Douglass's Secret Escape

Dear Diary,

Today was indeed a momentous day. I have finally succeded in gaining permanant status as a freedman. I promise you though that in all respects it was nowhere near an easy feat. To begin with I needed to ascertain a few facts and fulfill certain conditions. First I had to procure a suitable escape route that would not raise suspicion and make it so i would travel undetected as a slave. I quickly came to the conclusion that it would not be possible to accomplish these goals without an extra hand, an accomplice. During my stay here working as a ship caulker I befreinded a fellow slave who's master made an abundance of money but did not want to share with his subordinate. Neither food nor money would be shared and offered to the slave. I knew more often than not my freind would go terribly hungry, so day after day I saved as little coin as I could so that one day I would offer him a deal. I would give him enough money to afford an entire month's worth of nourishment for his flesh. In return I only requsted that on the day he has off to go to my place of employment and fuflill my work in my stead, to raise hand against any who would deliver him nuisance, and to procure clothing for me from his master's closet. . To him this was but a grand oppurtunity to ease his stomach of the ailment of pain it is forced to endure. The conditions I set upon him were feeble compared to his hunger so ever so readily he agreed to my proposal.

The train would be my key to liberation. I put on the pants, shoes, and tunic provided to me by my accomplice. Although I was clothed a freedman I still was not in truth. I met him bright and early in the morning and reminded him of the prerequisite before I gave him his soon to be earned sallary. After this meeting I went on my to the train. In my disguise not a single person, neither white nor colored stopped me for questioning, this fact ascertained my safe voyage. I gave the train conducter my pass of transit for travel between states, and in a few hours I would be a free man.

I later learned what had become of my accomplice. He went to my workplace just as we agreed. He began to work but found his newfound employment to difficult to handle and soon succumbed to fatigue. After only a few short moments of rest a nearby white man asked him why he was resting and started to present him with a nuisance. Remembering full well our arrangement he raised his hand against him. Pretty soon he was taken to the local prison. I was to be arrested for fighting my white co-worker. It did not take long for them to realize that the man they imprisoned and the man they were to arrest were not the same. Since he was a slave he was to be returned to his master, saved from the iron bars. In the end the white men who worked in the shipyard were distracted by the fight that "I" created and all too late did they realize i was not present the entire day. The man I payed gained a plentiful bounty for his assisstance but I was the one who obtained true treasury. For I was moments away from the fruits of my hope and despair. There in the not so distant future lied my freedom.