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No. 10.
THE ANTI-SLAVERY EXAMINER.
AMERICA]^, SLAVERY
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THE ANTI-SLAVERY EXAMINER.
AMERICAN SLAVERY
AS IT IS:
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TESTIMONY
A THOUSAND WITNESSES.
" Behold the wicked abommations that they do !" — ^Ezekiel, viii. 9.
"The righteous considereth the cause of the poor; but the wicked regardeth not to know it." — ^Prov. 29, 7.
"True humanity consists not in a squeamish ear, but in listening to the story of human suffering and endea- voring to reUeve it." — Charles James Fox.
N E W Y 0 R K : PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY,
OFFICE, No. 143 NASSAU STREET.
18 3 9.
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This periodical contains 7 sheets — postage, under 100 miles, 10| cts. ; over 100 miles, 17^ cents.
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ADVERTISEMENT TO THE READER.
A MAJORITY of the facts and testimony contained in this work rests upon the autliority of SLAVEHOLDERS, whoso names and residences are given to the public, as vouchers for the truth of their statements. That they should utter falsehoods, for the sake of proclaiming their own infamy, is not probable.
Their testimony is taken, mainly, from recent newspapers, published in the slave states. Most of those papers will be deposited at the office of the American Anti-Slavery Society, 143 Nas- sau street, New- York City. Those who think the atrocities, which they describe, incredible, are invited to call and read for themselves. We regret that all of the original papers are not in oar possession. The idea of preserving them on file for the inspection of the incredulous, and the curious, did not occur to us until after the preparation of the work was in a state of forwardness j in consequence of this, some of the papers cannot be recovered. Nearly all of them, however have been preserved. In all cases the name of the paper is given, and, with very few excep- tions, the place and time, (year, month, and day) of publication. Some of the extracts, however not being made with reference to this work, and before its publication was contemplated, are without date ; but this class of extracts is exceedingly small, probably not a thirtieth of the whole
The statements, not deriv^ from the papers and other periodicals, letters, books, &c., pub- lislied by slaveholders, have been furnished by individuals who have resided in slave states, many of whom are natives of those states, and have been slaveholders. The names, residences, &c. of the witnesses generally are given. A number of them, however, stOl reside in slave states ;— to publish their names would be, in most cases, to make them the victims of popular fury.
Neio~Y<yrk, May 4, 1839.
NOTE.
The Executive Committee of the American Anti-Slavery Society, w^hile tendering their grate- ful acknowledgments, in the name of American Abolitionists, and in behalf of the slave, to those who have furnished for this publication the result of their residence and travel in the slave states ol this Union, annoimce their determination to publish, from time to time, as they may have the ma- terials and the funds, tracts, containing well authenticated facts, testimony, personal narratives, &c. fully setting forth the condition of American slaves. In order that they maybe furnished with the requisite materials, they invite all who have had personal knowledge of the condition of slaves in any of the states of this Union, to forward their testimony with their names and residences. To prevent imposition, it is indispensable that persons forwarding testimony, who are not personally known to any of the Executive Committee, or to the Secretaries or Editors of the American Anti- Slavery Society, should furnish references to some person or persons of respectability, with whom, if necessary, the Committee may communicate respecting the writer.
Facts and testimony respecting the condition of slaves, in all respects, are desired ; their food, (kinds, quahty, and quantitj'^,) clothing, lodging, dwellings, hours of labor and rest, kinds of labor, with the mode of exaction, supervision, &c. — the number and time of meals each day, treatment when sick, regulations respecting their social intercourse, marriage and domestic ties, the system of torture to which they are subjected, with its various modes ; and in detail, their intellectual and moral condition. Great care should be observed in the statement of facts. Well-weighed testimony and well-authenticated facts, with a responsible name, the Committee earnestly desire and call for. Thousands of persons in the free states have ample knowledge on this subject, de- rived from their own observation in the midst of slavery. Will such hold their peace ? T hat which maketh manifest is light; he who keepeth his candle under a bushel at such a time and in such a cause as this, forges fetters for himself, as well as for the slave. Let no one withhold his testi- mony because others have already testified to similar facts. The value of testimony is by no means to be measured by the novelty of the horrors which it describes. Corroborative testimony, — facts, similar to those established by the testimony of others, — is highly valuable. Who that can give it and has a heart of flesh, will refuse to the slave so small a boon ?
Communications maybe addressed to Theodore D. Weld, 143 Nassau-street, New York. New York, May, 1839.
CONTENTS.
Introduction. — 7-10.
Twenty-seven hundred thousand free born citizens of t'le U. S. in slaverj', 7 : Tender mercies of slaveliolders, 8 : Abominations of slavery, 9: Character of the testimo- ny, 9-10.
Personal Narratives— Part I. pp. 10-27.
Narrative of Nehemiah Caulkins, 102 ; North Carolina slavery, 11 ; Methodist preaching slavedriver, Galloway, 12 : Women at child-birth, 12 : Slaves at labor, 12 : Clotliing of slaves, 13 ; Allowance of provisions, 13 ; Slave-fetters, 1.3 ; Cruelties to slaves, 13, 14, 15 , Burying a slave alive, 15 ; Licentiousness of Slave- holders, 15, 16 ; Rev. Thomas P. Hunt, with his " hands tied," 16 ; Preachers cringe to slavery, 15 ; Nakedness of slaves, 16 ; Slave-huts, 16 ; Means of subsistence for slaves, 16, 17 ; Slaves' prayer, 17.
Narrrative of Rev. Horace Moolton, 17 ; Labor of Uie slaves, 13 ; Tasks, 18 ; Whipping posts, 18 ; Food, 1? : Houses, 19 ; Clothing, 19 ; Punishments, 19, 20 ; Scenes of horror, 20 ; Constables, savage and brutal, 20 ; Patrols. 20; Cruelties at night, 20,21 ; Paddle-torturing; 20 ; Cat-hauling, 21 ; Branding witli hot iron, 21 ; Murder witli unpunity, 21 ; Iron collars, yokes, clogs, and bells, 21.
Narrative of Sarah M.Grimke, 22; Barbarous Treat- ment of slaves, 22 ; Converted slave, 22 ; Professor of reli- gion, near death, tortured his slave for visiting his com- panion, 33 ; Counterpart of James Williams' description of Larriiuore's wife, 23 ; Head of runaway slave on a pole, 23 ; Governor of North Carolina left his sick slave to per- ish, 23 ; Cruelty to Women slaves, 34 ; Christian slave a niartjT for Jesus, 24.
Testimony of Rev. John Graham, 25 ; Twenty-seven slaves whipped, 26.
Testimony of William Poe, 26 ; Hams whipped a gul to death, 26 ; Captain of the U. S. Navy murdered his boy, was tried and acquitted, 26 ; Overseer burut a slave, 26 ; Cruelties to slaves, 26.
Privations of the slaves, pp. 27 — 44-
FOOD, 28-31 ; Suffering from hunger, 28 ; Rationsi in the U. S. Army, &c , 32 ; Prison rations, 33-34 ; Testimo- ny, 34, S5. LABOR, 35 ; Slaves are overworked, 35 ; Wit- nesses, 35, 36 ; Henry Clay, 37 ; Child-bearing prevented, 37 ; Dr. Channing, 38 ; Sacrifice of a set of hands every seven years, 33 ; Testimony, 39 ; Laws of Georgia, Louis- iana, Maryland, South Carolina, and Virginia, 39. CLOTHING, 40 ; Witnesses, 40, 41 ; Advertisements, 41 ; Testimony, 41 ; Field-hands, 41 ; Nudity of slaves, 42 ; John Randolph's legacy to Essex and Hetty, 43. DWELLINGS, 42 ; Witnesses, 43 : Slaves are wi-etchedly sheltered and lodged, 43. TREATMENT OF THE SICK, 44.
Personal Narratives, Part II. pp 45-57.
Testimony of the Rev. "Wiilliam T. Allan. 45; Woman delivered of a dead child, being whipped, 46 ; Slaves shot by Hilton, 46 ; Cruelties to slaves, 46 ; Whii)- ping post, 46 ; Assaults, and maimings, 46, 47 ; Mur- ders, 47; Puryear, "the Devil," 47; Overseers always armed, 44 ; Licentiousness of Overseers, 47 ; " Bend your backs," 47 ; Mrs. H., a Presbyterian, desirous to cut Arthur Tappau's tliroat, 47 ; Clothing, Huts, and Herding of slaves, 47 ; Iron yokes with prongs, 47 ; Marriage un- known among slaves, 46 ; Presbyterian minister at Huiats- ville, 47 ; Concubinage in Preacher's house, 47 ; Slavery, the great wrong, 47.
Narrative of William Lfftwich, 48, 49 ; Slave's life, 48, 49.
Testimony of Lemuel Sapington, 49 ; Nakedmcss of slaves, 49 ; Traffic in slaves, 49.
Testimony of Mrs. Lowry, 50 ; Long, a professor of religion killed three men, 50 ; Salt water applied to wounds to keep them from putrefaction, 50.
Testimony or William C. Gildersleeve, 50 ; Acts of cruelty, 50.
Testimony of Hiram White, 51 ; Woman with a child chained to her neck, 51 ; Amalgamation, and mulatto children, 51.
Testimony of John M. Nelson, 51 ; Rev. Conrad Speece influenced Alexander Nelson when dying not to emancipate his slaves, 52 ; George Bourne opposed slavery in 1810, 52.
Testimony of Angelina Grimke Weld, 52 ; House- servants, 52 ; Slave-driving female professors of religion at Charleston, S. C., 53 ; Whipping women and prayer in the same room, 53 ; Tread-mills, 53 ; Slaveholding religion, 34 ; Slave-driving mistress prayed for the divine blessing upon her whipping of an aged woman, 54 ; Girl killed with impunity, 54 ; Jewish law, 54 ; Barbarities, 54 ; Medical attendance upo'i slaves, 35 ; Young man beaten to epilepsy and insanity, 55 ; Mistresses flog their slaves, 55; Blood- bought luxuries, 55 ; Borrowing of slaves, 55 ; Meals of slaves, 53 ; All comfort of slaves disregarded, 36 ; Severance of companion lovers, 56 ; Separation of parents and children, 56 ; Slave espionage, 57 ; Sufferings of slaves, 57 ; Horrors of slavery indescribable, 56.
Testimony of Cruelty inflicted upon slaves, -57; Colonization Society, 60 ; Emancipation Society of North Carolina, 60 ; Kentucky, 61.
PUNISHMENTS, 62-72 ; Floggings, 62; Witnesses and Testimony, 62, 63.
Slave Driving, 69 ; Droves of slaves, 70.
Cruelty to Slaves, 70 ; Slaves like Stock without a shelter, 71 ; " Six pound paddle," 71.
Tortures of slaves. Iron collars, chai'is, fetters, and hand-cuffs, 72-76 : Advertisements for fugitive slaves, 73 : Testimony, 74, 75: Iron head-frame, 76: Chain coffles, 76 ; Droves of ' human cattle,' 76 : Washington, the Na- tional slave market, 76 : Testimony of James K. Pauld- ing, Secretary of the Navy ; Literary fraud and preteaided prophecy by Mr. Paulding, 77 : Brandings, Maimings, and Gun-shot wounds, 77 : Witnesses and Testimony, 77-82: Mr. Sevier, senator of the U. S. 79: Judge Hitchcock, ot Mobile, 79 : Commendable fidelity to truth in the advertisa- ments of slaveholders, 82 : Thomas Aylethorpe cut off" a slave's ear, and sent it to Lewis Tappan, S3 : Advettiae- mants for runaway slaves with their teeth muti- lated, 83, 84 ; Excessive cruelty to slaves, 85 : Slaves burned alive, 86 : Mr. Turner, a slave-butcher, 87 : Slaves roasted and flogged, 87: Cruelties common, 83: Fugitive slaves, 88 : Slaves forced to eat tobacco worms, 88 : Baptist Christians escaping from slavery, 88 ; Chris- tian whipped for praying, 88 : James K. Paulding's testi- mony, 89 : Slave driven to death, 89 : Coroner's inquest on Harney's murdered female slave, 89: Man-stealing en- couraged by law, 90 : Trial for a murdered slave, 90 : Fe- male slave whipped to death, and durmg the torture deliv- ered of a dead infant. 90 : Slaves murdered, 90,91,92: Slave driven to death, 92 : Slaves killed with impimity, 93 : George, a slave, chopped piece-meal, and burnt by Lilbum Lewis, 92 ; Retributive justice in the awful death of Lilbum Lewis, 94 : Trial of Isham Lewis, a slave mur- derer, 94. ^ , _ _.^
VI
Contents.
Personal Narratives — Part hi. Page 94-109.
Narrative of Rev. Francis Hawley, 94 ; Plantations, 94 ; Overseers, 95 ; No appeal from Overseers to Masters, 95. Clothing, 95 ; Nudity of slaves, 95. WoEK, 95 ; Cotton-picking, 96 ; Mothers of slaves, 96 ; Presbyterian minister killed his slave, 96 ; Methodist co- lored preacher hung, 96 ; Licentiousness, 97 ; Slave-traffic, 97 ; N^ight in a Slaveholder's house, 97 ; Twelve slaves murdered, 97 ; Slave driving Baptist preachers, 97 ; Hunt- ing of runaways slaves, 97 ; Amalgamation, 97.
Testimony of Reuben C. Macy, and Richard Macy, 98. Whipping of slaves, 98, 99. Testimony of Eleazer Powel, 99 ; Overseer of Hinds Stuart, shot a slave for opposing the torture of his female companion, 100.
Testimony of Rev. William Scales, 100. Three slaves murdered with impunity, 100 ; Separation of lovers, par- ents, and children, 101.
Testimony of Jos. Im, 101. Mrs. T. a Presbyterian kind w^oman- killer, 101; Female slave whipped to deatli, 101; Food, 101 ; Nakedness of slaves, 101 ; Old man flogged after praying for his tyrant, 101 ; Slave-huts not as comfort- able as pig- sties, 101.
Testimony op Rev. Phineas Smith, 101. Texas, 102 ; Suit for the value of slave ' property,' 102 ; Anson Jones, Ambassador from Texas, 102 ; No trial or punishment for the r.iurder of slaves, 102 ; Slave-hunting in Texas, 102 ; Suffering drives the slaves to despair and suicide, 102. Testimony OF Phil'n Bliss, 102. Ignorance of northern citizens respecting slavery, 102,Betting upon crops, 103 ; E.x- tcnt and cruelty of the punishment of slaves, 103 ; Slavehold- ers excuse their cruelties by the example of Preacliers, and professors of religion, and NortJiern citizens, 104 ; Novel torture, eulogized by a professor of rehgion, 104 ; Whips as common as the plough, 104 ; Ladies use cowhides, with shovel and tongs, 104.
Testimony of Rev. Wm. A. Chapin, 105. Slave-labor, lfl5 ; Starvation of slaves, 105 ; Slaves lacerated, without clothing, and \\'ithout food, 105.
Testimony of T. M. Macy, 105. Cotton plantations on St. Simon's Island, 105 ; Cultivntion of rice, 106 ; No time for relaxation, 106; Sabbatli a nominal rest, 106; Clothing, 106 ; Flogging, 106.
Testimony of F. C. Macy, 106. Slave cabins, 106 ; Food, 106 ; Whipping every day, 106 ; Treatment of slaves as brutes, 106 ; Slave-boys fight for slaveholder's amusementi 107 ; Amalgamation comnio'i, 107.
Testimony of a Clergyman, 107. Natchez, 107 ; ' Lie dovm,' for whipping, 107 ; Slave-huntuig, 108 ; ' Ball and oitaiii' men, 108 ; Whipping at the same time, on three plantations, 108 ; Hours of Labor, 108 ; Christians slave- hunting, 108 ; Many runaway slaves annually shot, 108 ; Slaves in the stocks, 108 ; Slave-branding, 108.
Oondition of Slaves, 108. Slavery is unmixed cruelty, 108; Fear the only motive of slaves, 109; Pain is the means, not the end of slave-driving, 109 ; Characters of Slave drivers and Overseers, brutal, sensual, and violent, 109 ; Ownership of human beings utterly destroys tkeir comfort, 109.
OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED :— Page 120—210. I. Such cruelties are incredible, 110. Slaves deemed to ')e working animals, or merchandize ; and called ' Stock,' ' Increase,' ' Breeders,' ' Drivers,' ' Propesty,' ' Human cattle,' 110 ; Testimony of Thomas Jefferson, 110 ; Slaves worse treated than quadrupeds. 111, 112 ; Contrast between the usage of slaves and animals, 112; Testimony, 112! Northern incredulity discreditable to consistency, 112 ; Religious persecutions, 113 ; Recent ' Lynchings,' and Riots, in the United States, 113 ; Many outrageous Felonies perpe- trated with impunity, 113; Large faith of the objectors who ' can't believe,' 114 ; 'Uoe faces,' and' Dough faces,' 114 ; Slave-drivers acknowledge their own enormities, 114; Slave plantations in Alabama. Louisiana, and Mississippi, ' second only to hell,' 114 ; Legislature of North Carolina,
115 ; Incredulity discreditable to intelligence, 115 ; Abuse of power in the state, and churches, 115 ; Legal restraints, 116 ; American slaveholders possess absolute power, 116; Slaves deprived of the safeguards oflaw,116; Mutual aversion be- tween the oppressor and the slave, 116 ; Cruelty the product of arbitrary power, 117 ; Testimony of Thomas Jefferson, 117 ; Judge Tucker, 117 ; Presbyterian Synod of South Carolina, and Georgia, 117 ; General William H. Harrison, 117; President Edwards, 118 ; Montesquieu, 118; Wilber- force, 118 ; Whitbread, 118 ; Characters, 118, 121.
Objection H.— " Slaveholders protest that they treat their slaves well.'' 121 Not testimony but opinion, 122; 'Good treatment' of slaves,' 123 ; Novel form of cruelty, 125 .
Objection IU — " Slaveholders are proverbial for their kmdness, and generosity, 125; Hospitality and benevolence contrasted, 125, 126 ; Slaveholders in Congress, respecting Texas and Hayti, 126 ; ' Fictitious kindness and hospitality,' 128.
Objf.ction IV. — " Northern visitors at the south testify that the slaves are not cruelly treated," 128. Testimony, 128,129; ' Gubner poisened,' 129 ; Fiela-hands, 130; Par- lor slaves, 130 ; Chief Justice Durell, 131.
Objection V.—" It is for the interest of the masters to treat their slaves well," 132; Testimony, 133. Rev. J. N Maffitt, 134 ; Masters interest to treat cruelly the great body of the slaves, 134, 13S ; Various classes of slaves, 135, 136 ; Hired slaves, 130 ; Advertisements, 136, 1.37.
Objection VI-.—" Slaves multiply ; a proof that they are not inhumanly treated, and are in a comfortable condition, 139. Testimony, 139; Martin VanBuren, 139; Foreign slave trade, 1.39 ; ' Beware of Kidnappers,' 140 ; ' Citizens sold as slaves,' 141 ; Kidnapping at New Orleans, 141 ; Slave breeders, 142.
Objection VII. — " Public opinion is a protection to the slave, 143." Decision of the Supreme Court of North and South Carolina, 143; ' Protection of slaves,' 143; Mischiev- ous effects of ' public opinion' concerning slaveiy, 144 ; Lawsof different states, 144 ; Heart of slaveholders, 145 ; Reasons for enacting the laws conceming cruelties tn slaves, 147 ; ' Moderate correction,' 148 ; Hypocrisy and malignity of slave laws, 148 ; Testimony of slaves excluded, 149 ; Capital crimes for slaves, 149 ; ' Slaveholding brutali- ty,' worse than that of Caligula, 149 ; Public opinion destroys fundamental rights, 150; Character of slaveholders' adver- tisements, l.=i2 ; Public opinion is diabolical, 152, 154 ; Brutal Indecency, 154 ; Murder of slaves by law, 155, 156 ; Judge Lawless, 157 ; Slave-hunting, 159, 160 ; Health of slaves, 161 ; Acclimation of slaves, 162 ; Liberty of Slaves 162 ; Kidnapping of free citizens, 162 ; Law of Louisiana, 163 ; Friends', memorial, 164 ; Domestic slaveiy, 164 ; Ad- vertisements, 164, 167 ; Childhood,old age, 167; Inhumani ty, 169; Butchering dead slaves, 169; South Carolina Medical college, 169 ; Charleston Medical Infirmaiy, 172 ; Advertisements, 172, 173 ; Slave murders, 173 ; John Ran- dolph, 173; Charleston slave auctions, 174 ; ' Never lose a day's work,' 174 ; Stocks, 175 ; Slave-breeding, 175 ; Ljmcli law, 175 ; Slaves murdered,176 ; Slavery among Christians, 176, 180 ; Licentiousness encouraged by preachers, ISO ; 'Fine old preacher who dealt in slaves,' 180; Cruelty to slaves by professors of religion, ISl ; Slave-breeding, 182; Daniel O'Connel, and Andrew Stevenson, 182 ; Virginia a negro raising menagerie, 182 ■ Legislature of Virginia, 182; Colonization Society,183; Inter-state slave traffic, 184; Bat- tles in Congress, 184; Duelling, 185; Cock-fighting, 186; Horse-racing, 186 ; Ignorance of slaveholders, 187 i 'Slave- holding civiltzation, and morality,' 188; Arkansas, 188; Slave driving ruffians, 189, 190 ; Missouri, 191 ; Alabama, 192 ; Butcheries hi Mississippi, 194 ; Louisiana, 198 ; Ten- nessee, 200 ; Fatal Affray in Colum'iia, 201 ; Presentment of the Grand Juiy of Shelby County, 202 ; Testimony of Bishop Smith of Kentucky, 204, 206.
Atlantic Slaveholding Region, '206. Georgia, 206 ; North Carolina, 209 ; Trading with Negroes, 209 ; Conclu- sion, 210.
INTRODUCTION.
Reader, you are empaiinelled as a juror to try a. plain case and bring in an honest verdict. , Tlie question at issue is not one of law, but of fact — "What is tlie actual condition of the slaves in the United States ?" A plainer case never went to a jury. Look at it. Twenty- seven HUNDRED THOUSAND PERSONS in this Coun- try, men, women, and children, are in slavery. Is slavery, as a condition for human beings, good, bad, or indifferent? We submit the question VN^ithout argument. You have common sense, and conscience, and a human heart ; — pro- nounce upon it. You have a wife, or a husband, a child, a father, a mother, a brother or a sister — make the case your own, make it theirs, and bring in your verdict. The case of Human Rights against Slavery has been adjudicated in the court of conscience times innumerable. The same verdict has always been rendered — " Guil- ty;" the same sentence has always been pro- nounced, " Let it be accursed ;" and human na- ture, with her million echoes, has rung it round the world in every language under heaven, " Let it be accursed. Let it be accursed." His heart is false to human nature, who will not say "Amen." There is not a man on earth who does not be- lieve that slavery is a curse. Human beings may be inconsistent, but himian nature is true to herself. She has uttered her testimony against slavery with a shriek ever since the mon- ster was begotten ; and till it perishes amidst the execrations of the universe, she will traverse the world on its track, dealing her bolts upon its head, and dashing against it her condemning brand. W"e repeat it, every man knows that slavery is a curse. Whoever denies this, his lips libel his heart. Try him ; clank the chains in his ears, and tell him they are for him. Give him an hour to prepare his wife and children for a life of slavery. Bid him make haste and get ready their necks for the yoke, and their wrists for the coffle chains, then look at his pale lips and trembling knees, and you have nature's testimony against slavery.
Two millions seven hundred thousand persons in these States are in this condition. They were made slaves and are held such by force, and by being put in fear, and this for no crime ! Reader, what have you to say of such treatment ? Is it right, just, benevolent ? Suppose I should seize you, rob you of your liberty, drive you into the field, and make you work without pay as long as you live, would that be justice and kindness, or monstrous injustice and cruelty? Now, every body knows that the slaveholders do these things to the slaves every day, and yet it is stoutly af- firmed that they treat them well and kindly, and that their tender regard for their slaves restrains the masters from inflicting cruelties upon them. We shall go into no metaphysics to show the absurdity of this pretence. The man who rohs you every day, is, forsooth, quite too tender- hearted ever to cuff or kick you ! True, he can snatch your money, but he does it gently lest he should hurt you. He can empty your pockets without qualms, but if your stomach is empty, it cuts him to the quick. He can make you work a life time without pay, but loves you too well to let you go hungry. He fleeces you of your rights with a relish, but is shocked if you work bareheaded in summer, or in winter without warm stockings. He can make you go without your liberty, but never without a sliirt. He can crush, in you, all hope of bettering your condition, by vowing that you shall die his slave, but though he can coolly torture your feelings, he is too com- passionate to lacerate your back — he can break your heart, but he is very tender of yom- skin. He can strip you of all protection and thus ex- pose you to all outrages, but if you are exposed to the weather, half clad and half sheltered, how yeam his tender bowels ! What ! slaveholders talk of treating men well, and yet not only rob them of all they get, and as fast as they get it, but rob them of themselves, also ; their very hands and feet, all their muscles, and Umbs, and senses, their bodies and minds, their time and liberty and earnings, their free speech and rights of con-
8
Introduction.
science, their right to acquire knowledge, and property, and reputation ; — and yet they, who plunder them of all these, would fain make us believe that their soft hearts ooze out so lovingly toward their slaves that they always keep them well housed and well clad, never push them too hard in the field, never make their dear backs smart, nor let their dear stomachs get empty.
But there is no end to these absurdities. Are slaveholders dunces, or do they take all the rest of the world to be, that they think to bandage our eyes with such thin gauzes ? Protesting their kind regard for those whom they hourly plunder of all they have and all they get ! What ! when they have seized their victims, and annihilated all their rights, still claim to be the special guardians of their happi- ness .' Plunderers of their liberty, yet the careful suppliers of their wants ? Robbers of their earn- ings, yet watchful sentinels round their interests, and kind providers of their comforts ? Filching all their time, yet granting generous donations for rest and sleep ? Stealing the use of their muscles, yet thoughtful of their ease ? Putting them imder driv. ers, yet careful that they are not hard-pushed ? Too humane forsooth to stint the stomachs of their slaves, yet force their minds to starve, and brandish over them pains and penalties, if they dare to reach forth for the smallest crumb of knowledge, even a letter of the alphabet !
It is no marvel that slaveholders are always talking of their kind treatment of their slaves. The only marvel is, that men of sense can be gulled by such professions. Despots always insist that they are merciful. The greatest tyrants that ever dripped with blood have assumed the titles of " most gracious," " most clement," " most merciful," &c., and have ordered their crouching vassals to accost them thus. When did not vice lay claim to those virtues which are the opposites of its habitual crimes ? The guilty, according to their own showing, are always innocent, and cowards brave, and drunkards sober, and harlots chaste, and pickpockets honest to a fault. Every body understands this. When a man's tongue grows thick, and he begins to hiccough and walk cross-legged, we expect him, as a matter of course, to protest that he is not drunk ; so when a man is always singing the praises of his own honesty, we instinctively watch his movements and look out for our pocket-books. Whoever is simple enough to be hoaxed by such professions, should never be trusted in the streets without somebody to take care of him. Human nature works out in slave- holders just as it does in other men, and in Ame- rican slaveholders just as in English, French, Tmkish, Algerine, Roman and Grecian. The Spartans boasted of their kindness to their slaves, ■while they whipped them to death by thousands at
the altars of their gods. The Romans lauded their own mild treatment of their bondmen, while they branded their names on their flesh with hot irons, and when old, threw them into their fish ponds, or like Cato " the Just," starved them to death. It is the boast of the Turks that they treat their slaves as though they were their chil- dren, yet their common name for them is " dogs," and for the merest trifles, their feet are bastina- doed to a jelly, or their heads clipped off with the scimetar. The Portuguese pride themselves on their gentle bearing toward their slaves, yet the streets of Rio Janeiro are filled with naked men and women yoked in pairs to carts and wagons, and whipped by drivers like beasts of burden.
Slaveholders, the world over, have sung the praises of their tender mercies towards their slaves. Even the wretches that plied the African slave trade, tried to rebut Clarkson's proofs of their cruelties, by speeches, affidavits, and pub- lished pamphlets, setting forth the accommoda- tions of the " middle passage," and their kind attentions to the comfort of those whom they had stolen from their homes, and kept stowed away under hatches, during a voyage of four thousand mOes. So, according to the testimony of the autocrat of the Russias, he exercises great clemency towards the Poles, though he exiles them by thousands to the snows of Siberia, and tramples them down by millions, at home. Who discredits the atrocities perpetrated by Ovando in Hispaniola, Pizarro in Peru, and Cortez in Mexi- co,— ^because they filled the ears of the Spanish Court with protestations of their benignant rule ? While they were yoking the enslaved natives like beasts to the draught, working them to death by thousands in their mines, hunting them with bloodhounds, torturing them on racks, and broiling them on beds of coals, their representa- tions to the mother country teemed with eulogies of their parental sway ! The bloody atrocities of PhOip II., in the expulsion of his Moorish sub- jects, are matters of imperishable history. Who disbelieves or doubts them ? And yet his cour- tiers magnified his virtues and chanted his cle- mency and his mercy, while the wail of a million victims, smitten down by a tempest of fire and slaughter let loose at his bidding, rose above the Tc Deums that thundered from all Spain's cathe- drals. Wlien Louis XIV. revoked the edict of Nantz, and proclaimed two millions of his sub- jects free plunder for persecution, — when from the English channel to the Pyrennees the man- gled bodies of the Protestants were dragged on reeking hurdles by a shouting populace, he.claim. ed to be " the father of his people," and wrote himself " His most Christian Majesty."
But we will not anticipate topics, the full dis- cussion of which more naturally follows than
Introduction.
9
precedes the inquiry into tlie actual condition and treatment of slaves in the United States.
As slaveholders and their apologists are volun- teer witnesses in their own cause, and are flood- ing the world with testimony that their slaves are kindly treated ; that they are well fed, well clothed, well housed, well lodged, moderately worked, and boimtifully provided with all things needful for their comfort, we propose — first, to dis- prove their assertions by the teetimony of a multi- tude of impartial witnesses, and then to put slave- holders themselves through a course of cross-ques- tioning which shall draw their condemnation out of their own mouths. We will prove that the slaves in the United States are treated with barbarous in- humanity ; that they are overworked, underfed, wretchedly clad and lodged, and have insufficient sleep ; that they are often made to wear round their necks iron collars armed with prongs, to drag heavy chains and weights at their feet while working in the field, and to wear yokes, and bells, and iron horns ; that they are often kept confined in the stocks day and night for weeks together, made to wear gags in their mouths for hours or days, have some of their front teeth torn out or broken off, that they may be easily detected when they run away ; that they are frequently flogged with terrible severity, have red pepper rubbed into their lacerated flesh, and hot brine, spirits of turpentine, &c., poured over the gashes to increase the torture ; that they are often strip- ped naked, their backs and limbs cut with knives, bruised and mangled by scores and hundreds of blows with the paddle, and terribly torn by the claws of cats, drawn over them by their tormen- tors ; that they are often hunted with blood hounds and shot down like beasts, or torn in pieces by dogs; that they are often suspended by the arms and whipped and beaten till they faint, and when revived by restoratives, beaten again till they faint, and sometimes till they die ; that their ears are often cut off", their eyes knocked out, their bones broken, their flesh branded with red hot irons ; that they are mailed, mutilated and burned to death over slow iiren. All these things, and more, and worse, we shaJi prove. Reader, we know whereof we aiSrm, we have Vi^eighed it well; viore and icorse WE "WILL PROVE. Mark these word=, and read on ; we will establish all these facts by the tescimony of scores and hun- dreds of eye witnessse?, by the testimony of slave- holders in all parts of the slave states, by slavehold- ing members of Congress and of state legisla- tures, by ambassadors to foreign courts, by judges, by doetors of divinity, and clergy- men of all denominations, by merchants, mechanics, lawyers and physicians, by presi- dents and professors in colleges and profes- sional seminaries, by planters, overseers and
drivers. We shall show, not merely that such deeds are committed, but that they are frequent ; not done in corners, but before the sun ; not in one of the slave states, but in all of them ; not perpe- trated by brutal overseers and drivers merely, but by magistrates, by legislators, by professors of religion, by preachers of the gospel, by governors of states, by " gentlemen of property and stand- ing," and by delicate females moving in the " highest circles of society." We know, full well, the outcry that will be made by multitudes, at these declarations ; the multiform cavils, the flat denials, the charges of " exaggeration" and " falsehood" so often bandied, the sneers of af fected contempt at the credulity that can believe such things, and the rage and imprecations against those who give them currency. Wc know, too, the threadbare sophistries by which slaveholders and their apologists seek to evade such testimony. If they admit that such deeds are committed, they tell us that they are exceed- ingly rare, and therefore furnish no grounds for judging of the general treatment of slaves ; that occasionally a brutal wretch in the free states barbarously butchers his wife, but that no one thinks of inferring from that, the general treat, ment of wives at the North and West.
They tell us, also, that the slaveholders of the South are proverbially hospitable, kind, and generous, and it is incredible that they can per- petrate such enormities upon human beings ; fur- ther, that it is absurd to suppose that they would thus injm-e their own property, that self interest would prompt them to treat their slaves with kindness, as none but fools and madmen wantonly destroy their own property ; further, that Northern visitors st the South come back testifying to the kind <reatinent of the slaves, and that the slaves theznselves corroborate such representations. All these pleas, and scores of others, are bruited in every corner of the free States ; and who that hath eyes to see, has not sickened at t'he blind- ness that saw not, at the palsy of heart that felt not, or at the covv'ardice and sycophancy that dared not expose such shallow fallacies. "We are not to be turned from our purpose by such vapid bab- blings. In their appropriate places, we propose to consider these objections and various others, and to show their emptiness and folly.
The foregoing declarations touching the inflic- tions upon slaves, are not hap-hazard assertions, nor the exaggerations of fiction conjured up to carry a point ; nor are they the rhapsodies of en- thusiasm, nor crude conclusions, jumped at by hasty and imperfect investigation, nor the aim. less outpourings either of sympathy or poetry ; but they are proclamations of dehberate, well- weighed convictions, produced by accumulations of proof, by affirmations and affidavits, by writ-
10
Personal Narratives — Mr. Caulkins.
ten testimonies and statements of a cloud of wit- nesses who speak what they know and testify what they have seen, and all these impregnably fortified by proofs innumerable, in the relation of the slaveholder to his slave, the nature of arbitrary power, and the nature and history of man.
Of the witnesses whose testimony is embodied in the following pages, a majority are slavehold. ers, many of the remainder have been slaveholders, but now reside in free States.
Another class whose testimony will be given, consists of those who have furnished the results of their own observation during periods of resi- dence and travel in the slave States.
We will first present the reader with a few Per- sonal Narratives furnished by individuals, na- tives of slave states and others, embodying, in the main, the results of their own observation in the midst of slavery — facts and scenes of which they were eye-witnesses.
In the next place, to give the reader as clear and definite a view of the actual condition of slaves as possible, we propose to make specific
points, to pass in review the various particulars in the slave's condition, simply presenting suffi. cient testimony under each head to settle the question in every candid mind. The examination will be conducted by stating distinct propositions, and in the following order of topics.
1. The food of the slaves, the kinds, quality
AND quantity, ALSO, THE NUMBER AND TIME OF
meals each day, &c.
2. Their hours of labor and rest.
3. Their clothing.
4. Their dwellings.
5. Their privations and inflictions.
6. In conclusion, a variety of objections and arguments ^vill be considered which are used by the advocates of slavery to set aside the force of testimony, and to show that the slaves are kindly treated.
Between the larger divisions of the work, brief personal narratives will be inserted, containing a mass of facts and testimony, both general and specific.
PERSONAL NARRATIVES.
Mr. Nehemiah Caulkins, of Waterford, New London Co., Connecticut, has furnished the Ex- ecutive Committee of the American Anti-Slavery Society, with the following statements rela- tive to the condition and treatment of slaves, in the south eastern part of North Carolina. Most of the facts related by Mr. Caulkins fell under his personal observation. The air of candor and honesty that pervades the narrativt, the manner in which Mr. C. has drawTi il up, the good sense, just views, conscience and heart which it exhibits, are sufficient of themselves to commend it to all who have ears to hear.
The Committee have no personal acquaintance with Mr. Caulkins, but they have ample testimo- nials from the most respectable sources ; all of which represent him to be a man whose long es- tabhshed character for sterling integrity, sound moral principle and piety, have secured for him the uniform respect and confidence of those who know him.
Without further preface the following testimo- nials are submitted to the reader.
" This may certify, that we the subscribers have lived for a number of years past in the neighborhood with Mr. Nehemiah Caulkins, and have no hesitation in stating that we consider him a man of high respectability and that his character for tnith and veracity is unimpeachable."
Peter Comstock. D. G. Otis.
A. F. Perkins, M.D. Philip Morgan.
Isaac Beebe. James Rogers, M. D."
LODOWICK Beebk.
Waterford, Ct.,Jan.l6th, 1839.
Mr. Comstock is a Justice of the Peace. Mr. L. Beebe is the Town Clerk of Waterford. Mr. J. Beebe is a member of the Baptist Church. Mr. Otis is a member of the Congregational Church. Mr. Morgan is a Justice of the Peace, and Messrs. Perkins and Rogers are designated by their titles. All those gentlemen are citizens of Waterford, Connecticut.
" To whom it may concern. This may certify that Mr. Nehemiah Caulkins, of Waterford, in New London County, is a near neighbor to the subscriber, and has been for many years. 1 do consider him a man of vnquestionable veracity and certify that he is so considered by people to whom he is personally Icncwn. Edward K. Warren."
Jan. 15tft, 1839.
Mr. Warren is a Commissioner (Associate Judge) of the Coonty Court, for New London County.
" This may certify that Mr. Nehemiali Caulkins, of the town of Waterford, County of New London, and State of Connecticut, is a member of the first Baptist Church in said Waterford, is in good sthnding, and is esteemed by us a man of truth and veracity.
Francis Darrow, Pastorof said Church."
Waterford, Jan. l&th, 183Q.
" This may certify that Nenemiah Caulkins, of Water- ford, lives near me, and I always esteemed him, and believe him to be a man of truth and veracity.
Elisha Beckvfith."
Jan. nth, 1839.
Mr. Beckwith is a Justice of the Peace, a Post Master, and a Deacon of the Baptist Church.
Mr. Dwight P. Janes, a member of the Second Congregational Church in the city of New Lon- don, in a recent letter, says ;
Personal Narratives — Mr. Caulkins.
11
" Mr. Caulkins is a member of the Baptist Church m Waterford, and in every respect a very worthy citizen. I have labored with him in the Sabbath School, and know him to be a man of active piety. The most entire confidence may be placed in tlie truth of his statements. Where he is known, no one will call them in question."
We close these testimonials with an extract, of a letter from William Bolles, Esq., a well known and respected citizen of New London, Ct.
"Mr. Nehemiah Caulkins resides in the town of Waterford, about six miles from this City. His opportmiities to acquire exact knowledge in relation to Slavery, in that section of our country.
to which his narrative is confined, have been very great. He is a carpenter, and was employed principally on the plantations, working at his trade, being thus almost constantly in the com- pany of the slaves as well as of their masters. His full heart readily responded to the call, [for in- formation relative to slavery,] for, as he expressed it, he had long desired that others might know what he had seen, being confident that a general knowledge of facts as they exist, would greatly promote the overthrow of the system. He is a man of undoubted character ; and where known, his statements need no corroboration.
Yours, &c. William Bolles.
NARRATIVE OF MR. CAULKINS.
I feel it my duty to tell some things that I know about slavery, in order, if possible, to awak- en more feeling at the North in behalf of the slave. The treatment of the slaves on the plan- tations where I had the greatest opportunity of getting knowledge, loas not so bad as that on some neighboring estates, where the owners were noted for their cruelty. There were, how. ever, other estates in the vicinity, where the treatment was better; the slaves were better clothed and fed, were not worked so hard, and more attention was paid to their quarters.
The scenes that I have witnessed are enough to harrow up the soul ; but could the slave be permitted to teU the story of his sufferings, which no white man, not linked with slavery, is alloiced to know, the land would vomit out the horrible system, slaveholders and all, if they would not unclinch their grasp upon their defenceless vic- tims.
I spent eleven winters, between the years 1824 and 1835, in the state of North Carolina, mostly in the vicinity of Wilmington ; and four out of the eleven on the estate of Mr. John Swan, five or six miles from that place. There were on his plantation about seventy slaves, male and female : some were married, and others lived together as man and wife, without even a mock ceremony. With their owners generally, it is a matter of indifference ; the marriage of slaves not being recognized by the slave code. The slaves, however, think much of being mar- ried by a clergyman.
The cabins or huts of the slaves were small, and were built principally by the slaves them- selves, as they could find time on Sundays and moonlight nights ; they went into the swamps, cut the logs, backed or hauled them to the quarters, and put up their cabins.
When I first knew Mr. Swan's plantation, his overseer was a man who had been a Methodist minister. He treated the slaves with great cruelty. His reason for leaving the ministry and becoming an overseer, as I was informed, was this : his wife died, at which providence he was so enraged, that he swore he woul»^. not preach for the Lord another day. This man continued on the plantation about three years ; at the close of which, on settlement of accounts, Mr. Swan owed him about ^400, for which he turned him out a negro woman, and about twen-
ty acres of land. He built a log hut, and took the woman to live with him ; since which, I have been at his hut, and seen four or five mu- latto children. He has been appointed a justice of the peace, and his place as overseer was after- wards occupied by a Mr. Galloway.
It is customary in that part of the country, ta let the hogs run in the woods. On one occasion a slave caught a pig about two months old, which he carried to his quarters. The overseer, getting information of the fact, went to the field where he was at work, and ordered him to come to him. The slave at once suspected it was some- thing about the pig, and fearing punishment, dropped his hoe and ran for the woods. He had got but a few rods, when the overseer raised his gun, loaded with duck shot, and brought him down. It is a common practice for overseers to go into the field armed with a gun or pistols, and sometimes both. He was taken up by the slaves and carried to the plantation hospital, and the physician sent for. A physician was employ- ed by the year to take care of the sick or wound- ed slaves. In about six weeks this slave got bet- ter, and was able to come out of the hospital. He came to the mill where I was at work, and asked me to examine his body, which I did, and counted twenty-six duck shot still remaining in his flesh, though the doctor had removed a num- ber while he was laid up.
There was a slave on Mr. Swan's plantation, by the name of Harry, who, during the absence of his master, ran away and secreted himself in the woods. This the slaves sometimes do, when the master is absent for several weeks, to escape the cruel treatment of the overseer. It is com- mon for them to make preparations, by secreting a mortar, a hatchet, some cooking utensils, and whatever things they can get that will enable them to live while they are in the woods or swamps. Harry staid about three months, and lived by robbing the rice grounds, and by such other means as came in his way. The slaves generally know where the runaway is secreted, and visit him at night and on Sundays. On the return of his master, some of the slaves were sent for Harry. When he came home he was seized and confined in the stocks. The stocks were built in the bam, and consisted of two heavy pieces of timber, ten or more feet in length, and about seven inches wide ; the lower one, on
12
Personal Narratives — Mr. Caulkins,
the floor, has a number of holes or places cut in it, for the ancles ; the upper piece, being of the same dimensions, is fastened at one end by a hinge, and is brought dov/n after the ancles are placed in the holes, and secured by a clasp and padlock at the other end. In this manner the person is left to sit on the floor. Harry was kept in the stocks day and night for a week, and flogged every morning. After this, he was taken out one morning, a log chain fastened around his neck, the two ends dragging on the ground, and he sent to the field, to do his task with the other slaves. At night he was again put in the stocks, in the morning he was sent to the field in the same manner, and thus dragged out another week.
The overseer was a very miserly fellow, and restricted his wife in what are considered the comforts of life — such as tea, sugar, &c. To make up for this, she set her wits to work, and, by the help of a slave, named Joe, used lo take from the plantation whatever she could conveniently, and watch her opportunity during her husband's absence, and send Joe to sell them and buy for her such things as she directed. Once when her husband was away, she told Joe to kill and dress one of the pigs, sell it, and get her some tea, sugar, &c. Joe did as he was bid, and she gave him the ofFal for his services. When Galloway returned, not suspecting his wife, he asked her if she knew what had become of his pig. She told him she sus2)ected one of the slaves, naming him, had stolen it, for she had heard a pig squeal the evening before. The overseer called the slave up, and charged him with the theft. He denied it, and said he knew nothing about it. The over- seer still charged him with it, and told him he would give him one week to think of it, and if he did not confess the theft, or find out who did steal the pig, he would flog every negro on the planta- tion ; before the week was up it was ascertained that Joe had killed the pig. He was called up and questioned, and admitted that ho had done so, and told the overseer that he did it by the or- der of Mrs. Galloway, and that she directed him to buy some sugar, &.c. with the money. Mrs. Galloway gave Joe the lie ; and he was terribly flogged. Joe told me he had been several times to the smoke-house with Mrs. G, and taken hams and sold them, which her husband told me he supposed were stolen by the negroes on a neigh- boring plantation. Mr. Swan, hearing of the cir- cumstance, told me he believed Joe's story, but that his statement would not be taken as proof ; and if every slave on the plantation told the same story it could not be received as evidence against a white person.
To show the manner in which old and worn- out slaves are sometimes treated, I will state a fact Galloway owned a man about seventy years of age. The old man was sick and went to his hut ; laid himself down on some straw witi^ his feet to the fire, covered by a piece of an old blanket, and there lay four or five days, groaning m great distress, without any attention being paid him by his master, until death ended his miseries ; Tic was then taken out and buried with as little ceremony and respect as would be paid to a brute.
There is a practice prevalent among the plant- ers, of letting a negro off from severe and long-
continued punishment on account of the mterces. sion of some white person, who pleads in his be- half, that he believes the negro will behave better ; that he promises well, and he believes he will keep his promise, &c. The planters sometimes get tired of punishing a negro, and, wanting his services in the field, they get some white person to come, and, in the presence of the slave, inter, cede for him. At one time a negro, named Charles, was confined in the stocks in the build- ing where I was at work, and had been severely whipped several times. He begged me to inter- cede for him and try to get him released. I told him I would ; and when his master came in to whip him again, I went up to him and told him I had been talking with Charles, and he had pro- mised to behave better, &c., and requested him not to punish him any more, but to let him go. He then said to Charles, " As Mr. Caulkins has been pleading for you, I will let you go on his account ;" and accordingly released him.
Women are generally shown some little indul- gence for three or four weeks previous to child- birth ; they are at such times not often punished if they do not finish the task assigned them ; it is, in some cases, passed over with a severe repri- mand, and sometimes without any notice being taken of it. They are generally allowed four weeks after the birth of a child, before they are compelled to go into the field, they then take the child with them, attended sometimes by a little girl or boy, from the age of four to six, to take care of it while the mother is at work. When there is no child that can be spared, or not yoimg enough for this service, the mother, after nursing, lays it under a tree, or by the side of a fence, and goes to her task, returning at stated intervals to nurse it. While I was on this plantation, a little negro girl, six years of age, destroyed the life of a child about two months old, which was left in her care. It seems this little nurse, so called, got tired of her charge and the labor of carrjnng it to the quarters at night, the mother being obliged to work as long as she could see. One evening she niu-sed the infant at sunset as usual, and sent it to the quarters. The little girl, on her way home, had to cross a run, or brook, which led down into the swamp ; when she came to the brook she fol- lowed it into the swamp, then took the infant and plunged it head foremost into the water and mud, where it stuck fast ; she there left it and went to the negro quarters. When the mother came in from the field, she asked the girl where the child was ; she told her she had brought it home, but did not know where it was ; the overseer was im- mediately informed, search was made, and it was found as above stated, and dead. The little girl was shut up in the barn, and confined there two or three weeks, wlien a speculator came along and bought her for two hundred dollars.
The slaves are obliged to work from daylight till dark, as long as they can see. When they have tasks assigned, which is often the case, a few of the strongest and most expert, sometimes finish them before sunset ; others will be obliged to work till eight or nine o'clock in the evening. All must finish their tasks or take a flogging. The whip and gun, or pistol, are companions of the overseer ; the former he uses very frequently upon the negroes, during their hours of labor,
Personal Narratives— Mr. Caulkins.
13
without regard to age or sex. Searcely a day passed while I was on the plantation, in which some of the slaves were not whipped ; I do not mean that they were struck a few hiows merely, but liad a set flogging. The same labor is commonly assigned "to" men and women, — such as digging ditches in the rice marshes, clearing up land, chopping cord-wood, threshing, &c. I have known the women go into the barn as soon as they could sec in the morning, and work as late as they could see at night, threshing rice with the flail, (they now have a threshing machine,) and when tliey could see to thresh no longer, they had to gather up the rice, carry it up staks, and de- posit it in the granary.
The allowance of clothing on this plantation to each slave, was given out at Christmas for the year, and consisted of one pair of coarse shoes, and enough coarse cloth to make a jacket and trowsers. If the man has a wife she makes it up ; if not, it is made up in the house. The slaves on this plantation, being near Wilmington, procured themselves extra clothing by working Sundays and moonlight nights, cutting cord- wood in the swamps, which they had to back about a quarter of a mile to the river ; they would then get a permit from their master, and taking the wood in their canoes, carry it to Wilmmgton, and sell it to the vessels, or dispose of it as they best could, and with the money buy an old jacket of the sailors, some coarse cloth for a shirt, &c. They sometimes gather the moss from the trees, which they cleanse and take to market. The women receive their allowance of the same kind of cloth which the men have. This they make into a frock ; if they have any under garments they must procure them far themselves. When the slaves get a permit to leave the plantation, they sometimes make all ring again by singing the fol- lowing significant ditty, which shows that after all there is a flow of spirits in the human breast which for a while, at least, enables them to forget their wretchedness.*
Hurra, for good ole Massa, He giv me de pass to go to de city
Hurra, for good ole Missis, She bile de pot, and giv me de licker.
Huna, I'm goin to de city.
Every Saturday night the slaves receive their allowance of provisions, which must last them tOl the next Satm'day night. " Potatoe time," as it is called, begins about the middle of July. The slave may measure for himself, the overseer being present, half a bushel of sweet potatoes, and heap the measure as long as they will lie on ; I have, however, seen the overseer, if he think the negro is getting too many, kick the measure ; and if any fall off", tell him he has got his measure. No salt is furnished them to eat with their pota- toes. When rice or corn is given, they give them a little salt ; sometimes half a pint of molasses is given, but not often. The quantity of rice, which is of the small, broken, imsaleable kind, is
* Slaves sometimes sing, and so do convicts in jails under sentence, and both for the same reason. Their singing proves that they want to be happy not that they are so. It is the means that they use to make tliemselves happy, not the evidence tliat they are so aheady. Sometimes, doubtless, the excitement of song whelms their misery in momentary obUvion. He who argues from this that they have no con- scious misery to forget, knows as little of human nature as of slavery. — Editor.
one peck. When corn is given them, their allow, ance is the same, and if they get it ground, (Mr. Swan had a mill on his plantation,) they must give one quart for grinding, thus reducing their weekly allowance to seven quarts. When fish (mullet) were plenty, they were allowed, in addi- tion, one fish. As to meat, they seldom had any. I do not think they had an allowance of meat oftener than once in two or three months, and then the quantity was very small. When they went into the field to work, they took some of the meal or rice and a pot with them ; the pots were given to an old woman, who placed two poles parallel, set the pots on them, and kindled a fire underneath for cooking ; she took salt with her and seasoned the messes as she thought pro- per. When their breakfast was ready, which was generally about ten or eleven o'clock, they were called from labor, ate, and returned to work; in the afternoon, dinner was prepared in the same way. They had but tvi^o meals a day while in the field ; if they wanted more, they cooked for themselves after they returned to their quarters at night. At the time of kiUing hogs on the plantation, the pluck, entrails, and blood were given to the slaves.
When I first went upon Mr. Swan's plantation, I saw a slave in shackles or fetters, which were fastened around each ankle and firmly riveted, connected together by a chain. To the middle of this chain he had fastened a string, so as in a manner to suspend them and keep them from gaUing his ankles. This slave, whose name was Frank, was an intelligent, good looking man, and a very good mechanic. There was nothing vi- cious in his character, but he was one of those high-spirited and daring men, that whips, chains, fetters, and all the means of cruelty in the power of slavery, could not subdue. Mr. S. had em- ployed a Mr. Beckwith to repair a boat, and told him Frank was a good mechanic, and he might have his services. Frank was sent for, his shackles still on. Mr. Beckwith set him to work making trunnels, &c. I was employed in putting up a building, and after Mr. Beckwith had done with Frank, he was sent for to assist me. Mr. Swan sent him to a blacksmith's shop and had his shackles cut ofl" v/itli a cold chisel. Frank was afterwards sold to a cotton planter.
I will relate one circumstance, which shows the httle regard that is paid to the feelings of the slave. During the time that Mr. Isaiah Rogers was superintending the building of a rice machine, one of the slaves complained of a severe tooth- ache. Swan asked Mr. Rogers to take his ham- mer and knock out the tooth.
There was a slave on the plantation named Ben, a waiting man. I occupied a room in the same hut, and had frequent conversations with him. Ben was a kind-hearted man, and, I be- lieve, a Christian ; he would always ask a bless- ing before he sat down to eat, and was in the con- stant practice of praying morning and night. — One day when I was at the hut, Ben was sent for to go to the house- Ben sighed deeply and went. He soon returned with a girl about seven- teen years of age, whom one of Mr. Swan's daughters had ordered hun to flog. He brought her into the room where I was, and told her to stand there while he went into the next room : I
14
Personal Narratives — Mr. Caulkins.
heard him groan again as he went. While there I heard his voice, and he was engaged in prayer. After a few minutes he returned with a large cow- hide, and stood before the girl, without saying a word. I concluded he wished me to leave the hut, which I did ; and immediately after I heard the girl scream. At every blow she would shriek, " Do, Ben ! oh do, Ben !" This is a common ex- pression of the slaves to the person whipping them : " Do, Massa !" or, " Do, Missus !"
After she had gone, I asked Ben what she was whipped for : he told me she had done something to displease her young missus ; and in boxing her ears, and otherwise beating her, she had scratched her finger by a pin in the girl's dress, for which she sent her to be flogged. I asked him if he stripped her before flogging ; he said, yes ; he did not like to do this, but was obliged to : he said he was once ordered to whip a wo- man, which he did without stripping her : on her return to the house, her mistress exammed her back ; and not seeing any marks, he was sent for, and asked why he had not whipped her : he re- plied that he had ; she said she saw no marks, and asked him if he had made her pull lier clothes off; he said, No. She then told him, that when he whipped any more of the women, he must make them strip off their clothes, as well as the men, and flog them on their bare backs, or he should be flogged himself.
Ben often appeared very gloomy and sad : I have frequently heard him, when in his room, mourning over his condition, and exclaim, " Poor African slave ! Poor African slave !" Whipping was so common an occurrence on this plantation, that it would be too great a repetition to state the many and severe floggings I have seen in- flicted on the slaves. They were flogged for not performing their tasks, for being careless, slow, or not in time, for going to the fire to warm, &c. &c. ; and it often seemed as if occasions were sought as an excuse for punishing them.
On one occasion, I heard the overseer charge the hands to be at a certain place the next morn- ing at sun-rise. I was present in the morning, in company with my brother, when the hands ar- rived. Joe, the slave already spoken of, came running, all out of breath, about five minutes be- hind the time, when, without asking any ques- tions, the overseer told him to take oiF his jacket. Joe took oiF his jacket. He had on a piece of a shirt ; he told him to take it off" : Joe took it off" : he then whipped him with a heavy cow-hide full six feet long. At every stroke Joe vi^ould spring from the ground, and scream, " O my God ! Do, Massa Galloway !" My brother was so exasper- ated, that he turned to me and said, " If I were Joe, I would kill tire overseer if 1 knew I should be shot the next minute."
In the winter the horn blew at about four in the morning, and all the threshers were required to be at the threshing floor in fifteen minutes after. Tlicy had to go about a quarter oi a mile from their quarters. Galloway would stand near the entrance, and all who did not come in time would get a blow over the back or head as heavy as he could strike. I have seen him, at such times, follow after them, striking furiously a number of blows, and every one followed by their screams. I have seen the women go to iheir work after
such a flogging, crying and taking on most pite- ously.
It is almost impossible to believe that human nature can endure such hardships and sufierings as the slaves have to go through : I have seen them driven into a ditch in a rice swamp to bail out the water, in order to put down a flood-gate, when they had to break the ice, and there stand in the water among the ice until it was bailed out. I have often known the hands to be taken from the field, sent down the river in flats or boats to Wilmington, absent from twenty-four to thirty hours, without any thing to eat, no provision being made for these occasions.
Galloway kept medicine on hand, that in case any of the slaves were sick, he could give it to them without sending for the physician ; but he always kept a good look out that they did not sham sickness. When any of them excited his suspicions, he would make them take the medi- cine in his presence, and would give them a rap on the top of the head, to make them swallow it. A man once came to him, of wliom he said he was suspicious : he gave him two potions of salts, and fastened him in the stocks for the night. His medicine soon began to operate ; and there he lay in all his filth till he was taken out the next day.
One day, Mr. Swan beat a slave severely, for alleged carelessness in letting a boat get adrift. The slave was told to seciu-e the boat : whether he took sufiicient means for this purpose I do not know ; he was not allowed to make any defence. Mr. Swan called him up, and asked why he did not secure the boat : he pulled oW his hat and be- gan to tell his story. Swan told him he was a damned bar, and commenced beating him over the head with a hickory cane, and the slave re- treated backwards ; Swan followed him about two rods, threshing him over the head with the hickory as he went.
As I was one day standing near some slaves who were threshing, the driver, thinking one of the women did not use her flail quick enough, struck her over the head : the end of the whip hit her in the eye. I thought at the time he had put it out ; but, after poulticing and doctoring for some days, she recovered. Speaking to him ahout it, he said that he once struck a slave so as to put one of her eyes entirely out.
A patrol is kept upon each estate, and every slave fomid off" the plantation without a pass is whipped on the spot. I knew a slave who started without a pass, one night, for a neighboring plantation, to see his wife : he was caught, tied to a tree, and flogged. He stated his business to the patrol, who was well acquainted with him, but all to no purpose. I spoke to the patrol about it afterwards : he said he knew the negro, that he was a very clever fellow, but he had to whip him ; for, if he let him pass, he must another, &c. He stated that he had sometimes caught and flog- ged four in a night.
In conversation with Mr. Swan about runaway slaves, he stated to me the following fact : — A slave, by the name of Luke, was owned in Wil- mington; he was sold to a speculator and carried to Georgia. After an absence of about two months the slave returned ; he watched an oppor- tunity to enter his old master's house when the i family were absent, no one being at home but a
Personal Narratives — Mr. Caulkins.
15
young waiting man. Luke went to tlie room where his master kept his arms ; took his gun, witli some ammunition, and went into the woods. On the retmn of his master, the waiting man told liim what had been done : tliis threw him into a violent passion ; he swore he would kill Luke, or lose his own life. He loaded another gun, took two men, and made search, but could not find him : he then advertised him, offering a large re- ward if delivered to him or lodged in jail. His neighbors, however, advised him to offer a reward of two hmidred dollars for him dead or alive, which he did. Nothing however was heard of him for some months. Mr. Swan said, one of his slaves ran away, and was gone eight or ten weeks ; on his return he said he had found Luke, and that he had a rifle, two pistols, and a sword.
I left the plantation in the spring, and returned to the north ; when I went out again, the next fall, I asked Mr. Swan if any thing had been heard of Luke ; he said he was shot, and related to me the manner of his death, as follows : — Luke went to one of the plantations, and entered a hut for something to eat. Being fatigued, he sat down and fell asleep. There was only a woman in the hut at the time : as soon as she found he was asleep, she ran and told her master, who took his rifle, and called two white men on another planta- tion : the three, with their rifles, then went to the hut, and posted themselves in different positions, BO that they could watch the door. When Luke waked up he went to the door to look out, and saw them with their rifles, he stepped back and raised his gun to his face. They called to liim to surrender ; and stated that they had him in their power, and said he had better give up. He said he would not : and if they tried to take him, he would kill one of them ; for, if he gave up, he knew they would kill him, and he was determined to seU his life as dear as he could. They told him, if he should shoot one of them, the other two would certainly kill him : he replied, he was determined not to give up, and kept his gun mov- ing from one to the other ; and while his rifle was turned toward one, another, standing in a differ- ent direction, shot him through the head, and he fell lifeless to the ground.
There was another slave shot while I was there ; this man had run away, and had been living in the woods a long time, and it was not known where he was, tiU one day he was dis- covered by two men, who went on the large island near Belvidere to himt turkeys ; they shot him and carried his head home.
It is common to keep dogs on the plantations, to pursue and catch runaway slaves. I was once bitten by one of them. I went to the overseer's house, the dog lay in the piazza, as soon as I put my foot upon the floor, he sprang and bit me just above the knee, but not severely ; he tore my pantaloons badly. The overseer apologized for his dog, saying he never knew him to bite a white man before. He said he once had a dog, when he hved on another planta- tion, that was very useful to him in hunting run- away negroes. He said that a slave on the plantation once ran away ; as soon as he found the course he took, he put the dog on the track, and he soon came so close upon him that the man
had to climb a tree, he followed with his gun, and brought the slave home.
The slaves have a great dread of being sold and carried south. It is generally said, and I have no doubt of its truth, that they are much worse treated farther south.
The following are a few among the many facts related to me while I lived among the slavehold- er. The names of the planters and plantations, I shall not give, as they did not come under my own observation. I however place the fullest confidence in their truth.
A planter not far from Mr. Swan's employed an overseer to whom he paid $400 a year ; he be- came dissatisfied with him, because he did not drive the slaves hard enough, and get more work out of them. He therefore sent to South Carolina, or Georgia, and got a man to whom he paid I beheve $800 a year. He proved to be a cruel fellow, and drove the slaves almost to death. There was a slave on this plantation, who had repeatedly run away, and had been severely flogged every time. The last time he was caught, a hole was dug in the ground, and he buried up to the chin, his arms being secured down by his sides. He was kept in this situation four or five days.
The following was told me by an intimate friend ; it took place on a plantation containing about one hundred slaves. One day the owner ordered the women into the barn, he then went in among them, whip in hand, and told them he meant to flog them all to death ; they began immedi- ately to cry out " What have I done Massa ?" What have I done Massa ?" He replied ; " D — n you, I will let you know what you have done, you don't breed. T haven't had a young one from one of you for several months." They told him they could not breed Vv^hile they had to work in the rice ditches. (The rice grounds are low and marshy, and have to be drained, and while dig- ging or clearing the ditches, the women had to work in mud and water from one to two feet in depth ; they were obliged to draw up and secure their frocks about their waist, to keep them out of the water, in this manner they frequently had to work from daylight in the morning till it was so dark they could see no longer.) After swear- ing and threatening for some time, he told them to tell the overseer's wife, when they got in that way, and he would put them upon the land to work.
This same planter had a female slave who was a member of the Methodist Church ; for a slave she was intelligent and conscientious. He pro- posed a criminal intercourse with her. She would not comply. He left her and sent for the over- seer, and told him to have her flogged. It was done. Not long after, he renewed his proposal. She again refused. She was again whipped. He then told her why she had been twice flogged, and told her he intended to whip her till she should yield. The girl, seeing that her case was hopeless, her back smarting with the scourg- ing she had received, and dreading a repetition, gave herself up to be the victim of his brutal lusts. One of the slaves on another plantation, gave birth to a child which lived but two or three weeks. After its death the planter called the woman to Mm, and asked her how she came to
16
Personal Narratives — Mr. Caulkins.
let the child die ; said it was all owing to her carelessness, and that he meant to flog her for it. She told, him with all the feeling of a mother, the circiunstances of its death. But her story availed her nothing against the savage brutality of her master. She was severely whipped. A healthy child four months old was then consid- ered worth $100 in North Carolina.
The foregoing facts were related to me by white persons of character and respectability. The following fact was related to me on a plan- tation where I have spent considerable time and where the punishment was inflicted. I have no doubt of its truth. A slave ran away from his master, and got as far as Newbem. He took provisions that lasted him a week ; but having eaten all, he went to a house to get some- thing to satisfy his hunger. A white man sus- pecting him to be a runaway, demanded his pass: as he had none he was seized and put in New- bern jail. He was there advertised, his descrip- tion given, &c. His master saw the advertise- ment and sent for him ; when he was brought back, his wrists were tied together and drawn over his knees. A stick was then passed over his arms and under his knees, and he secured in this manner, his trowsers were then stripped down, and he turned over on his side, and severely beaten with the paddle, then turned over and severely beaten on the other side, and then turn- ed back again, and tortured by another bruising and beating. He was afterwards kept in the stocks a week, and whipped every morning.
To show the disgusting pollutions of slavery, and how it covers with moral filth every thing it touches, I will state two or three facts, which I have on such evidence 1 cannot doubt their truth. A planter offered a white man of my acqaintance twenty dollars for every one of h.is female slaves, whom he would get in the family way. This offer was no doubt made for the purpose of im- proving the stock, on the same principle that farmers endeavour to improve their cattle by crossing the breed.
Slaves belonging to merchants and others in the city, often hire their own time, for which they pay various prices per week or month, ac- cording to the capacity of the slave. The fe- males who thus hire their time, pursue various modes to procure the money ; their masters mak- ing no inquiry how they get it, provided the money comes. If it is not regularly paid they are flogged. Some take in washing, some cook on board vessels, pick oakum, sell peanuts, &c., while others, younger and more comely, often resort to the vilest pursuits. I knew a man from the north who, though married to a respectable southern woman, kept two of these mulatto girls in an upper room at his store ; his wife told some of her friends that he had not lodged at home for two weeks together, I have seen these two kept misses, as they are there called, at his store ; he was afterv/ards stabbed in an attempt to ar- rest a runaway slave, and died in about ten days.
The clergy at the north cringe beneath the corrupting influence of slavery, and their moral courage is borne down by it. Not the hypocriti- cal and unprincipled alone, but even such as can hardly be supposed to be destit*^ of sincerity.
Going one morning to the Baptist Sunday school, in Wilmington, in which I was engaged, I fell in with the Rev. Thomas P. Hunt, who was going to the Presbyterian school. I asked him how he could bear to see the little negro children beating their hoops, hallooing, and run- ning about the streets, as we then saw them, their moral condition entirely neglected, while the whites were so carefully gathered into the schools. His reply was substantially this : — " I can't bear it, Mr. Caulkins. I feel as deeply as any one can on this subject, but what can I do ? My
HANDS ARE TIED."
Now, if Mr. Hunt was guilty of neglecting his duty, as a servant of Him who never failed to re- buke sin in high places, what shall be said of those clergymen at the north, where the power that closed his mouth is comparatively unfelt, who refuse to tell their people how God abhois oppression, and who seldom open their mouths on this subject, but to denounce the friends of eman- cipation, thus giving the strongest support to the accursed system of slavery. I believe Mr. Hunt has since become an agent of the Temperance Society.
In stating the foregoing facts, my object has been to show the practical workings of the sys- tem of slavery, and if possible to correct the mis- apprehension on this subject, so common at the north. In doing this I am not at war with slave- holders. No, my soul is moved for them as well as for the poor slaves. May God send them re- pentance to the acknowledgment of the truth I Principle, on a subject of this nature, is dearer to me than the applause of men, and should not be sacrificed on any subject, even though the ties of friendship may be broken. We have too long been silent on this subject, the slave has been too much considered, by our northern states, as being kept by necessity in his present condition. — Were we to ask, in the language of Pilate, " what evil have they done" — we may search their history, we cannot find that they have taken up arms against our government, nor insulted us as a na- tion— that they are thus compelled to drag out a life in chains ! subjected to the most terrible inflic- tions if in any way they manifest a wish to be released. — Let us reverse the question. What evil has been done to them by those who call them- selves masters ? First let us look at their per- sons, " neither clothed nor naked" — I have seen instances where this phrase would not apply to boys and girls, and that too in winter. I knew one young man seventeen years of age, by the name of Dave, on Mr. J. Swan's plantation, worked day after day in the rice machine as nak- ed as when he was born. The reason of his being so, his master said in my hearing, was, that he could not keep clothes on him — he would get into the fire and burn them ofi".
Follow them next to their huts ; some with and some without floors : — Go at night, view their means of lodging, see them lying on benches, some on the floor or ground, some sitting on stools, dozing away the night ;— others, of younger age, with a bare blanket wrapped about them ; and one or two l}'ing in the ashes. These things I have often seen with my own eyes.
