Martha and the Slave Catchers

by Harriet Hyman Alonso

  “So, what next?” asked Martha’s papa.

  Adam Burke paused. He looked at Martha as if he was very, very carefully considering his next words.

  “I’ve heard from our contacts in Philadelphia who see Moses on a regular basis.”

  “Moses?” Martha asked.

  “The slaves’ secret name for Harriet Tubman,” Adam Burke explained. “She said that she’s willing to rescue Jake. She just needs a bit of time to make the arrangements.”

  “Perhaps,” said Martha, “the slave woman Lucy can help her.”

  “At this point, we don’t know.”

  Martha sat biting her lip. She knew what she wanted to say, needed to say, and she trembled at the thought of it.

  “I want to go too,” she stammered, “and bring Jake back.”

  Her mama immediately came out of her stupor. Martha was surprised that she had actually heard and comprehended the conversation. “That is impossible, Martha. Thee is too young and the trip is too arduous and too dangerous. I am sure that Mrs. Tubman would not agree to take thee with her.”

  Martha held her ground. “I’m almost fourteen. I’ve been reading all the newspapers and all about Maryland, and I’m certain I could get there on my own. I could meet Moses there. Mama, we raised Jake not to go with strangers. And after being kidnapped, don’t you think he’d be even more frightened if someone else he didn’t know tried to take him? Maybe he’d even fight them off.” To seal her case, she added, “Also, you know he’ll most likely be loudmouthed and difficult and confused and scared. But you know that once he sees me, he’ll come willingly.”

  “No, Martha,” her mama half sobbed. “Thee cannot go. I shall not risk losing thee as well as Jake.”

  “You won’t, Mama. I’ll be most careful.”

  Martha was persistent. She just had to show her parents the benefits of her plan.

  “Look, Mama, I can go on a ship all the way from New London to Baltimore. Then I can hire a smaller boat to take me to LaGrange. See?” She took out a map she had in her pocket. “It’s not really that far. And Pennsylvania is right there, right across the border. And there’re many abolitionists there. I’m sure they’ll be waiting for us with open arms. It’s not like going to the far South, like to Mississippi or Alabama or something.”

  Her mama just shook her head at her.

  “But, listen, Mama. It’ll be easy. I can find Jake through this Mrs. Perry and Lucy, talk to him, and then simply walk away with him. Then Mrs. Tubman can lead us by the Underground Railroad to Pennsylvania.”

  Her papa exploded. “Are you in your right mind? First, you are too young and inexperienced to go on your own. You’ve rarely been beyond Liberty Falls and never by yourself. Second, you’re a girl. People will expect you to have a chaperone. If you don’t, they’ll find you suspicious. Third, it’s far too precarious. So, no. I say no.”

  “Papa. Perhaps the Vigilance Committee can find me a chaperone to Baltimore. Once I get there, I can pretend I’m just a local girl going to visit an aunt. Is Mrs. Perry white or black, Mr. Burke?”

  “She’s black, Martha, but that’s beside the point. I don’t think thy idea is very realistic. Remember, Robert Dawes and both of his henchmen know what thee looks like. They’ll recognize thee immediately.”

  “I could use some herb dyes to color my hair. Or I could wear a big bonnet that hides my face.”

  “Mahthah,” her papa almost shouted. “Wake up. This is not like one of the stories you’ve read. This is real life.”

  While he spoke, her mama became more agitated. Her cheeks were flushed bright pink and her eyes full of tears. Finally, words spilled out of her mouth.

  “Martha, listen to us. It is too dangerous. Look at thy skin. It is tannish, and maybe someone will mistake thee for an Afric person.”

  Martha examined her arm and then saw her father cough and swipe his big checkered hanky across his eyes. She was startled, never having known her father to cry. Or to give her mama a hard look as he was doing now. Her mama promptly burst into uncontrollable tears.

  “What’s happening?” Martha cried out. “Why is my skin so important that you’re both having fits of emotion? You’ve always said Jake and I have the same skin color and that’s why people don’t question his race. What’s so different now?”

