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with the boat. He was able without assistance to save the ~hole family, diving into the river to resoue Mrs. Stafford after she had gone down. He pulled her on the raft and lt was blown ashore with all aboard, but several miles down the stream, Everybody thought that the Staffords had been dro~wned as the boat floated to the shore ‚ bottom upwards.

	“As a re~ward Mr. Stafford took my father to the court house at La Plata, the county seat of Charles County, signed papers for the enamclpation of him, my mother, and me, besides giving him monej to help him to take his family to Philadelphia.

	“I have a vague recollection of the Staffordf~j i1axnily, not enough to de8oribe. They lived on a large farm situated in Charles County, a part bounding on the Potomac Riv~er and a cove that extends into the fa‘m property. Much of the farm property was inar8hy and was suitable for the purpo se of Mr. Stafford‘ s 1 lying ~ raising and training bIo od hounds • I have been told by mother and father on xnax~y occasions that there were as many as a hundred dogs on the fanii at times. Mr. Stafford had about 50 slaves on his farm. He had an original method in training young blood un, he would make one of the slaves traverse a course, at the end, the slave would climb a tree. The younger dogs led by an ol d dog, sometimes by several older dogs, would trail thç~ slave until they reached the tree, then • they would bark until taken away bythe men who had charge of the dogs.

	-~ Mr. Stafford‘ s dogs were often sought to apprehenl runaway slaves. He would charge according to the value and worth of the slave captured. His dogs were often taken to Virginia, sometimes to North Carolina,~besides beine used in Maryland. I have been told that when a slavč was captured, besides the reward paid in money, that each dog was supposed to bit~he slave to make him anxious to hunt hwnan beings.