Examine their means of subsistence, which consists generally of seven quarts of meal or
Personal Narratives — Rev. Horace Moulton.
17
eight quarts of small rice for one wcclc ; then follow them to their work, with driver and over- seer pushing them to the utmost of their strength, by threatening and whipping.
If they are sick from fatigue and exposure, go to their huts, as I have often been, and see tliem groaning under a bm-ning fever or pleurisy, lying on some straw, their feet to the fire with barely a blanket to cover them ; or on some boards nailed together in form of a bedstead.
And after seeing all this, and hearing them tell of tlieir sufFerings, need I ask, is there any evil connected with their condition ? and if so ; upon whom is it to be charged ? I answer for my- self, and the reader can do the same. Our govern- ment stands first chargeable for allowing slavery to exist, under its own jurisdiction. Second, the states for enacting laws to secure their victim. Third, the slaveholder for carrying out such enactments, in horrid form enough to chill the blood. Fourth, every person who knows what slavery is, and does not raise his voice against tliis crying sin, but by silence gives consent to its continuance, is chargeable with guilt in the sight of God. " The blood of Zaeharias who was slain between the temple and altar," says Christ,
" WILL I REQUIRE OF THIS GENERATION."
Look at the slave, his condition but little, if at all, better than that of the brute ; chained down by the law, and the will of his master ; and every avenue closed against rehef ; and the names of those who plead'for him, cast out as evil ; — must not humanity let its voice be heard, and tell Israel their transgressions and Judah their sins ?
May God look upon their afflictions, and deliver them from their cruel task-masters ! I verily be-
lieve he will, if there be any efficacy in prayer. I have been to their prayer meetings and with them oftcred prayer in their behalf. I have heard some of them in their huts before day-light praying in their simple broken language, telling their hea- venly Father of their trials in the following and similar language.
" Fader in heaven, look upon do poor slave, dat have to work all de daj' long, dat cant have de time to pray only in de night, and den massa mus not know it.* Fader, have mercy on massa and missus. Fader, when shall poor slave get through the world ! when will death come, and dc poor slave go to heaven ;" and in their meetings they frequentlj' add, " Fader, bless de white man dat come to hear de slave pray, bless his familv," and so on. They uniformly begin' their meet- ings by singing the following —
" And Hre we j'ct nlivn
To see each other's lace," &c.
Is the ear of the Most High deaf to the prayer of the slave ? I do firmly believe that their "de- liverance will come, and that the prayer of this poor afflicted people will be answered.
Emancipation would be safe. I have had eleven winters to learn the disposition of the slaves, and am satisfied that they would peacea- bly and cheerfully work for pay. Give them education, equal and just laws, and they will be- come a most interesting people. Oh, let a ciy be raised which shall awaken the conscience of this guilty nation, to demand for the slaves im- mediate and unconditional emancipation.
Nehemiah Caulkins.
* At this time there was some fear of insurrection and the slaves were forbidden to hold meetings.
NARRATIVE AND TESTIMONY OF REV. HORACE MOULTON.
Mr. Moulton is an esteemed minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in Marlborough, Mass. He spent five years in Georgia, between 1817 and 1824. The following communication has been recently received from him.
Marlborough, Mass., Feb. 18, 1839. Dear Brother —
Yours of Feb. 2d, requesting me to write out a few facts on the subject of slavery, as it exists at the south, has come to hand. I hasten to comply with your request. Were it not, how- ever, for the claims of those " who are drawn unto death," and the responsibility resting upon me, in consequence of this request", I should for- ever hold my peace. For I well know that I shall bring upon myself a flood of persecution, for attempting to speak out for the dumb. But I am willing to be set at nought by men, if I can be the means of promoting the welfare of the oppressed of our land. I shall not relate many particular cases of cruelty, though I might a great number; but shall give some general information as to their mode of treat- ment, their food, clothing, dwellings, depriva- tions, &,c.
Let me say, in the first place, that I spent
nearly five years in Savannah, Georgia, and in
3
its \'icinity, between the years 1817 and 1824. My object in going to the south, was to engage in making and burning brick ; but not immedi. ately succeeding, I engaged in no business of much profit until late in the winter, when I took charge of a set of hands and went to work. During my leisure, however, I was an observer, at the auctions, upon the plantations, and in al- most every department of business. The next year, during the cold months, I had several two- horse teams under my care, with which we used to haul brick, boards, and other articles from the wharf into the city, and cotton, rice, corn, and wood from the country. This gave me an ex- tensive acquaintance with merchants, mechanics and planters. I had slaves under my control some portions of every year when at the south. All the brick-yards, except one, on vi'hich I was engaged, were connected either with a corn field, potatoe patch, rice field, cotton field, tan-works, or with a wood lot. My business, usually, was to take charge of the briek-raaking department. At those jobs I have sometimes taken in charge both tlie field and brick-yard hands. I have been on the plantations in South Carolina, but have never been an overseer of slaves in that state, as has been said in the public papers. I think the above facts and explanations are
18
Personal Narratives— Rev. Horace Moulton.
necessary to be connected with the account I may give of slavery, that the reader may have some knowledge of my acquaintance with practical slavery : for many mechanics and merchants vi'ho go to the South, and stay there for years, know but little of the dark side of slavery. My account of slavery will apply to field Jiands, v;ho compose much the largest por- tion of the black population, (probably ninc- tenths,) and not to those who are kept for kitchen maids, nurses, waiters, &c., about the houses of the planters and public hotels, where persons from the north obtain most of their knowledge of the evils of slavery. I v.-ill nov/ proceed to take up specific points.
THE LABOR OF THE SLAVES.
Males and females work together promiscuously on all the plantations. On many plantations tasks are given them. The best working hands can have some leisure time ; but the feeble and imskil- ful ones, together with slender females, have in- deed a hard time of it, and very often answer for
the women liave been selected as the moulders oi brick, instead of ihe men.
IL THE FOOD OF THE SLAVES.
It was a general custom, wherever I have been, for the masters to give each of his slaves, male and female, one peck of corn per week for their food. This at fifty cents per bushel, which v;?.s all that it was worth when I Vv'as there, would amount to tv/elve and a half cents per week for board per head.
It cost me upon an average, when at the south, one dollar per day for board. The price of four, teen bushels of com per week. This would make my board equal in amount to the board oi forty. six slaves .' This is all that good or bad masters al- lov/ their slaves round about Savannah on the plantations. One peck of gourd-seed corn is to be measured out to each slave once every week. One man with whom I labored, however, being desirous to got all the work out of his hands he could, before I left, (about fifty in number,) bought for them every week, or twice a week, a
non-performance of tasks at the wJdpping.posts. beef's head from market. With this, they made a
None who worked with me had tasks at any time. The rule was to work them from sun to sun. But when I was burning brick, they were obliged to take turns, and sit up all night about every other night, and work all day. On one plantation, where I spent a few weeks, the slaves were called up to work long before daylight, when business pressed, and worked mitil late at night ; and sometimes some of them all night. A large portion of the slaves are owned by mas- ters who keep them on purpose to hire out — and they usually let them to those who will give the highest wages for them, irrespective of then- mode of treatment ; and those who hire them, will of course try to get the greatest possible amount of work performed, with the least possi- ble expense. Women are seen bringing their infants into the field to their work, and leading others who are not old enough to stay at the cabins with safety. Wlien they get there, they must set them down in the dirt, and go to work. Sometimes they are left to cry until they fall alseep. Others are left at home, shut up in their huts. Now, is it not barbarous, that the mother, with her child or children around her, half starved, must be whipped at night if she does not perform her task ? But so it is. Some who have very young ones, fix a little sack, and place the infants on their backs, and work. One reason, I presume is, that they will not cry so much when they can hear their mother's voice. Another is, the mothers fear that the poison- ous vipers and snakes will bite them. Trul)^ I never knew any place where the land is so in- fested with all kinds of the most venomous snakes, as in the low lands round about Savan- nah. The moccasin snakes, so called, and water rattle-snakes — the bites of both of which are as poisonous as our upland rattle-snakes at the north, — are found in myriads about the stag- nant waters and sv/amps of the South. The fe- males, in order to secure their infants from these poisonous snakes, do, as I have said, often work with their infants on their backs. Females are sometimes called to take the hardest part of the work. On some brick yards where I have been,
soup in a large iron kettle, around which the han-is came at meal-time, and dipping out the soup, would mix it with their hommony, and eat it as though it were a feast. This man permitted his slavesto eat twice a day while I was doing a job for him. He promised me a beaver liat and as good a suit of clothes as could be bought in the city, if I would accoraphsh so much for him before I return- ed to the north ; giving me the entire control over his slaves. Thus you may see the temptations overseers sometimes have, to get all the work they can out of the poor slaves. The above is an exception to the general rule of feeding. For in all other places where I worked and visited ; the slaves had nothing from their masters but the corn, or its equivalent in potatoes or rice, and to this, they were not permitted to come but once a day. The custom was to blow the horn early in the morning, as a signal for the hands to rise and go to work, when commenced ; they continued work until about eleven o'clock, A. M., when, at the signal, all hands left off, and went into their huts, made their fires, made their corn-meal into hom- monv or cake, ate it, and went to work again at the signal of the horn, and worked until night, or until their tasks were done. Some cooked their breakfast in the field while at work. Each slave must grind his own corn in a hand-mill after he has done his work at night. There is generally one hand-mill on every plantation for the use of the slaves.
Some of the planters have no corn, others often get out. The substitute for it is, the equivalent of one peck of corn either in rice or sweet potatoes ; neither of which is as good for the slaves as com. They complain more of being faint, when fed on rice or potatoes, than when fed on corn. I was with one man a few weeks who gave me his hands to do a job of work, and to save time one cooked for all the rest. The following course was taken, — Two crotched sticks were driven down at one end of the yard, and a small pole being laid on the crotches, they swung a large iron kettle on the middle of the pole ; then made up a firo under the kettle and boiled the hommony ; when ready, the hands were called around this kettle
Persmal Narratives — Rev. Horace Moulton.
19
with their wooden plalcs and spoons. They dip- ped out and ate standing aroutid the kettle, or sit- tinn- upon the ground, as best suited their conve- nience. When they had potatoes they took them out wiih fiicir hands, and ate them. As soon as it was thought they had had sufficient time to swal- (ow their food they were called to their work again. This was the only meal they ate through the day. IVow think of the little, almost naked and half- starved children, nibbling upon a piece of cold Indian cake, or a potato ! Think of the poor fe- male, just ready to be confined, without any thing that can be called convenient or comfortable ! Think of the old toil-worn father and mother, with- out any thing to eat but the coarsest of food, and not half enough of that! then think of home. When sick, their physicians are their masters and overseers, in most cases, whose skill consists in bleeding and in administering large potions of Ep- som salts, when the whip and cursing will not start them from their cabins.
The huts of the slaves are mostly of the poor- est kind. They are not as good as those tempo- rary shanties which are thrown up beside rail- roads. They are erected with posts and crotches, with but little or no frame-work about them. They have no stoves or chimneys ; some of them have something like a fireplace at one end, and a board or two off at that side, or on the roof, to let off the smoke. Others have nothing hke a fire- place in them ; in these the fire is sometimes made in the middle of the hut. These buildings have but one apartment in them ; the places where they pass in and out, sei-ve both for doors and windows ; the sides and roofs are covered with coarse, and in many instances with refuse boards. In warm weather, especially in the spring, the slaves keep up a smoke, or fire and smoke, all night, to drive away the gnats and musketoes, which are very troublesome in all the low country of the south ; so much so that the whites sleep under frames with nets over them, knit so fine that the musketoes cannot fly through them.
Some of the slaves have rugs to cover them in the coldest weather, but I should think mnre have not. During driving storms they frequently have to run from one hut to another for shelter. In the coldest weather, where they can get wood or stumps, they keep up fires all night in their huts, and lay around them, with their feet to- wards the blaze. Men, women and children all lie down together, in most instances. There may be exceptions to the above statements in regard to their houses, but so far as my observations have extended, I have given a fair description, and I have been on a large number of planta- tions in Georgia and South Carolina up and down the Savannah river. Their huts are generally built compactly on the plantations, forming villa- ges of huts, their size proportioned to the number of slaves on them. In these miserable huts the poor blacks are herded at night like swine, without any conveniences of bedsteads, tables or chairs. O misery to the fall ! to see the aged sire beating off the swarms of gnats and musketoes in the warm weather, and shivering in the straw, or bending over a few coals in the winter, clothed m rags. I should think males and females, both
lie down at night with their working clothes on them. God alone knows how much the poor slaves suffer for the want of convenient houses to secure them from the piercing winds and howl- ing storms of winter, especially the aged, sick and dying. Although it is much warmer there tlian here, }'et I suffered for a number of weeks in the winter, almost as much in Georgia as I do in Massachusetts.
IV. CLOTHING.
The masters [in Georgia] make a practice of getting two suits of clothes for each slave per year, a thick suit for winter, and a thin one for summer. They provide also one pair of northern made sale shoes for each slave in winter. These shoes usu- ally begin to rip in a few weeks. The negroes' mode of mending them is, to wire them together, in many instances. Do our northern shoemakers know that they are augmenting the sufferings of the poor slaves with their almost good for nothing sale shoes ? Inasmuch as it is done unto one of those poor sufferers it is done unto our Saviour. The above practice of clothing the slave is cus- tomary to some extent. How many, however, fail of this, God only knows. The children and old slaves are, I should think, exceptions to the above rule. The males and females have their suits from the same cloth for their winter dresses. These winter garments appear to be made of a mixture of cotton and wool, very coarse and sleazy. The whole suit for the men consists of a pair of pantaloons and a short sailor-jacket, without shirt, vest, hat. stockings, or any kind of loose garments ! These, if worn steadily when at work, would not probably last more than one or two months ; therefore, for the sake of saving them, many oi them work, especially in the sum- mer, with no cleching on them except a cloth tied round their waist, and almost all with nothing more on them than pantaloons, and these fre- quently so torn that they do not serve the pur- poses of common decency. The women have for clothing a short petticoat, and a short loose gown, something like the male's sailor-jacket, loithoiit any under garment, stockings, bonnets, hoods, caps, or any kind of over-clothes. When at work in warm weather, they usually strip off the loose gown, and have nothing on but a short petticoat with some kind of covering over their breasts. Many children may be seen in the sum- mer months as naked as they came into the world. I think, as a whole, they suffer more for the want of comfortable bed-clothes, than they do for wear- ing apparel. It is true, that some by begging or buying, have more clothes than above described, but the masters provide them with no more. They are miserable objects of pity. It may be said of many of them, " I was naked and ye clothed me not." It is enough to melt the hardest heart to see the ragged mothers nursing their almost nak- ed children, with but a morsel of the coarsest food to eat. The Southern horses and dogs have enough to eat and good care taken of them, but Southern negroes, who can describe their misery ?
V. PUNISHMENTS.
The ordinary mode of punishing the slaves is both cruel and barbarous. The masters seldom, if ever, try to govern their slaves by moral infla-
20
Personal Narratives — Rev. Horace MouUon.
ence, but by whipping, kicking, beating, starving, branding, cat-hauling, loading with irons, impris- onino-, or by some other cruel mode of torturing. They often boast of having invented some new mode of torture, by which they have " tamed the rascals." What is called a moderate flogging at the south is horribly cruel. Should we whip our horses for any offence as they whip their slaves for small oiFences, we should expose ourselves to the penalty of the law. The masters whip for the smallest ofTcnees, such as not performing their tasks, being caught by the guard or patrol by night, orfor taking anything from the master's 3'ard v.-ithout leave. For these, and the like crimes, the slaves are whipped thirty-nine lashes, and sometimes seventy or a hundred, on the bare back. One slave, who was under my care, was whipped, I think one hundred lashes, for getting a small handful of wood from his master's yard without leave. I heard an overseer boasting to this same master that he gave one of the boys seventy lashes, for not doing a job of work just as he thought it ought to be done. The ov^mer of the slave ap- peared to be pleased that the overseer had been so faithful. The apology they make for whipping so cruelly is, that it is to frighten the rest of the gang. The mjisters say, that wliat we call an ordinary flogging will not subdue the slaves ; hence the most cruel and barbarous scourgings ever witnessed by man are daily and hourly in- flicted upon the naked bodies of these miserable bondmen ; not by masters and negro-drivers only, but by the constables in the common markets and jailors in their yards.
When the slaves are wtiipped, either in public or private, they have their hands fastened by the WT-ists, with a rope or cord prepared for the pur- pose : this being th^o^^^l over a beam, a limb of a tree, or something else, the culprit is drawn up and stretched by the arms as high as possible, ■without raising his feet from the ground or floor : and sometimes they are made to stand on tip-toe ; then the feet are made fast to something prepared for them. In this distorted posture the monster flies at them, sometimes in great rage, with his implements of torture, and cuts on with all his might, over the shoulders, under the arms, and sometimes over the head and ears, or on parts of the body where he can inflict the greatest torment. Occasionally the whipper, especially if his victim does not beg enough to suit him. while under the lash, will fly into a passion, uttering the most hor- rid oaths ; while the victim of his rage is crying, at every stroke, " Lord have mercy ! Lord have mercy !" The scenes exhibited at the whipping post are awfully terrific and frightful to one whose heart has not turned to stone ; I never could look on but a moment. While under the lash, the bleeding victim writhes in agony, convulsed with torture. Thirty-nine lashes on the bare back, which tear the skin at almost every stroke, is what the South calls a very moderate punishment ! Many masters whip until they are tired — until the back is a gore of blood — then rest upon it : after a short cessation, get up and go at it again ; and after having satiated their revenge in the blood of their victims, they sometimes leave them tied, for hours together, bleeding at every wound. — Sometimes, after being whipped, they are bathed with a brine of salt and water. Now and then a
master, but more frequently a mistress who ha." no husband, will send them to jail a few days, giving orders to have them whipped, so man> lashes, once or twice a day. bometin-ics aftei being whipped, some have been shut -up in b. darl; place and deprived of food, in order to increase their torments : and I have heard of some who have, in such circumstances, died of their wounds and starvation.
Such scenes of horror as above described are so common in Georgia that they attract no atten- tion. To threaten them with death, with break- ing in their teeth or jaws, or cracking their heads, is common talk, when scolding at the slaves. — Those who run away from their masters and are ' caught again generally fare the worst. They are generally lodged in jail, with instructions from the ov/ner to have them cruelly whipped. Some or- der the constables to whip them publicly in the market. Constables at the south are generally savage, brutal men. They have become so accus- tomed to catching and whipping negroes, that they are as fierce as tigers. Slaves who are ab- sent from their yards, or plantations, after eight o'clock P. M., and are taken by the guard in the cities, or by the patrols in the country, are, if not called for before nine o'clock A. M. the next day, secured in prisons ; and hardly ever escape, until their backs are torn up by the cow-hide. On plantations, the evenings usually present scenes of horror. Those slaves against whom charges are preferred for not having performed their tasks, and for various faults, must, after work-hours at night, undergo their torments. I have often heard ( the sound of the lash, the curses of the whipper, and the cries of the poor negro rending the air, late in the evening, and long before day-light in the morning.
It is very common for masters to say to the overseers or drivers, "put it on to them," " don't spare that fellow," " give that scoundrel one hun- dred lashes," &c. Whipping the women when in delicate circumstances, as they sometimes do, without any regard to their entreaties or the en- treaties of their nearest friends, is truly barbarous. If negroes could testify, they would tell you of instances of women being whipped until they have miscarried at the whipping-post. I heard of such things at the south — they are undoubted, ly facts. Children are whipped unmercifully for the smallest offences, and that before their mo- thers. A- large proportion of the blacks have their shoulders, backs, and arms all scarred up, and not a few of them have had their heads laid open with clubs, stones, and brick-bats, and with the butt-end of whips and canes — some have had their jaws broken, others their teeth knocked in or out ; while others have had their ears cropped and the sides of their cheeks gashed out. Some of the poor creatures have lost the sight of one of their eyes by the careless blows of the whipper, or by some other violence.
But punishing of slaves as above described, is not the only mode of torture. Some tie them up in a very uneasy posture, where they must stand all night, and they will then work them hard all day — that is, work them hard all day and tor- ment them all night. Others punish by fastening them down on a log, or something else, and strike them on the bare skin with a board paddle
Personal Narratives — Rev. Horace Moulton.
21
full of holes. This breaks tlie skin, I should presume, at every hole where it comes in contact with it. Others, wiicn other modes of punishment will not subdue them, cat-haul them — that is, take a cat by the nape of the neck and tail, or by the hind "legs, and drag the claws across the back until satisfied. This kind of pun- ishment poisons the flesh niucli worse than tlie whip, and is more dreaded by the slave. Some are branded by a hot iron, others have their flesh cut out in large gashes, to mark them. Some who are prone to run away, have iron fet. ters riveted around their ancles, sometimes they are put only on one foot, and are dragged on the ground. Others have on large iron collars or yokes upon their necks, or clogs riveted upon their wrists or ancles. Some have bells put upon them, himg upon a sort of frame to an iron collar. Some masters fly into a rage at trifles and knock down their negroes with their fists, or with the first thing that they can get hold of. The whip- lash-knots, or rawhide, have sometimes by a reckless stroke reached round to the front of the body and cut through to the bowels. One slave- holder with whom I lived, whipped one of his slaves one day, as many, I should think, as one hundred lashes, and thefi turned the butt-end and went to beating him over the head and cars, and trtily I was amazed that the slave was not killed on the spot. Not a few slaveholders whip their slaves to death, and then say that they died under a " moderate correction." I Vv'onder that ten are not killed where one is ! Were they not much hardier than the v/hites many more of them must die than do. One young mulatto man, with whom I was well acquainted, was killed by his master in his yard with impanity. I boarded at the same time near the place where tliis glaring murder was committed, and knev/ the master well. He had a plantation, on which he enacted, almost daily, cruel barbarities, some of them, I was informed, more terrific, if possible, than death itself. Little notice was taken of this murder, and it all passed off" without any action being taken against the murderer. The masters used to try to make me whip their negroes. They said I could not get along with them without flogging them — but I found I could get along better with them by coaxing and en- couraging them than by beating and flogging tliem. I had not a heart to beat and kick about those beings ; although I had not grace in my heart the three first years I was there, yet I sym- pathised with the slaves. I never was guilty of having but one whipped, and he was whipped but eight or nine blows. The circumstances were as follows : Several negroes were put under my care, one spring, who were fresh from Congo and Guinea. I could not understand them, nei- ther could they me, in one word I spoke. I therefore pointed to them to go to work ; all obeyed me wilhngly but one — he refused. I told the driver that he must tie him up and whip him. After he had tied him, by the help of some others, we struck him eight or nine blows, and he yielded. I told the driver not to strike him ano- ther blow. We untied him, and hs went to work, and continued faithful all the time he was with me. This one was not a sample, however — many of them have such exalted views of freedom that
it IS hard work for the masters to whip them into brutes, that is to subdue their noble spirits. The negroes being put under my care, did not prevent the masters from whipping them when they pleased. But they never whipped much in my presence. This work was usually left until J had dismissed the hands. On the plantations, the masters chose to have the slaves whipped in the presence of all the hands, to strike them with terror,
VI. RUNAWAYS.
Numbers of poor slaves run away from their masters ; some of whom doubtless perish in the swamps and other secret places, rather than re- turn back again to their masters ; others stay away until tlicy almost famish with hunger, and then return home rather than die, while others who abscond arc caught by the negro-hunters, in various ways. Sometimes the master will hire some of his most trusty negroes to secure any stray negroes, who come on to their plantations, for many come at night to beg food of their friends on the plantations. The slaves assist one another usually when they can, and not be found out in it. The master can now and then, however, get some of his hands to betray the run- av/ays. Some obtain their living in hunting after lost slaves. The most common way is to train up young dogs to follow them. This can easily be done by obliging a slave to go out into the woods, and climb a tree, and then put the young dog on his track, and with a little assistance he can be taught to follow him to the tree, and when found, of course the dog would bark at such game as a poor negro on a tree. There was a man hving in Savannah when I was there, who kept a large number of dogs for no other pur- pose than to hunt runaway negroes. And he always had enough of this v/ork to do, for hun- dreds of runaways are never found, but could he get news soon after one had fled, he vv^as almost sure to catch him. And this fear of the dogs re- strains multitudes from running off.
When he went out on a himting excursion, to be gone several days, he took several persons with him, armed generally with rifles and followed by the dogs. The dogs were as true to the track of a negro, if one had passed recently, as a hound is to the track of a fox when he has found it. When the dogs draw near to their game, the slave must turn and fight them or climb a tree. If the latt er, the dogs will stay and bark until the pursuers come. The blacks frequently deceive the dogs by crossing and recrossing the creeks. Should the hunters who have no dogs, start a slave from his hiding place, and the slave not stop at the hunter's call, he will shoot at him, as soon as he would at a deer. Some masters advertise so much for a runaway slave, dead or alive. It undoubt- edly gives such more satisfaction to know that their property is dead, than to know that it is alive without being able to get it. Some slaves run away who never mean to be taken alive, I will mention one. He run off and was pursued by the dogs, but having a weapon with him he succeeded in killing two or three of the dogs ; but was afterwards shot. He had declared, that he never would be taken alive. The people rejoiced at the death of the slave, but lamented
22
Personal Narratives — Sarah M. Grimke.
the death of the dogs, they were such ravenous Imnters. Poor fellow, he fought for life and liberty like a hero ; but the bullets brought him down. A neg-ro can hardly walk unmolested at the soutJi. — Every colored stranger that walks the streets is suspected of being a runaway slave, hence he must be inteiTOgated by every negro hater v/hom he meets, and should he not have a pass, he must be arrested and hurried off to jail. Some masters boast that their slaves would not be free if they could. How little they know of their slaves ! They are all sighing and groaning for freedom. May God hasten the time I
VII. CONFINEMENT AT NIGHT.
When the slaves have done their day's work, they must be herded together like sheep in their yards, or on their plantations. They have not as much liberty as northern men have, who are sent to jail for debt, for they have liberty to walk a larger yard than the slaves have. The slaves must all be at their homes precisely at eight o'clock, p.m. At this hour the drums beat in the cities, as a signal for everj' slave to be in his den. In the country, the signal is given by firing guns, or some other way by which they may know the hour when to be at home. After
tliis hour, the guard in the cities, and patrols i.^ the country, being %vell armed, are on duty until daylight in the morning. If they catch any negroes during the night without a pass, they ari: immediately seized and hurried away to the guard-house, or if in the country to some place of confinement, where they are kept until nine o'clock, A. M., the next day, if not called for b}' that time, they arc hurried off to jail, and there remain until called for by their master and hia jail and guard house fees paid. The guards and patrols receive one dollar extra for every one they can catch, who has not a pass from his master, or overseer, but few masters will give their slaves passes to be out at night unless on some special business : notwithstanding, many venture out, watching every step they take for the guard or patrol, the consequence is, some are caught almost every night, and some nights many are taken ; some, fleeing after being hailed by the watch, are shot down in attempting their escape, others are crippled for life. I find I shall not be able to write out more at present. My m.iniste- rial duties are pressing, and if I delay this till the next mail, I fear it will not be in season. Your brother for those who are in bonds,
HOEACE MoULTON.
NARRATIVE AND TESTIMONY OF SARAH M. GRIMKE.
Miss Grimke is a daughter of the late Judge Grimke, of the Supreme Court of South Carolina, and sister of the late Hon. Thomas S. Grimke.
As I left my native state on account of slave- ry, and deserted the home of my fathers to escape the sound of the lash and the shrieks of tortured victims, I would gladly bury in oblivion the re- collection of those scenes with which I have been famihar ; but this may not, cannot be ; they come over my memory like gory spectres, and implore me with resistless power, in the name of a God of mercy, in the name of a crucified Sa. vior, in the name of humanity ; for the sake of the slaveholder, as well as the slave, to bear witness to the horrors of the southern prison house. I feel impelled by a sacred sense of duty, by my obligations to my country, by sym- pathy for the bleeding victims of tyranny and lust, to give my testimony respecting the system of American slavery, — to detail a few facts, most of which came under my personal observation. And here I may premise, that the actors in these tragedies were all men and women of the high- est respectability, and of the first families in South Carolina, and, with one exception, citi. zens of Charleston ; and that their cruelties did not in the slightest degree affect their standing in society.
A handsome mulatto woman, about 18 or 20 years of age, whose independent spirit could not brook the degradation of slavery, was in the habit of running away : for this offence she had been repeatedly sent by her master and mistress to be whipped by the keeper of the Charleston .vork-house. This had been done with such in- human severity, as to lacerate her back "in a
most shocking manner; a finger could not be laid between the cuts. But the love of hberty was too strong to be annihilated by torture ; and, as a last resort, she was whipped at several dif- ferent times, and kept a close prisoner. A heavy iron collar, with three long prongs projecting from it, was placed round her neck, and a strong and sound front tooth was extracted, to serve as a mark to describe her, in case of es. cape. Her sufferings at this time were agoniz- ing ; she could lie in no position but on her back, which was sore from scourgings, as I can testify, from persrnal inspection, and her only place of rest was the floor, on a blanket. These outrages were committed in a family where the mistress daily read the scriptures, and assembled her children for family worship. She was account- ed, and was really, so far as alms-giving was concerned, a charitable woman, and tender hearted to the poor ; and yet this suffering slave, who was the seamstress of the family, was con- tinually in her presence, sitting in her chamber to sew, or engaged in her other household work, with her lacerated and bleeding back, her muti- lated mouth, and heavy iron collar, without, so far as appeared, exciting any feelings of com- passion.
A highly intelligent slave, who panted after freedom with ceaseless longings, made many at- tempts to get possession of himself. For every offence he was punished with extreme severity. At one time he was tied up by his hands to a tree, and whipped until his back was one gore of blood. To this terrible infliction he was sub- jected at intervals for several weeks, and kept heavily ironed while at his work. His master one day accused him of a fault, in the usual terras dictated by passion and arbitrary power :
Personal Narratives— Sarah. M. Grimke,
•215
tlic man protested his innocence, but was not t r. dited. He again repelled the charge with hr.nost indignation. His master's temper rose a uiost to frenzy; and seizing a fork, he macle a d.adlv plunge at the breast of the skve. Ihe man "beino- far his superior in strcngih, caught his arm, and dashed the weapon on the floor. His master grasped at his throat, but the slave d <eii<racred himself, and rushed from the apart- montr llaving made liis escape, he fled to the woods : and after wandering about for manj' months, living on roots and berries, and cndurmg rverv hardship, he was arrested and committed to -ail. Here he lay for a considerable time, allowed scarcely food enough to sustain life, whipped in the most shocking manner, and con- fined in a cell so loathsome, that when his mas- ter visited him, lie said the stench was enough to knock a man down. The filth had never been removed from the apartment since the poor creature had been immured in it. Although a black man, such had been the effect of starva- tion and suffering, that his master declared he hardlv recognized him— his complexion was so yellow, and his hair, naturally thick and black, had become red and scanty ; an infallible sign of long continued living on bad and insufficient food. Stripes, imprisonment, and the gnawings of hunger, had broken his lofty spirit for a season ; and, to use his master's own exulting expression, he was " as humble as a dog." After a time lie made another attempt to escape, and was absent so long, that a reward was offered for him, dead or alirc. He eluded every attempt to take him, and his master, despairing of ever getting him agam, offered to pardon him if he would return home. It is always understood that such intel- ligence will reach "the runaway ; and according- ly, at the entreaties of his wife and mother, the fuo-itive once more consented to return to his bit- ter bondage. I believe this was the last effort to obtain his' liberty. His heart became touched with the power of the gospel; and the spirit which no inflictions could subdue, bowed at the cross of Jesus, and with the language on his lips— "the cup that my father hath given me, shall I not drink it ?" submitted to the yoke of the oppressor, and wore his chains in unmurmur- ing patience till death released him. The mas. ter who perpetrated these wrongs upon his slave, was one of the most influential and honored citi- zens of South Carolina, and to his equals was bland, and courteous, and benevolent even to a proverb.
A slave who had been separated from his wife, because it best suited the convenience of his ovmer, ran away. He was taken up on the plantation where his wife, to whom he was ten- derly attached, then lived. His only object in runnimj- away was to return to her — no other fault was attributed to him. For this offence he was confined in the stocks six weeks, in a mis- ei-able hovel, not weather-tight. He received fifty lashes weekly during that time, was allow- ed food barely sufficient to sustain him, and when released from confinement, was not permitted to return to his wife. His master, although him- self a husband and a father, was unmoved by the touching appeals of the slave, who entreated that he might only remain with his wife, promis-
ing to discharge his duties faithfully; his master continued inexorable, and ho was torn from his wife and family. The owner of this slave was *. professing Christian, in full membership with the church, and this circumstance occurred when lie was confined to his chamber during his last ill- ness.
A punishment dreaded more by the slaves than whipping, unless it is unusually severe, is one which was invented by a female acquaint- ance of mine in Charleston — I heard her say so with much satisfaction. It is standing on one foot and holding the other in the hand. After- wards it was improved upon, and a strap was contrived to fasten around the ankle and pass around the neck ; so that the least weight of the foot resting on the strap would choke the person^ The pain occasioned by this unnatural position was (Treat ; and when continued, as it sometimes was, for an hour or more, produced intense ao-ony. I heard this same woman say, that she had the ears of her waiting maid slit for some petty theft. This she told me in the presence of the girl, who was standing in the room. She often had the helpless victims of her cruelty se- verely whipped, not scrupling herself to v/ield the instrument of torture, and with her own hands inflict severe chastisement. Her husband was less inhuman than his wife, but he was often goaded on by her to acts of great severity. In his last illness I was sent for, and watched be- side his death couch. The girl on Vv^hom he had so often inflicted punishment, haunted his dying hours; and when at length the king of terrors approached, he shrieked in utter agony of spirit, " Oh, the blackness of darkness, the black imps, I can see them all around me — take them away I" and amid such exclamations he expired. These persons were of one of the first families in Charleston.
A friend of mine, in Vs'hose veracity I have en- tire confidence, told me that about two years ago, a wom.an in Charleston with whom I was well acquainted, had starved a female slave to death. She was confined in a solitary apartment, kept constantly tied, and condemned to the slow and horrible death of starvation. This woman was notoriously cruel. To those who have read the narrative of James Williams I need only say, that the character of young Larrimore's wife is an ex- act description of this female tyrant, whose coun- tenance was ever dressed in smiles when in the presence of strangers, but whose heart was as the nether millstone toward her slaves.
As I was traveling in the lower country m South Carolina, a number of years since, my at- tention was suddenly arrested by an exclamation of hon-or from the " coachman, who called out, " Lookthere, Miss Sarah, don't you see?"-I looked in the direction he pointed, and saw a human head stuck up on a high pole. On inquiry, I found that a runaway slave, who was outlawed, had been shot there, his head severed from his body, and put upon the public highway, as a terror to deter slaves from running away.
On a plantation in North Carolina, where I was visiting, I happened one day, in my rambles, to step into a negro cabin ; my compassion was in- stantly called forth by the object which presented itself. A slave, whose head was white with age,
24
Personal Narratives — Sarah M. Grimke.
was lying in one comer of the hovel ; he had un- der his head a few filthy rags, but the boards were his only bed, it was the depth of winter, and the wind whistled through every part of the dilapi- dated building — he opened his languid eyes when I spoke, and in reply to my question, " What is the matter ?" he said, " I am dying of a cancer in my side." — As he removed the rags which covered the sore, I found that it extended half round the body, and was shockingly neglected. I inquired if he had any nurse. " No, missey," was his answer, "butde people (the slaves) very kind tome, dey often steal time to run and see me and fetch me some ting to eat ; if dey did not, I might starve." The master and mistress of this man, who had been worn out in their service, were remarkable for their intelligence, and their hospitahty knew no bounds towards those who were of their own grade in society : the master had for some time held the highest military office in North Carohna, and not long previous to the time of which I speak, was the Governor of the State.
On a plantation in South Carolina, I witnessed a similar case of suffering — an aged woman suffer- ing under an incurable disease in the same miser- ably neglected situation. The " owner" of this slave was proverbially kind to her negroes ; so much so, that the planters in the neighborhood said she spoiled them, and set a bad example, which might produce discontent among the sur- rovmding slaves ; yet I have seen this Vv'oman tremble with rage, when her slaves displeased her, and heard her use language to them which could only be expected from an inmate of Bridewell ; and have known her in a gust of passion send a favorite slave to the workhouse to be severely whipped.
Another fact occurs to me. A young woman about eighteen, stated some circumstances rela- tive to her young master, which were thought de- rogatory to his character ; whether true or false, I am unable to say ; she was threatened with punishment, but persisted in affirming that she had only spoken the truth. Fuiding her incorrigible, it was concluded to send her to the Charleston workhouse and have her whipt ; she pleaded in vain for a commutation of her sentence, not so much because she dreaded the actual suffering, as because her delica,te mind shrunk from the shocking exposure of her person to the eyes of brutal and licentious men ; she declared to me that death would be preferable ; but her entreaties were vain, and as there was no means of escaping but by running away, she resorted to it as a des- perate remedy, for her timid nature never could have braved the perils necessarily encountered by fugitive slaves, had not her mind been tlurown into a state of despair. — She was apprehended after a few weeks, by two slave-catchers, in a deserted
12
house, and as it was late in the evening they con- cluded to spend the night there. What inhuman treatment she received from them has never been revealed. They tied her with cords to tlieir bo- dies, and supposing they had secured their victim, soon fell into a deep sleep, probably rendered more profound by intoxication and fatigue ; but the miserable captive slumbered not ; by some means she disengaged herself from her bonds, and agahi fled through the lone wilderness. After a few days she was discovered in a wretched hut, wliich seemed to have been long uninhabited ; she was speechless ; a raging fever consumed her vitals, and when a physician saw her, he said she was dying of a disease brought on by over fatigue ; her mother was permitted to visit her, but ere she reached her, the damps of death stood upon her brow, and she had only the sad consolation of looking on the death-struck form and convulsive agonies of her child.
A beloved friend in South Carolina, the wife of a slaveholder, with whom I often mingled my tears, when helpless and hopeless we deplored together the horrors of slavery, related to me some years since the following circumstance.
On the plantation adjoining her husband's, therewasa slave of pre-eminent piety. His master was not a professor of religion, but the superior ex- cellence of this disciple of Christ was not unmark- ed by him, and I believe he was so sensible of the good influence of his piety that he did not de- prive him of the few religious privileges within his reach. A planter was one day dining with the owner of this slave, and in the course of con- versation observed, that all profession of religion among slaves was mere hypocrisy. The other as- serted a contrary opinion, adding, I have a slave who I believe would rather die than deny his Sa- viour. This was ridiculed, and the master urged to prove the assertion. He accordingly sent for this man of God, and peremptorily ordered him to deny his belief in the Lord Jesus Christ. The slave pleaded to be excused, constantly affirming that he would rather die than deny the Redeemer, whose blood was shed for him. His master, after vainly trying to induce obedience by threats, had him terribly whipped. The fortitude of the sufferer was not to be shaken ; he nobly reject- ed the offer of exemption from further chastise- ment at the expense of destroying his soul, and this blessed martyr died in consequence of this Severe infliction. Oh, how bright a gem will this victim of irresponsible power be, in that crown which sparkles on the Redeemer's brow ; and that many such will cluster there, I have not the shadow of a doubt.
Sarah M. Grimke. Fort Lee, Bergen County,
New Jersey, ^rd Month, 2Gth, 1830.
Personal Narratives — Rev. John Graham.
25
TESTIMONY OF THE LATE REV. JOHN GRAHAM,
of Townscnd, Mass., who resided in S. Carolina, from 1S31, to the latter part of 1833. Mr. Gra- ham graduated at Amherst College in 1829, spent some time at the Theological Seminary, in New Haven, Ct., and went to South Carolina, for his health in 1830. He resided principally on the island of St. Helena, S. C, and most of the time in the family of James Tripp, Esq., a wealthy slave holding planter. During his residence at St. Helena, he was engaged as an instructor, and was most of the time the stated preacher on the island. Mr. G. was extensively known in Massachusetts ; and his fellow students and instructors, at Amherst College, and at Yale Theological Seminary, can bear testimony to his integrity and moral worth. The following are extracts of letters, which he wrote while in South Carolina, to an intimate friend in Concord, Massachusetts, who has kindly furnished them for publication.
EXTRACTS.
Springfield, St. Helena IsL, S. C.,Oct. 22, 1832. " Last night, about one o'clock, I was awaken- ed by the report of a musket. I was out of bed almost instantly. On opening my window, I found the report proceeded from my host's cham- ber. He had let off his pistol, which he usually keeps by him night and day, at a slave, who had come into the yard, and as it appears, had been with one of his house servants. He did not hit him. The ball, taken from a pine tree the next mornmg, I will show you, should I be spared by Providence ever to return to you. The house servant was called to the master's chamber, where he received 75 lashes, very severe too ; and I could not only hear every lash, but each groan which succeeded very distinctly as I lay in my bed. What was then done with the servant I know not. Nothing was said of this to me in the morning and I presume it will ever be kept from me with care, if I may judge of kindred acts. I shall make no comment."
In the same letter, Mr. Graham says : — " You ask me of my hostess" — then after giving an idea of her character says : " To day, she has I verily believe laid, in a very severe manner too, more than 300 stripes, upon the house servants," (17 in number.)
Darlington, Court House. S. C. March, 28th, 1838. '' I walked up to the Court House to day, where I heard one of the most interesting cases I ever heard. I say interesting, on account of its novelty to me, though it had no novelty for the people, as such cases are of frequent occurrence. The case was this : To know whether two ladies, present in court, were white or black. The ladies were dressed well, seemed modest, and were retiring and neat in their look, having blue eyes, black hair, and appeared to under- stand much of the etiquette of southern behav- iour.
4
"A man, more avaricious than humane, as is the case with most of the rich planters, laid a remote claim to those two modest, unassuming, innocent and free young ladies as his property, witli the design of putting them ' into the field, and thus increasing his STOCK ! As well as the people of Concord are known to be of a peaceful disposition, and for their love of good order, I verily behevc if a similar trial should be brought forward there and conducted as this was, the good people would drive the lawyers out of the house. Such would be their indigna- tion at their language, and at tJie mean under-hand- ed manner of trying to ruin those young ladies, as to their standing in society in this district, if they could not succeed in dooming them for life to the degraded condition of slavery, and all its intolerable cruelties. Oh slavery ! if statues of marble could curse you, they would speak. If bricks could speak, they would all surely thun- der out their anathemas against you, accursed thing ! How many white sons and daughters, have bled and groaned under the lash in this sultry climate." &c.
Under date of March, 1832, Mr. G. writes, " I have been doing what I hope never to be called to do again, and what I fear I have badly done, though performed to the best of my ability, namely, sewing up a very bad wound made by a wild hog. The slave was hunting wild hogs, when one, being closely pursued, turned upon his pursuer, who turning to run, was caught by the animal, thrown down, and badly wounded in the thigh. The wound is about five inches long and very deep. It was made by the tusk of the ani- mal. The slaves brought him to one of the huts on Mr. Tripp's plantation and made every exer- tion to stop the blood by filling the wound with ashes,(their remedy for stopping blood) but finding this to fail they came to me (there being no other white person on the plantation, as it is now holi- days) to know if I could stop the blood. I went and found that the poor creature must bleed to death unless it could be stopped soon. I called for a needle and succeeded in sewing it up as well as I could, and in stopping the blood. In a short time his master, who had been sent for came ; and oh, you would have shuddered if you had heard the awful oaths that fell from his lips, threatening in the same breath " to pay him for that .'" I left him as soon as decency would per- mit, with his hearty thanks that I had saved him ^500 ! Oh, may heaven protect the poor, suffer- ing, fainting slave, and show his master his wan- ton cruelty — oh slavery ! slavery !"
Under date of July, 1832, Mr. G. writes, " I wish you could have been at the breakfast table with me this morning to have seen and heard what I saw and heard, not that I wish your ear and heart and soul pained as mine is, 'with every day's' observation 'of wrong and out- rage' with which this place is filled, but that you might have auricular and ocular evidence of the cruelty of slavery, of cruelties that mortal lan- guage can never describe — that you might see the tender mercies of a hardened slaveholder, one who bears the name of being one of the mild-
2G
Personal Narratives — Mr. Poe.
est and most merciful masters of which this isl- and can boast. Oh, my friend, another is scream- ing- under the lash, in the shed-room, but for what I know not. The scene this morning was truly distressing to me. It wa^j this : — After the blessing was asked at the breakfast tabic, one of the servants, a woman grown, in giving one of the children some molasses, happened to pour out a little more than usual, though not more than the child usually eats. Her master was angry at the petty and indifferent mistake, or slip of the hand. He rose from the table, took both of her hands in one of his, and with the other began to beat her, first on one side of her head and then on the other, and repeating this, till, as he said on sitting down at table, it hurt his hand too much to con- tinue it longer. Ho then took off his shoe, and with the heel began in the same manner as with his hand, till the poor creature could no longer endure it without screeches and raising her elbow as it is natural to ward off the blows. He then called a great overgrown negro to hold her hands behind her while he should wreak his ven- geance upon the poor servant. In this position he began again to beat the poor suffering wretch. It now became intolerable to bear ; she fell, screaming to me for help. After she fell, he beat her until I thought she would have died in his hands. She got up, however, went out and
washed off the blood and came in before we rose from table, one of the most pitiable objects I ever saw till I came to the South. Her ears were almost as thick as my hand, her eyes aw- fully blood. shotten, her lips, nose, cheeks, chin, and whole head swollen so that no one would have known it v/as Etta — and for all this, slic had to turn round as she was going out and thank her master .' Now, all this was done while I v/as sit- ting at breakfast with the rest of the family. Think you not 1 wished myself sitting with the peaceful and happy circle around your table ? Think of my feelings, but pity tiic poor negro slave, who not only fans his cruel master when he eats and sleeps, but bcais the stripes his ca- price may inflict. Think of this, and let heaven hear j^our prayers."
In a letter dated St. Helena Island, S. C, Def. 3, 1832, Mr. G. writes, " If a slave here complains to his master, that his task is too great, his master at once calls him a scoundrel and tells him it is only because he has not enough to do, and orders the driver to increase his task, however unable he may be for the performance of it. I saw twekty- SEVEN whipped at one time just because they did not do more, when the poor creatures were so tired that they could scarcely drag one foot after the other."
TESTIMONY OF MR. WILLIAM POE.
Mr. Poe is a native of Richmond, Virginia, and was formerly a slaveholder. He was for several years a merchant in Richmond, and subsequently in Lynchbm-g, Virginia. A few years since, he emancipated his slaves, and removed to Hamil- ton County, Ohio, near Cincinnati ; where he is a highly respected ruling elder in the Presbyterian church. He says, —
I am pained exceedingly, and nothing but my duty to God, to the oppressors, and to the poor dovm-trodden slaves, who go mourning all their days, could move me to say a word. I will state to you a few cases of the abuse of the slaves, but time would fail, if I had language to tell how many and great are the inflictions of slavery, even in its mildest form.
Benjamin James Harris, a wealthy tobacconist of Richmond, Virginia, whipped a slave girl fifteen years old to death. While he was whip- ping her, his wife heated a smoothing iron, put it on her hody in various places, and burned her severely. The verdict of the coroner's inquest was, " Died of excessive whipping." He was tried in Richmond, and acquitted. I attended the trial. Some years after, this same Harris whipped another slave to death. The man had not done so much work as was required of him. After a number of protracted and violent scourg- ings, with short intervals between, the slave died under the lash. Harris was tried, and again acquitted, because none but blacks saw it done. The same man afterwards whipped another slave severely, for not doing work to please him. After repeated and severe floggings in quick succes-
sion, for the same cause, the slave, i'l despair of pleasing him, cut off his own hand. Harris soon after became a bankrupt, went to New Orleans to recruit his finances, failed, removed to Ken- tucky, became a maniac, and died.
A captain in the United States' Navy, who married a daughter of the collector of tlic port of Richmond, and resided there, became offended with his negro boy, took him into the meat house, put him upon a stool, crossed his hands before him, tied a rope to them, threw it over a joist in the building, drew the boy up so that lie could just stand on the stool with his toes, and kept him in that position, flogging him severely at intervals, until the boy became so exhausted that he reeled off the stool, and swung by his hands until he died. The master was tried and acquitted.
In Goochland County, Virginia, an overseer tied a slave to a tree, flogged him again and again with great severity, then piled brush around him, set it on fire, and burned him to death. The overseer was tried and imprisoned. The whole transaction may be found on the records of the court.
In traveling, one day, from Petersburg to Richmond, Virginia, I heard cries of distress at a distance, on the road. I rode up, and found two white men, beating a slave. One of them had hold of a rope, which was passed under the bottom of a fence; the other end was fastened around the neck of the slave, who was thrown flat on. the ground, on his face, with his back bared. The other was beating him furiously with a large hickory.
A slaveholder in Henrico County, Virginia,
Privations of the Slaves — Food.
27
had a slave who used frequently to work for mj^ father. One morning he came into the field with his back completely cut up, and mangled from his head to his heels. 1 he man was so stiff and sore he could scarcely walk. This same person o;ot offended with another of his slaves, knocked him down, and struck out one of his eyes with a maul. The eyes of several of his slaves were injured by similar violence.
In Richmond, Virginia, a company occupied as a dwelling a large warehouse. They got an- o-r\- with a negro lad, one of their slaves, took him into tiie cellar, tied his hands with a rope, bored a hole through the floor, and passed the rope up tln-oughit. Some of the family drew up the boy, while others whipped. This they continued until the boy died. The warehouse was owned by a Mr. Whitlock, on the scite of one formerly owned by a Mr. Philpot.
Joseph Chilton, a resident of Campbell County, Virginia, purchased a quart of tanners' oil, for the purpose, as he said, of putting it on one of his negro's heads, that he had sometime previous pitched or tarred over, for running away.
In the town of Lynchburg, Virginia, there was
a negro man put in prison, charged with having pillaged some packages of goods, which he, as head man of a boat, received at Richmond, to be delivered at Lynchburg. The goods belonged to A. B. Nichols, of Liberty, Bedford County, Virginia. He came to L3'nchburg, and desired the jailor to perm it him to whip the negro, to make him confess, as there was no proof against him. Mr. Williams, (I think that is his name,) a pious Methodist man, a great stickler for law and good order, professedly a great friend to the black man, delivered the negro into the hands of Nichols. Nichols told me that he took the slave, tied his wrists together, then drew his arms down so far below his knees as to permit a staff to pass above the arms under the knees, thereby placing the slave in a situation that he could not move hand or foot. He then commenced his bloody work, and continued, at intervals, until 500 blows were inflicted. I received this state- ment from Nichols himself, who was, by the way, a son of the land oj " steady habits," where there are many like him, if we may judge from their writings, sayings, and doings.
PRIVATIONS OF THE SLAVES.
I. FOOD.
We begin with the food of the slaves, because if they are ill treated in this respect we may be sure that they will be ill treated in other respects, and generally in a greater degree. For a man habitually to stint his dependents in their food, is the extreme of meanness and cruelty, and the greatest evidence he can give of utter indiffer- ence to their comfort. The father who stints his children or domestics, or the master his appren- tices, or the employer his laborers, or the officer liis soldiers, or the captain his crew, when able to furnish them with sufficient food, is every where looked upon as unfeeling and cruel. All mankind agree to call such a character inhuman. If any thing can move a hard heart, it is the ap- peal of hunger. The Arab robber whose whole life is a prowl for plunder, will freely divide his camel's milk with the hungry stranger who halts at his tent door, though he may have just waylaid him and stripped him of his money. Even sava- ges take pity on hunger. Who ever went fam- ishing Irom an Indian's wigwam. As much as hunger craves, is the Indian's free gift even to an enemy. The necessity for food is such a universal want, so constant, manifest and impe- rative, that the heart is more touched with pity by the plea of hunger, and more ready to supply that want than any other. He who can habitu- ally inflict on others the pain of hunger by giv- ing them insufficient food, can habitually inflict on them any other pain. He can kick and cuff
and flog and brand them, put them in irons or the stocks, can overwork them, deprive them of sleep, lacerate their backs, make them work with- out clothing, and sleep without covering.
Other cruelties may be perpetrated in hot blood and the act regretted as soon as done — the feeling that prompts them is not a permanent state of mind, but a violent impulse stung up by sudden provocation. But he who habitually withholds from his dependents sufficient suste- nance, can plead no such palliation. The fact itself shows, that his permanent state of mind toward them is a brutal indifference to their wants and sufferings — A state of mind which will naturally, necessarily, show itself in innu- merable privations and inflictions upon them, when it can be done with impunity.
If, therefore, we ilnd upon examination, that the slaveholders do not furnish their slaves with sufficient food, and do thus habitually inflict upon them the pain of hunger, we have a clue furnish- ed to their treatment in other respects, and may fairly infer habitual and severe privations and in- flictions ; not merely from the fact that men are quick to feel for those who suffer from hunger, and perhaps more ready to relieve that want than any other ; but also, because it is more for the interest of the slaveholder to supply that want than any other ; consequently, if the slave suffer in this respect, he must as the general rule, suffer 7nore in other respects.
We now proceed to show that the slaves have
28
Privations of the Slaves — Food.
insufficient food. This will be shown first from the express declarations of slaveholders, and other competent witnesses who are, or have been resi- dents of slave states, that the slaves generally are under-fed. And then, by the laws of slave states,
and by the testimony of slaveholders and others, the kind, quantity, and quality, of their allowance will be given, and the reader left to judge for himself whether the slave must not be a suiFerer.
THE SLAVES SUFFER FROM HUNGER — DECLARATIONS OF SLAVE-HOLDERS AND 0TH2RS
WITNESSES.
Hon. Alexander Smyth, a slave hold- sr, and for ten years, Member of Congress from Virginia, in his speech on tiie Missouri quefJtion. Jan 28th,
Rev. George Whitefield, in his letter, to the slave holders of Md. Va. N C. S. C. and Ga. published in Georgia, just one hundred years ago, 1739.
Rev. John Rankin, of Ripley, Ohio, a native of Tennessee, and for some year's a preacher in slave states.
Report of the Gradual Emancipation Society, of North Carolina, 1826. Sign- ed Moses Swain, President, and Wil- tjam Swain, Secretary.
TESTIMONY.
" By confining the slaves to the Southern states, where crops are raised for exportation, and bread and meat are purchased, you doom them to scarcity and hunger. It is proposed to hem in the blacks where they are ill fed."
" My blood has frequently run cold within me, to think how many of your slaves ftaiJe not sufficient food to eat ; they arc scarcely permitted to pick up the crumbs, that fall from their master's table."
" Thousands of the slaves are pressed with the gnawings of cruel hunger during their whole lives."
Speaking of the condition of slaves, in the eastern part of that state, the report says, — " The master puts the unfortunate wretches upon short allowances, scarcely sufficient for their sustenance, so that a great part oi ihem go half starved much of the time."
Mr. Asa A. Stone, a Theological Student, who resided near Natchez, Miss., in 1834-5.
Thomas Clay, Esq., of Georgia, a Slaveholder.
Jlr. Tobias Boudinot, St. Albans, Ohio, a member of the Metliodist Church. Mr. B. for some years navi- gated the Mississippi.
President Edwards, the younger, in a sermon before the Conn. Abolition So- ciety, 1791.
Rev. Horace Moulton, a Methodist Clergyman of Marlboro' Mass., who lived five years in Georgia.
Rev. George Bourne, late editor of the Protestant Vindicator, N. Y., who was seven yeais pastor of a chuixh in Virginia.
" On almost every plantation, the hands suffer more or less from hunger at some seasons of almost every year. There is always a good deal of suffering from hunger. On many planta- tions, and particularly in Louisiana, the slaves are in a condition of almost utter famishmerJ., during a great portion of the year."
" From various causes this [the slave's allowance of food] is often not adequate to the support of a laboring man."
" The slaves down the Mississippi, are half-starved, the boats, when they stop at night, are constantly boarded by slaves, begging for something to eat."
" The slaves are supplied with barely enough to keep them from starving."
" As a general thmg on the plantations, the slaves suffer ex- tremely for the want of food."
" The slaves are deprived of needful sustenance.'
Hon. Rober. Tumbull, a slavehold- er of Charleston, South Carolina.
Mr. Eleazar Powell, Chippewa, Beaver Co., Penn., who resided in Mis- sissippi, in 1836-7.
Reuben G. Macy, a member of the Society of Friends, Hudson, N. Y., who resided in South Carolina.
Mr- William Leftwich, a native of Virginia, and recently of Madison Co., Alabama, now member, of the Presby- terian Church, Delhi, Ohio.
2. KINDS OF FOOD.
" The subsistence of the slaves consists, from March until August, of corn ground into grits, or meal, made into what is called hominy, or baked into corn bread. The other six months, they are fed upon the sweet potatoe. Meat, when given, is only by way of indulgence or favor."
" The food of the slaves was generally corn bread, and some, times meat or molasses.''
" The slaves had no food allowed them besides corn, except, ing at Christmas, when they had beef."
" On my uncle's plantation, the food of the slaves, was com pone and a small allowance of meat."
Privations of the Slaves — Food.
29
William LvDD, Esq., of Minot, Mc, president i General Wade Hampton, of South Carolina, and >vii.i.i'^«i • -^ 1' , „ i_ - I task me to write out tor you ihc circumstances ot
of tlie American Peace Society, and formerly a slaveholder of Florida, gives the following testi- | mony as to the allowance of food to slaves.
" The usual food of the slaves was corn, with a modicum of salt. In some cases the master allowed no salt, but the slaves boiled the sea water for salt in their little pots. For about eight days near Christinas, i. e., from the Satur- day evening before, to the Monday evening after Christmas day, they were allowed some meat. They always with one single exception ground their corn in a hand-mill, and cooked their food themselves.
Extract of a letter from Rev. D. C. Eastman, a prt^cher of the Methodist Episcopal church, in Fayet^, county, Ohio.
" In March, 1838, Mr. Thomas Larrimer, a deacon of the Presbyterian church in Blooming- bury, Fajette county, Ohio, Mr. G. S. Fullerton, merchant, and member of the same church, and Mr. William A. Ustick, an elder of the same church, spent a night with a Mr. Shep- herd, about 30 miles Nortk of Charleston, S. C., on the Monk's corner load. He owned five families of negroes, who, he said, were fed from the same meal and meat tubs as himself, but that 99 out of a 100 of all the slaves in that county saw meat but once a year, which was on Christmas holidays."
As an illustration of the inhuman experiments snmetunes tried upon slaves, in respect to the kind as well as the quality and quantity of their food, we sohcit the attention of the reader to the testimony of the late General Wade Hampton, of South Carolina. General Hampton was for some time commander in chief of the army on the Canada frontier during the last war, and at the time of his death, about three years since, was the largest slaveholder in the United States. The General's testimony is contained in the following extract of a letter, just received from a distin. guished clergymen in the west, extensively known both as a preacher and a writer. His name is
the case — considering them well calculated to illustrate two points in the history of slavery : 1st, That the habit of slaveholding dreadfully blunts the feelings toward the slave, producing such insensibility that his sufferings and death are regarded with indifference. 2d, That the slave often has insufficient food, both in quantity and quality.
" I received my information from a lady in the west of high respectability and great moral worth, —but think it best to withhold her name, although the statement was not made in confidence.
" My informant stated that she sat at dinner once in company with General Wade Hampton, and several others ; that the conversation turned upon the treatment of their servants, &c. ; when the General undertook to entertain the company with the relation of an experiment he had made in the feeding of his slaves on cotton seed. He said that he first mingled one-fourth cotton seed with three-fourths corn, on which they seemed to thrive tolerably well ; that he then had measured out to them equal quantities of each, which did not seem to produce any important change ; af- terwards he increased the quantity of cotton seed to three.fourths, mingled with one-foiu-th corn, and then he declared, with an oatli, that ' they died like rotten sheep ! !' It is but justice to the lady to state that she spoke of his conduct with the utmost indignation ; and she mentioned also that he received no countenance from the com- pany present, but that aU seemed to look at each other with astonishment. I give it to you just as I received it from one who was present, and whose character for veracity is unquestionable.
"It is proper to add that I had previously formed an acquaintance with Dr. Witherspoon, now of Alabama, if alive; whose former resi- dence was in South Carolina ; from whom I re- ceived a particular account of the manner of feeding and treating slaves on the plantations of General Wade Hampton, and others in the same part of the State ; and certainly no one could listen to the recital without concluding that such masters and overseers as he described must have hearts like the nether millstone. The cotton seed experiment I had heard of before also, as
with the executive committee of the American Anti-Slavery Society.
' You refer in your letter to a statement made
to you while in this place, respecting the late 1 informant."
having been made in other parts of the south ; consequently, I was prepared to receive as true the above statement, even if I had not been so well acquainted with the high character of my
2. aUANTITY OF FOOD.
The legal allowance of food for slaves in North Carolina, is in the words of the law, " a quart of com per day." See Haywood's Manual, 525. The legal allowance in Louisiana is more, a barrel [flour barrel] of corn, (in the ear,) or its equivalent in other grain, and a pint of salt a month. In the other slave states the amount of food for the slaves is left to the option of the master.
TESTIMONY.
Thos. Clay, Esq., of Georgia, a slave holder, in his address before the Georgia Presbytery, 1833.
The Maryland Journal, and Balti- more Advertiser, May 30, 1788.
»♦ The quantity allowed by custom is a peck of com a week .'
" A single peck of corn a week, or the like measure of rice, is the ordinary quantity of provision for a hard-working slave ; to which a small quantity of meat is occasionally, though rarely, added."
30
Privations of the Slaves — Food.
W. C. Giklerslesvc, Esq., a native of Georgia, and Elder in the Presbyterian Ciiurch, Willcsbarre, Penii.
Wm. liadd, of Minot, Maine, former- ly a slaveliolder iu Florida.
Jlr. Jarvis Brewster, in his " Exposi- tion of the treatment of slaves in the Soutliern States," published in N. Jersey, 1815.
Rev. Horace Moulton, a Methodist Clergyman of Marlboro', JIass., who lived five years in Georgia.
Mr. F. C. Macy, Nantucliet, Mass., who resided in Georgia iu 1820.
Mr. NehemiahCaulkins, amember of the Baptist Church in Waterford, Conu., who resided in North Carolina, eleven winters.
William Savery, late of Philadelphia, an eminent Minister of the Society of Friends, who travelled extensively in the slave states, on a Religious Visi- tation, speaking of the subsistence of the slaves, says, in his publislied Journal,
The late John Parr ish, of Philadelphia, another highly respected Minister of the hbciety of Friends, who traversed the South, on a similar mission, in 1804 and 5, says in bis " Remarks on tlie slavery of Blacks ;"
" The weekly allowance to grown slaves on this plantation, where I was best acquainted, was one peck of corn."
" The usual allowance of food was one quart of corn a day, to a full task hand, with a modicum of salt ; kind masters allow- ed a jpecA; o/corw a tcee^-; some masters allowed no salt."
" The allowance of provisions for the slaves, is one peck of corn, in the grain, per week."
" In Georgia the planters give each slave only one peck of their gourd seed corn per week, with a small quantity of salt."
" The food of the slaves was three pecks of potatos a week during the potato season, and one jieck of corn, during the re- mainder of the year."
" The subsistence of the slaves, consists of seven quarts of^teal or eight quarts of small rice for one tce.ek J
" A peck of corn is their (the slaves,) miserabJo subsistence for a week."
" They allow them but one peel of meal, for a whole week, in some of the Southern states."
Richard Macy, Hudson, N., Y. a Member of the Society of Friends, who Jias resided in Georgia.
Rev. C. S. Renshaw, of Quincy, III., (the testimony of a Virginian.)
" Their usual allowance of food was one peck of corn per week, which was dealt out to them every first day of the week. They had nothing allowed them besides the corn, except one quarter of beef at Christmas."
" The slaves are generally allowanced : a pint of corn meal and a salt herring is the allowance, or in lieu of the herring a " dab" of fat meat of about the same value. I have known tiie sour milk, and clauber to be served out to the hands, when there was an abundance of milk on the plantation. This is a luxury not often afforded." Testimony of Mr. George W, Westgate, member of the Congregational Church, of Quincy, Illi- nois. Mr. W. has been engaged in the low country trade for twelve years, more than half of each year, principally on the Mississippi, and its tributary streams in the south-western slave states.
" Feeding is not sufficient, let facts speak. On the coast, i. e. Natchez and the Gulf of Mexico,
the allowance was one barrel of ears of corn, and a pint of salt per month. They may cook this in what manner they please, but it must be done after dark ; they have no day light to prepare it by. Some few planters, but only a few, let them prepare their com on Saturday afternoon. Planters, overseers, and negroes, have told me, that in pinching times, i. e. when corn is high, they did not o-et near that quantity. In Miss., I know some planters who allowed their hands three and a halt pounds of meat per week, when it was clieap. Many prepare their corn on the Sabbath, when they are not worked on that day, which however is frequently the case on sugar plantations. There are very many masters on " the coast" who will not suffer their slaves to come to the boats, be- cause they steal molasses to barter for meat ; indeed they generally trade more or less with stolen property. But it is impossible to find out what and when, as their articles of barter are of such trifling importance. They would often come on board our boats to beg a bone, and would tell how badly they were fed, that they were almost starved ; many a time I have set up all night, to pre- vent them from steahng something to eat."
3. QUALITY OF FOOD.
Having ascertained the kind and quantity of food allowed to the slaves, it is important to know something of its quality, that we may judge of the amount of sustenance which it contains. For, if their provisions are of an inferior quality, or in a damaged state, then, power to sustain labor must be greatly diminished.
TESTIMO.Vy.
WITNESSES. Thomas Clay, Esq. of Georgia, in an address to the Georgia Presbytery, 1834, speaking of the quality of the corn given to the slaves, says,
" There is often a defect here."
Privations of the Slaves — Food.
31
Rev. Horace Moulton, a Methodist clergyman at Marlboro', Mass. aiid live years a resident of Georgia.
Tlie "Western Jledical Reforiner," in ail article on the diseases peculiar to negroes, by a Kentucky plijsician, says oftiie diet' of the slaves;
Professor A. G. Smith , of the New York Medical College ; formerly a phy- sician in Louisville, Kentucky.
" Tlic food, or ' feed ' of slaves is generally of the poorest kind."
" Thcv live on a coarse, crude, unicholesome diet."
I have myself known nnmerous instances of large families of badly fed negroes swept off by a prevailing epidemic; and it is well known to many intelligent planters in the south, that the best method of preventing that horrible malady, Chachexia Africana, is to feed the negroes with nutritious food.
4. NUMBER AND TIME OF MEALS EACH DAY.
In determinmo- whether or not the slaves suffer for want of food, the number of hours intervening, and the labor performed between their meals, and the number of meals each day, should be taken into consideration.
TESTIMONY.
" The slaves go to the field in the morning ; they carry with them corn meal wet with water, and at noon build a fire on the grotmd and bake it in the ashes. After the labors of the day are over, they take their second meal of ash-cake."
WITNESSES.
Philemon Bliss, Esq., a lawyer in Elyria, Ohio, and member of tlie Presby- terian churcn, who lived in Florida, in 1834, and 1835.
President Edwards, the younger.
Mr. Eleazar Powell, Chippewa, Bea- ver county, Perm., who resided in Mis- sissippi in 1836 and 1837.
Mr. Nehemiah Caulkins, Waterford, Conn., who spent eleven winters in North Carolina.
Rev. Phineas Smith, Centreville, N. Y., who has hved at the south some years.
Rev. C. S. Renshaw, Quincy, Illinois, —the testimony of a Virginian.
" The slaves eat twice during the day."
" The slaves received tivo meals during the day. Those who have their food cooked for them get their breakfast about eleven o'clock, and their other meal after night."
" The breakfast of the slaves was generally about ten or eleven o'clock."
" The slaves have usually two meals a day, viz : at eleven o'clock and at night."
" The slaves have two meals a day. They breakfast at from ten to eleven, A. M., and eat their supper at from six to nine or ten at night, as the season and crops may be."
The preceding testimony establishes the fol- lowing points.
1st. That the slaves are allowed, in general, no meat. This appears from the fact, that in the only slave states which regulate the slaves' rations by law, (North Carolina and Louisiana,) the legal ration contains no meat. Besides, the late Hon. R. J. Turnbull, one of the largest planters in South Carolina, says expressly, " meat, when given, is only by the way of indulgence or favor." It is shown also by the direct testimony recorded above, of slaveholders and others, in all parts of the slaveholding south and west, that the gene- ral allowance on plantations is corn or meal and salt merely. To this there are doubtless many exceptions, but they are only exceptions ; the number of slaveholders who furnish meat for \ha\x field-hands, is small, in comparison with the number of thos*; who do not. The house slaves, that is, the cooks, chambermaids, waiters, &c., generally get some meat every day ; the remain- der bits and bones of their masters' tables. But that the great body of the slaves, those that compose the field gangs, whose labor and expo- sure, and consequent exhaustion, are vastly greater
than those of house slaves, toiling as they do from day light till dark, in the fogs of the early morn- ing, under the seorchings of mid- day, and amid the damps of evening, are in general provided with 720 meat, is abundantly established by the preceding testimony.
