Enslavementto
freedom
People involved with the story of Pennsylvania's Underground Railroad network, including activists, freedom seekers, station masters, conductors, financiers, lawyers, slave hunters, abolitionists, anti-slavery and pro-slavery adherents, politicians, heroes, villains, and more.
Study Areas
Who's Who in Pennsylvania's Underground Railroad
Edward H. Rauch's Role as an Anti-Slavery "Spy"
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania saw large numbers of freedom seekers, African Americans escaping enslavement in Maryland and other southern states, due to its location as a border county. Fugitive slaves also entered Lancaster County from neighboring York, Adams and Chester counties. The friends of fugitive slaves were highly scattered and not numerous in the region, making the job of locating, caring for and guiding freedom seekers very challenging. Public sentiment was overwhelmingly unsympathetic to those who gave aid and comfort to fleeing slaves.
Organized slave-catching operations such as the one described by the eye-witnesses below were numerous, generally operated within legal parameters, and added considerably to the dangers faced not only by escaped slaves, but also by those caught providing aid to them. Sheriffs and constables in places such as Phildelelphia, York, Lancaster and Harrisburg generally cooperated with southern slaveholders and gangs of slave catchers, some in the interest of keeping the peace, and some in the name of profit.
Edward Rauch was a young clerk in 1845, working in the county prothonotary's office in Lancaster city courtesy of a relative. He was not an anti-slavery activist at the time, although his sentiments were, unlike most of his fellow citizens, decidedly on the side of the fleeing slave. A chance encounter with George Hughes, the Lancaster constable who was conducting an extensive side business in finding and returning fugitive slaves, thrust him suddenly into the center of the shadowy world of slave-catching, underground railroad agents, safe houses, questionable legal tactics and slave state versus free state rivalries that characterized the era.
Although Rauch was morally repulsed by Hughes' offer to pay him for helping Hughes capture a young fugitive slave, Rauch kept his feelings private, learned the details from Hughes, and then secretly went to Thaddeus Stevens' office, where he turned over the details of the impending raid on an Underground Railroad safe house to Stevens, who was a known abolitionist. Stevens forewarned the Underground Railroad stationmaster and the young freedom seeker was saved from capture. Rauch thought that was the end of his association with Hughes, but Stevens urged him to continue working with Hughes and secretly pass along all of the slave-catcher's plans. Rauch agreed and began a nearly two-year adventure of "spying" for Stevens, a service that he kept secret for thirty-five years.
Edward Rauch left Lancaster and began a careeer in newspaper publishing, only revealing details of his heroic past to a very few close and trusted friends, until the Lancaster Examiner published an original 1847 letter from Thaddeus Stevens to Judge Jeremiah Brown, an Underground Railroad stationmaster in Fulton Township. In the letter, Stevens warned Brown that he knew from a "spy" that a party of slave catcheres was about to descend upon his farm and he should immediately move the young freedom seekers being sheltered to a secure location. The newspaper editor posed a question to his readers: "Does anyone know who was the 'spy" that Mr. Stevens says he had?" That question was eventually answered by someone who know of Edward Rauch's exploits. Some weeks later, Rauch himself replied in print to verify the stories and provide all of the exciting details.
Text of the original newspaper articles are reproduced below. A warning to readers that the accounts of the writers, below, includes racially offensive language.
"Thaddeus Stevens's Allies," Text of Newspaper Article
THAD. STEVEN'S ALLIES.
SOME REMINISCENCES OF SLAVERY.
How Runaway Negroes Were Saved From Capture and Aided On Their Way to Canada.
[From the Lancaster (Penn.) Examiner.]
The following hitherto unpublished letter was written by Thaddeus Stevens to the Hon. Jeremiah Brown, of Fulton township:
Lancaster, Jan. 9, 1847.
