![]() ![]() As he states in his memoir, he did not become intoxicated.īy late afternoon, he fell ill with a severe headache and nausea. At the saloons, the two men would serve themselves, and they would then pour a glass and hand it to Solomon. They were observing the festivities that were part of the great funeral procession of General Harrison. He had spent the day with Alexander Merrill and Joseph Russell making stops at a number of saloons in Washington, D.C. with them, reasoning that the circus would pay him high wages, and since it was the summer season, the troupe would be traveling back north anyway.ĭid Solomon's kidnappers really drug him?Īs he indicated in his autobiography, the real Solomon Northup is not positive that he was in fact drugged, however, he remembers various clues that led him to that conclusion. Once in New York City, Russell and Merrill encouraged Solomon to go to Washington, D.C. They only delivered one performance to a sparse crowd, and it consisted of Russell and Merrill performing somewhat elementary feats like tossing balls, frying pancakes in a hat, ventriloquism and causing invisible pigs to squeal. The two men, later identified as Joseph Russell and Alexander Merrill, asked Solomon to accompany them on a short journey to New York City and to participate with them in performances along the way. They identified themselves using fake names and told him that they were part of a circus company that was looking for someone with his precise musical talent. The men had heard that Solomon was an "expert player of the violin". Solomon met the two men in the village of Saratoga Springs, New York. ![]() In his memoir, he calls the violin "the ruling passion of my youth," going on to say, "It has also been the source of consolation since, affording pleasure to the simple beings with whom my lot was cast, and beguiling my own thoughts, for many hours, from the painful contemplation of my fate."ĭid two men really trick Solomon into going to Washington, D.C. ![]() During our investigation into the 12 Years a Slave true story, we learned that Solomon began playing the violin during the leisure hours of his youth, after he finished his main duty of helping his father on the farm. Did Solomon Northup really play the violin? ![]()
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