Now we do not say that meat is necessary to sustain men under hard and long continued labor, nor that it is not. This is not a treatise on dietetics ; but it is a notorious fact, that the medical facul- ty in this country, with very few exceptions, do most strenuously insist that it is necessary ; and that working men in all parts of the country do believe that meat is indispensable to sustain them, even those who work within doors, and only ten hours a day, every one knows. Further, it is no- torious, that the slaveholders themselves believe the daily use of meat to be absoltftely necessary to the comfort, not merely of those who labor, but of those who are idle, is proved by the fact of meat being a part of the daily ration of food provided for convicts in the prisons, in every one of the slave states, except in those rare cases where meat is expressly prohibited, and the con- vict is, by watf of extra punishment confined to
32
Privations of the Slaves — Food.
bread and water ; he is occasionally, and for a lit- tle time only, confined to bread and water; tliat is, to the ordinary diet of slaves, with this differ- ence in favor of the convict : his bread is made for him, whereas the slave is forced to pound or grind his own com and make his own bread, when ex- hausted with toil.
The preceding testimony shows also, that vegetables form generally no part of the slaves' allowance. The sole food of the majority is corn : at every meal — from day to day — from week to week — from month to month, corn. In South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, the sweet pota- to is, to a considerable extent, substituted for corn during a part of the year.
2d. The preceding testimony proves conclu- sively, that the quantity of food generally allow- ed to a full-grown field-hand, is a peck of corn a week, or a fraction over a quart and a gill of corn a day. The legal ration of North Carolina is less — in Louisiana it is more. Of the slave- holders and other witnesses, who give the fore- going testimony, the reader will perceive that no one testifies to a larger allowance of corn than a peck for a week ; though a number testify, that within the circle of their knowledge, seven quarts was the usual allowance. Frequently a small quantity of meat is added ; but this, as has al- ready been shown, is not the general rule for field.hands. We may add, also, that in the sea- son of '' pumpkins," " cimblins," " cabbages," " greens," &c., the slaves on small plantations are, to some extent, furnished with those articles.
Now, without entering upon the vexed ques- tion of how much food is necessary to sustain the human system, under severe toil and exposure, and without giving the opinions of physiologists as to the insufficiency or sufficiency of the slaves' allowance, we affirm that all civilized nations have, in all ages, and in the most emphatic man- ner, declared, that eight quarts of corn a week, (the usual allowance of our slaves,) is utterly in- sufficient to sustain the human body, under such toil and exposure as that to which the slaves are subjected.
To show this fully, it will be necessary to make some estimates, and present some statistics. And first, the northern reader must bear in mind, that the com furnished to the slaves at the south, is almost invariably the white gourd seed corn, and that a quart of this kind of corn weighs five or six ounces less than a quart of " flint com," the kind generally raised in the northern and eastern states ; consequently a peck of the com generally given to the slaves, would be only equivalent to a fraction more than six quarts and a pint of the corn commonly raised in the New England States, New York, New Jersey, &:,c. Now, what would be said of t''« northern capital.
ist, who should allow his laborers but six quart and five gills of corn for a week's provisions ?
Further, it appears in evidence, that the corn given to the slaves is often defective. This, the reader will recollect, is the voluntary testimony of Thomas Clay, Esq., the Georgia planter, whose testimony is given above. When this is the case, the amount of actual nutriment contained in a peck of the " gourd seed," may not be more than in five, or four, or even three quarts of " flint corn."
As a quart of southern corn weighs at least five ounces less than a quart of northern corn, it requires little arithmetic to perceive, that the daily allowance of the slave fed upon that kind of corn, would contain about one third of a pound less nutriment than though his daily ration were the same quantity of northern com, which would amount, in a year, to more than a hundred and twenty pounds of human sustenance ! which woxdd furnish the slave with his full allowance of a peck of corn a week for two months I It is unnecessary to add, that tliis difference in the weight of the two kinds of corn, is an item too important to be overlooked. As one quart of the southern corn weighs one pound and eleven-six- teenths of a pound, it follows that it would be about one pound and six-eighths of a poimd. We now sohcit the attention of the reader to the fol- lowing unanimous testimony, of the civilized world, to the utter insufficiency of this amount of food to sustain human beings under labor. This testimony is to be found in the laws of all civil- ized nations, which regulate the rations of sol- diers and sailors, disbursements made by govern- ments for the support of citizens in times of pub- lic calamity, the allowance to convicts in prisons, &c. We will begin with the United States.
The daily ration for each United States' soldier, established by act of Congress, May 30, 1796, was the following : one pound of beef, one pound of bread, half a gill of spirits ; and at the rate of one quart of salt, two quarts of vinegar, two pounds of soap, and one pound of candles to every hundred rations. To those soldiers " vrho were on the frontiers," (where the labor and ex- posure were greater,) the ration was one pound two ounces of beef and one pound two ounces of bread. Laws U. S. vol. 3d, sec. 10, p. 431.
After an experiment of two years, the preced- ing ration being found insufficient, it was in- creased, by act of Congress, July 16, 1798, and was as follows : beef one pound and a quarter, bread one pound two ounces ; salt two quart?, vinegar four quarts, soap four pounds, and can- dles one and a half pounds to the hundred ra- tions. The preceding allowance was afterwards still further increased.
The present daily ration for the United States'
Privations of the Slaves — Food.
3»
soldiers, is, as wc loam from an advertisement of Captain Fulton, of the United States' army, in a late number of the Richmond (Va.) Enquirer, as follows: one and a quarter pounds of beef, one and three-sixteenths pounds of bread ; and at the rate of eig!it quarts of beans, eight pounds of sugar, four pounds of coffee, two quarts of salt, four pomids of candles, and four pounds of soap, to every hundred rations.
We have before us the daily rations provided for the emigrating- Ottawa Indians, two }^ears since, and for the emigrating Cherokees last fall. They were the same — one pound of fresh beef, one pound of flour, &c.
The daily ration for the United States' navy, is fourteen ounces of bread, half a pound of beef, six ounces of pork, three omices of rice, three ounces of peas, one ounce of cheese, one ounce of sugar, half an ounce of tea, one-third of a gill molasses.
The daily ration in the British army is one and a quarter pounds of beef, one pound of bread, &.c.
The daily ration in the French army is one pound of beef, one and a half pounds of bread, one pint of wuie, &c.
The common daily ration for foot soldiers on the continent, is one pound of meat, and one and a half pounds of bread.
The sea ration among the Portuguese, has be- come the usual ration in the navies of European powers generally. It is as follows : " one and a half pounds of biscuit, one pound of salt meat, one pint of wine, with some dried fish and onions."
Prison Ratiox\s. — Before giving the usual daily rations of food allowed to convicts, in the principal prisons in the United States, we will quote the testimony of the " American Prison Discipline Society," which is as follows :
" The common allowance of food in the peni- tentiaries, is equivalent to one pound of meat,
ONE pound of bread, AND 0x\E POUND OF VEGETA-
KLEs PER DAY. It Varies a little from this in some of them, but it is generally equivalent to it." Furst Report of American Prison Discipline So- ciety, page 13.
The daily ration of food to each convict, m the principal prisons in this country, is as ibllows :
In the New Hampshire State Prison, one and a quarter pounds of meal, and fourteen ounces of beef, for breakfast and dinner; and for sup- per, a soup or porridge of potatos and beans, or peas, the quantity not limited.
In the Vermont prison, the convicts are al- lowed to eat as much as they wish.
In the Massachusetts' penitentiary, one and a half pounds of bread, fourteen ounces of meat, half a pint of potatos, and one gill cf molasses, or one pint of milk.
In the Connecticut State Pri.son, one pound of beef, one pound of bread, two and a half pounds of potatos, half a gill of molasses, with salt, pepper, and vinegar.
In the New York State Prison, at Auburn, one pound of beef, twenty-two ounces of flour and meal, half a gill of molasses; with two quarts of rye, four quarts of salt, two quarts of vinegar, one and a half ounces of pepper, and two and a half bushels of potatos to every hun- dred rations.
In the New York State Prison at Sing Sing, one pound of beef, eighteen ounces of flour and meal, besides potatos, rye coffee, and molasses.
In the New York City Prison, one pound of beef, one pound of flour ; and three pecks of po- tatos to every hundred rations, with other small articles.
In the New Jersey State Prison, one pound of bread, half a pound of beef, with potatos and cabbage, (quantity not specified,) one gill of molasses, and a bowl of mush for supper.
In the late Walnut Street Prison, Philadel- phia, one and a half pounds of bread and meal, half a pound of beef, one pint of potatos, one gill of molasses, and half a gill of rye, for coffee. In the Baltimore prison, we believe the ration is the same with the preceding.
In the Pennsylvania Eastern Penitentiary, one pound of bread and one pint of coffee for break- fast, one pint of meat soup, with potatos without limit, for dinner, and mush and molasses for sup. per.
In the Penitentiary for the District of Colum- bia, Washington city, one pound of beef, twelve ounces of Indian meal, ten ounces of wheat flour, half a gill of molasses ; with two quarts of rye, four quarts of salt, four quarts of vinegar, and two and a half bushels of potatos to every hun- dred rations.
Rations in English Prisons. — The daily ra- tion of food in the Bedfordshire Penitentiary, is two pounds of bread; and if at hard labor, a quart of soup for dinner.
In the Cambridge Coanty House of Correction, three pounds of brc^ad, and one pint of beer.
In the MiJlbank General Penitentiary, one and a half pounds of -ircad, one pound of potatos, six ounces of beef with half a pint of broth there- from.
In the Gloucestershire Penitentiary, one and a half poivids of bread, three-fourths of a pint of peas, made into soup, with beef, quantity not sta'ed. Also gruel, made of vegetables, quantity not stated, and one and a half ounces of oatmeal mixed with it.
In the Leicestershire House of Correction, two pounds of bread, and three pints of gruel ; and when at hard labor, one pint of milk in addition.
34
Privations of the Slaves — Food.
and twice a week a pint of meat soup at dinner, instead of gruel.
In the Buxton House of Correction, one and a lialf pounds of bread, one and a half pints of g^ruel, one and a half pints of soup, four-fifths of a pound of potatos, and two-sevenths of an ounce of beef.
Notwithstanding the preceding daily ration in the Buxton Prison is about double the usual daily allowance of our slaves, yet the visiting physicians decided, that for those prisoners who were required to work the tread-mill, it was en- tirely insufficient. This question was considered at length, and publicly discussed at the sessions of the Surry magistrates, with the benefit of medical advice ; which resulted in " large addi- tions" to the rations of those who worked on the tread-mill. See London Morning Chronicle, Jan. 13, 1830.
To the preceding we add the ration of the Ro- man slaves. The monthly allowance of food to slaves in Rome was called " Dimensum." The " Dimensum" was an allowance of wheat or of other grain, which consisted of five modii a month to each slave. Ainsworth, in his Latin Dictionary estimates the modius, when used for the measurement of grain, at a peck and a half our measure, which would make the Roman slave's allowance two quarts of grain a day, just double the allowance provided for the slave by law in North Carolina, and six quarts more per week than the ordinary allowance of slaves in the slave states generally, as already established by the testimony of slaveholders themselves. But it must by no means be overlooked that this " dimensum," or monthly allowance, was far from being the sole allowance of food to Roman slaves. In addition to this, they had a stated daily allow- ance {diarium) besides a monthly allowance of money, amounting to about a cent a day.
Now without further trencliing on the reader's time, we add, compare the preceding daily allow- ances of food to soldiers and sailors in this and other countries; to con^'icts in this and other countries; to bodies of "migrants rationed at public expense ; and finally, vi'ith the fixed al- lowance given to Roman slaves, and we find the states of this Union, the slave itates as well as the free, the United States' goverijrnent, the dif- ferent European governments, the ^Id Roman empire, in fine, we may add, the worH, ancient and modern, uniting in the testimony that to furnish men at hard labor from daylight till dark with but 1^ lbs. of corn per day, their sole susv,- nance, is to murder tiiem by piece-bieal. The reader will pei-ceive by examining the preceding statistics that the average daily ration throughout this country and Europe exceeds the usual slave's allowance at least a pound a day; also that one-
third of this ration for soldiers and convicts in the United States, and for soldiers and sailors in Europe, is meat, generally beef ; whereas the al- lowance of the mass of our slaves is corn, only. Further, the convicts in our prisons are sheltered from the heat of the sun, and from the damps of the early morning and evening, from cold, rain, &c. ; whereas, the great body of the slaves are exposed to all of these, in their season, from day- light till dark; besides this, they labor more hours in the day than convicts, as will be shown under another head, and are obhged to prepare and cook their own food after they have finished the labor of the day, while the convicts have theirs prepared for them. These, with other cir- cumstances, necessarily make larger and longer draughts upon the strength of the slave, produce consequently greater exliaustion, and demand a larger amount of food to restore and sustain the laborer than is required by the convict in his briefer, less exposed, and less exliausting toils.
That the slaveholders themselves regard the usual allowance of food to slaves as insufficient, both in kind and quantity, for hard-working men, is shown by the fact, that in all the slave states. we believe without exception, white convicts at hard labor, have a much larger allowance of food than the usual one of slaves ; and generally more than one third of this daily allowance is meat. This conviction of slaveholders shows itself in various forms. When persons wish to hire slaves to labor on public works, in addition to the m- ducement of high wages held out to masters to hire out their slaves, the contractors pledge them- selves that a certain amount of food shall be given the slaves, taking care to specify a larger amount than the usual allowance, and a part of it meat.
The following advertisement is an illustration. We copy it from the " Daily Georgian," Savan- nah, Dec. 14, 1838.
NEGROES WANTED.
Tlie Contractors upon the Brunswick and AI- atamaha Canal are desirous to hire a number of prime Negro Men, from the 1st October next, for fifteen months, until the 1st January, 1840. They will pay at the rate of eighteen dollars per month for each prime hand.
These negroes will be employed in the exca- vation of the Canal. They will be provided with three and a half pounds of pork or hacon, and ten quarts of gourd seed corn per week, lodged in comfortable shantees, and attended constantly by a skilful physician.
J. H. COUPER,
p. M. Nightingale.
But we have direct testimony to this point. The late Hon. John Taylor, of Caroline Co. Vir- ginia, for many years Senator in Congress, and for many years president of the Agricultural So-
Privations of the Slaves— Lahor.
35
ciety of the State, says in his "Agricultural Es- says," No. 30, page 97, " Bread alone ought
NEVER TO BE CONSIDERED A SUFFICIENT DIET FOR SLAVES EXCEPT AS A PUNISHMENT." He Urges Upon the planters of Virginia to give their slaves, in ad- dition to bread, " salt meat and vegetables," and adds, " we shall be astonished to discover upon trial, that this great comfort to them is a profit to the master."
The Managers of the American Prison Disci- pline Society, in their third Report, page 58, say, " In the Penitentiaries generally, in the United States, the animal food is equal to one pound of meat per day for each convict."
Most of the actual suiForing from hunger on the part of the slaves, is in the sugar and cotton-grow- ing region, where the crops are exported an'd the corn generaUy purchased from the upper country. Where this is the case there cannot hut be suffer- ing. The contingencies of bad crops, difficult
transportation, high prices, &c. &c., naturally occasion short and often precarious allowances. The following extract from a New Orleans paper of April 26, 1837, affords an illustration. The writer in describing the effects of the money pressure in Mississippi, says :
" They, (the planters,) are now left without provisions and the means of living and using their industry, for the present year. In this dilemma, planters whose crops have been from 100 to 700 bales, find themselves forced to sacrifice many of their slaves in order to get the common necessaries of life for the support of themselves and the rest of their negroes. In many places, heavy planters compel their slaves to fish Jor the means of sub. sistence, rather than sell them at such ruinous rates. There are at this moment THOUSANDS OF SLAVES in Mississippi, that KNOW NOT WHERE THE NEXT MORSEL IS TO COME FROM. The master must be ruined to save the wretches from being STARVED "
II. LABOR.
THE SLAVES ARE OVERWORKED.
BuT W w'^'^'v'^ VT^ ^^ '^' ''''"''"'' ""' ^^^"^^ '^^' '^' '^^^'^ ^^' obliged to be in the field rains of 1 T^T^ f^ " !° """ ^'^'"^ "' ^^^'^^^"^ -^^' ^^ will present the express decla- rations of slaveholders and others, that the slaves are severely driven in the field.
%vitnesses.
testimony.
" Many owners of slaves, and others who have the manage- ment of slaves, do confine them so closely at hard labor that they have not sufficient time for natural rest.—See 2 Brevard's Di- gest of the Laws of South Carohna, 243."
"So laborious is the task of raising, beating, and cleaning rice, that had it been possible to obtain European servants in sufficient numbers, thousands and tens of thousands must kave perished."
"Is It not obvious that the way to render their situation more comfortable, is to aUow them to be taken where there is not the same motive to force the slave to incessant toil t^iat there is in the country where cotton, sugar, and tobacco a-e raised for ex- portation. It is proposed to hem in the blacks where they are hard worked, that they may be rendered unproductive and the race be prevented from increasing. * * * The proposed measure would be extreme cruelty to the blacks. * « * You would * * « doom them to hard labor."
" At the rolling of sugars, an intervaZ of from two to three months, they work both night and day. Abridged of their sleep, they scarce retire to rest during the whole period."
" The work is admitted to be severe for the hands, (slaves,) requiring when the process is commenced to be pushed nisht and day." *
The Senate and House of Represent ativesof the State of South Carolina.
Historj- of Carolina.— Vol. 1, page
Hon. Alexander Smyth, a slavehold- er, and member of Congress from Vir- ginia, in his speech on the " Missouri question," Jan. 28, 1820.
"Travels in Louisiana," translated from the French by John Davies, Esq. —Page 81.
The Western Review, No. 2,— article " Agriculture of Louisiana."
W. (;. Gildersleeve, Esq., a native of Georgia, elder of the Presbyterian church, Wilkesbarre, Penn.
" Overworked I know they (the slaves) are."
Mr. Asa A. Stone, a theological stu- " Every body here knows overdriving to be one of the most dent, near Natchez, Miss., in 1834 and common occurrences, the planters do not deny it. exceot ner ^^^- haps, to northerners." J ' P . P
Phii„,„„„ or r, . " During the cotton-picking season they usuallv labor in the
ElSSh^, w'g^o' & iS Si ti ^''t ^fu^^ ^^^ "^^l*^ «' the^dayhght, a/d then IpenT a good J834 and 1835. part of the night in ginning and baling. The labor required is
very frequently excessive, and speedily impairs the constitution."
36
Privations of the Slaves — Labor.
WITNESSES. TESTIMONT-
Hoii. R. J. TumbuU of South Caroli- ! ^." *,^<^ pregnant women even on the plantation, and weak
na, a slaveholder, speaking of the har- Sind Sickly negroes incapable of other labor, are then inrecjui.
vesting of cotton, says : sition."
Asa A Stone, theological studpnt, a riassical teacher near Natchez, Miss., 1835.
Mr. Cornelius Johnson, of Famrin?- ton, Ohio, who lived in Mississippi a port of 1837 and 1838.
W. C. Gildersleeve, Esq., Wllkes- baiTB, Penn., a native of Georgia.
Mr. William Leftvvich, a native of Virginia and son of a slaveholder — he has recently removed to Delhi, Hamil- ton county Ohio.
Mr. Nehemiah Caulkius, Waterford, Conn., a resident in North Carolina eleven winters.
Mr. Eleazar Powel, Chippewa, Bea- ver county, Penn., who lived in Slissis- sippi in 1830 and 1837.
Philemon Bliss, Esq., a lawyer in Ely- ria, Ohio, who resided in Florida in 1334 and 1835.
"Travels in Louisiana," page 87
Mr Henry E- Knapp, member of a Christian church in Farinington, Ohio, who lived in MiiMssiypi in 1S3' and 1828.
HOURS OF LABOR AND REST.
" It is a general rule on all regular plantations, that the slaves be in the field as soon as it is light enough for them to see to work, and remain there until it is so dark that they cannot see."
" It is the common rule for the slaves to be kept at work fif- teen hours in the day, and in the time of picking cotton a certain number of pounds is required of each. If this amount is not brought in at night, the slave is whipped, and the nmnber of pounds lacking is added to the next day's job ; this course is often repeated from day to day."
" It was customary for the overseers to call out the gangs long before day, say three o'clock, in the winter, while dressing out the crops ; such work as could be done by fire hght (pitch pine was abundant,) was provided."
" From daicn till dark, the slaves are required to bend to their work."
" The slaves are obliged to work from daylight till dark, as long as they can see."
" The slaves had to cook and cat their breakfa.st and be in the field by daylight, and contirtue there till dark."
" The slaves commence labor by daylight in the morning, and do not leave the field till dark in the evening."
" Both in summer and winter the slave must he in the field by the first dawning of day."
" The slaves were made lo work, from as soon as they could see in the nioniing, till as late as they could see at night. Some- times they were made to v/ork till nine o'clock at night, in such work as they could do, as burning cotton stalks, &,c."
A New Orleans paper, dated March 23, 182G, says : " To judge from the activity reigning in the coiton presses of the suburbs of St. Mary, and the lahi hours during which their slaves v/ork, the cot\on trade was never more brisk."
Mr. George W. Westgate, a member of the Congregational Church at Quincy, Illinois, who lived in the souta western slave states a num- ber of years, saj-s, '• Th<5 slaves are driven to the field in the morning about four o'clock, the gene- ral calculation is to ^et them at work by day- light ; the time for breakfast is between nine and ten o'clock, this meal is sometimes eaten ' bite and work,' others allow fifteen reinutes, and this is the only rest the slave has whUe in the field. I have never knoWn a case of stopping an hour, in Louisiana ; in Mississippi the rule is milder, though entirely subject to the •will of the master. On cotton plantations, in cotton picking time, that is from October to Christmas, each hand ht^s a certain quantity to pick, and is flogged if his task is not accomplished ; their tasks are such as to keep them all the while busy."
The preceding testimony under this head has sole reference to the actual labor of the slaves in the field. In order to determine how many hom-s are left for sleep, we must take into the account, the time spent in going to and from tlie field,
which is often at a distance of one, two and sometimes three miles ; also the time necessary for pounding, or grinding their corn, and prepar- ing, over night, their fijod for the next day ; also the preparation of tools, getting fuel and prepar- ing it, making fires and cooking their suppers, if they have any, the occasional mending and wash- ing of their clothes, &.c. Besides this, as everj one knows who has lived on a soutliem planta- tion, many little errands and chores are to be done for their masters and mistresses, old and yoimg, which have accumulated during the day and been kept in reserve till the slaves return from the field at night. To this we may add that the slaves are social beings, and that dm'ing the day, silence is generally enforced by the whip of the overseer or driver.* When they return at night, their pent up social feelings will seek vent, it is a law of nature, and though the body may be greatly worn with toil, this law cannot be wholly stifled. Sharers of the same woes, they arc drawn together by strong affinities, and seek
* We do not mean that tliey are not suffered to speak, but, that, as conversation would be a hindrance to labor, they are generally permitted to indulge in it but little.
Privations of the Slaves — Labor.
37
*thc society and sympathy of their fellows ; even ' " tired nature" will joyfully forego for a time , needful rest, to minister to a want of its being equally permanent and imperative as the want of sleep, and as much more profound, at) the yearn- ings of the higher nature surpass the instincts of its animal appendage.
All these things make drafts upon iime. To show how much of the slave's time, which is ab- solutely indispensable for rest and sleep, is neces- sarily spent in various labors after his return from the lield at night, we subjoin a few testimonies.
Mr. Cornelius Johnson, Farmington, Ohio, who lived in IMississippi in the years 1837 and 38, eays :
" On all the plantations where I was acquaint- ed, the slaves were kept in the field till dark ; af- ter which, tliose v.- ho had to grind then- own corn, had that to attend to, get their supper, attend to other family aftairs of their own and of their mas- ter, such as bringing water, washing clothes, &c. &c., and be in the field as soon as it was sufli- ciently light to commence v/ork in the morning."
Mr. George W. Westgate, of Quincy, Illinois, who has spent several years in the south western slave states, says :
" Their time, after full dark until four o'clock iu the morning is their own ; this fact alone would seem to say they have sufficient rest, but there are other things to be considered ; much of their making, mending and washing of clothes, preparing and cooking food, hauling and chop- ping wood, fixing and preparing tools, and a va- riety of little nameless jobs must be done between those hours."
Philemon Bliss, Esq. of Elyria, Ohio, who re- sided in Florida in 1834 and 5, gives the follow- ing testimony :
'• After having finished their field labors, they are occupied till nine or ten o'clock in doing chores, such as grinding corn, (as all the corn in the vicinity is ground by hand,) chopping wood, taking care of horses, mules, tStc, and a thousand things necessary to be done on a large plantation. If any extra job is to be done, it must not hinder the ' niggers' from their v.'ork, but must be done in the night."
W. C. Gildersleeve, Esq., a native of Georgia, an elder of the Presbyterian Church at Wilkes- barre, says :
" The com is ground in a handmill by the slave after his task is done — generally there is but one mill on a plantation, and as but one can grind at a time, the mill is going sometimes very late at night.''''
We now present another class of facts and tes- timony, showing that the slaves engaged in raising the large staples, are overworked.
In September, 1834, the writer of this had an interview with James G. Birney, Esq., who then resided in Kentucky, having removed with his family from Alabama the year before. A few hours before that interview, and on the morning
of the same day, Mr. E. had spent a couple of hoiu-s with Hon. Henry Clay, at his residence, near Lexington. Mr. Birney remarked, that Mr. Clay had just told him, he had lately been led to mistrust certain estimates as to the in- crease of the slave population in the far south west — estimates which lie had presented, I think, in a speech before the Colonization Society. He now believed, that the births among the slaves in that quarter were not equal to the deaths — and that, of course, the slave population, independent of immigration from the slave-selling states, was not suslaining itself.
Among other facts stated by Mr. Clay, was the following, which we copy verbatim from the original memorandum, made at the time by Mr. Birney, with which ho has kindly furnished uu.
" Sept. IG, 1834. — Hon. H. Clay, m a conver- sation at his own house, on the subject of slave- ry, informed me, that Hon. Outerbridge Horsey, formerly a senator in Congress from the state of Delav/are, and the owner of a sugar plantation in Louisiana, dcclraed to him, that his overseer v/orkcd his hands so closely, that one of the wo- men brought forth a child whilst engaged in the labors of the field.
"Also, that a few years since, he was at a brick vard in the environs of New Orleans, in which one Imndred hands v.cre employed ; among them were from twenty to thirty young women, in the prime of life. He v»-as told by the proprietor, that there had not been a child born among them for the last two or three years, althovgh they all had husbands."
The preceding testimony of Mr. Clay, is strongly corroborated by advertisements of slaves, by Courts of Probate, and by executors administering upon the estates of deceased per- sons. Some of those advertisements for the sale of slaves, contain the names, ages, accustomed employment, &c., of all the slaves upon the plantation of the deceased. These catalogues show large numbers of young men and women, almost all of them between twenty and thirty- eight years old ; and yet the number of young children is astonishingly small. We have laid aside many lists of this kind, in looking over the newspapers of the slaveholdiug states ; but the two following are all we can lay our hands on at present. One is in the " Planter's Intelligen- cer," Alexandria, La., March 23, 1837, contain- ing one hundred and thirty slaves ; and the other in the New Orleans Bee, a fev/ days later, April 8, 1837, containing fifty-one slaves. The for- mer is a " Probate sale" of the slaves belonging to the estate of Mr. Charles S. Lee, deceased, and is advertised by G. W. Keeton, Judge of the Parish of Concordia, La. The sex, name, and age of each slave are contained in the advertise- ment, which fills two columns. The following are some of the particulars.
38
Privations of the Slaves — Labor.
The whole number of slaves is one hundred and thirty. Of these, only three are over forty years old. There are thirty-five females between the ages of sixteen and thirty-three, and yet there are only thirteen children under the age of thirteen years .'
It is impossible satisfactorily to account for such a fact, on any other supposition, than that these thirty-five females w^ere so overworked, or underfed, or both, as to prevent child-bearing.
The other advertisement is that of a " Probate sale," ordered by the Court of the Parish of Jef- ferson— including the slaves of Mr. William Gormley. The whole number of slaves is fifty. one ; the sex, age, and accustomed labors of each are given. The oldest of these slaves is but thirty-nine years old : of the females, thirteen are between the ages of sixteen and thirty-two, and the oldest female is but thirty.eight — and yet there are but two children under eight years old .'
Another proof that the slaves in the south- western states are over-worked, is the fact, that so few of them live to old age, A large majori- ty of them are old at middle age, and few live beyond fifty-five. In one of the preceding ad- vertisements, out of one hundred and thirty slaves, only three are over forty years old ! In the other, out of fifty-one slaves, only two are over thirty-five ; the oldest is but thirty-nine, and the way in which he is designated in the adver- tisement, is an additional proof, that what to others is " middle age," is to the slaves in the south-west " old age :" he is advertised as " old Jeffrey."
But the proof that the slave population of the south-west is so over- worked that it cannot supply its own waste, does not rest upon mere inferen- tial evidence. The Agricultural Society of Ba- ton Rouge, La., in its report, pubHshed in 1829, furnishes a labored estimate of the amount of ex- penditure necessarily incm-red in conducting " a well-regulated sugar estate." In this estimate, the annual net loss of slaves, over and above the supply by propagation, is set down at two and a HALF PER CENT ! The late Hon. Josiah S. Jobn- son, a member of Congress from Louisiana, ad- dressed a letter to the Secretary of the L^nited States' Treasury, in 1830, containing a similar estimate, apparently made with great care, and going into minute details. Many items in this estimate differ from the preceding ; but the esti- mate of the annual decrease of the slaves on a plantation was the same — two and a half per cent!
The following testimony of Rev. Dr. Chan- NiNG, of Boston, who resided some time in Vir- ginia, shows that the over-working of slaves, to such an extent as to abridge life, and cause a
decrease of population, is not confined to the far south and south-west.
'' I heard of an estate managed by an individ ual who was considered as singularly successful, and who was able to govern the slaves without the use of the whip. I was anxious to see him, and trusted that some discovery had been made favorable to humanity. I asked him how he was able to dispense with corporal punishment. He replied to me, with a very determined look, ' The slaves know that the work must be done, and that it is better to do it without punishment than with it.' In other words, the certainty and dread of chastisement were so impressed on them, that they never incurred it.
" I then found that the slaves on this well- managed estate, decreased in number. I asked the cause. He replied, with perfect frankness and ease, ' The gang is not large enough for the estate.' In other words, they were not equal to the work of the plantation, and yet were 7nade to do it, though with the certainty of abridging life.
" On this plantation the huts were uncom- monly convenient. There was an unusual air of neatness. A superficial observer would have called the slaves happy. Yet they were living under a severe, subduing discipline, and were over-worked to a degree that shortened life." — Channing on Slavery, page 162, first edition.
Philemon Bliss, Esq., a lawyer of Elyria, Ohio, who spent some time in Florida, gives the fol- lowing testimony to the over-working of the slaves :
"It is not uncommon for hands, in hurrying times, beside working all day, to labor half the night. This is usually the case on sugar planta- tions, during the sugar-boiling season ; and on cotton, during its gathering. Beside the regular task of picking cotton, averaging of the short staple, when the crop is good, 100 pounds a day to the hand, the ginning (extrac^^'iig the seed,) and baling was done in the night. Said Mr. to me, while conversing upon the cus-
tomary labor of slaves, ' I work mj niggers in a hmTying time till 11 or 12 o'clock at night, and have them up by four in the morning.'
" Beside the common inducement, the desire of gain, to make a large crop, the desire is increased by that spirit of gambling, so common at the south. It is very common to bet on the issue of a crop. A, lays a wager that, from a given num- ber of hands, he will make more cotton than B. The wager is accepted, and then begins the con- test ; and who bears the burden of it ? How many tears, yea, how many broken constitutions, and premature deaths, have been the effect of this spirit ? From the desperate energy of pur- pose with which the gambler pursues his object, from the passions which the practice calls into exercise, we might conjecture many. Such is the fact. In Middle Florida, a hroken-ioinded negro is more common than a broken-tcinded horse ; though usually, when they are declared unsound, or when their constitution is so broken that their recovery is despaired of, they are ex- ported to New Orleans, to drag out the remain- der of their days in the cane-field and sugar house. I would not insinuate that all planters gamble upon their crops ; but I mention the
Privations of the Slaves — Labor.
39
practice as one of the common indiiccmrnts to •push nio-"-crs.' Neither would I assert that all planters Trivc tlie hands to the injury of their health. I give it as a 'jreneml rule in the district of Middle Florida, and I have no reason to think that negroes arc driven worse there than in other fertile sections. People there told me that the situation of the slaves was far better than in Mis- sissippi and Louisiana. And from comparing the crops witJi those made in the latter states, and for other reasons, I am convinced of the truth of their statements."
Dr. Demming, a gentleman of high rcspectahili- ty, residing in Ashland, Richland county, Ohio, stated to Professor Wright, of New York city, " That during a recent tour at the south, while ascending the Ohio river, on the steamboat Fame, he had an opportunity of conversing with a iVlr. Dickinson, a resident of Pittsburg, m company with a number of cotton-planters and slave-deal- ers, from Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi. Mr. Dickinson stated as a fact, that the sugar planters upon the sugar coast in Louisiana had ab-ertained, that, as it was usually necessary to emp\oY about twice the amount of labor during the botmg season, tJiat was required during the season ot raising, they could, by excessive driv- ing, day and night, dming the boiling season, accomplish the whole labor with one set of hands. By pursuing this plan, they could afford to sacri. fice a set of hands once in seven years I He fur- ther stated that this Horrible system was now practised to a considerable extent ! The cor- rectness of this statement was substantially ad- mitted oy the slaveholders then on board."
The laVe Mr. Samuel Blackwell, a highly re- spected citizen of Jersey city, opposite the city of New York, and a member of the Presbyterian church, visited many of the sugar plantations in Louisiana a few years since; and having for many years been tm owner of an extensive sugar refinery in England, and subsequently in this country, he had not on\y every facility afforded him by the planters, for personal inspection of all parts of the process of sugar-making, but re- ceived from them the most unreserved commu- nications, as to their management of their slaves. Mr. B., after his return, frequently made the fol- lowing statement to gentlemen of his acquain- tance,—" That the planters generally declared to him, that they were obliged so to over-work their slaves during the sugar-making season, (from eight to ten weeks,) as to use them up in seven or eight years. For, said they, after the process IS commenced, it must be pushed without cessa- uon, night and day; and we cannot afford to ^eep a sufficient number of slaves to do the extra A-ork at the time of sugar-making, as ve could /lot profitably employ them the rest of the year." i It is not only true of the sugar planters, but of the slaveholders generally throughout the lar ! south and south west, that they believe it for their interest to wear out the slaves by excessive toil in eight or ten years after they put them into the field.*
* Alexander Jones, Esq.. a large planter in West. Feliciana, Louisiana, published a communication in the " North Ca- rolina True American," Nov. 25, 1838, in which, speaking
Rev. Doctor Reed, of London, who went through Kentucky, Virginia and Maryland in the simimer of 1834, gives the following testimony: " I was told confidently and from excellent authority, that recently at a meeting of planters in South Carolina, the question was seriously dis- cussed whether the slave is more profitable to the owner, if well fed, well clothed, and worked litrhtly, or if made the most of at once, and ex- hausted in some eight years. The decision was in favor of the last alternative. That decision will perhaps make many shudder. But to my mind this is not the chief evil. The greater and original evil is considering the slave as property. If he is only property and my property, then I have some right to ask how I may make that property most available."
"Visit to the American Churches," by Rev. Urs. Reed and Matthcsoii. Vol. 2. p. 173.
Rev. John O. Choules, recently pastor of the Baptist Church at New Bedford, MassachusettP, now of Buffalo, New York, made substantially the following statement in a speech in Boston.
" While attending the Baptist Triennial Con- vention at Richmond, Virgmia, in the spring of 1835, as a delegate from Massachusetts, I had a conversation on slavery, with an officer of the Baptist Church in that city, at whose house I was a guest. I asked my host if he did not apprehend that the slaves would eventually rise and extermmate their masters.
" Why," said the gentleman, " I used to ap- prehend such a catastrophe, but God has made a providential opening, a inerciful safety valve, and now I do not feel alarmed in the prospect of what is coming. 'What do you mean, said Mr. Choules, ' by providence opening a merciful safety valve V Why, said the gentleman, I will tell you ; the slave traders come from the cotton and sugar plantations of the South and are w-illing to buy up more slaves than we can part with. We must keep a stock for the purpose of rearing slaves, but we part with the most valuable, and at the same time, the most dangerous, and the demand is very constant and likely to be so, for when they go to these southern states, the average existence is only five years 1"
Monsieur C. C. Robin, a highly intelligent French gentleman, who resided in Louisiana from 1802 to 1806, and published a volume of travels, gives the following testimony to the over- working of the slaves there :
" I have besn a witness, that after the fatigue of the day, their labors have been prolonged se- veral hours by the light of the moon ; and then, before they could think of rest, they must pound and cook their corn ; and yet, long before day, I an implacable scold, whip in hand, would arouse ! them from their slumbers. Thus, of more than
' of the horses employed in the mills on the plantations for gin- 1 ning cotton, he sayi, they " are much whipped and jaded ; I and adds, " In fact, this service is so severe on horses as to 1 shorten their lives in many instances, if not actually Kill
them in gear." , „
Those who work one kind of their " live stock so as to
" shorten their lives," or " kill them in gear," would not 1 stick at doing the same thing to another kind.
40
Privations of (he Slaves — Clothing.
twenty negroes, who in twenty years shonld have doubled, the numhei icas reduced to four or five." In conclusion we add, that slaveholders have in the most jjublic and emphatic manner declared themselves guilty of barbarous inhumanity toward their slaves in exacting from them such lovg continued daily labor. The Legislatures of Maryland, Virginia and Georgia, have passed laws providing that convicts in their state prisons and penitentiaries, " shall be employed in work each day in the year except Sundays, not ex- ceeding eight hours, in the months of November, December, and January; nine liours, in the months of February and October, and ten hours in the rest of the year." Now contrast this legal exaction of labor from convicts with the exaction from plaves as established by the precedino- tes- timony. The reader perceives that the amount of time, in which by the preceding laws of Mary-
land, Virginia, and Georgia, the convicts in theis prisons are required to labor, is on an average during the year but little more than nine hours daily. Whereas, the laws of South Carolina permit the master to compel his slaves to work FIFTEEN HOURS in the twenty-four, in summer, and FOURTEEN in the winter — which v.'ould be in winter, from daybreak in the morning until fowr hours after sunset! — See 2 Brevard's Digest, 243.
The other slave states, except Louisiana, have no laws respecting the labor of slaves, conse. quently if the master should work his slaves day and night ^vithout sleep till they drop dead, he violates no law .'
The law of Louisiana provides for the slaves but TWO AND A HALF HOURS in the twenty-four for " rest !" See law of Louisiana, act of July 7. 1806, Martin's Digest 6. 10—12.
in. CLOTHING.
We propose to show under this head, that the clothing of the slaves by day, and their covering by night, are inadequate, either for comfort or decency.
WITNESSES.
Hon. T. T. Bouldin, a slave-holder, and member of Consress from Virginia, in a speech in Congress, Feb. 16, 1835.
George Buchanan, M. D., of Balti- more, member of the American Philo- sopliical Society, in an oration at Balti- more, July 4, 1791.
Wm. Savery of Philadelpliia an eminent Minister of the Society of Friends, who went through the PouUi- ern states in 1791, on a reliftious visit; after leaving Savannah, Ga., we iind the following entrj' in his journal, 6th, month, 28, 1791.
Rev. John Rankin, of Ripley, Oliio, a native of Teraicssee.
John Parrish, late of Philadelphia, a highly esteemed minister in the Society of Friends, who travelled through the South in 18W.
Rev. Pliineas Smith. Centreville, Alle- paiiy, Co., N. Y. Mr. S. has just re- turned from a residence of several years at the south, cliiefly in Virginia, Louisiana, and among the American settlers in Texas.
Wra. Ladd, Esq., of Minot, Maine, recently a slaveholder in Florida.
A Kentucky physician, writing in the Western Medical Reformer, in ISois, on the diseases peculiar to slaves, says.
TESTIMONY.
Mr. Bouldin said " he Icneic that many negroes had died from exposure to Aveather," and added, " thej are clad in z. flimsy fabric, that will turn neither icind nor water. ^'
" The slaves, naked and starved, often fall victim? to the mclemencies of the weather."
" We rode through many rice swamps, where ihe blacks were very numerous, great droves of these poor slaj'cs, working up to the middle in water, men and women nearlv naked."
" In every slave-holding state, many slaves suffer extremely, both while they labor and while thej sleep, for want of clothing to keep them warm."
" It is shocking to the feelings of humanity, in travelling through some of those states, to see those poor objects, [slaves,] especially in the inclement season, in rags^ and trembling with the cold." ....
" They suffer them, both male and female, to go icithout cloth- ing at the age of ten and twelve years."
" The apparel of the slaves, is of the coarsest sort and exceed- ingly deficient in quantity. I have been on many plantations, where children of eiglit and ten years old, were in a state of perfect nudity. Slaves are in general wretchedly clad."
" They were allowed two suits of clothes a year, viz. one pair of trowsers with a shirt or frock of osnaburgh for summer ; and for winter, one pair of trowsers, and a jacket of negro cloth, with a baize sh/rt and a pair of shoes. Some allowed hats, and some did not ; and they were generally, I believe, allowed one blanket in tv o years. Garments of similar materials were allow- ed the women."
They are imperfectly clothed both summer and winter;'
Privatiofis of the Slaves— Clothing.
41
Mr. Stephen E. Maltby, Inspector o' (>ro\isions, Skeneateles, N. Y., who rd- Klded sometime in Alabama.
Rouban G. Macy, Hudson, IS'. V . membar of tlie Society of Friends, who resided in Soutli Carolina, iu 1818 and 19.
Mr. Lemuel Sapin»ton, of Lancaster, Ps., a native of Mar} land, and fornier- ly a slaveholder
Philemon BIW, Esq., a lawyer in Elyria, Ohio, who lived iu Florida in 1834 and 35
Richard Macy, a member of the Society of Friends, Hudson, N. Y., who has lived in Georgia.
W. C. Gildersleeve, Esq., Wilkesbarre, Pa., a native of Georgia.
" I was at Himtprillc, Alabama, in 1818-19, I frequently saw slaves on and around tho public square, with hardly a rag of clothing on them, and in a great many instances with but a single garment botli in summer and in winter ; generally the only bed. dino- of the slaves was a blanket."
" Their clothing consisted of a pair of trowsers and jacket, made of ' negro cloth.' The women a petticoat, a very short ' short-crown,' and nothing else, the same kind of cloth ; some of the women had an old pair of shoes, but they generally went hanjootr
" Their clothing is often made by themselves after night, though sometimes assisted by the old women, who are no longer able to do out-door work ; consequently it is harsh and uncom- fortable. And I have very frequently seen those who had not attained the age of twelve years go nahed."
" It is very common to see the younger class of slaves up to eio-ht or ten without any clothing, and most generally the labor- ing men wear no shirts in the warm season. The perfect nudi- ty of the younger slaves is so familiar to the whites of both sexes, that they seem to witness it with perfect indifference. I may add that the aged and feeble often suffer from cold."
" For bedding each slave was allowed one blanket, in which they rolled themselves up. I examined their houses, but could not find any thing like a bed."
" It is an every day eight to see women as well as men, with no other covering than a few filthy rags fastened above the hips, reaching midway to the ankles. 1 never knew any kind of cover- ing for the head given. Children of both sexes, from infancy to ten years are seen in companies on the plantations, in a state of perfect nudity. This was so common that the most refined and delicate beheld them unmoved."
Mr. William Leftwich, a native of Viiginia, now a member of the Presby- terian Church, in Delhi, Ohio.
Advertisements like the following from the '' New Orleans Bee," May 31, 1837, are com- mon in the southern papers.
" 10 DOLLARS REWARD.— Ranaway, the slave Solomon, about 28 years of age ; badly CLOTHED. The above reward will be paid on application to Fernandez tWHrriNG, No. 20, St. Louis St.
RANAWAY from the subscriber the negress Fanny, always badly dressed, she is about 25 or 26 vears sold. John Macoln, 117 S. Ann st.
The Darien (Ga.), Telegraph, of Jan. 24, 1837, in an editorial article, hitting off the aristocracy of the planters, incidentally lets out some secrets, about the usual clothing oi the slaves. The editor says, — " The planter looks down, with the most sovereign contempt, on the merchant and the storekeeper. He deems himself a lord, because he gets his two or three ragged servants, 1o row him to his plantation everj' day, that he may in- spect the labor of his hands."
The following is an extract from a letter lately received from Rev. C. S. Renshaw, of Quincy, Illinois.
" I am sorry to be obliged to give more testi- mony without the name. An individual in whom I have great confidence, gave me the following facts. That I am not alone in placing confi- dence In him, I subjoin a testimonial from Dr. Richard Eells, Deacon of the Congregational Chm-ch, of Quincy, and Rev. Mr. Fisher, Baptist Minister of Quincy.
6
" The only bedding of the slaves generally consists of two old blankets."
" We have been acquainted with the brother who has communicated to you some facts that fell under his observation, whilst in his native state ; he is a professed follower of our Lord, and we have great confidence in him as a man of integrity, discretion, and strict Christian prin- ciple. Richard Eells. Ezra Fisher.
Quincy, Jan. 9th, 1839.
Testimony. — " I lived for thirty years in Vir- ginia, and have travelled extensively through Fauquier, Culpepper, Jefferson, Stafford, Albe- marle and Charlotte Counties ; my remarks apply to these Counties.
" The negro houses are miserably poor, general- ly they are a shelter from neither the wind, the rain, nor the snow, and the earth is the floor. There are exceptions to this rule, but they are only exceptions ; you may sometimes see pim- cheon floor, but never, or almost never a plank floor. The slaves are generally without beds or bedsteads ; some few have cribs that they fastsn up for themselves in the comer of the hut. Their bed-clothes are a nest of rags thrown upon a crib, or in the corner ; sometimes there are three or four families in one small cabin. Where the slaveholders have more than one family, they put them in the same quarter till it is filled, then build another. I have seen exceptions to this, when only one family would occupy a hut, and where were tolerably comfortable bed-clothes.
" Most of the slaves in these counties are mise-
42
Privations of the S/aues— TJlothing.
rably clad. I have known slaves who went with- out shoes all winter, perfectly barefoot. Tiie feet of many of them are frozen. As a general fact the planters do not serve out to their slaves, drawers, or any under clothing, or vests, or over- coats. Slaves sometimes, by working at night and on Sundays, get better things than their mas- ters serve to them.
" Whilst these things are true of JieldJiands, it is also true that many slaveholders clothe their waiters and coachmen like gentlemen. I do not think there is any difference between the slaves of professing Christians and others ; at all events, it is so small as to be scarcely noticeable.
" I have seen men and women at work in the field more than half naked : and more than once in passing, when the overseer was not near, they would stop and draw round them a tattered coat or some ribbons of a skirt to hide their nakedness and shame from the stranger's eye."
Mr. George W. Westgate, a member of the Congregational Church in Quincy, Illinois, who has spent the larger part of twelve years navigat- ing the rivers of the south-western slave states with keel boats, as a trader, gives the following testimony as to the clothing and lodging of the slaves.
" In Lower Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisi. ana, the clothing of the slaves is wretchedly poor ; and grows worse as you go south, in the order of the states I have named. The only material is cotton bagging, i. e. bagging in which cotton is baled, not bagging made of cotton. In Louisiana, especially in the lower country, I have frequently seen them with nothing but a tattered coat, not sufficient to hide their naked- ness. In winter their clothing seldom serves the purpose of comfort, and frequently not even of decent covering. In Louisiana the planters never think of serving out shoes to slaves. In Missis- sippi they give one pair a year generally. I never sav? or heard of an instance of masters allowing them stockings. A small poor blanket is gener- ally the only bed-clothing, and this they frequently wear in the field when they have not sufficient clothing to hide their nakedness or to keep them warm. Their manner of sleeping varies with the season. In hot weather they stretch them- selves anywhere and sleep. As it becomes cool they roll themselves in their blankets, and lay scattered about the cabin. In cold weather they nestle together with their feet towards the fire, promiscuously. As a general fact the earth is their only floor and bed — not one in ten have anything like a bedstead, and then it is a mere bunk put up by themselves,"
Mr. George A. Avery, an elder in the fourth Congregational Church, Rochester, N. Y., who spent four years in Virginia, says, " The slave children, very commonly of both sexes, up to the ages of eight and ten years, and I think in some in<?tances beyond this age, go in a state of disgusting nudity. I have often seen them with their tow shirt (their only article of summer clothing) which, to all human appearance, had not been taken off from the time it was first put on, worn off from the bottom upwards, shred by shred, until nothing remained but the straps
which passeJ over their shoulders, and the Icfs exposed porticns extending a very little way be- low the arms, leaving the principal part of tho chest, as well as the limbs, entirely uncovered."
Samuel Ellison, a member of the Society of Friends, formerly of Southampton Co., Virginia, now of Marlborough, Stark Co., Ohio, says, " I knew a Methodist who v.'as the owner of a num- ber of slaves. The children of both sexes, be- longing V) him, under twelve years of age, were entirely dtatitute of clothing. I have seen an old man compelled to labor in the fields, not hav- ing rags enough to cover his nakedness."
Rev. H. LyiMan, late pastor of the Free Pies- byterian Church, in Buffdo, N. Y., in describing a tour down and up the Mississippi river in the winter of 1832-3, says, "At the wood yards where the boats stop, it is not iKicommon to see female slaves employed in can-ying -wood. Their dress which was quite uniform was provided with- out any reference to comfort. They had no cov- ering for their heads ; the stuff which constituted the outer garment was sackcloth, similar to that in which bro\^Ti domestic goods are done up. l*. was then December, and I thought that in such a dress, and being as they were, without stock, ings, they must suffer from the cold."
Mr. Benjamin Anderson, Colerain, Lancaster Co., Pa., a member of the Society of Friends, in a recent letter desciibing a short tour through the northern part of Maryland in the -^vinter of 1836, thus speaks of a place a few miles fTom Chestertown. "About this place there were a number of slaves ; very few, if any, had either stockings or shoes; the weather was intensely cold, and the ground covered with snow."
The late Major Stoddard of the United States' artillery, who took possession of Louisiana for the U. S. government, under the cession of 1804, published a book entitled " Sketches of Louisi- ana," in which, speaking of the planters of Lower Louisiana, he says, " Feio of them allow any clothing to their slaves."
The following is an extract from the Will of the late celebrated John Randolph of Virginia.
" To my old and faithful servants, Essex and his wife Hetty, I give and bequeath a pair of strong shoes, a suit of clothes and a blanket each, to be paid them annually ; also an annual hat to Essex."
No Virginia slaveholder has ever had a better name as a "kind master," and "good provider" for his slaves, than John Randolph. Essex and Hetty were favorite servants, and the memory of the long uncompensated services of those "old and faithful servants," seems to have touched their master's heart. Now as this master was John Randolph, and as those servants were " faithful," and favorite servants, advanced in years, and worn out in his service, and as their allowance was, in their master's eyes, of sufficient moment to constitute a paragraph in his last icill and testament, it is fair to infer that it would be very liberal, far better than the ordinary allow, ance for slaves.
Now we leave the reader to judge what must
Privations of the Slaves — Dwellings.
43
be the ttsual allowance of clothing to common field slaves in the hands of common masters, when Essex and Hetty, the "old" and " faith- ful" slaves of John Randolph, were provided, in his last will and testament, with but one suit of clothes
annually, with but one blanket each for bedding, with no stocki7igs, nor socks, nor cloaks, nor over- coats, nor handkerchiefs, nor towels^ and with no change either of under or outside garments 1
IV. DWELLINGS.
THE SLAVES ARE WRETCHEDLY SHELTERED AND LODGED.
Mr. Stephen E. Maltby. Inspector of " The huts where the slaves slept, generally contained but
iteles, N. Y. who has „„^ lived ill Alabama.
provisions, Skaneateles, N. Y. who has ^„g apartment, and that toithout floor."
Mr. George A. Avery, elder of the 4th Presbyterian Church, Rochester, N. Y. wlio lived four years in Virginia.
William Ladd, Esq., Minot, Maine. President of the American Peace Socie- ty, formerly a slaveholder in Florida.
Kev. Joseph M. Sadd, Pastor Pres. Church, Castile, Greene Co., N. Y., who lived in ilissouri five years previ- ous to 1837.
Mr. George W. Westgate, member of the Congregational Church in Gluincy, Illinois, who has spent a number of years in slave states.
Mr. Cornelius Johnson, a member of a Christian Church in Farmington, Ohio. Mr. J. lived in Mississippi in 1837-S.
The Western Medical Keformer, in an article on the Cachexia Africana by a Kentucky physician, thus speaks of the huts of the slaves.
" Amongst all the negro cabins which I saw in Va., I can. not call to mind one in which there was any other floor than the earth; any thing that a northern laborer, or mechanic, white or colored, would call a bed, nor a solitary partition, to separate the
sexes."
" The dwellings of the slaves were palmetto huts, built by themselves of stakes and poles, thatched with the palmetto leaf. The door, when they had any, was generally of the same materials, sometimes boards found on the beach. They had no _^oors, no separate apartments, except the guinea negroes had sometimes a small inclosure for their ' god house.' These huts the slaves built themselves after task and on Sundays."
" The slaves Ywe generally m miserable huts, which are loitk- out floors, and have a single apartment only, where both sexes are herded promiscuously together."
" On old plantations, the negro quarters are of frame and clapboards, seldom affording a comfortable shelter from wind or rain ; their size varies from 8 by 10, to 10 by 12, feet, and six or eight feet high ; sometimes there is a hole cut for a window, but I never saw a sash, or glass in any. In the new country, and in the woods, the quarters are generally built of logs, of similar dimensions."
" Their houses were commonly built of logs, sometimes they were framed, often they had no floor, some of them have two apartments, commonly but one ; each of those apartments con- tained a family. Sometimes these families consisted of a man and his wife and children, while in other instances persons of both sexes, were throvm together without any regard to family re- lationship."
" They are crowded together in a small hut, and sometimes having an imperfect, and sometimes no floor, and seldom raised from the groimd, ill ventilated, and surrounded with filth."
Mr. WilUam Leftmch, a native of »' The dwellings of the slaves are log huts, fi-om 10 to 12 feet l^liX.n:cJ.t%i^T '''''' square, often without windows, doors, or floors, they have
neither chairs, table, or bedstead."
Reuben L.Macy of Hudson, N.Y. a "The houses for the field slaves were about 14 feet square, S'd" "L'Jh^lll^iruthSjI builtinthecoarsest manner, with one roov., without any chim in 1818-19. ney or flooring, with a hole m the roof to let the smoke out.
" The descriptions generally given of negro quarters, are
Mr. Lemuel Sapington of Lancaster, correct ; the quarters are without floors, and not suflicient to keep
IdavehSde'r. °^ ^^'"^^'^^^ ^°™^'''y off the inclemency of the weather; they are uncomfortable both
in summer and winter."
"When they return to their miserable huts at night, they find not there the means of comfortable rest ; but on the cold ground they must lie without covering, and shiver while they slumber.
'' The dwellings of the slaves are usually small open log hut&, with but one apartment, and very generally without floors."
Rev. John Rankin, a native of Ten- aiessee.
Philemon Bliss, Esq. Elyria, Ohio., who lived in Forida, in 1833.
44
Privations of the Slaves — Treatment of the Sick.
Mr. W. C. Gilderslecve, Wilkes- «' Their huts were rrenerally put up without a nail, frequenthe
arre. Pa., a iiaUvc of Gcorcia. -n, t a j -^i • i * ^ « i ^ j
' ' " without iloors, and with a single apartment."
Hon. R. J. TurnbuU, of South Caroli- na, a slaveholder.
' The slaves live in clay cabins.'" V. TREATMENT OF THE SICK.
THE SLAVES SUTFET; FROM INHUMAN NEGLECT WHEN SICK.
In proof of this we subjoin the following testi- mony :
Rev. Dr. Channing of Boston, who once re- sided in Virginia, relates the following fact in his work on slavery, page 163, 1st edition.
" I cannot forget my feelings on visiting a hospital belonging to the plantation of a gentle- man highly esteemed jor his virives, and whose manners and conversation expressed much bene- volence and conscientiousness. When I entered with him the hospital, the first object on which my eye fell was a young woman, very ill, proba- bly approaching death. She was stretched on the floor. Her head rested on something like a pillow ; but her body and limbs were extended op the hard boards. The owner, I doubt not, had at least as much kindness as myself ; but he was so used to see the slaves living without common comforts, that the idea of imkindness in the pre- sent instance did not enter his mind."
This dying young woman " was stretched on the floor " — " her body and limbs extended upon the hard boards," — and yet her master " was highly esteemed for his virtues," and his general demeanor produced upon Dr. Channing the im- pression of " benevolence and conscientiousness." If the sich and dying female slaves of such a mas- ter, suffer such barbarous neglect, whose heart does not fail him, at the thought of that inhu- manity, exercised by the majority of slaveholders, towards their aged, sick, and dying victims.
The following testimony is furnished by Sarah M. Grimke, a sister of the late Hon. Thomas S. Grimke, of Charleston, South Carolina.
"When the Ladies' Benevolent Society in Charleston, S. C, of which I was a visiting com- missioner, first went into operation, we were ap- plied to for the relief of several sick and aged co- lored persons ; one case I particularly remember, of an aged woman who was dreadfully burnt from having fallen into the fire ; she was living with some free blacks who had taken her in out of compassion. On inquiry, we found that nearly all the colored persons who had solicited aid, were slaves, who being no longer able to work for their " owners," were thus inhumanly cast out in their sickness and old age, and must have perished, but for the kindness of their friends.
" I was once visiting a sick slave in whose spi- ritual welfare peculiar circumstances had led me to be deeply interested. I knew that she had been early seduced from the path of virtue, as nearly all the female slaves are. I knew also that her mistress, though a professor of religion, had never taught her a single precept of Christi- anity, yet that she had had her severely punished for this departure from them, and that the poor
girl was then ill of an incurable disease, occa- sioned partly by her own misconduct, and partly by the cruel treatment she had received, in a situ- ation that called for tenderness and care. Her heart seemed truly touched with repentance for her sins, and she was inquiring, " What shall I do to be saved ?" I was sitting by her as she laj- on the floor upon a blanket, and was trying to establish her trembling spirit in the fulness of Jesus, when I heard the voice of her mistress in loud and angry tones, as she approached the door. I read in the countenance of the prostrate suffer- er, the terror which she felt at the prospect of seeing her mistress. I knevv^ my presence would be very unwelcome, but staid, hoping that it might restrain, in some measure, the passions of the mistress. In this, however, I was mista- ken ; she passed me without apparently obsen'- ing that I was there, and seated herself on the other side of the sick slave. She made no inquiry how she was, but in a tone of anger commenced a tirade of abuse, violently reproaching her with her past misconduct, and telling her in the most unfeeling manner, that eternal destruction await- ed her. No word of kindness escaped her. What had then roused her temper I do not know^ She continued in this strain several minutes, when I attempted to soften her by rcmarkinfr,
that was very ill, and she ought not thus
to torment her, and that I believed Jesus had granted her forgiveness. But I might as well have tried to stop the tempest in its career, as to calm the infuriated passions nurtiu-ed by the ex- ercise of arbitrary power. She looked at me with ineffable scorn, and continued to pour forth a ton-ent of abuse and reproach. Her helpless victim listened in terrified silence, until nature could endure no more, when she uttered a wild shriek, and casting on her tormentor a look of unutterable agony, exclaimed, ' Oh, mistress, I am d3nng !' This appeal arrested her attention, and she soon left the room, but in the same spirit with which she entered it. The girl survived but a few days, and, I believe, saw her mistress no more." Mr. George A. Averv, an elder of a Presbyte- rian church in Rochester, N. Y., who lived some years in Virginia, gives the following :
" The manner of treating the sick slaves, and es- pecially in chronic cases, was to my mind peculiar- ly revolting. My opportunities for observation in this department were better than in, perhaps, any other, as the friend under whose direction I com- menced my medical studies, enjoyed a high re- putation as a surgeon. I rode considerably with him in his practice, and assisted in the surgical operations and dressings from time to time. In confirmed cases of disease, it was common for the master to place the subject under the care of a physician or surgeon, at whose expense the pa- tient should be kept, and if death ensued to the patient, or the disease was not cured, no com- pensation was to be made, but if cured a bonus of
Personal Narratives — Rev. William T. Allan.
45
one, two, or three hundred dollars was to be "■iven. No provision was made against the bar. barity or neglect of the physician, &c. I have seen fifteen or twenty of these helpless sufferers crowded together in the true spirit of slaveholding inhumanity, like the " brutes that perish," and driven from time to time like brutes into a com- mon yard, whore tliey had to sutler any and every operation and experiment, which interest, caprice, or professional curiosity might prompt, — unrestrained bv law, public sentiment, or the claims of common humanity."
Rev. William T. Allan, son of Rev. Dr. Allan, a slaveholder, of Huntsvillc, Alabama, says in a letter now before us :
" Colonel Robert H. Watkins, of Laurence county, Alabama, who owned about three hun- dred slaves, after employing a physician among them for some time, ceased to do so, alleging as the reason, that it was cheaper to lose a few negroes every year than to pay a physician. This Colonel Watkins was a Presidential elector in 1836."
A. A. Go'Ti-iRiE, Esq., elder in the Presbyterian church at Putnam, Muskingum county, Ohio, furnishes the testimony which follows.
"A near female friend of mine in company with another young lady, in attempting to visit a sick woman on Washington's Bottom, Wood county, Virginia, missed the waj', and stopping to ask directions of a group of colored children on the outskirts of the plantation of Francis Keen, Sen., they were told to ask ' aunty, in the house.' On entering the hut, says my inform- ant, I beheld such a sight as I hope never to see again ; its sole occupant was a female slave of the said Keen — her whole wearing apparel con- sisted of a frock, made of the coarsest tow cloth, and so scanty, that it could not have been made more tight around her person. In the hut there was neither table, chair, nor chest — a stool and a rude fixture in one coiner, were all its furniture. On this last were a little straw and a few old rem- nants of what had been bedding — all exceedino^ly filthj.
" The woman thus situated had been for more than a day in travail, without any assistance, any nurse, or any kind of proper provision — during the night siie said some fellow slave wo- man would stay with her, and the aforesaid children through the day. From a woman, who was a slave of Keen's at the same time, my in- formant learned, that lliis poor woman sutrered for three days, and then died — when too late to save her life her master sent assistance. It was un- derstood to be a rule of his, to neglect his women entirely in such times of trial, unless they previ- ously came and informed him, and asked for aid."
Rev. PiiiNEAS Smith, of Centreville, N. Y., who has resided four years at the south, says : " Often v.rhcn the slaves are sick, their accus- tomed toil is exacted from them. Physicians are rarely called for their benefit."
Rev. Horace Moulton, a minister of the Mc- thodist Episcopal chiu-ch in Marlborough, Mass., who resided a number of years in Georgia, says :
" Another dark side of slavery is the neglect of the aged and sick. Many when sick, are suspected by their masters of feigning sickness, and arc therefore whipped out to work after dis- ease has got last hold of them ; when ilie mas- ters learn, that they are really sick, they are in many instances left alone in their cabins during work hours ; not a few of the slaves are left to die without having one friend to wipe off the sweat of death. When the slaves are sick, the masters do not, as a general thing, employ physi- cians, but " doctor " them themselves, and their mode of practice in almost all cases is to bleed and give Baits. When women are confined they have no physician, but arc committed to the care of slave midwives. Slaves complain very little vi^hen sick, when they die they are frequently bu- ried at night without much ceremony, and in many instances without any ; their coffins are made by nailing together rough boards, frequent- ly with their feet sticking out at the end, and sometimes they are put into the ground without a coffin or box of any kind.
PERSONAL NARRATIVES-PART II.
TESTIMONY OP THE REV. WILLIAM T. ALLAN, LATE OF ALABAMA.
Mr. Allan is a son of the Rev. Dr. Allan, a slaveholder and pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Huntsvillc, Alabama. He has recently become the pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Chat- ham, Illinois.
" I was born and have lived most of my life in the slave states,mainly in the village of Huntsvillc, Alabama, where my parents still reside. I seldom went to a plantation, and as my visits were con- fined almost exclusively to the families of pro- fessing Christians, my personal knowledge of slavery, was consequently a knowledge of its fairest side, (if fairest may be predicated of foul.)
" There was one plantation just opposite my
father's house in the suburbs of Huntsvillc, be- longing to Judge Smith, formerly a Senator in Congress from South Carohna, now of Hunts- ville. The name of his overseer was Tunc. I have often seen him flogging the slaves in the field, and have often heard their cries. Sometimes, too, I have met them with the tears streaming down their faces, and the marks of the whip, (' whelks,') on their bare necks and shoulders. Tune was so severe in his treatment, that his employer dismissed him after two or three years, lest, it was said, he should kill off all the slaves. But he was immediately employed by another planter in the neighborhood. The following fact was stated to me by my brother, James M. jUlan,
46
Personal Narratives — Rev. William T. Allan.
now residing at Richmond, Henry county, Illi- nois, and clerk of the circuit and county courts. Tune became displeased with one of the women who was pregnant, ho made her lay down over a log, with her face towards the ground, and beat her so unmercifully, that she v/as soon after de- livered of a dead child.
" My brother also stated to me the following, which occurred near my father's house, and with- in sight and hearing of the academy and public garden. Charles, a fine active negro, who be- longed to a bricklayer in Huntsville, exchanged the burning sun of the brickyard to enjoy for a season the pleasant shade of an adjacent moun- tain. When his master got him back, he tied him by his hands so that his feet could just touch the ground — stripped off his clothes, took a pad- dle, bored full of holes, and paddled him leisurely all day long. It was two weeks before they could tell whether he would live or die. Neither of these cases attracted any particular notice in Huntsville.
" While I lived in Huntsville a slave was killed In the mountain near by. The circumstances were these. A white man (James Helton) hunt- ing in the woods, suddenly came upon a black man, and commanded him to stop, the slave kept on running, Helton fired his rifle and the negro was killed.*
" Mrs. Barr, wife of Rev.H. Barr of CarroUton, Illinois, formerly from Courtland, Alabama, told me last spring, that she has very often stopped her ears that she might not hear the screams of •slaves who were under the lash, and that some- times she has left her house, and retired to a place more distant, in order to get away from their agonizing cries.
" I have often seen groups of slaves on the pub- lic squares in Huntsville, who were to be sold at auction, and I have often seen their tears gush forth and their countenances distorted with an- guish. A considerable number were generally sold publicly every month.
" The following facts I have just taken down from the lips of Mr. L. Turner, a regular and respectable member of the Second Presbyterian Church in Springfield, our county town. He was born and brought up in Caroline county, Vir- ginia. He says that the slaves are neither con- sidered nor treated as hiunan beings. One of his neighbors whose name was Barr, he says, on one occasion stripped a slave and lacerated his back with a handcard (for cotton or wool) and then washed it with salt and water, with pepper in it. Mr. Turner saw this. He further remarked that he believed there were many slaves there in ad- vanced life whose backs had never been well since they began to work.
* This murder was committed about twelve years since. At that time, James G. Birney, Esq., now Corresponding Se- cretary of the American Anti-Slavery Society was the So- licitor (prosecuting attorney) for tliat judicial district. His views and feelings upon the subject of slavery were, even at that period, in advance of the mass ofslav'eholders, and he determined if possible to bring the murderer to justice. He accordingly drew up an indictment and procured the finding of a true bill against Helton. Helton, meanwhile, moved over the line into the state of Tennessee, and such was the apathy of the community, individual effort proved unavailing ; and tliough the murderer had gone no furllier than to an adjoining county (where perhaps he still resides) lie was never brought to trial. — ^Ed.
