Cato Seeks His Freedom: Philip Syng’s 1748 Runaway Advertisement

One of two advertisements Philip Syng placed to recapture Cato. The Pennsylvania Gazette no. 1013, printed by B. Franklin, Philadelphia, May 12, 1748.

In May 1748, a 20-year-old man named Cato — his last name is unknown — escaped from his enslaver, Philip Syng, a Philadelphia silversmith. Syng is best known as the maker of the inkstand used by the signers of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. He placed an advertisement for Cato's recapture twice in Benjamin Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette, on May 5 and May 12, 1748.

What the ad reveals

• Cato was probably a worker in Syng's silversmith shop — Syng mentions the "old leather breeches," worn for their durability, that Cato had on.
• Cato was wearing irons on his legs and around his neck when he left — and, Syng admits, had cut such irons off "several times before."
• It is not known whether Cato was ever caught and returned.
• A 1769 tax list shows Syng still held two enslaved laborers. Before and after he made the famous inkstand in 1752, Syng used enslaved labor in his business.

The advertisement

Philadelphia, May 5, 1748
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RUn away, last Thursday, from Philip Syng, of this city, silversmith, a Negroe man, named Cato, about 20 years old, a short, well-set fellow, and speaks good English: Had on when he went away two jackets, the uppermost a dark blue halfthick, lined with red flannel, the other a light blue homespun flannel, without lining, ozenbrigs shirt, old leather breeches, yarn stockings, old shoes, and an old beaver hat. When he went away he had irons on his legs, and about his neck, but probably has cut them off, as he has done several times before on the like occasion; he generally skulks about this City. Whoever brings him home, shall have Twenty Shillings reward, and reasonable charges, paid by
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Philip Syng.

Sources

Based on "Cato's Freedom Seeking Ad by Philip Syng – May 5, 1748," Independence National Historical Park, National Park Service, a work of the United States government in the public domain; the advertisement is from The Pennsylvania Gazette nos. 1012 and 1013 (May 5 and 12, 1748), via GenealogyBank.