Tracking the Underground
Railroad in La Porte County
(Compiled by Fern Eddy Schultz, La Porte County Historian)

The following is a copy of an article titled The Underground Railroad. No source or date is available.

In a late number of The La Porte Republican, I noticed a reference to an underground railroad through this section of the country that was established in 1840, for the purpose of piloting fugitive slaves from the land of bondage to the land of freedom. In perusing that item, it reminded me of those early times when I was connected with that line as a conductor. All the trips were invariably made in the night time, and the distance from station to station was about 25 miles. The first station from here towards the promised land was northeast, near the Michigan line. This was called the Clinton division, and was kept by a Scotchman named Russel. He was a staid Presbyterian. Among the principal operators in Clinton Township were Herbert Williams and family, William Niles and Perrin Scarborough, Sr. and family. The other conductors and agents on the line through Clinton were Levi Reynolds and son, Thomas C., Jonathan Williams and his son, Azariah. These two sons are now, and have been for many years, residents of Westville.

On one of those notable night runs on this road, I vividly remember a circumstance that took place one night about 12 o'clock, near Door Village. We were hailed by some strangers who wanted to know what we had in our wagon. We informed them it was hides and then hastening on to the station, left them in profound ignorance of the real contents of our cargo. The slaves were lying down on a bed and covered with hides. The agent of the division was a farmer, as well as a tanner by trade, and we often took beef hides along for sale, which answered for a covering for the fugitives as well.

In those days of slavery it was considered a crime by the laws of the county to harbor, or feed, or in any way aid a slave to escape from bondage. Therefore it was absolutely necessary that such work should be kept a profound secret. Even the youngest member of the family, who would see the slaves come and go, and help feed and secrete them during the item of their stay with us, dared not lisp a word whereby the least knowledge could be obtained of such transaction by persons outside the family circle.

The number of fugitive slaves brought to our house at a time was from two to six, and sometimes we would keep them for a number of days. During the night we generally held them secreted in the chamber and out houses. On very hot days they would be placed out in the cornfield. There are persons living in this county to-day who were working for us in harvesting grain, and eating at our table, while fugitive slaves were secreted near by, and they never suspected such beings were within hundreds of miles of them. It seems quite wonderful now how such night runs could be so often made over the public highways of this county, and none of our nearest and most intimate neighbors were at all suspicious of such doings.

Something about the Underground Railroad

One of these "underground" lines passed through this county and its chief station was in Clinton township. It was first at the home of Jonathan Williams, father of the present attorney Azariah Williams, of Westville and father-in-law of the late Shepard Crumpacker. Azariah Williams for a time was a conductor. Between 1840 and 1850, other workers on the line were Levi Reynolds and sons, Lemuel Maulsby, William Barnard and others, all Friend Quakers. Perrin Scarborough, Sr.'s residence was later made the rendezvous of these fleeing fugitives and Frank C. Scarborough, his son, was an efficient conductor eastwardly.

Frank has told me many hair-raising episodes of his nocturnal trips up by the way of Door Village, La Porte, and other points to the next station in southern Michigan. One night near one o'clock as he was driving near Door Village with these charges laying in his wagon covered with a quilt he was beset by several men on the highway who suspected him and they were bound to know what his wagon contained. One of the men grabbed for his horses heads to stop them while others stood ready to expose his load to view. Frank whipped up his team and plunged ahead urging his horses on and he finally eluded them.

Frank Scarborough informed me in a conversation we had on the subject that one morning before daylight in wheat harvest time, while a number of neighboring hands were employed in assisting them in the field, five "runaways" reached the Scarborough house and remained through the following day. They were secreted in the upper part of the dwelling until near midnight when he took them on to the next station. It was a hot day while these five colored men were thus secreted there and half a dozen or more neighboring men at three meals and spent considerable time directly under them in the dining room below with no suspicion whatever of these presences.

Another line running parallel with the one through La Porte County ran up from the south through Goshen, Bristol, etc., Indiana. C.L. Murray, long a prominent politician of the northern end of the state was an active worker in this important business. The headquarters of the organization in Indiana was at Foundation City, near the boundary line between Ohio and the Hoosier State. Levi Coffin, well-known throughout the state, was in charge of it.