" He stated that one of his uncles had killed a woman — broke her skull with an ax helve : sho had insulted her mistress! No notice v<as taken of the affair. Mr. T. said, further, that slaves ■were frequently murdered.
"He mentioned the case of one slaveholder, whom he had seen lay his slaves on a large log, which he kept for the purpose, strip them, tie them with the face downward, then have a ket- tle of hot water brought — take the paddle, made of hard wood, and perforated with holes, dip it into the hot water and strike — before every blow dipping it into the water — every hole at every blow would raise a ' whelk.' This was the usual punishment for running away.
" Another slaveholder had a slave who had often run away, and often been severely whipped. After one of his floggings he burnt his master's barn : this so enraged the man, that when he caught him he took a pair of pincers and pulled his toe nails out. The negro then murdered two of his master's children. He was taken after a desperate pursuit, (having been shot througli the shoulder) and hung.
" One of Mr. Turner's cousins, was employed as overseer on a large plantation in Mississippi. On a certain morning he called the slaves together, to give some orders. While doing it, a slave came running out of his cabin, having a knife in his hand and eating his breakfast. The over- seer seeing him coming with the knife, was some- what alarmed, and instantly raised his gim and shot him dead. He said afterwards, that he be- lieved the slave was perfectly innocent of any evil intentions, be came out hastily to hear the orders whilst eating. No notice was taken of the killing.
" Mr. T. related the whipping habits of one of his uncles in Virginia. He was a wealthy man, had a splendid house and grounds. A tree in his front yard, was used as a whipping post. When a slave was to be punished, he would fre- quently invite some of his friends, have a table, cards and wine set out under the shade ; he would then flog his slave a little while, and then play cards and drink with his friends, occasion- ally taunting the slave, giving him the privilege of confessing such and such things, at his lei- sure, after a while flog him again, thus keeping it up for hours or half the day, and sometimes all day. This was his haiit.
" February Ath. — Since writing the preceding, I have been to CarroUton, on a visit to my unck;. Rev. Hugh Barr, who was originally from Ten. nessee, hved 12 or 14 years in Courtland, Law- rence county, Alabama, and moved to Illinois in 1835. In conversation with the family, around the fireside, they stated a multitude of horrid facts, that were perfectly notorious in the neigh, borhood of Courtland.
" William P. Barr, an intelligent yoimg man, and member of his father's church in Carroll, ton, stated the following. Visiting at a Mr. Mosely's, near Courtland, William Mosely came in with a bloody knife in his hand, having just stabbed a negro man. The negro was sitting quietly in a house in the village, keeping a woman company who had been left in charge of the house, — when Mosely, passing along, went in and demanded his business there. Probably his
Personal ISarratives — Rev. William T. Allan.
47
answer was not. as civil as slaveholdincr requires, and Mosely riislied upon him and stabbed him. The wound laid him up for a season. ]Mosel_v was called to no account for it. When he came in with the bloody knife, ho said he wished he had killed him.
"John Brown, a slaveholder, and a member of the Presbyterian churcii in Courtland, Alabama, stated the followingj a few weeks since, in Car- roUton. A man near Courtland, of the name of Thompson, recently shot a negro woman through the head ; and put the pistol so close that her hair was singed. He did it in consequence of some dilBeulty in his dealings with her as a con- cubine. He buried her in a log heap ; she was discovered by the buzzards gathering around it.
" William P. Barr stated the following, as facts well known in the neighborhood of Courtland, but not witnessed by himself. Two men, by the name of Wilson, found a fine looking negro man at ' Dandridge's Quarter,' without a pass ; and flogged him so that he died in a short time. They were not punished.
" Col. Blocker's overseer attempted to flog a negro — he refused to be flogged ; whereupon the overseer seized an axe, and cleft his skull. The Colonel justified it.
" One Jones whipped a woman to death for 'grabbhng' a potato hill. He owned 80 or 100 negroes. His own children could not live with him.
"A man in the neighborhood of Courtland, Ala- bama, by the name of Puryear, was so prove rbi' ally cruel that among the negroes he was usually called ' the Devil.' Mrs. Barr, wife of Rev. H. Barr, was at Puryear's house, and saw a negro girl about 13 years old, waiting around the table, with a single garment — and that in cold weather ; arms and feet bare — feet wretchedly swollen — ■ arms burnt, and full of sores from exposure. All the negroes under his care made a wretched ap- pearance.
"Col. Robert H.Watkinshada runaway slave, who was called Jira Dragon. Before he was caught the last time, he had been out a year, within a few miles of hJs master's plantation. He never stole from any one but his master, except when necessity compellsd him. He said he had a right to take from Ws master ; and when taken, that he had, whilst out, seen his master a hundred tunes. Having been whipped, clogged with irons, and yoked, he was set at work in the field. Col. Watkins worked a'oout 300 hands — generally had one negro out huating runaways. After employing a physician for some time among his negroes, he ceased to do so, alleging as the reason, that it was cheaper to lose a few negroes every year than to pay a physician. He was a Presidential elector in 1836.
" Col. Ben Sherrod, another large planter in that neighborhood, is remarkable for his kmdness to his slaves. He said to Rev. iMr. Barr, that he had no doubt he should be rewarded in heaven for his kindness to his slaves ; and yet his over- seer. Walker, had to sleep with loaded pistols, for fear of assassination. Three of the slaves at-
I tempted to kill him once, because of hip treat- ment of their wives.
" Old Mi.jor Billy Watkins was noted for his se- verity. I Will remember, when he lived in Mad- ison county, IT, have often heard him yell at his negroes with tnc most savage fury. He would stand at his hou:e, and watch the slaves picking cotton ; and if anj of them straitened their backs for a moment, his savage yell would ring, ' bend your backs.'
" Mrs. Barr stated, that Mrs. H , of Court- land, a member of the Presbyterian church, sent a little negro girl to jail, suspecting that she had attempted to put poison into the water pail. The fact was, that t'ae child had found a vial, and was playing in tVe water. This same woman (in high standing too,) told the Rev. Mr. McMil- lan, that she could 'cut Arthur Tappan's throat from ear to ear.'
" The clothing of slaves is in many cases com- fortable, and in many h is far from being so. I have very often seen slaves, whose tattered rags were neither comfortable nor decent.
" Their huts are sometimes comfortable, but generally they are miserable hovels, where male and female are herded promiscuously together.
" As to the usual allowanctof food on the plan- tations in North Alabama, I cannot speak confi- dently, from personal knowledge. Tliere was a slave named Hadley, who was in the \aabit of vis- iting my father's slaves occasionally. He had run away several times. His reason was, as he stated, that they would not give him any meat — said he could not work without meat. The last time I saw him, he had quite a heavy iron yoke on his neck, the two prongs twelve or fifteen inches long, extending out over his shoulders and bending upwards.
''Legal marriage is unknown among the slaves, they sometimes have a marriage form — generally, however, none at all. The pastor of the Presby- terian church in Huntsville, had two families of slaves when I left there. One couple were mar- ried by a negro preacher — the man was robbed of his wife a number of months afterwards, by her ' owner.'' The other couple just ' took up together,' without any form of marriage. They are both members of churches — the man a Bap- tist deacon, sober and correct in his deportment. They have a large family of children — all child- ren of concubinage — living in a minister's family.
"If these statements are deemed of any value by you, in forwarding your glorious enterprize, yois are at liberty to use them as you please. The great wrong is enslaving a man ; all other wrongs are pigmies, compared with that. Facts might be gathered abundantly, to show that it is slavery itself, and not cruelties merely, that make slaves unhappy. Even those that are most kindly treat- ed, are generally far from being happy. Tlie slaves in my father's family are almost as kindly treated as slaves can be, yet tJiey pant for liberty.
" May the Lord guide you in this great move ment. In behalf of the perishing.
Your friend and brother,
William T. Allak."
48
Personal Narratives — William Leftwich.
NARRATIVE OF MR. WILI/AM LEFTWICH, A NATIVE OF VIRGINIA.
Mr. Leftwich is a grandson pi Gen. Jabez Leftwich, who was for some yea^s a member of Congress from Virginia. Th(High bom in Vir- ginia, he has resided most of Aishfe in Alabama. He now Hves in Delhi, Hamilton comity, Ohio, near Cincinnati.
As an introduction to his letter, the reader is furnished with the following te^stimonial to his character, from the Rev. Horace Bushnell, pastor of the Presbyterian church ia Delhi. Mr. B. says :
" Mr. Leftwich is a worthy member of this church, and is a young man of sterling integrity and veracity. H. Bushnell."
The following is the letter of Mr. Leftwich, dated Dec. 26, 1838.
" Dear Brother — Though I am not ranked among the abolitionists, yet I cannot, as a friend of humanity, withhoM from the public, such facts in relation to the condition of the slaves, as have fallen under nij own observation. That I am somewhat acquainted with slavery will be seen, as I narrate some incidents of my own life. My parents were slaveholders, and moved from Vir- ginia t^ Madison county, Alabama, during my in- fancy. My mother soon fell a victim to the cli- mate. Being the yomigest of the children, I was left in the care of my aged grandfather, who never held a slave, though his sons owned from 90 to 100 during the time I resided with him. As soon as I could carry a hoe, my uncle, by the name of Neejy, persuaded my grandfather that I should be placed in his hands, and brought up ;n habits of industry. I was accordingly placed under his tuition. I left the domestic circle, httle dreaming of the horrors that awaited me. . My mother's own brother took me to the cotton field, there to learn habits of industry, and to be bene- fited by his counsels. But the sequel proved, that I was there to feel in my own person, and witness by experience many of the horrors of slavery. Instead of kind admonition, I was to endure the frowns of one, whose sympathies could neither be reached by the prayers and cries of his slaves, nor by the entreaties and sufferings of a sister's son. Let those who call slaveholders kind, hos- pitable and himiane, mark the course the slaveholder pursues with one born free, whose ancestors fought and bled for liberty ; and then say, if they can without a blush of shame, that he who robs the helpless of every right, can be tnaly kind and hospitable.
" In a short time after I was put upon the plan- tation, there was but little difference between me and the slaves, except being white, I ate at the master's table. The slaves were my compan- ions in misery, and I well learned their condition, both in the house and field. Their dwellings are log huts, from ten to twelve feet square ; often without windows, doors or floors. They have neither chairs, tables or bedsteads. These huts are occupied by eight, ten or twelve persons
each. Their bedding generally consists of two old blankets. Many of them sleep night after night sitting upon their blocks or stools; others sleep in the open air. Our task was appointed, and from dawn till dark all must bend to their work. Their meals were taken without knife or plate, dish or spoon. Their food was corn pone, prepared in the coarsest manner, with a small allowance of meat. Their meals in the field were taken from the hands of the carrier, wher- ever he found them, with no more ceremony than in the feeding of swine. My uncle was his own overseer. For punishing in the field, he preferred a large hickory stick ; and wo to him whose work was not done to please him, for the hicko- ry was used upon our heads as remorselessly as if we had been mad dogs. I was often the object of his fury, and shall bear the marks of it on my body till I die. Such was my suffering and de- gradation, that at the end of five years, I hardly dared to say I was/ree. When thinning cotton, we went mostly on our knees. One day, while thus engaged, my uncle found my row behind ; and, by way of admonition, gave me a few blows with his hickory, the marks of which I carried for weeks. Often I followed the example of the fugitive slaves, and betook myself to the moun- tains; but hunger and fear drove me back, to share with the wretched slave his toil and stripes. But I have talked enough about my own bond- age ; I will now relate a few facts, showing the condition of the slaves generally.
'' My uncle wishing to purchase what is called a good ' house wench,' a trader in human flesh soon produced a woman, recommending her as highly as ever a jockey did a horse. She was purchased, but on trial was found wanting in the requisite qualifications. She then fell a victim to the disappointed rage of my uncle ; innocent or guilty, she suffered greatly from his fury. He used to tie her to a peach tree in the yard, and whip her till there was no sound place to lay another stroke, and repeat it so often that her back was kept continually sore. Whipping the females around the legs, was a favorite mode of punish- ment with him. Thay must stand and hold up their clothes, while Le phed his hickory. He did not, like some of bs neighbors, keep a pack of hounds for hunting runav/ay negroes, but he kept one dog for that purpose, and when he came up with a runaway, it would have been death to attempt to fly, and it was nearly so to stand. Sometimes, vhen my uncle attempted to whij) the slaves, tie dog would rush upon them and relieve them of their rags, if not of their flesh. One objectof my uncle's special hate was " Jer- ry," a slate of a proud spirit. He defied all the curses, rage and stripes of his tyrant. Though he was often overpowered — for my uncle would frequently wear out his stick upon his head — yet he would never submit. As he was not expert in picking cotton, he would sometimes run away in the fall, to escape abuse. At one time, after an absence of some months, he was arrested and brought back. As is customary, he was
Personal Narratives — Samuel Sapington.
49
stripped, tied to a log, and the cow-skin applied to his naked body till his master was exhausted. Then a large log chain was fastened around one ankle, passed up his back, over his shoulders, then across his breast, and fastened under his arm. In this condition he was forced to perform his daily task. Add to this he was chained each night, and compelled to chop wood every Sabbath, to make up lost time. After being thus manacled for some months, he was released — but his spirit was unsubdued. Soon after, his master, in a pa- roxysm of rage, fell upon him, wore out his stafl" upon his head, loaded him again with chains, and after a month, sold him farther south. Another slave, by the name of Mince, who was a man of great strength, purloined some bacon on a Christ. mas eve. It was missed in the morning, and he being absent, was of course suspected. On re- turning home, my uncle commanded him to come to him, but he refused. The master strove in vain to lay hands on him ; in vain he ordered his slaves to seize him — they dared not. At length the master hurled a stone at his head sufficient to have felled a bullock — but he did not heed it. At that instant my aunt sprang for- ward, and presenting the gun to my uncle, ex- claimed, ' Shoot him ! shoot him !' He made the attempt, but the gun missed fire, and Mince
fled. He was taken eight or ten months after that, wiiilc crossing the Ohio. When brought back, the master, and an overseer on another plantation, took him to the mountam and pun- ished liim to their satisl'action in secret ; after which he was loaded with chains and set to his task.
" I have spent nearly all my life in the midst of slavery. From being the son of a slaveholder, I descended to the condition of a slave, and from that condition I rose (if you please to call it so,) to the station of a ' driver.' I have lived in Alabama, Tennessee, and Kentucky ; and I know the condition of the slaves to be that of unmixed wretchedness and degradation. And on the part of slaveholders, there is cruelty untold. The labor of the slave is constant toil, wrung out by fear. Their food is scanty, and taken without comfort. Their clothes answer the purposes nei- ther of comfort nor decency. They are not allow- ed to read or write. Whether they may worship God or not, depends on the will of the master. The young children, until they can work, often go naked during the warm weather. I could spend months in detailing the sufferings, degradation and cruelty inflicted upon slaves. But my soul sickens at the remembrance of these things."
TESTIMONY OF MR. LEMUEL SAPINGTON, A NATIVE OF MARYLAND.
Mr. Sapington, is a repentant " soul driver" or slave trader, now a citizen of Lancaster, Pa. He gives the following testimony in a letter dated, Jan. 21, 1839.
"I was born in Maryland, afterwards moved to Virginia, where I commenced the business of farming and trafficking in slaves. In my neighborhood the slaves were ' quartered.' The description generally given of negro quarters is correct. The quarters are without floors, and not sufficient to keep off the inclemency of the weather, they are uncomfortable both in summer and winter. The food there consists of potatoes, pork, and rorn, which were given to them daily, by weight and measure. The sexes were hud- dled together promiscuously. Their clothing is made by themselves after night, though some- times assisted by the old women who are no longer able to do out door work, consequently it is harsh and uncomfortable. I have frequently seen those of both sexes who have not attained the age of twelve years go naked. Their pun- ishments are invariably cruel. For the slightest offence, such as taking a hen's egg, I have seen them stripped and suspended by their hands, their feet tied together, a fence rail of ordinary size placed between their ankles, and then most cruelly whipped, until, from head to foot, they v/ere completely lacerated, a pickle made for the purpose of salt and water, would then be appli- ed by n. fellow-slave, for the purpose of healing the wounds as well as giving pain. Then taken down and without the least respite sent to work witii their hoe.
Pursuing my assumed right of driving souls, I
6
went to the Southern part of Virginia for the purpose of trafficking in slaves. In that part of the state, the cruelties pi-actised upon the slaves, are far greater than where I lived. The pun- ishments there often resulted in death to the slave. There was no law for the negro, but that of the overseer's whip. In that part of the country, the slaves receive nothing for food, but corn in the ear, which has to be prepared for baking after working hours, by grinding it with a hand-mill. This they take to the fields with them, and prepare it for eating, by holding it on their hoes, over a fire made by a stump. Among the gangs, are often young women, who bring their children to the fields, and lay them in a fence corner, while they are at work, only being permitted to nurse them at the option of the overseer. When a child is three weeks old, a woman is considered in working order. I have seen a woman, witli her young child strapped to her back, laboring the whole day, beside a man, perhaps the father of the child, and he not being permitted to give her any assistance, himself being under the whip. TIic uncommon humanity of the driver allowing her the comfort of doing so. I was then selling a drove of slaves, which I had brought by water from Baltimore, my conscience not allowing me to drive, as was generally the case uniting the slaves by collars and chains, and thus driving them under the whip. About that time an unaccountable something, which I now know was an interposition of Providence, prevented me from prosecuting any farther this unhol}' traffic ; but though I had quitted it, I still continued to live in a slave state, witnessing every day its evil effects upon my fellow beings.
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Personal Narratives — William C. Gildersleeve.
Among which was a heart-rending scene that took place in my father's house, which led me to leave a elave state, as well as all the imagina- ry comforts arising from slavery. On preparing for my removal to the state of Pennsylvania, it became necessary for me to go to Louisville, in Kentucky, where, if possible, I became more horrified with the impositions practiced upon the negro than before. There a slave was sold to go farther south, and was hand-cuffed for the
purpose of keeping hira secure. But choosing death rather than slavery, he jumped overboard and was drowned. When I returned fomr weeks afterwards his body, that had floated three miles below, was yet unburied. One fact ; it is im- possible for a person to pass through a slave state, if he has eyes open, without beholding every day cruelties repugnant to humanity. Respectfully Youi-s,
Lemuel Sapington.
TESTIMONY OF MRS. NANCY LOWRY, A NATIVE OF KENTUCKY.
Mrs. Lowry, is a member of the non-conform- ist church in Osnaburg, Stark County, Ohio., she is a native of Kentucky. We have received from her the following testimony.
" I resided in the family of Reuben Long, the principal part of the time, from seven to twenty- two years of age. Mr. Long had 16 slaves, among whom were three who were treated with severity, although Mr. Long was thought to be a very humane master. These three, namely John, Ned, and James, had wives ; Jolm and Ned had theirs at some distance, but James had his with him. All three died a premature death, and it was generally believed by his neighbors, that extreme whipping was the cause. I believe 60 too. Ned died about the age of 25 and John 34 or 35. The cause of their flogging was com- monly staying a little over the time, with their wives. Mr. Long would tie them up by the wrist, so high that their toes would just touch the ground, and then vi'ith a cow-hide lay the lash upon the naked back, until he was exhausted, when he would sit down and rest. As soon as he had rested sufficiently, he would ply the cow- hide again, thus he would continue until the whole back of the poor victim was lacerated into one uniform coat of blood. Yet he was a strict professor of the Christian religion, in the southern church. I frequently washed the wounds of John, with salt water, to prevent putrefaction. This was the usual course pursu- ed after a severe flogging ; their backs would be full of gashes, so deep that I could almost lay my finger in them. They were generally laid up after
the flogging for several days. The last flogging Ned got, he was confined to the bed, which he never left till he was carried to his grave. During John's confinement in his last sickness on one occasion while attending on him, he ex- claimed, ' Oh, Nancy, Miss Nancy, I haven't much longer in this world, I feel as if my whole body inside and all my bones were beaten into a jelly.' Soon after he died. John and Ned were both professors of religion.
" John Ruffher, a slaveholder, had one slave named Piney, whom he as well as Mrs. RufTner would often flog very severely. I frequently saw Mrs. Ruffncr flog her with the broom, shovel, or any thing she could seize in her rage. She woiild knock her down and then kick and stamp her Most unmercifully, until she would lie ap- parently so lifeless, that I more than once thought she would never recover. Often Piney would try to shelter herself from the blows of her mis- tress, by creeping under the bed, from which Mrs. RuflTner v/ould draw her by the feet, and then stamp and leap on her body, till her breath would be gone. Often Piney, would cry, ' Oh Missee, don't kill me !" " Oh Lord, don't kill me '.' ' For God's sake don't kill me !' But Mrs. Ruffher would beat and stamp away, with all the venom of a demon. The cause of Piney's flogging was, not working enough, or making some mistake in baking, &c. &c. Many a night Piney had to lie on the bare floor, by the side of the cradle, rocking the baby of her mis- tress, and if she would fall asleep, and suffer the child to cry, so as to waken Mrs. Ruffner, she would be sure to receive a flogging."
TESTIMONY OF MR. WM. C. GILDERSLEEVE, A NATIVE OF GEORGIA
Mr.W. C. Gildersleeve, a native of Georgia, is an elder of the Presbyterian Church at VVilkes- barre, Pa.
" Acts of cruelty, without number, fell under my observation while I lived in Georgia. I will mention but one, A slave of a Mr. Pinkney, on his way with a wagon to Savannah, ' camped' for the night by the road side. That night, the nearest hen-roost was robbed. On his return, the hen-roost was again visited, and the fowl counted one less in the morning. The oldest son, with some attendants made search, and came upon the poor fellow, in the act of dressing his spoil. He was too nimble for them, and made bis retreat good into a dense swamp. When
much effort to start him from his hiding place, had proved unsuccessful, it was resolved to lay an ambush for hira, some distance ahead. The wagon, meantime, was in charge of a lad, who accompanied the teamster as an assistant. The httle boy lay still till nearly night, (in the hope probably that the teamster would return,) when he started with his wagon. After travelling some distance, the lost one made his appearance, when the ambush sprang upon him. The poor fellow was conducted back to the plantation. He expected little mercy. He begged for him- self, in the most suplicating manner, ' pray massa give me 100 lashes and let me go.' He was then tied by the hands, to a hmb of a large mulberry tree, which grew in the yard, so that his
Personal Narratives — Hiram White — J. 1\I. Nelson.
51
feet were raised a few inches from the ground, while a sharpened stick was driven underneath, tliat he might rest iiis weight on it, or swing by his hands. In this condition 100 lashes were laid on his bare body. I stood by and
witnessed the whole, without as I recollect, feeling the least compassion. So hardening is the influence of slavery, that it very much de- stroys feeling for the slave."
TESTIMONY OF MR. HIRAM WHITE— A NATIVE OP NORTH CAROLINA.
Mr. White resided thirty-two years in Chat- ham county, North Carolina, and is now a mem- ber of the Baptist Church, at Otter Creek Prairie, Illinois.
About the 20th December, 1830, a report was raised that the slaves in Chatham county, North Carolina, were going to rise on Christmas day," in consequence of which a considerable commo- tion ensued among the inhabitants ; orders were given by the Governor to the militia captains, to appoint patrolling captains in each district, and orders were given for every man subject to mili- tary duty to patrol as their captains should di- rect. I went two nights in succession, and after that refused to patrol at all. The reason why I re- fused was this , orders were given to search every negro house for books or prints of any kind, and Bibles and Hymn books were particularly men- tioned. And should we find any, our orders were to inflict punishment by whipping the slave until he informed who gave them to him, or how they came by them.
As regards the comforts of the slaves in the vicinity of my residence, I can say they had no- thing that would bear that name. It is true, the slaves in general, of a gooi crop year, were tolerably weU fed, but of a bad crop year, they were, as a general thing, cut short of their allow- ance. Their houses were pole cabins, without loft or floor. Their beds were made of what is there called " broom-straw." The men more commonly sleep on benches. Their clothing would compare well with their lodging. Whipping was common. It was hardly possible for a man with a common pair of ears, if he was out of his house but a short time on Monday mornings, to miss of hearing the sound of the lash, and the cries of
' the sufferers pleading with their masters to desist. These scenes were more common throughout the time of my residence there, from 1799 to 1831.
Mr. Hkdding of Chatham county, held a slave woman. I traveled past Heddings as often as once in two weeks during the winter of 1828, and always saw her clad in a single cotton dress, sleeves came half way to the elbow, and in order to prevent her running away, a child, supposed to be about seven years of age, was connected with her by a long chain fastened round her neck, and in this situation she was compelled all the day to grub Tip the roots of shrubs and sapplings to pre- pare ground for the plough. It is not uncommon for slaves to make up on Sundays what they are not able to perform through the week of their tasks.
At the time of the rumored insurrection above named, Chatham jail was filled with slaves who were said to have been concerned in the plot. Without the least evidence of it, they were punish, ed in divers ways ; some were whipped, some had their thumbs screioed in a vice to make them con. fess, but no proof satisfactory was ever obtained that the negroes had ever thought of an insur. rection, nor did any so far as I could learn, ac. knowledge that an insurrection had ever been projected. From this time forth, the slaves were prohibited from asseihbhng together for the wor ship of God, and many of those who had previ. ously been authorized to preach the gospel were prohibited.
Amalgamation was common. There was scarce a family of slaves that had females of mature age where there were not some mulatto children.
Hiram White. Otter Creek Prairie, Jan. 22, 1839.
TESTIMONY OF MR. JOHN M. NELSON— A NATIVE OF VIRGINIA.
Extract of a letter, dated January 3, 1839, from John M. Nelson, Esq., of Hillsborough. Mr. Nel. son removed from Virginia to Highland county, Ohio, many years since, where he is extensively known and respected.
I was born and raised in Augusta county, Virginia ; my father was an elder in the Presby- terian Church, and was " owner" of about twen- ty slaves ; he was what was generally termed a " good master." His slaves were generally toler- ably well fed and clothed, and not over worked, they were sometimes permitted to attend church, and called in to family worship ; few of them, however, availed themselves of these privileges. On some occasions I have seen him whip them severely, particularly for the crime of trying to <rbtain their hberty, or for what was called, " run-
ning away." For this they were scourged more severely than for any thing else. After they have been retaken, I have seen them stripped naked and suspended by the hands, sometimes to a tree, sometimes to a post, until their toes barely touched the ground, and whipped with a cowhide until the blood dripped from their backs. A boy named Jack, particularly, I have seen served in this way more than once. When Iwas quite a child, I recollect it grieved me very much to see one tied up to be whipped, and I used to intercede with tears ic their behalf, and mingle my cries with theirs, and feel almost wil- ling to take part of the punishment ; I have been severely rebuked bj my father for this kind of sympathy. Yet, such is the hardening nature of such scenes, that from this kind of commisse ration for the sufferuig slave, I became so blunt.
52
Personal Narratives — Angelina Grimke Weld.
ed that I could not only witness their stripes with composure, but myself inflict them, and that without remorse. One case I have often looked back to with sorrow and contrition, particularly since I have been convinced that " negroes are men." When I was perhaps fourteen or fifteen years of age, I undertook to correct a young fel. low named Ned, for some supposed offence ; I think it was leaving a bridle out of its proper place ; he being larger and stronger than myself took hold of my arms and held me, in order to prevent my striking him ; this I considered the height of insolence, and cried for help, when my father and mother both came running to my rescue. My father stripped and tied him, and took him into the orchard, where switches were plenty, and directed me to whip him ; when one switch wore out he supplied me with others. After I had whipped him a while, he fell on his knees to implore forgiveness, and I kicked him in the face ; my father said, " don't kick him, but whip him ;" this I did until his back was literally cov- ered with welts. I knoiv I have repented, and trust I have obtained pardon for these things.
My father owned a woman, (we used to call aunt Grace,) she was purchased in Old Virginia. She has told me that her old master, in his will, gave her her freedom, but at his death, his sons had sold her to my father : when he bought her she manifested some unwillingness to go with him, when she was put in irons and taken by force. This was before I was born ; but I remem- ber to have seen the irons, and was told that was what they had been used for. Aunt Grace is still living, and must be between seventy and eighty years of age ; she has, for the las>„ forty years, been an exemplary Christian. Whe" I was a youth I took some pains to learn her to read ; this is now a great consolation to her. Since age and infirmity have rendered her of little value to
her " owners," she is permitted to read as much as she pleases ; this she can do, with the aid of glasses, in the old family Bible, which is almost the only book she has ever looked into. This with some little mending for the black children, is all she does ; she is still held as a slave. I well re- member what a heart-rending scene there was in the family when my father sold her husband ; this was, I suppose, thirty- five years ago. And yet my father was considered one of the best of masters. I know of few who were better, but of m,any who were worse.
The last time I saw my father, which was in the fall of 1832, he promised me that he would free all his slaves at his death. He died however without doing it ; and I have understood since, that he omitted it, through the influence of Rev. Dr. Speece, a Presbyterian minister, who lived in the family, and was a a warm friend of the Co- lonization Society.
About the year 1809 or 10, I became a student of Rev. George Botu-ne ; he was the first aboli- tionist I had ever ssen, and the first I had ever heard pray or plead for the oppressed, which gave me the first misgivings about the innocence of slaveholding. I received impressions from Mr. Bourne which I could not get rid of,* and deter- mined in my own mind that when I settled in life, it should be in a free state ; this determina- tion I carried into effect in 1813, when I removed to this place, which 1 supposed at that time, to be all the opposition to slavery that was neces- sary, but the moment I became convinced that all slaveholding was in itself sinful, I became an abolitionist, which was about four years ago.
* Mr. Bourne resided seven years in Virginia, " in perils among false brethren," fiercely persecuted for Ills faithful testimony against slavery. More than twenty years since he published a work entitled " The Book and Slavery irre- concUeable."
TESTIMONY OF ANGELINA GRIMKE WELD.
Mrs. Weld is the youngest daughter of the late Judge Grimke, of the Supreme Court of South Carolina, and a sister of the late Hon. Thomas S. Grim.ke, of Charleston.
Fort Lee, Bergen Co., New Jersey. ) Fourth month 6th, 1839. ^ I sit down to comply with thy request, prefer- red in the name of the Executive Committee of the American Anti-Slavery Society. The re- sponsibility laid upon me by such a request, leaves me no option. While I live, and slavery lives, I must testify against it. If I should hold my peace, " the stone would cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber would answer it." But though I feel a necessity upon me, and " a woe unto me," if I withhold my testimony, I give it with a heavy heart. My flesh crieth out, " if it be possible, let this cup pass from me ;" but, " Father, thy will be done," is, I trust, the breathing of my spirit. Oh, the slain of the daughter of my people ! they lie in all the ways ; their tears fall as the rain, and are their meat day and night ; their blood runneth down like water ; their plundered hearths are desolate ;
they weep for their husbands and children, be- cause they are not ; and the proud waves do con- tinually go over them, while no eye pitieth, and no man careth for their souls.
But it is not alone for the sake of my poor brothers and sisters in bonds, or for the cause of truth, and righteousness, and humanity, that I testify ; the deep yearnings of affection for the mother that bore me, who is still a slaveholder, both in fact and in heart ; for my brothers and sisters, (a large family circle,) and for my nu- merous other slaveholding kindred in South Ca- rolina, constrain me to speak : for even were slavery no curse to its victims, the exercise of arbitrary power works such fearful ruin upon the hearts of slaveholders, that I should feel impelled to labor and pray for its overthrow with my last energies and latest breath.
I think it important to premise, that I have seen almost nothing of slavery on plantations. My testimony will have respect exclusively to the treatment of ^^house-servants," and chiefly those belonging to the first families in the city of Charleston, both in the religious and in the fash- ionable world. And here let mc say, that the
Personal Narratives — Angelina Grimke Weld.
53
treatment of plantation slaves cannot be fully known, except by the poor sutFcrers themselves, and their drivers and overseers. In a multitude of instances, even the master can know very lit- tle of the actual condition of his own field-slaves, and his wife and daughters far less. A few facts concerning mj' own iamily will show this. Our permanent residence was in Charleston ; our country-seat (BcUcmont,) was 200 miles distant, in the north-western part of the state ; where, for some years, our famih' spent a few months annu- ally. Our plantation was three miles from this family mansion. There, all the field-slaves lived and worked. Occasionally, once.a month, per- haps, some of the family would ride over to the plantation, but I never visited the _/ieZrfs7«j/;e7'e the slaves icere at work, and knew almost nothing of their condition ; but this I do know, that the overseers who had charge of them, were gene- rally unprincipled and intemperate men. But I rejoice to know, that the general treatment of slaves in that region of country, was far milder than on the plantations in the lower country.
Throughout all the eastern and middle por- tions of the state, the planters very rarelji- reside permanently on their plantations. They have almost invariably two residences, and spend less than half the year on their estates. Even while spending a few months on them, politics, field- sports, races, speculations, journeys, visits, com- pany, literary pursuits, &c., absorb so much of their time, that they must, to a considerable ex- tent, take the condition of their slaves on trust, from the reports of their overseers. I make this statement, because these slaveholders (the wealth- ier class,) are, I believe, almost the only ones who visit the north with their families ; — and northern opinions of slavery are based chiefly on their tes- timony.
But not to dwell on preliminaries, I wisli to record my testimony to the faithfulness and ac- curacy with which my beloved sister, Sarah M. Grimke, has, in her ' narrative and testimony,' on a preceding page, described the condition of the slaves, and the effect upon the hearts of slave- holders, (even the best,) caused by the exercise of unlimited power over moral agents. Of the particular acts which she has stated, I have no personal knowledge, as they occurred before my remembrance ; but of the spirit that prompted them, and that constantly displays itself in scenes of similar horror, the recollections of my child- hood, and the effaceless imprint upon my riper years, with the breaking of my heart-strings, when, finding that I was powerless to shield the victims, I tore myself from my home and friends, and became an exile among strangers — all these throng around me as witnesses, and their testi. mony is graven on my memory with a pen of fire.
Why I did not become totally hardened, under the daily operation of this system, God only knows ; in deep solemnity and gratitude, I say, it was the Lord's doing, and marvellous in mine eyes. Even before my heart was touched with the love of Christ, I used to say, " Oh that I had the wings of a dove, that I might flee away and be at rest ;' for I felt that there could be no rest for me in the midst of such outrages and pollutions. And yet I saw nothing of slavery in its most j
vulgar and repulsive forms. I saw it in the city, among the fashionable and the honorable, where it was garnished by refinement, and decked out for show. A few facts will unfold the state of society in the circle with which I was familiar, far better than an}' general assertions I can make. I will first introduce the reader to a woman of the highest respectability — one who was fore- most in every benevolent enterprise, and stood for many years, I may say, at the head of the fashionable (Jlitc of the city of Charleston, and afterwards at the head of the moral and religious female society there. It was after she had made a profession of religion, and retired from the fashionable world, that I knew her ; therefore I will present her in her religious character. This lady used to keep cowhides, or small paddles, (called ' pancake sticks,') in four different apart- ments in her house ; so that when she wished to punish, or to have punished, any of her slaves, she might not have the trouble of sending for an in- strument of torture. For many years, one or other, and often more of her slaves, were flogged every day; particularly the young slaves about the house, whose faces were slapped, or their hands beat v/ith the ' pancake stick,' for every trifling offence — and often for no fault at all. But the floggings were not all; the scoldings and abuse daily heaped upon them all, were worse: 'fools' and ' liars,' ' sluts' and ' husseys,' ' hypocrites' and ' good-for-nothing creatures,' were the common epithets wiih which her mouth was filled, when addressing her slaves, adults as well as children. Very often she would take a position at her window, in an upper story, and scold at her slaves while working in the garden, at some distance from the house, (a large yard intervening,) and occasionally order a flogging. I have known her thus on the watch, scolding for more than an hour at a time, in so loud a voice that the whole neighborhood could hear her ; and this without the least apparent feeling of shame. Indeed, it was no disgrace among slaveholders, and did not in the least injure her standing, either as a lady or a Christian, in the aristocratic circle in which she moved. After the 'revival' in Charleston, in 1825, she opened her house to social prayer-meetings. The room in which they were held in the evening, and where the voice of prayer was heard around the family altar, and where she herself retired for private devotion thrice each day, was the very place in which, when her slaves were to be whip- ped with the cowhide, they were taken to receive the infliction ; and the wail of the sufferer would be heard, where, perhaps only a few hours pre- vious, rose the voices of prayer and praise. This mistress would occasionally send her slaves, male and female, to the Charleston work-house to be punished. One poor girl, whom she sent there to be flogged, and who was accordingly stripped naked and whipped, showed me the deep gashes on her back — I might have laid my whole finger in them — large pieces of flesh had actually been cut out by the torturing lash. She sent another female slave there, to be imprisoned and worked on the tread-mill. This girl was confined several days, and forced to work the mill while in a state of suffering from another cause. For ten days or two weeks after her return, she was lame, from
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Personal Narratives — Angelina Grimke Weld.
the violent exertion necessary to enable her to keep the step on the machine. She spoke to me with intense feeling of this outrage upon her, as a woman. Her men servants were sometimes flogged there ; and so exceedingly offensive has been the putrid flesh of their lacerated backs, for days after the infliction, that they would be kept out of the house — the smell arising from their wounds being too horrible to be endured. They were always stiff and sore for some days, and not in a condition to be seen by visitors.
This professedly Christian woman was a most awful illustration of the ruinous influence of arbitrary power upon the temper — her bursts of passion upon the heads of her victims were dreaded even by her own children, and very often, all the pleasure of social intercourse around the domestic board, was destroyed by her order- ing the cook into her presence, and storming at him, when the dinner or breakfast was not pre- pared to her taste, and in the presence of all her children, commanding the waiter to slap his face. Faulujinding, was with her the constant accom- paniment of every meal, and banished that peace which should hover around the social board, and smile on every face. It was common for her to order brothers to whip their own sisters, and sis- ters their own brothers, and yet no woman visited among the poor more than she did, or gave more hberally to relieve their wants. This may seem perfectly unaccountable to a northerner, but these seeming contradictions vanish when we con- sider that over them she possessed no arbitrary power, they were always presented to her mind as unfortunate sufferers, towards whom her sym- pathies most freely flowed ; she was ever ready to wipe the tears from their eyes, and open wide her purse for their relief, but the others were her vassals, thrust down by public opinion beneath her feet, to be at her beck and call, ever ready to serve in all humility, her, whom God in his pro- vidence had set over them — it was their duty to abide in abject submission, and hers to compel them to do so — it was thus that she reasoned. Except at family prayers, none were permitted to sit in her presence, but the seamstresses and waiting maids, and they, however delicate might be their circumstances, were forced to sit upon low stools, without backs, that they might be constantly reminded of their inferiority, A slave who waited in the house, was guilty on a particu- lar occasion of going to visit his wife, and kept dinner waiting a little, (his wife was the slave of a lady who lived at a little distance.) When the family sat down to the table, the mistress began to scold the waiter for the offence — he at- tempted to excuse himself — she ordered him to hold his tongue — he ventured another apology ; her son then rose from the table in a rage, and beat the face and ears of the waiter so dreadfully that the blood gushed from his mouth, and nose, and ears. This mistress was a professor of re- ligion ; her daughter who related the circum- stance, was a fellow member of the Presbyterian church with the poor outraged slave — instead of feeling indignation at this outrageous abuse of her brother in the church, she justified the deed, and said "he got just what he deserved." I solemnly beheve this to be a true picture of slaveholding religion.
The following is another illustration of it : A mistress in Ciiarleston sent a grey headed female slave to the workhouse, and had her se- verely flogged. The poor old woman went to an acquaintance of mine and begged her to buy her, and told her how cruelly she had been whipped. My friend examined her lacerated back, and out of compassion did purchase her. The circum- stance was mentioned to one of the former own. er's relatives, who asked her if it were true. The mistress told her it was, and said that she had made the severe whipping of this aged wo- man a subject of p-ayer, and that she believed she had done right to have it inflicted upon her. The last ' owner ' of the poor old slave, said she, had no fault to find with her as a servant.
I remember very well that when I was a child, our next door neighbor whipped a young woman so brutally, that in order to escape his blows she rushed tlurough the drawing-room window in the second story, and fell upon the street pavement below and broke her hip. This circumstance produced no excitement or inquiry.
The following circumstance occurred in Charleston, in 1828 :
A slaveholder, after flogging a little girl about thirteen years old, set her on a table with her feet fastened in a pair of stocks. He then locked the door and took out the key. When the door was opened she was found dead, having fallen from the table. When I asked a prominent lawyer, who belonged to one of the first families in the State, whether the murderer of this help- less child could not be indicted, he coolly replied,
that the slave was Mr. 's property, and if
he chose to suffer the loss, no one else had any thing to do with it. The loss of human life, the distress of the parents and other relatives of the little girl, seemed utterly out of his thoughts : it was the loss of property only that presented itself to his mind.
I knew a gentleman of great benevolence and generosity of character, so essentially to injure the eye of a little boy, about ten years old, as to destroy its sight, by the blow of a cowhide, in- flicted whilst he was whipping him.* I have heard the same individual speak of " breaking down the spirit of a slave under the lash " as per- fectly right.
I also know that an aged slave of his, (by marriage,) was allowed to get a scanty aiad pre. carious subsistence, by begging in the streets of Charleston — he was too old to work, and there- fore his allowance was stopped, and he waa turned out to make his living by begging.
When I was about thirteen years old, I attend- ed a seminary, in Charleston, which was super, intended by a man and his wife of superior edu- cation. They had under their instruction the daughters of nearly all the aristocracy. Their cruelty to their slaves, both male and female, I can never forget. I remember one dav there was called into the school room to open a window, a
* The Jewish law would have set this servant free, for his eye's sake, but he was held in slavery and sold from hand to hand, although, besides this title to his liberty ac- cording to Jewish law, he was a mulalto, and therefore free under the Constitution of the United States, in whose pre- amble our fathers declare that they established it expressly to^" secure the blessings of Zift erf t^ to themselves and tAeit posterity.'" — Ed.
Personal Narratives — Angelina Grimke Weld.
55
Doy whose head had been shaved in order to dis- grace him, and he had been so dreadfully whip- ped that he eould hardh' walk. So horrible was the impression produceil upon my mind bj' his heart-broken countenance aiid crippled person that I fainted away. The sad and ghastly coini- tenance of one of their female mulatto slaves who used to sit on a low stool at her sewing in the piazza, is now Iresh before me. She often told me, secretly, how cruelly she was whipped wlien tliey sent her to tlie work house. I had known so much of the terrible scourgings inflicted in that house of blood, that when I was once obliged to pass it, the very sight smote me with such horror that my limbs coidd hardly sustain me. I felt as if I was passing the precincts of hell. A friend of mine %vho lived in the neighborhood, told me she often lieard the screams of the slaves under their torture.
I once heard a physician of a high family, and of great respectability in his profession, say, that when he sent his slaves to the work-house to be flogged, he always went to see it done, that he might be sure they were properly, i. e. severely whipped. He also related the foUov/ing circum- stance in my presence. He had sent a youth of about eighteen to this horrible place to be whip- ped and afterwards to be worked upon the tread- mill. From not keeping the step, which probably he COULD NOT do, in consequence of the lacerated state of his bodj^ ; his arm got terribly torn, from the shoulder to the wrist. This physcian said, he went every day to attend to it himself, in order that he might use those restoratives, which would inflict the greatest possible pain. This poor boy, after being imprisoned there for some weeks, was then brought home, and compelled to wear iron clogs on his ankles for one or two months. I saw him with those irons on one day when I was at the house. This man was, when young, re- markable in the fashionable world for his elegant and fascinating manners, but the exercise of the slaveholder's power has thrown the fierce air of tyranny even over these.
I heard another man of equally high standing say, that he believed he suffered far more than his waiter did, whenever he flogged him, for he felt the exertion for days afterward, but he could not let his servant go on in "he neglect of his business, it W2is his duty to ch' ,:'^ him. " His duty" to flog this boy of seve:. '■ •- so severely that he felt the exertion for days a ' -r ! and yet he never felt it to be his duty to L'-j.ruct him, or have him in- structed, even in the common principles of mo- rality. I heard the mother of this man say, it would be no surprise to her, if he killed a slave some day, for, that, when transported with pas. sion he did not seem to care what he did. He once broke a large stick over the back of a slave, and at another time the ivory butt-end of a long coach whip over the head of another. This last was attacked with epileptic fits some months after, and has ever since been subject to them, and occasionally to violent fits of insanity.
Southern mistresses sometimes flog their slaves themselves, though generally one slave is com- pelled to flog another. WhQst staying at a friend's house some years ago, I one day saw the mistress with a cow-hide in her hand, and heard her scold- ing in an under lone, her waiting man, who was
about twenty-five years old. Whether she actu- ally inflicted the blows I do not know, for I hast- ened out of sight and hearing. It was not the first time I had seen a mistress thus engaged. I knew she was a cruel mistress, and had heard her daughters disputing, whether their mother did right or wrong, to send the slave children, (whom she sent out to sweep chimneys) to the work house to be whipped if they did not bring in their wages regularly. This woman moved in the most fashionable circle in Charleston. The income of this family was derived mostly from the hire of their slaves, about one hundred in number. Their luxuries were blood-bought luxuries indeed. And yet what stranger would ever have inferred their cruelties from the courteous reception and bland manners of the parlor. Every thing cruel and revolting is carefully concealed from strangers, especially those from the north. Take an in- stance. I have known the master and mistress of a family send to their friends to borrow ser- vants to wait on company, because their own slaves had been so cruelly flogged in the work house, that they could not walk without limping at every step, and their putrified flesh emitted such an intolerable smell thai they were not fit to be in the presence of company. How can northernera know these things when they are hospitably re- ceived at southern tables and firesides ? I repeat it, no one who has not been an integral part of a slaveholding community, can have any idea of its abominations. It is a whited sepulchre full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. Blessed be God, the Angel of Truth has descended and rolled away the stone from the mouth of the se- pulchre, and sits upon it. The abominations so long hidden are now brought forth before all Israel and the sun. Yes, the Angel of Truth sits upon this stone, and it can never be rolled back again.
The utter disregard of the comfort of the slaves, in little things, can scarcely be conceived by those who have not been a component part of slaveholding communities. Take a few particu- lars out of hundreds that might be named. In South Carolina musketoes swarm in myriads, more than half the year — they are so excessively annoying at night, that no family thinks of sleep- ing without nets or " musketoe-bars" hung over their bedsteads, yet slaves are never provided with them, unless it be the favorite old domestics who get the cast-off pavilions; and yet these very mas- ters and mistresses will be so kind to their horses as to provide them with fly nets. Bedsteads and bedding too, are rarely provided for any of the slaves — if the waiters and coachmen, wait- ing maids, cooks, washers, &c., have beds at all, they must generally get them for them- selves. Commonly they lie down at night on the bare floor, with a small blanket wrapped round them in winter, and in summer a coarse osnaburg sheet, or nothing. Old slaves generally have beds, but it is because when younger they have provided them for themselves.
Only two meals a day are allowed the house slaves — the first at twelve o'clock. If they eat before this time, it is by stealth, and I am sure there must be a good deal of suffering among them from hunger, and particularly by children. Besides this, they are often kept from their meals by way of punishment. No table is provided for
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Personal Narratives — Angelina Grimke Weld.
thom io eat from. They know nothing of the comfort and pleasure of gatiicring roand the so- ciai board — each takes his plate or tin pan and iron spoon and holds it in the hand or on the lap. I never saw slaves seated round a table to partake of any meal.
As the general rule, no lights of any kind, no iirewood — no towels, basins, or soap, no tables, chairs, or other furniture, are provided. Wood for cooking and washing /or the family is found, but when the master's work is done, the slave must find wood for himself if he has a fire. I have repeatedly known slave children kept the whole winter's evening, sitting on the stair-case in a cold entry, just to be at hand to snuif candles or hand a tumbler of water from the side-board, or go on errands from one room to another. It may be asked why they were not permitted to stay in the parlor, when thev would be still more at hand. I answer, because waiters are aiot allowed to sit in the presence of their owners, and as children who were kept running all day, would of course get very tired of standing for two or three hours, they were allowed to go into the entry and sit on the staircase until rung for. Another reason is, that even slaveholders at times find the presence of slaves very annoying ; they cannot exercise entire freedom of speech before them on all sub- jects.
I have also known instances where seamstress- es were kept in cold entries to work by the stair case lamps for one or two hours, every evening in winter — thej"^ could not see without standing up all the time, though the work was often too large and heavy for them to sew upon it in that position without great inconvenience, and yet they were expected to do their work as well with their cold fingers, and standing up, as if they had been sitting by a comfortable fire and provided with the necessary light. House slaves suffer a great deal also from not being allowed to leave the house without permission. If they wish to go even for a draught of water, they musi ask leave, and if they stay longer than the mistress thinks necessary, they are liable to be punished, and often are scolded or slapped, or kept from going down to the next meal.
It frequently happens that relatives, among slaves, arc separated for weeks or months, by the husband or brother being taken by the master on a jouine^, to attend on his horses and himself. — When they return, the white husband seeks the wife of his love ; but the black husband must wait to see his wife, until mistress pleases to let her chambermaid leave her room. Yes, such is the despotism of slavery, that wives and sisters dare not run to meet their husbands and brothers after such separations, and hours sometimes elapse be- fore they are allowed to meet ; and, at times, a fiendish pleasure is taken in keeping them asun- der— this furnishes an opportunitj^ to vent feelings of spite for any little neglect of " duty."
The sufferings to which slaves are subjected by separations of various kinds, cannot be imagined by those unacquainted with the working out of the system behind the curtain. Take the follow- ing instances.
Chambermaids and seamstresses often sleep in their mistresses' apartments, but with no bedding
i at all. I know an instance of a woman who has been married eleven years, and yet has never been allowed to sleep out of her mistress's chamber. — ■ Tliis is a great hardship to slaves. When we con- sider that house slaves are rarely allowed social intercourse during the day, as their work gener- ally separates them ; the barbarity of such an ar- rangement is obvious. It is peculiarly a hardship in the above case, as the husband of the woman does not " belong " to her '' owner ;" and because he is subject to dreadful attacks of illness, and can have but little attention from his wife in the day. And yet her mistress, who is an old lady, gives her the highest character as a faithful ser- vant, and told a friend of mine, that she was " en- tirely dependent upon her for all her comforts : she dressed and undressed her, gave her all her food, and was so necessary to her that she could not do without her." I may add, that this couple are tenderly attached to each other.
I also know an instance in which the husband was a slave and the wife was free : during the ill- ness of the former, the latter was allowed to come and nurse him ; she was obliged to leave the work by which she had made a living, and come to stay with her husband, and thus lost weeks of her time, or he would have suffered for want of pro- per attention ; and yet his " owner" made her no compensation for her services. He had long been a faithful and a favorite slave, and his owner was a woman very benevolent to the poor whites. — She went a great deal among these, as a visiting commissioner of the Ladies' Benevolent Society, and was in the constant habit ol paying the rela- tives of the poor whites for nursing their hus bands, fathers, and other relations ; because she thought it very hard, when their time was taken up, so that they could not earn their daily bread, that they should be left to suffer. Now, such is the stupifying influence of the " chattel principle" on the minds of slaveholders, that I do not sup- pose it ever occurred to her that this poor colored wife ought to be paid for her services, and parti- cularly as she was spending her time and strength in taking care of her ^^ property. ^^ She no doubt only thought how kind she was, to allow her to come and stay so long in her yard ; for, let it be kept in mind, that slaveholders have unlimited power to separate husbands and wives, parents and children, however and whenever they please ; and if this mistress had chosen to do it, she could have debarred this woman from all intercourse with her husband, by forbidding her to enter her pre- mises.
Persons who own plantations and yet live in cities, often take children from their parents as soon as they are weaned, and send them into the country ; because they do not want the time of the mother taken up by attendance upon her own children, it being too valuable to the mistress. As a favor, she is, in some cases, permitted to go to see them once a year. So, on the other hand, if field slaves happen to have children of an age suit- able to the convenience of the master, they are taken from their parents and brought to the city. Parents are almost never consulted as to the dis- position to be made of their children ; thej' have as little control over them, as have domestic animals over the disposal of their young. Every natural
General Testimony — Cruelties.
57
and social feeling and afTection are violated with indifference ; slaves are treated as though thoy did not possess tiicm.
Another way in which the feelings of slaves arc trifled with and often deeply wounded, is by chang- ing their names; if, at the time they arc brought into a family, there is another slave of the same name ; or if the owner happens, for some other reason, not to like the name of the new comer. I have known slaves very much grieved at having the names of their children thus changed, when they had been called after a dear relation. In- deed it would be utterly impossible to recount the multitude of wa3's in which the heart of the slave is continually lacerated by the total disregard of his feelings as a social being and a human crea. ture.
The slave suffers also greatly from being con- tinually zotficAe(Z. The system of espionage which is constantly kept up over slaves is the most wor- rying and intolerable that can be imagined. Man}^ mistresses are, in fact, during the absence of their husbands, really their drivers ; and the pleasure of returning to their families often, on the part of the husband, is entirely destroyed by the complaints preferred against the slaves when he comes home to his meals.
A mistress of my acquaintance asked her ser- vant boy, one day, what was the reason she could not get him to do his work whilst his master was away, and said to him, " Your master works a great deal harder than you do ; he is at his office all day, and often has to study his law cases at night." '' Master," said the boy, " is working for himself, and for you, ma'am, but I am working for him." The mistress turned and remarked to a friend, that she was so struck with the truth of the remark, that she could not say a word to him.
But I forbear — the pufferings of the slaves are not onl)' innumerable, but they are indescrihahle . I may paint the agony of kindred torn from each other's arms, to meet no more in time ; I may de- pict the inflictions of the blood-stained lash, but I cannot describe the daily, hourly, ceaseless torture, endured by the heart that is constantly trampled under the foot of despotic power. This is a part of the horrors of slavery which, I believe, no one has ever attempted to delineate ; I wonder not at it, it mocks all power of language. Who can de- scribe the anguish of that mind which feels itself impaled upon the iron of ar])itrary power — its liv- ing, writhing, helpless victim ! every human sus. ccptibility tortured, its sympathies torn, and stung, and bleeding — always feeling the death-weapon in its heart, and yet not so deep as to kill that humanity which is made the curse of its exist- ence.
In the course of my testimony I have entered somewhat into the ininuti<z of slavery, because this is a part of the subject often overlooked, and cannot be appreciated by any but those who have been witnesses, and entered into sympathy with the slaves as hmnan beings. Slaveholders think nothing of them, because they regard their slaves as property, the mere instruments of their conve- nience and pleasure. One who is a slaveholder at heart never recognises a human being in a slave.
As thou hast asked me to testify respecting the physical condition of the slaves merely, I say no- thing of the awful neglect of their minds and souls, and the systematic effort to imbrute them. A wrong and an impiety, in comparison with which all the other unutterable wrongs of slavery are but as the dust of the balance.
Angelina G. Weld,
GENERAL TESTIMONY
TO THE CRUELTIES INFLICTED UPON SLAVES,
Before presenting to the reader particular de- tails of the cruelties inflicted upon American slaves, we will present in brief the well-weigh- ed declarations of slaveholders and other resi- dents of slave states, testifying that the slaves are treated with barbarous inhumanity. All de- tails and particulars will be drawn out under their appropriate heads. We propose in this place to present testimony of a general character — the solemn declarations of slaveholders and others, that the slaves are treated with great cruelty.
To discredit the testimony of witnesses who insist upon convicting themselves, would be an anomalous scepticism.
To show that American slavery has always had one uniform character of diabolical cruelty, we will go back one hundred years, and prove it by unimpeachable witnesses, who have given their deliberate testimony to its horrid barbarity, from 1739 to 1839.
8
TESTIMONY OF REV. GEORGE WHITEFIELD,
In a letter written by him in Georgia, and ad- dressed to the slaveholders of Maryland, Vir- ginia, North and South Carolina and Georgia, in 1739. — See Benezet's "Caution to Great Britain and her Colonies."
" As I lately passed through your provinces on my way hither, I was sensibly touched with a fellow-feeling of the miseries of the poor negroes.
" Sure I am, it is sinful to use them as bad, nay worse than if they were brutes ; and what- ever particular exceptions there may be, (as I would charitably hope there are some,) I fear the generality of you that own negroes, are liable to such a charge. Not to mention what numbers have been given up to the inhuman usage of cruel task, masters, who by their unrelenting scourges, have ploughed their backs and made long furrows, and at length brought them to the grave ! * * ♦
" The blood of them., spilt for these many years, in your respective provinces, will ascend up to heaven against you .'"
The following is the testimony of the cele- brated John Woolman, an eminent ramister of
58
General Testimony — Cruelties.
the Society of Friends, who traveled extensively in the slave states. We copy it from a " Me- moir of John WoolmaxM, chiefly extracted from a Jomnal of his Life and Travels." It was pub- lished in Philadelphia, by the ''Society of Friends."
" The following reflections, were written in 1757, while he was traveling on a religious ac- count among slaveholders."
" Many of the white people m these provinces, take little or no care of negro marriages ; and when negroes marry, after their own way, some make so little account of those marriages, that, with views of outward interest, they often part men from their wives, by selling them far asun- der ; which is common when estates are sold by executors at vendue.
" Many whose labor is heavy, being followed at their business in the field by a man with a whip, hired for that purpose, — have, in common, little else allowed them but one peck of Indian corn and some salt for one week, with a few po- tatoes. (The potatoes they commonly raise by their labor on the first day of the week.) The correction ensuing on their disobedience to over- seers, or slothfulness in business, is often very severe^ and sometimes desperate. Men and wo- men have many times scarce clothes enough to hide their nakedness — and boys and girls, ten and twelve years old, are often quite naked among their masters' children. Some use en- deavors to instruct those (negro children) they have in reading ; but in common, this is not only neglected, but disapproved." — p. 12.
TESTIMONY OF THE ' MARYLAND JOURNAL AND BAL- TIMORE ADVERTISER,' OF MAY 30, 1788.
" In the ordinary course of the business of the country, the punishment of relations frequently happens on the same farm, and in view of each other : the father often sees his beloved son — the son his venerable sire — the mother her much ioved daughter — the daughter her affectionate parent — the husband sees the wife of his bosom, and she the husband of her affection, cruelly bound up without delicacy or mercy, and without daring to interpose in each other's behalf, and punished with all the extremity of incensed rage, and all the rigor of unrelenting severity. Let us reverse the case, and suppose it ours : all is si- lent HORROR !"
testimony of THE HON. WILLUM PINCKNEY, OF MARYLAND.
In a speech before the Maryland House of Delegates, in 1789, Mr. P. calls slavery in that state, " a speaking picture of abominable oppres- sion ;" and adds : " It will not do thus to
act like unrelenting tyrants, perpetually sermon- izing it with liberty as our text, and actual op- pression for our commentary. Is she [Maryland] not .... the foster mother of petty despots, — the patron of wanton oppression ?"
Extract from a speech of Mr. Rice, in the Convention for forming the Constitution of Ken- tucky, in 1790 :
" The master may, and often does, inflict upon
him all the severity of punishment the human body is capable of bearing."
President Edwards, the Younger, in a sermon before the Connecticut Abolition Society, 1791, says :
" From these drivers, for every imagined, as well as real neglect or want of exertion, they re- ceive the lash — the smack of which is all day long in the ears of those who are on the planta- tion or in the vicinity ; and it is used with such dexterity and severity, as not only to lacerate the skin, but to tear out small portions of the flesh at almost every stroke.
" This is the general treatment of the slaves. But many individuals suffer still more severely. V Many, many are knocked down; some have their 3 eyes beaten out : some have an arm or a leg hrok. en, or chopped off ; and many, for a very small, or for no crime at all, have been beaten to death, merely to gratify the fury of an enraged master or overseer."
Extract from an oration, delivered at Balti. more, July 4, 1791, by George Buchanan, M. D member of the American Philosophical Society.
Their situation (the slaves') is insupportable ; misery inhabits their cabins, and pursues them in the field. Inhumanly beaten, they often fall sa- crifices to the turbulent tempers of their masters ! Who is there, unless inured to savage cruelties, that can hear of the inhuman punishments daily inflicted upon the unfortunate blacks, without feeling for them ? Can a man who calls himself a Christian, coolly and deliberately tie up, thumb, i screw, torture with pincers, and beat unmerci- fully a poor slave, for perhaps a trifling neglect of duty ?— p. 14. ,
testimony of HON. JOHN RANDOLPH, OF ROANOKE — A SLAVEHOLDER.
In one of his Congressional speeches, Mr. R. says ; " Avarice alone can drive, as it does drive, this infernal traffic, and the wretched victims of it, like so many post-horses whipped to death in a mail coach. Ambition has its cover-sluts in the pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war ; but where are the trophies of avarice ? The hand-cuff, the manacle, the blood-stained cow- hide .'"
Major Stoddard, of the United States' army, who took possession of Louisiana in behalf of the United States, under the cession of 1804, in his Sketches of Louisiana, page 332, says :
" The feelings of humanity are outraged — the most odious tyranny exercised in a land of free- dom, and hunger and nakedness prevail amidst plenty. * * * Cruel, and even unusual pun- ishments are daily inflicted on these wretched creatures, enfeebled with hunger, labor and the lash. The scenes of misery and distress con. stantly witnessed along the coast of the Delta, [of the Mississippi,] the wounds and lacerations occasioned by demoralized masters and over- seers, torture the feelings of the passing stranger, and wring blood from the heart."
Though only the third of the following series of resolutions is directly relevant to the subject now under consideration, we insert the other
I
General Teslbnony — Cruelties.
59
resolutions, both because they are explanatory of the third, and also serve to reveal the public sen- timent of Indiana, at the date of the resolutions. As a large majority of the citizens of Indiana at that time, were natives of slave states, they well knew the actual condition of the slaves.
1. " Resolved unanimously, by the Legislative Council and House of Representatives of In- diana Territory, that a suspension of the sixth article of compact between the United States and the territories and states north west of the river Ohio, passed the 13th day of January, 1783, for the term of ten years, would be highly ad- vantageous to the territor}', and meet the ap- probation of at least nine-tenths of the good citi- zens of the same.
2. " Resolved UNANIMOUSLY, that the abstract question of liberty and slavery, is not considered as involved in a suspension of the said article, inasmuch as the number of slaves in the United States would not be augmented by the measure.
3. " Resolved unanimously, that the suspen- sion of the said article would be equally advanta- geous to the territory, to the states from whence the negroes would be brought, and to the negroes themselves. The states which are overburthened ivith negroes, would be benefited by disposing of the negroes which they cannot comfortably sup- port ; * * and the negro himself would ex- change A scanty pittance of the coarsest food, for a plentiful and nourishing diet ; and a situa- tion which admits not the most distant prospect of emancipation, for one which presents no con- siderable obstacle to his wishes.
4. " Resolved unanimously, that a copy of these resolutions be delivered to the delegate to Congress from this territory, and that he be, and he hereby is, instructed to use his best endeavors to obtain a suspension of the said article.
J. B. Thomas, Speaker of the House of Representatives. Pierre Minard, President pro tern, of the Legislative Council. Vincennes, Dec. 20, 1806.
" Forwarded to the Speakerof the United States' Senate, by William Henry Harrison, Gover- nor."— American State Papers, vol. 1. p. 467.
Monsieur. C. C. Robin, who resided in Lou- isiana from 1802 to 1806, and published a volume containing the results of his observations there, thus speaks of the condition of the slaves :
" While they are at labor, the manager, the master, or the driver has commonly the whip in hand to strike the idle. But. those of the ne- groes who are judged guilty of serious faults, are punished twenty, twenty-five, forty, fifty, or one hundred lashes. The manner of this cruel exe- cution is as follows : four stakes are driven down, making a long square ; the culprit is extended naked between these stakes, face downwards ; h"is hands and his feet are bound separately, with strong cords, to each of the stakes, so far apart that his arms and legs, stretched in the form of St. Andrew's cross, give the the poor wretch no chance of stirring. Then the executioner, who is ordinarily a negro, armed with the long whip of a coachman, strikes upon the reins and thighs.
The crack of his whip resounds afar, like that of an angry cartman beating his horses. The blood flows, the long wounds cross each other, strips of skin are raised without softening either the hand of the executioner or the heart of the master, who cries ' sting him harder.'
" The reader is moved ; so am I : my agitated hand refuses to trace the bloody picture, to re- count how many times the piercing cry of pain has interrupted my silent occupations ; how many times I have shuddered at the faces of those bar- barous masters, where I saw inscribed the num. her of victims sacrificed to their ferocity.
" The women are subjected to these punish, ments as rigorously as the men — not even preg- nancy exempts them ; in that case, before bind- ing them to the stakes, a hole is made in the ground to accommodate the enlarged form of the victim.
" It is remarkable that the white Creole wo- men are ordinarily more inexorable than the men. Their slow and languid gait, and the trifling servi- ces v/hich they impose, betoken only apathetic in- dolence ; but should the slave not promptly obey, should he even fail to divine the meaning of their gestures, or looks, in an instant they are armed with a formidable whip ; it is no longer the arm which cannot sustain the weight of a shawl or a reticule — it is no longer the form which but feebly sustains itself. They them- selves order the punishment of one of these poor creatures, and with a dry eye see their victim bound to four stakes ; they count the blows, and raise a voice of menace, if the arm that strikes relaxes, or if the blood does not flow in sufficient abundance. Their sensibility changed to fury must needs feed itself for a while on the hideous spectacle : they must, as if to revive themselves, hear the piercing shrieks, and see the flow of fresh blood ; there are some of them who, in their frantic rage, pinch and bite their victims.
" It is by no means wonderful that the laws designed to protect the slave, should be httle re- spected by the generahty of such masters. I have seen some masters pay those unfortunate people the miserable overcoat which is their due ; but others give them nothing at all, and do not even leave them the hours and Sundays granted to them by law. I have seen some of those bar- barous masters leave them, during the winter, in a state of revolting nudity, even contrary to their own true interests, for they thus weaken and shorten the lives upon which repose the whole of their own fortunes. I have seen some of those negroes obliged to conceal their nakedness with the long moss of the country. The sad melan- choly of these wretches, depicted upon their coun- tenances, the flight of some, and the death of others, do not reclaim their masters ; they wreak upon those who remain, the vengeance which they can no longer exercise upon the others."
Whitman Mead, Esq. of New York, in his journal, published nearly a quarter of a century ago, under date of
" Savannah, January 28, 1817.
" To one not accustomed to such scenes as slavery presents, the condition of the slaves is impressively shocking. In the course of lay
60
General Testimony — Cruelties.
walks, I was every v/here witness to their wretch- edness. Like the brute creatures of the north, they are driven about at the pleasure of all who meet them : half naked and half starved, they drag out a pitiful existence, apparently almost unconscious of what they suffer. A threat ac- companies every command, and a bastinado is the usual reward of disobedience."
TESTIMONY OF REV. JOHN RANKIN,
A native of Tennessee, educated there, and for a
number of years a preacher in slave states — now
pastor of a church in Ripley, Ohio.
" Many poor slaves are stripped naked, stretch- ed and tied across barrels, or large bags, and tor- tured with the lash during hours, and even whole days, until their flesh is mangled to the very hones. Others are stripped and hung up by the arms, their feet are tied together, and the end of a heavy piece of timber is put between their legs in order to stretch their bodies, and so prepare them for the torturing lash — and in this situation they are often whipped until their bodies are covered with blood and mangled flesh — and in order to add the greatest keenness to their suffer- ings, their wounds are washed with liquid salt .' And some of the miserable creatures are permit- ted to hang in that position until they actually expire; some die mider the lash, others linger about for a time, and at length die of their wounds, and many survive, and endure again similar torture. These bloody scenes are con- stantly exhibiting in every slaveholding country — thousands of whips are every day stained in African blood ! Even the poor /er/iaZes are not permitted to escape these shocking cruelties." — Rankings Letters, pages 57, 58.
These letters were published fifteen years ago. — They were addressed to a brother in Vir- ginia, who was a slaveholder.
TESTIIVIONY OF THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SO- CIETY.
"We have heard of slavery as it exists in Asia, and Africa, and Turkey — we have heard of the feudal slavery under which the peasantry of Europe have groaned from the days of Alaric until now, but excepting only the horrible system of the West India Islands, we have never heard of slavery in any country, ancient or modern, Pagan, Mohammedan, or Christian ! so terrible in its character, as the slavery which exists in these United States." — Seventh Report American Colo- nization Society, 1824.
TESTIMONY OF THE GRADUAL EMANCIPATION SOCIE- TY OF NORTH CAROLINA.