  As she looked around wildly trying to figure out why they were so vexed, she felt her papa’s strong arms encircle her as he kneeled down next to the stool she was perched upon. Slowly, she calmed down.

  “It’s time we told her, Sarah,” he said while her mama simply nodded her head. Martha saw Adam Burke get up as if to leave.

  “Stay, Adam. You know most of this anyway,” her papa said. Adam Burke sat back down. Martha then learned another stunning secret that her parents had held for more than thirteen years.

  “You see, Mahthah,” her papa began in a voice so soft she had to strain to hear him, “your mama and I, well, for some reason we were never able to have a child.”

  “But you had me!!!” she responded.

  “Shhhhh. Let me speak and then you can ask me whatever you want to know.”

  “Yes, Papa.”

  “Like I said, we tried hard for ten years to create a child, but fate was not on our side. Then one day, your mama went out to get the basket from the outside shed to gather eggs and there you were, a tiny newborn infant fast asleep.”

  “You’re lying,” she said. “This family always lies.”

  “No, I’m not. We should have told you long ago. But with Jake here . . . well, it became most complicated.”

  “So, who am I then?”

  “You are Mahthah, our daughter.”

  “No. I mean, who am I?”

  Her papa bit his lip, gave her a squeeze, took her hand, and said, “We don’t know. When we found you, you were wrapped in a blanket that looked like it might have been made by one of the wandering Indians who sometimes come through the town poor and alone. We heard there was a young girl with child seen with a traveling peddler, one of those Southern European types or maybe a fugitive slave, but they were long gone. Your mama and I, we saw you as a gift from Heaven, and we claimed you as our own, just as we did Jake.”

  Martha was stunned. This made no sense, and yet it made perfect sense. She and Jake, both orphans. She looked again at her skin and then at her black plaits, which hung down from both sides of her head, and then at her mama’s blonde hair and her papa’s blue eyes.

  “Why didn’t anyone in town ever say anything? Everybody is always telling gossip.”

  “Because within a short time, everyone just put it out of their thoughts. Like with Jake. Eventually, they just forgot about it. And your mama and I were going to tell you when we thought you were mature enough to know. I guess we just didn’t want that time to ever come. You see, for us, you are and always have been ours, connected by our hearts and souls.”

  Martha’s mind was rushing. Thoughts flew in and out as she tried to comprehend the meaning of this huge revelation. “So, I’m just like Jake? Actually, worse? I’m a foundling?”

  “Yes, a foundling. But not worse. Why would you think that?”

  “Because you know who his parents are, but not mine. And my real mama might be an Indian and my papa colored of some kind?”

  “Mahthah, understand this. We are your mama and papa, not anyone else. Although we’re not sure of where you came from, it’s no matter to us.”

  “But it is to me, and to who I am now in this world. Tell me what you know.”

  “We don’t know who your mother or father were, and we have no way of finding out.”

  For several minutes, no one said anything. Martha’s papa kept hold of her hand. Her mama stopped crying, knelt next to her, and held her other hand. Martha, meanwhile, stared into space, trying to absorb what she had just heard.

  After several moments, Adam Burke said in a low, quiet voice, “I know this is a huge discovery for thee to take in, Martha. But, if we can return to the questio
n of Jake for just a moment, I’d like to say that I think Martha has just cause to want to help her brother. I can understand thy fears, but, on the other hand, I think we can come up with a good plan to ensure her safety. The way she looks might actually help in the rescue, as she can be taken for white or black. And it does seem true that Jake might resist going with people he doesn’t know. Martha has always been such a responsible girl. Sometimes I think she is much more mature than many girls her age.”

  “I cannot accept this,” Martha’s mama said as she slowly rose from her knees and left the room. Her papa looked after her with great concern, but he remained where he was.

  “I should be the one to go, not Mahthah,” he said.

  “But, Papa,” she insisted, “you can’t leave Mama alone. She needs you. And this is the busiest time of the year for your woodshop. Caleb can’t handle that for you.”

