The real Samuel Curtis, who sold him the certificate of freedom, was dead; and since he could no longer be endangered by a statement of particulars, the spurious Samuel related the whole story of his escape, and of his subsequent struggles; concluding the whole by expressing an earnest wish to find his children.

Mr. Spear had sold them, some years before, to a man in South Carolina; and thither the father went in search of them.  On arriving at the designated place, he found they had been sold into Georgia.  He went to Georgia, and was told they had been sold to a man in Tennessee.  He followed them into Tennessee, but there he lost all track of them.  After the most patient and diligent search, he was compelled to return home without further tidings of them.

As soon as he arrived in Philadelphia, he went to Isaac T. Hopper to tell how the cherished plan of his life had been frustrated.  He seemed greatly dejected, and wept bitterly.  “I have deprived myself of almost every comfort,” said he; “that I might save money to buy my poor children.  But now they are not to be found, and my money gives me no satisfaction.  The only consolation I have is the hope that they are all dead.”

The bereaved old man never afterward seemed to take comfort in anything.  He sunk, into a settled melancholy, and did not long survive his disappointment.

SLAVEHOLDERS MOLLIFIED.

In the winter of 1808, several Virginia planters went to Philadelphia to search for eleven slaves, who had absconded.  Most of these colored people had been there several years, and some of them had acquired a little property.  Their masters had ascertained where they lived, and one evening, when they returned from their accustomed labors, unconscious of danger impending over them, they were pounced upon suddenly and conveyed to prison.  It was late at night when this took place, and Friend Hopper did not hear of it till the next morning.

He had risen very early, according to his usual custom, and upon opening his front door he found a letter slipped under it, addressed to him.  This anonymous epistle informed him that eleven slaves had been arrested, and were to be tried before Alderman Douglass that morning; that the owners were gentlemen of wealth and high standing, and could produce the most satisfactory evidence that the persons arrested were their slaves; consequently Friend Hopper’s attendance could be of no possible benefit to them.  It went on to say that the magistrate understood his business, and could do justice without his assistance; but if, notwithstanding this warning, he did attend at the magistrate’s office, for the purpose of wresting from these gentlemen their property, his house would be burned while himself and family were asleep in it, and his life would certainly be taken.  The writer invoked the most awful imprecations upon himself if he did not carry these threats into execution.