say the word, and I will bring Robert back.”  Aunt said:  “Go, John, go!” So John ran to Joseph Rakestraw’s and got a gun (without any lock), and ran across the fields, with Tom after him, and headed the party.  The men all ran except Haines, who kept Robert between himself and John, so that John should not shoot him.  But John called out to Robert to drop off that horse, or he would shoot him.  This Robert did, and John and Tom brought him back in triumph.  My aunt said:  “John, thee is a good fellow, thee has done well.”  Robert was taken to Jesse Gilbert’s barn, and Dr. Dingee fixed his knee.  As soon as he was able to travel, he took a “bee-line” for the North star.

My life with my uncle and aunt made me an abolitionist.  I left them in the winter of 1824, and came to Salem, Ohio, where I kept a small station on the Underground Rail Road, until the United States government took my work away.  I have helped over two hundred fugitives on their way to Canada.

    Respectfully,

    DANIEL BONSALL,

    Salem, Columbiana county, Ohio.”

One day, in the winter of 1822, Thomas Johnson, a colored man, living with Daniel Gibbons, went out early in the morning, to set traps for muskrats.  While he was gone, a slave-holder came to the house and inquired for his slave.  Daniel Gibbons said:  “There is no slave here of that name.”  The man replied:  “I know he is here.  The man we’re after, is a miserable, worthless, thieving scoundrel.”  “Oh! very well, then,” said the good Quaker, “if that’s the kind of man thee’s after, then I know he is not here.  We have a colored man here, but he is not that kind of a man.”  The slaveholder waited awhile, the man not making his appearance, then said:  “Well, now, Mr. Gibbons, when you see that man next, tell him that we were here, and if he will come home, we will take good care of him, and be kind to him.”  “Very well,” said Daniel, “I will tell him what thee says, but say to him at the same time, that he is a very great fool, if he does as thee requests.”  The colored man sought, having caught sight of the slaveholders, and knowing who they were, went off that night, under Daniel Gibbons’ directions, and was never seen by his master again.  Afterward, Daniel and his nephew, William Gibbons, went with this man to Adams county.  With his master came the master of Mary, a girl with straight hair, and nearly white, who lived with Daniel Gibbons and his wife.  Poor Mary was unfortunate.  Her master caught her, and took her back with him into Slavery.  She and a little girl, who was taken away about the year 1830, were the only ones ever taken back from the house of Daniel Gibbons.