  “I’m very fearful of the outcome, Mahthah,” he replied. “I love you dearly, as does your mama. And we both love Jake equally. So this is an almost impossible decision for me. I couldn’t bear it if I lost you, too.”

  “You won’t lose me, Papa. I’ll be very careful.”

  “I need to think about it. Adam,” he added, “I’ll get back to you when I decide what to do.”

  “Time is the one thing we don’t have, Micah,” Adam Burke said. “Mrs. Tubman is planning a rescue real soon, and after that, who knows when she’ll go to Maryland again.”

  “Papa,” Martha pleaded, “please. I need to help Jake.”

  Minutes that seemed like hours passed before Martha’s father spoke again.

  “Well, if Adam here thinks you might be essential to the rescue, even though I may live to regret it, I’ll support your desire to go, especially since I can’t. But, Adam, I need to know my Mahthah will be safe. You must promise me she will always be with an adult.”

  “I promise,” Adam Burke replied.

  “And she’ll be kept away from Dawes and his men at all cost.”

  “Of course.”

  “And that Harriet Tubman herself will guide her and Jake home safely.”

  “Yes. Absolutely.”

  “And, Mahthah, promise me, you’ll be mindful of everything Mr. Burke says and that you and Jake will both come home to us, your parents.”

  “I promise, Papa.”

  “Then I suppose I give my consent.”

  He hugged Martha tightly. “But I will not rest easy until you are home again.”

  Adam Burke rose from his chair. “I’ll take my leave then, but I’ll return soon. I’ll pray for thee, all of thee.”

  After he left, Martha’s papa went in search of her mama. Martha herself was too self-conscious of her new identity to rush to reveal it to Caleb, so she said nothing. But a few days later when Becky came by to knit, she thought she would see what would happen if she shared her secret. After all, weren’t secrets by their very nature meant to be shared with a special few? Hadn’t she seen the results of keeping everything to oneself?

  “Becky,” she said, “have you ever wondered what it’d be like to be someone else?”

  Becky looked up in between stitches. “Like who?”

  “I dunno. Like maybe an Italian or an Indian.”

  “What an amusing thought, Martha! I’ve heard that Eye-talians are infidels. They’re Catholic, you know. Not Protestant, like us. And my mama and papa say that’s bad. And we all know that Indians are uncivilized, so I don’t think I’d want to be either of them.”

  Martha gulped at Becky’s intolerance, but she continued anyway.

  “How about being colored?”

  Becky put her needles down. “Oh, no. I wouldn’t like that at all. No one here would want to marry me. I think I like being just like I am. White. And Unitarian.”

  Martha squirmed in her seat and busied herself with the stitch she had dropped during her questioning. Maybe this was not the best time to tell Becky the truth about herself. She worried about what would happen to their friendship once the news of her parentage came out. And how Caleb would react, too.

  Meanwhile, Adam Burke led the effort in hatching a plan that would protect Martha as best as anyone could but also rescue Jake. After several weeks, he arrived at the house to present the final details.

  “This was not easy to arrange, Martha, so I pray it’s successful. Many people are reluctant to include thee in Jake’s rescue. Thee is so young and innocent of the world. But we have one chance to rescue Jake, and thee may very well be the key to our success.”

  “It’ll work, Mr. Burke. I’m sure of it,” Martha responded.

  “Okay. This is the plan,” he said. “Martha, thee’ll travel south with Charles Murdoch, a member of the Philadelphia Anti-Slavery Society, who is visiting family up in Worcester. He’ll stop here on his way home to pick thee up. Thee’ll travel in a variety of private conveyances to reach Philadelphia.”

  “Like what?” asked Martha.

  “Well,” Adam Burke responded, “a carriage to New London, then a sailing ship to New York and another to New Jersey, then another carriage to Philadelphia. From there, a Maryland abolitionist couple, Samuel and Caroline Smith, will accompany thee to Dorchester County via a small boat and yet another carriage. When thee arrives, thee’ll be lodged with Lorraine Perry. Mrs. Perry and Harriet Tubman will figure out a way for thee to meet Jake, but thee will do so in their company. Thee will then head home with Mrs. Tubman through the Underground Railroad. I hope this is not too arduous for thee.”