Major Griest, among other comments on the above letter, says: "But for his timely information the Browns would probably have been taken by surprise, and the girls, who were living with them, recaptured. The declaration in this letter, 'these are the eighth set of slaves I have warned within a week,' shows how extensive must have been his knowledge and correspondence on that subject. The 'Whitson' he refers to must have been Thomas Whitson, who then lived in Bart township. Does anyone know who was the 'spy' that Mr. Stevens says he had on the 'spies of the slave-holders?' "
DEAR SIR: I learn that the man-stealers of this place have taken means to obtain authority from Maryland (which they soon expect) to arrest and take into slavery two colored girls who lately lived with you and your brother Slater -- Ellen Jackson and Emeline Raines. They are thought to be now with Whitson. It is said they belong to William C. Norris, Baltimore. Will you see that they have immediate notice to flee to a city of refuge?
They should not stop short of Candada. There is a regular chain of agents and spies of the slave-holders in this and all the adjoining counties. I have a spy on the spies, and thus ascertain these facts. All this, however, must be a secret, or we should lose all advantage which we now have. These are the eighth set of slaves I have warned within a week. I doubt not you will attend to the cause of human rights. Yours truly, THADDEUS STEVENS.
The Hon. Jeremiah Brown.
As to the last question, we think we can give some facts which will throw some light upon it. At the time mentioned in Stevens's letter, 1847, there lived in Lancaster a notorious slave-catcher named George Hughes; he came from Baltimore, and was at times elected a constable in Lancaster. He was the trusted agent of the Baltimore and Southern slave-catchers. He was brutal and illiterate, and had his correspondence done for him by others. He about this time had a room or sort of an "office" on East King street, somewhere between Lane's store and the Farmers' Bank. At the same time E. H. Rauch, still well remembered by our oldest citizens, and now the editor of the Mauch Chunk Democrat, kept the toll-gate on the Philadelphia turnpike, at the east end of Witmer's Bridge. He was a great friend of Mr. Stevens, hated slavery and slave-hunters, and was ready for any service that would aid the runaway slave to reach what Mr. Stevens called "a city of refuge." Rauch and Hughes became acquainted and intimate, either by accident or design, and Rauch became Hughes' confidential clerk, attended to his correspondence, and, of course, had a full knowledge of all the secrets between Hughes and the slave-catchers of Baltimore and other places South. Rauch, of course, concealed his opinions about slavery from Hughes, and apparently entered heartily into the plots, plans, and schemes for catching runaway slaves and sharing the handsome rewards offered by the slave-holders for their runaway chattels. After Hughes' death, Rauch, in speaking of this "business" venture with Hughes, said it was one that was not a success. They never were able to declare a "dividend" on the investment. Mr. Stevens's letter tells the whole story.
The following very interesting communication from Capt. E. H. Rauch substantially sustains us in our explanation of Mr. Stevens's letter to Judge Brown. The Captain has had his reward in living to see the sytem which made such a course as he pursued in his relations with Hughes justifiably wiped from the statutes of every State in the Union:
DEMOCRAT OFFICE,
MAUCH CHUNK, Oct. 29, 1883.
Editor of Examiner,
An unknown friend kindly forwarded me a copy of the last number of Major Griest's Inquirer, containing the Stevens-Brown letter of January 1847, in regard to two fugitive slave girls. The mail also brought our regular exchange Examiner of Saturday, containing the same letter and your editorial response as to the individual referred to by Mr. Stevens as "the spy on the slave-hunters's spies." Only a week or two ago, among some incidents that I related to a friend here, occurring in times when anti-slavery souls were put to some severe tests, was this identical one referred to in Stevens's letter. I distinctly remember the facts, except the names of the two girls, which are now reproduced. Your editorial referring to myself is substantially correct, mistaken only in regard to a few unimportant points. Your brief pen-picture of George Hughes, as far as it goes, is correct. His office was then situated on the southeast angle of Centre square, not on East King street, between Lane's store and the Farmers' Bank.
