April 23, 1767
The Pennsylvania Gazette
THREE POUNDS Reward.
RUN away from the subscriber, living in Lampeter township, Lancaster county, on the 12th of April inst. a servant man, named James Foral,
by trade a blacksmith, born in Ireland, and came to this country about 10 months ago, he is about 5 feet 9 or 10 inches high, of a fair complexion, pitted with the small pox, [1] has stoop shoulders, and bends out at the knees very much as he walks, and short curled hair;
had on and took with him, when he went away, a blue broadcloth coat, red double breasted jacket, cloth coloured cloth breeches, and striped trowsers.
Whoever takes up and secures said servant, to that his master may have him again, shall have the above reward, and reasonable charges, paid by PETER KLINE.
Notes
1. In school and in many a book and documentary since, I was taught that small pox afflicted Native Americans, and that the European settlers were “immune” to this pathogen that they carried into Native lands. The evidence from the period, however, is that small pox was a scourge upon all.
So Her Master May Have Her Again
A History of Runaway White Slaves in Plantation America: Part Two
