Train Robbers

By: Norah and Maddox

Sometimes slave catchers would team up to catch more slaves.

Being a slave catcher in the 1850s was a dishonest job. Train robbers tried far too hard to hunt and capture runaway slaves on their way to freedom. Slave catchers were wicked people who didn't care if they hurt innocent people, as long as they got paid. From what they did with the slaves, to their resources, and the punishments or rewards they received, train robbers' jobs added an interesting layer to the Underground Railroad.

The punishments slaves were given when they were caught were dreadful. To start off, slaves went through so much only to be caught in the end. Slaves had so many challenges, such as bad terrain. Lakes, rivers, hills, tall fences, forests, and swamps were also big challenges. Slaves were also constantly being chased by slave catchers. Adding onto their rough journey, they went through torture to then get punished later. When the slaves were caught, they were chained by the hands and feet, then dragged back to their plantations. After being dragged back, they went to court. Slaves couldn’t testify for themselves, and their owners gave them any punishment they wanted. To seal the deal, punishments for the caught slaves were horrendous. Runaways were whipped, beaten, branded, or in other words flogged, bounty hunters "Transported them back to the plantation, where they would be whipped, beaten, [or] branded”(history.com), slaves even ran the risk of even being killed. Runaway slaves had horrible punishments.

Train robbers' methods were cruel yet effective. To begin with, they used special bloodhounds to hunt down the slaves. Some of their hounds were bought from special breeders who trained them to sniff out the scent of people. "Free blacks were an appealing target, and an economic opportunity, for some unscrupulous whites. Their methods for "cashing in" could be brutal." (encyclopedia.com) Sometimes, the dogs even chased runaways up trees and waited for them to come down. Thankfully, some slaves found out about a poison called strychnine to put into corn sticks; when the dogs ate the corn they would die not long after. These poisoned corn sticks were called “hush puppies”. Furthermore, the slave hunters gathered vital information from posters and newspapers. Slave owners with runaway slaves described slaves on posters, including height, weight, what they were wearing, and their age and name. Some slave owners also put advertisements in the newspaper to get the attention of bounty hunters looking for their next hunt. When a slave hunter found a job, he would contact the slave's owner and they would send him a description of the slave, as well as a fee of 20 dollars. The slave’s owner also had to send the bounty hunter a paper bearing the legal permission to capture and return the slave. In conclusion, the slave hunters had access to many resources to aid them when tracking slaves.

Train robbers had good and bad rewards. Most of the time, there were some pretty great rewards. Slave catchers were pre-paid $20, which in the mid 1800s was a good amount of money. After they caught the slave or slaves, the slave catcher could’ve been paid big bucks. Rewards ranged from $100 to $2000 for a slave. In 1837, slave prices were pretty high, but then prices dropped significantly in the early 1840s. Then in the mid-1840s, prices were starting to incline. By 1860, rewards were at the highest they had ever been. On the other hand, train robbers had punishments too. If the slave catcher failed to catch the slave they wouldn’t get paid. Another challenge was when a hunt dragged out, for example, “One enslaved woman hid for seven years in an attic crawl space” (history.com). As you can see, hunting for a slave could take years. In 1862, Congress passed a law saying slaves didn’t have to return to their owners, but after this law was passed, slave catchers still illegally hunted runaways. If they were caught in the act, they could’ve gone to jail or been killed. It was all or nothing for slave catchers.

Slave catching was a disgusting job, though it had many interesting factors, such as punishments, resources, and rewards. The train robbers had a brutal occupation. Life for them also included interesting and exciting aspects to their job. In conclusion, the slave catchers were cruel and underhanded people who made escaping a challenge for slaves.

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