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February 1785: Jack and David Got Away Again on Their Way Back to Virginia
Ten Pounds Reward.
RAN AWAY, from John M'Dougal, near Reading, Pennsylvania, then on their way from Easton gaol, two Negro Fellows, the property of the subscriber, living in Augusta county, state of Virginia, viz.
JACK, 25 years of age, 5 feet 10 inches high, of a yellow complexion, marked with the small-pox, and one toe on each foot rides the other.
DAVID, 22 years of age, 5 feet 6 or 7 inches high, of a yellow complexion; he was born in Jersey, and has been the property of John Logan, now living in Jersey:
It is expected they will change their names and pass for freemen. Any person securing said Negroes, so that their master may get them again, shall have the above reward, and if brought home, reasonable charges paid by the subscriber, at Mossy-Creek iron works.
HENRY MILLER.
February 4, 1785.
Notes
Virginian Henry Miller's advertisement has a back story that begins in the spring of 1784. About June of that year, Jack and David were "persuaded" to leave Miller's estate by two white men, Contstantine McMahone and Daniel Leacock. The enslaved men went north with McMahone and Leacock, eventually ending up in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, where McMahone and Leacock attempted to sell them. Somehow, Jack and David, who by then was using the alias Ben, ended up in the county jail in Easton. Whether they escaped from McMahone and Leacock after they discovered the men were attempting to sell them or authorities in the county seized the men from the slave sellers, since the sale of enslaved persons from out of state was illegal, is not clear. Jailer Peter Ealer advertised their imprisonment, along with that of a bound Irish man named John McCape, as follows:
Easton, in Northampton county, July 31, 1784.
Henry Miller saw Ealer's advertisement or was informed that his missing men were in Easton, and arranged with slave catcher John McDougal to bring the men back to his iron works in Virginia that fall. McDougal had them in his possession as far as Reading, Pennsylvania, when, they escaped. Miller's advertisement in October 1784 gives more details:
WAS committed to the goal of this county, the following persons, viz. a certain JOHN M'CAPE, alias KNOWLES. He is about 24 years of age, 5 feet 3 inches high, and black hair, says he came from Ireland last May, was a year in the ship Three Friends, commanded by Captain Watson, and run away from the ship at Philadelphia with four others; says he came lately from York-Town, and worked there with on John Cook, a blue dyer.
Also two Negroe Men; the one calls himself JACK, about 24 years of age, 5 feet 10 inches high, marked with the small-pox; the other calls himself BEN, about the same age, and about 5 feet 7 inches high, and of a yellow complexion:
Both say that they belong to Henry Miller, of Rockingham county, in New-Virginia, who owns a furnace, forge, grist mill and saw-mill there. They were brought to these parts by a certain Constantine M'Mahone and Daniel Leacock, who offered them for sale. The Negroes also say that they left their master on a Saturday evening, about four or five weeks ago, by the persuasion of the said M'Mahone and Leacock. Ben says he formerly lived in Jersey, and was taken to New Virginia by one Mr. Logan, and hired or sold to the said Henry Miller. The masters of the said M'Cape and Negroes, if any they have, are desired to come within six weeks from this date, pay charges, and take them away, otherwise they will be discharged on paying their fees.
PETER EALER, Goaler.Eleven Pounds Reward.
Miller's advertisement was published through November 6, 1784. It seems that he had no success the remainder of the year and into the early part of 1785 in recovering Jack and David, a.k.a. Ben, as his subsequent advertisements in February 1785 renewed his desire to find them. Those later ads were published through mid-March 1785. By that time, the men had been at large from near Reading for more than six months. Miller had regular problems with bound workers, both white and black, escaping from his various mills, and he placed other ads for other escapes, but it is not known if Miller ever recovered Jack and David.
RUN-AWAY from the subscriber early in the spring, two Negro men, viz. JACK, about 5 feet 10 inches high, marked with the small-pox, 24 years of age: DAVID, 20 years of age, of a yellow complexion, 5 feet 7 inches high. The above negroes were confined in Easton Gaol, and made their escape on their way home near Reading. They had collars on by which they were chained together. Three Pounds Reward will be given for each, and reasonable charges, if secured in any gaol, so that they may be had again.
Also, FRANK, run from Fredericksburgh, in Virginia, in June last; he formerly belonged to Mr. How of that place; 26 years of age, 5 feet 10 inches high, a reward of Five Pounds will be given for securing him in any gaol.
HENRY MILLER,
Augusta County, Virginia,
Mossey Creek Iron-Works.
October 23, 1784.
A similar incident occurred five years earlier, in May 1780, when enslaved men Dick and Tom escaped from a slave catcher who was taking them from the jail in Easton back to Virginia. Like the men in this story, Dick and Tom also got away from the slave catcher near Reading, Pennsylvania. Read the story here.
It is worth pondering whether there were people in or around Reading, Pennsylvania who aided escaped slaves as early as 1780. These two incidents are remarkably similar. In addition, Henry Miller's October 1784 advertisement reveals that Jack and David wore iron collars and were chained together at the neck. Removing those chains would have been extremely difficult without outside help.
Henry Miller, 1735-1796, established the Mossy Creek Iron Works in 1775 along with ironmaster Mark Bird of Berks County. Bird sold his share of the iron works, which included the furnace, a forge and iron mills, to Miller in 1779. The Mossy Creek Works produced pig iron and finished iron work, cannons and cannonballs for the revolutionary war, and was an important industry in western Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. For a later advertisement in which Henry Miller advertised for several escaped Black workers, see The Virginia Gazette, 09 July 1785.
Sources
The Pennsylvania Gazette, 11 August 1784.
The Independent Gazetteer (Philadelphia), 23 October, 06 November 1784, 26 February 1785.
Virginia Department of Historic Resources, "Henry Miller House, Augusta County," online at https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/historic-registers/007-0070/, accessed 18 August 2026.
The Historical Marker Database, "Mossy Creek," online at https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=1841, accessed 18 August 2026.
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