Description
"The Kansas Narrative of John Doy of Lawrence, Kansas - A Plain, Unvarnished Tale" - - (Researcher's note: Due to the numerous references to Platte County, only selected excerpts have been indexed.)
Chapter XI, Incidents of The Slave Trade, p. 59-60 - - During our imprisonment, numbers of slaves were lodged in the (Platte City) jail by different traders, who were making up gangs to take or send to the South. Every slave, when brought in, was ordered to strip naked, and was minutely examined for marks, which, with condition of teeth and other details, were carefully noted by the trader in his memorandum-book. Many facts connected with these examinations, were too disgusting to mention.
The principal traders who brought slaves there, were General (George P.) Dorris, and his son Tom: the former about 50 years of age, a morose, austere, domineering man, tyrannical to those who cannot protect themselves; the latter, about 25 years old, has the reputation of being one of the sharpest dealers in slaves, and the greatest gambler in that county.
This family belongs to the aristocracy of Platte County, is quite influential there, and the head of the family is a politician of the modern democratic school, which our Northern democrats vote with and support.
Members of this and other families of similar character, frequently spend the winter at Washington and other places of fashionable resort, making a display with the money gained by their nefarious traffic in the souls and bodies of men, women, and children; every dollar of which is washed by the tears, and cursed by the sufferings of the poor, the unfortunate, and the helpless.
(Researcher's note: In January 1859 abolitionist John Doy agreed to take a group of 13 African American Kansans north to Iowa on one leg of the Underground Railroad. Dr. Doy and his group were then captured 12 miles north of Lawrence by a group of Missouri slave hunters which included Weston Mayor Benjamin Wood. Doy and his 21 year old son, Charles, were transported back to Weston, Missouri and placed in jail. He was later transferred to the Platte City jail and then to the St. Joseph, Missouri, jail. Along the way they were displayed in the streets and hounded, beaten and nearly hanged. He was charged with a federal offense of "slave stealing” and awaited a sentence of hard labor or death. In jail after a second trial that found him guilty, ten men went from Lawrence to St. Joseph in July 1859 and broke Doy out of jail. He returned to Kansas and later wrote a 137-page narrative describing in detail his experiences in Platte County, Missouri.)Date(s) of Creation
1/1/1860
