Never Caught: The Washingtons' Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Oney Judge.
by Erica Armstrong Dunbar
This short book recounts the story of Ora Judge(called Oney), a young enslaved women who was the personal servant of Martha Washington. Towards the end of Washington's second term as president, Judge decided to abscond from slavery, upon learning that she would be willed to Mrs. Washington's granddaughter, a young woman that Judge considered a little too impulsive(my words). She left, boarded a coasting sloop and landed in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Both the Washington's were infuriated by what they saw as a betrayal by Judge of their good treatment and little privileges, and using his power and influence, Washington attempt to entice, then capture Judge and return her to slavery, episodes that do his reputation no good. The fugitive staunchly refused to consider it, and eluded capture.
Interesting view of life as a enslaved person of an elite family, and the schemes Washington used to evade the laws that were beginning to end slavery in Philadelphia. In the previous book I read Terror to the Wicked one of the murderers manages to escape to New Hampshire, which refuses to allow him to be extradited to stand trial out of sheer contrariness. Oney Judge Staines(she married in Portsmouth), benefited from the Granite State's inherent attitude of non cooperation by not following through with Washington's wishes.
Although she does quote them extensively, I wish Dunbar had included an appendix with the correspondence between Washington and the various agents he employed to get Oney, as well as the interview that Ora Judge Staines gave to the Liberator towards the end of her life.