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140	HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.
opposed it. Indeed he was one of the rankest Abolitionists in all the region, and held in utter contempt any measure that tolerated traffic in human beings, white or black. In political life he originally was a Whig, and later a strong Republican. For the negro he had no particular regard, but he could not bear to see one of God's creatures held in bondage. The comfortable Heslop home in Johnstown was a noted station on the famous "Underground Railroad" between the slave states of the south and the free soil of the north. Pennsylvania territory then offered no secure place of refuge for escaping slaves, for the state was continually overrun with fugitive slave hunters; and no house and no home was safe against their searching parties armed with processes of law and the equally obnoxious sanction of certain state authorities. But notwithstanding all this, the home of James Gale Heslop offered at least safe temporary refuge to fugitive slaves, and both he and his good wife were instrumental in aiding them, feeding them and sending them along in safety to more friendly regions farther north, where slave hunters dare not follow. In his ardent belief in and advocacy of the universal freedom of mankind, Mr. Heslop subscribed for fifty copies of the Philadelphia North American, one of the leading abolition organs of the country, and caused them to be distributed and read in places where the doctrines therein taught would be calculated to do the most good. And in his zeal in aiding escaping slaves he prepared several secret places about his home in which they were temporarily secure. One of these places was in an old abandoned mine on the hill near his house, another in the house itself, under the roof, and still another in a secret cellar underneath his stable, which was entered through a trap door on which his horses were bedded after the fugitive had been placed. His premises were frequently visited and searched by slave hunters, but not so much as one was ever taken while at his station. Mr. Heslop was brought up under the influence of the Church of England, but later in life identified himself with the Christian church, and was one of its elders and most exemplary members.     In 1830, while living in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, he married Charlotte Bracewell, who was born in England, and was a daughter of James Bracewell of Bristol. She survived her husband thirty years, and died on the 3d of November, 1895. At the time of the Johnstown flood Mrs. Heslop was living with her son Gale, and was, with her daughter Harriatt, the only members of the family caught in the rush of waters. She remained in the ruined house from Friday afternoon until Sunday morning, and then was carried to safety on a raft.     Children of James Gale and Charlotte (Bracewell) Heslop: Gale Heslop, of Johnstown; married Elizabeth Rupp, and has had ten children. Harriet Heslop, of Johnstown; unmarried; lives with her sister, Mrs. Alexander Carroll. Alfred Heslop, a business man of Johnstown. Anna Maria Heslop, married Henry Leslie, and is now dead. Emma Heslop, married W. R. B. White, and lives in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Minerva Heslop, wife of Alexander Carroll, of Johnstown. William Heslop, died in infancy. Robert Heslop, died in infancy.     Gale Heslop, second child and eldest son of James Gale and Charlotte (Bracewell) Heslop, was born at Pottsville, Pennsylvania, on the 4th day of October, 1832, and was an infant when his parents removed from that place to Johnstown. He was educated in the borough public schools, and was only eleven years old when his father took him from school and put him to work at his trade. At that time his father was doing the letter and name painting on nearly all the boats on the old

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