Boston King Escape From Slavery

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There are many stories of slaves running away from plantations. Whether they could make the escape or not, they still tried. Boston King was one of the lucky men who did escape his life as a slave. When he ran away to the British Army, he took control of his life and changed his story. His life story was an odd one out amongst the stories of other slaves. When Boston King was sixteen years old he was an apprentice in trade for two years as a slave. King suffered the repercussions of other slaves losing or breaking their master’s tools. Eight months after being beat senselessly for the actions of others, King was building a store-house with other workers. During this time, nails were hard to come by for building. King oversaw watching the nails while other apprentices had dinner. He waited until someone relieved him, then went to dine. While King ate, the apprentice who watched decided to steal some nails from a journeyman. The blame was thrown onto Boston King. He wrote in his memoir: “For this offence I was beat and …show more content…

Stating that if the proprietor heard of this happening again, King would be removed and sent to another master. The outcome of this was good for a while. King could get proper knowledge on his trade without being too hurt to work. One day, King’s master decided to move 38 miles outside of Charles-Town, worry about danger from the war had seeped into his head. Here King and other slaves built a large home for their master. King’s parents lived 12 miles from his master’s home, King worked hard and was allowed leave for a day to go visit. However, a servant took the horse that King was borrowing for his master. This servant took a short journey that lasted two or three days longer than planned. King wrote that his caused him “…the greatest perplexity…I expected the severest punishment because the gentlemen to who the horse belonged was a very bad