About the Underground Railroad

Life as a fugitive slave:

            Some slave owners allowed slaves to escape for enough time to visit family members or steal a pig!  The slave owners believed if the slaves came back to work again they could be rewarded. The owner would  give the slave who returned a job he or she would enjoy more.  This way, slaves would be more likely to stay on  the plantation. 
        When running away to freedom, slaves traveled at night to keep from being seen.  If slaves were lucky, they would be able to find local merchants or townspeople to give them uniforms to camouflage them to make them seem like they were free to other townspeople.   Slaves that left the plantation would  write coded messages back to slaves that were working on the plantation.  If decoded correctly, these messages would determine good “stations” and  paths to travel toward freedom.  Often the "conductors" allowed slaves  to stay in his or her house, which was considered a "station." Thomas Garrett helped by giving fugitive slaves money and a place to stay.  Fugitive slaves lived in constant fear that they would be caught and placed back into slavery.

Life as a slave catcher:

            Slave catchers believed that slaves were a beneficial aspect for the southern economy.  Slave catchers often were paid a lot of money if they sent fugitive slaves back to the plantation.  They searched all night using dogs because of their keen sense of smell.  Slave catchers had to be detectives and find any clues that could have helped them find the fugitive slaves.  Often, slave catchers traveled on horses and by foot to find slaves quickly.  Slave catchers used rumors of the townspeople as clues to find the whereabouts of the slaves.

Signs like these often were posted by slave catchers and plantation owners attempting to find slaves that had escaped.  http://maap.columbia.edu/content/places/the_theodore_wright_house/images/274/MAAP_TheodoreWright_Then_274.jpg