Signed by Moses Swain, President, and William Swain, Secretary. " In the eastern part of the state, the slaves considerably outnumber the free population. Their situation is there vsrretched beyond de- scription. Impoverished by the mismanagement which we have already attempted to describe, the master, unable to support his own grandeur and maintain his slaves, puts the unfortunate wretches upon short allowances, scarcely suffi- cient for their sustenance, so that a great part of them go half naked and half starved much of the time. Generally, throughout the state, the
African is an abused, a monstrously outraged creature.''^ — See Minutes of the American Conven. tion, convened in Baltimore, Oct. 25, 1826.
FROM NILES' BALTIMORF. REGISTER FOR 1829, VOL.
35, p. 4. " Deahng in slaves has become a large busi- ness. Establishments are made at several places in Maryland and Virginia, at which they are sold like cattle. These places of deposit are strongly built, and well supplied with iron thumbscrews and gags, and ornamented with cowskins and other whips — often times bloody."
Judge Ruffin, of the Supreme Court of North Carolina, in one of his judicial decisions, says —
" The slave, to remain a slave, must feel that there is no appeal from his master. No man can anticipate the provocations which the slave would give, nor the consequent wrath of the master, prompting him to BLOODY VEN- GEANCE on the turbulent traitor, a vengeance generally practiced with impunity, by reason of its PRrvACY." — See Wheeler's Law of Slavery p. 247.
Mr. Moore, of Virginia, in his speech before the Legislature of that state, Jan. 15, 1832, says:
" It must be confessed, that although the treatment of our slaves is in the general, as mild and humane as it can be, that it must always happen, that there will be found hundreds of in- dividuals, who, owing either to the natural fe- rocity of their dispositions, or to the effects of intemperance, will be guilty of cruelty and bar- barity towards their slaves, which is almost in- tolerable, and at which humanity revolts."
TESTIMONY OF B. SWAIN, ESQ., OF NORTH CAROLINA.
" Let any man of spirit and feeling, for a mo- ment cast his thoughts over this land of slaver}' — think of the nakedness of some, the hungry yearn- ings of others, the flowing tears and heaving sighs of parting relations, the wailings and wo, the bloody cut of the keen lash, and the frightful scream that rends the very skies — and all this to gratify ambition, lust, pride, avarice, vanity, and other depraved feelings of the human heart. . . . THE WORST IS NOT GENERALLY KNOWN. Were all the miseries, the horrors of slavery, to burst at once into view, a peal of seven-fold thunder could scarce strike greater alarm." — See " Swain's Address," 1830.
TESTIMONY OF DR. JAMES C. FINLEY,
Son of Dr. Finley, one of the founders of the Col- onization Society, and brother of R. S. Finley, agent of the American Colonization Society, Dr. J. C. Finley was formerly one of the edi- tors of the Western Medical Journal, at Cincin- nati, and is well known in the west as utterly hostile to immediate abolition.
" In almost the last conversation I had vdtli you before I left Cincinnati, I promised to give you some account of some scenes of atrocious cruelty towards slaves, which I witnessed while I lived at the south. I almost regret having made the promise, for not only are they so atro- cious that you will with difficulty believe them, but I also fear that they will have the effect of
General Testimony — Cruelties.
61
driving yoii into that cholitionism, upon the bor- ders of wliich )'ou have been so long hesitating. The people of the north are ignorant of the hor- rors of slavery — of the alrociiies which it com- mits upon the unprotected slave. * * *
" I do not know that any thing could be gain- ed by particularizing the sceaes of horrible bar- harity, which fell under my observation during my short residence iu one of the wealthiest, most intelligent, and ma;t moral parts of Georgia. Their number and atrocity are oUch, that I am confident they would gain credit with none but abolitionists. Every thing will be conveyed in the remark, that in a state of society calculated to foster the worst passions of our nature, the slave derives no protection either from law or public opinion, and that all the cruelties which the Russians are reported to have acted towards the Poles, after their late subjugation, are SCENES OF EVERY-DAY OCCURRENCE in the southem states. This statement, incredible as it may seem, falls short, very far short of the truth."
The foregoing is extracted from a letter writ- ten by Dr. Finley to Rev. Asa Mahan, his former pastor, then of Cincinnati, now President of Oberlin Seminary.
TESTLMONY OF REV. WILLIAM T. ALLAN, OF ILLINOIS,
Son of a Slaveholder, Rev. Dr. Allan of Hunts, ville, Ala. " At our house it is so common to hear their (the slaves') screams, that we think nothing of it : and lest any one should think that in general the slaves are well treated, let me be distinctly \mderstood : — cruelty is the rule, and kindness the exception."
Extract of a letter dated July 2d, 1834, from Mr. Nathan Cole, of St. Louis, Missouri, to Arthur Tappan, Esq. of this city :
" I am not an advocate of the immediate and unconditional emancipation of the slaves of our country, yet no man has ever yet depicted the wretchedness of the situation of the slaves in co- lors too dark for the truth. ... I know that many good people are not aware of the treatment to which slaves are usually subjected, nor have they any just idea of the extent of the evil."
TESTIMONY OF REV. JAMES A. THOME,
^ A native of Kentucky— Son of Arthur Thoine Esq., till recently a Slaveholder. " Slavery is the parent of more suffering than has flowed from any one source since the date of its existence. Such sufferings too ! Suffer. ings inconceivable and innumerable — unmingled wretchedness from the ties of nature rudely broken and destroyed, the acutest bodily tortures, groans, tears and blood — lying for ever in weari- ness and painfulness, in watchings, in hunger and in thirst, in cold and nakedness.
" Brethren of the North, be not deceived. These sufferings still exist, and despite the ef- forts of their cruel authors to hush them down, and confine them within the precincts of their own plantations, they will ever and anon, strug- gle up and reach the ear of humanity." — Mr. Thome's Speech at New York, May, 1834,
TESTIMONY OF TPIE MARYVILLE (TENNESSEE) INTKLLIGENC'ER, Ol' OCT. 4, 1835.
The Editor, in speaking of the sufferings of the slaves which are taken by the internal trade to the South West, says :
" Place yourself in imagination, for a mo- ment, in their condition. With heavy galling chains, riveted upon your person ; half-naked, half-starved; your back lacerated with the ' knotted Whip ;' traveling to a region where your condition through time will be second only to the wretched creatures in Hell.
" This depicting is not visionary. Would to God that it was."
TESTIMONY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN SYNOD OF KENTUCKY ;
A large majority of whom are slaveholders.
" This system licenses and produces great cruelty.
" Mangling, imprisonment, starvation, every species of torture, may be inflicted upon him, (the slave,) and he has no redress.
" There are now in our whole land two mil. lions of human beings, exposed, defenceless, to every insult, and every injury short of maiming or death, which their fellow-men may choose to inflict. They suffer all that can be inflicted by wanton caprice, by grasping avarice, by brutal lust, by malignant spite, and by insane anger. Their happiness is the sport of every whim, and the prey of every passion that may, occasionally, or habitually, infest the master's bosom. If we could calculate the amount of wo endured by ill-treated slaves, it would over- whelm every compassionate heart — it would move even the obdurate to sympathy. There is also a vast sum of suffering inflicted upon the slave by humane masters, as a punishment for that idleness and misconduct which slavery na- turally produces. » * *
" Brutal stripes and all the varied kinds of personal indignities, are not the only species of cruelty which slavery licenses." * *
Testimony of the Rev. N. H. Harding, Pastor of the Presbyterian Church, in Oxford, North Carolina, a slaveholder.
" I am greatly surprised that you should in any form have been the apologist of a system so full of deadly poison to all holiness and benevolence as slavery, the concocted essence of fraud, sel- fishness, and cold hearted tyranny, and the fruit- ful parent of unnumbered evils, both to the op- pressor and the oppressed, the one thousandth
PART OF WHICH HAS NEVER BEEN BROUGHT TO LIGHT."
Mr. Asa A. Stone, a theological student, v/ho lived near Natchez, (Mi.,) in 1834 and 5, sent the following with other testimony, to be published under his own name, in the N. Y. Evangelist, while he was still residing there.
" Floggings for all offences, including defi- ciencies in work, are frightfully common, and most terribly severe.
" Rubbing with salt and red pepper is very com- mon after a severe whipping."
62
Punishments — Floggings.
Testimony of Rev. Piiineas Smith, Centrevillc, AlleganVjCo., N. Y. who lived four years at the south.
" They are badly clothed, badly fed, wretch- edly lodged, unmercifully whipped, from month to month, from year to year, from childhood to old age."
Rev. Joseph M. Sadd, Castile, Genessee Co. N. Y. who was till recently a preacher in Mis- souri, says,
" It is true that barbarous cruelties are inflict- ed upon them, such as terrible lacerations with the whip, and excruciating tortures are sometimes e.xperienced from the thumb screw."
Extract of a letter from Sarah M. Grimke, dated 4th Month, 2nd, 1839.
" If the following extracts from letters which I have received from South Carolina, will be of any use thou art at liberty to publish them. I need not say, that the names of the writers are withheld of necessity, because such sentiments if uttered at the south would peril their lives.
EXTRACTS.
' South Carolina, 4th Month, 5th, 1835.
« With regard to slavery I must confess.
though we had heard a great deal on the sub- ject, we found on coming South the half, the worst half too, had not beentold us ; not that we have ourselves seen much oppression, though truly we have felt its deadening influence, but the accounts we have received from every tongue that nobly dares to speak upon the subject, are indeed deplorable. To quote the language of a lady, who with true Southern hospitality, received us at her mansion. " The northern people don't know anything of slavery at all, they think it is perpetual bondage merely, but of the depth of degradation that that word involves, they have no conception ; if they had any just idea of it, they would I am sure use every effort until an end was put to such a shocking system.' " Another friend writing from South Carolina, and who sustains herself the legal relation of slaveholder, in a letter dated April 4th, 1838, says — ' I have some time since, given you my views on the subject of slavery, which so much engrosses your attention. I would most willing- ly forget what I have seen and heard in my own family, with regard to the slaves. / shudder when I think of it, and increasingly feel that slavery is a curse since it leads to such cruelty.^ "
PUNISHMENTS
I. FLOGGINGS.
The slaves are terribly lacerated with whips, paddles, &c. ; red pepper and salt are rubbed into their mangled flesh ; hot brine and turpen- tine are poured into their gashes ; and innumer- able other tortures inflicted upon them.
We will in the first place, prove by a cloud of witnesses, that the slaves are whipped with such inhuman severity, as to lacerate and mangle tiieir flesh in the most shocking manner, leaving permanent scars and ridges; after establishing this, we will present a mass of testimony, con- cerning a great variety of other tortures. The testimony, for the most part, will be that of the slaveholders themselves, and in their own chosen wnids. A large portion of it wLU be taken from the advertisements, which they have published in their own newspapers, describing by the
WITNESSES. TESTIMONY.
Mr. D. Judd, jailor, Davidson Co., '< Committed to jail as a runaway, a negro woman named DeaWtMm"''^'''"''''^"''^''"""''' Martha, 17 or 18 years of age, has numerous scars of the
whip on her back."
Mr. Robert NicoII, Dauphin st. be- " Ten dollars reward for my woman Siby, very much scarred
tween Emmanuel and Conception st's, „/,„,,* fj.. „prk and pari hv whivvino-."
Mobile, Alabama, in the " Mobile Com- °'°'^^^ '"^ ^^'^'^ *""" ^"' * "V w'«^i'/'"'& • mercial Advertiser."
Mr. Bryant Johnson, Fort Valley, " Ranaway, a negro woman, named Maria, some scars on her
Houston Co., Georfpa, in the " Standard t ^ nrrntinnpd bii fhp whin "
of Union," Milledgeville Ga. Oct. 2, ""'^'^ occasionea oy me wnip. 1838.
Mr. James T. De Jamett, Vernon, " Stolen a neo-ro woman, named Celia. On examining her
4'JSeu°e>^Jul'y?14; ll^? " ^^'^^' ^^°^ ^^"^ ^^"^ ^^^^ '"'"■^^ <'«"*^'^ ^V ^^^ ^^'P''
scars on their bodies made by the whip, their own runaway slaves. To copy these advertise- ments entire would require a great amount of space, and flood the reader with a vast mass of matter irrelevant to the point before us ; we shall therefore insert only so much of each, as vnll intelligibly set forth the precise point under consideration. In the column under the word " witnesses," will be found the name of the indi, vidual,who signs the advertisement, or for whom it is signed,with his or her place of residence, andtho name and date of the paper, in which it appear- ed, and generally the name of the place where it is published. Opposite the name of each witness, will be an extract, from the advertisement, con- taining his or her testimony.
Punislwients— Floggings.
63
WITNESSES.
Maurice Y. Garcia, Slieriir of tlie Couatv of Jolforson, La., in the " New Orleails Bee," August, 14, 183d.
R. J. Bland, Sheriff of Claiborne Co, Miss., in the "Charleston (S.C.) Cou- rier," August, 23, 1833.
Mr. James Noe, Red River Landing, La., in the "Sentinel," Vicksburg, Miss., August 2:2, 1S37.
William Craze, jailor, Alexandria, La. in the "Planter's Intelligencer," Sept. 86, 1838.
John A. Rowland, jailor, Lumberton, North Carolina, in the " Fayetteville (N. C.) Observer," June 20, 1833.
J. K. Roberts, sheriff, Blount county, Ala., in the Huntsville Democrat," Dec. 9, 1838.
Jlr. H. Vaiillat, No. 23 Girod street. New Orleans— in the "Commercial Bulletin," August 27, 1833.
Mr. Cornelius D. Tolin, Augusta, Ga., in the " Cliroiiicle and Sentinel," Oct, 18, 1838.
W. H. Brasseale, sheriff, Blount coun- tv, Ala., in the " Huntsville Democrat." June 9, 1838.
Mr. Robert Beasley, Macon, Ga., in the " Georgia Messenger," July 27, 1837.
Mr. Jolin Wotton, Rockvite, Mont- gomery county, Maryland, in the " Bal- timore Republican," Jan. 13, 1838.
D. S. Bennett, sheriff, Natchitoches, La., in tlie "Herald," July 21, 1838.
Messrs. C. C. Whitehead, and R. A. Evans, Marion, Georgia, in the Mil- ledgeviUe (Ga.) " Standard of Union," June 26, 1838.
Mr. Samuel Stewart, Greensboro', Ala., in the " Southern Advocate," Huntsville, Jan. 6, 1838.
Mr. John Walker, No. 6, Banks' Ar- cade, New Orleans, in the "Bulletin," August 11, 1838.
Mr. Jesse Beene, Cahawba, Ala., in the "State Intelligencer," Tuskaloosa, Dec. 25, 1837.
Mr. John Turner, Thomaston, Upson county, Georgia — in the " Standard of Union," Milledgevllle, June 26, 1838.
James Derrah, deputy sheriff, Clai- borne county, 5Ii., in the " Port Gibson Correspondent," April 15, 1837.
S. B. Murphy, sheriff, Wilkinson count}', Georgia— in the Milledgeville " Journal," May 15, 1838.
Mr. L. E. Cooner, Branchville Orange- burgh District, South Carolina— in the Macon " Messenger," May 25, 1837.
TESTIMOm'.
" Lodged in jail, a mulatto boy, having large marks of the whip, on his shoulders and other parts of his body."
" Was committed a negro boy, named Tom, is much marked with the whip."
" Ranavvaj% a negro fellow named Dick — has many scars on hio back from being whipped.'"
" Committed to jail, a negro slave — his back is very badly scaired."
" Committed, a mulatto fellow — his back shows lasting im- pressions of the whip, and leaves no doubt of his being a slave."
" Committed to jail, a negro man — his back much marjced by the whip."
" Ranaway, the negro slave named Jupiter — ^lias a fresh mark of a cowskui on one of his cheeks."
" Ranaway, a negro man named Johnson — he has a great many marks of the whip on his back."
" Committed to jail, a negro slave named James — much scarred with a whip on his back."
" Ranaway, my man Fountain — he is marked on the back with the whip."
" Ranaway, Bill — ^has several large scars on his back from a severe whipping in early life."
" Committed to jail, a negro boy who calls himself Joe — said negro bears marks of the whip."
" Ranaway, negro fellow John — from being whipped, has scars On his back, arins^ and thighs."
" Ranaway, a boy named Jim — with the marks of the whip ob the small of the back, reaching round to the flank."
" Ranaway, the mulatto boy Quash — considerably marked on the back and other places with the lash.
" Ranaway, my negro man Billy — he has the marks of the whip."
" Left, my negro man named George — has marks of the whip very plain on his thighs."
"Committed to jail, negro man Toy — ^he has been badly whipped."
" Brought to jail, a negro man named George — he has a great many scars from the lash,"
" One hundred dollars reward, for my negro Glasgow, and Kate, his wife. Glasgow is 24 years old — has marks of the whip on his back. Kate is 26— has a scar on her cheek, and several marks of a whip."
Fettn^;&^?.i?^gt'""FtandS old-his""baek badly marked with the whip, his upper lip and Journal," July 6, 1837.
Committed to jail, a negro boy named John, about 17 years —his back badly 71 chin severely bruised."
The preceding are extracts from advertise. | dreds of similar ones published during the same ments published in southern papers, mostly in the period, with which, as the preceding are quite year 1838. They are the mere samples of hun- 1 sufficient to show the commonness of inhuman
64
Punishments — Floggings.
floggings in the slave states, we need not burden the reader.
The foregoing testimony is, as the reader per- ceives, that of the slaveholders themselves, volun- tarily certifying to the outrages which their own hands have committed upon defenceless and in- nocent men and women, over whom they have assumed authority. We have given to their testi. mony precedence over that of all other witnesses, for the reason that when men testify against themselves they are under no temptation to ex- agger ate.
We we will now present the testimony of a large niimber of individuals, with their names and residences, of persons who witnessed the inflictions to which they testify. Many of them have been slaveholders, and all residents for longer or short- er periods in slave states.
Rev. John H. Curtiss, a native of Keep Creek, Norfolk county, Virginia, now a local preacher of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Portage co., Ohio, testifies as follows : —
" In 1829 or 30, one of my father's slaves was accused of taking. the key to the office and steal- ing four or five dollars : he denied it. A consta- ble by the name of Hull was called ; he took the negro, very deliberately tied his hands, and whipped liim till the blood ran freely down his legs. By this time Hull appeared tired, and stopped ; he then took a rope, put a slip noose around his neck, and told the negro he was going to kill him, at the same time drew the rope and began whipping : the negro fell ; his cheeks looked as though they would burst with strangulation. Hull whipped and kicked him, till I really thought he was go- ing to kill him ; when he ceased, the negro was in a complete gore of blood from head to foot."
Mr. David Ha^vley, a class-leader in the Me- thodist Church, at St. Alban's, Licking county, Ohio, who moved from Kentucky to Ohio in 1831, testifies as follows : —
" In the year 1821 or 2, I saw a slave hung for killing his master. The master had whipped the slave's mother to death, and, locking him in a room, threatened him with the same fate ; and, cowhide in hand, had begun the work, when the slave joined battle and slew the master."
Samuel Ellison, a member of the Society of Friends, formerly of Southampton county, Vir- ginia, now of Marlborough, Stark county, Ohio, gives the following testimony : —
" While a resident of Southampton county, Vir- ginia, I knew two men, after having been severe, ly treated, endeavor to make their escape. In this they failed — were taken, tied to trees, and whipped to death by their overseer. I lived a mile from the negro quarters, and, at that distance, could frequently hear the screams of the poor creatures when beaten, and could also hear the blows given by the overseer with some heavy in- strument."
Major Horace Nve, of Putnam, Ohio, gives
the following testimony of Mr. Wm. Armstrong, of that place, a captain and supercargo of boats descending the Mississippi river : —
" At Bayou Sarah, I saw a slave staked out, with his face to the ground, and whipped with a large whip, which laid open the flesh for about two and a half inches every stroke. 1 stayed about five minutes, but could stand it no longer, and left them whipping."
Mr. Stephen E. Maltby, inspector of provisions, Skeneateles, New York, who has resided in Ala- bama, speaking of the condition of the slaves, says : —
" I have seen them cruelly whipped. I will relate one instance. One Sabbath morning, be- fore I got out of my bed, I heard an outcry, and got up and went to the window, when I saw some six or eight boys, from eight to twelve years of age, near a rack (made for tying horses) on the public square. A man on horseback rode up, got off his horse, took a cord from his pocket, tied one of the boys by the thumbs to the rack, and with his horsewhip lashed him most severely. He then untied him and rode ofl" without saying a word.
" It was a general practice, while I was at Huntsville, Alabama, to have a patrol every night ; and, to my knowledge, this patrol was in the habit of traversing the streets with cow-skins, and, if they found any slaves out after eight o'clock with- out a pass, to whip them until they were out of reach, or to confine them until morning."
Mr. J. G. Baldwin, of Middletown, Connecti- cut, a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, gives the following testimony : —
" I traveled at the south in 1827 : when near Charlotte, N. C. a free colored man fell into the road just ahead of me, and went on peaceably. — When passing a public-house, the landlord ran out with a large cudgel, and applied it to the head and shoulders of the man with such force as to shatter it in pieces. When the reason of his con- duct was asked, he replied, that he owned slaves, and he would not permit free blacks to come into his neighborhood.
" Not long after, I stopped at a public-house near Halifax, N. C, between nine and ten o'clock P. M., to stay over night. A slave sat upon a bench in the bar-room asleep. The master came in, seized a large horsewhip, and, without any warning or apparent provocation, laid it over the face and eyes of the slave. The master cursed, swore, and swung his lash — the slave cowered and trembled, but said not a word. Upon inquiry the next morning, I ascertained that the only offence was falling asleep, and this too in consequence of having been up nearly all the previous night, in attendance upon company."
Rev. Joseph M. S add, of Castile, N, Y., who has lately left Missouri, where he was pastor of a church for some years, says : —
" In one case, near where we lived, a runaway slave, when brought back, was most cruelly beat- en— bathed in the usual liquid — laid in the sun, and a physician employed to heal his wounds : — then the same process of punighmcni and healing
Punishments — Floggings .
65
was repeated, and repeated again, and then the poor creature was sold for the New Orleans mar- ket. This accoiuit we had from tlio physician himself."
Mr. Abraham Bell, of Poughkeepsie, New York, a member of the Scotch Presbyterian Church, was employed, in 1837 and 38, in level- ling and grading for a rail-road in the state of Georgia : he had under his direction, during the whole time, thirty slaves. Mr. B. gives the fol- lowing testimony : —
" ^4// the slaves had their backs scarred, from the oft-repeated whippings they had received."
Mr. Alonzo Barnard, of Farmington, Ohio, who was in Mississippi in 1837 and 8, says : —
" The slaves were often severely whipped. I saw one 'iDoman very severely whipped for acci dentally cutting up a stalk of cotton.* When they were whipped they were commonly held doton by four men : if these could not confine them, they were fastened by stakes driven firmly into the ground, and then lashed often so as to draw blood at each blow. I saw one woman who had lately been delivered of a child in consequence of cruel treatment."
Rev. H. Lyman, late pastor of the Free Presby- terian Church at Buffalo. N. Y. says : —
" There was a steam cotton press, in the vicinity of my boarding-house at New Orleans, which was driven night and day, without intermission. My curiosity led me to look at the interior of the estab- lishment. There I saw several slaves engaged in rolling cotton bags, fastening ropes, lading carts, &c.
" The presiding genius of the place was a driver, who held a rope four feet long in his hand, which he vdelded with cruel dexterity. He used it in single blows, just as the men were lifting to tight- en the bale cords. It seemed to me that he was desirous to edify me with a specimen of his autho- rity ; at any rate the cruelty was horrible."
jMr. John V.vnce, a member of the Baptist Church, in St. Albans, Licking county, Ohio, who moved from Culpepper county, Va., his native state, in 1814, testifies as follows : —
" In 1826, I saw a woman by the name of Mallix, flog her female slave with a horse-whip so horribly that she was washed in salt and water several days, to keep her bruises from mortifying.
" In 1811, I was returning from mill, in She- nandoah county, when I heard the cryofmiirdcr, in the field of a man named Painter. I rode to the place to see what was going on. Two men, by the names of John Morgan and Michael Sig- lar, had heard the cry and came running to the place. I saw Painter beating a negro with a tre- mendous club, or small handspike, swearing he would kill him ; but he was rescued by Morgan and Siglar. I learned that Painter had com- menced flogging the slave for not getting to work
* Mr. Cornelius Johnson, of Farmington, Ohio, was also a witness to this inhuman outrage upon an unprotected wo- man, for tlie unintentional destruction of a stalk of cotton ! In his testimony he is more particular, and sa}'s, that tlie number of lashes inflicted upon her by the overseer was
^ ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY '. "
soon enough. Ho had escaped, and taken refuge under a pile of rails that were on some timbers up a httlc from the ground. The master had put fire to one end, and stood at the other with his club, to kill him as he came out. The pile was still burning. Painter said he was a turbulent fellow and he loould kill him. The apprehension of P. was TALKEi> ABOUT, but, as a compromise, the ne- gro was sold to another man."
Extract froji the published Journal of the LATE Wm. Savery, of Philadelphia, an eminent minister of the religious Society of Friends : —
" 6th mo. 22d, 1791. We passed on to Au- gusta, Georgia. They can scarcely tolerate us, on account of our abhorrence of slavery. On the 28th we got to Savannah, and lodged at one Blount's, a hard-hearted slaveholder. One of his lads, aged about fourteen, was ordered to go and rnilk the cows : and falling asleep, through wea- . I riness, the master called out and ordered him a flogging. I asked him what he meant by a flog- ging. He replied, the way we serve them here IS, we cut their backs until they are raw all over, and then salt them. Upon this my feelings were roused ; I told him that was too bad, and queried if it were possible ; he rephed it was, with many curses upon the blacks. At supper this unfeeling wretch craved a blessing !
" Next morning I heard some one begging for mercjr, and also the lash as of a whip. Not know- ing whence the sound came, I rose, and presently found the poor boy tied up to a post, his toes scarcely touching the ground, and a negro whip- per. He had already cut him in an unmerciful manner, and the blood ran to his heels. I step- ped in between them, and ordered him untied im- mediately, which, with some reluctance and as- tonishment, was done. Returning to the house I saw the landlord, who then showed himself in his true colors, the most abominably wicked man I ever met with, full of horrid execrations and threatenings upon all northern people ; but I did not spare him ; which occasioned a bystander to say, with an oath, that I should be "popped over." We left them, and were in full expecta- tion of their way-laying or coming after us, but the Lord restrained them. The next house we stopped at we found the same wicked spirit "
Col. Elijah Ellsworth, of Richfield, Ohio, gives the following testimony : —
" Eight or ten years ago I was in Putnam coun- ty, in the state of Georgia, at a Mr. Slaughter's, the father of my brother's wife. A negro, that belonged to Mr. Walker, (I believe,) was accused of stealing a pedlar's trunk. The negro denied, but, without ceremony, was lashed to a tree — the v/hipping commenced — six or eight men took turns — the poor fellow begged for mercy, but with- out effect, until he was literally cut to pieces, from his shoulders to his hips, and covered with a gore of blood. When he said the trunk was in a stack of fodder, he was unlashed. They proceeded to the stack, but found no trunk. They asked the poor fellow, what he lied about it for ; he said, " Lord, Massa, to keep from being whipped to death ; I know nothing about the trunk." They commenced the whipping with redoubled vigor, until I really supposed he would be whipped to death on tlie
66
Punishments — Floggings.
spot ; and such shrieks and crying for mercy ! — Again he acknowledged, and again they were de- feated in finding, and the same reason given as before. Some were for whipping again, others thought he would not survive another, and they ceased. About two months after, the trunk was found, and it was then ascertained who the thief was : and the poor fellow, after being nearly beat to death, and twice made to lie about it, was as innocent as I was."
The following statements are fumiehed by Ma- jor Horace Nye, of Putnam, Muskingum county, Ohio.
" In the summer of 1837, Mr. John H. Moore- head, a partner of mine, descended the Mississippi with several boat loads of flour. He told me that floating in a place in the Mississippi, where he could see for miles a head, he perceived a con- course of people on the bank, that for at least a mile and a half above he saw them, and heard the screams of some person, and for a great dis- tance, the crack of a whip, he run near the shore, and saw them whipping a black man, who was on the ground, and at that time nearly unable to scream, but the whip continued to be plied without intermission, as long as he was in sight, say from one mile and a half, to two miles be- low— he probably saw and heard them for one hour in all. He expressed the opinion that the man could not survive.
" About four weeks since I had a conversation with Mr. Porter, a respectable citizen of Morgan county, of this state, of about fifty years of age. He told me that he formerly traveled about five years in the southern states, and that on one oc- casion he stopped at a private house, to stay all night ; (I think it was in Virginia,) while he was conversing with the man, his wife came in, and complained that the wench had broken some ar- ticle in the kitchen, and that she must be whip- ped. He took the woman into the door yard, stripped her clothes down to her hips — tied her hands together, and drawing them up to a limb, so that she could just touch the ground, took a very large cowskin whip, and commenced flog- ging ; he said that every stroke at first raised the skin, and immediately the blood came through ; this he continued, until the blood stood in a pud- dle at her feet. He then turned to my informant .and said, " Well, Yankee, what do you think of that ?"
Extract of a letter from Mr. W. Dustin, a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and, when the letter was written, 1835, a student of 3{arietta College, Ohio.
" I find by looking over my journal that the murdering, which I spoke of yesterday, took place about the first of June, 1834.
"Without commenting upon this act of cruel- ty, or giving vent to my own feelings, I will sim- ply give you a statement of the fact, as known from personal observation.
" Dr. K. a man of wealth, and a practising physician in the county of Yazoo, state of Mis- sissippi, personally known to me, having lived in the same neighborhood more than twelve months, after having scourged one of his negroes for running away, declared with an oath, that if he
ran away again, he would kill him. The negro, so soon asan opportunity offered, ran away again. He was caught and brought back. Again he was scourged, until his flesh, mangled and torn, and thick mingled with the clotted blood, rolled from his back. He became apparently insensible, and beneath the heaviest stroke would scarcely utter a groan. The master got tired, laid down his whip and nailed the negro's ear to a tree ; in this condition, nailed fast to the rugged wood, he remained all night !
" Suffice it to say, in the conclusion, that the next day he was found dead !
" Well, what did they do with the master ? The sum total of it is this : He was taken before a magistrate and gave bonds, for his appearance at the next court. Well, to be sure he had plen. ty of cash, so he paid up his bonds and moved away, and there the matter ended.
" If the above fact wiU be of any service to you in exhibiting to the world the condition of the unfortunate negroes, you are at liberty to make use of it in any way you think best. Yours, fraternally,
M. Dustin.
Mr. Alfred Wilkinson, a member of the Bap. tist Church in Skeneateles, N. Y. and the as- sessor of that town, has furnished the following :
" I went down the Mississippi in December, 1808, and saw twelve or fourteen negroes punish- ed, on one plantation, by stretching them on a ladder and tying them to it ; then stripping off" their clothes, and whipping them on the naked flesh with a heavy whip, the lash seven or eight feet long : most of the strokes cut the skin. I under- stood they were whipped for not doing the tasks allotted to them."
From the Philanthropist, Cincinnati, Ohio, Feb. 26, 1839.
" A very intelligent lady, the widow of a high- ly respectable preacher of the gospel, of the Pres- byterian Church, formerly a resident of a free state, and a colonizationist, and a strong anti- abolitionist, who, although an enemy to slavery, was opposed to abolition on the ground that it was for carrying things too rapidl}', and without regard to circumstances, and especially who be- lieved that abolitionists exaggerated with regard to the evils of slavery, and used to say that such men ought to go to slave states and see for them- selves, to be convinced that they did the slave, holders injustice, has gone and seen for herself. Hear her testimonj'.
Kentucky, Dec. 25, 1835.
" Dear Mrs. W. — I am still in the land of op- pression and cruelty, but hope soon to breathe the air of a free state. My soul is sick of slavery, and I rejoice that my time is nearly expired : but the scenes that I have witnessed have made an impression that never can be effaced, and have inspired me with the determination to unite my feeble efforts with those who are laboring to sup>- press this horrid system. I am noiv an abolition, ist. You will cease to be surprised at this, when I inform you, that I have just seen a poor slave who was beaten by his inhuman master until he could neither walk nor stand. I saw him from my window carried from the bam where he had
Punishme n ts — Floggings .
67
been whipped) to the cabin, by two ncg^ro men ; and he now Hes there, and if he recovers, will be a sufferer for months, and probably for life. You will doubtless suppose tliat he committed some great crime ; but it was not so. Ho was called upon by a young maa (the son of his master,) to do something, and not moving as quickly as his young master wished hini to do, he drove him to the barn, knocked him tlown, and jumped upon him, stamped, and then cowhided him until he was almost dead. This is not the first act of cruelty that I have seen, though it is the tcorst ; and I am convinced that those who have des- cribed the cruelties of slaveholders, have not ex- aggerated."
Extract of a letter from Gerrit Smith, Esq., of Peterboro', N. Y.
Feterboro', December 1, 1838. To the Editor of the Union Herald :
"My dear Sir : — You will be happy to hear, that tlie two fugitive slaves, to whom in the brotherly love of your heart, you gave the use of your horse, are still making undisturbed progress to- wards the monarchical land whither republican slaves escape for the enjoyment of liberty. They had eaten their breakfast, and were seated in my wagon, before day-dawn, this morning.
" Fugitive slaves have before taken my house in their way, but never any, whose lips and persons made so forcible an appeal to my sensibilities, and kindled in me so much abhorrence of the hell- concocted system of American slavery.
"The fugitives exhibited their bare backs to my- self and a number of my neighbors. Williams' back is comparatively scarred. But, I speak with- in bounds, when I say, that one-third to one-half of the whole surface of the back and shoulders of poor Scott, consists of scars and wales result, ingfrom innumerable gashes. His natural com- plexion being yellow and the callous places be- ing nearly black, his back and shoulders remind you of a spotted animal."
The Louisville Reeportr (Kentucky,) Jan. 15, 1839, contains the report of a trial for inhuman treatment of a female slave. The following is some of the testimony given in court.
" Dr. Constant testified that he saw Mrs. Max- well at the kitchen door, whipping the negro se- verely, without being particular whether she struck her in the face or not. The negro was la- cerated by the whip, and the blood flowing. Soon after, on going down the steps, he saw quantities of blood on them, and on returning, saw them again. She had been thinly clad — barefooted in very cold weather. Sometimes she had shoes — sometimes not. In the beginning of the winter she had hnsey dresses, since then, calico ones. During the last four months, had noticed many scars on her person. At one time had one of her eyes tied up for a week. During the last three months seemed declining, and had become stupi- fied. Mr. Winters was passing along the street, heard cries, looked up through the window that was hoisted, saw the boy whipping her, as much as forty or fifty licks, while he staid. The girl was stripped down to the hips. The whip seem- ed to be a cow-hide. Whenever she turned her
face to him, he would hit her across the face either with the butt end or small end of the whip to make her turn her back round square to the lash, that he might get a fair blow at her.
" Mr. Say had noticed several wounds on her person, chiefly bruises.
" Captain Porter, keeper of the work-house, into whicli iVIilly had been received, tiiought the inju- ries on her person very bad — some of them ap- peared to be burns — some bruises or stripes, as of a cow-hide."
Letter of Rev. John Rankin, of Ripley, Ohio, to the Editor of the Philanthropist.
RiPLKY, Feb. 20, 1839. " Some time since, a member of the Presbyte- rian Church of Ebenezer, Brown county, Ohio, landed his boat at a point on the Mississippi. He saw some disturbance among the colored people on the bank. He stepped up, to see what was the matter. A black man was stretched naked on the ground ; his hands were tied to a stake, and one held each foot. He was doomed to re- ceive fifty lashes ; but by the time the overseer had given him twenty-five with his great whip, the blood was standing round the wretched vic- tim in little puddles. It appeared just as if it had rained blood. — Another observer stepped up, and advised to defer the other twenty-five to another time, lest the slave might die ; and he was releas- ed, to receive the balance when he should have so recruited as to be able to bear it and live. The offence was, coming one hour too late to work."
Mr. Rankin, who is a native of Tennessee, in his letters on slavery, published fifteen years since, says :
" A respectable gentleman, who is now a citi. zen of Flemingsburg, Fleming county, Kentucky, when in the state of South Carolina, was invited by a slaveholder, to walk with him and take a view of his farm. He complied with the invita- tion thus given, and in their walk they came to the place where the slaves were at work, and found the overseer whipping one of them very severely for not keeping pace with his fellows — in vain the poor fellow alleged that he was sick, and could not work. The master seemed to think all was well enough, hence he and the gen- tleman passed on. In the space of an hour they returned by the same way, and found that the poor slave, who had been whipped as they first passed by the field of labor, was actually dead ! This I have from unquestionable authority."
Extract of a letter from a Member of Congress, to the Editor of the New York American, dated Washington, Feb. 18, 1839. The name of the writer is with the Executive Committee of the American Anti-Slavery Society.
" Three days ago, the inhabitants in the vicini- ty of the new Patent Building were alarmed by an outcry in the street, which proved to be that of a slave who had just been knocked down with a brick-bat by his pursuing master. Prostrate on the ground, with a large gash in his head, the poor slave was receiving the blows of his master on one side, and the kicks of his master's son on the other. His cries brought a fiew individuak to
68
Punishme n ts — Floggings .
the spot ; but no one dared to interfere, save to exclaim — You will kill him — which was met by the response, " He is mine, and I have a right to do what I please with him." The heart-rending scene was closed from public view by dragging the poor bruised and wounded slave from the pub- lie street into his master's stable. What followed is not known. The outcries were heard by mem- bers of Congress and others at the distance of near a quarter of a mile from the scene.
" And now, perhaps, you will ask, is not the city aroused by this flagrant cruelty and breach of the peace ? I answer — not at all. Every thing is quiet. If the occurrence is mentioned at all, it is spoken of in whispers."
From the Mobile Examiner, August 1, 1837. "police report — mayor's office. Saturday morning , August 12, 1837.
" His Honor the Mayor presiding.
" Mr. Miller, of the foundry, brought to the office this morning a small negro girl aged about eight or ten years, whom he had taken into his house some time during the previous night. She had crawled under the window of his bed room to screen herself from the night air, and to find a warmer shelter than the open canopy of heaven afforded. Of all objects of pity that have lately come to our view, this poor little girl most needs the protection of authority, and the sympathies of the charitable. From the cruelty of her mas- ter and mistress, she has been whipped, worked and starved, until she is now a breathing skele- ton, hardly able to stand upon her feet.
"The back of the poor little sufferer, (which we ourselves saw,) loas actually cut into strings, and so perfectly was the fesh worn from her limhs, by the vwetched treatment she had received, that every joint shoived distinctly its crevices and pro- tuberances through the skin. Her little lips clung closely over her teeth — her cheeks were sunken and her head narrowed, and when her eyes were closed, the lids resembled film more than flesh or skin.
"We would desire of our northern friends such as choose to publish to the world their own ver- sion of the case we have related, not to forget to add, in conclusion, that the owner of this little girl is a foreigner, speaks against slavery as an institution, and reads his Bible to his wife, with the view of finding proofs for his opinions."
Rev. WiLLiABi Scales, of Lyndon, Vermont, gives the following testimony in a recent letter :
" I had a class-mate at the Andover Theologi- cal Seminary, who spent a season at the south, — in Georgia, I think — who related the following fact in an address before the Seminary. It occa- feioned very deep sensation on the pa.rt of op- ponents. The gentleman was Mr. Julius C. An. thony, of Taunton, Mass. He graduated at the Seminary in 1835. I do not know where he is now settled. I have no doubt of the fact, as he was an eye-witness of it. The man with whom he resided had a very athletic slave — a valuable fellow — a blacksmith. On a certain day a small strap of leather was missing. The man's little son accused this slave of stealing it. He denied the charge, while the boy most confidently asserted it. The slave was brought out into the yard and
bound — his hands below his knees, and a stick crossing his knees, so that he would lie upon either side in form of the letter S. One of the overseers laid on fifty lashes — he still denied the theft — was turned over and fifty more put on. Sometimes the master and sometimes the over- seers whipping — as they relieved each other to take breath. Then he v/as for a time left to himself, and in the course of the day received FOUR hundred lashes — still denying the charge. Next morning Mr. Anthony walked ouf — the sun was just rising — he saw the man greatly enfee- bled, leaning against a stump. It was time to go to work — he attempted to rise, but fell back — again attempted, and again fell back — still mak- ing the attempt, and still falling back, Mr. An- thony thought, nearly twenty times before he succeeded in standing — he then staggered off to his shop. In course of the morning Mr. A. went to the door and looked in. Two overseers were standing by. The slave was feverish and sick — his skin and mouth dry and parched. He was very thirsty. One of the overseers, while Mr. A, was looking at him, inquired of the other whether it were not best to give him a little water. ' No . damn him, he will do well enough,' was the re. ply from the other overseer. This was all the relief gained by the poor slave. A few days after, the slaveholder's son confessed that he stole the strap himself."
Rev. D. C. Eastman, a minister of the Metho. dist Episcopal church at Bloomingburg, Fayette county, Ohio, has just forwarded a letter, from which the following is an extract :
" George Roebuck, an old and respectable farmer, near Bloomingburg, Fayette county, Ohio, a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, says, that almost forty-three years ago, he saw in Bath county, Virginia, a slave girl with a sore between the shoulders of the size and shape of a smoothing iron. The girl was ' owned ' by one M'Neil. A slaveholder who boarded at M'Neil's stated that Mrs. M'Neil had placed the aforesaid iron when hot, between the girl's shoul- ders, and produced the sore.
" Roebuck was once at this M'Neil's father's, and whilst the old man was at morning prayer, he heard the son plying the whip upon a slave out of doors.
"Eli West, of Concord township, Fayette county, Ohio, formerly of North Carolina, a farmer and an exhorter in the Methodist Pro. testant church, says, that many years since he went to live with an uncle who owned about fifty negroes. Soon after his arrival, his uncle ordered his waiting boy, who was naked, to be tied — his hands to a horse rack, and his feet together, with a rail passed between his legs, and held down by a person at each end. In this position he was v/hipped, from neck to feet, till covered with blood ; after which he was salted.
" His uncle's slaves received one quart of com each day, and that only, and were allowed one hour each day to cook and eat it. They had no meat but once in the year. Such was the general usage in that country.
" West, after this, lived one year with Esquire Starky and mother. They had two hundred
Punislwients — Flowffi^Ss.
69
slaves, who received the usual treatment of starv- ation, nakedness, and the cowhide. They had one likely negro woman who bore no children. For this neglect, her mistress had her back made naked and a severe whipping inilicted. But as she con- tinued barren, she was sold to the ' negro buyers.'
" Thomas Larrimer, a deacon in the Presby- terian church at Bloomingburg, Fayette county, Oliio, and a respectable farmer, says, that in April, 1837, as he was going down the Mississippi river, about fifty miles below Natchex, he saw ahead, on the left side of the river, a colored person tied to a post, and a man with a driver's whip, the lash about eight or ten feet long. With this the man commenced, with much deliberation, to whip, with much apparent force, and continued till he got out of sight,
" When coming up the river forty or fifty miles below Vicksburg, a Judge Owens came on board the steamboat. He was owner of a cotton plantation below there, and on being told of the above whipping, he said that slaves were often ■whipped to death for great offences, such as steal- ing, &c. — but that when death followed, the overseers were generally severely reproved .'
"About the same time, he spent a night at Mr. Casey's, three miles from Columbia, South Caro- lina. Whilst there they heard him giving orders as to what was to be done, and amongst other things, ' That nigger must be buried.' On in- quiry, he learnt that a gentleman traveling with a servant, had a short time previous called there, and said his servant had just been taken ill, and he should be under the necessity of leaving him. He did so. The slave became worse, and Casey called in a physician, who pronounced it an old case, and said that he must shortly die. The slave said, if that was the case he would now tell the truth. He had been attacked, a long time since, with a difficulty in the side — his master swore he would ' have his own out of him ,' and started off to sell him, with a threat to kill him if he told he had been sick, more than a few- days. They saw them making a rough plank box to bury him in.
" In March, 1833, twenty-five or thirty miles south of Columbia, on the great road through Sumpterville district, they saw a large company of female slaves carrying rails and building fence. Three of them were far advanced in pregnancy.
" In the month of January, 1838, he put up with a drove of mules and horses, at one Adams', on the Drovers' road, near the south border of Ken- tuckj'. His son-in-law, who had lived in the south, was there. In conversation about picking cotton, he said, ' some hands cannot get the sleight of it. I have a girl who to-day has done as good a day's work at grubbing as any man, but I could not make her a hand at cotton-pick- ing. I whipped her, and if I did it once I did it five hundred times, but I found she could not ; so I put her to carrying rails with the men. After a few days I found her shoulders were so raw that every rail was bloody as she laid it down. I asked her if she would not rather pick cotton than caiTy rails. ' No,' said she, ' I don't get whipped now.' "
William A. Ustick, an elder of the Presbyte- rian church at Bloomingburg, and Mr. G. S. Ful- lerton, a merchant and member of the same
church, were with Deacon Larrimer on this jour- ney, and are witnesses to the preceding facts.
Mr. Samuel Hall, a teacher in Marietta Col- lege, Ohio, and formerly secretary of the Coloni- zation society in that village, has reccntlv communicated the facts which follow. Wt; quote from his letter.
" The following horrid flagellation was wit- nessed in part, till his soul was sick, by Mk. Glidden, an inhabitant of Marietta, Ohio, who went down the Mississippi river, with a boat load of produce in the autumn of 1837 ; it took place at what is called ' Matthews' or ' Ma- tlicses Bend' in December, 1837. Mr. G. is worthy of credit.
" A negro was tied up, and flogged until the blood ran down and filled his shoes, so that when he raised either foot and set it down again, the blood would run over their tops. I could not look on any longer, but turned away in horror ; the whipping was continued to the number of 500 lashes, as I understood ; a quart of spirits of turpentine was then applied to his lacerated body. The same negro came down to my boat, to get some apples, and was so weak from his wounds and loss of blood, that he could not get up the bank, but fell to the ground. The crime for which the negro was whipped, was that of telling the other negroes, that the overseer had lain with his wife."
Mr. Hall adds :—
"The following statement is made by a young man from Western Virginia. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and a student in Marietta College, All that prevents the introduction of his name, is the peril to his life, which would probably be the consequence, on his return to Virginia. His character for in- tegrity and veracity is above suspicion.
' On the night of the great meteoric shower, in Nov, 1833, I was at Remley's tavern, 12 miles west of Lewisburg, Greenbrier Co., Virginia. A drove of 50 or 60 negroes stopped at the same place that night. I'hey usually ' camp out,' but as it was excessively muddy, they were per- mitted to come into the house. So far as my knowledge extends, ' droves,' on their way to the south, eat but twice a day, early in the morn- ing and at night. Their supper was a compound of ' potatoes and meal,' and was, without excep- tion, the dirtiest, blackest looJcing 7ness I etersaiv. I remarked at the time that the food was not as clean, in appearance, as that which was given to • a drove of hogs, at the same place the night previous. Such as it was, however, a black wo- man brought it on her head, in a tray or trough two and a half feet long, where the men and women were promiscuously herded. The slaves rushed up and seized it from the trough in hand- fulls, before the woman could take it off her head. They jumped at it as if half. famished,
' They slept on the floor of the room which they were permitted to occupy, lying in every form imaginable, males and females, promiscu- ously. They were so thick on the floor, that in passing through the room it was necessary to step over them.
' There were three drivers, one of whom staid
70
PunisJimenis — Floggings.
in the room to watch the drove, and the other two slept in an adjoining room. Each of the latter took a female from the drove to lodge with him, as is the common practice of the drivers generally. There is no doubt about this particu. lar instance, for they toere seen together. The mud was so thick on the floor where this drove slept, that it was necessary to take a shovel, the next morning, and clear it out. Six or eight in this drove were chained ; all were for the south.
' In the autumn of the same year, 5-aw a drove of upwards of a hundred, between 40 and 50 of them were fastened to one chain, the links being made of iron rods, as thick in diameter as a man's little finger. This drove was bound west- ward to the Ohio river, to be shipped to the south. I have seen many droves, and more or less in each, almost without exception, were chained. I never saw but one drove, that went on their way making merry. In that one they were blowing horns, singing, &,c.,, and appear- ed as if they had been drinking whisky.
' They generally appear extremely dejected. I have seen in the course of five years, on the road near where I reside, 12 or 15 droves at least, pas- sing to the south. They would average 40 in each drove. Near the first of January, 1834, I started about sunrise to go to Lewisburg. It was a bitter cold morning. I met a drove of negroes, 30 or 40 in number, remarkably ragged and destitute of clothing. One little boy partic- ularly excited my sympathy. He was some dis- tance behind the others, not being able to keep up with the rest. Although he was shivering with cold and crying, the driver was pushing him up in a trot to overtake the main gang. All of them looked as if they were half-frozen. There was one remarkable instance of tyranny, ex- hibited by a boy, not more than eight years old, that came under my observation , in a family by the name of D — n, six miles from Lewisburg. This youngster would swear at the slaves, and exert all the strength he possessed, to flog or beat them, with whatever instrument or weapon he could lay hands on, provided they did not obey him instanter. He was encouraged in this by his father, the master of the slaves. The slaves often fled from this young tyrant in terror."
Mr. Hall adds :—
" The following extract is from a letter, to a student in Marietta College, by his friend in Alabama. With the writer, Mr. Isaac Knapp, I am perfectly acquainted. He was a student in the above College, for the space of one year, before going to Alabama, was formerly a resident of Dummerston, Vt. He is a professor of religion, and as worthy of belief as any member of the community. Mr. K. has returned from the South, and is now a member of the same college.
' In Jan. (1838) a negro of a widow Phillips, ranaway, was taken up, and confined in Pulaski jail. One Gibbs, overseer for Mrs. P., mounted on horseback, took him from confinement, com- pelled him to run back to Elkton, a distance of fifteen miles, whipping him all the way. When he reached home, the negro exhausted and worn out, exclaimed ' you have broke my heart,' i. e. you have killed me. For this, Gibbs flew into a violent passion, tied the negro to a stake, and,
in the language of a witness, ' cut his back to mince-meat.' But the fiend was not satisfied with this. He burnt his legs to a bhster, with hot em- bers, and then chained him vaked, in the open air, weary with running, weak from the loss of blood, and smarting from his burns. It was a cold night — and in the morning the negro was dead. Yet this monster escaped without even the shadow of a trial. ' The negro,' said the doctor, ' died, by — he knew not what ; any how, Gibbs did not kill him.'* A short time since, (the letter is dated, April, 1838,) ' Gibbs whip- ped another negro unmercifully because the horse, with which he was ploughing, broke the reins and ran. He then raised his whip against Mr. Bowers, (son of Mrs. P.) who shot him. Since I came here,' (a period of about sis months,) ' there have been eight white men and two negroes killed, within 30 miles of me,'
* Mr. Knapp, gives me some further verbal particulars about this all'air. He says that his informant saw the negro dead tlie next morning, tliat his legs were blistered, and that the negroes affirmed that Gibbs compelled them to tlirow embers upon him. But Gibbs denied it, and said the blistering was the effect of frost, as the negro was much exposed to it before being taken up. Mr. Bovvers, a son of i\Irs. Phillips by a former husband, attempted to have Gibbs brought to justice, but his mother justified Gibbs, and nothing was therefore done about it. The af- fair took place in Upper Elkton, Tennessee, near the Ala- bama line.
" The following is from Mr. Knapp's own lips, taken down a day or two since,
' Mr. Buster, with whom I boarded, in Lime- stone Co., Ala., related to me the following inci- dent : ' George, a slave belonging to one of the estates in my neighborhood, was lurking about my residence without a pass. We were making preparations to give him a flogging, but he es- caped from us. Not long afterwards, meeting a patrol which had just taken a negro in custody without a pass, I inquired. Who have you there ? on learning that it was George, well, I rejoined, there is a small matter between him and myself, that needs adjustment, so give me the raw hide, which I accordingly took, and laid 60 strokes on his back, to the utmost of my strength.' I was speaking of this barbarity, afterwards, to Mr. Bradley, an overseer of the Rev. Mr. Donnell, who lives in the vicinity of Moresville, Ala., ' Oh,' replied he, ' we consider that a very light whipping here.' Mr. Bradley is a professor of relicrion, and is esteemed in that vicinity a very pious, exemplary Christian.' "
Extract of a letter from Rev. C. Stewart Renshaw, of Quincy, Illinois, dated Jan. 1, 1839.
" I do not feel at liberty to disclose the name of the brother who has furnished the following facts. He is highly esteemed as a man of scru- pulous veracity. I will confirm my own testimo- ny by the certificate of Judge Snow and Mr. Keyes, two of the oldest and most respectable settlers in Quincy.
auincy, Dec. 29, 1838.
" Dear Sir,— We have been long acquainted with the Christian brother who has named to you some facts that fell under his observation whilst a resident of slave states. He is a member of a Christian church, in good standing ; and is a man of strict integrity of character.
Henry H. Snow,
WiLLARD KbYES.
Rev. C. Stewart Renshaw."
Punishtnenis — Floggings.
71
" My informant spent thirty years of his life in Kentucky and Missouri. Whilst in Kentucky he resided in Hardin co. I noted down liis testimo- ny very nearly in his own words, which will ac- count lor their evidence-like t'orni. On the gen- eral condition of the slaves in Kentucky, throuirh Hardin co., he said, their houses were very un- comfortable, generally without floors, other than the earth : many hail puncheon floors, but he never romenibcrs to have seen a plank floor. In regard to clothing they were very badly off". In summer they cared little for thing ; but in win- ter they almost froze. Their rags might hide their nakedness from the sun in summer, but would not protect them from the cold in winter. Their bed-clothes were tattered rags, thrown into a corner by day, and drawn before the fire by night. ' The only thing,' said he, ' to which I can com- pare them, in winter, is stock without a shelter.''
" He made the following comparison between the condition of slaves in Kentucky and Missouri. So far as he was able to compare them, he said, that in Missouri the slaves had better quarters — but are not so well clad, and are more severely pun- ished than in Kentucky. In both states, the slaves are huddled together, without distinction of sex, into the same quarter, till it is filled, then another is built ; often two or three families in a log hovel, twelve feet square.
" It is proper to state, that the sphere of my in- formant's observation was mamly in the region of Hardin co., Kentucky, and the eastern part of Missouri, and not through those states generally.
"Whilst at St. Louis, a numberof years ago, as he was going to work with Mr. Henrj' Males, and another carpenter, they heard groans from a barn jy the road-side : they stopped, and looking tbrough the cracks of the barn, saw a negro biund hand and foot to a post, so that his toes just touched the ground ; and his master. Captain Tiiorpe, was inflicting punishment ; he had whip- ped him till exhausted, — rested himself, and re- turned again to the punishment. The wretched sufferer was in a most pitiable condition, and the vparn blood and dry dust of the barn had formed a mtrtar up to his instep. Mr. Males jumped the fence, and remonstrated so effectually with Capt. Thorpe, that he ceased the punishment. It was six weeks before that slave could put on his shirt !
"John Mackey, a rich slaveholder, lived near Clarksville, Pike co., Missouri, some years since. He whipped his slave Billy, a boy fourteen years old, till he was sick and stupid ; he then sent him home. Then, for his stupidity, whipped him again, and fractured his skull with an axe-helve. He buried him away in the woods ; dark words were whispered, and the body was disinterred. A coroner's inquest was held, and Mr. R. Anderson, the coroner, brought in a verdict of death from fractured skull, occasioned by blows from an axe- handle, inflicted by John Mackej'. The case was brought into court, but Mackey was rich, and his murdered victim was his slave ; after ex- pending about ^500 he walked free.
" One Mrs. Mann, living near , in co.,
Missouri, was known to be very cruel to her slaves. She had a bench made purposely to whip them upon ; and what she called her " six pound paddle," an instrument of prodigious torture, bored through with holes ; tins she would wield
with both hands as she stood over her prostrate victim.
" She thus punished a hired slave woman named Fanny, belonging to Mr. Charles Trabue, who lives near Palmyra, Marion co., Missouri ; on the morning after the punishment Fanny was a corpse ; she was silently and quickly buried, but rumor was not so easily stopped. Mr. Trabue heard of it, and commenced suit for his property. The murdered slave was disinterred, and an in- quest held ; her back was a mass of jellied mus- cle ; and the coroner brought in a verdict of death by the ' six pound paddle.' Mrs. Mann fled for a few months, but returned again, and her friends found means to protract the suit.
" This same Mrs. Mann had another hired slave woman living with her, called Patterson's Fanny, she belonged to a Mr. Patterson ; she had a young bahe with her, just beginning to creep. One day, after washing, whilst a tub of rinsing water yet stood in the kitchen, Mrs. Mann came out in haste, and sent Fanny to do something out of doors. Fanny tried to beg ofli"— she was afraid to leave her babe, lest it should creep to the tub and get hurt — Mrs. M. said she would watch the babe, and sent her off. She went with much re- luctance, and heard the child struggle as she went out the door. Fearing lest Mrs. M. should leave the babe alone, she watched the room, and soon saw her pass out of the opposite door. Im- mediately Fanny hurried in, and looked around for her babe, she could not see it, she looked at the tub — there her babe was floating, a strangled corpse. The poor woman gave a dreadful scream ; and Mrs. M. rushed into the room, with her hands raised, and exclaimed, ' Heavens, Fanny ! have you drowned your child ?' It was vain for the poor bereaved one to attempt to vindicate herself: in vain she attempted to convince them that the babe had not been alone a moment, and could not have drowned itself; and that she had not been in the house a moment, before she scream- ed at discovering her drowned babe. All was false ! Mrs. Mann declared it was all pretence — that Fanny had drowned her own babe, and now wanted to lay the blame upon her ! and Mrs. Mann was a white woman — of course her word was more valuable than the oaths of all the slaves of Missouri. No evidence but that of slaves could be obtained, or Mr. Patterson would have prose- cuted for his ' loss of property.' As it was, every one believed Mrs. M. guilty, though the affair was soon hushed up."
Extract of a letter from Col. Thomas Rogers^ a native of Kentucky, now an elder in the Pres- byterian Church at New Petersburg, Highland CO., Ohio.
" When a boy, in Bourbon co., Kentucky, my father lived near a slaveholder of the name of Clay, who had a large number of slaves ; I remem- ber being often at their quarters ; not one of their shanties, or hovels, had any floor but the earth. Their clothing was truly neither fit for covering nor decency. We could distinctly, of a still morn. ing, hear this man whipping his blacks, and hear their screams from my father's farm : this could be heard almost any still morning about the dawn of day. It was said to be his usual custom to re-
72
Punishme7its— Tortures.
pair, about the break of day, to tlieir cabin doors, and, as the blaclis passed out, to give them as many strokes of his covvskin as opportunity ai- forded ; and he would proceed in this manner from cabin to cabin until they were all out. Occa- sionally some of his slaves would abscond, and upon being retaken they were punished severely ; and some of them, it is believed, died in conse- quence of the cruelty of their usage. I saw one of this man's slaves, about seventeen years old, wearing a collar, with long iron horns extending from his shoulders far above his head.
" In the winter of 1828-29 I traveled through part of the states of Maryland and Virginia to Baltimore. At Frost Town, on the national road, I put up for the night. Soon after, there came in a slaver with his drove of slaves ; among them were two young men, chained together. The bar room was assigned to them for their place of lodging — those in chains were guarded when they had to go out. I asked the ' owner' why he kept these men chained ; he replied, that they were stout young fellovv^s, and should they rebel, he and his son would not be able to manage them. I then left the room, and shortly after heard a scream, and v/hen the landlady inquired the cause, the slaver coolly told her not to trouble herself, he was only chastising one of his women. It appear- ed that three days previously her child had died on the road, and been thrown into a hole or cre- vice in the mountain, and a few stones thrown over it ; and the mother weeping for her child was chastised by her master, and told by him, she ' should have something to cry for.' The name of this man I can give if called for.
" When engaged in this journey I spent about one month with my relations in Virginia. It be- ing shortly after new year, the time of hiring was over ; but I saw the pounds, and the scafTolds which remained of the pounds, in which the slaves had been penned up."
Mr. Georgk W. Westgate, of Quincy, Illi- nois, who lived in the southwestern slave states a number of years, has furnished the following state- ment.
"The great mass of the slaves are under drivers and overseers. I never saw an overseer without a whip ; the whip usually carried is a short loaded
stock, with a heavy lash from five to six feet lono-. When they whip a slave they make him pull oft his shirt, if he has one, then make him lie down on his face, and taking their stand at the length of the lash, they inflict the punishment. Whip- pings are so universal that a negro that has not been whipped is talked of in all the region as a wonder. By whipping I do not mean a few lashes across the shoulders, but a set flogging, and gen- erally lying down.
" On sugar plantations generally, and on some cotton plantations, they have negro drivers, who are in such a degree responsible for their gang, that if they are at fault, the driver is whipped. The result is, the gang are constantly driven by him to the extent of the influence of the lash ; and it is uniformly the case that gangs dread a negro driver more than a white overseer.
" I spent a winter on widow Calvert's planta. tion, near Rodney, Mississippi, but was not in a situation to see extraordinary punishments. Bel. lows, the overseer, for a trifling offence, took one of the slaves, stripped him, and with a piece of burning wood applied to his posteriors, burned him cruelly ; while the poor wretch screamed in the greatest agony. The principal preparation for punishment that Bellows had, was single hand- cufis made of iron, with chains, by which the of- fender could be chained to four stakes on the ground. These are very common in all the lower country. I noticed one slave on widow Calvert's / plantation, who was whipped from twenty-five to ' fifty lashes every fortnight during the whole win- ter. The expression ' whipped to death,' as ap- plied to slaves, is common at the south.
" Several years ago I was going below New-Or. leans, in what is called the Plaquemine country, and a planter sent down in my boat a runaway ha had found in New-Orleans, to his plantation s-t Orange 5 Points. As we came near the Points ie told me, with deep feeling, that he expected to be whipped almost to death : pointing to a grave- yard, he said, ' There lie five who were whipped to death.' Overseers generally keep some of the women on the plantation; I scarce know at ex. ception to this. Indeed, their intercourse with them is very much promiscuous, — they show them not much, if any favor. Masters frequently fol- low the example of their overseers in this thing. " George W. Westgate,"
II. TORTURES, BY IRON COLLARS, CHAINS, FETTERS, HANDCUFFS, &c.
The slaves are often tortured by iron collars, with long prongs or " horns." and sometimes bells attached to them — they are made to wear chains, handcuffs, fetters, iron clogs, bars, rings, and bands of iron upon their limbs, iron marks upon their faces, iron gags in their mouths, &c.
In proof of this, we give the testimony of slave- holders themselves, under their own names ; it will be mostly in the form of extracts from their own advertisements, in southern newspapers, in which, describing their runaway slaves, they spe-
cify the iron collars, handcuffs, chains, fetters, &c., which they wore upon their neck^, wrists, ankles, and other parts of their bodies. To pub- lish the whole of each advertisement, would need- lessly occupy space and tax the reader ; we shall consequently, as heretofore, give merely the name of the advertiser, the name and date of the news- paper containing the advertisement, with the place of publication, and only so much of the advertise- ment as will give the particular fact, proving the truth of the assertion contained in the general hcaii.
Punishments — Tortures.
73
WITNESSES.
William Toler, slicriff of Simpson counry, Mississippi, in the " Southern Sun," Jackson, Mississippi, Septuuiber 22, 183-3.
Mr. James R. Green, in tlte " Beacon," Greensborough, Alabama, August S23, 1838.
Mr. Hazlet Lnflano, in the " Specta- tor," Stauulou, Virgiuia, Sept. 27, 1838.
Mr. T. Enggj', New Orleans, Galla- tin street, between Hospital and liar- racks, N. O. " B-ie," Oct. 27, 1837.
Mr. Jolm Henderson, Washington, countv. Mi., in tlie -'Grand Gulf Adver- tiser," August 29, 1833.
William Dyer, sheriff, Claiborne, Louisiana, in tlie " Herald," Natchi- toches, (La.) July 26, 1837.
Mr. Owen Cooke, " Mary street, be- tween Connnon and Jackson streets," New Orleans, in the N. O. " Bee," Sep- tember 12, 1837.
H. W. Rice, sheriff, Colleton district, Soutli Carolina, in the " Charleston Mercurj," September 1, 1838.
W. P. Reeves, jailor, Shelby county, Teimessce, in tlie " Memphis Enquirer, June 17, 1837.
Mr. Francis Durett, Lexington, Lau- derdale county, Ala., in the " Hunts- ville Democrat," August 29, 1837.
Mr. A. Murat, Baton Rouge, in the New Orleans " Bee," June 20, 1837.
Mr. Jordan Abbott, in the " Huntsville Democrat," Nov. 17, 1838.
Mr. J. Macoin, No. 177 Ann street. New Orleans, in the " Bee," August 11, 1838.
Menard Brothers, parish of Ber- nard, Louisiana, in the N. O. "Bee," August IS, 1S38.
Messrs. J. L. and W. H. Bolton, Shel- by coimtj", Tennessee, in the " Memphis Enquirer," June 7, 1837.
H. Gridly, sheriff of Adams county, Mi., in the " Memphis (Tenn.) Timesj" September, 1834.
Mr. Lambre, in the "Natchitoches (La.) Herald," March 29, 1837.
Mr. Ferdinand Lemos, New Orleans, in the " Bee," January 29, 1838.
Mr. T. J. De Yampett, merchant, Mo- bile, Alabama, of the firm of De Yam- pert, King & Co., in the " Mobile Chron- icle," June 15, 1838.
J. H. Hand, jailor, St. FrancisvilJe, La., in the " Louisiana Clironicle."Julv 26, 1837. ' '
TESTIMONV.
Mr. Charles Curcner, New Orleans, in the " Bee," July 2, 1838.
Mr. P. T. Manning, HuntsviUe, Ala- bama, in the "Huntsville Advocate," Oct. 23,1838.
Mr. William L. Lambeth, Lynch- burg, Virginia, m the " Moultou [Ala.l Whig," January 30, 1836.
10
" Was committed to jail, a yellow boy named Jim— had on a large lock chain around his neck."
Ranaway, a negro man named Squire— had on a chain locked iciih a house-lock, around his neck."
" Ranaway, a negro named David— with some iron hobbles around each ankle."
" Ranaway, negress Caroline — had on a collar with one prong turned down."
"Ranaway, a black woman, Betsey— had an iron bar on her right leg."
" Was committed to jail, a negro named Ambrose— has a ring of iron around his neck."
" Ranaway, my slave Amos, had a chain attached to one of
his legs."
" Committed to jail, a negro named Patrick, about forty-five years old, and is handcuffed."
" Committed to jail, a negro — had on his right leg an iron hand with one link of a chain."
"Ranaway, a negro man named Charles — had on a drawing chain, fastened aroimd his ankle with a house lock."
" Ranaway, the negro Manuel, much marked with irons."
" Ranaway, a negro boy named Daniel, about nineteen years old, and was handcvffed."
" Ranaway, the negress Fanny— had on an iron band about her neck."
" Ranaway, a negro named John — having an iron around his right foot."
" Absconded, a colored boy named Peter — had an iron round his neck when he went away."
"Was committed to jail, a negro boy — ^hadona large neck iron with a huge pair of horns and a large bar or band of iron on his left leg."
" Ranaway, the negro boy Teams — he had on his neck an iron collar,"
" Ranaway, the negro George — he had on his neck an iron collar, the branches of which had been taken ofT."
" Ranaway, a negro boy about twelve years old — had round his neck a chain dog-collar, with ' De Yampert engraved on it."
" Committed to jail, slave John — has several scars on his wrists, occasioned, as he says, by handcuffs."
" Ranaway, the negro, Hown — has a ring of iron on his left foot. Also,Grisee,his wife, havingr a ring and chain on the left leg." ^
" Ranaway, a negro boy named James — said boy was ironed when he left me."
" Ranaway, Jim — had on when he escaped a pair of chain hand.
cuffs?''
74
Punishme nis — Tortures .
' Ranaway-
Mr. D. F. Guex, Secretary of the Steaic Cotton Press Company, New Or- leans, ill the " Commercial Bulletm," May 27, 1S37.
Mr. Francis Durett, Lexington, Ala- bama, in the " Huntsville Democrat," March 8, 1838.
B. W. Hodges, jailor. Pike county, Alabama, in the " Montgomery Adver- User," Sept. 29, 1837.
P. Baylii, captain of police, in the N. O. " Bee," June 9, 1838.
Mr. Charles Kemin, parish of Jeffer- son, Louisiana, in the N. O. "Bee," August 11, 1837.
The foregoing advertisements are sufficient for our purpose, scores of similar ones may be gather- ed from the newspapers of the slave states every month.