  “Oh, no, Mr. Burke. It’s all just fine,” Martha responded.

  In fact, she was feeling more excited by the minute. The adventure and danger were surprisingly appealing to her, she who had always been so shy. If the people of Liberty Falls admired her for having sheltered Jake for all these years, imagine how they would praise her when she brought him home!

  Adam Burke interrupted her reverie and assured Martha’s mama and papa, “Moses already has made a scheme to bring a few of her family members to freedom, and Martha and Jake will become part of that group.” He added to Martha, “But this is truly dangerous business, Martha. Thee will be expected to obey all the people involved in this rescue, especially Mrs. Perry and Mrs. Tubman. Making thine own plans could result in tragedy for everyone. Does thee understand?”

  “Of course, Mr. Burke. When do I leave? And how soon shall I return?”

  “Thee will leave the day after tomorrow. The entire venture should take no more than two weeks.”

  Martha saw the look of dismay on her mama’s face. “Don’t worry, Mama. That’s not such a long time. And think how happy you’ll be when I come home with Jake by my side.”

  Adam Burke raised his thin body from the chair he was sitting in and got ready to leave. “There’s still much for us to do. Charles Murdoch and I will come for thee at sunrise, Martha, the day after tomorrow.”

  “I’ll be ready.”

  Martha walked Adam Burke out to his carryall and then ran to the woodshop to tell Caleb everything that had taken place. He was not happy with the plan, not with any of it, and he was both shocked and disturbed by the story of Martha’s birth, which she had finally decided to reveal to him.

  “My parents shouldn’t have kept such important information about my past from me,” she said.

  Caleb was uncharacteristically silent as he continued working on the chair he was making.

  “Caleb? I know you’re upset about my going to the South, but I promise that I’ll be careful.”

  “That’s one thing, Martha, but not the only thing,” he responded.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “It’s about the circumstances of your birth,” he said.

  “Don’t worry. I’ll adjust to it over time.”

  “But will I?” he asked softly.

  “Caleb? Look at me. What are you saying?”

  “I don’t know, Martha. This is big news that you’ve just told me. Your not being white, or possibly not being white, or never being able to
know if you’re white, is a shock. It changes everything.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I don’t think I can see us together in the future if you’re not white. I mean, I’d always be your friend, but . . .” His voice disappeared into silence.

  “What are you saying?”

  “Because if we had children, life would be very difficult for them. Isn’t that one reason your parents kept your past a secret? If you and all the town accepted you as white, then no one would treat you differently or be hateful toward you.”

  Martha’s head was spinning. “But I always thought you believed people were equal. I never thought you suffered from colorphobia. Look how you’ve always loved and protected Jake even after you heard he was black.”

  “You misunderstood, Martha. I’ve always believed that slavery is wrong. But I’ve never believed that blacks are equal to whites. It’s just not so.”

  “But what makes today different from yesterday? How can I have been your equal then but not now?”

  Caleb looked dismayed. “I dunno. I’m all confused. But that’s just how it is. I don’t believe the world is kind to marriage between the races and certainly not to any children of such a union.”

  “So you all of a sudden don’t love me anymore? Just because none of us will ever be sure if I’m white or not?”

  “Oh, I love you,” he said, “but I’m not sure that I should.”

  Martha could not believe what Caleb was saying. When he turned his back to her, she ran out of the woodshop and into the house. Upstairs, she collapsed onto her bed, grabbing her rag doll to her heart.

  “I’ll show you, Caleb Franklin. I’m the same Martha. Well, no, I’m a different Martha. For one thing, I’m not so shy and quiet since Jake’s gone missing. And for another, I may be white, or Indian, or black or maybe even all of them. And I’m gonna be a slave stealer and bring Jake home. And then see what you think of me!” And with those words, Martha sobbed herself to sleep.