My relations of apparent intimacy with George Hughes commenced nearly or quite a year before I moved to Witmer's Bridge, and continued a little while afterward. During the following year (1848) Stevens became a candidate for Congress, for the first time, and I took a very active part in his favor, and was a delegate from East Lampeter when he was nominated on the third ballot by one majority over the Hon. A. Herr Smith. Of course, I could not take such part in the political struggle for Stevens and at the same time be publicly identified with George Hughes as his "confidential" friend, if not his actual confederate in the negro-catching and "man-stealing" business. Such dualism of character would have been rather incompatible.
Becoming intimate with Hughes was accidental. One day he met me on the street, and, not knowing my extreme repugnence to slavery, he invited me into his office, and then "confidentially" told me about a runaway slave boy somewhere down in the lower end of the county, with $150 reward, and asked me to do him the service of writing a letter to Zell, Ridgeley & Co., a police firm in Baltimore, who were engaged in the slave-hunting and negro-kidnapping business, proposing that in case of success I should share in the reward. My first impulse was to spit in his face, but, fortunately for the fate of a number of fugitives, I succeeded in suppressing my feelings, and I wrote the letter, he being a very poor writer, and really unfit to conduct a business correspondence. In less than an hour afterward Thaddeus Stevens was acquainted with the facts, and from that time, strange as it may seem, George Hughes, Thaddeus Stevens, and myself constituted a trio obtaining all the same facts as to movements, secrets, and doings of the slave hunters and their agents and spies operating along the southern border of Lancaster county. But as Hughes was in blissful ignorance of the fact that Stevens was a full member of the firm, and the he (Hughes) was really in the minority as to working results, the trio was what they would call a "cohoogie" over in Pike county.
Of course we had bad luck in that, my first effort. The papers came, Hughes went for the boy, but the latter had "skipped," and we lost $150 in cash! At that time there was no fugitive slave law, and the way they used to proceed was to trump up formal charges of larceny and have them arrested as "fugitives from justice," and get requisitions from the Governor to take them across Mason and Dixon's lines, and, once there, they were usually taken down into the Gulf States and sold.
A number of cases were disposed of the same way -- our "luck" was outrageously bad and profitless -- not even paying incidental expenses.
Mr. Stevens several times urged mt to "stick to Hughes." I told him I didn't much like the idea of being publicly familiar with George Hughes, but I continued. The case referred to in Stevens's letter to Brown was some months after the first one referred to. I regret that I have no memorandum to refresh my memory as to times, places and names. Among those I do remember was a fugitive boy working for Mr. Haines, at Marietta. I barely succeeded in saving him from capture.
Our most interesting case that I remember was this: On a Sunday afternoon Hughes sent for me to come to his office, and I went. There I found two Marylanders -- one named Dorsey -- who represented seven runaway darkies from that State, and the amount of reward offered for the lot was $1200. A man named Reese, if not two brothers by that name, assistants to Hughes, were there also. I was there simply to participate as "confidential" counselor. The man Dorsey told us how he got on the track of the fugitives. At York a yellow man betrayed them for $100, and told Dorsey how they were going across the Columbia bridge and through Lancaster to stay with one Gibbons, (meaning Dr. Joseph Gibbons,) six miles below Lancaster, during that same (Sunday) night. He also named one Whipper or Whipple, at Columbia, a colored man, as an "underground railroader." I have a faint recollection that Whipper had a freight car on the railroad, in which the fugitives were conveyed from Columbia to Bird-in-Hand, though I may be mistaken as to that. Our conference at Hughes's office agreed upon the plan. Hughes, one, if not both the Reeses, Dorsey and the other Marylander, all well armed, were going to start for Bird-in-Hand so as to get there after dark, surround the Gibbons premises, and capture the runaways. It was then nearly 5 o'clock. Time was short. What was to be done had to be done quickly. Of course I was very particular to guard against any indiscretion that might excite the least suspicion regarding myself. As soon as I could get away in safety I left, walked up East King to Duke, down Duke to Vine, down Vine to the alley between South Queen and Prince, and up the same to the rear of Stevens's residence. I found him somewhat suffering from rheumatism and gave hime the case. The servant promptly answered a call, and without any delay a man and horse headed rapidly down the "old road" for Bird-in-Hand. The "officers of justice and law" came also -- just about an hour or two late. The fugitives were safe on a special through express train on the "underground," and on their return to Lancaster that night there was much profanity.
