Eight slaves – Edmund, aged thirty-seven, Isaac, thirty-four, Joseph and Bernard, both twenty-six, William, twenty-four, Theodore, twenty-three, another also named Joseph, twenty-two, and the youngest, Henry, eighteen – fled the Valle lead mines at Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, in September 1852, crossed the Mississippi River and headed for Sparta, Illinois. Isaac and the younger Joseph were slaves of Amadee Valle of St. Louis, the owner of the mines. Bernard and Henry were owned by Lewis Bogy, a prominent lawyer and a man of considerable wealth. Edmund was the property of William Skewes, an English-born farmer who owned eight other slaves. Theodore was claimed by Noree Valle, quite likely a relative of Amadee. The older Joseph was one of thirteen slaves owned by farmer Antoine Janis. William was the property of Jonathan Smith, who lived close to the mines. At least six of the escapees were hired out to work at the mines. All, the owners felt the need to point out, spoke both English and French. Given the possible destination of the runaways, it is unlikely that their facility with French would have been of much use.

The eight seemed to have operated without the aid of outsiders, although it is very likely that they were assisted by other African Americans, both slaves and those who were free, who lived nearby. That they headed for Sparta, across the river in Randolph County, suggests that they were aware of the existence of the small but active group of abolitionists who operated in the area and who, over the years, had sheltered slaves seeking freedom. One Missouri newspaper had reported earlier that there were several slaves from the area hiding in Sparta. If the escapees knew of this support system, so too did their masters, who dispatched five policemen to the town in an effort to intercept them. The runaways gave their pursuers the slip, however, and headed north toward Alton, possibly to Rocky Fork, a small black rural settlement. While the others hid in the woods outside Upper Alton, Bernard, Theodore, and the younger Joseph went into town to buy food. There they were caught by three “white citizens” who were not associated with the Ste. Genevieve policemen, and taken to St. Louis, where they were placed in one of the city's slave pens.