To the preceding testimony of slaveholders, published by themselves, and vouched for by their own signatures, we subjoin the following testi- mony of other witnesses to the same point.
John M. Nelson, Esq., a native of Virginia, now a highly respected citizen of Highland county, Ohio, and member of the Presbyterian Chiurch in Hillsborough, in a recent letter states the fol- lowing : —
" In Staunton, Va., at the house of Mr. Robert M'Ddwell, a merchant of that place, I once saw a colored woman, of intelligent and dignified ap- pearance, who appeared to be attending to the business of the house, with an iron collar around her neck, with horns or prongs extending out on either side, and up, until they met at something like a foot above her head, at which point there was a bell attached. This yoke, as they called it, I understood was to prevent her from running away, or to pimish her for having done so. I had frequently seen men with iron collars, but this was the first instance that I recollect to have seen a female thus degraded."
Major Horace Nye, an elder in the Presbyte- rian Church at Putnam, Muskingum county, Ohio, in a letter, dated Dec. 5, 1838, makes the following statement : —
' Mr. Wm. Armstrong, of this place, who is frequently employed by our citizens as captain and supercargo of descending boats, whose word maybe relied on, has just made tome the follow- ing statement : —
"While laying at Alexandria, on Red River, Louisiana, he saw a slave brought to a black- smith's shop and a collar of iron fastened round his neck, with two pieces rivetted to the sides, meeting some distance above his head. At the top of tlie arch, thus formed, was attached a large cow-bell, the motion of which, while walking the streets, made it necessary for the slave to hold his hand to one of its sides, to steady it.
" In New Orleans he saw several with iron col- lars, with horns attached to them. The first he saw had three prongs projecting from the collar ten or twelve inches, with the letter S on the end of each. He says iron collars are quite frequent there.
"Ranaway, Edmund Coleman — it is supposed he must have iron shackles on his ankles.^''
-, a mulatto — had on when he left, a pair oj
handcuffs and a pair of drawing chains."
" Committed to jail, a man who calls his name John — he has 9. clog of iron on his right foot which will weigh four or five pounds."
" Detained at the police jail, the negro wench Myra — has several marks of lashing, and has irons on her feet."
" Ranaway, Betsey — when she left she had onhernec/c an iron collar."
To the preceding Major Nye adds : — " When I was about twelve years of age I hved at Marietta, in this state : I knew little of slaves, as there were few or none, at that time, in the part of Virginia opposite that place. But I re- member seeing a slave who had run away from some place beyond my knowledge at that time : he had an iron collar round his neck, to which was a strap of iron rivetted to the collar, on each side, passing over the top of the head ; and ano- ther strap, from the back side to the top of the first — thus inclosing the head on three sides. I looked on while the blacksmith severed the collar with a file, which, I think, took him more than an hour."
Rev. John Dudley, Mount Morris, Michigan, resided as a teacher at the missionary station, among the Choctaws, in Mississippi, during the years 1830 and 31. In a letter just received Mr. Dudley says : —
" During the time I was on missionary ground, which was in 1830 and 31, 1 was frequently at the residence of the agent, who was a slaveholder. — I never knew of his treating his own slaves with cruelty ; but the poor fellows who were escaping, and lodged with him when detected, found no clemency. I once saw there a fetter for ' the d — d runaicays,'' the weight of which can be judged by its size. It was at least three inches wide, half an inch thick, and something over a foot long. At this time I saw a poor fellow compelled to work in the field, at ' logging,' with such a galling fetter on his ankles. To prevent it from wearing liis ankles, a string was tied to the centre, by which the victim suspended it when he walked, with one hand, and with the other carried his bur- den. Whenever he lifted, the fetter rested on his bare ankles. If he lost his balance and made a mis- step, which must very often occur in lifting and rolling logs, the torture of his fetter was severe. Thus he was doomed to work while wearing the torturing iron, day after day, and at night he was confined in the runaways' jail. Some time after this, I saw the same dejected, heart-broken crea. ture obliged to wait on the other hands, who were husking corn. The privilege of sitting with the others was too much for him to enjoy ; he was made to hobble from house to barn and barn to house, to carry food and drink for the rest. He passed round the end of the house where I was sitting with the agent : he seemed to take no no- tice of me, but fixed his eyes on his tormentor till he passed quite by us." . -^ . . -.-^j^,.
Punishncnts — Tortures.
75'
Mr. Alfred Wilkinson, member of the Baptist Churcli in Skeneatelcs, N. Y. and an assessor of that town, testifies as follows : —
" I stayed iiL New Orleans three weeks : during that time there used to pass by where I stayed a number of slaves, cacii with an iron band around his ankle, a chain attaclicd to it, and an eighteen pound ball at the end. They were employed in wheeling dirt witli a wheelbarrow ; they would put the ball into the barrow when they moved.— I recollect one day, that I counted nineteen of them, sometimes there were not as many ; they were driven by a slave, with a long lash, as if they were beasts. ' These, I learned, were runaway slaves from the plantations above New Orleans.
" There was also a negro woman, that used daily to come to the market with milk ; she had an iron band around her neck, with three rods projecting from it, about sixteen inches long, crooked at the ends."
For the fact which follows we are indebted to Mr. Samuel Hall, a teacher in Marietta College, Ohio. AVe quote his letter.
" Mr. Curtis, a journeyman cabinet-maker, of Marietta, relates the following, of which he was an eye witness. Mr. Curtis is every way worthy of credit.
" In September, 1837, at ' Milligan's Bend,' in the Mississippi river, I saw a negro with an iron band around his head, locked behind with a pad- lock. In the front, where it passed the mouth, there was a projection inward of an inch and a half, which entered the mouth.
" The overseer told me, he was so addicted to running away, it did not do any good to whip him for it. He said he kept this gag constantly on him, and intended to do so as long as he was on the plantation : so that, if he ran away, he could not eat, and would starve to death. The slave asked for drink in my presence ; and the overseer made him lie down on his back, and turned wa- ter on his face two or three feet high, in order to torment him, as he could not swallow a drop. — The slave then asked permission to go to the ri- ver ; which being granted, he thrust his face and head entirely under the water, that being the only way he could drink with his gag on. The gag was taken off when he took his food, and then re- placed afterwards."
Extract of a Letter from Mrs. Sophia Lit- TiiE, of Newport, Rhode Island, daughter of Hon. Asher Robbins, senator in Congress for that state.
" There was lately found, in the hold of a vessel engaged in the southern trade, by a person who was clearing it out, an iron collar, with three horns projecting from it. It seems that a young female slave, on whose slender neck was rivet- ed this fiendish instrument of torture, ran away from her tyrant, and begged the captain to bring her off with him. This the captain refused to do ; hut unriveted the collar from her neck, and threw it away in the hold of the vessel. The collar is now at the anti-slavery office, Providence. To the truth of these facts Mr. William H. Reed, a gentleman of the highest moral character, is ready to vouch.
" Mr. Reed is in possession of many facts of cruelty witnessed by persons of veracity; but
these witnesses are not willing to give their names. One case in particular he mentioned. Speaking with a certain captain, of the state of the slaves at the south, the captain contended that their punishments wore often very Icnieni ; and, as an instance of their excellent clemency, mentioned, tiiat in one instance, not wishing to whip a slave, they sent him to a blacksmith, and had an iron band fastened around him, with three long pro. jections reaching above his head ; and this he wore some time."
Extract of a letter from Mr. Jonathan F. Baldwin, of Lorain county, Ohio. Mr. B. was formerly a merchant in Massillon, Ohio, and an elder in the Presbyterian Church there.
" Dear Brother, — In conversation with Judge Lyman, of Litchfield county, Connecticut, last June, he stated to me, that several years since he was in Columbia, South Carolina, and observing a colored man lying on the floor of a blacksmith's shop, as he was passing it, his curiosity led him in. He learned the man was a slave and rather unmanageable. Several men were attempting to detach from his ankle an iron which had been bent around it.
" The iron was a piece of a flat bar of the or- dinary size from the forge hammer, and bent around the ancle, tlie ends meeting, and forming a hoop of about the diameter of the leg. There was one or more strings attached to the iron and extending up around his neck, evidently so to suspend it as to prevent its galling by its weight when at work, yet it had galled or griped till the leg had swollen out beyond the iron and mflamed and supurated, so that the leg for a considerable distance above and below the iron, was a mass of putrefaction, the most loathsome of any wound he had ever witnessed on any living creature. The slave lay on his back on the floor, with his leg on an anvil which sat also on the floor, one man had a chisel used for splitting iron, and ano- ther struck it with a sledge, to drive it between the ends of the hoop and separate it so that it might be taken off". Mr. Lyman said that the man swung the sledge over his shoulders as if splitting iron, and struck many blows before he succeeded in parting the ends of the iron at all, the bar was so large and stubborn — at length they spread it as far as they could without driv- ing the chisel so low as to ruin the leg. The slave, a man of twenty-five years, perhaps, whose coun. tenance was the index of a mind ill adapted to the degradations of slavery, never uttered a word or a groan in all the process, but the copious flow of sweat from every pore, the dreadful contractions and distortions of every muscle in his body, show- ed clearly the great amount of his sufferings; and all this while, such was the diseased state of the limb, that at every blow, the bloody, corrupt- ed matter gushed out in all directions several feet, in such profusion as literally to cover a large area around the anvil. After various other fruitless attempts to spread the iron, they concluded it was necessary to weaken by filing before it could be got off, which he left them attempting to do."
Mr. William Drown, a well knovro citizen of Rhode Island, formerly of Providence, who has
76
Punishments — Tortures.
traveled in nearly all the slave states, thus testi- fies in a recent letter :
" I recollect seeing large gangs of slaves, ge- nerally a considerable number in each gang, be- incr cliained, passing westward over the moun- tains from JMaryland, Virginia, &e. to the Ohio. On that river I have frequently seen flat boats loaded with them, and their keepers armed with pistols and dirks to guard them.
" At Nevv' Orleans I recollect seeing gangs of slaves that were driven out every day, the Sab- bath not excepted, to work on the streets. These had heavy chains to connect two or more to- gether, and some had iron collars and yokes, &e. The noise as they walked, or worked in their chains, was truly dreadful."
Rev. Thomas Savage, pastor of the Congrega- tional Church at Bedford, New Hampshire, who Was for some years a resident of Mississippi and Louisiana, gives the following fact, in a letter dat- ed January 9, 1839.
" In 1819, while employed as an instructor at Second Creek, near Natchez, Mississippi,! resided on a plantation where I witnessed the following circumstance. One of the slaves was in the habit of running away. He had been repeatedly taken, and repeatedly whipped, with great severity, but to no purpose. He would still seize the first op- portunity to escape from the plantation. At last his owner declared, I'U fix him, I'U put a stop to his running away. He accordingly took him to a blacksmith, and had an iron head-frame made for him, which may be called lock-jaw, from the use that was made of it. It had a lock and key, and was so constructed, that when on the head and locked, the slave could not open his mouth to take food, and the design was to prevent his run- ning away. But the device proved unavailing. He was soon missing, and whether by his own despe- rate effort, or the aid of others, contrived to sus- tain himself with food ; but he was at last taken, and if my memory serves me, his life was soon terminated by the cruel treatment to which he was subjected."
The Western Luminary, a religious paper pub- lished at Lexington, Kentucky, in an editorial article, in the summer of 1833, says :
" A few weeks since we gave an account of a company of men, women and children, part of v/hom were manacled, passing through our streets. Last week, a number of slaves were driven through the main street of our city, among whom were a number manacled together, two abreast, all con- nected by, and supporting a heavy iron chain, which extended the whole length of the line."
TESTIMONY OF A VIRGINIAN.
The name of this witness cannot be published, as it would put him in perU ; but his credibility is vouched for by the Rev. Ezra Fisher, pastor of the Baptist Church, Quincy, Illinois, and Dr. Richard Eels, of the same place. These gen- tlemen say of him, " We have great confidence in his integrity, discretion, and strict Christian principle." He says —
" About five years ago, I remember to have passed, in a single day, four droves of slaves for
the south west ; the largest drove had 350 slaves in it, and tlie smallest upwards of 200. I count- ed 68 or 70 in a single coffle. The ' coffle chain' is a chain fastened at one end to the centre of the bar of a pair of hand cuff's, which are fasten- ed to the right wrist of one, and the left wrist of another slave, they standing abreast, and the chain between them. These are the head of the coffle. The other end is passed througli a ring in tjie bolt of the next handcuff's, and the slaves being manacled thus, two and two together, walk up, and the cofSe chain is passed, and they go up towards the head of the coffle. Of course they are closer or wider apart in the coffle, ac- cording to the number to be coffled, and to the length of the chain. / have seen hundreds of droves and chain-coJp.es of this description, and every coffle was a scene of misery and wo, of tears and brokenncss of heart."
Mr. Samuel Hall, a teacher in Marietta Col- lege, Ohio, gives, in a late letter, the following statement of a fellow student, from Kentucky, of whom he says, " he is a professor of religion, and worthy of entire confidence."
" I have seen at least fifteen droves of ' human cattle,' passing by us on their way to the south ; and I do not recollect an exception, where there were not more or less of them chained together."
Mr. George P. C. Hussey, of Fayetteville, Franklin county, Pennsylvania, writes thus :
" I was born and raised in Hagerstown, Wash- ington county, Maryland, where slavery is per. haps milder than in any other part of the slave states ; and yet I have seen hundreds of colored men and women chained together, two by two, and driven to the south. I have seen slaves tied up and lashed till the blood ran down to their heels."
Mr. Giddings, member of Congress from Ohio, in his speech in the House of Representatives, Feb. 13, 1839, made the following statement :
" On the beautiful avenue in front of the Capi- tol, members of Congress, during this session, have been compelled to turn aside from their path, to permit a coffle of slaves, males and fe- males, chained to each other hy their necks, to pass on their way to this national slave market.''^
Testimony of James K. Paulding, Esq. the pre- sent Secretary of the United States' Navy.
In 1817, Mr. Paulding published a work, en- titled ' Letters from the South, written during an excursion in the summer of 1816.' In the first volume of that work, page 128, Mr. P. gives the following description :
" The sun was shining out very hot — and in turning the angle of the road, we encountered the following group : first, a little cart drawn by one horse, in which five or six half naked black child- ren were tumbled like pigs together. The cart had no covering, and they seemed to have been broiled to sleep. Behind the cart marched three black women, with head, neck and breasts un- covered, and without shoes or stockings : next came three men, bare-headed, and chained to- gether with an ox-chain. Last of all, came a , white man on horse back, carrying his pistols in
Puimhments — Brandings.
77
his belt, and who, as we passed him, had the im- pudonce to look us in tlie lace without blushing. At a house where we stopped a little further on, we learned that he had bought these miserable beings in Maryland, and was marching them in tills manner to one of the more southern states. Wiame on the State of Maryland ! and I say, shame on the State of Virginia ! and every state througli wliich this wretched cavalcade was per- mitted to pass ! I do say, that when they (the slave- holders) permit such flagrant and indecent out- rages upon humanity as that I have described ; when they sanction a villain in thus marching half naked women and men, loaded with chains, without being charged with any crime but that of being black, from one section of the United States to another, hundreds of miles in the face
of day, tliey disgrace themselves, and the coun- try to which they belong."*
* Tlie fact that Mr. Paulding, in the reprint of lliese " Letters," in 1835, struck out this passaffc with all others disparaging to slavery and its supporters, does not impair the force of his testimony, however much it may sink the min. Nor will the iie.xt generation regard with any more reverence, his character as a pro;)/ic(, because in the edition of 1835, two years after the American Anti-Slavery Society was formed, and when its auxiliaries were numbered by hundreds, he inserted a prediction, that such movements would bo made at the North, with most disastrous results. " Wot ye not tliat such a man as I can certainly divine !" Mr. Paulding has already been taught by Judge Jay, th.it he who aspires to the fame of an oracle, without its in spiration, must resort to other expedients to prevent detection, than the clumsy one of antedating his responses.
III. BRANDINGS, MAIMINGS, GUN-SHOT WOUNDS, &c.
The slaves are often branded with hot irons, pu rsued with fire arms and shot, hunted with dogs and torn by them, shockingly maimed with knives, dirks, &c. ; have their ears cut off, their eyes knocked out, their bones dislocated and broken with bludgeons, their fingers and toes cut off, their faces and other parts of their persons disfigured with scars and gashes, besides those made with the lash.
We shall adopt, tmder this head, the same
course as that pursued under previous ones, — first give the testimony of the slaveholders themselves, to the mutilations, &.c. by copying their own graphic descriptions of them, in advertisements pubhshcd under their own names, and in news- papers published in the slave states, and, general- ly, in their own immediate vicinity. We sha.1, as heretofore, insert only so much of each adver- tisement as will be necessary to make the point intelligible.
WITNESSES.
Mr. Micajah Ricks, Nash County, North Carohna, in the Raleigh " Stand- ard," July 18, 1838.
Mr. Asa B. Metcalf, Kingston, Adams Co. Mi. iu tlie "Natchez Courier," June 15, 1S32.
Mr. WiUiam Overstreet, Benton, Yazoo Co. Mi. in the "Lexington (Kentucky) Observer," July 22, 1838.
Mr. R. P. Carney, Clark Go. Ala., in the Mobile Register, Dec. 22, 1832.
Mr. J. Guvlcr, Savannah Georgia, ill the " Repubiicaii," April 12, 1837.
J. A. Bro\%'n, jailor, Charleston, South Carohna, in the " Mercury," Jan. 12, 1837.
Mr. J Scrivener, Herring Bay, Anne Arundel Co. Maryland, in the Anna- polis Republican, April 18, 1837.
Madame Burvant, comer of Chartres and Toulouse streets, New Orleans, ui the " Bee," Dec. 21, 1838.
Mr. O. W. Lains, in the " Helena, (Ark.) Journal," Jime 1, 1833.
Mr. R. W. Sizer, in the " Grand Gulf, [Mi.] Advertiser," July 8, 1837.
Mr. Nicholas Edmunds, in the " Petersburgh [Va.] Intelligncer," May 32,1838.
TESTIMONY.
" Ranaway, a negro woman and two children ; a few days be. fore she went oS, I burnt her with a hot iroUj on the left side of her face, / tried to make the letter M."
" Ranaway Mary, a black woman, has a scar on her back and right arm near the shoulder, caused by a rifle ball."
" Ranaway a negro man named Henry, his left eye out, some scars from a dirk on and under his left arm, and much scarred with the whip."
One himdred dollars reward for a negro fellow Pompcy, 40 years old, he is branded on the left jaw.
" Ranaway Laman, an old negro man, grey, has only one eye:'
" Committed to jail a negro man, has no toes on his left foot."
" Ranaway negro man Elijah, has a scar on his left cheek, apparently occasioned by a shot."
'' Ranaway a negro woman named Rachel, has lost all her toes except the large one."
«' Ranaway Sam, he was shot a short time since, through the hand, and has several shots in his left arm and side."
'' Ranaway my negro man Dennis, said negro has been shot I'm the left arm between the shoulders and elbow, which has jparalyzed the left hand."
'' Ranaway ray negro man named Simon, he has been shot badly in his back and right arm."
78
Mr. J. Bisliop, Bishopville, Siimpter District, South Carolina, in the " Cam- den [S. C] Journal," March 4, 1837.
Mr. S. Neyle, Little Ogeechee, Geor- gia, in the " Savannah Republican," July 3, 1837.
Punishments — Brandings.
" Ranaway a negro named Arthur, has a considcrahle scar across his breast and each arm^ made by a knife ; loves to talk much of the goodness of God."
'' Ranaway George, ho has a sword cut lately received on his left arm."
" Twenty five dollars reward for my man Isaac, he has a scar Mrs. Sarah Walsh, Mobile, Ala. in on his forehead caused by a blow, and one on his back made by a the "Georgia Journal," March 27,1837, ^^^^ y^,,^ ^ pistol."
" Ranaway a negro girl called Mary, has a small scar over Mr. J. P. Ashford, Adams Co. Mi. in her eye, a good many teeth missing, the letter A. is branded on the » Natchez Courier," August 2i, 1838. ^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^ forehead."
Mr. Ely Townsend, Pike Co. Ala., in the " Pensaeola Gazette," Sep. 16, 1837.
S. B. Murphy, jailer, Irvington, Ga. £n the " Milledgeville Journal," May 29, 1838.
Mr. A. Luminals, Parish of St. John, Louisiana, in the New Orleans " Bee," March 3, 1838.
Mr. Isaac Johnson, Pulaski Co. Georgia, in the " Milledgeville Journal," June 19, 1838.
Mr. Thomas Hudnall, Madison Co. Mi. in the " Vicksburg Register," September 5, 1838.
Mr. John McMuiTain, Columbus, Ga. in the " Southern Sun," August 7, iS.'lS.
Mr. Moses Orme, Annapolis, Mary- land, in the " Annapolis Republican," June 30, 1837.
William Stricldand, Jailor, Kershaw District, S. C. in the " Camden [S. C] Courier," July 8, 1837.
The Editor of the tiser," Dec. 7, 1838.
Mr. William Bateman, in the " Grand Gulf Advertiser," Dec. 7, 1838.
Mr. B. G. Simmons, in the " Southern Argus," May 30, 1837.
Mr. James Artop, in the "Macon [Ga.]Messenger, May 25, 1837.
J. L. Jolley, Sheriff of Clinton, Co. Mi., in the "Clinton Gazette," July 23, 1836.
Mr. Thomas Ledwith, Jacksonville East Florida, in the " Charleston [S. C] Courier, Sept. 1, 1838.
Mr. Joseph James, Sen., Pleasant Ridge, Paulding Co. Ga., in the " Mil- ledeeville Union," Nov. 7, 1837.
Mr. W. Riley, Orangeburg District, South Carolina, in the " Columbia [S.G.] Telescope," Nov. 11, 1337.
Mr. Samuel Mason, Warren Co, Mi., in the " Vicksburg Register," July 18,
1838.
" Ranaway negro Ben, has a scar on his right hand, his thumb and fore finger being injured by being sAo< last fall, a part of i/<e 6one came out, he has also one or two large scars on his back and hips."
" Committed a negro man, is very badly shot in the right side and right hand."
'' Detained at the jail, a mulatto named Tom, has a scar on the right cheek and appears to have been burned with powder on the face."
" Ranaway a negro man named Ned, three of his fingers are drawn into the palm of his hand by a cut, has a scar on the back of his neck nearly half round, done by a knife."
'' Ranaway a negro named Hamblcton, limps on his left foot where he was shot a few weeks ago, while runaway."
" Ranaway a negro boy named Mose, he has a wound in the right shoulder near the back bone, which was occasioned by a rifl^e shot."
" Ranaway my negro man Bill, he has s. fresh wound in his head above his ear."
" Committed to jail a negro, says his name is Cuffee, he is lame in one knee, occasioned by a shot."
' Grand Gulf Adver- '« Ranaway Joshua, his thumb is off of his left hand."
" Ranaway William, scar over his left eye, one between his eye brows, one on his breast, and his right leg has been broken.''
" Ranaway Mark, his left arm has been broken, right leg also."
" Ranaway, Caleb, 50 years old, has an awkward gait occa- sioned by his being shot in the thigh."
" Was committed to jail a negro man, says his name is Josiah, his back very much scarred by the whip, and branded on the thigh and hips, in three or four places, thus (J. M.) the rim of his right car has been bit or cut off."
" Fifty dollars reward, for my fellow Edward, he has a scar on the corner of his mouth, two cuts on and under his arm, and the letter E on his arm,"
" Ranaway, negro boy EUic, has a scar on one of his arms fro7n the bite of a dog.'
" Ranaway a negro man, has a scar on the ankle produced by a burn, and a mark on his arm resembling the letter S."
' Ranaway, a negro man named Allen, he has a scar on hia breast, also a scar u^der the left eye, and has two buck shot m his right arm"
Punishments — Branding, Maiming, Scars.
79
Mr. F. L. C. Edwards, in tlio " South- ern Telegraph," Sept. 25, lfc-37
Mr. Stephen 31. Jackson, in the " Viclvsburg Register," Maicli 10, 1837.
I'hilip Honerton, deputy sheriff of Halifa.\: Co. Virginia, Jan." 1837.
Stearns & Co. No. 2S, New Levee, New Orleans, in the " Bee," March 22, 1837.
Mr. John W. Walton, Greensboro , Ala. in the " Alabama Beacon," Dec. 13, 1838.
Mr. R. Funnan, Charleston, S. C. in the " Charleston Mercury," Jan, 12, 1839.
Mr. John Tart, Sen. in the " FayetK!- ville [N. C] Observer," Dec. 26, "1838.
Mr. Richard Overstreet, Brook Neal, Campbell Co. Virginia, in the •' Danville |Va.] Reporter," Dec, 21. 1838.
The editor of the New Orleans "Bee," in that paper, August 27, 1837.
Mr. Bryant Johnson, Fort Valley, Houston county, Georgia, in the Mil- ledgevllle " Union," Oct. 2, 1838.
Mr. Lemuel Miles, Steen's Creek, Ran- kin county, Mi. in the " Southern Sun," Sept. 22, 1838.
Mr. Bezou, New Orleans, in the " Bee," May 23, 1838.
Mr. James Kimborough, Memphis, Tenn. ui the " Memphis Enquirer," July 13, 1838.
Mr. Robert Beasley, Macon, Georgia, in the " Georgia Messenger," July 27, 1S37
Mr. B. G. Barrer, St. Louis, Missouri, in the " Republican," Sept. 6, 1837.
Mr. John D. Turner, near Norfolk, Virginia, in the " Norfolk Herald," June 27, 1638.
Mr. William Stansell, Picksville, Ala. in the " Huntsville Democrat," August 29, 1837.
Hon. Ambrose H. Sevier, Senator in Congress, from Arkansas, in the " Vicks- burg Register," of Oct. 13.
Mr. R. A. Greene, Milledgeville, Geor- gia, in the " Macon Messenger," July 27, 1837.
Benjamin Russel, deputy sheriff, Bibb county, Ga. in the " Macon Telegraph," December 25, 1837.
Hon. H. Hitchcock, Mobile, judge of the Supreme Court, in the " Commer- cial Register," Oct. 27, 1837.
Mrs. Elizabeth L. Carter, near Grove- ton, Prince William county, Virginia, in the " National Intelligencer," Wash- ington, D. C. June 10, 1837.
" Ranaway from the plantation of James Surgette, the fol- loTi^inir negroes, Randal, has one ear cropped ; Bob, has lost one eye, Kentucky Tom, has one jaw broken.''^
" Ranaway, Antliony, one of his ears cut off, and his left liand cut with an axe."
" Was committed, a negro man, has a scar on his right side by a burn, one on his knee, and one on the calf of his leg Oy the bite of a dog."
" Absconded, the mulatto boy Tom, his fingers scarred on his right hand, and has a scar on his right check."
" Ranaway my black boy Frazier, with a scar below and one above his right ear,"
" Ranaway, Dick, about 19, has lost the small toe of one foot."
" Stolen a mulatto boy, ten years old, he has a scar over his eye which was made by an axe."
" Absconded my negro man Coleman, has a very large scar on one of his legs, also one on eack arm, by a burn, and his heels have been frosted."
" Fifty dollars reward, for the negro Jim Blake — has a piece cut out of each ear, and the middle finger of the left hand cut off' to the second joint."
" Ranaway, a negro woman named Maria — has a scar on one side of her cheek, by a cut — some scars on her back."
•'Ranaway, Gabriel — has two or three scars across his neck made with a knife."
" Ranaway, the mulatto wench Mary — has a cut on the left arm, a scar on the shoulder, and two upper teeth missing."
" Ranaway, a negro boy, named Jerry — has a scar on his right cheek two inches long, from the cut of a knife."
" Ranaway, my rnan Fountain — has holes in his ears, a scar on the right side of his forehead — has been shot in the hind parts of his legs — is marked on the back with the whip."
" Ranaway, a negro man named Jarrett — has a scar on the un- der part of one of his arms, occasioned by a wound from a knife."
" Ranaway, a negro by the name of Joshua — he has a cut across one of his ears, which he will conceal as much as possible — one of his ankles is enlarged by an ulcer."
" Ranaway, negro boy Harper — has a scar on one of his hips in the form of a G."
" Ranaway, Bob, a slave — has a scar across his breast, ano- ther on the right side of his head — his back is much scarred with the whip,"
" Two hundred and fifty dollars reward, for my negro man Jim — he is much marked with shot in his right thigh, — the shot entered on the outside, half way between the hip and knee joints."
" Brought to jail, John — left ear cropt."
'' Ranaway, the slave Ellis — he has lost one of his ears."
" Ranaway, a negro man, Moses — he has lost a part of one of his ears."
80
Punishments — Branding, Maiming, Scars.
Mr. William D. Buckels, Natchez, Mi. in the " Natchez Courier," July 28, 1838.
Mr. Walter R. Eiiftlish, Monroe coun- ty, Ala. in the " Mobile Chronicle," Sept. 2, 1837.
Mr. James Saunders, Grany Spring, Hawkins county, Tenn. in the " Knox- ville Register," June 6, 1838.
Mr. John Jenkins, St. Joseph's, Flori- da, captain of the steamboat Ellen, "Apalachicola Gazette," June 7, 1838.
Mr. Peter Hanson, Lafayette city. La., in the New Orleans "Bee," July 28,
1838.
Mr. Ovren Ellis, Georseville, Mi. in the " North Alabamian," Sept. 15, 1837.
Mr. Zadock Sawyer, Cuthbert, Ran- dolph county, Georgia, in the " Milledge- ville Union," Oct. 9, 1838.
Mr. Abraham Gray, Mount Morino, Pike county, Ga. in the " Milledgeville Union," Oct. 9, 1838.
S. B. Tuston, jailer, Adams county. Mi. in the "Natchez Courier," June 15, 1838.
Mr. Joshua Antrim, Nineveh, War- ren county, Virginia, in the " Winches- ter Virginian," July 11, 1837.
J. B. Randall, jailor, Marietta, Cobb county, Ga., in the " Southern Record- er," Nov. 6, 1838.
Mr. John N. Dillahunty, Woodvillei Mi., in the " N. O. Commercial Bulle- tin," July 21, 1837.
William K. Ratcliffe, sheriff, Frank- Jn county, Mi. in the " Natchez Free Trader," August 23, 1838.
Mr. Prp^ton Halley, Barnwell, South Carolina, in the " Augusta [Ga.] Chro- rjcle," July 27, 1833.
Mr- V/elcome H. Robbins, St. Charles county. Mo. in the " St. Louis Republi- can," June 30, 1833.
G. Gourdon & Co. druggists, comer of Rampart and Hospital streets. New Or- leans, in the " Commercial Bulletin," Sept. 13, 1838.
Mr. William Brown, in the " Grand Gulf Advertiser," August 29, 1838.
Mr.Jam^'sMcDonneU, Talbot county, Georgia, in the "Columbus Enquirer," Jan. 18, 1838.
Mr. John W. Cherry, Slarengo coun- ty, Ala. in the " Mobile Register," June 15, 1838.
Mr. Thos. Brown, Roane co. Tenn. in the " Knoxville Register," Sept. 12, 1838.
Messrs. Taylor, Lawton & Co., Charleston, South Carohna, m the " Mercury," Nov. 1838.
Mr. Louis Schmidt, Taubourg, Si- vaudais. La. in the New Orleans" Bee, Sept. 5, 1837.
W. M. Whitehead, Natchez, in the " New Orleans Bulletin," Jidy 21, 1837.
Mr. Conrad Salvo, Charleston, South qarolina, in the " Mercury, August 10, J837.
" Taken up, a negro man — is very much scarred about the face and body, and has the left ear bit off."
" Ranaway, my slave Lewis — he has lost a piece of one ear, and a part of one of Ids fingers, a part of one of his toes is also lost."
" Ranaway, a black girl named Mary — has a scar on her cheek, and the end of one of her toes cut off."
" Ranaway, the negro boy Ceesar — he has but one eye."
" Ranaway, the negress Martha — she has lost her right eye."
" Ranaway, George— has had the lower part of one of his ears bit off."
" Ranaway, my negro Tom — has a piece bit off the top of his right ear, and his little finger is stiff."
" Ranaway, my mulatto woman Judy— she has had her right arm broke."
" Was committed to jail, a negro man named Bill— has had the thumb of his left hand split."
" Ranaway, a mulatto man named Joe — his fingers on the left hand are partly amputated."
" Lodged in jail, a negro man named Jupiter— is very lame in his left hip, so that he can hardly walk— has lost a joint of the middle finger of his left hand."
" Ranaway, Bill— has a sear over one eye, also one on his leg, from the hite of a dog— has a burn on his buttock, from a piece of hot iron in shape of a T."
" Committed to jail, a negro named Mike— Ajs left ear off."
" Ranaway, my negro man Levi— his left hand has been burnt, and I think the end of his forefinger is off."
" Ranaway. a negro named Washington— has lost apart of his middle finger and the end of his little finger ."
•'Ranaway, a negro named David Drier— has two toes cut."
" Ranaway, Edmund— has a scar on his right temple, and under his right eye, and holes in both ears."
" Runaway, a negro boy twelve or thirteen years old— has a scar on his left cheek from the bite of a dog."
" Fifty dollars reward, for my negro man John — he has a con- siderable scar on his throat, done with a knife."
" Twenty-five dollars reward, for my man John— the tip of his nose is bit off."
"Ranaway, a negro fellow called Hover— has a cut above the right eye."
" Ranaway, the negro man Hardy— has a scar on the upper lip, and another made with a knife on his neck."
" Ranaway, Henry- has half of one ear bit off.»
" Ranaway, my negro man Jacob— he has but one eye."
Pumshments— Branding, Maiming, Scars.
81
William Bakfr, jailer, Shplby county, Ala., in ihe " Montgomery (Ala.) Ad- vertiser," Oct. 5, 1838.
Mr. S. N. Hite, Camp street, Now Or- leoas, in tJie " Bee,'' Feb. 19, 1838.
Mr. Stephen M. Ricliards, Wliites- buig, Mndlsjou county, Alabama, in the " Uuiitsville Democrat," Sept. 8, 1838.
Mr. A. Drove, parish of St. Charles, La. in the " Now Orleau.« Bee," Feb. 19, 1838.
Mr. Nepdhani Wliitefield, Aberdeen, Mi. in iJie " Memphis (Tenn.) Enqui- rer," Juno 15, 1836.
Col. M- J. Sheith, Charleston, South Carolina, in t}}". " Mercury," Nov. 27, 1837.
Mr. R. Lancette, Hayvi'ood, North Carolina, in the "Kalejgh Register," Ap-.il 30, 1838.
Mr. G. C. Richardson, Owen Station, Mo., in tlie St. Louis " Republican," May 5, 1838.
Mr. E. Han, La Grange. Fayette coun- ty, Tenn. in the Gallatin " Union," June 23, 1837.
D. Herrinst, vrarden of Baltimore city jail, in tiie '■ Marylander," Oct. 6, 1837.
Mr. James Marks, near Natchitoches, La. in the " Natchitoches Herald," July 21, 1833.
Mr. James Barr, Amelia Court House, Virginia, in the " Norfolk Herald," Sept. 12, 1838.
Mr. Isaac Miehell, Wilkinson county, Georgia, in the "Augusta Chronicle," Sept. 21, 1837.
Mr. P. Rayhi, captain of the police, Suburb Washington, third munici- pality, New Orfeans, in the "Bee," Oct. 13, 1837.
Mr. Willie Paterson, Clinton, Jones county, Ga. in the " Darien Telegraph," Dec. 5, ia37.
Mr. Samuel Ragland,Triana, Madison county, Alabama, in the " Huntsville Advocate," Dec. 23, 1837.
Mr. Moses E. Bush, near Clayton, Ala. ia the " Columbus [Ga.? Enquirer," July 5, 1833.
C. W. Wilkins, sherifF Baldwin Co, Ala. in the " Mobile Advertiser," Sept. 22, 1837.
Mr. James H. Taylor, Charleston South Carolina, in the " Courier," Au- gust 7, 1837.
N. M. C. Robinson, jailer, Columbus, Georgia, in the " Columbus (Ga.) En- quirer," August 2, 1838.
Mr. Littlejohn Rynss, Hinds Co.
"Committed to jail, Ben— his left thumb off at the first joint."
" Twenty-five dollnrs reward for the negro slave Sally — walks as thoug-h crippled in the baek."
" Ranaway, a negro man named Dick — has a little finger off the right hand."
" Ranaway, the negro Patrick — has his little finger of the right hand cut close to the hand."
" Ranawav, Joe Dennis — has a small notch in one of his cars."
17 ■1838."'' " ^''"'^''^ Courier," August, ^„^ ^j- ^/^^ ^^^ ^^ ^^^^^ ^^,. „
" Ranaway, Dick — has lost the little toe of one of his feet."
" Escaped, my negro man Eaton — his little finger of the riglit hand has been broke."
" Ranaway, my negro man named Top — has had one of his legs broken."
" Ranaway, negro boy Jack — has a small crop out of his left ear."
" Was committed to jail, a negro man — has two scars on his forehead, and the top of his left ear cut off."
" Stolen, a negro man named Winter — has a notch cut out of the left ear, and the mark oifour or five buck shot on his legs."
" Ranaway, a negro man — scar back of his left eye, as if from the cut of a knife."
" Ranaway, negro man Buck — has a very plain mark under his ear on his jaw, about the size of a dollar, having been inflicted by a knife."
" Detained at the jail, the negro boyHermon — has a scar below his left ear, from the wound of a knife."
" Ranaway, a negro man by the name of John — he has a scar across his cheek, and one on his right arm, apparently done with a knife."
" Ranaway, Isham — has a scar upon the breast and upon the under lip, from the bite of a dog."
" Ranaway, a negro man — has a scar on his hip and on his breast, and two front teeth out."
" Committed to jail, a negro man, he is crippled in the right leg."
" Absconded, a colored boy, named Peter, lame in the right leg."
" Brought to jail, a negro man, his left ankle has been broke." Ranaway, a negro man named Jerry, has a small piece cut
The Heirs of J. A. Alston, near Georgetown, South Carolina, in the " Georgetown [S.C] Union," June 17, 1837.
A. S. Ballinger, Sheriff, Johnston Co, North Carolina, in the " Raleigh Stand- ard," Oct. 18, 1838.
Mr. Thomas Crutchfield, Atkins, Ten. in the " Tennessee Journal," Oct. 17, 1838.
" Absconded a negro named Cuffee, has lost one finger ; has an enlarged leg."
" Committed to jail, a negro man ; has a very sore leg."
" Ranaway, my mulatto boy Cv, has but one hand, all the fingers of his right hand were burnt off when young."
11
Q2 Punishments — Branding, Maiming, Scars.
J. A. Brown, jailer,Orangeburg, South " Was committed to jail, a negro named Bob, appears to be
Caroliiia, in the " Charleston Mercury," crippled in the right leg."
July 18, 1838. ' ^
S.B.Turton, jailer, Adams Co. Miss. "Was committed to jail, a negro man, has his left thigh
in the " Natchez Courier," Sept. 28, f)j-oke." 1828.
" Mr. John H. King, High street, " Ranaway, my negro man, he has the end of one of his
Georgetown, in the " National InteUi- f^jjo-erg broken."
geucer," August 1, 1837. '='
Mr. John B. Fox, Vicksburg, Miss. " Ranaway, a yellowish negro boy named Tom, has a notch
m the " Register," March 20, 1837. jjj ^^io back of one of his ears."
Messrs. Fernandez and Whiting, auc- " Will be sold Martha, aged nineteen, has one eye out." tioneers, New Orleans, in the " Bee," AprU 8.1837.
Mr. Marshall Jett, FarrowsviUe, Fan- " Ranaway, negro manEphraim, has a mark over one of his
quier Co. Virginia, in the " National ^ ^.g occasioned by a blow." InteUigencer," May 30,1837.
S. B. Turton, jailer Adams Co. Miss. "Was committed a negro, calls himself Jacob, has been
in the " Natches Courier," Oct. 12, 1838. crippled in his right leg."
John Ford, sheriff of Mobile County, " Committed to jail, a negro man Gary, a large scar on Ms
in the " Mississippian," Jackson Mi. foyeUcad."
Dec. 28, 1838. •'
E. W. IMorris, sheriff of Warren " Committed as a runaway, a negro man Jack, he has several
County, in the " Vicksburg [3(0.] Regis- g^ars on his face." ter," March 28, 1838.
' Mt. John P. Holcombe, in the Charles- "Absented himself, his negro man Ben, has scars on his
ton Mercury," AprU 17, 1828. throat, occasioned by the cut of a knife.'''
Mr. Willis ratterson.iu the "Charles- " Ranaway, a negro man, John, a scar across his cheek, and
ton Merciury," December 11, 1837. q^q qj^ JiJg right arm, apparently done with a knife."
Wm. Magee, sheriff. Mobile Co. in the " Committed to jail, a runaway slave, Alexander, a scar on
" MobUe Register," Dec. 27, 1837. i^jg j^f^ cheek."
Mr. Henry M. McGregor, Prince " Ranaway, negro Phil, scar tnrough the right eye brow, part
George County, Maryland, in the "Alex- f ^j^g middle toe on the right foot cut off." andria[D. C] Gazette," Feb. 6, 1838.
Green B Jourdan, Baldwin County " Ranaway, John, has a scar on one of his hands extending
Ga. in the " Georgia Journal," AprU 18, fj.Qj^ ^jjg ^j-jst ioint to the httle finger, also a scar on one of his
1837. ,._.., •■
Messrs. Daniel and Goodman, New " Absconded, mulatto slave Alick, has a large scar over one
Orleans, in the " N. O. Bee," Feb. 2. ^f j,jg cheeks." 1838.
Jeremiah Woodward, Goochland, Co. " 200 DOLLARS REWARD for Nelson, has a scar on his
Va. in the " Riclimond Va. Whig," forehead occasioned by a burn, and one on his lower lip and one
Jan. 30, 1838. ^^^^^ ^j^g j^j^ee_>.
" Ranaway, a negro man and bis wife, named Nat and
Samuel RawUns, Gwinet Co. Ga.in Priscilla, he has a small scar on his left cheek, two stiff fingers
the " Columbus Sentinel," Nov. 29, ^^^ ^^^ ^-^^^^ ^^^^ ^.pj^^ j^ running sore on them ; his wife has a
"^' scar on her left arm, and one upper tooth out."
The reader perceives that we have under this head, as under previous ones, given to the testi- mony of the slaveholders themselves, under their own names, a precedence over that of all other witnesses. Wc now ask the reader's attention to the testimonies which follow. They are en- dorsed by responsible names — men who ' speak vAat they know, and testify what they have seen' — testimonies which show, that the slave- holders who wrote the preceding advertise- ments, describing the work of their own hands, in branding with hot irons, maiming, mutilating, cropping, shooting, knocking out the teeth and eyes of their slaves, breaking their bones, &c„
have manifested, as far as they have gone in the description, a commendable fidelity to truth.
It is probable that some of the scars and maim- ino-s in the preceding advertisements were the result of accidents ; and some may be the result of violence inflicted by the slaves upon each other. Without arguing that point, we say, these are the facts ; whoever reads and ponders them, will need no argument to convince him, that the proposition which they have been employed to sustain, cannot be shaken. That any considera- blc portion of them were accidental, is totally im- j probable, from the nature of the case ; and is in ' most instances disproved by the advertisements
Ptinishments — Mutilation of Teeth.
S3
themselves. That they have not been produced by assaults of the slaves upon each other, is man- ifest from the fact, that injuries of that character intiicted by the slaves upon each other, are, as all who arc familiar with the habits and condition of slaves well know, exceedingly rare ; and of necessity must be so, from the constant action upon them of the strongest dissuasives from such acts that can operate on human nature.
Advertisements similar to the preceding may at any time be gathered by scores from the daily and weekly newspapers of the slave states. Be. fore presenting the reader with further testimony in proof of the proposition at the head of this part of our subject, we remark, that some of the tortures enumerated under this and the preceding heads, are not in all cases inflicted by slavehold- ers as punishments, but sometimes merely as pre. ventives of escape, for the greater security of tlieir ' property.' Iron collars, chains, &c. are put upon slaves when they are driven or trans- ported from one part of the country to another, in order to keep them from running away. Similar measures are aften resorted to upon plantations. When the master or owner suspects a slave of plotting an escape, an iron collar with long 'horns,' or a bar of iron, or a ball and chain, are often fastened upon him, for the double purpose of re- tarding his flight, should he attempt it, and of serving as an easy means of detection.
Another inhuman method of marking slaves, 60 that they may be easily described and detected when they escape, is called cropping. In the preceding advertisements, the reader will per-
: ccivc a number of cases, in which the runaway is described as ' cropt,'' or a ' notch cut in the car, or a part or the whole of the car cut off,' &,c. Two years and a half since, the writer of this saw a letter, then just received by Mr. Lewis Tappan, of New York, containing a negro's ear cut off' close to the head. The writer of the let- ter, who signed himself Thomas Aylethorpc, Montgomery, Alabama, sent it to Mr. Tappan as ' a specimen of a negro's ears,' and desired him to add it to his ' collection.'
Another method of marhing slaves, is by draw, ingout or breaking off" one or two front teeth — commonly the upper ones, as the mark would in that case be the more obvious. An instance of this kind the reader will recall in the testimony of Sarah M. Grimke, page 30, and of which she had personal knowledge ; being well acquainted both with the inhuman master, (a distinguished citizen of South Carolina,) by whose order tlie brutal deed was done, and with the poor young girl whose mouth was thus barbarously mutilated, to furnish a convenient mark by which to de- scribe her in case of her elopement, as she had frequently run away.
The case stated by TVliss G. serves to unravel what, to one unmitiated, seems quite a mystery : i. e. the frequency with which, in the advertise- ments of runaway slaves published in southern papers, they are described as having one or two front teeth out. Scores of such advertisements are in southern papers now on our table. We will furnish the reader with a dozen or two.
WITXESSES. Jesse Debruhl, sheriff, Richland Dis- trict, " Columbia (S. C.) Telescope," Feb. 24, 183S.
Mr. John Hunt, BlacK Water Bay, " Pensacola (Ga."l Gazwte," October 14, 1837.
Mr. John Frederick, Branchville, Oransteburgh District, S. C. " Charleston rs. C.J Courier," June 12, 1837.
3Ir. Egbert A. Eaworth, eisht miles westof Na?inille on the Charlotte road, " Daily Republican Banner," NashvUIe, Tennessee, April 30, 1S38.
Benjamin Russel, Deputy sheriff, Bibb Co. Ga. " Macon 'Ga.) Telegraph," Dec. 25, 18.^7.
F. Wisner, Master of the Work House, " Charleston (S. C.) Courier.'* Oct. 17, 1837.
Jlr. S. Neyle, " Savannah (Ga.) Re- publican," July 3, 1837.
Mr. John McMurrain, near Columbus, " Georgia Messenger," Aug. 2, 1838.
Mr. John Kennedy, Stewart Co. La. ^' New Orleans Bee," April 7, 1837.
Mr. A. J. Hutchings, near Florence, Ala. " North Alabasnian," August 25, 3838.
TESTIMONY.
" Committed to jail, Ned, about 25 years of age, has lost his two upper front teeth."
" 100 DOLLARS REWARD, for Perry, one under front tooth missing, aged 23 years."
10 DOLLARS REWARD, for Mary, one or two upper teeth out, abotit 25 years old."
'' Ranaway, Myal, 23 years old, one of his /ore teeth out."
" Brought to jail John, 23 years old, one fore tooth outy
" Committed to the Charleston Work House Tom, two of his upper front teeth out, about 30 years of age."
" Ranaway Peter, has lost two front teeth in the upper jaw."
" Ranaway, a boy named Moses, some of his front teeth out.
" Ranaway, Sally, her foreteeth out."
" Ranaway, George Winston, two of his upper fart teeth out immediately in front,"
Punishments — Mutilation of Teeth.
Mr. James Purdon, 33 Common street, N. O. " Kevv Orleans Bee," Feb. 13,
1838.
Mr. Robert Calvert, in the " Arkan- sas State Gazette," August 22, 1838.
Mr. A. G. A. Bcazlev, in the Mfim- phia Gazette," March 18, 1338.
Ranaway, Jackson, has lost one of his front teeth."" Ranaway, Jack, 25 years old, has lost one of his fore teeth." Ranaway, Abraham, 20 or 22 years of age, his front teeth
out.^
Mr. Samuel Townsond, in the " Hunts- villo [Ala.J Democrat," May 24, 1837.
out."
Ranaway, Dick, 18 or 20 years of age, has one front tooth
Mr. Philip A. Dew, in the " Virguua
Herald," ofMay 2-1, 1837.
Mr. John Frederick, in the " Charles- ton Mcrcurj'," August 10, 1837.
Jesse Debruhl, sheriff of Kichland District, in the " Columbia [S. C] "Telegraph," Sept. 2, 1837.
M. E. W. Gilbert, in the " Oolumbna [Ga.l Enquirer," Oct. 5. 1837.
Publisher of the " Charleston Mer- cury," Aug. 31, 1838.
*' Ranaway, Washington, about 25 years of age, has an upper front tooth out.''
"50 DOLLARS REWARD, for Mary, 25 or 26 years old, one or two upper teeth out."
" Committed to jail, Ned, 25 or 26 years old, has lost his two upper front teeth.''''
" 50 DOLLARS REWARD, for Prince, 25 or 26 years old, one or two teeth out in front on the upper jaw."
" Ranaway, Seller Saunders, one fore tooth out, about 22 years of affc."
Mr. Byrd M. Grace, in the " Macon [Ga.] Telegraph,"' Oct. 16, 1838.
Mr. George W. Barnes, in the " Mil- Icdgeville [Ga.] Journal," May 22, 1837.
D. Hernng. Warden of Baltimore Jail, in " Baltimore Chronicle," Oct. 6, 1837.
Mr. J. L. Colbom, in the " Hantsville [Ala.] Democrat," July 4, 1837.
Samuel Harman Jr. in the " New Osieans Bee," Oct. 12, 1838.
" Ranaway, Warren, about 25 or 26 years old, has lost some of his front teeth."
" Ranaway, Henry, about 23 years old, has one of his upper front teeth out."
" Committed to jail Hizabeth Steward, 17 or 18 years old, has one of her front teeth out."
" Ranaway Liley, 26 years of Sige, one fore tooth gone."
" 50 DOLLARS REWARD, for Adolphe, 28 years old, two of his front teeth are missing."
Were it necessary, we might easily add to the preceding list, hundreds. The reader will remark that all the slaves, whose ages are given, are yotmg — not one has arrived at middle age ; con- sequently it can hardly be supposed that they have lost their teeth either from age or decay. The probability that their teeth were taken out by force, is increased by the fact of their being front ti^eth in almost every case, and from the fact that the loss of no other is mentioned in the advertise- nients. It is well known that the front teeth are not generally the first to fail. Further, it is noto- rious that the teeth of the slaves are remarkably sound and serviceable, that they decay far less, and at a much later period of life than the teeth of the whites : owing partly, no doubt, to original con- stitution ; but more probably to their diet, habits, and mode of life.
As an illustration of the horrible mutilations sometimes suffered by them in the breaking and tearing out of their teeth, we insert the following, from the New-Orleans Bee of May 31, 1837.
$10 REWARD.— Ranaway, Friday, May 12, Julia, a negress, eighteen or twenty years old.
She has lost her upper teeth, and the under ones ARE all broken. Said reward will be paid to whoever will bring her to her master. No. 172 Barracks-street, or lodge h^^r in the jail.
The following is contained in the same paper.
Ranaway, Nelson, 27 years old, — "All his teeth are missing."
This advertisement is signed by " Selfer," Faubourg Marigny.
We now call the attention of the reader to a mass of testimony in support of our general pro. position.
George B. Ripley, Esq. of Norwich, Connec- ticut, has furnished the following statement, in a letter dated Dec. 12, 1838.
" Gurdon Chapman, Esq., a respectable mer- chant of our city, one of our county commission. crs, — last spring a member of our state legisla- ture,— and whose character for veracity is aljovo suspicion, about a year since visited the county of Nansemond, Virginia, for the purpose of buying a cargo of corn. He purchased a large quantity
of Mr. •, with whose family he spent a
week or ten days ; after he returned, he related to me and several other citizens the following facts.
Punishments — Cruelties.
85
( In order to prepare the com for market by the time agreed upon, the slaves were worked as hard as they would bear, from daybreak until 9 or 10 o'cloek at nig-lit. They were called directly I'roni their bunks in tlie morning- to their work, without a morsel of food until noon, when they took their breakfast and dinner, consisting of bacon and corn bread. The quantity of meat was not one tenth of what the same nmuber of northern laborers usually have at a meal. They were allowed but liftecn minutes to take this meal, at the expiration of this time the horn was blown. The rigor with ■which they enforce punctuality to its call, may be imagined from the fact, that a litilc boy only nine years old was whipped so severely by the driver, that in many places the vvdiip cut through his clothes (which were of cotton,) for tardiness of not over three minutes. They then worked with- out intermission until 9 or 10 at night ; after which they prepared and ate their second meal, as scanty as the first. An aged slave, who was remarkable for his industry and fidehty, was v/ork- ing with all his might on the threshing floor ; amidst the clatter of the shelling and winnowing machines the master spoke to him, but he did not hear; he presently gave him several scvei-e cuts with the raw hide, saying, at the same time, 'damn you, if you cannot hear I'll see if you can feel.' One morning the master rose from break- fast and whipped most crueli}-, with a raw hide, a nice girl who was waiting on the table, for not opening a west window when he had told her to open an east one. The number of slaves was only forty, and yet the lash was in constant use. The bodies of all of them were literally covered with old scars.
" Not one of the slaves attended church on the Sabbath. The social relations were scarcely re- cognised among them, and they lived in a stale of promiscuous concubinage. The master said he look pains to breed from his best stock — the whiter the progeny the higher they would sell for house servants. When asked by Mr. C. if he did not fear his slaves would run away if he whipped them so much, he replied, they know too well what they must suffer if they are taken — and then said, ' I'll tell you how I treat ray runaway nig- gers. I had a big nigger that ran away the second time ; as soon as I got track of him I took three good fellows and went in pursuit, and found him in the night, some miles distant, in a corn-house; we took him and ironed him hand and foot, and carted him home. The next morning we tied him to a tree, and whipped him until there was not a sound place on his back. I then tied his ankles and hoisted him up to a limh — feet up and head down — we then whipped him, until the damned nigger smoked so that I thought he would take fire and burn up. We then took him down ; and to make sure that he should not run away the third time. I run my knife in back of the ankles, and cut off the large cords, — and then I ought to have put some lead into the wounds, but I for- got it.'
" The truth of the above is from unquestionable authority ; and you may publish or suppress it, as shall best subserve the cause of God and hu- manity."
Extract of a letter from Stephen Sew all,
Esq., Winthrop, Maine, dated Jan. 12th, 18.'i9. Mr. S. is a member of the Congregational church in Winthrop, and late agent of the W^inthrop Manufacturing company.
" Being somewhat acquainted with slavery, by a residence of about five years in Alabama, and having witnessed many acts of slaveholding cru- elty, I will mention one or tv/o that came under my eye ; and one of excessive cruelty mentioned to me at the time, by the gentleman (now dead,) that interfered in behalf of the slave.
" I was witness to such cruelties by an over- seer to a slave, that he twice attempted to drown himself, to get out of his power : this was on a raft of staves, in the Mobile river. I saw an owner take his runavv'ay slave, tie a rope round him, then get on his horse, give the slave and horse a cut with the whip, and run the poor creature barefoot- ed, very fast, over rough ground, where small black jack oaks had been cut up, leaving the sharp stumps, on which the slave would frequently fall ; then the master would drag him as long as he could himself hold out ; then stop, and whip him up on his feet again — then proceed as before. This continued until he got out of my sight, which was about half a mile. But what further cruelties this wretched man, (whose passion was so excited that he could scarcely utter a word when he took the slave into his own power,) in- flicted upon his poor victim, the day of judgment will unfold.
" I have seen slaves severely whipped on planta- tions, but this is an every day occurrence, and comes under the head of general treatment.
" I have known the case of a husband com- pelled to whip his wife. This I did not witness, though not two rods from the cabin at the time.
" I will now mention the case of cruelty before referred to. In 1820 or 21, while the public v/orks were going forward on Dauphin Island, Mobile Bay, a contractor, engaged on the works, beat one of his slaves so severely that the poor crea- ture had no longer power to writhe under his suf- fering : he then took out his knife, and began to cut his flesh in strips, from his hips clown. At this moment, the gentleman referred to, who was also a contractor, shocked at such inhumanity, stepped forward, between the wretch and his vie. tim, and exclaimed, ' If you touch that slave again you do it at the peril of your hfe." The slaveholder rav'ed at him for interfering between him and his slave ; but he was obliged to drop his victim, fearing the arm of my friend — whose sta- ture and physical powers were extraordinary."
Extract of a letter from Mrs. Mary Cowles, a member of the Protestant Church at Geneva, Ashtabula county, Ohio, dated 12Lh, mo. 18th, 1838. Mrs. Cowles is a daughter of Mr. James ColweU of Brook county, Virginia, near West Liberty.
" In the year 1809, I think, when I was twenty, one years old, a man in the vicinity where I resid- ed, in Brooke co. Va. near West Liberty, by the name of Morgan, had a little slave girl about six years old, who had a habit or rather a natural infir- mity common to children of that age. On this ac- count her master and mistress would pinch her ears
86
Punishments — Cruelties.
with hot tongs, and throw hot embers on her legs. '■ Not being able to accomplish their object by these means, they at last resorted to a method too in- delicate, and too horrible to describe in detail. Suffice it to say, it soon put an end to her life in the most excruciating manner. If further testi- mony to authenticate what I have stated is ne- cessary, I refer you to Dr. Robert Mitchel who then resided in the vicinity, but now lives at In- diana, Pennsylvania, above Pittsburgh."
Mary Cowles. Testimony of William Ladd, Esq., now of Minot, Maine, formerly a slaveholder in Florida. Mr. Ladd is now the President of the American Peace Society. In a letter dated November 29, 1838, Mr. Ladd says :
" While I lived in Florida I knev/ a slaveholder whose name was Hutchinson, he had been a preacher and a member of the Senate of Georgia. lie told mc that he dared not keep a gun in his house, because he was so passionate ; and that he had been the death of three or four men. I un- derstood him to mean slaves. One of his slaves, a girl, once came to m}- house. She had run away from him at Indian river. The cords of one of her hands were so much contracted that her hand was useless. It was said that he had thrust her hand into the fire while he was in a fit of passion, and held it there, and this was the effect. My wife had hid the girl, when Hutchinson came for her. Out of compassion for the poor slave, I of- fered him more than she was worth, which he re- fused. We afterward let the girl escape, and I do not know what became of her, but I believe he never got her again. It was currently reported of Hutcliinson, that he once knocked down a new negro (one recently from Africa) who was clearing up land, and who complained of the cold, as it was mid-winter. The slave was stunned with the blow. Hutchinson, supposing he had the ' sulks,' applied fire to the side of the slave until it was so roasted that he said the slave was not worth curing, and ordered the other slaves to pile on brush, and he was consumed.
" A murder occurred at the settlement, (Mus- quito) while I lived there. An overseer from Geor- gia, who was emplo3^9d by a Mr. Cormick, in a fit of jealousy shot a slave of Samuel Williams, the owner of the next plantation. He was ap- prehended, but afterward suffered to escape. This man told me that he had rather whip a ne- gro than sit down to the best dinner. This man had, near his house, a contrivance like that which is used in armies where soldiers are punished with the picket; by this the slave was drawn up from the earth, by a cord passing round his wrists, so that his feet could just touch the ground. It somewhat resembled a New England well sweep, and was used when the slaves were flogged.
" The treatment of slaves at Musquito I consi- der much milder than that which 1 have witness- ed in the Ihiited States. Florida was under the Spanish government while I lived there. There were about fifteen or twenty plantations at Mus- quito. I have an indistinct recollection of four or five slaves dying of the cold in Amelia Island. They belonged to iVIr. Runer of Musquito. The compensation of the overseers was a certain por- tion of the crop."
Gerkit Smith, Esq. of Peterboro, in a letter, dated Dec. 15, 1838, says :
" I have just been conversing with an inhabi- tant of this town, on the subject of the cruelties of slavery. My neighbors inform me that he is a man of veracity. The candid manner of his communication utterly forbade the suspicion that he was attempting to deceive me.
" My informant says that he resided in Loui.^i- lana and Alabama during a great part of the years 1819 and 1820 : — that he frequently saw slaves whipped, never saw any killed ; but often heard of their being killed: — that in several in- stances he had seen a slave receive, in the space < of two hours, five hundred lashes — each stroke drawing blood. He adds that this severe whip- ping was always followed by the application of strong brine to the lacerated parts-
" My informant further says, that in the spring of 1819, he steered a boat from Louisville to New Orleans. Whilst stopping at a plantation on the east bank of the Mississippi, between Natchez and New Orleans, for the purpose of making sale of some of the articles with which the boat was freighted, he and his fellow boatmen saw a shock- ingly cruel punishment inflicted on a couple of slaves for the repeated offence of running away. Straw was spread over the whole of their backs, and, after being fastened by a band of the sama material, v/as ignited, and left to burn, until en- tirely consumed. The agonies and screams of the sufferers he can never forget."
Dr. David Nelson, late president of Marion ' College, Missouri, a native of Tennessee, and till forty years old a slaveholder, said in an Anti- Slavery address at Northampton, Mass, Jan. 1839—
" 1 have not attempted to harrow your feelings with stories of cruelty. I Vv'ill, however, mention one or two among the many incidents that came under my observation as family physician. I was one day dressing a blister, and the mistress of the house sent a little black girl into the kitchen to bring me some warm water. She probably mis- took her message ; for she returned with a bowl full of boiling water ; which her mistress no sooner perceived, than she thrust her hand into it, and held it there till it was half cooked."
Mr. He?jry H. Loomis, a member of the Pres- byterian Theological Seminary in the city of New York, says, in a recent letter —
" The Rev. Mr. Hart, recently my pastor, in Otsego county, New York, and who has spent some time at the south as a teacher, stated to me that in the neighborhood in which he resided a slave was set to watch a turnip patch near au academy, in order to keep off the boys who occa- sionally trespassed on it. Attempting to repeat tl le. trespass in presence of the slave, they were told that his ' master forbad it.' At this the boys were enraged, and hurled brickbats at the slave, until his face and other parts were much injured and wounded — but nothing was said or done about it as an injury to the slave.
" He also said, that a slave from the same neigh, borhood was found out in the woods, with his arms and legs burned almost to a cinder, up as
Punishments — Cruelties.
87
far as the elbow and knee joints ; and tlicrc ap- peared to be but little more said or thought about it than ;1 he had been a brute. It was supposed that hia master was the cause of it— making him •Jin example of punishment to the rest of the gang I"
The following is an extract of a letter dated March 5, 1839, from Mr. John Clarke, a highly respected citizen cf Scriba, Oswego county, New York, and a member of the Presbyterian church. The ' Mrs. Turner' spoken of in Mr. C.'s let- ter, is the wife of Hon. Fielding S. Turner, who in 1803 resided at Lexington, Kentucky, and was tlie attorney for the Commonwealth. Soon after that, he removed to New Orleans, and was for many vears Judge of the Criminal Court of that city. Having amassed an immense fortune, he returned to Lexington a few years since, and still resides there. Mr. C. the writer, spent the winter of 1836-7 in Lexington. He says,
" Yours of the 27th ult. is received, and I has- ten to state the facts which came to my know- ledge while in Lexington, respecting the occur- rences about which you inquire. Mrs. Turner was originally a Boston lady. She is from 35 to 40 years of age, and the wife of Judge Turner, formerly of New Orleans, and worth a large fortune in slaves and plantations. I repeatedly heard, while in Lexington, Kentucky, during the winter of 1836-7, of tlie wanton cruelty prac- tised by this woman upon her slaves, and that she had caused several to be tchipped to death; but I never heard that she was suspected of being deranged, otherwise than by the indulgence of an ungoverned temper, until I heard that her husband was attem.pting to incarcerate her in the Lunatic Asylum. The citizens of Lexing- ton, believing the charge to be a false one, rose and prevented the accomplishment for a time, until, lulled by the fair promises of his friends, they left his domicil, and in the dead of night she v/as taken by force, and conveyed to the asylum. This proceeding being judged illegal by her friends a suit was instituted to liberate her. I heard the testimony on the trial, which related only to proceedings had in order to getting her admitted into the asylum ; and no facts came out relative to her treatment of her slaves, other than of a general character.
" Some days after the above trial, (which by the way did not come to an ultimate decision, as I believe) I was present in my brother's office, when Judge Turner, in a long conversa- tion with my brother on the subject of his trials with his wife, said, ' That woman has been the immediate cause of the death of six of my ser- vants, by her severities'
" I was repeatedly told, while I was there, that she drove a colored boy from the second story window, a distance of 15 to 18 feet, on to the pavement, which made him a cripple for a time. " I heard the trial of a man for the nuu-derof his slave, bv whipping, where the evidence was to my mind pErfectly conclusive of his guilt; but the jury were two of them for convicting him of manslaughter, and the rest for acquitting him ;
and as they could not agree v/erc discharged — and on a subsequent trial, as I learned by the papers, the culprit was acquitted."
Rev. Thomas Savage, of Bedford, New Hamp- shire, in a recent letter, states the following fact:
" The following circumstance was related to me last summer, by my brother, now residing as a physician, at Rodney, Mississippi ; and who, though a pro-slavery man, spoke of it in terms of reprobation, as an act of capricious, wanton cru- elty. The planter who was the actor in it I my- self knew ; and the whole transaction is so cha- racteristic of the man, that, independent of the strong authority I have, I should entertain but little doubt of its authenticity. He is a wealthy planter, residing near Natchez, eccentric, capri- cious and intemperate. On one occasion he in- vited a number of guests to an elegant enter- tainment, prepared in the true style of southern luxury. From some cause, none of the guests appeared. In a moody humor, and under the influence, probably, of mortified pride, he ordered the overseer to call the people (a term by which the field hands are generally designated,) on to the piazza. The order was obeyed, and the people came. ' Now,' said he, ' have them seat- ed at the table. Accordingly they were seated at the well-furnished, ghttering table, while he and his overseer Vi-aited on them, and helped them to the various dainties of the feast. ' Now,' said he, after a while, raising his voice, ' take these ras- cals, and give them twenty lashes a piece. I'll show them'how to eat at my table.' The over- seer, in relating it, said he had to comply, though reluctantly, with this brutal command."
Mr. Henry P. Thompson, a native and still a resident of Nicholasville, Kentucky, made the following statement at a public meeting in Lane Seminary, Ohio, in 1833. He vias at that time a slaveholder.
" Cruelties, said he, are so common, I hardly know what to relate. But one fact occurs to me just at this time, that happened in the village where I live. The circumstances are these. A colored man, a slave, ran away. As he-vwas crossing Kentucky river, a white man, who sus- pected him, attempted to stop him. The negro resisted. The white man procured help, and finally succeeded in securing him. He then Vv'reaked his vengeance on him for resisting — flogging him till he was not able to walk. They then put him on a horse, and came on with him ten miles to Nicholasville. When they entered the village, it was noticed that he sat upon his horse like a drunken man. It was a very hot day ; and whilst they were taking some refresh- ment, the negro sat down upon the ground, under the shade. When they ordered him to go, he made several efForts before he could get up ; and when he attempted to mount the horse, his strength was entirely insufficient. One of the men struck him, and with an oath ordered him to get on the horse without any more fuss. The negro staggered back a few steps, fell down, and died. I do Dot know that any notice was ever taken of it."
Rev. Coleman S, Hodges, a native and still
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86
Punislivients — Cruelties.
with hot ton^s, and throw hot embers on her legs. ] Not being able to accomplish their object by these means, they at last resorted to a method too in- delicate, and too horrible to describe in detail. Suffice it to say, it soon put an end to her hie in the most excruciating manner. If further testi- mony to authenticate what I have stated is ne- cessary, I refer you to Dr. Robert Mitchel who then resided in the vicinity, but now lives at In- diana, Pennsylvania, above Pittsburgh."
