In 1849, Virginia slave Henry Brown resolved to escape to a free northern state. He decided to conceal himself inside a wooden crate and ship himself to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Brown sat in the crate with his knees bent so that they almost touched his face. Two friends who aided him wrapped some cloth around him to add some padding to make him more comfortable.

They also, of course, made a small air hole in the crate. Brown took a few biscuits and a container of water to provide some basic sustenance on his journey.

Brown’s co-conspirators then nailed the crate shut and wrapped some leather straps around it to insure that it would not pop open during transit.

It cost $86 to ship the crate. That is roughly $2,800 in today’s currency! Brown had saved up the money doing odd jobs when he had a little free time.

The trip from Richmond to Philadelphia took 27 hours. Brown and his crate were transferred from one conveyance to another several times. In all, he rode on three wagons, three trains and two boats!

Despite cautions written on the crate to handle it with care and keep a certain side up, the freight handlers constantly ignored those instructions (imagine that!). Brown often found himself lying on his side or hanging upside down!

Several Philadelphia abolitionists were in on the escape scheme, and the freight company delivered the crate to their office.

As they pried the container open., they were apprehensive about the condition of its human contents. Would he still be alive?

Inside the crate they found a very much alive and happy Henry Brown! Grinning broadly, he greeted them with: “How do you do, gentlemen!” He also began singing a song to express his joy at being in a free state.

Thereafter, Henry Brown was known as “Henry Box Brown” in honor of the unique method of escape he had used. We will see what happened to him next in the last installment of this article next week.