"One summer night in 1845 thirteen slaves escaped from a plantation in northern Kentucky and ran for the Ohio River, led by Louis Talbert. They had planned to cross the Ohio on a raft, but building the craft took longer than expected, and only half of the band had made the passage before daylight. The delay of a day to bring the others over the river under cover of darkness cost them dearly. Their escape was now common knowledge on both banks of the river, and the underemployed white men of the area scoured the northern bank in hopes of a sizeable reward from their claimants. Once they were all across the river, they were unable to travel far before daylight forced them to go to ground again. As they had now been forty-eight hours without eating, some of the party went to a nearby farm house to purchase food. Unfortunately this desperate act revealed their location to the various slave catching posses scouring the countryside. Slave catchers soon gave chase and the party of fugitives scattered, but most were recaptured. Talbert and three others managed to avoid capture, and slowly made their way overland to Newport, IN, a well-known abolitionist stronghold and center of the Underground Railroad. Quaker Underground activist Levi Coffin took in Talbert and his companions and facilitated their travel further north to Canada"-- Provided by publisher
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