Title:  The Narrative of William W. Brown, a Fugitive Slave

Author:  William Wells Brown

Release Date:  February 21, 2005 [EBook #15132]

Language:  English

Character set encoding:  ASCII

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NARRATIVE

OF

William W. Brown,

A

Fugitive slave.

Written by himself.

    —­Is there not some chosen curse,
    Some hidden thunder in the stores of heaven,
    Red with uncommon wrath, to blast the man
    Who gains his fortune from the blood of souls?

Cowper.

BOSTON: 

Published at the anti-slavery office,

No. 25 CORNHILL.

1847.

[Illustration:  William W. Brown.]

TO WELLS BROWN, OF OHIO.

Thirteen years ago, I came to your door, a weary fugitive from chains and stripes.  I was a stranger, and you took me in.  I was hungry, and you fed me.  Naked was I, and you clothed me.  Even a name by which to be known among men, slavery had denied me.  You bestowed upon me your own.  Base indeed should I be, if I ever forget what I owe to you, or do anything to disgrace that honored name!

As a slight testimony of my gratitude to my earliest benefactor, I take the liberty to inscribe to you this little Narrative of the sufferings from which I was fleeing when you had compassion upon me.  In the multitude that you have succored, it is very possible that you may not remember me; but until I forget God and myself, I can never forget you.

Your grateful friend,

William Wells Brown.

LETTER FROM

Edmund Quincy, ESQ.

DEDHAM, JULY 1, 1847.

To William W. Brown.

My dear friend:—­I heartily thank you for the privilege of reading the manuscript of your Narrative.  I have read it with deep interest and strong emotion.  I am much mistaken if it be not greatly successful and eminently useful.  It presents a different phase of the infernal slave-system from that portrayed in the admirable story of Mr. Douglass, and gives us a glimpse of its hideous cruelties in other portions of its domain.