Hanover's Underground Railroad Conductors

Hanover's Underground Railroad Conductors. A Heart of Hanover Trail Stop. , Just north of the Mason-Dixon line, the divide between states where slavery was legal and free states like Pennsylvania, Hanover was a logical stop on the Underground Railroad. , The Underground Railroad was the secret network of trails, homes, farms, offices, basements, wagons, canals, boats, rail tracks and rail cars that enslaved freedom seekers, or "passengers" traveled north on to free territories before the Civil War. Guides, wagon masters, and hosts helping the passengers were Underground Railroad "conductors" or "agents." , Here, purported conductors were the Durr (or Duerr) father-and-son duo of rural Hanover who met "fugitives” near the [Carroll County] border and escorted them to Hanover..." Hanover's Kyle and Bradley families were reported to do the same. , Some freedom seekers received the aid of Jacob Wirt (1801-1869), banker, businessman, first president of the Hanover Branch Railroad, chief burgess (the 19th century equivalent to mayor), and lifelong member of Emmanuel Reformed Church. In Hanover, Wirt "took charge of the [freedom-seeking] 'passengers,' gave them food and rest, and then helped conduct them to York." Jacob lived across Frederick Street at the site where the theater stands in front of you today. Source: The Ground Swallowed Them Up: Slavery and the Underground Railroad in York County, PA (2016)., Another conductor was the good-timing fiddle player Bill Piper, a grandson of freed slaves who "figured at fairs, balls and other parties..." Sometime before the Civil War (1861-1865), Bill mysteriously became a recluse. Unknown to his friends, Bill provided a secret safe place for African-Americans in his small cabin in the Westminster Road commons. An eyewitness account tells of seven freedom seekers eating a "well-prepared" breakfast in Bill's cabin, apparently preparing for a trip farther north. , By its nature, the Underground Railroad was secretive, hence the word "underground," which is a metaphor for hidden transportation routes. For the most part, the Underground Railroad was above ground and was not literally a railroad. , After the federal Fugitive Slave Act went into effect in 1850, passengers and conductors were criminally liable. First person accounts, then, are hard to find. How many freedom seekers passed through Hanover on their way to their new lives is unknown. , The Pied Piper of Freedom , "[Bill Piper] loved whisky as well as he did his fiddle, and after playing for three or four hours it was sometimes hard to tell whether he was drawing his bow for a country dance, a cotillion or a horn-pipe. Bill of course became rusty, but several years afterwards he lived alone in a small house in the old commons out the Westminster Road, drank less, and was better dressed , a mystery no one could solve. One morning a few of us started early for the woods above Gitt's mill, and seeing a light through a crack in a shutter of the cabin we cautiously peeped in. There, to our surprise, sat seven stalwart negroes eating a well-prepared breakfast. This solved the mystery and relieved Bill from the common report that he kept a gambling house.... [He] was an agent for the underground railroad." , , Jesse Frysinger, Hanover Herald (May 14, 1887), To explore themes of freedom, visit the Hanover Area History Museum on the premises of the Warehiem-Myers mansion: www.hahs.us , Glossary of Underground Railroad Terms , Abolitionist A person who demanded the immediate emancipation of the slaves. , Agent A person who plotted the course of escape for fugitive slaves. , Baggage A code word used for escaping slaves. , Brakeman A person in charge of making contacts for fugitive slaves. , Conductors The persons who directly transported escaping slaves. , The Drinking Gourd A code term for the North Star. , The Freedom Line Route of travel by fugitive slaves. , Freedom Road The fugitives' route of travel. , Fugitive Slave A runaway slave. , Haven A place of shelter for escaping slaves. , Operator A person who aided fugitive slaves as a conductor or agent on the Underground Railroad. , Passengers Escaping slaves. , The Promise Land Code word for Canada. , Refugees Escaping Slaves. , Scattered Way Stations A number of hiding places. , Station A place of sanctuary where slaves could be sheltered. , Station Master A person in charge of a hiding place. , Stockholder A person contributing food, clothing or money to the Underground Railroad. , Underground Railroad A method of transporting fugitives. , Way Stations Hiding places for fugitive slaves.