[Indexed as: (Langdon, Mary, novel; Review) “The Story of Ida May,” The Farmers’ Cabinet (Amherst, N. H.), May 1, 1855]

It is a criticism not infrequently made upon Ida May, that the ground-work of the plot – the kidnapping of a white girl into slavery – is too improbable, too outrageously improbable, to come within the legitimate scope of fiction. – Those who urge this objection are of course ignorant of three of the commonest facts of slavery. They are ignorant of three things which have been proved beyond the possibility of denial or doubt, which are: first, that kidnapping free persons are selling them to slaveholders, is a crime of frequent occurrence; second, that whites, are held as slaves; and third, that free white children have, in several instances, been kidnapped and sold as slaves.

Let us look at the facts: Judge Stroud, of Pennsylvania, in his work on the slave law, says:

“Remote as is the city of Philadelphia from those slaveholding States in which the introduction of slaves from places within the territory of the United States is freely permitted, and where also the market is tempting, it has been ascertained that more than thirty free colored persons, mostly children, have been kidnapped here and carried away into slavery within the last two years. Five of these, through the kind interposition of several humane gentlemen, have been restored to their friends, though not without great expense and difficulty. The others are still retained in bondage.”

This is pretty strong testimony. Thirty free persons, mostly children, kidnapped from the single city of Philadelphia in the short space of two years. This was several years ago. Here is a case of late date: On the thirteenth of December, 1851, a colored woman, Mary E. Parker, residing in Chester County, Pennsylvania, was seized in the evening, by two kidnappers, carried to Baltimore, sold, and transported to New Orleans. A fortnight later, December 30th, her sister, Rachel Parker, was forcibly taken from the house of Joseph C. Nillar by two men, who carried her Baltimore and sold her.

By the active exertions of their friends in Chester County, these girls were recovered, and, after legal investigation, restored to freedom and their homes in Pennsylvania.

The case of Solomon Northump is sp well known, and so fresh in the public mind, that it known, and so fresh in the public mind, that it need not be detailed. He was a free colored citizen of Washington County, New York, who was kidnapped in 1841, and sold south until he reached a plantation on Red River, from which, after twelve year’s bondage, he was redeemed by the exertions of an agent sent out for the purpose by Governor Hunt, of New York. – His kidnappers have recently been arrested, tried and convicted of the crime.

The latest case on Record is related by the Maysville, (Ky.) Gazette in November last. – Three brothers, Henry, Lewis and Allen Young entered a house near Georgetown, Ohio, at midnight, seized a negro girl, carried her over in Kentucky, and secreted her near Mayesville till they could find an opportunity to sell her. – She managed to escape, and, getting into Maysville, gave an account of the outrage to some of the citizens, by whom the kidnappers were arrested and delivered up to the authorities of Ohio for trial.

It may be said, in reply, that these cases are all of blacks; that, granting that blacks are sometimes kidnapped and sold, it does not follow that a white child could be, because her color was prima facie evidence of freedom. To set aside this objection, it is only necessary to look into those faithful and unimpeachable records of the condition of the slaves, the advertisement of fugitives which are so common in southern journals.

In the Nashville Whig, July 14, 1849, A. W. Johnson offered two hundred dollars reward for the apprehension of his fugitive slave Julia, whom he describes as of common size, nearly white and very likely. She may attempt to pass for white.

In the Chattanooga (Tenn.,) Gazette, Oct. 5, 1842, George O. Regland offers five hundred dollars reward for his fugitive slave Wash who “might pass himself as a white man, as he is very bright, has sandy hair, blue eyes, and a fine set of teeth.”

In Mobile, April, 22, 1837, Edwin peed advertised “a bright mulatto man slave named Sam,” who, he says, “has light, sandy hair, blue eyes, ruddy complexion, and is so white as very easily to pass for a free white man.”

About the same time, S. G. Stewart, of Green County, Alabama, advertised his slave Alfred, “with blue eyes, light flaxen hair, and skin freckled.

In the same state of Alabama, John Balch, of Tuscaloosa, May 27, 1845, advertised his slave Fanny, “who is as white as most white men, with straight, light hair, and blue eyes, and can pass herself for a white woman.”

These are but specimens of a large class of similar advertisements which are constantly paraded before the eyes of the Southern community in their newspapers. They show conclusively that white slaves are not uncommon, and the fact that a girl offered for sale had the features of the white race, or even white complexion, would not necessarily prevent her from being accepted and held as a slave.