To shake the lion's paw, was Underground Railroad code for going to Canada. They were shaking hands, (paws) with the British Lion, in that Canada was still a British colony.
Sitting Bull and his Lakota called Canada Grandmother Country referring of course to Queen Victoria.
My great grandfather's store in Enon Valley, Pennsylvania, was a station on the underground railroad. Farmers brought raw wool to barter for sugar, coffe, and other staples. Runaway slaves hid in the wool. God! what a way to travel! hidden in a pile of smelly, greasy raw wool.