Next day, in a lamentation conference with Hughes, I gave him to understand that I attributed our frequent failures to indescretion on his part -- inability to keep secrets, &c. This he emphatically denied, saying, "I'll be --- ------ if you aint the only man who knows what is going on." And yet he never suspected me of any such indiscretions!
During all this period the only men who knew the part I was performing in the slave-hunting business were Thaddeus Stevens, A. H. Hood, George Ford, the Rev. Robert Boston (colored), and I believe also Dr. Joseph Gibbons. The general sentiment of the community was then decidedly pro-slavery, and but a small number of Abolitionists were bold enough to avow their convictions publicly. Owing to this fact I was specially impressed with the importance of perfect secrecy. I believed I would have been in serious danger of my life had I been detected. I was then only 26 to 27 years of age, but quite old enough to know and severely feel that I was subjecting myself to much odium by my apparent intimacy with George Hughes, for although the general sentiment of the community was pro-slavery, Hughes was on all sides correctly regarded as a brutish, illiterate, and cowardly wretch.
One day in conversation with Mr. Hood I remarked, in response to some kind words he gave me for my feeble efforts on the side of humanity that it was extremely disagreeable to be subjected to general contempt for being an intimate friend and associate of George Hughes; that is was a severe sacrifice in every respect -- loss of time without compensation, loss of reputation, and effectually closing the door against any possible political aspiration. Mr. Hood replied: "Ed, stick to the good work. I fully appreciate all you say, but in such matters it may not always be a sacrifice. You are yet young, and it seems to me that even I may live to see a different state of things, when freedom will be our day of exultation. Why, I wouldn't be surprised if the day should come when you would yourself tell the story of your adventures with the negro catchers boastfully before the whole public." I could not then share in any such ideas and hopes as those expressed by Mr. Hood.
When I was appointed to take charge of Toll Collectorship to which you referred, Mr. Stevens happened to meet me at the old Lancaster Bank corner and asked me whether I was going to take the position, and I answered in the affirmative. He seemed to lament it, because he feared it would put a stop to my business with Hughes. And he intimated that if I needed pecuniary help to keep me in the city he would see to it that it should be forthcoming. I answered that it was only a mile out to Witmer's bridge, and that I thought I could continue to serve Hughes. But I soon found that I could not continue regularly in that service without neglecting my duties to the company who employed me.
Just now I recall another incident worth relating. I discovered that fact that Hughes had a negro spy in his employ, to go out, generally into the southern part of the county, and discover newcomers from Maryland and other localities of the South. For a little money this scoundrel used to bring in descriptions of such darkies, when Zell, Ridgely & Co., at Baltimore, were informed to enable them to get up charges of larceny and send on warrants for their arrest. I tried to find out this black traitor in indirect ways, as I did not deem it safe to manifest any special anxiety about it. This was the only secret that Hughes never confided to me -- whether on account of its supreme importance or whether it was because I never asked him, I cannot now say. Probably the latter. The colored people of Lancaster knew that there was such a traitor in their midst, and they were extremely anxious to find him out. A certain one was suspected, and I watched his movements as well as I could and I began to suspect him also. One day I was in Hughes's office, when Hughes stepped out, going, I think, to the Post Office. The suspected darkey was standing on the south side of the old Court-house, in Centre square. Hughes passed him several paces, and then, as if called, stepped back, talked to him a minute or two, and then pulled a piece of money from his pocket, gave it to him, and passed on. This incident, which I saw, strengthened by suspicion.