Mary Cowles. Testimony of William Ladd, Esq., now of Minot, Maine, formerly a slaveholder in Florida. Mr. Ladd is now the President of the American Peace Society. In a letter dated November 29, 1838, Mr. Ladd says :
" While I lived in Florida I knev/ a slaveholder whose name was Hutchinson, he had been a preacher and a member of the Senate of Georgia. He told mc that he dared not keep a gun in his house, because he was so passionate ; and that he had been the death of three or foxir men. I un- derstood him to mean slaves. One of his slaves, a girl, once came to my house. She had run away from him at Indian river. The cords of one of her hands were so much contracted that her hand was useless. It was said that he had thrust her hand into the fire while he was in a fit of passion, and held it there, and this was the effect. My wife had hid the girl, when Hutchinson came for her. Out of compassion for the poor slave, I of- fered him more than she was worth, which he re- fused. We afterward let the girl escape, and I do not know what became of her, but I believe he never got her again. It was currently reported of Hutchinson, that he once knocked down a new negro (one recentl}^ from Africa) who was clearing up land, and who complained of the cold, as it was mid-winter. The slave was stunned with the blow. Hutchinson, supposing he had the ' sulks,' applied fire to the side of the slave until it was so roasted that he said the slave was not worth curing, and ordered the other slaves to pile on brush, and he was consumed.
" A murder occurred at the settlement, (Mus- quito) while I hved there. An overseer from Geor- gia, who was employed by a Mr. Cormick, in a fit of jealousy shot a slave of Samuel Williams, the owner of the next plantation. He was ap- prehended, but afterward suffered to escape. This man told me that he had rather whip a ne- gro than sit down to the best dinner. This man had, near his house, a contrivance like that which is used in armies where soldiers are punished with the picket ; by this the slave was drawn up from the earth, by a cord passing round his vsTists, so that his feet could just touch the ground. It somewhat resembled a New England well sweep, and was used when the slaves were flogged.
" The treatment of slaves at Musquito I consi- der much milder than that which I have witness- ed in the United States. Florida was under the Spanish government while I lived there. There were about fifteen or twenty plantations at Mus- quite. I have an indistinct recollection of four or five slaves dying of the cold in Amelia Island. They belonged to Mr. Runer of Musquito. The compensation of the overseers was a certain por- tion of the crop."
Gerkit Smith, Esq. of Pcterboro, in a letter, dated Dec. 15, 1838, says :
" I have just been conversing with an inhabi- tant of this town, on the subject of the cruelties of slavery. My neighbors inform me that he is a man of veracity. The candid manner of his communication utterly forbade the suspicion that he was attempting to deceive me.
" My informant says that he resided in Louis-- lana and Alabama during a great part of the years 1819 and 1820 : — that he frequently saw slaves whipped, never saw any killed ; but often heard of their being killed: — that in several in- stances he had seen a slave receive, in the space of two hours, five hundred lashes — each stroke drawing blood. He adds that this severe whip- ping was always followed by the apphcation of strong brine to the lacerated parts-
" My informant further says, that in the spring of 1819, he steered a boat from Louisville to New Orleans. Whilst stopping at a plantation on the east bank of the Mississippi, between Natchez and New Orleans, for the purpose of making sale of some of the articles with which the boat wa^i freighted, he and his fellow boatmen saw a shock- ingly cruel punishment inflicted on a couple of slaves for the repeated offence of running away. Straw was spread over the whole of their backs, and, after being fastened by a band of the same material, v/as ignited, and left to burn, until en- tirely consumed. The agonies and screams of the sufferers he can never forget."
Dr. David Nelson, late president of Marion College, Missouri, a native of Tennessee, and till forty years old a slaveholder, said in an Anti- Slavery address at Northampton, Mass. Jan. 1839—
" I have not attempted to harrow your feelings with stories of cruelty. I will, however, mention one or two among the many incidents that camo under my observation as family physician. I was one day dressing a blister, and the mistress of the house sent a little black girl into the kitchen to bring me some warm water. She probably mis- took her message ; for she returned with a bowl full of boiling water ; which her mistress no sooner perceived, than she thrust her hand into it, and held it there till it was half cooked."
Mr. Henry H. Loomis, a member of the Prea, byterian Theological Seminary in the city of New York, says, in a recent letter —
" The Rev. Mr. Hart, recently my pastor, in Otsego county. New York, and who has spent some time at the south as a teacher, stated to me that in the neighborhood in which he residcrl a slave was set to watch a turnip patch near an academy, in order to keep off the boys who occa- sionally trespassed on it. Attempting to repeat tlic trespass in presence of the slave, they were told that his ' master forbad it.' At this the boys were enraged, and hurled brickbats at the slave until his face and other parts were much injured and wounded — but nothing was said or done about it as an injury to the slave.
'• He also said, that a slave from the same neigh, borhood was found out in the woods, with his arms and legs burned almost to a cinder, up as
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far &e the elbow and l^nce joints ; and tlierc ap- peared to 1)0 but little more said or thought about it than it lie had been a brute. It was supposed that his master was the cause of it — making him an example of punislmient to the rest of the gang !"
The following is an extract of a letter dated March 5, 1839, from Mr. John Clarke, a highly respected citizen cf Scriha, Oswego county, New York, and a member of the Presbyterian church.
The ' Mrs. I'urner' spoken of in Mr. C.'s let- ter, is the wife of Hon. Fielding S. Turner, who in 1803 resided at Lexington, Kentucky, and was the attorney for the Commonwealth. Soon after that, he removed to New Orleans, and was for many years Judge of the Criminal Court of that city. Having amassed an immense fortune, he returned to Lexington a few years since, and still resides there. Mr. C. the writer, spent the winter of 1836-7 in Lexington. He says,
" Yours of the 27th ult. is received, and I has- ten to state the facts which eamo to my know- ledge while in Lexington, respecting the occur- rences about which you inquire. Mrs. Turner was originally a Boston lady. She is from 35 to 40 years of age, and the wife of Judge Turner, formerly of New Orleans, and worth a large fortune in slaves and plantations. I repeatedly heard, whde in Lexington, Kentucky, during the winter of l8o6-7, of the wanton cruelty prac- tised by this woman upon her slaves, and that she had caused several to be ivJiipped to death; but I never heard that she was suspected of being deranged, otherwise than by the indulgence of an ungoverned temper, until I heard that her husband was attem.pting to incarcerate her in the Lunatic Asylum. The citizens of Lexing- ton, believing the charge to be a false one, rose and prevented the accomplishment for a time, until, lulled by the fair promises of his friends, they left his domicil, and in the dead of night she v/as taken by force, and conveyed to the asylum. This proceeding being judged illegal by her friends a suit was instituted to liberate her. I heard the testimony on the trial, which related only to proceedings had in order to getting her admitted into the asylum ; and no facts came out relative to her treatment of her slaves, other than of a general character.
" Some days after the above trial, (which by the way did not come to an ultimate decision, as I believe) I was present in my brother's office, when Judge Turner, in a long conversa- tion with my brother on the subject of his trials with his wife, said, ' That woman has been the immediate cause of the death of six of my ser- vants, by her severities.''
" I was repeatedly told, while I was there, that she drove a colored boy from the second story window, a distance of 15 to 18 feet, on to the pavement, which made him a cripple for a time.
" I heard the trial of aman for the miu-derof his slave, bv whipping, where the evidence was to my mind perfectly conclusive of his guilt ; but the jury were two of them for convicting him of manslaughter, and the rest for acquitting him ;
and as they could not agree v/erc discharged — and on a subsequent trial, as 1 learned by the papers, the culprit was acquitted."
Rev. Thomas Savage, of Bedford, NewHamp. shire, in a recent letter, states the following fact :
" The following circumstance was related to me last summer, by my brother, now residing as a physician, at llodney, Mississippi ; and who, though a pro-slavery man, spoke of it in terms of reprobation, as an act of capricious, wanton cru- elty. The planter who was the actor in it I my- self knew ; and the whole transaction is so cha- racteristic of the man, that, independent of the strong authority I have, I should entertain but little doubt of its authenticity. He is a wealthy planter, residing near Natchez, eccentric, capri- cious and intemperate. On one occasion he in- vited a number of guests to an elegant enter- tainment, prepared in the true style of southern luxury. From some cause, none of the guests appeared. In a moody humor, and under the influence, probably, of mortified pride, he ordered the overseer to call the people (a term by which the field hands are generally designated,) on to the piazza. The order was obeyed, and the people came. ' Now,' said he, ' have them seat- ed at the table. Accordingly they were seated at the well-furnished, glittering table, while he and his overseer waited on them, and helped them to the various dainties of the feast. ' Now,' said he, after a while, raising his voice, ' take these ras- cals, and give them twenty lashes a piece. I'll show them how to eat at my table.' The over- seer, in relating it, said he had to comply, though reluctantly, with this brutal command."
Mr. Henhy p. Thompson, a native and still a resident of Nicholasville, Kentucky, made the following statement at a public meeting in Lane Seminary, Ohio, in 1833. He was at that time a slaveholder.
" Cruelties, said he, are so common^ I hardly know what to relate. But one fact occurs to me just at this time, that happened in the village where I live. The circumstances are these. A colored man, a slave, ran away. As howas crossing Kentucky river, a white man, who sus- pected him, attempted to stop him. The negro resisted. The white man procured help, and finally succeeded in securing him. He then vfreaked his vengeance on him for resisting — flogging him till he was not able to walk. Thejr then put him on a horse, and came on with him ten miles to Nicholasville. When they entered the village, it was noticed that he sat upon his horse like a drunken man. It was a very hot day ; and whilst they were taking some refresh- ment, the negro sat down upon the ground, under the shade. When they ordered him to go, he made several efforts before he could get up ; and when he attempted to mount the horse, his strength was entirely insufficient. One of the men struck him, and with an oath ordered him to get on the horse without any more fuss. The negro staggered back a few steps, fell down, and died. I do Dot know that any notice was ever taken of it."
Rev. Coi.EMAN S. Hodges, a native and still
88
Punishments — Cruelties.
a resident of Western Virginia, gave the follow- ing testimony at the same meeting.
" I have frequently seen the mistress of a fam- ily in Virginia, with whom I was well acquaint- ed, beat ilio woman who performed the kitehen work, with a stxk two feet and a half long, and nearly as thick as my wrist ; striking her over the head, and across the small of the back, as she was bent over at her work, with as much epite as you would a snake, and for what I should consider no ofience at all. There lived m this same family a young man, a slave, who was in the habit of running away. He returned one time after a week's absence. The master took him into tlie barn, stripped him entirely naked, tied him up by his hands so high that he could not reach the floor, tied his feet together, and put a small rail between his legs, so that he could not avoid the blows, and commenced whipping him. He told me that he gave him five hundred lashes. At any rate, he was covered with wounds from head to foot. Not a place as big as my hand but what was cut. Such things as these are per- fectly common all over Virginia ; at least so far as I am acquainted. Generally, planters avoid punishing their slaves before strangers."
Mr. Calvin H. Tate, of Missouri, whose father and brother were slaveholders, related the fol- lowing at the same meeting. The plantation on which it occurred, was in the immediate neigh- borhood of his father's.
" A young woman, who was generally very badly treated, after receiving a more severe whip ping than usual, ran away. In a few days she came back, and was sent into the field to work. At this time the garment next her skin was stift' like a scab, from the running of the sores made by the whipping. Towards night, she told her master that she was sick, and wished to go to the house. She went, and as soon as she reach- ed it. laid down on the floor exhausted. The mistress asked her what the matter was ? She made no reply. She asked again ; but received no answer. ' I'll see,' said she, ' if I can't make you, speak.' So taking the tongs, she heated them red hot, and put them upon the bottoms of her feet ; then upon her legs and body ; and, finally, in a rage, took hold of her throat: This had the desired effect. The poor girl faintly whispered, • Oh, misse, don't — I am most gone ;' and expired."
Extract of a letter from Rev. C. S. Renshaw, pastor of the Congregational Church, Quincy, Illinois.
" Judge Menzies of Boone county, Kentucky, an elder in the Presbyterian Church, and a slave- holder, told me that he knew some overseers in the tobacco growing region of Virginia, who, to make their slaves careful in picking the tobacco, that is taking the worms off", (you know what a loathsome thing the tobacco worm is) would make them eat some of the worms, and others who made them eat every worm they missed in picking."
" Mrs. Nancy Judd, a member of the Non- Conformist Church in Osnaburg, Stark county,
Ohio, and formerly a resident of Kentucky, testi- fies that she knew a slaveholder,
" Mr. Brubecker, who had a number of slaves, among whom was one who would frequently avoid labor by hiding himself; for which ho would get severe floggings without the desired ef- fect, and that at last iVlr. B. would tie large cats on his naked body and whip them to malie them tear his back, in order to break him of his habit of hiding."
Rev. Horace Moulton, a minister of the Me- thodist Episcopal Church in Marlborough, Mas sachasetts, says :
" Some, when other modes of punishment will not subdue them, cat-haul them ; that is, take a cat by the nap of the neck and tail, or by its hind legs, and drag the claws across the back until satisfied ; this kind of puni.<hment, as 1 have vm- derstood, poisons the flesh much worse than the whip, and is more dreaded by the slave."
Rev. Abel Brown, Jr. late pastor of the first Baptist Church, Beaver, Pennsylvania, in a com- munication to Rev. C. P. Grosvenor, Editor of the Christian Reflector, says :
" I almost daily see the poor heart-broken slave making his way to a land of freedom. A short time since, I saw a noble, pious, distressed, spirit- crushed slave, a member of the Baptist church, escaping from a (professed Christian) blood- hound, to a land where he could enjoy that of which he had been robbed during forty years. His prayers would have made us all feel. I saw a Baptist sister of about the same age, her chil- dren had been torn from her, her head was cover- ed with fresh wounds, while her upper lip had scarcely ceased to bleed, in consequence of a blow with the poker, which knocked out her teeth ; she too, was going to a land of freedom. Only a very few days since, I savsr a girl of about eigh- teen, with a child as white as myself, aged ten months ; a Christian master was raising her child (as well his own perhaps) to sell to a southern market. She had heard of the intention, and at midnight took her only treasure and traveled tv/enty miles on foot through a land of strangers — she found fri&ids."
Rev. Henry T. Hopkins, pastor of the Primi- tive Methodist Church in New York City, who resided in Virginia from 1821 to 1826, relates the following fact :
=' An old colored man, the slave of Mr. Emer- son, of Portsmouth, Virginia, being under deep conviction for sin, went into the back part of his master's garden to pour out his soul in prayer to God. For this offence he was whipped thirty- nine lashes."
Extract of a letter from Doctor F. Julius Le Moyne, of W"ashington, Pennsylvania, dated Jan. 9, 1839.
" Lest you should not have seen the state, ment to which I am going to allude, I subjoin a brief cutlino of the facts of a transaction which occurred in Western Virginia, adjacent to this county, a number of years ago — a full account
Punishmejils — Wanton Cruelties.
89
of which was published in tlio " Witness" about two years since by Dr. Mitchell, wiio now resides in Indiana county, Pennjylvania. A slave boy ran away in cold weather, and during his con- cealment liad his legs frozen ; he returned, or was retaken. After soine time the ficsh decayed and sloughed — of course was offensive — he was car- ried out to a field and left there without bed, or shelter, deserted lo die. His only companions were the house dogs which ho called to him. Ai'- ter several days and nights spent in suffering and exposure, he was visited by Drs. McKitchen and Mitchell in the field, of their own accord, having heard by report of his lamentable condition ; ihey remonstrated with the master ; brought the boy to the house, amputated both legs, and he finally recovered."
Hon. James K. Paulding, the Secretary of the Navy of the U. States, in his " Letters from the South" published in 1817, relates the following : " At one of the taverns along the road we were set down in the same room with an elderly man and a youth who seemed to be well acquaint- ed with him, for they conversed familiarly and with true republican independence — for they did not mind who heard them. From the tenor of his conversation I was induced to look particu- larly at the elder. He was telling the youth something like the following detested tale. He was going, it seems, to Richmond, to inquire about a draft for seven thousand dollars, which he had sent by mail, but which, not having been ac- knowledged by his correspondent, he was afraid had been stolen, and the money received by the thief. ' I should not like to lose it,' said he, ' for I worked hard for it, and sold many a poor
d 1 of a black to Carolina and Georgia, to
scrape it together.' He then went on to tell many a perfidious tale. All along the road it seems he made it his business to inquire wheie lived a man who might be tempted to become a party in this accursed traffic, and when he had got some half dozen of these poor creatures, he tied their hands behind their backs, and drove them three or four hundred miles or more, bare- headed and half naked through the burning southern sun. Fearful that even southern huma- nity would revolt at such an exhibition of human misery and human barbarity, he gave out that they were runaway slaves he was carrying home to their masters. On one occasion a poor black woman exposed this fallacy, and told the story of her being kidnapped, and when he got her into a wood out of hearing, he beat her, to use his own expression, ' till her back was white.' It seems he married all the men and women he bought, himself, because they would sell better for being man and wife ! But, said the youth, were you not afraid, in traveling through the wild country and sleeping in lone houses, these slaves would rise and kill you ? ' To be sure I was,' said the other, ' but I always fastened my door, put a chair on a table before it, so that it might wake me in falling, and slept with a loaded pistol in each hand. It was a bad life, and I left it off as soon as I could live without it ; for many is the time I have separated wives from husbands, and husbands from wives, and parents from children, but then I made them amends by marrying them 12
again as soon as I had a chance, that is to say, I made tlioni call each other man and wife, and sleep together, which is quite enough for negroes. I made one bad purchase though,' continued he. ' I bought a young mulatto girl, a lively creature, a great bargain. She had been the favorite of her master, who had lately married. The dif- ficulty was to get her to go, for the |)Oor creature loved liLr master. However, I swore most bit- terly I was only going to take her to her mother's
at and she went with mo, though she seemed
to doubt ma very much. But when she discovered, at last, that we were out of the state, I thought she would go mad, and in fact, the next night she drowned herself in the river close by. I lost a good five hundred dollars by this foolish trick.' " Vol. I. p. 121.
Mr. Spir.LMAN, a native, and till recently,
a resident of Virginia, now a member of the Pres- byterian church in Delhi, Hamilton co., Ohio, has furnished the two following facts, of which he had personal knowledge.
''David Stallard, of Shenandoah Co., Virginia, had a slave, who run away; he was taken up and lodged in Woodstock jail. Stallard went with an- other man and took him out of the jail — tied him to their horses — and started for home. The day was excessively hot, and they rode so fast, drag- ging the man by the rope behind them, that he became perfectly exhausted — fainted — dropped down, and died.
" Henry Jones, of Culpepper co., Virginia, owned a slave, who ran away. Jones caught him, tied him up, and for two days, at intervals, continued to flog him, and rub salt into his man- gled flesh, until his back was literally cut up. The slave sunk under the torture ; and for some days it was supposed he must die. He, however, slow- ly recovered ; though it was some weeks before he could walk."
Mr. Nathan Cole, of St. Louis, Missouri, in a letter to Mr. Arthur Tappan, of New-York, dated July 2, 1334, says,—
"You will find inclosed an account of the pro- ceedings of an inquest lately held in this city upon the body of a slave, the details of which, if pub- lished, not one in ten could be induced to believe true.* It appears that the master or mistress, or both, suspected the unfortunate wretch of hiding a bunch of keys wliich were missing ; and to ex. tort some explanation, which, it is more than pro- bable, the slave was as unable to do as her mis- tress, or any other person, her master. Major Har- ney, an officer of our army, had whipped her for three successive days, and it is supposed by some, that she was kept tied during the time, until her flesh was so lacerated and torn that it was impos- sible for the jury to say whether it had been done with a whip or hot iron ; some think both — but she was tortured to death. It appears also that the husband of the said slave had become suspected of telling some neighbor of what was going on, for
* Tlie following is the newspaper notice referreii to : — An inquest was held at the dwelling iioase of Blajor Har- ney, in this city, on the 27th inst. by the coroner, on th& body of Hannah, a slave. The jury, on their oaths, and after hearing the testimony of physicians and several other witnesses, found, that said slave " came to her death by wounds inflicted by William S. Harney."
no
Punishments — Wanton Cruelties.
which Major Harney commenced torturing him, until the man broke from him, and ran into the Mississippi and drowned himself. The man was a pious and very industrious slave, perhaps not surpassed by any in this place. The woman has been in the family of John Shackford, Esq., the present doorkeeper of the Senate of the United States, for many years ; was considered an excel- lent servant — was the mother of a number of children — and I believe was sold into the family where she met her fate, as matter of conscience, to keep her from being sent below."
Mr. EzEKiEL BiRBSEYE, a highly respected citi- zen of Cornwall, Litchfield co., Connecticut, who resided for many years at the south, furnished to the Rev. E. R. Tyler, editor of the Connecticut Observer, the following personal testimony.
"While I lived in Limestone co., Alabama, in 1826-7, a tavern-keeper of the village of Mores- ville discovered a negro carrying away a piece of old carpet. It was during the Christmas holidays, when the slaves are allowed to visit their friends. The negro stated that one of the servants of the tavern owed him some twelve and a half or twenty-five cents, and that he had taken the car- pet in payment. This the servant denied. Tlie innkeeper took the negro to a field near by, and whipped him cruelly. He then struck him with a slake, and punched him in the face and mouth, knocking out some of his teeth. After this, he took him back to the house, and com. mitted him to the care of his son, who had just then come home with another young man. This was at evening. They whipped him by turns, with heavy cowskins, and made the dogs shake Mm. A Mr. Philhps, who lodged at the house, heard the cruelty during the night. On •getting up he found the negro in the bar-room, terribly mangled with the whip, and his flesh so torn by the dogs, that the cords were bare. He remarked to the landlord that he was dangerously hurt, and needed care. I'he landlord replied that he deserved none. Mr. Phillips vvent to a neigh- boring magistrate, who took the slave home \\ni\\ him, where he soon died. The father and son were both tried, and acquitted ! ! A suit was brought, however, for damages in behalf of the owner of the slave, a yoimg lady by the name of Agnes Jones. 1 10 as on the jury when these facts were stated on oath. Two men testified, one that he would have given $1000 for him. the other $900 or $950. The jury found the latter sum,
"At Union Court House, S. C, a tavem-keep. er, by the name of Samuel Davis, procured the conviction and execution of his own slave, for stealing a cake of gingerbread from a grog shop. The slave raised the latch of the back door, and took the cake, doing no other injury. The shop keeper, whose name was Charles Gordon, was willing to forgive him, but his master procured his conviction and execution by hanging. The slave had but one arm ; and an order on the state trea- sury by the court that tried him, which also as- sessed his value, brought him more money than he coiild have obtained for the slave in market."
Mr. , an elder of the Presbyterian Church
in one of the slave states, lately wrote a letter to
an agent of the Anti-Slavery Society, in v>?hich he states the following fact. The name of the writer is with the Executive Committee of the American Anti-Slavery Society.
" I was passing through a piece of timbered land, and on a sudden I heard a sound as of murder ; I rode in that direction, and at some distance dis- covered a naked black man, hung to the limb of a tree by his hands, his feet chained together, and a pine rail laid with one end on the chain between his legs, and the other upon the ground, to steady him ; and in this condition the overseer gave him four hundred lashes. The miserably lacerated slave was then taken down, and put to the care of a physician. And what do you suppose was the offence for which all this was done ? Simply this : his owner, observing that he laid off" corn rows too crooked, he replied, ' Massa, much com grow on crooked row as on straight one.' This was it — this was enough. His overseer, boasting of his skill in managing a nigger, he was submitted to him, and treated as above."
David L. Child, Esq., of Northampton, Massa- chusetts, Secretary of the United States minister at the Court of Lisbon during the administration of President Monroe, stated the following fact in an oration delivered by him in Boston, in 1834. (See Child's " Despotism of Freedom," p. 30.
'' An honoralde friend, who stands high in the state and in the nation,* was present at the burial of a female slave in Mississippi, who had been whipped to death at the stake by her master, be- cause she was gone longer of an errand to the neighboring town than her master thought neces- sary. Under the lash she protested that she was ill, and was obliged to rest in the fields. To com- plete the climax of horror, she was delivered of a dead infant while undergoing the punishment."
The same fact is stated by Mrs. Child in her " Appeal." In answer to a recent letter, inquir- ing of Mr. and Mrs. Child if they were now at liberty to disclose the name of their informant, Mr. C. says, —
'' The witness who stated to us the fact was John James Appleton, Esq., of Cambridge, Mass. He is now in Europe, and it is not without some hesitation that I give his name. He, however, has openly embraced our cause, and taken a con- spicuous part in some anti-slavery public meet- ings since the time that I felt a scruple at publish- ing his name. Mr. Appleton is a gentleman of high talents and accomplishments. He has been Secretary of Legation at Rio Janeiro, Madrid, and the Hague ; Commissioner at Naples, and Charge d' Affaires at Stockholm."
The two following facts are stated upon the authority of the Rev. Joseph G. Wilson, pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Salem, Washington CO., Indiana.
" In Bath co., Kentucky, Mr. L., in the year '32 or '33, while intoxicated, in a fit of rage whip- ped a female slave until she fainted and fell on the floor. Then he whipped her to get up; then
* " The narrator of this fact is now abspnl from the United States, and I do not feel at liberty to mention his name."
Punishments — Cruelties.
91
with red hot tongs he burned off her ears, and whipped luragainl but all in vain. He then or- dered his negro men to carry her to the cabin. There she was i'ound dead next morning.
" One Wall, in Chester district, S. C, owned a slave, whom he hired to his brother-in-law, Wni. Beckman, for whom the slave worked eighteen nmntlis, and worked well. Two weeks alter re- turning to his master he ran away on account of bad treatment. To induce him to return, the master said him nominnlltj to his neighbor, to whom She slave gave himself up, and by w^hom he was returned to his master : — Punishment, siripes. To prevent escape a bar of iron was fast- encd with three bands, at the waist, knee, and ankle. That night he broke the bands and bar, and escaped. Next day he was taken and whipped to death, by three men, the master. Thorn, and the overseer. First, he was whipped and driven towards home ; on the way he attempt- ed to escape, and was shot at by the master, — caught, and knocked down with the butt of the gun b}' Thorn. In attempting to cross a ditch he fell, with his feet down, and face on the bank ; they whipped in vain to get him up — he died. His soul ascended to God, to be a swift witness against his oppressors. This took place at 12 o'clock. Next evening an inquest was held. Of thirteen jurors, summoned by the coroner, nine said it was murder ; two said it was manslaughter, and two said it was justifiable ! He was bound over to com't, tried, and acquitted — not even fined !"
The following fact is stated on the authority of j\Ir. Wm. Willis, of Green Plains, Clark eo. Ohio ; formerly of Caroline co. on the eastern shore of Maryland.
" Mr. W. knew a slave called Peter White, who was sold to be taken to Georgia ; he escaped, and lived a long time in the woods — was finally taken. When he found himself surrounded, he surren- dered himself quietly. When his pursuers had him in their possession, they shot him in the leg, and broke it, out of mere wantonness. The next day a ?.Iethodist minister set his leg, and bound it up with splints. The man who took him, then went into his place of confinement, w^antonly jumped upon his leg and crushed it. His name was W^illiam Sparks."
Most of our readers are familiar with the hor- rible atrocities perpetrated in New Orleans, in 1834, by a certain Madame La Laurie, upon her slaves. They were published extensively in north, em newspapers at the time. The following are ex- tracts from the accounts as published in the New Orleans papers immediately after the occurrence. The New Orleans Bee says : —
" Upon entering one of the apartments, the most appaUing spectacle met their eyes. Seven slaves, more or less horribly mutilated, were seen sus- pended by the neck, vv'ith their limbs apparently stretched and torn, from one extremity to the other. They had been confined for several months in the situation from which they had thus provi- dentially been rescued ; and had been merely kept in existence to prolong their sufferings, and to make th.^m taste all that a most refined cruelty could inflict."
The New^ Orleans Mercantile Advertiser says : " A negro woman was found chained, covered with bruises and wounds from severe flogging. — - All the apartments were then forced open. In a room on the ground floor, two more were found chained, and in a deplorable condition. Up stair.'^ and in the garret, four more were found chained ; some so weak as to be unable to walk, and all co- vered with wounds and sores. One mulatto boy declares himself to have been chained for five months, being fed daily with only a handful of meal, and receiving every morning the most cruel! treatment."
The New Orleans Courier says : — " We saw one of these miserable beings. — He had a large hole in his head — his body, from head to foot, was covered with scars and filled with worms."
The New Orleans Mercantile Advertiser says ;
" Seven poor unfortunate slaves were found — some chained to the floor, others with chain.s around their necks, fastened to the ceiling ; and one poor old man, upwards of sixty yea.rs of age, chained hand and foot, and made fast to the floor, in a kneeling position. His head bore the appear, ance of having been beaten until it was broken, and the worms were actually to be seen making a feast of his brains ! ! A woman had her back literally cooked (if the expression may be used) vs'itli the lash ; the very bones might be seen pro- jecting through the skin .'"
The New York Sun, of Feb. 21, 1837, contains the following : —
" Two negroes, runaways from Virginia, were overtaken a few days since near Johnstown, Co- lumbia CO. N. Y. when the persons in pursuit called out for them to stop or they would shoot them. — One of the negroes turned around and said, he would die before he would be taken, and at the moment received a rifle ball through his knee : the other started to run, but was brought to the ground by a ball being shot in his back. After receiving the above wounds they made battle with their pursuers, but were captured and brought in. to Johnstown. It is said that the young men who shot them had orders to take them dead or alive."
Mr. M. M. Shafter, of Townsend, Vermont, recently a graduate of the Wesleyan University at Middletown, Connecticut, makes the following^ statement :
" Some of the events of the Southampton, Va. insurrection were narrated to me by Mr. Benja- min W. Britt, from Riddicksviflc, N. C. Mr. Britt claimed the honor of having shot a black on that occasion, for the crime of disobeying Mr. Britt's imperative ' Stop !' And Mr. Ashurst, of Edenton, Georgia, told me that a neighbor of his ' fired at a likely negro boy of his mother,' because the said boy encroached upon his premises."
Mr. David Hawley, a class leader in the Me- thodist Episcopal Church at St. Albans, Licking- county, Ohio, who moved from Kentucky to Ohio in 1831, certifies as follows: —
" About the year 1825, a slave had escaped for
92
Punishme nts — Cruelties.
Canada, but was arrested in Hardin county. On his return, I saw him in Hart county — his wrists tied together before, his arms tied close to his body, tlie rope then passing behind his body, thence to the ncclt of a horse on which rode the master, with a club about three feet long, and of the size of a hoe handle ; which, by the appearance of the slave, had been used on his head, so as to wear off the hair and skin in several places, and the blood was running freely from his mouth and nose ; his heels very much bruised by the horse's feet, as his master had rode on him because he would not go fast enough. Such was the slave's appearance when passing through where I resided. Such cases were not unfrequent."
The following is furnished by Mr. F. A. Hart,
of Middletown, Connecticut, a manufacturer, and an influential member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. It occurred in 1824, about twenty-five miles this side of Baltimore, Maryland. —
" I had spent the night with a Methodist bro- ther; and while at breakfast, a person came in and called for help. We went out and found a crowd collected around a carriage. Upon ap- proaching we discovered that a slave-trader was endeavoring to force a woman into his carriage. He had already put in three children, the young- est apparently about eight years of age. The wo- man was strong, and whenever he brought her to the side of the carriage, she resisted so etfectually with her feet that he could not get her in. The woman becoming exhausted, at length, by her frantic eiforts, he thrust her in with great violence, stamped her down upon the bottom with his jeet ! shouted to the diiver to go on; and away they rolled, the miserable captives moaning and shriek- ing, until their voices were lost in the distance."
Mr, Samdel Hall, a teacher in Marietta Col- lege, Ohio, writes as follows : —
" Mr. Isaac C. Fuller is a member of the Me- thodist Episcopal Church in Marietta. He was a fellow student of mine while in college, and now resides in this place. He says: — In 1832, as I was descending the Ohio with a flat boat, near the ♦ French Islands,' so called, below Cincinnati, I saw two negroes on horseback. The horses ap- parently took fright at something and ran. Both jumped over a rail fence ; and one of the horses, in so doing, broke one of his fore-legs, falling at the same time and throwing the negro who was upon his back. A white man came outof a house not over two hundred yards distant, and came to the spot. Seizing a stake from the fence, he knocked the negro down five or six times in suc- cession.
" In the same year I worked for a Mr. Now- land, eleven miles above Baton Rouge, La. at a place called 'Thomas' Bend.' He had an over- seer who was accustomed to flog more or less of the slaves every morning. I heard the blows and screams as regularly as we used to hear the col- lege bell that summoned us to any duty when we went to school. This overseer was a nephew of Nowland, and there were about 'fifty slaves on his plantation. Nowland himself related the following to me. One of his slaves ran away, and came to the Homo Chitto river, where he
found no means of crossing. Here he fell in with a white man who knew his master, being on a journey from that vicinity. He induced Ihe slave to return to Baton Rouge, under the promise of giving him a pass, by which he might escape, but, in reality, to betray him to his master. Th;s he did, instead of fulfilling his promise. Nowland said that he took the slave and inflicted five hundred lashes upon him, cutting his back all to pieces, and then threw on hot embers. The slave was on the plantation at the time, and told me the same story. He also rolled up his sleeves, and showed me the scars on his arms, which, in con- sequence, appeared in places to be callous to the bone. I was with Nowland between five and six months."
Rev. John Rankin, formerly of Tennessee, now pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Ripley, Ohio, has furnished the following statement: —
" The Rev. Ludwell G. Gaines, now pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Goshen, Clermont county, Ohio, stated to me, that while a resident of a slave state, he was summoned to assist in taking a man who had made his black woman work naked several days, and afterwards mur- dered her. The murderer armed himself, and threatened to shoot the officer who went to take him ; and although there was ample assistance at hand, the officer declined further interference."
Mr. Rankin adds the following : —
" A Presbyterian preacher, now resident in a slave state, and therefore it is not expedient to give his name, stated, that he saw on board of a steamboat at Louisville, Kentucky, a woman who had been forced on board, to be carried off" from all she counted dear on earth. She ran across the boat and threw herself into the river, in order to end a life of intolerable sorrov/s. She was drawn back to the boat and taken up. The bru- tal driver beat her severely, and she immediately threw herself again into the river. She was hook- ed up again, chained, and carried off"."
Testimony of Mr. William Hansborough, of Culpepper county, Virgbinia, the ''owner" of sixty slaves.
" I saw a slave taken out of prison by his mas- ter, on a hot summer's day, and driven, by said master, on the road before him, till he dropped down dead."
The above statement was made by Mr. Hans- borough to Lindley Coates, of Lancaster county, Pa. a distinguished member of the Society of Friends, and a member of the late Convention in Pa. for altering the State Constitution. The let- ter from Mr. C. containing this testimony of Mr. H. is now before us.
Mr. Tobias Boudinot, a member of the Method. ist Church in St. Albans, Licking county, Ohio, says :
"In Nicholas villa, Ky. in the year 1823, he saw a slave fleeing before the patrol, but he was overtaken near where he stood, and a man v/ith a knotted cane, as large as his wrist, struck the slave a number of times on his head, until the
Punishments — Brandings.
93
club was broken and he made tame ; the blood was thrown in every direction by the violence of the blows."
The Rev. William Dickey, of Bloomingburg, Fayette county, Ohio, wrote a letter to the Rev. John Rankin, of Ripley, Ohio, thirteen years since, containing a description of the cutting up of a slave with a broad axe ; beginning at the feet and gradually cutting the legs, arms, and body into pieces 1 This diabolical atrocity was com- mitted in the state of Kentucky, in the year 1807. The perpetrators of the deed were two brothers, Lilburn and Isham Lewis, nephews of President Jefferson. The writer of this having been in. iormed by Mr. Dickey, that some of the facts con- nected with this murder were not contained in his letter published by Mr. Rankin, requested him to write the account aneio, and furnish the addi- tional facts. This he did, and the letter contain, ing it was published in the " Human Rights" for August, 1837. We insert it liere, slightly abridg- ed, with the introductory remarks which appeared m that paper.
" Mr. Dickey's first letter has been scattered all over the country, south and north ; and though multitudes have affected to disbelieve its state- ments, Kentuckians know the truth of them quite too well to call them in question. The story is fiction or fact — if fiction, why has it not been nail- ed to the wall ? Hundreds of people around the mouth of Cumberland River are personalh^ know- ing to these facts. There are the records of the court that tried the wretches. — There their ac- quaintances and kindred still live. All over that region of country, the brutal butchery of George is a matter of public notoriety. It is quite need- less, perhaps, to add, that the Rev. Wm. Dickey is a Presbyterian clergyman, one of the oldest members of the Chilicothe Presbytery, and greatly respected and beloved by the churches in South- em Ohio. He was born in South Carolina, and was for many years pastor of a church in Ken- tucky.
REV. WM. dickey's LETTER.
" In the county of Livingston, Ky. near the mouth of Cumberland River, lived Lilburn Lewis, a sister's son of the celebrated Jefferson. He was the wealthy owner of a considerable gang of ne- groes, whom he drove constantly, fed sparingly, and lashed severely. The consequence was, that they would run away. Among the rest was an ill-thrived boy of about seventeen, who, having just returned from a skulking spell, was sent to the spring for water, and in returning let fall an elegant pitcher : it was dashed to shivers upon the rocks. This was made the occasion for reck- oning with him. It was night, and the slaves were all at home. The master had them all col- lected in the most roomy negro-house, and a rous- ing fire put on. When the door was secured, that none might escape, either through fear of him or sympathy with George, he opened to them the de- sign of the interview, namely, that they might be effectually advised to stay at home and obey his orders. All things now in train, he called up
George, who approached his master with unre- served submission. He bound him with cords ; and by the assistance of Isham Lewis, his young- est brother, laid him on a broad bericli, tlie meat- block. He then proceeticd to hack off George at the ankles! It was with the broad axe ! In vain did the unhappy victim scream and roar ! for he was completely in his master's power ; not a hand among so many durst interfere : casting the feet into the fire, he lectured them at some length. — He next chopped him off below the knees.' George roaring out and pra3'ing his master to begin at the other end .' He admonished them again, throw- ing the legs into the fire — then, above the knees, tossing the joints into the fire — the next stroke severed the thighs from the body ; these were also committed to tlie flames — and so it may be said of the arms, head, and trunk, until all was in the fire ! He threatened any of them with similar punishment who should in future disobey, run away, or disclose tlie proceedings of that evening. Nothing now remained but to consume the flesh and bones ; and for this purpose the fire was brightly stirred until two hours after midnight ; when a coarse and heavy back-wall, composed of rock and clay, covered the fire and the remains of George. It was the Sabbath — this put an end to the amusements of the evening. The negroes were now permitted to disperse, with charges to keep this matter among themselves, and never to whisper it in the neighborhood, under the penalty of a like punishment.
'' When he returned home and retired, his wife exclaimed, 'Why, Mr. Lewis, where have you been, and what were you doing ?' She had heard a strange pounding and dreadful screams, and had smelled something like fresh meat burning. The answer he returned was, that he had never enjoy- ed himself at a ball so well as he had enjoyed him- self that night.
" Next morning he ordered the hands to rebuild the back-wall, and he himself superintended the work, throwing the pieces of flesh that still re- mained, with the bones, behind, as it went up — thus hoping to conceal the matter. But it could not be hid — much as the negroes seemed to haz- ard, they did whisper the horrid deed. The neigh- bors came, and in his presence tore down the wall; and finding the remains of the boy, they appre- hended Lewis and his brother, and testified against them. They were committed to jail, that they might answer at the coming court for this shock- ing outrage ; but finding security for their appear- ance at court, TiiEY were admitted to bail !
" In the interim, other articles of evidence leak, ed out. That of Mrs. Lewis hearing a pounding, and screaming, and her smelling fresh meat burn- ing, for not till now had this come out. He was offended with her for disclosing these things, al- leging that they might have some weight against him at the pending trial.
" In connection with this is another item, full of horror. Mrs. Lewis, or her girl, in making her bed one morning after this, found, under her bol- ster, a keen butcher knife ! The appalling disco, very forced from her the confession that she con- sidered her life in jeopardy. Messrs. Rice and Philips, whose wives were her sisters, went to see her and to bring her away if she wished it. Mr. Lewis received them with all the expressions of
94
Personal Naraatives — Rev. Francis Hawley.
Virginia hospitality. As soon as they were seat- ed they said, ' Well, Lelitia, we supposed that you might be unhappy here, and afraid for your hfe ; and we have come to-day to take you to your fa- ther's, if you desire it.' She said, ' Thank you, kind brotliers, I am indeed afraid for my hfe.' — We need not interrupt the story to tell how mueh surprised he affected to be with this strange procedure of his brothers-in-law, and with this declaration of his wife. But all his professions of fondness for her, to the contrary notwith- standing, they rode off with her before his eyes. — He followed and overtook, and went with them to her father's ; but she was locked up from him, with her own consent, and he returned home.
" Now ho saw that his character was gone, his respectable friends believed that he had massacred George ; but, worst of all, he saw that they con- 'sidered the life of the harmless Letitia was in dan- ger from his perfidious hands. It was too much for his chivalry to sustain. The proud Virginian sunk under the accumulated load of public odium. He proposed to his brother Isham, who had been his accomplice in the George affair, that they should finish the play of life witli a still deeper tragedy. The plan was, that they should shoot one another. Having made the hot-brained bar- gain, they repaired with their guns to the grave- yard, which was on an eminence in the midst of his plantation. It was inclosed with a railing, say thirty feet square. One was to stand at one railing, and the other over against him at the other. They were to make ready, take aim, and count deliberately 1, 2, 3, and then fire. Lilburn's will was written, and thrown down open beside , him. They cocked their guns and raised them to ; their faces ; but the peradventure occurring that one of the guns might miss fire, Isham was sent for a rod, and when it was brought, Lilburn cut it off at about the length of two feet, and was showing his brother how the survivor might do, '
provided one of the guns should fail ; (for they were determined upon going together;) but for- getting, perhaps, in the perturbation of the mo- ment that the gun was cocked, when he touched the trigger with the rod the gun fired, and he fell, and died in a few minutes — and was with George in the eternal world, where the slave is free from his master. But poor Isham was so terrified with this unexpected occurrence and so confounded by the awful contortions ofhis brother's face, that he had not nerve enough to follow up the play, and finish the plan as was intended, but suffered Lilburn to go alone. The negroes came running to see what it meant that a gun should be fired in the grave-3'ard. There lay their master, dead I They ran for the neighbors. Isham still remain- ed on the spot. The neighbors at the first charged him with the murder of his brother. But he, though as if he had lost more than half his miiffi, told the whole s'tory ; and the course or range of the ball in the dead man's body agreeing with his statement, Isham was not farther charged with Lilburn's death.
" The Court sat — Isham was judged to be guilty of a capital crime in the affair of George He was to be hanged at Salem. The day was set. My good old father visited him in the prison — two or three times talked and prayed v/ith him ; I visited him once myself. We fondly hoped that he was a sincere penitent. Before the day of execution came, by some means, I never knew what, Isham was missing. About two years after, we learned that he had gone down to Natchez, and had mar- ried a lady of some refinement and piety. I saw her letters to his sisters, who were worthy mem- bers of the church of which I was pastor. The last letter told of his death. He was in Jackson's army, and fell in the famous battle of New Or- leans. " I am, sir, your friend,
"Wm. Dickey."
PERSONAL NARRATIVES-PART III.
NARRiVTIVE AND TESTJMONY OF REV. FRANCIS HAWLEY.
Mr. Hawley is the pastor of the Baptist Church in Colebrook, Litchfield county, Connecticut. He has resided fourteen years in the slave states, North and South Carolina. His character and standing with his own denomination at the south, may be inferred from the fact, that the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina ap- pointed him, a few years since, their general agent to visit the Baptist churches within their bounds, and to secure their co-operation in the ob- jects of the Convention. Mr. H. accepted the appointment, and for some time traveled in that capacity.
" I rejoice that the Executive Committee of the American Anti-SIavcry Society have resolved to publish a volume of facts and testimony rela- tive to the character and workings of American slavery. Having resided fourteen years at the south, I cheerfully comply with your request, to give the result of my observation and experience.
And I would here remark, that one may reside at the south for years, and not witness extreme cruelties ; a northern man,- and one who is not a slaveholder, would be the last to have an oppor- tunity of witnessing the infliction of cruel pun- ishments.
PLANTATIONS.
«'A majority of the large plantations are on the banks of rivers, far from the pubhc eye. A great deal of low marshy ground lies in the vicinity of most of the rivers at the south ; consequently the main roads are several miles from the rivers, and generally no public road passes the plantations. A stranger traveling on the ridge, would think himself in a miserably poor country ; but every two or three miles he will see a road turning off, and leading into the swamp ; taking one of those roads, and travehng from two to six miles, he will come to a large gate ; passing which, he will find himself in a clearing of several hundred acres of the first quality of land ; passing on, he will see 30, or
Personal Narratives — Rev. Francis Hawley.
40, or more slaves — men, women, boys and girls, at their task, every one witli a lioc ; or, if in cot- ton picking season, with their baskets. The overseer, with his whip, either riding or standing about among them ; or if tlie weatlier is liot, sit- ting under a shade. At a distance, on a htlle rising ground, if si.ch Ihere be, he will sec a clus- ter of huts, with a tolerable house in the midst, for the overseer. Those huts are from ten to liftecn feet square, built of logs, and covered, not with shingles, but with boards, about four feet long, split out of pine timber with a \fmw.' The floors are very commonly made in this way. Clay is first worked mitil it is soft ; it is then spread upon the ground, about four or five inches thick ; when it dries, it becomes nearly as hard as a brick. The crevices between the logs are sometimes filled with the same. These huts generally cost the master nothing — they are com- monly built by the negroes at night, and on Sun- days. When a slave of a neighboring plantation takes a wife, or to use the phrase common at the south, ' takes up' with one of the women, he builds a hut, and it is called her house. Upon entering these huts, (not as comfortable in many instances as the horse stable,) generally, you will find no chairs, but benches and stools : no table, no bedstead, and no bed, except a blanket or two, and a few rags or moss ; in some in- stances a knife or two, but very rarely a fork. You may also find a pot or skillet, and generally a number of gourds, which serve them instead of bowls and plates. The cruelties practiced on those secluded plantations, the judgment day alone caa reveal. Oh, brother, could I summon ten slaves from ten plantations that I could name, and have them give but one year's history of their bondage, it would thrill the land vi^ith hor- ror. Those overseers who follow the business of overseeing for a livelihood, are generally the most unprincipled and abandoned of men. Their wages are regulated according to their skill in extorting labor. The one who can make the most bags of cotton, with a given number of jiands, is the one generally sought after ; and there Is a competition among them to see who shall make the largest crop, according to the hands he works. I ask, what must be the con- dition of the poor slaves, under the unlimited power of such men, in whom, by the long-con- tinued practice of the most heart-rending cruel- ties, every feeling of humanity has been obliterat- ed ? But it may be asked, cannot the slaves have redress by appealing to their masters ? In many instances it is impossible, as their masters live hundreds of miles off. There are perhaps thousands in the northern slave states, [and many in the free states,] who own plantations in the southern slave states, and many more spend their summers at the north, or at the various watering places. But what would the slaves gain, if they should appeal to the master ? He has placed the overseer over them, with the understanding that he will make as large a crop as possible, and that he is to have entire control, and manage them accord- ing to his own judgment. Now, suppose that in the midst of the season, the slaves make complaint of cruel treatment. The master cannot get along without an overseer — it is perhaps very sickly on the plantation — he dare not risk his
own life there. Overseers are all engaged at that season, and if he takes part with his slaves against the overseer, he would destroy his authority, and very likely provoke him to leave his service — which would ol' course be a very great injury to him. Thus, in nineteen cases out of twenty, self-interest would prevent the master from pay- ing any attention to the complaints of his slaves. And, if any should complain, it would of course come to the cars of the overseer, and the com- plainant would be inhumanly punished lor it.
CLOTHING.
"The rule, where slaves are hired out, is two suits of clothes per year, one pair of shoes, and one blanket ; but as it relates to the great body of the slaves, this cannot be called a general rule. On many plantations, the children under ten or twelve years old, go entirely naked — or, if clothed at all, tliey have nothing more than a shirt. The cloth is of the coarsest kind, far from being durable or warm ; and their shoes fre- quently come to pieces in a few weeks. I have never known any provision made, or time allow- ed for the washing of clothes. If they wish to wash, as they have generally but one suit, they go after their day's toil to some stream, build a fire, pull off" their clothes and wash them in the stream, and dry them by the fire ; and in some instances they v.^ear their clothes until they are worn off, without wasliing. I have never known, an instance of a slaveholder putting himself to any expense, that his slaves might have decent clothes for the Sabbath. If, by making baskets, brooms, mats, &c. at night or on Sundays, the slaves can get money enough to buy a Sunday suit, very well. I have never known an instance of a slaveholder furnishing his slaves with stock- ings or mittens. I Jmow that the slaves suffer much, and no doubt many die in consequence of not being well clothed.
FOOD.
"In the grain-growing part of the south, the slaves, as it relates to food, fare tolerably well ; but in the cotton, and rice-growing, and sugar-making portion, some of them fare badly. I have been on plantations where, from the ap- pearance of the slaves, I should judge they were half-starved. They receive their allowance very commonly on Sunday morning. They are left to cook it as they please, and when they please. Many slavelaolders rarely give their slaves meat, and very few give them more food than will keep them in a working condition. They rarely ever have a change of food. I have never known an instance of slaves on plantations being fur- nished either with sugar, butter, cheese, or milk.
WORK.
'• If the slaves on plantations were well fed and clothed, and had the stimulus of wages, they could perhaps in general perform their tasks without injury. The horn is blown soon after the dawn of day, when all the hands destined for the field must be ' on the march.' If the field is far from their huts, they take their breakfast with them. They toil till about ten o'clock, when they eat it. They then continue their toil till the sun is set.
" A neighbor of mine, who has been an over- seer in Alabama, informs me, that there they_ as- certain how much labor a slave can perform in a
96
Personal Narratives — Rev. Francis Havvley.
day, in the following manner. When they com- mence a new cotton field, the overseer takes his watch, and marks how long it lakes Ihim to hoe one row, and then lays oiF the task accordingly. jMy neighbor also intbrms mc, that the slaves in Alabama are worked very hard ; that the lash is almost universalljr applied at the close of the day, if they fail to perform their task in the cotton- picking season. You will see them, with their baskets of cotton, slowly bending their way to the cotton house, where each one's basket is weighed. They have no means' of knowing ac- curately, in the course of the day, how they make progress; so that they are in suspense, until their basket is weighed. Here comes the mother, with her childien ; she does not know whether her- self, or children, or all of them, must take the lash; they cannot weigh the cotton themselves — the whole inust be trusted to the overseer. While the weighing goes on, all is still. So many pounds short, cries the overseer, and takes up his whip, exclaiming, ' Step this way, you d — n lazy scoun- drel,' or ' bitch.' The poor slave begs, and pro- mises, but to no purpose. The lash is applied until the overseer is satisfied. Sometimes the whip- ping is deferred until the weighing is all over. I have said that all must be trusted to the over- seer. If he owes any one a grudge, or wishes to enjoy the fiendish pleasure of whipping a little, (for some overseers really delight in it,) they have only to tell a falsehood relative to the weight of their basket ; they can then have a pretext to gratify their diabolical disposition ; and from the character of overseers, I have no doubt that it is frequently done. On all plantations, the male and female slaves fare pretty much alike ; those who are with child are driven to their task till within a few days of the time of their deliv- ery ; and when the child is a few weeks old, the mother must again go to the field. If it is far from her hut, she must take her babe with her, and leave it in the care of some of the children — perhaps of one not more than four or five years old. If the child cries, she cannot go to its re- lief; the eye of the overseer is upon her; and if, when she goes to nurse it, she stays a little longer than the overseer thinks necessary, he commands her back to her task, and perhaps a husband and falher must hear and witness it all. Brother, you cannot begin to know what the poor slave mothers suffer, on thousands of plantations at the south.
" I will now give a few facts, showing the workings of the system. Some years since, a Presbyterian minister moved from North Caro- lina to Georgia. He had a negro man of an uncommon mind. For some cause, I know not what, this minister whipped him most unmerci- fully. He next nearly drowned him ; he then put him in the fence ; this is done by lifting up the corner of a ' worm' fence, and then putting the feet through ; the rails serve as stocks. He kept him there some time, how long I was not inform- ed, but the poor slave died in a few days ; and, if I was rightly informed, nothing was done about it, either in church or state. After some time, he moved back to North Carolina, and is
now a member of Presbytery. I have heard
him preach, and have been in the pulpit with him. Mav God forgive me !
" At Laurel Hill, Richmond county. North Carolina, it was reported that a runaway slave was in the neighborhood. A number of young men took their guns, and went in pursuit. Some of them took tlieir station near the stage road, and kept on the look-out. It was early in the evening — the poor slave came along, when the ambush rushed upon him, and ordered him to surrender. He refused, and kept them off with his club. They still pressed upon him with their guns presented to his breast Without seeming to be daunted, he caught hold of the muzzle of one of the guns, and came near getting possession of it. At length, retreating to a fence on one side of the road, he sprang over into a corn-field, and started to run in one of the rows. One of the young men stepped to the fence, fired, and lodged the whole charge between his shoulders ; he lell, and died in a short time. He died with- out telling who his master was, or whether he had any, or what his own name was, or where he was from. A hole was dug by the side of the road his body tumbled into it, and thus ended the whole matter.
" The Rev. Mr. C. a Methodist minister, held as his slave a negro man, who was a member of his own church. The slave was considered a very pious man, had the confidence of his mas- ter, and all who knew him, and if I recollect right, he sometimes attempted to preach. Just before the Nat Turner insurrection, in Southamptoii county, Virginia, by which the whole south was thrown into a panic, this worthy slave obtained permission to visit his relatives, who resided either in Southampton, or the county adjoining. This was the onl}? instance that ever came to my knowledge, of a slave being permitted to go so far to visit his relatives. He went and return- ed according to agreement. A few weeks after his return, the insurrection took place, and the whole country was deeply agitated. Suspicion soon fixed on this slave. Nat Turner was a Baptist minister, and the south became exceed- ingly jealous of all negro preachers. It seemed as if the whole community were impressed with the belief that he knew all about it ; that he and Nat Turner had concerted an extensive insurrec. rection ; and so confident were they in this be- lief, that they took the poor slave, tried him, and hung him. It was all done in a few days. He protested his innocence to the last. After the excitement was over, many were ready to ac- knowledge that they believed him innocent. He v.'as hung upon suspicion .'
" In R county, North Carolina, lived a
Mr. B. who had the name of being a cruel mas- ter. Three or four winters since, his slaves were engaged in clearing a piece of new land. He had a negro girl, about 14 3'ears old, whom he had severely whipped a few days before, for not performing, her task. She again failed. The hands left the field for home ; she went with them a part of the way, and fell behind ; but the ne- groes thought she would soon be along ; the evening passed away, and she did not come. They finally concluded that she had gone back to the new ground, to lie by the log heaps that were on fire. But they were mistaken : she had sat down by the foot of a large pine. She was thinly clad — the night was cold and rainy. In
Personal Narratives — Rev. Francis Hawley.
97
the morning the poor jrirl was found, but she was f speechless and died in a short time.
" One of my neijrjibors sold to a speculator a neg:ro boy, about 14 years old. It was more than his poor motlicr could bear. Her reason fled, and she became a perfect maniac, and had to be kept in close confinement. She would oc- casionallj' get out and run ofF to the neighbors. On one of these occasions she came to my house. She was indeed a pitiable object. With tears rollinnr down her ciieeks, and her frame shaking witli as^ony, she would cry out, ' don't you hear him — they are ivhipping him noio, and he is call- ing for 7ne ." This neighbor of mine, who tore the boy away from his poor mother, and thus broke her heart, was a inember of the Preshjteri- an church.
" Mr. S , of iMarion District, South Caro- lina, informed me that a boy was killed by the
overseer on Mr. P ^"s plantation. The boy
was engaged in driving the horses in a cotton gin. The driver generally sits on the end of the sweep. Not driving to suit the overseer, he knocked him off" with tiie butt of his whip. His skull was fractured. He died in a short time.
" A man of my acquaintance in South Caro- lina, and of considerable wealth, had an only son, whom he educated for the bar ; but not succeed- ing in his profession, he soon returned home. His father having a small plantation three or four miles ofF, placed his son on it as an overseer. Following the example of his father, as I have good reason to believe, he took the wife of one of the negro men. The poor slave felt himself greatly injured, and expostulated with him. The wretch took his gun, and deliberately shot him. Providentiallj' he only wounded him badly. When the father came, and undertook to remon. strate with his son about his conduct, he threat. ened to shoot him also ! and finally, took the negro woman, and went to Alabama, where he Btill resided when I left the south.
" An elder in the Presbyterian church related to me the following. — ' A speculator with his drove of negroes was passing my house, and I bought a little girl, nine or ten years old. After a few months, I concluded that I would rather have a plough-boy. Another speculator was passing, and I sold the girl. She was much dis- tressed, and was very unwilling to leave.' — She had been with him long enough to become at- tached to his ow"n and his negro children, and he
" I was acquainted with a very wealthy pla titer, on tjie Pedec river, in Soutli Carolina, "wiio Jias svncc died in consequence of intemperance. It was said that he had occasioned tiie death of twelve of his slaves, by compelling ilicm to work in water, opening a ditch in tlie midst of wiater. The disease with whieli they died was a pleurisy. " In crossing Pedce river, at Cashvvay Ferry, 1 observed that the ferryman had no hair on eit'hcr side of his head. I asked him tiic cause. He informed me that it was caused Ijy his master's cane. I said, you have a very bad master. 'Yes, a very bad master.' I understood that he was once a member of Congress from South Carolina. " While traveling as agent for the North Caro. lina Baptist State Convention, I attended a three days' meeting in Gates county. Friday, the first day, passed off. Saturday morning came, and the pastor of the church, wlro lived a few miles off, did not make his appearance. The day pass- ed otT, and na news from the pastor. On Sab. bath morning, he came hobbling along, havino- but little use of one foot. He soon explained : said he had a hired negro man, Avho, on Satur- day morning, gave him a ' little slack jaw.' Not having a stick at hand, he fell upon him with his fist and foot, and in kicking him, he injured his foot so seriously, that he could not attend meet- ing on Saturday,
" Some of the slaveholding ministers at the south, put their slaves under overseers, or hire them out, and then take the pastoral care of
churches. The Rev. Mr. B , formerly of
Pennsylvania, had a plantation in Marlborough District, South Carolina, and was the pastor of a church in Darlington District. The Rev. Mr.
T , of Johnson county. North Carolina, has a
plantation in Alabama.
"I was present, and saw the Rev. J
W , of Mecklenburg county. North Carolina,
hire out four slaves to work in the gold mines in
Burke county. The Rev. H M , of Orange
county, sold for $900, a negro man to a specula- tor, on a Monday of a camp meeting.
" Runaway slaves are frequently hunted with guns and dogs. / loas once out on such an excur- sion, with ray rifle and two dogs. I trust the Lord has forgiven me this heinous wickedness ! We did not take the runawa3's.
" Slaves are sometimes most unmercifully pun- ished for trifling offences, or mere mistakes. "As it relates to amalgamation, I can say,
concluded by saying, that in view of the little i that I have been in respectable families, (so call- gu-l's tears and cries, he had determined never to | ed,) where I could distinguisji the family resem- do the like again. I would not trust him, for I i blance in the slaves v/ho waited upon the table, know him to be a very avaricious man. " - ■ - - . -
" While traveling in Anson countj^ North Ca- rohna, I put up for a night at a private house. The man of the house was not at home when I stopped, but came in the course of the evening, and was noisy and profane, and nearly drunk. I retired to rest, but not to sleep ; his cursing and swearing were enough to keep a regiment awake. About midnight he went to his kitchen, and called out his two slaves, a man and woman. His object, he said, was to whip them. They both begged and promised, but to no purpose. The whipping began, and continued for some time. Their cries might have been heard at a distance.
13
I once hired a slave who belonged to his own uncle. It is so eominon for the female slaves to have white children, that little or nothing is ever said about it. Very few inquiries are made as to who the father is.
" Thus, brother , I have given you very
briefly, the result, in part, of my observations and experience relative to slavery. You can make v/hat disposition of it you please. I am willing that my name should go to the world with what I have now written.
"Yours affectionately, for the oppressed,
" Francis Hawley." Colebrook, Connecticut, March 18, 1835.
93
Personal Narratives — Reuben G. Macy and Richard Macy.
TESTIMONY OF REUBEN G. MACY AND RICHARD MACY.
The following is an extract of a letter recently received from Charles Marriott of Hudson, New York. Mr. Marriott is an elder in the Re- ligious Society of Friends, and is extensively known and respected.
" The two following brief statements, are fur- nished by Richard Macy and Reuben G. Macy, brothers, both of Hudson, New York. They are head carpenters by trade, and have been well known to me for more than thirty years, as esteem- ed members of the Religious Society of Friends. They inform me that during their stay in South Carolina, a number more similar cases to those here related, came under their notice, which to avoid repetition thej^ omit.
C. Marriott.
TESTIMONY OF REUBEN G. MACY.
" During the winter of 1818 and 19, I resided on an island near the mouth of the Savannah river, on the South Carolina side. Most of the slaves that came under my particular notice, be- longed to a widow and her daughter, in whose fa- mily I lived. No white man belonged to the plantation. Her slaves were under the care of an overseer who came once a week to give orders, and settled the score laid up against such as their mistress thought deserved punishment, which was from twenty-five to thirty lashes on their naked backs, with a whip which the overseer generally brought with him. This whip had a stout handle about two feet long, and a lash about four and a half feet. From two to four received the above, I be- lieve nearly every week during the winter, some- times in my presence, and always in my hearing. I examined the backs and shoulders of a number of the men, which were mostly naked while they were about their labor, and found them covered with hard ridges in every direction. One da)^ while busy in the cotton house, hearing a noise, I ran to the door and saw a colored woman plead. ing with the overseer, who paid no attention to her cries, but tied her hands together, and passed the rope over a beam, over head, where was a platform for spreading cotton, he then drew the rope as tight as he could, so as to let her toes *ouch the ground ; then stripped her body naked to tiie waist, and went deliberately to work with his whip, and put on twenty-five or thirty lashes, she pleading in vain all the time. I inquired, the cause of such treatment, and was informed it was for answering her mistress rather ' short.'' "
" A woman from a neighboring plantation came where I was, on a visit ; she came in a boat row- ed by six slaves, who, according to the common practice, were left to take care of themselves, and having laid them down in the boat and fallen asleep, the tide fell, and the water filling the stern of the boat, wet their mistresses trunk of clothes. When she discovered it, she called them up near where I was, and compelled them to whip each ether, till they all had received a severe flogging. She standing by with a whip in her hand to see that they did not spare each other. Their usual allowance of food was one peck of corn per week,
which was dealt out to them every first day of the week, and such as were not there to receive their portion at the appointed time, had to live as they could during the coming week. Each one had the privilege of planting a small piece of ground, and raising poultry for their own use which they generally sold, that is, such as did improve the privilege which were but few. They had nothing allowed them besides the corn, ex- cept one quarter of beef at Christmas which a slave brought three miles on his head. They were allowed three days rest at Christmas. Their clothing consisted of a pair of trowsers and jacket, made of whitish woollen cloth called negro cloth. The women had nothing but a petticoat, and a very short short-gown, made of the same kind of cloth. Some of the women had an old pair of shoes, but they generally went barefoot. The houses for the field slaves were about fourteen feet square, built in the coarsest manner, having but one room, without any chimney, or flooring, with a hole at the roof at one end to let the smoke out,
" Each one was allowed one blanket in which they rolled themselves up. I examined their houses but could not discover any thing like a bed. I was informed that when they had a suf- ficiency of potatoes the slaves were allowed some ; but the season that I was there they did not raise more than were wanted for seed. All their corn was ground in one hand-mill, every night just as much as was necessary for the family, then each one his daily portion, which took considerable time in the night. I often awoke and heard the sound of the mill. Grinding the corn in the night, and in the dark, after their day's labor, and the want of other food, were great hardships.
" Tne tra,ve]ing in those parts, among the is- lands, was altogether with boats, rowed by from^ four to ten slaves, which often stopped at our plan- tation, and staid through the night, when the slaves, after rowing through the day, were left t» shift for themselves ; and when they went to Sa- vannah with a load of cotton they v/ere obliged to sleep in the open boats, as the law did not allow a colored person to be out after eight o'clock in the evening, without a pass from his master."
testimony of RICHARD MACY.
" The above account is from my brother. I was at work on Hilton Head about twenty miles north of my brother, during the same winter. The same allowance of one peck of corn for a week, the same kind of houses to live in, and the same method of grinding their corn, and always in the night, and in the dark, was practiced there.
" A number of instances of severe whipping came under my notice. The first was this : — two men were sent out to saw some blocks out of large live oak timber on which to raise my build- ing. Their saw was in poor order, and they sawed them badly, for which their master strip- ped them naked and flogged them.
" The next instance was a boy about sixteen years of age. He had crept into the coach to sleep; after two or three nights he was caught by the coach driver, a «orf/ierw 7nan, and stripped entire-
Personal Narratives — Mr. Eleazar Powell.
99
ly naled, and whipped without mercy, his master looking on.
"Another instance. The overseer, a young white man, had ordered several negroes, a boat's crew, to be on the spot at a given time. One man did not appear until the boat had gone. The over- seer was very angry and told him to strip and be flogged ; he being slow, was told if he did not in- stantly strip oft his jacket, he, the overseer, would whip "it off, which he did in shreds, whipping him cruelly.
'•■ The man ran into the barrens and it was about a month before they caught him. He was nearly starved, and at last stole a turkey ; then another, and was caught.
" Having occasion to pass a plantation very early one foggy morning, in a boat, we heard the sound of the whip, before we could see, but as we drew up in front of the plantation, we could see the negroes at work in the field. The over-
sccr was going from one to the other causing them to lay down tlicir hoe, strip off their gar- mcnt, hold up their hands and receive their num- ber of lashes. Thus he went on from one to the other until we were out of sight. In the course of the winter a family came where I was, on a visit from a neighboring island ; of course, in a boat with negroes to row them — one of these a barber, told me that he ran away about two year.< before, and joined a company of negroes who had fled to the swamps. He said they suffered a great deal — were at last discovered by a p^ty of liun- ters, who fired among them, and caused them to scatter. Hunself and one more fled to the coast, took a boat and put off to sea, a storm' came on and swamped or upset them, and his partner was drowned, he was taken up by a passing vessel and returned to his master.
Richard Macy. Hudson, 12 mo. 29th, 1838.
TESTIMONY OF MR. ELEAZAR POWELL.
Extract of a letter from Mr. William Scott, a highly respectable citizen of Beaver co. Pennsyl- vania, dated Jan. 7, 1839.
Chippewa Township, Beaver co. Pa. ) Jan. 7, 1839. \
" I send you the statement of Mr. Eleazar Pow- ell, who was bam, and has mostly resided in this township from his birth. His character for so- briety and truth stands above impcacJiment. With sentiments of esteem,
I am your friend,
William Scott.
"In the month of December, 1836, I went to the State of Mississippi to work at my trade, (masonry and bricklaying,) and continued to work in the counties of Adams and Jefferson, be- tween four and five months. In following my business I had an opportunity of seeing the treat- ment of slaves in several places.
" In Adams county I built a chimney for a man named Joseph Gwatney ; he had forty-five field hands of both sexes. The field in which they worked at that time, lay about two miles from the house ; the hands had to cook and eat their breakfast, prepare their dinner, and be in the field at daylight, and continue there till dark. In the evening the cotton they had picked was weighed, and if they fell short of their task they were whipped. One night I attended the weighing — two women fell short of their task, and the mas- ter ordered the black driver to take them to the quarters and flog them ; one of them was to re- ceive twenty-five lashes and pick a peck of cot- ton seed. I have been with the overseer several times through the negro quarters. The huts are generally built of split timber, some larger than rails, twelve and a half feet wide and fourteen feet long — some with and some without chimneys, and generally without floors ; they were generally without daubing, and mostly had split clapboards nailed on the cracks on the outside, though some were without even that : in some there was a kind of rough bedstead, made from rails, polished with the axe, and put together in a very rough man-
ner, the bottom covered with clapboards, and over that a bundle of worn out clothes. In some huts there was no bedstead at all. The above description applies to tte places generally with which I was acquainted, and they were mostly old settlements.
