear Sir:_ I have a friend passing through the city on his way
to New York, and I mean to avail myself of his kindness to send
to your lady the little parcel she has been so long expecting.
You can name it to her, and I now suggest that as soon as you
find it convenient, you send me by express the wrapper and
covering in which the valuables are packed, for I have another
similar parcel to send and shall find these things exactly
convenient for that purpose. My friend intends to leave here on
Monday morning, with his own conveyance, taking it leisurely, and
may not reach New York before about Thursday, but of this I speak
more exactly before I close. I need not suggest to you how
anxious I shall be to get the earliest news of the arrival of the
package without breakage or injury."

Also he adds as follows: