But God, by his providence, had otherwise determined. He had
ordained that an appalling tragedy should be enacted that night
within plain sight of the President's house, and the Capitol of
the Union, which would be an evidence wherever it should be known
of the unconquerable love of liberty which the human heart may
inherit, as well as a fresh admonition to the slave-dealer of the
cruelty and enormity of his crimes.
Just as the pursuers passed the high draw, soon after entering upon
the bridge, they beheld three men slowly approaching from the
Virginia side. They immediately called to them to arrest the
fugitive, proclaiming her a runaway slave. True to their Virginia
instincts, as she came near, they formed a line across the narrow
bridge to intercept her. Seeing that escape was impossible in that
quarter, she stopped suddenly, and turned upon her pursuers.
On came the profane and ribald crew faster than ever, already
exulting in her capture, and threatening punishment for her
flight. For a moment she looked wildly and anxiously around to see
if there was no hope of escape. On either hand, far down below,
rolled the deep, foaming waters of the Potomac, and before and
behind were the rapidly approaching steps and noisy voices of her
pursuers. Seeing how vain would be any further effort to escape,
her resolution was instantly taken. She clasped her hands
convulsively together, raised her tearful and imploring eyes
toward heaven, and begged for the mercy and compassion there which
was unjustly denied her on earth; then, exclaiming, "Henry,
Clotelle, I die for thee!" with a single bound, vaulted over, the
railing of the bridge, and sank forever beneath the angry and
foaming waters of the river!
Such was the life, and such the death, of a woman whose virtues and
goodness of heart would have done honor to one in a higher station
of life, and who, had she been born in any other land but that of
slavery, would have been respected and beloved.
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