Robert Peecher

Jackson Speed and the Fugitive Slaves Robert Peecher

Of all the unlikely people to be conducting fugitive slaves along the Underground Railroad, none can be more unlikely than the rascal Jackson Speed, 19th Century America's most reluctant adventurer and inadvertent hero. In this, the fifth volume of the Jackson Speed Memoirs, Speed's lustful eye is caught by the Tennessee Widow, a conductor on the Underground Railroad. In Chattanooga, Speed unknowingly becomes her accomplice in secreting runaway slaves north on a steamship sailing the Upper Tennessee River. This novella is set during the spring of 1853, before Speed's involvement in the American Civil War but after his adventures west in Mexico and California. Fans of the Jackson Speed Memoirs will no doubt be surprised to find the scoundrel Speed helping a group of runaway slaves escape the slave catcher Silas Coonskin Boyd, but they'll quickly realize Speed's actions are in no way philanthropic - he's merely attempting to satisfy his base instincts while delivering a letter for Georgia politicians Robert Toombs.