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~gers	‚~ ~	(Ex—slave stories)	63


JIM TA~flJOR (uiicL~ mi, Ex~1ave.


	Reference:	Per5onal interviw with Jim Taylor at hia home, 424 E. 23rd St., Baltimore.



	“I ~was born in Talbot County, Eastern Shore, Maryland, near St. Michaels about 1847 • Mr • Mason Shehan‘ e father knew me well as I worked for him for more than 30 years after the emancipation. My mother and father both were owned by a Mr. Davis of St. Miohaels who had several~-tuge and small boats. In the stm~ier, the sinai J. boats were used to haul produce ~hile the tugs were used for towing coal and lumber on the Chesapeake Bay and the small river8 Ofl the Eastern Shore. Mr. Da~via bought able-bodied colored men for service on the boats. They were sail boats. I would say about 50 or 60 feet long. On each boat, besides the,6aptain, there were from 6 to 10 ~an used. On the tugs there were more men, besides the mess boy, than on the sail boats.

nI think a man by the name of Robinson who was in the coal business at Havre de ~raoe engaged Mr. Davis to tow several barges of soft coal to

	St • Mi chaels • It was on July 4th when we arrived at Havre de Grace . Being a holiday, we had to wait until the 6th, before we could start towards St.

Michaela.

	“Mz~. Tuttle ‚ the captain of the tug, did not sleep on the boat that night, ~but went to a cook fight. The colored men decided to escape and go to Pennsylvania . ( I was a small boy) . They ran the tug across the bay to Elk Creek, and upon. arriving there they beached the tug on the north side, followed e. stream that Harriett Tubman had told them about. After traveling about seven miles, they approached a house situated bn a )‚arge fann which was occupied by one of the deputy sheriffs of the oounty. The sheriff told them they were under arrest. One of the escaping men seized the sheriff from the rear, after he was throvvn they tied him, then they ~ntinued on a road towards ~ Pennsylvania. They