"S-t-e-a-m-boat a-comin'!" -- that's the first line of dialogue we hear in "Old Times," and it's boomed out by a slave, though the narrative doesn't use that word in its description of this "negro drayman, famous for his quick eye and prodigious voice." Presumably that's this drayman in the illustration. This is the text's only reference to blacks on the scene of the "white town drowsing in the sunshine of a summer morning" with which "Old Times" begins. As the boat approaches, we hear about "the crew grouped on the forecastle," but with no indication that they were black.
The Barrett Collection, UVA PS1314_A1_1883c