Soon afterward I found an opportunity to talk to the same darky and asked him whether Hughes was liberal and honorable enough to pay him for his valuable services. At first he was shy and hesitated, but on assuring him that I knew all about his manner of spotting darkies, he confided in me and told me minutely some of his adventures. He said Hughes always paid him his expenses, and "whenever we get 'em" he'd pay him from $5 to $10 more. "But," he continued, "dar's been mighty bad luck for some time," and "Hughes says he's short of money." Perfectly satisfied "beyond a reasonable doubt," that this was the man, I communicated the fact to an individual who, according to my judgment and conscientious conviction, should know it. I saw the same individual a day or two later, walking down Duke street, but after that I never saw him. What became of him I never knew nor wanted to know. Doubtless he was persuaded by some kind friend of his own race to quite the business of betraying man, women and children into the beastly clutches of George Hughes.
Although my memory fails me as to many details, for it is now over 35 years since the events referred to, I very distinctly remember the words of the late A. H. Hood, above quoted, and they seem to remind me now that the day of full vindication has come. Possibly some of the good old citizens of Lancaster may remember me as at one period of time the imtimate and "confidential" friend of George Hughes. If so, it can hardly be possible that they could have had that degree of confidence in and respect for me to which I feel that I am justly entitled. Should any such remain in the land of the living I am sure that Stevens's letter, the Inquirer's comments, your editorial and this hastily prepared narrative will win for myself an honorable acquittal in the minds of any who may have been influenced, as perhaps some were, to believe me capable, at any period of my life, of high treason against principles of true humanity. The vindication begotten by these publications is my reward in full, with compound interest, and I fondly hope and expect to carry the conscientious conviction to my grave that, though my life has been a very imperfect one, I never failed, to the best of my humble ability and judgment, to help the humble and lowly in their trials and struggles for liberty and happiness.
Yours truly, E. H. RAUCH.
Death Announcement for Edward H. Rauch
Edward H. Rauch died nineteen years after the above newspaper article detailed his anti-slavery accomplishments. The excerpt below is from a much longer obituary published shortly after his death. It recounts the story above, but adds additional engaging details. Note that the account below differs from the earlier one in an important detail: Rauch identifies the initial case with Hughes as the one with the two sisters that were staying with the Browns. That case, the subject of Thaddeus Stevens' 1847 letter to Jeremiah Brown, actually occurred more than a year later.
DEATH OF EDWARD H. RAUCH
Well-Known Journalist Expires at an Advanced Age.
LONG A RESIDENT OF LANCASTER
Took a Prominent Part in Our Local Politics When Thaddeus Stevens Was Coming to the Front, and Foiled Many Plans to Kidnap Negroes and Recapture Runaway Slaves.
Captain Edward Harry Rauch, the editor of the Mauch Chunk Daily News and Democrat, died at his home in that place on Monday, aged eighty-two years. Mr. Rauch was a resident of Lancaster for many years and was long identified with different papers here, becoming best known when, associated with Thos. B. Cochran, now one of the proprietors of "The Examiner," they published Father Abraham, in which the deceased's famous contributions appeared under the name of Pit Schweffelbrenner.
Mr. Rauch was a son of the late Christian H. Rauch, and was born at Warwick, this county, on July 19, 1820. He went to the Beck Academy at Lititz, six years, beginning at the age of eight years. At the age of fifteen he became an indented apprentice with Jacob Bear as a cabinetmaker.
During the exciting political campaign of 1840, although only twenty years of age, he became very active in support of "Old Tippecanoe," and even ventured on the stump.
In 1845, when is brother, Rudolph, was the prothonotary of the county, he appointed Mr. Rauch clerk in his office to fill a vacancy, in which he served to the end of his term.
Foiled Slave Catchers.
