'Underground Railroad': How Slave Catchers Tracked Down Escapees On 5/14/21 at 12:03 PM EDT Barry Jenkins' highly anticipated new series The Underground Railroad premieres on Amazon Prime Video today, telling the story of an enslaved woman's bid for freedom. South African actress Thuso Mbedu plays protagonist Cora Randall, who is pursued by villainous slave catcher Arnold Ridgeway (played by Joel Edgerton). Slave catchers were a real thing and, in the deep South, the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 made catching escapees a lucrative endeavor. How Enslaved People Used Underground Railroad to Escape From the South Read more According to information from the Law Enforcement Museum, slave patrols are described as an early form of American policing. They were established in South Carolina in 1704.