Michigan City Indiana: The Life of a Town
(Chapter 4 -- Coming of Age) by Gladys Bull Nicewarner

People in the northern states had differing opinions about slavery. Those who opposed slavery were willing to defy the law to help slaves escape to freedom. Underground Railroad stations were located throughout Indiana to assist the fugitives on their way to Canada. There were several such stations near Michigan City. One was on the Low farm, on Johnson Road, two miles south of Waterford. Daniel Low's large, square, brick house was a short distance east of the Low Cemetery. Slaves who had been hidden at the Low farm were smuggled onto boars at Michigan City for escape across the lake. Annie Hopkins said that her great uncle, Elias Taylor, hid escaping slaves in the basement of his house on Front Street. They waited there to be smuggled aboard grain boats in the harbor or onto trains headed for Canada. At Low's, candles were placed on top of the widow's walk as a signal that it was safe to move the slaves. If it were felt that Michigan City was under surveillance, the escaping slaves would be kept until the way was clear, or they might be taken to New Buffalo, Michigan. Sometimes while they were waiting for passage, they worked in the potato fields on the farm.

Gene McDonald of La Porte, remembered his mother's story of the time she and her sister were returning from singing school on trails through woods near Low's when they saw a wagon covered with hay. There were slaves hidden in the wagon. The driver spotted the girls, stopped them, and really terrorized them by telling them that if they ever uttered a word of what they had seen, he'd skin them alive! Two slaves who had become ill during their long trip from the south died at the Low home and were buried in the Low cemetery in unmarked graves. It is believed that approximately 150 slaves were transported from Low's station. It is said to have been the last land station used in the area. La Porte and South Bend also had stations. Another was located west of Michigan City at the home of Burdette Smith. The hiding place there was in the cellar of Smith's house; it was at the northeast corner of the present U.S. Highway 20 and Crisman Road, now Indiana Highway 249.

From that station, commands were sent to all parts of the state which were implicitly obeyed. At various times during the long period of this exacting work, according to the records, 3,200 runaway slaves were harbored, none of whom were captured and returned to their masters. Similar lines came up through different parts of Ohio, Pennsylvania and other eastern states, all ending in the north at the Canadian line.

Locations in La Porte County which are said to have
been stations for the Underground Railroad:
  1. 1200 Michigan Av., La Porte.
    Now the office of an insurance firm, the Polaski King house was used to hide fugitives. An entrance under the barn led to an underground cellar in which the fugitives would hide.

  2. The former Jacob McCaskey house on the outskirts of Salem Heights (several miles northwest of Stillwell near the Salem Chapel Methodist Church) was used to harbor runaway slaves in the days before the Civil War. Special brick works in the basement were used to avoid detection of a secret passageway.

  3. At least one branch of the Underground Railroad cut across the Yellow River Rd (Indiana 104 & Indiana 4) from Plymouth through Walkerton, Stillwell, Salem Heights, La Porte and one to Michigan City or New Buffalo (MI), where the fugitives could travel to safety by boat.

  4. There were two homes near Stillwell which are said to have harbored escaped slaves. The first, two miles southeast of town, has been torn down. Known as the Willson Farm, the old house was once an inn. The second house was located at the southeast edge of Stillwell. It was destroyed by fire many years ago.

  5. The homes of Jonathan Williams of Westville, Perrin Scarborough, three miles north of Wanatah, and William Lee, on the north side of Terre Coupee, are said to have been stations on the Underground Railroad.

    Possible Underground Railroad Station in La Porte County
    (Excerpted from the Westville Indicator, Thursday February 22 1982)

    A house on Long Lane in Westville, on the east side near Orville Ehrick's home was torn down by William Schlundt. Mrs. Schlundt revealed that they discovered something mysterious in the attic. Over the top of the stairs which led to the second floor was a small trap door. This led to the attic. There were no windows in the attic portion of the house. In the far east end in the gable was a secret room about 3 feet by 7 feet. This particular section of the attic had a floor in it. The remainder of the attic was unfinished with just the joist laid.

    Photographs were taken after it seemed possible that this house had something to do with the slave traffic reputed to have been in this area in connection with the Underground Railroad. One shows the "secret room" in the gable end of the attic. There is also a photograph of the opening to the attic.

    If the room had been used for the hiding of slaves as they made their way to Canada, the occupants of the room would have had to have been closed in from the outside. To gain entrance to the special hiding place would have required one to have crawled half the length of the home from the trap door's opening.

    The farm was purchased by the Schlundts from Jim Livingston. It has been known as the Berridge or Blodgett farm.


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