There was a legal course that had to be gone through with.  A lawyer, Fox by name, furnished the $75.00 for the men who had caught me.  That part of the case being settled, Fox and the engineer started for Evansville, Ind., that same night.  Upon arriving there, Fox received from the captain of the boat the money he had advanced to the men who caught me; and we went on, arriving at Louisville, Ky., the next day.  I was then taken again before a magistrate, by the captain, when the following statement was read by that official: 

“Captain Montgomery brought forth a boy, and said he is the property of Edmund McGee, of Memphis, Tenn.  Come forth owner, and prove property, for after the boy shall remain in jail six months he shall be sold to pay jail feed.”

Mr. McGee was informed of my whereabouts, and it was not long before he and his cousin came to get me.  When they came, I was called up by the nickname they had given me, “Memphis.”  “Come out here, ‘Memphis,’” said the turnkey, “your master has come for you.”  I went down stairs to the office, and found Boss waiting for me.  “Hello, Lou!” said he, “what are you doing here, you dog?” I was so frightened I said nothing.  Of course, some few words were passed between him and the officers.  I heard him say that I was a smart fellow, and he could not tell why I had run away; that he had always treated me well.  This was to impress the officers with the idea that he was not unkind to his slaves.  The slave-holders all hated to be classed as bad taskmasters.  Yet nearly all of them were.  The clothes I wore were jail property, and he could not take me away in them; so we started to go up town to get others.  As we passed out the jailer, Buckhanon, said:  “Ain’t you going to put hand-cuffs on him?” “Oh, no!” said Boss.  After I was taken to the store and fitted with a new suit of clothes, he brought me back to the jail, where I washed myself and put on the new garments.  When all was complete, and I seemed to suit master’s fastidious eye, he took me to the Gault House, where he was stopping.  In the evening we started for home, and reached Memphis the following day.  Boss did not flog me, as I expected, but sent me to my regular routine work.  We had been in this new home so short a time he did not want it to be rumored that he whipped his slaves, he was so stylish and rich.  But the madam was filled with rage, although she did not say much.  I think they saw that I was no longer a child—­they feared I would go again.  But after I had been home some three or four weeks, Madam Sarah commenced her old tricks—­attempting to whip me, box my jaws and pinch me.  If any little thing was not pleasing to her at meal time, it was a special delight for her to reach out, when I drew near to her to pass something, and give me a blow with her hand.  Truly it was a monstrous domestic institution that not only tolerated, but fostered, such an exhibition of table manners by a would-be fine lady—­such vulgar spite and cruelty!