THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD, II                 Listen to Sample!

Theme: God in history; the sanctity of life.
Episode Number: 315
Writer: Marshal Younger
Scripture: Psalm 82:3
Album: # 24: Risks and Rewards
Album: Star Spangled Stories
Last Air Date: 06/17/2004
Original Air Date: 5/20/95
Summary:

Jack arrives at Whit’s End one morning to find a visitor waiting for him to open. The visitor’s name is Carl. He says he’s the curator for a museum in Chicago. He wants to look around because he believes that Whit’s End may have historical significance. Jack is intrigued. Carl asks if the building has any tunnels underneath it. Jack explains that there is a little-known tunnel that connects the downstairs workroom with the middle of the woods on the edge of McCalister Park.

Hearing this, Carl looks as if he’s about to faint. Jack asks if he is all right, and Carl explains the reason for his excitement: The tunnel and Whit’s End itself may have been a stop on the Underground Railroad! Jack shows Carl the tunnel and asks why Carl believes it played a part in freeing runaway slaves. In response, Carl shows Jack an old book, an original manuscript written before the Civil War. The book describes a slave family’s run for freedom. The landmarks and the cities described in the book seem to show that Odyssey was one of the places the family stopped.

Jack asks Carl to tell him the story, and Carl imparts the tale of the Ross family, Henry; his wife, Caroline; and William, their 17-year-old son. They were Tennessee slaves who broke their bonds and escaped to freedom in the North on the Underground Railroad.


The sound of running across ice was produced by running on a hard surface sprinkled with broken, florescent tube glass and corn flakes. Walking through the snow was done by hauling buckets of snow into the studio.

Discussion Questions: