4. Letters, Diaries and Scrap-books
The liability of Underground Railroad operators to severe penalties
for harboring runaways explains the dearth of evidence in the form of
letters, diaries and scrap-books they have left behind; such evidence
would have been incriminating. It is known that a few abolitionists
kept diaries and scrap-books and even wrote letters in regard to the
business of the Road, but most of these records appear to have been
destroyed before the beginning of the Civil War. The author has been
able to secure only two or three letters and the single leaf of a diary in
centres where much work was done. Three scrap-books in the Boston
Public Library, containing memoranda, clippings, handbills, etc., that
refer in particular to the experiences of Theodore Parker, shed much
light on the work of the Vigilance Committee of Boston, and supply
important information in regard to the famous case of Anthony Burns.
