The Pennsylvania Gazette

The Pennsylvania Gazette between 1728 and 1783 tells that the hunt for runaways was mostly conducted by giving in depth descriptions of the escapees' age, gender, race, physical appearance, apparel, and rewards. The observation also demonstrates that with time the ads became more vivid and precise. As the descriptions and information about the runaways are given, the determination can be seen by these runaways which were to gain one thing, and that was freedom.

When I was looking at all of the ads of the runaways, I was amazed to see that they were almost all servants. People do not runaway unless they feel that they cannot live under their present conditions. So I can only imagine the frightening reality of what was really happening between the master and the servant. What is even more shocking is the fact that a good deal of the servants had tried to escape more then once.

Moreover, ages of the runaways varied from about 16 to about 45. The average approximated age of the runaways I saw was about 26 years old. Of all the ads I observed, most of the runaways were male and only one ad was female. Along with age and gender, a place of origin varied for servants and slaves. Interestingly, many that had escaped had an Irish heritage when I expected to find the most of the ads to be about African Americans. I was also shocked that race was not pointed out more specifically. I noticed in most the ads a short description was given, but it was not completely clear of what race or color the runaway really was. Also, along with these descriptions of the identities of the runaways, I found that some were very in depth and some were not. For example, some of the ads would mention that the runaway was "pitted with small pox", was "lame", or had "ringworm" (The Penn. Gazette). Other ads did not even mention a description of the individual. One might suggest that these masters were not so educated themselves because they could not even provide details, and could only stick to ordinary language.

Furthermore, there was a huge notice towards the description of the clothing that the runaways had on. Some masters to my surprise even paid special attention to the color of the buttons on shirts. Most of the runaways were incredibly well dressed. For example one runaway had on "a castor hat, light mixed broadcloth coat, trimmed with white flat metal buttons, a black vest ,blue knit Pattern Breeches, check shirt, blue grey worsted hose, and new shoes" (The Penn. Gazette). Such thorough description of the apparel may suggest that it was difficult to get clothing, so whatever a runaway had on during the escape, he/she unquestionably kept for the future. Also the majority of runaways made sure they had layers of clothing probably for the rough journey they were about to endure.

Every ad I came across mentioned rewards by the owners. It seems like the extremely skilled apprentices and the servants had the largest rewards. This may be because