Sir:—­Yours of the 1st March is before me, inquiring if one Walton Bibb, a colored man, escaped from me at Louisville, Ky., in the Spring of 1839.  To that inquiry I answer, he did.  The particulars are these:  He ran off from William Gatewood some time in 1838 I think, and was heard of in Cincinnati.  Myself and some others went there and took him, and took him to Louisville for sale, by the directions of his master.  While there he made his escape and was gone some time, I think about one year or longer.  He came back it was said, to get his wife and child, so report says.  He was again taken by his owner; he together with his wife and child was taken to Louisville and sold to a man who traded in negroes, and was taken by him to New Orleans and sold with his wife and child to some man up Red River, so I was informed by the man who sold him.  He then ran off and left his wife and child and got back, it seems, to your country.  I can say for Gatewood he was a good master, and treated him well.  Gatewood bought him from a Mr. Sibly, who was going to send him down the river.  Walton, to my knowledge, influenced Gatewood to buy him, and promised if he would, never to disobey him or run off.  Who he belongs to now, I do not know.  I know Gatewood sold his wife and child at a great sacrifice, to satisfy him.  If any other information is necessary I will give it, if required.  You will please write me again what he is trying to do in your country, or what he wishes the inquiry from me for.

Yours, truly,
Daniel S. Lane.

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These letters need little comment.  Their testimony combined is most harmonious and conclusive.  Look at the points established.

1.  Hiram Wilson gives the testimony of reputable men now in Canada, who knew Henry Bibb as a slave in Kentucky.

2.  Silas Gatewood, with a peculiar relish, fills three pages of foolscap, “being anxious to give his rascally conduct in full,” as he says.  But he vaults over the saddle and lands on the other side.  His testimony is invaluable as an endorsement of Mr. Bibb’s truthfulness.  He illustrates all the essential facts of this narrative.  He also labors to prove him deceitful and a liar.

Deceit in a slave, is only a slight reflex of the stupendous fraud practised by his master.  And its indulgence has far more logic in its favor, than the ablest plea ever written for slave holding, under ever such peculiar circumstances.  The attempt to prove Mr. Bibb in the lie, is a signal failure, as he never affirmed what Gatewood denies.  With this offset, the letter under notice is a triumphant vindication of one, whom he thought there by to injure sadly.  As Mr. Bibb has most happily acknowledged the wheat, (see page 130,) I pass the charge of stealing by referring to the logic there used, which will be deemed convincing.

3.  William Birney, Esq., attests the facts of Mr. Bibb’s arrest in Cincinnati, and the subsequent escape, as narrated by him, from the declaration of eye witnesses.