During his service as prothonotary's clerk he also drifted into the "underground railroad" service, in which he continued until his appointment to the collectorship. George Hughes, a notorious character, had an office located in the southeast angle of Centre Square and figured as an independent policeman, but suspected, if not positively known, as a runaway slave-hunter, correctly regarded as a very mean business, notwithstanding the then existing popular prejudice against the avowed anti-slavery minority. Whilst Hughes was well fitted by nature for such business, he was unable to do his own letter-writing, and an intelligent young man was frequently seen at his Centre Square office, and he doubtless acted as his clerk. The young man referred to became otherwise employed, and one day after office hours Hughes met Mr. Rauch on the street and invited him into his office, when he proposed that he should occasionally run his correspondence, principally with Zell, Ridgley & Cook, a slave-catching firm at Baltimore, reminding Mr. Rauch that that business, when successful, paid very well. Mr. Rauch had sufficient presence of mind to conceal his contempt for the proposition, and intimated willingness to accommodate him. Mr. Rauch described the subsequent events as follows: "He then wanted me to write a letter to the Baltimore firm requesting them to forward certain papers for the arrest of two girls in the lower end of the county, as 'fugitives from justice,' accusing them of stealing the clothing worn on their bodies. Before writing, by careful questioning to gratify my curiosity, I learned that the runaways were sisters, the one with the late Hon. Jeremiah Brown and the other with Slater Brown, Little Britain township. Then I wrote the letter as he wanted it. In less than half an hour later I was in the office of Thaddeus Stevens, and I gave him an account of the case. The Old Commoner manifested his surprise by remarking: 'And didn't the d--- s-- of a ----- know you better!' He commended me for it and suggested that I should play it on him again if I get a chance. After several days Hughes received the papers from Baltimore, and with an assistant named Reese started for Little Britain to arrest the 'thieves,' but as Old Thad. had promptly notified the Browns the girls were already at a safe distance on the line of the 'underground railroad.' Of course I joined Hughes, by outward lamentation, but inwardly I was very joyful."
During the period of his confidential relations with Hughes, a little more than a year, he had a number of such cases, some ten or twelve, but not a single one was captured.
A Traitor's Disappearance.
One day the late Rev. Robert Boston (colored), who also had a barber shop on North Queen street, and one of the very few special friends who were permitted to know the true inwardness of his familiarity with Hughes, informed him that a certain colored man, named Sam, was strongly suspected of being one of Hughes' pimps and a traitor to his race, and asked Mr. Rauch whether he might not be able to find out. He barely knew Sam by sight, and reminded Boston of the supreme importance on his part not to be detected or even suspected, yet, if able to find out as to Sam, without manifesting too much inquisitiveness, he would do so. Soon after that, late one afternoon, he was in Hughes' office, looking at a newspaper, and also looking out through the window. He saw Sam leaning back against the south wall of the old court house, and just then Hughes remarked that he was going to the post office, which was then in the southwest angle of the Square. When he came to where Sam as standing, he stopped, and evidently they had a talk, and he saw Hughes putting his hand into his pocket and evidently paid Sam some money. A few days later Mr. Rauch happened to see Sam on the street, and stopped for a talk with him, and intimated a desire to know whether he (Sam) got fairly paid for serving Hughes. He replied that Hughes owed him $12, and paid him $3 the other day, leaving $9 yet due, remarking that he has had much bad luck of late, but that "dat isn't my fault," he added. On the same evening Mr. Rauch reported progress to Mr. Boston at his barber shop, and he remarked that that "is just as I expected." Several days later Mr. Rauch happened to see Sam again on the street, but after that he never saw him, and never knew what became of him, and never wanted to know.
In the latter part of 1847 he was appointed toll collector at Witmer's Bridge, and that ended his service as an underground railroader.
After the expiration of his term he organized a stock company and started the Independent Whig, with him and Edward McPherson as editors, followed shortly after by the Inland Daily.
Editor's note: The newspapers mentioned in the last paragraph above functioned as the anti-slavery organs of the Whig party. Rauch quit in 1854 to move to Bethlehem, starting the Lehigh Valley Times.
Sources:
Reading Daily Times, 7 November 1883
Philadelphia Times, 7 May 1893
Lancaster Examiner, 10 September 1902