Page "Harriet Tubman" Paragraph 61

Because of the debt she had accumulated ( including delayed payment for her property in Auburn ), Tubman fell prey in 1873 to a swindle involving gold transfer.

Two men, one named Stevenson and the other John Thomas, claimed to have in their possession a cache of gold smuggled out of South Carolina.

They offered this treasure – worth about US $ 5, 000, they claimed – for US $ 2, 000 in cash.

They insisted that they knew a relative of Tubman's, and she took them into her home, where they stayed for several days.

She knew that white people in the South had buried valuables when Union forces threatened the region, and also that black men were frequently assigned to digging duties.

Thus the situation seemed plausible, and a combination of her financial woes and her good nature led her to go along with the plan.

She borrowed the money from a wealthy friend named Anthony Shimer, and arranged to receive the gold late one night.

Once the men had lured her into the woods, however, they attacked her and knocked her out with chloroform, then stole her purse and bound and gagged her.

When she was found by her family, she was dazed and injured, and the money was gone.

New York responded with outrage to the incident, and while some criticized Tubman for her naïveté, most sympathized with her economic hardship and lambasted the con men.

The incident refreshed the public's memory of her past service and her economic woes.

Wisconsin Representative Gerry W. Hazelton introduced a bill ( H. R.

3786 ) providing that Tubman be paid " the sum of $ 2, 000 for services rendered by her to the Union Army as scout, nurse, and spy ...." It was defeated.