" In the east pan of Jefferson county I built a
fihimney for a man named M'Coy ; he had
forty-seven laboring handa. Near where I was at work, M'Coy had ordered one of his slaves to set a post for a gate. When he came to look at it, he said the slave had not set it in the right place ; and ordered him to strip, and lie down on his face ; telling him that if he struggled, or attempt- ed to get up, two n.en, who had been called to the spot, should seise and hold him fast. The slave agreed to be qiiet, and M'Coy commenced flogging him on the bare back, with the wagon whip. After some time the sufferer attempted to get up ; one of the slaves standing by, seized him by the feet and ield him fast ; upon which he yielded, and M'Coj cortinued to flog him ten or fifteen minutes. Wheri he was up, and had put on his trowsers, the blood came through them. "About half a mile from Il'Coy's was a planta- tion owned by his step-daugater. The overseer's name was James Farr, of v^hom it appears Mrs. M'Coy's waiting woman was enamoured. One night, while I lived there, M'Coy came from Natchez, about 10 o'clock at night. He said that Dinah was gone, and wished his overseer to go with him to Farr's lodgings, They went accord- ingly, one to each door, and caught Dinah as she ran out, she was partly dressed in her mistress's clothes ; M'Coy whipped her unmercifully, and she afterwards made her escape. On the next day, (Sabbath), M'Coy came to the overseer's, where I lodged, and requested him and me to look for her, as he was afraid that she had hanged her- self. He then gave me the particulars of the flogging. He stated that near Fan's he had made her strip and lie down, and had flogged her until he was tired ; that before he reached home he had a second time made her strip, and again. I flogged her until he was tired ; that when he
100
Persanal Narratives — Rev. William Scales.
reached home he had tied her to a peach-tree, and after getting a drink hafi flogged her until he was thirsty again ; and while he went to get a drink the woman made her escape. He stated that he knew, from the wlnpping he had given lier, there must be in her back cuts an inch deep. He showed the place where she had been tied to the tree ; there appeared to be as much blood as if a hog had been stuck there. The woman was found on Sabbath evening, near the spring, and had to be earned into the house.
" While Jlived there I heard M'Coy say, if the slaves did not raise him three hundred bales of cotton the ensuing season, he would kill every ne- gro he hati.
" Another case of flogging came under my no- tice : — Philip O.Hughes, sheriff of Jefferson coun- ty, had hired a slave to a man, whose name I do not recollect. On a Sabbath day the slave had drank somewhat ireely ; he was ordered by the tavern keeper, (where his present master had left his horse and the ncorro,) to stay in the kitchen ; the negro wished to be out. In persisting to go out he was knocked down three times ; and after- wards flogged until another young man and my- self ran about half a nile, having been drawn by the cries of the negro and the sound of the whip. When we came up, a number of men that had been about the tavern, were whipping him, and at intervals would ask Ifm if he would take off his clothes. At seeing- them drive down the stakes for a regular flogging he yielded, and took them off. They then flogged him until satisfied. On the next morning I saw him, and his panta- loons were all in a gore of blood.
" During my stay in Jefferson county, Philip O. Hughes was out one day with his gun — he saw a negro at some distance, wi'.h a club in one hand and an ear of corn in the otlier — Hughes stepped behind a tree, and waited his approach ; he sup- posed the negro to be a rraaway, who had es- caped about nine months before from his master, living not very far distant. The negro discovered Hughs before ho came up, and started to run ; he refusing to stop, Hughes fired, and shot him
through the arm. Through loss of blood the ne. gro was soon taken and put in jail. I saw hig wound twice dressed, and heard Huglies make the above statement.
"When in Jefferson county I boarded six weeks in Fayette, the county town, with a tavern keeper named James Truly. He had a slave named Lucy, who occupied the station of chamber- maid and table waiter. One day, just after dinner, Mrs. Truly took Lucy and bound her arms round a pine sapling behind the house, and commenced flogging her with a riding- whip ; and when tired would take her chair and rest. She continued thus, alternately flogging and resting, for at least an hour and a half. I afterwards learned from the bar-keep, er, and others, that the woman's offence was that she had bought two candles to set on the table the evening before, not knowing there were yet some in the box. I did not see the act of flogging above related ; but it was com.menced before I left the house after dinner ; and my work not be- ing more than twenty rods from the house, I dis- tinctly heard the cries of the v^oman all the time, and the manner of tying I had from those who did see it.
'' While I boarded at Truly's, an overseer shot a negro about two miles northwest of Fayette, be- longing to a man named Hinds Stuart. I heard Stuart himself state the particulars. It appeared that the negro's wife fell under the overseer's dis- pleasure, and he went to whip her. The negro said she should not be whipped. The overseer then let her go, and ordered him to be seized. The negro, having been a driver, rolled the lash of his whip round his hand, and said he would not be whipped at that time. The overseer repeated his orders. The negro took up a hoe, and none dared to take hold of him. The overseer then went to his coat, that he had laid off to v/hip the negro's wife, and took out his pistol and shot him dead. His mas- ter ordered him to be buried in a hole without a coflin. Stuart stated that he would not have taken two thousand dollars for him. No punish, ment was inflicted on the overseer.
Eleazar Powell, Jr."
TESTIMONY ON THE AUTHORITY OF REV. WM. SC.U.ES, LYNDON, VT.
The following is an extract of a letter from two ; professional gentlemei and their wives, who have lived for some years in a small village in one of the slave states. They are all persons of the high- est respectability, and are well known in at least one of the New England states. Their names are with the Executiv3 Committee of the Ameri- can Anti-Slavery Society ; but as the individuals would doubtless be murdered by the slaveholders, if they were published, the Committee feel sacredly bound to withhold them. The letter was ad- dressed to arespected clergyman in New England. The writers say :
" A man near us owned a valuable slave — his best — most faithful servant. In a gust of passion, he struck him dead with a lever, or stick of wood.
" During the years '36 and '37, the following transpired. A slave in our neighborhood ran
away and went to a place about thirty miles dis- taut. There he was found by his pui-suers on horse, back, and compelled by the whip to run the dis- tance of thirty miles. It was an exceedingly hot day — and within a few hours after he arrived at the end of his journey the slave was dead.
" Another slave ran away, but concluded to re- turn. He had proceeded some distance on his re. turn, when he was met by a company of two or three drivers, who raced, whipped and abused him until he fell down and expired. This took place on the Sabbath." The writer after speaking of another murder of a slave in the neighborhood, without giving the circumstances, say — " There
is a powerful New England influence at " the
village where they reside — " We may therefore suppose that there would be as little of barbarian cruelty practiced there as any where ; — at least we might suppose that the average amount of cruelty in that vicinity would be sufficiently favorable to the side of slavery. — Describe a cir-
PersoMl Narralwcs^5 oseph Ide, Esq.— Rev. Phiiieas Smith.
101
cic, the centre of wlich shall be ,the residence
of the writers, and tie radius fifteen miles, and in about one year tnise, and I think four slaves have been viuHeied, within tliat cirele, under circumstances o^-lprrid cruelty.— What must have
been the amount of murder in the whole slave territor}' ? The whole south is rife with the crime of separating husbands and wives, parents and children."
TESTIMONY OF JOSEPH IDE, ESQ.
Mr. Ide .s i icspected member of the Baptist Church in Shefield, Caledonia county, Vt. ; and recently the Postmaster in that town. He spent a few monthfat the south in the years 1837 and 8. In a letter-o the Rev. Wm. Scales of Lyndon, Vt. written a few weeks since, Mr. Ide writes as fol- lows.
«' Ir ansn'ering ihe proposed inquiries, I will say ffst; that although there are various other mocfes resorted to, whipping v.'ith the cowskin is the usual mode of inflicting punishment on the Boor slave. I have never actually witnessed a (vhipiing scene, for they are usually taken into !omi back place for that purpose ; but I have jfteL heard tiieir groans and screams while writh- ing mder the lash ; and have seen the blood flow from Uieir torn and lacerated skins after the ven- ganoe of the inhuman master or mistress had ben glutted. You ask if the woman where I barded whipped a slave to death. I can give vu the particulars of the transaction as they ■«re related to me. My informant was a gen- eman — a member of the Presbyterian churcli in [assachusetts — who the winter before boarded
-here I did. He said that Mrs. T had a
3male slave whom she used to whip unmerciful— y, and on one occasion, she whipped her as long 5 she had strength, and after the poor creature s^as suffered to go, she crawled off into a cellar. ^s she did not immediately return, Eoarcii was nade, and she was found dead in the cellar, and .he horrid deed was kept a secret in the family, md it was reported that she died of sickness. Phis wretch at the same time was a member of a Presbyterian church. Towards her slaves she was certainly the most cruel wretch of any wo- ' man with whom I was ever acquainted — yet she vras nothing more than a slaveholder. She would deplore slavery as much as I did, and often to)-i me she was much of an abolitionist as I was. Fi^ie was constant in the declaration that her i^ind treatment to her slaves was proverbial. Tlvught I, then the Lord have mercy on the res<- She has often told me of the cruel treatment of the slaves on a plantation adjoining her father'.s in the low country of South Carolina. She says she has often seen them driven to the necessity of eating frogs and lizards to sustain I'fe. As to the mode of living generally, my information is rather
limited, being with few cxce])tions confined to the different families where I have boarded. My stopping places at the south have mostly been in cities. In them the slaves arc better fed and clothed than on plantations. The house servants are fed on what the families leave. But they are kept short, and I think are oftener whipped f^r stealing something to eat than any other crir»e. On plantations their food is principally hoir^io- ny, as the southerners call it. It is simply rfack- ed corn boiled. This probably constitutcf sevcji- eights of their living. The house-ser^'^iits m cities are generally decently clothed, J-i'd some favorite ones are richly dressed, but wc^c on the plantations, especially in their dresr, if 't can be called dress, exhibit the most haggirdand squahd appearance. I have frequently sfcn those oi both sexes more than two-thircs paked. I have seen from forty to sixty, m^le/and female, a;t work in a field, many of bati" sexes vnth their bodies entirely naked— who c*'d not exhibit signs of shame more than catt>^- As I did not go among them much on thc^lantations, I have had but few opportunities fop^-ammmg the backs of slaves- but have freq/n% passed where they were at work, and be;^ occasionally present with them, and in almosc ^very case there were marks of violence on sorn/*' parts of them— every age, sex and conditiorx being hable to the whip. A son of the gerdfUian with whom I boarded, a young man about twenty-one years of age, had a plantation and eight or ten slaves. He used to boast alp^ost every night of whipping some of them, ^ne day he related to me a case of whip- pino- a.i old negro— I should judge sixty years of acre'! He said he called him up to flog him for soj^e real or supposed offence, and the poor old n-an, being pious, asked the privilege of praying Jefore he received his punishment. He said he granted him the favor, and to use his own ex- pression, ' The old nigger knelt down and pray, ed for me, and then got up and took his whip- ping.' In relation to negro huts, I will say that planters usually ovi^n large tracts of land. They have extensive clearings and a beautiful mansion house — and generally some forty or fifty rods from the dwelling are situated the negro cabins, or huts, built of logs in the rudest manner. Some consist of poles rolled up together and covered with mud or clay — many of them not as comfortable as northern pig-sties."
TESTIMONY OF REV. PHINEAS SMITH.
Mr. Smith is now pasior of the Presbyterian •Church in Centreville, Allegany county, N. Y. He has recently returned from a residence in the slave states, and the American slave holdiiig set-
lements in Texas. The following is an extract of a letter lately received from him.
" You inquire respecting instances of cruelty that have come within my knowledge. I reply.
102
Personal Narratives — Mr. Philemon Bliss.
Avarice and cruelty constitute the very gist of the whole slave system. Many of the enormities committed upon the plantations will not be de. ecribed till God brings to light the hidden things of darkness, then the tears and groans and blood of innocent men, women and children will be re- vealed, and the oppressor's spirit must confront that of his victim.
" I will relate a case of torture v/hich occurred on the Brasses while I resided a few miles distant upon tho Chocolate Bayou. The case should be remembered as a true illustration of the nature of slaveiy, as it exists at the south. The facts are these. An overseer by the name of Alexan- der, notorious for his cruelty, was found dead in the timbered lands of the Brassos. It was sup- posed that he was murdered, but who perpetrated tie act was unknown. Two black men were hoyever seized, taken into the Prairie and put to the orture. A physician by the name of Parrott from Tennessee, and another from New England by the ^ame of Anson Jones, were present on this occasion. The latter gentleman is now the Texan nf^iister plenipotentiary to the United totates, tnd resides at Washington. The unfor- tunate skves being stripped, and all things ar- ranged, thfctorVire commenced by whipping upon their bare Kclw. Six athletic men were em- ployed in this teei.e of inhumanity, the names of some of whom iwe^l remember. There was one of the name of L-ovn, and one or two of the name of Patton. Those six executioners were successively employe \^ cutting up the bodies of these defenceless slav^, ^,bo pereisted to the last m the avowal of their -nuocence. The bloody whip was however kept i. motion till savage bar- barity itself was glutted. When this was ac complished, the bleeding vhtii^is were re-convey- ed to the inclosure of the muxsion house where they were deposited for a few moments. ' The dying groans however incoimmilfg the ladies, they were taken to a hack shed loTiere one of them soon expired* ' The life of the other slave was for a time despaired of, but after hany^ng over the grave for months, he at length so far locover- ed as to walk about and labor at light Npork. These facts cannot be controverted. They \^ere disclosed under the solemnity of an oath, at (!^. lumbia, in a court of justice. I was present, anl shall never forget them. The testimony of Drs. Parrott and Jones was most appalling. I seem to hear the death-groans of that murdered man. His cries for mercy and protestations of inno-
* The words of Dr. Parrott, a witness on the trial hereaf- ter referred to.
cence fell upon adaman;in« hearts. The facts above stated, and others ia relation to this scene of cruelty came to light in tl.e following manner. The master of the murdc-ei man commenced legal process against the aeon in this trao-edy for the recovery of the value cf ihe chattel, as one would institute a suit for a ione or an ox that had been unlawfully killed. It vas a suit for the recovery of damages merely. ISTo indictment was even dreamed of. Among the 'vitnesscs brouglit upon the stand in the progress of tais cause were the physicians, Parrott and Joies above named. The part which they were called to act in this aifair was, it is said, to examine the pulse of the victims during the process of tovtun. But thev were mistaken as to the quantum of torture which a human being can underjo axd not die under it. Can it be belieyed ihot onv of these physicians was born and educated '.n thft land of the pilgrims ? Y6s, in my own native N^w En- gland. It is even so I The stone-like apatW ma- nifested at the trial of the above cause, an^ tho screams and the death-groans of an innocent man, as developed by the testimony of the witnessei, can never be obliterated from my memory. The^ form an era in my life, a point to which [ lock back with horror.
" Another case of cruelty occurred on the San Bernard near Chance Prairie, where I resided for some time. The facts were these. A slave naanSed from his master, (Mr. Sweeny) and being closely pursued by the overseer and a son of the owner, he stepped a few yards in the Bernard and plaied himself upon a root, from which there vas no possibility of his escape, for he could lot swim. In this situation he was fired upon wth a blunderbuss loaded heavily with ball and gnpe shot. The overseer who shot the gun was a a distance of a few feet only. The charge enteiid the body of the negro near the groin. He w.s conveyed to the plantation, lingered in inexprtj. sible agony a few days and expired. A physici^ was called, but medical and surgical skill was unavailing. No notice whatever was taken of this murder by the public authorities, and th« murderer was not discharged from the service oj his employer.
" When slaves flee, as they not unfrequently doi to the timbered lands of Texas, they are hunted with guns and dogs. 1
" The sufferings of the slave not unfrequently. dSve him to despair and suicide. At a plantation on%e San Bernard, where there were but five slave?, two during the same year committed sui- cide bj drowning."
TESTIMONY OF PHILEMON BLISS, ESQ.
Mr. Bliss is a highly respectable member of 1 1836, and pub'iished in the New York Evange the bar, in Elyria, Lorain Co. Ohio, and member | list. of the Presbyterian church, in that place. Hi
resided in Florida, during the years 1834 and 5. The following extracts are from letters, writ- ten by Mr. B. in 1835, while residing on a plan- tation near Tallahassee, and published soon after
" In speaking of slavery as it is, I hardly know where to begin. Tht physical condition of the slave is far from being accurately known at the north. Gentlemen traveling in the south can know nothing of it. They must make the south their residence ; they must live on plantations, before
in the Ohio Atlas ; also from letters written m they can have any opportunity of judgmg of the
Personal Narratives— ?\\i\cmon Bliss.
103
slave. J resided in Augustine five montlis, and had I not made particular inquiries, which most northern visltois very seldom or never do, I should have left there with the impression that the slaves were generally very loell treated, and were a happy peoplo. Sueh is the report of many northern travelers who have no more op- portunity of knowing their teal condition than if they had remained at home. What confidence could we place in the reports of the traveler, relative to the condition of the Irish peasantry, who formed his opinion from the appearance of the waiters at a Dublin hotel, or the household ser- vants of a country gentleman ? And it is not often on plantations even, iha.t strangers can wit- ness the punishment of the slave I was conversing the other daj'wiih a neighboring planter, upon the brutal treatment of the slaves which I had wit- nessed : he remarked, that had I been with him I should not have seen this. " When I whip niggers, I take them out of sight and hearing." Such being the difliculties in the way of a stran- ger's ascertaining the treatment of the slaves, it is not to be woridered at that gentlemen, of un- doubted veracity^ should give directly false state- ments relative to it. But facts cannot lie, and in giving these I confine myself to what has come under my own personal observation.
" The negroes commence labor by daylight in the morning', and. excepting the plowboys, who must feed and rest their horses, do not leave the field till dark in the evening. There is a good deal of contention among planters, who shall make the most cotton to the liand, or, who shall drive their negroes the hardest ; and I have heard bets made and staked upon the issue of the crops. Col. W. was boasting of his large crops, and swore that ' he made for his force, the largest crops in the country.' He was disputed of course. On ri- ding home in company with Mr. C. the conver- sation turned, upon Col. W. My companion re- marked, that though Col, W. had the reputation of making a large crop, yet he could beat him himself, and did do it the last year. I remarked that I considered it no honor to Col. W. to drive his slaves to death to make a large crop. I have heard no more about large crops from him since. Drivers or overseers usually drive the slaves worse than masters. — Their reputation for good overseers depends in a great measure upon the crops they make, and the death of a slave is no loss to them.
" Of the extentand cruelty of the punishment of the slave, the northern public know nothing. From the nature of the case they can know little, as I have before mentioned,
" I have seen a woman, a mother, compelled, in the piesence of her master and mistress, to hold up her clothes, and endure the whip of Ihe driver on the naked body for more than twenty minutes, and while her cries would have rent the heart of anyone, who had not hardened himself to human suffering. Her master and mistress were con- versing with apparent indifference. What was her crime ? She had a task given her of sewing which she must finish that day. Late at night she finished it ; but the stitches were too long, and she must be whipped. The same was repeat- ed three or four nights for the same offence. / have seen a man tied to a tree, hands and feet,
and receive 305 blows with the paddle* on the fieshy parts of the body. Two others received the same kind of punishment at the time, though I did not count the blows. One received 230 lashes. Their crime was stealing mutton. I have /re^ue^i/y heard the shrieks of the slaves, male and female, accompanied by the strokes of the paddle or whip, when I have not gone near the scene of horror. I knew not their crimes, excepting of one woman, which was stealinjj four potatoes to eat with her bread ! The more common number of lashes inflicted was fifty or eighty ; and this I saw not once or twice, but bo frequently that I can not tell the number of times I have seen it. So frequently, that my own heart was becoming so hardened that I could witness with comparative indifference, the female writhe under the lash, and her shrieks and cries for mercy ceased to pierce my heart with that keen- ness, or give me that anguish which they first caused. It was not always that I could learn their crimes ; but of those I did learn, the most common was non-performance of tasks. I have seen men strip and receive from one to three hundred strokes of the whip and paddle. My studies and meditations were almost nightly in- terrupted by the cries of the victims of cruelty and avarice. Tom, a slave of Col. N. obtained permission of his overseer on Sunday, to visit his son, on a neighboring plantation, belonging in part to his master, but neglected to take a " pass." Upon its being demanded by the other overseer, he replied that he had permission to come, and that his having a mule was sufficient evidence of it, and if he did not consider it as such, he could take him up. The overseer replied he would take him up ; giving him at the same time a blow on the arm with a stick he held in his hand, sufficient to lame it for some time. The negro collared him, and threw him ; and on the over- seer's commanding him to submit to be tied and whipped, he said he would not be whipped by him but would leave it to massa J. They came to massa J.'s. I was there. After the overseer had related the case as above, he was blamed for not shooting or stabbing him at once. — After dinner the negro was tied, and the whip given to the overseer, and he used it with a severity that was shocking. I know not how many lashes were given, but from his shoulders to his heels there was not a spot unridged ! and at almost every stroke the blood flowed. He could not have received less than 300, well laid on. But his offence was great, almost the greatest known, laying hands on a white man ! Had he struck the overseer, under any provocation, he would have been in some way disfigm'ed, perhaps by" the loss of his ears, in addition to a whipping : or he might have been hung. The most com mon cause of punishments is, not finishing tasks.
" But it would be tedious mentioning further particulars. The negro has no other inducement to work but the lash ; and as man never acts without motive, the lash must be used so long as all other motives are withheld. Hence cor- poreal punishment is a necessary part of slavery.
"Punishments for runaways are usually severe.
* A piece of oak timber two and a half feet long, flat and wide at one end.
104
Personal Narratives — Philemon Bliss.
Once whipping is not siifTicient, I have known runaways to bo whipped for six or seven nights in succession for one offence. I have known others who, with pinioned hands, and a chain extending from an iron collar on their neck to the saddle of their master's horse, have been driven at a smart trot, one or two hundred miles, being compelled to ford water courses, their drivers, according to their own confession, not abating a whit in the rapidity of their journey for the ease of the slave. One tied a kettle of sand to his slave to render his journey more arduous.
" Various are the instruments of torture devised to keep the slave in subjection. The stocks are sometimes used. Sometimes blocks arc filled with pegs and nails, and the slave compelled to stand upon them.
" While stopping on the plantation of a Mr. C. I saw a whip with a knotted lash lying on the table, and inquired of my companion, who was also an acquaintance of Mr. C.'e, if he used that to whip his negroes ? "Oh," says he, " Mr. C. is not severe with his hands. He never whips very hard. The Inwis in the lash are so large that he does not usually draw blood in whip- ping them."
'' It was principally from hearing the conversa- tion of southern men on the subject, that I judge of the cruelty that is generalh' practiced toward slaves. They will deny that slaves are generally ill treated : but ask them if they are not whipped for certain offences, which either a freeman would iiavc no temptation to commit, or which would not be an offence in any but a slave, and for non-performance of tasks, they will answer promptly in the affirmative. And frequently have I heard them excuse their cruelty by citing Mr. A. or Mr. B. who is a Christian, or Mr. C. a preacher, or Mr. D. from the north, who " drives his hands tighter, and whips them hard- er, than we ever do." Driving negroes to the utmost extent of their ability, with occasionally a hundred lashes or more, and a few switchings in the field if they hang back in the driving seasons, viz : in the hoing and picking months, is perfect- ly consistent with good treatment !
" While traveling across the Peninsula in a stage, in company with a northern gentleman, and southern lady, of great worth and piety, a dispute arose respecting the general treatment of slaves, the gentleman contending that their treatment was generally good — ' O, no 1' inter- rupted the lady, ' you can know nothing of the treatment they receive on the plantations. Peo- ple here do whip the poor negroes most cruelly, and many half starve them. You have neither of you had opportunity to know scarcely any thing of the cruelties that are practiced in this country,' and more to the same effect. I met with several others, besides this lady, who appeared to feel for the sins of the land, but they are few and scattered, and not usually of sufficiently stern mould to withstand the popular wave.
" Masters are not forward to publish their " domestic regulations," and as neighbors are usually several miles apart, one's observation must be limited. Hence the few instances of cruelty which break out can be but a fraction of what is practised. A planter, a professor of re- union, in conversation upon the universp.litv of
whipping, remarked that a planter in G- •, who
had whipped a great deal, at Icng-th got tired of it, and invented the foJiowing excellent method of punishment, which I saw practised while I was paying him a visit. The negro was placed in a sitting position, witJi his hands made fast above his head, snd feet in the stocks, so that he could not wove any part of the body.
" The master retired, intending to leave him till morning, but we ivcre awakened in the night by the groans of the negro, which were so doleful that we feared lie was dying. We went to him, and found him covered with a cold sweat, and almost gone. He could not have lived an hour
lono-er. Mr. found the 'stocks' such an
effective punishment, that it almost superseded the whip."
" How much do you give your niggers for a
task while hoeing cotton," inquired Mr. C •
of his neighbor Mr. H .
H. " I give my men an acre and a quarter, and my women an acre."*
C. " Well, that is a fair task. Niggers do a heap better if they are drove pretty tight."
H. " O yes, I have driven mine into complete subordination. When I first bought them they Vv'ere discontented and wished me to sell them, but I soon whipped that out of them ; and they nov/ work very contentedly !"
C. " Docs Mary keep up with the rest ?"
H. " No, she does'nt often finish the task alone, she has to get Sam to help her out after he has done his, to save her a whipping. There's no other way but to be severe with them."
C. " No otiier, sir, if you favor a nigger you spoil him."
" The whip is considered as necessary on a plan- tation as the plough ; and its use is almost as common. The negro whip is the common team- stei-'s whip with a black leather stock, and a short, fine, knotted lash. The paddle is also frequently used, sometimes with holes bored in the flattened end. The ladies (!) in chastising their domestic servants, generally use the cowhide. I have known some use shovel and tongs. It is, how- ever, more common to commit them to the driver to be whipped. The manner of whipping is as follows : The negro is tied by his hands, and sometimes feet, to a post or tree, and stripped to the skin. The female slave is not always tied. The number of lashes depends upon the character for severity of the master or overseer.
" Another instrument of torture is sometimes used, how extensively I knov/ not. The negro, or, in the case which came to my knowledge, the negress was compelled to stand barefoot upon a block filled with sharp pegs and nails for two or three hours. In case of sickness, if the master or overseer thinks them seriously ill, they are taken care of, but their complaints are usual- ly not much heeded. A physician told me that he was employed by a planter last winter to go to a plantation of his in the country, as many if the negroes were sick. Says he — " I found them in a most miserable condition. The weather was cold, and the negroes were barefoot, with hardly enough of cotton clothing to cover their nakedness. Those who had huts to shelter them
* Cotton is planted in drills about three feet apart, and is
Personal Narratives — Rev. Wm. A. Cliapin.
105
were obliged to build thcin nights and Sundays. Many were sick and some had died. I had the sick taken to an older plantation of their masters, where they could be made comfortable, and they recovered. I directed that they should not go to work till after sunrise, and should not- work in the rain till their health became establish- ed. But the overseer refusing- to permit it, 1 de- clined attending on them farther. I was call- ed,' continued he, ' by tiie overseer of another plantation to see one of the men. I found him lyinsj by the side of a log in great pain. I asked him^how he did, ' O,' says he, ' I'm most dead, can live but little longer.' How long have you been sick ? ' I've felt for more than six weeks
as though I could liardly stir.' Why didn't you tell youV master, you waa sick ? ' I couldn't see my master, and tiic overseer always whips us when we complain, I could not stand a whip- ping.' I did all I could for the poor fellow, but his lungs were rotten. He died in three days from the time he left ofF work.' The cruelty of that overseer is such that the negroes almost tremble at his name. Yet he gets a high salary, for he makes the largest crop of any other man in the neighborhood, though none but the hard- iest negroes can stand it under him. " That man," says the Doctor, " would be hung in my country." He was a German.
TESTIMONY OF REV. WILLIAM A. CHAPIN.
Rev. William Scales, of Lyndon, Vermont, has furnished the following testimony, under date of Dec. 15, 1838.
" I send you an extract from a letter that I have just received, which you may use ad libitum. The letter is from Rev. Wm. A. Chapin, Greens- borousi^h, Vermont. To one who is acquainted with Mr. C. his opinion and statements must carry conviction even to the most obstinate and incredulous. He observes, ' I resided, as a teach- er, nearly two j^ears in the family of Carroll Webb, Esq., of Hampstead, New Kent co. about twenty miles from Richmond, Virginia. Mr. Webb had three or four plantations, and was considered one of the two wealthiest men in the county : it was supposed he owned about two hundred slaves. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church, and was elected an elder while I was with him. He was a native of Virginia, but a graduate of a New- England college.
" ' The slaves were called in the morning before daylight, I believe at all seasons of the year, that they might prepare their food, and be ready to go to work as soon as it was light enough to see. I know that at the season of husking corn, October and November, they were usually compelled to work late — till 12 or 1 o'clock at night. I know this fact because they accompanied their work with a loud singing of their own sort. I usually retired to rest between 11 and 12 o'clock, and generally heard them at their work as long as I was awake. The slaves lived in wretched log cabins, of one room each, without floors or win- dows. I believe the slaves sometimes suffer for want of food. One evening, as I was sitting in
the parlor with Mr. W. one of the most resolute of the slaves came to the door, and said, " Mas- ter, I am willing to work for you, but I want something to eat." The only reply was, " Clear yourself." I learned that the slaves had been without food all day, because the man who was sent to mill could not obtain his grinding. He went again the next day, and obtained his grist, and the slaves had no food till he returned. He had to go about five miles.*
" I know the slaves were sometimes severely whipped. I saw the backs of several which had numerous scars, evidently caused by long and deep lacerations of the whip ; and I have good reason to believe that the slaves were generally in that condition ; for I never saw the back of one exposed that was not thus marked, — and from their tattered and scanty clothing their backs were often exposed."
•* To this, Rev. Mr. Scales adds, "In familiar language, and in more detail, as I have learned it in conversation with Mr. Chapin, the fact is as follows : —
" Mr. W. kept, what he called a ' boy,' i. e. a man, to go to mill. It was his custom not to give his slaves anything to eat while he was gone to mill — let him have been gone long- er or shorter — for this reason, if he was lazy, and delayed, the slaves would become hungry : hence indignant, and abuse him — ^this was his punishment. On that occasion he went to mill in the morning. The slaves came up at noon, and returned to work without food. At night, after having worked hard all day, without food, went to bed without supper. About 10 o'clock the next day. they came up in a company, to their master's door, (that master an elder in the church), and deputed one more resolute than the rest to address him. This he did in the most respectful tones and terms. " We are willing to work for you, master, but we caji't work without food ; we want srjmething to eat." " Clear yourself," was the answer. Tlie slaves retired ; and in the morning were driven away to work without food. At noon, I thinlj, or somewhat after, they were fed."
TESTIMONY OF MESSRS. T. D. M. AND F. C. MACY.
This testimony is communicated in a letter from Mr. Cyrus Pierce, a respectable and well known citizen of Nantucket, M ass. Of the wit- nesses, Messrs. T. D. M. and F. C. Macy, Mr. Pierce says, " They are both inhabitants of this island, and have resided at the south ; they are both worthy men, for whose integrity and 14
intelligence I can vouch unqualifiedly ; the for- mer has furnished me with the following state- ment.
" During the winter of 1832 — 3, I resided oit the island of St. Simon, Glynn county, Georgia. There are several extensive cotton plantations on the island. The overseer of the plantation ois
106
Personal Narratives — T. D. M. and F. C. ]Via<. '.
>hat part of the island where I resided was a Georgian — a man of stern character, and at ^imes cruelly abusive to his sla.vcs. 1 have often been witness of the abuse of his power. In South Carolina and Georgia, on the low lands, the cul- tivation is chiefly of rice. The land where it is raised is often inundated, and the labor of pre- paring it, and raising a crop, is very arduous. Men and women are in the held from earliest dawn to dark — often without hats, and up to their arm-pits in mud and water. At St. Si- mon's, cotton was the staple article. Ocra, the driver, usually waited on the overseer to receive orders for the succeeding day. If any slave was insolent, or negligent, the driver was authorized to punish him with the whip, with as many blows as the magnitude of the crime justified. He was frequently cautioned, upon the peril of his skin, to see that all the negroes were off to the field in the morning. ' Ocra,' said the overseer, one evening, to the driver, 'if any pretend to be sick, send me word — allow no lazy wench or fel- low to skulk in the negro house.' Next morning, a few minutes after the departure of the hands to the field, Ocra was seen hastening to the house of the overseer. He was soon in his presence. ' Well, Ocra, what now ?' Nothing, sir, onl}' Rachel says she sick — can't go to de field to-day.' ' Ah, sick, is she ? I'll sec to her ; you may be off, She shall see if I am longer to be fooled with in this way. Here, Christmas, mix these salts — bring them to me at the negro house.' And seizing his whip, he made off to the negro settlement. Having a strong desire to see what would be the result, I followed him. As I ap- proached the negro house, I heard high words. Rachel was stating her complaint — children were crying from fright — and the overseer thi'catening. Rachel. — ' I can't work to-day — I'm sick.' Over- seer.— ' But you shall work, if you die for it. Here, take these salts. Now move oiF— quick — let me see your face again before night, and, by G — d, you shall smart for it. Be ofll'— no beg- ging— not a word ;' — and he dragged her from the house, and followed her 20 or 30 rods, threat- ening. The woman did not reach the field. Overcome by the exertion of walking, and by agitation, she sunk down exhausted by the road side — was taken up, and carried back to the house, where an abortion occurred, and her fife was greatly jeoparded.
" It was 710 uncommon sight to see a whole family, father, mother, and from two to five children, collected together around their piggin of hommony, or pail of potatoes, watched by the overseer. One meal was always eaten in the field. No time was allowed for relaxation.
" It was not unusual for a child of five or six years to perform the office of nurse — because the mother worked in a remote part of the field, and was not allowed to leave her employment to take care of her infant. Want of proper nutriment induces sickness of the worst type.
" No matter what the nature of the service, a peck of corn, dealt out on Sunday, must supply the demands of nature for a week.
" The Sabbath, on a southern plantation, is a mere nominal holiday. The slaves are liable to hb called upon at all times, by those who have authority over them.
'• When it rained, the slaves were allowed to collect under a tree until the shower had passed. Seldom, on a week day, were they permitted to go to their huts during rain ; and even had this privilege been granted, many of these miserable habitations were in so dilapidated a condition, that they would aftord little or no protection. Negro huts are built of logs, covered with boards or thatch, having 7io flooring, and but one apart- ment, serving all the purposes of sleeping, cook- ing, &c. Some are furnished with a temporary loft. I have seen a whole family herded together in a loft ten feet by twelve. In cold weather, they gather around the fire, spread their blankets on the ground, and keep as comfortable as they can. Their supply of clothing is scanty — each slave being allowed a Holland coat and pantaloons, of the coarsest manufacture, and one pair of cow- hide shoes. The women, enough of the same kind of cloth for one frock. They have also one pair of shoes. Shoes are given to the slaves in the winter only. In summer, their clothing is composed of osnaburgs. Slaves on different plan- tations are not allowed without a written per- mission, to visit their fellow bondsmen, under penalty of severe chastisement. I Vi'itnessed the chastisement of a young male slave, who was found lurking about the plantation, and could give no other account of himself, than that he wanted to visit some of his acquaintance. Fifty lashes was the penalty for this oficnce. I could not endure the dreadful shrieks of the tortured slave, and rushed away from the scene."
The remainder of this testimony is furnished by Mr. F. C. Macy.
" I went to Savannah in 1820. Sailing up the river, I had my first view of slavery. A large number of men and women, with a piece of board on their heads, carrying mud, for the pur- pose of dyking, near the river. After tarrying a while in Savannah, I went down to the sea islands of De Fuskee and Hilton Head, where I spent six months. Negro houses are small, built of rough materials, and no floor. Their clothing, (one suit,) coarse ; which tliey received on Christ, mas day. Their food was three pecks of pota- toes per week, in the potatoe season, and one peck of corn the remainder of the year. The slaves carried with them into the field their meal, and a gourd of water. They cooked their hommony in the field, and ate it with a wooden paddle Their treatment was little better than that of brutes. Whipping was nearly an every-day
practice. On Mr. M 's plantation, at the
island De Fuskee, I saw an old man whipped ; he was about 60. He had no clothing on, except a shirt. The man that inflicted the blows was Flim, a tall and stout man. The whipping was very severe. I inquired into the cause. Some vegetables had been stolen from his master's gar. den, of which he could give no account. I saw several women whipped, some of whom were in very delicate circumstances. The case of one I wil! relate. She had been purchased in Charleston, and separated from her husband. On her passage to Savannah, or rather to the island, she was de- livered of a child ; and in about three weeks alter this, she appeared to be deranged. She woulci leave her work, go into the woods, and smg
Personal Narriiives — A Clergyman.
107
Her master sent for her, and ordered the driwr ] to whip her. I was near enough to hear tie strokes.
'• I have known neojro boys, partly by persia- t?i'on, and partly by I'orec, made to strip off llicir clothing and right for the amusement of their 77iasters. They would fight until both got to crying.
" One of the planters told me that his boat litd been used witliout pcjniission. A number of his negroes were called up, and put in a building that was lathed and shingled. The covering could be easily removed from the inside. He called one out for examination. While examin- ing this one, he discovered another negro, com-
ing out of the roof He ordered him back : he obeyed. In a few moments he attempted it again. The master took deliberate aim at his head, but his gun missed fire. IJo told me he should probably have killed him, had his gun gone off. The negro jumped and run. The master took aim again, and tired ; but he was so far distant, that he received only a few shots in the calf of his leg. After several days he return- ed, and received a severe whipping.
'•Mr. B , planter at Hilton Head, freely
confessed, that he kept one of his slaves as a mis- tress. She slept in the same room with him. Tliis, I think, is a very common practice."
TESTIMONY O? A CLERGYMAN.
The following letter was written to Mr. Ai- THUR TArp.\N, of New York, in the summer if 1833. As the name of the writer cannot be pub- lished with safety to himself, it is withheld.
The following testimonials, from Mr. T.\ppvn, Professor Wright, and Thomas Ritter, M. D. of New York, establish the trust-worthiness and high respectability of the writer.
" I received the following letters from the south during the year 1833. They were written by a gentleman who had then resided some years in the slave states. Not being at liberty to give the writer's name, I cheerfully certify that he is i gentleman of established character, a graduate of Yale College, and a respected minister of tie gospel. " Arthur Tappan.'
" My acquaintance with the writer of the fol- lowing letter commenced, I believe, in 1823 from which time we were fellow students in Yafe Col- lege till 1826. I have occasionally seen him since. His character, so far as it has come w.thin my knowledge, has been that of an upright and re- markably candid man. I place great confidence both in his habits of careful and unprejudiced ob- servation and his veracity.
" E. Wright, jun.
"New York, April 13, 1839."
" I have been acquainted with the writer of the following letter about twelve years, and know him to be a gentleman of high respectability, in- tegrity, and piety. We were fellow students in Yale College, and my opportunities for judging of his character, both at that time and since our graduation, have been such, that I feel myself fully warranted in making the above unequivocal declaration. " Thomas Ritter.
'' 104, Cherry-street, New York."
"Natchez, 1833. " It has been almost four years since I came to the south-west ; and although I have been told, from month to month, that I should soon wear off my northern prejudices, and probably have slaves of my own, yet my judgment in regard to oppres- sion, or my prejudices, if they are pleased so to call them, remain with me still. I judge still from those principles which were fixed in my mind at the north ; and a residence at the south has not
enabled me so to pervert truth, as to make m|us- tite appear justice.
" I have studied the state of things here, now for years, coolly and deliberately, with the eye of an uninterested looker on ; and hence I may not be altogether unprepared to state to you some facts, and to draw conclusions from them.
" Permit me then to relate what I have seen ; and do not imagine that these are all exceptions to the general treatment, but rather believe that thousands of cruelties are practised in this Chris- tian land, every year, which no eye that ever shed a tear of pity could look upon.
" Soon after my arrival I made an excursion into the country, to the distance of some twenty miles. And as I was passing by a cotton field, where about fifty negroes were at work, I was inclined to stop by the road side to view a scene which was then new to me. While I was, in my mind, comparing this mode of labor with that of my own native place, I heard the driver, with a rough oath, order one that was near him, who seemed to be laboring to the extent of his power, to "lie down." In a moment he was obeyed ; and ho commenced whipping the offender upon his na- ked back, and continued, to the amount of about twenty lashes, with a heavy raw-hide whip, the crack of which might have been heard more than half a mile. Nor did the females escape ; for al- though I stopped scarcely fifteen minutes, no less than three were whipped in the same manner, and that so severely, I was strongly inclined to interfere. "You maybe assured, sir, that I remained not unmoved : I could no longer look on suf^h cruel- ty, but turned away and rode on, while the echoes of the lash were reverberating in the woods around me. Such scenes have long since become fami- liar to me. But then the full effect was not lost ; and I shall never forget, to my latest day, the mingled feelings of pity, horror, and indignation that took possession of my mind. I involuntarily exclaimed, O God of my fathers, how dost thou permit such things to defile our land ! Be mer- ciful to us ! and visit us not in justice, for all our iniquities and the iniquities of our fathers !
" As I passed on I soon found that I had escaped from one horrible scene only to witness another. A planter with whom I was well acquanted, had caught a negro without a pass. And at the mo- ment I was passing by, he was in the act of fas.
108
Personal Narrative. — A Clergyman.
tening his feet and hands to the trees, having previously made him take ofl' all his clothing- ex. cept his trowsers. When he had sufficiently se- cured this poor creature, he beat him for several minutes with a green switch more than sis feet long ; vv-hile he was writhing with anguish, en^ deavoring in vain to break the cords with which he was bound, and incessantly crying out, "Lord,! master ! do pardon me this time ! do, master,' have mercy 1" These expressions have recurred to me a thousand times since ; and although they came from one that is not considered among the sons of mens yet I think they are well worthy of remembrance, as they might lead a wise man to consider whether such shall receive mercy from the righteous Judge, as never showed merey to their lellow men.
"At length I arrived at the dwelling of a planter of my acquaintance, with whom I passed the night. At about eight o'clock in the eveninir I heard the barking of several dogs, mingled \i4th the most agonizing cries that I ever heard fr»m any human being. Soon after the gentlemm came in, and began to apologize, by saying thit two of his runaway slaves had just been brought homo ; and as he had previously tried every spe- cies of punishment upon them without effect, he knew not what else to add, except to set his blood, hounds upon them. 'And,' continued he, 'one of them has been so badly bitten that he has been trying to die. I am only sorry that he did not ; for then I should not have been further troubled with him. If he lives I intend to send him to Natchez or to New Orleans, to work with the ball and chain.'
" From this last remark I understood that private individuals have the right of thus subjecting their unmanageable slaves. I have since seen num- bers of these ' ball and chain' men, both in Nat- chez and New Orleans, but I do not know whe- ther there were any among them except the state convicts.
" As the summer was drawing towards a close, and the yellow fever beginning to prevail in town, I M^ent to reside some months in the country. This was the cotton picking season, during which, the planters say, there is a greater necessity for logging than at any other time. And I can as- sure you, that as I have sat in my window night after night, while the cotton was being weighed, I have heard the crack of the whip, without much intermission, for a whole hour, from no less than three plantations, some of which were a full mile distant.
•' I found that the slaves were kept in the field from daylight until dark ; and then, if they had not gathered what the master or overseer thought •sufficient, they were subjected to the lash. i
" Many by such treatment are induced to run away and take up their lodging in the woods. 1 1 do not say that all who run away are thus closely pressed, but I do know that many are ; and I have known no less than a dozen desert at a time from the same plantation, in consequence of the over- seer's forcing them to work to the extent of their power, and then whipping them for not having done more.
" But suppose that they run away — what is to become of them in the forest ? If they cannot steal they must perish of hunger— if the nights ■
Ere cold, their feet will be frozen ; for if they make a fire they may be discovered, and be shot at. If they attempt to leave the country, their cluncg o!" success is about nothing. The}' must letuin be. whipped— if old offenders, wear the collar, per' kaps be branded,and fare worse than before.
" Do you believe it, sir, not six months since, I saw a number of my Christian neighbors packing tip provisions, as I supposed for a deer hunt ; but as I was about offi^ring myself to the party, I learned that their powder and balls were destined to a very diffisrent purpose : it was, in short, the design of the party to bring home a number of runaway slaves, or to shoot them if they should tiot be able to get possession of them in any other Ivay.
; " You will ask, Is not this murder? Call it, sir, ny what name you please, such aie the facts:— many arc shot every year, and that too while the masters say they treat their slaves well.
"But let me turn your attention to another spe- cies of cruelty. About a year since I knew a cer. tain slave who had deserted his master, to be caught, and for the first time fastened to the stocks. In those same stocks, from which at mid- night I have heard cries of distress, while the master slept, and was dreamrng, perhaps, of drink. ing wine and of discussing the price of cotton. On the next morning he was chained in an im- movable posture, and branded in both cheeks with red hot stamps of iron. Such are the tender mer- cies of men v>'ho love wealth, and are determined to obtain it at any price.
" Suffiir me to add another to the list of enormi- tes, and I will not offend you with more.
" There was, some time since, brought to trial in thii town a planter residing about fifteen miles dist^nt, for whipping his slave to death. You will suppose, of course, that he was punished. No, ar, he was acquitted, although there could be no ;,oubt of the fact. I heard the tale of mur- der fro». a man who was acquainted with all the circumstances. ' I was,' said he , ' passing along the road near the burying-ground of the plantat tion, about nine o'clock at night, when I saw se- veral lights gleaming through the woods ; and as I approached, in order to see what was doing, I beheld the coroner of Natchez, with a number of men, standing around the body of a young female, which by the torches seemed almost perfectly white. On inquiry I learned that the master had so unmercifully beaten this girl that she died un- der the operation : and that also he had so severe- ly punished another of his slaves that he was but just alive.' "
We here rest the case for the present, so far as respects the presentation of facts showing the con- dition of the slaves, and proceed to consider the main objections which are usually employed to weaken such testimony, or wholly to set it aside. But before we enter upon the examination of spe- cific objections, and mtroductory to them, we re- mark,—
1. That the system of slavery must be a sys- tem of horrible cruelty, follows of necessity, from the fact that two millions seven hundred thousand human beings are held by force, and used as arti-
Personal Narratives — Remarks
cles of property. Nothing but a heavy yoke, and an iron one, could possibly keep so many necks in the dust. That must be a constant and mighty pressure which holds so still such a vast army ; nothing could do it but the daily experience of se- verities, and the ceaseless dread and certainty of the most terrible inflictions if they should dare to toss in their chains.
2. Were there nothing else to prove it a system of monstrous cruelty, the fact that fear is the onlj' motive with whicli the slave is plied during his whole existence, would be sufficient to brand it with execration as the grand tormentor of man. The slave's susceptihility of pain is the sole ful. crum on which slavery works the lever that moves liim. In this it plants all its stings ; here it sinks its hot u-ons; cuts its deep gashes; flings its burn- ing embers, and dashes its boiling brine and liquid fire : into this it strikes its cold flesh liooks, grap- gling irons, and instruments of nameless torture ; and by it drags him shrieking to the end of his pilgrimage. The fact that the master inflicts pain upon the slave not merely as an end to grati- fy passion, but constantly as a JHfffns of extorting labor, is enough of itself to show that the system of slavery is unmixed cruelty.
3. That the slaves must suffer frequent and terrible inflictions, follows inevitably from the character of those who direct their labor. What, ever may be the character of the slaveholders them- selves, all agree that the overseers are, as a class, most abandoned, brutal, and desperate men. This is so well known and believed that any testimony to prove it seems needless. The testiraony of Mr. WiUT, late Attorney General of the United States, a Virginian and a slaveholder, is as fol- lows. In his life of Patrick Henry, p. 36, speak- ing of the different classes of society in Virginia, he says, — " Last and lowest a feculum, of bemgs called ' overseers' — the most abject, degraded, un- principled race, always cap in hand to the dons who employ them, and furnishing materials for the exercise of thek pride, insolence, and spirit of domination.''''
Rev. Phineas Smith, of Centreville, New- York, who has resided some years at the south, says of overseers —
" It need hardly be added that overseers are in general ignorant, unprincipled and cruel, and in ; such low repute that they are not permitted to
109
conic to the tables of their employers; yet they haw the constant control of all the human cattle tha| belong to the master.
'! These men are continually advancing from
thejr low station to the higher one of masters.
Thpse changes bring into the possession of power
a class of men of whose mental and moral quali-
I tics I have already spoken."
I Rev. Horace Moui.ton, of Marlboro', Massa- chusetts, who lived in Georgia several years, says of them, —
" The overseers are generally loose in their mo- rals; it is the object of masters to employ those whom they think will get the most work out of their hands,— hence those who whip and tor- ment the slaves the most arc in many instances called the best overseers. The masters think those whom the slaves fear the most are the best. Quite a portion of the masters employ their own slaves as overseers, or rather they are called drivers ; these are more subject to the will of the masters than the white overseers are ; some of them are as lordly as an Austrian prince, and sometimes more cruel even than the whites."
That the overseers are, as a body, sensual, bru- tal, and violent men is proverbial. The tender mercies of such men m,ust be cruel,
4. The ownership of human beings necessarily presupposes an utter disregard of their happiness. He who assumes it monopolizes their whole capi- tal, leaves them no stock on which to trade, and out of which to make happiness. Whatever is the master's gain is the slave's loss, a loss VvTested from him by the master, for the express p^^rpose of making it his own gain ; this is the master's constant employment — forcing the slave to toil — violently wringing from him all he has and all he gets, and using it as his own ; — like the vile bird that never builds its nest from materials of its ovv^n gathering, but either drives other birds from theirs and takes possession of them, or tears them in pieces to get the means of constructing their own. This daily practice of forcibly robbing others, and habitually living on the plunder, cannot but be- get in the mind the habit of regarding the interests and happiness of those whom it robs, as of no sort of consequence in comparison with its own ; con- sequently whenever those interesls and this hap- piness are in the way of its own gratification, they will be sacrificed without scruple. He who can- not see this would be unable to feel it, if it were seen.
OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED.
Objection I.— SUCH CRIELTIES ARE INCREDIBLE.
The enormities inflicted by slaveholders upon their slaves will never be discredited except by those who overlook the simple fact, that he who holds human beings as his bona fide property, re- gards them as property, and not as persons ; this is his permanent state of mind toward them. He does not contemplate slaves as human being;s, con- sequently does not treat them as such ; and with entire indifference sees them suffer privations and writhe under blows, which, if inflicted upon %vhites, would fill him with horror and indigna- tbn. He regards that as good treatment of slaves, which would seem to him insufferable abuse if practiced upon others ; and would de- nounce that as a monstrous outrage and horrible cruelty, if perpretated upon white men and wo- men, which he sees every day meted out to black slaves, without perhaps ever thinking it cruel. Accustomed all his life to regard them rather as domestic animals, to hear them stormed at, and to see them cuffed and caned ; and being himself in the constant habit of treating them thus, such practices have become to him a mere matter of course, and make no impression on his mind. True, it is incredible that men should treat as chattels those whom they truly regard as human beings ; but that they should treat as chattels and working animals those whom they regard as such is no marvel. The common treatment of dogs, when they are in the way, is to kick them out of it ; we see them every day kicked off the side- walks, and out of shops, and on Sabbaths out of churches, — yet, as they are but dogs, these do not strike us as outrages ; yet, if we were to see men, women, and children — our neighbors and friends, kicked out of stores by merchants, or out of churches by the deacons and sexton, we should call the perpetrators inhuman wretches.
We have said that slaveholders regard their slaves not as human beings, but as mere working animals, or merchandise. The whole vocabulary of slaveholders, their laws, their usages, and their entire treatment of their slaves fully establish this. The same terms are apphed to slaves that are given to cattle. They are called " stock." So when the children of slaves are spoken of pro- spectively, they are called their "increase;" the same term that is applied to flocks and herds. So the female slaves that are mothers, are called "breeders" till past child bearing ; and often the same terms are applied to the different sexes that are applied to the males and females among cat- tie. Those who compel the labor of slaves and cattle have the same appellation, "drivers:" the
names which they call them are the same and simi- ilar to those given to their horses and oxen. The laws of slave states make them property, equally with goats and swine ; they are levied upon for debt in the same way ; they are included in the same advertisonents of public sales with cattle, swine, and asses ; when moved from one part of the country to another, they are herded in droves like cattle, and like them urged on by drivers ; their labor is compelled in the same waj\ They are bought and sold, and separated like cattle : when exposed for sale, their good qualities are described as jockies show off the good points of their horses ; their strength, activity, skill, power of endurance, &c. are lauded, — and those vi^ho bid upon them examine their persons, just as purchasers inspect horses and oxen ; they open their mouths to see if their teeth are sound ; strip their backs to see if they are badly scarred, and handle their limbs and muscles to see if they are firmly knit. Like horses, they are warranted to be " sound," or to be returned to the owner if " unsound." A father gives his son a horse and a slave ; by his will he distributes among them his race-horses, hounds, game-cocks, and slaves. We leave the reader to carry out the parallel which we have only begun. Its details would cover many pages.
That slaveholders do not practically regard slaves as huinan beings is abundantly shown by their own voluntary testimony. In a recent work entitled, " The South vindicated from the Treason and Fanaticism of Northern Abolitionists," which was written, we are informed, by Colonel Dayton, late member of Congress from South Carolina ; the writer, speaking of the awe with which the slaves regard the whites, says. —
'' The northerner looks upon a band of negroes as upon so many men, but the planter or southern- er views themin a very different light."
Extract from the speech of Mr. Summers, of Virginia, in the legislature of that state, Jan. 26, 1832. See the Richmond Whig.
" When, in the sublime lessons of Christianity, he (the slaveholder) is taught to ' do unto others as he would have others do unto him,' he never
DREAMS THAT THE DEGRADED NEGRO IS WITHPN THE PALE OF THAT HOLY CANON."
President Jefferson, in his letter to Governor Coles, of Illinois, dated Aug. 25, 1P14, asserts, that slaveholders regard their slaves as bnates, in the following remarkable language.
" Nursed and educated in the oaily habit of see- ing the degraded condition, both bodily and men- tal, of these unfortunate beings [the slaves], few
MINDS HAVE YET DOUBTED BUT THAT THEY WERE AS
Objections Considered — Cruelties Incredible.
Ill
LEGITIMATE SUBJECTS OF rROl'ERTY AS THEIR HOUSES OR CATTLE."
Havin-T shown that slaveholders regard their slaves as mere working; animals and cattle, we now proceed to show that their actual treatment of them, is worse than it would be if they were brutes. We repeat it, Slaveholders treat their SLAVES WORSE THAN TiiEv DO THEIR BRUTES. Who- ever heard of cows or sheep being deliberately tied up and beaten and lacerated till they died ? or horses coolly tortured by the hour, till covered with mangled flesh, or of swine having their legs tied and being suspended from a tree and lacerat- ed with thongs for hours, or of hounds stretched and made fast at full length, flayed with whips, red pepper rubbed into their bleeding gashes, and hot brine dashed on to aggravate the torture ? Yet just such forms and degrees of torture arc daily perpetrated upon the slaves. Now no man that knows human nature will marvel at this. Though great cruelties have always been inflicted by men upon brutes, yet incomparably the most horrid ever perpetrated, have been those of men upon their own species. Any leaf of history turn- ed over at random has proof enough of this. Every reflecting mind perceives that when men hold human beings as froperiy, they must, from the nature of the case, treat them worse than they treat their horses and oxen. It is impossible for cattle to excite in men such tempests of fury as men excite in each other. Men are often pro- voked if their horses or hounds refuse to do, or their pigs refuse to go where they wish to drive them, but the feeling is rarely intense and never permanent. It is vexation and impatience, rather tlian settled rage, malignity, or revenge. If horses and dogs were intelligent beings, and still held as property, their opposition to the wishes of their ov/ners, would exasperate them immeasurably more than it would be possible for them to do, with the minds of brutes. None but little chil- di'cn and idiots get angry at sticks and stones that lie in their way or hurt them ; bat put into sticks and stones intelligence, and will, and power of feeling and motion, while they remain as now, ar- ticles of property, and what a towering rage would men be in, if bushes whipped them in the face when they walked among them, or stones rolled over tlieir t^es when they climbed hills ! and what exemplary vengeance would be inflicted upon door-steps and hearth-stones, if they were to move out of their places, instead of lying still where they were put for their owners to tread upon. The greatest provocation to human nature is opposition to its loill. If a man's will be re- sisted by one far below him, the provocation is vastly greater, than when it is resisted by an acknowledged superior. In the former case, it in- flames strong passions, which in the latter lie
dormant. The rage of proud Haman knew no bounds against the poor Jew who would not do as he wished, and so he built a gallows for him. ff the person opposing the will of another, be so far below him as to be on a level with chattels, and be actually held and used as an article of property ; pride, scorn, lust of power, rage and revenge explode together upon the hapless vic- tim. The idea of property having a will, and that too in opposition to the will of its owner, and counteracting it, is a stimulant of terrible power to the most relentless human passions , and from the nature of slavery, and the constitu- tion of the human mind, this fierce stimulant must, with various degrees of strength, act upon slaveholders almost vnthout ceasing. The slave, however abject and crushed, is an intelligent be- ing : he has a will, and that will cannot be anni- hilated, it tcill show itself; if for a moment it is smothered, like pent up fires when vent is found, it flames the fiercer. Make intelligence property, and its manager will have his match ; he is met at every turn by an opposing will, not in the form of down-right rebellion and defiance, but yet, visi. bly, an ever-opposing will. He sees it in the dissat- isfied look, and reluctant air and unwilling move- ment ; the constrained strokes of labor, the drawling tones, the slow hearing, the feigned stupidity, the sham pains and sickness, the short memory ; and he feels it every hour, in innumer- able forms, frustrating his designs by a ceaseless though perhaps invisible countermining. This unceasing opposition to the will of its ' owner,' on the part of his rational ' property,' is to the slaveholder as the hot iron to the neire. He raves under it, and storms, and gnashes, and smites ; but the more he smites, the hotter it gets, and the more it burns him. Further, this opposition of the slave's will to his owner's, not only excites him to severity, that he may gratify his rage, but makes it necessary for him to use violence in breaking down this resistance — thus subjecting the slave to additional tortures. There is another inducement to cruel inflictions upon the slave, and a necessity for it, which docs not exist in the case of brutes. Oflfendors must be made an example to others, to strike them with terror. If a slave runs away and is caught, his master flogs him with temble severity, not mere- ly to gratify his resentment, and to keep him from running away again, but as a warning to others. So in every case of disobedience, neglect, stub- bornness, unfaithfulness, indolence, insolence, theft, feigned sickness, when his directions are forgotten, or slighted, or supposed to be, or his wishes crossed, or his property injured, or left ex- posed, or his work ill-executed, the master is tempted to inflict cruelties, not merely to wreak his own vengeance upon him, and to make the
112
Objections Considered — Cruelties Incredible.
slave more circumspect in future, but to sustain his authority over the other slaves, to restrain them from like practices, and to preserve his own property.
A. multitude of facts, illustrating the position that slaveholders treat their slaves worse than they do their cattle, will occur to all who are familiar with slavery. When cattle break through their owners' inclosures and escape, if found, they are driven back and fastened in again ; and even slaveholders would execrate as a wretch, the man who should tie them up, and bruise and la- cerate them for straying away ; but when slaves that have escaped are caught, tliey are flog-ged with the most terrible severity. When herds of cattle are driven to market, they are suffered to go in the easiest way, each by himself; but when slaves are driven to market, they are fastened together with hapdcuffs, galled by iron collars and chains, sud thus forced to travel on foot hundreds o/ miles, sleeping at night in their chains. Sheep, and sometimes homed cattle are marked with their owners' initials — but this is o-enerally done with paint, and of course pro- duces no pain. Slaves, too, are often marked with their owners' initials, but the letters are stamped into their flesh with a hot iron. Cattle are suffered *to graze their pastures without stint ; but the slaves are restrained in then- food to a fixed allowance. The slaveholders' horses arc notoriously far better fed, more moderately work- ed, have fewer hours of labor, and longer inter- vals of rest than their slaves ; and their valuable horses are far more comfortably housed and lodged, and their stables more effectually defend- ed from the weather, than the slaves' huts. Wc have here merely heguna. comparison, which the reader can easily carry out at length, from the materials furnished in this work.
We will, however, subjoin a few testimonies of slaveholders, and others who have resided in slave states, expressly asserting that slaves are treated worse than brutes.
The late Dr. George BnciiANAN. of Baltimore, Maryland, a member of the American Philosopli- 1 ical Society, in an oration delivered in Baltimore, July 4, 1791, page 10, says :
"The Africans whom you despise, whom you tnore inJaimanly treat than hrutes, are equally capable of improvement with yourselves."
The Rev. George Whitefiei.d, in his cele- brated letter to the slaveholders of Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina, p.nd Georgia, written one hundred years ago, (See Benezet's Caution to Great Britain and her Colonies, page 13), says :
" Sure I am, it is sinful to use them as bad, nay worse than if they were brutes ; and what- ever particular exceptions there may be, (as I
would chariablty hope there are some) I fear the generality of you that own negroes, are liable to such a charge.'"
Mr. Rice, of Kentucky in his speech in the Convejition that formed the Constitution of that state, m 1790, says :
" He [the slave] is a rational creature, reduced by the power of legislation to the state of a brute, and thereby deprived of every privilege of hu- manity. . " . . The brute may steal or rob, to supply his hunger ; but the slave, though in the most starving condition, dare not do either, on penalty of death, or some severe punishment."
Rev. Horace Modlton, a minister of the Me- thodist Episcopal Church, in Marlborough, Mass. who lived some years in Georgia, sa3's :
" The southern horses and dogs have enough to eat, and good care is taken of them ; but south- ern negroes — who can describe their misery and their wretchedness, their nakedness and their cruel scourgings ! None but God. Should we whip our horses as they whip their slaves, even for small offences, we should expose ourselves to the penalty of tlie law."
Rev. Phineas Smith, Cenlreville, Allegany county. New York, who has resided four years in the midst of southern slaver}^ —
" Avarice and cruelty are twin sisters ; and 1 do not hesitate to declare before the world, as my deliberate opinion, that there is less compassion for working slaves at the south, than for working oxen at the north."
Stephen Sewall, Esq. Winthrop, Maine, a member of the Congregational Church, and late agent of the Winthrop Manfacturing Company, who resided five years in Alabama, says —
" I do not think that hrutes, not even horses, are treated with so much cruelty as American slaves."
If the preceding considerations are insufficient to remove incredulity respecting the cruelties suffered by slaves, and if nortliein objectors still say, ' We might believe such things of savages, but that civilized men, and republicans, in this Christian country, can openly and by system per- petrate such enormities, is impossible ;' — to such we reply, that this incredulity of the people of the free states, is not only discreditable to their intelligence, but to their consistency.
Who is so ignorant as not to know, or so in- credulous as to disbelieve, that the early Baptists of New England were fined, imprisoned, scourg- ed, and finally banished by our puritan fore- fathers ? — and that the Quakers were confined in dungeons, publicly whipped at the cart-tail, had their ears cut off, cleft sticks put upon their tongues, and that five of them, four men and one woman, were hung on Boston Common, for pro- pagating the sentiments <rf the Society of Friends? Who discredits the fact, that the civil authorities in Massachusetts, less than a hundred and fifty
Oiiections Considered — Cruelties Incredible.
113
years ago, confined in the public jail a little girl of four years old, and publicly hung the Rev. Mr. Burroughs, and eighteen other persons, mostly women, and killed another, (Giles Corey,) by ex- tending him upon his back, and piling weights upon his breast till he was crushed to death* — and tliis for no other reason than that these men and women, and this little child, were accused by others of bewitching ihcm.
Even the children in Connecticut, know tliat the following was once a law of that state :
" No food or lodging shall be allowed to a Quaker. If any person turns Quaker, he shall be banished, and not be suffered to return on pain of death."
These objectors can readily believe the fact, that in the city of New York, less than a hundred years since, thirteen persons were publiclj'^ burn- ed to death, over a slow fire : and that the legis- lature of the same State took under its paternal care the African slave-trade, and declared (hat " all encouragement should be given to the direct importation of slaves; that all smuggling of slaves should be condemned, as an eminent dis- couragement to the fair trader.^'
They do not call in question the fact that the African slave-trade was carried on from the ports of the free states till within thirty years; that even members of tlie Society of Friends were actively engaged in it, shortly before the revolu- tionary war ;t that as late as 1807, no less than fifty-nine of the vessels engaged in that trade, were sent out from the little state of Rhode Island, which had then only about seventy thou- sand inhabitants ; that among those most largely engaged in these foul crimes, are the men whom the people of Rhode Island delight to honor : that the man who dipped most deeply in that trade of blood (James De Wolf,) and amassed a most princely fortune by it, was not long since their senator in Congress ; and another, who was cap- tain of one of his versels, was recently Lieutenant Governor of the state.
They can believe, too, all the horrors of the middle passage, the chains, suffocation, maim- ings, stranglings, starvation, drownings, and cold blooded murders, atrocities perpetrated on board these slave-ship? by their own citizens, perhaps by their own tov/nsmen and neighbors — possibly by their own fathers : but oh ! they ' can't believe that the slaveholders can be so hard-hearted to- wards their slaves as to treat them with great cruelty.' They can believe that His Holinef s the Pope, v/ith hia cardinals, bishops and priests, have
* Judge Sewall, of Mass. in his diary, describing this horrible scene, says that wlieii tlie tongue of llie poor suf- ferer hud, in the extremity of liis dying agony, protruded from his mouth, a person in attendance toolc liis cane and thrust it back into liis mouth.
t See Life and Travels of John Woolman, page 92.
tortured, broken on the wheel, and burned to death thousands of Protestants — that eighty thou, sand of the Anabaptists were slaught(;red in Ger- many— that hundreds of thousands of the blame, less Waldenscs, Huguenots and Lollards, were torn in pieces by the most titled dignitaries of church and state, and that almost ever >/ professed- ly Christian sect, has, at some period of its histonj, persecuted unto blood those who dissented from their creed. They can believe, also, that in Bos. ton, New York, Utica, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Alton, and in scores of other cities and villages of the free states, ' gentlemen of property and standing,' led on by civil officers, by members of state legislatures, and of Congress, by judges and attorneys-general, by editors of newspa- pers, aJid by professed ministers of the gospel, have organized mobs, broken up lawful meetings of peaceable citizens, committed assault and bat- tery upon their persons, knocked them down with stones, led them about with ropes, dragged them from their beds at midnight, gagged and forced them into vehicles, and driven them into unfre- quented places, and there tormented and dis- figured them — that they have rifled their houses, made bonfires of their furniture in the streets, burned to the ground, or torn in pieces the halla or churches in which they were assembled — at- tacked them with deadly weapons, stabbed some, shot others, and killed ONE. They can believe all this — and further, that a majority of the citizens in the places where these outrages have been committed, connived at them; and by refusing to indict the perpetrators, or, if they were in- dicted, by combining to secure their acquittal, and rejoicing in it, have publicly adopted these felonies .as their own. All these things they can believe without hesitation, and that they have even been done by their own acquaintances, neighbors, relatives ; perhaps those with whom they interchange courtesies, those for whom they vote, or to whose salaries they contribute — but yet, oh ! they can never believe that slaveholders inflict cruelties upon their slaves !
They can give full credence to the kidnapping, imprisonment, and deliberate murder of William Morgan, and that by men of high standing in society ; they can believe that this deed was aided and abetted, and the murderers screened from justice, by a large number of influential per- sons, who were virtually accomplices, either be- fore or after the fact ; and that this combination was so effectual, as successfully to defy and tri- umph over the combined powers of the govern- ment ; — yet that those who constantly rob men of their time, liberty, and wages, and all their rights, fhould rob them of bits of flesh, and oc- casionally of a tooth, make their backs bleed, and put fetters on their legs, is too monstrous to be
114
Ohjections Considered — Cruelties Incredible.
credited! Further these same persons, who 'can't believe' that slaveholders are so iron-hearted as to ill-treat their slaves, believe that the very elite of these slaveholders, those most highly es- teemed and honored among them, are continu- ally daring each other to mortal conflict, and in the presence of mutual friends, taking deadly aim at each other's hearts, with settled purpose to kill, if possible. That among the most dis- tinguished governors of slave states, among their most celebrated judges, senators, and representa- tives in Congress, there is hardly one, who has not either killed, or tried to kill, or aided and abetted his friends in trying to kill, one or more individuals. That pistols, dirks, bowie knives, or other instrmnents of death, are generally carried throughout the slave states — and that deadly affrays with them, in the streets of their cities and villages, are matters of daily occm-rence ; that the sons of slaveholders in southern colleges, bully, threaten, and fire upon their teachers, and their teachers upon them ; that during the last summer, in the most celebrated seat of science and literature in the south, the University of Vir- ginia, the professors were attacked by more than seventy armed students, and, in the words of a Virginia paper, were obliged ' to conceal them- selves from their fury ;' also that almost all the riots and violence that occur in northern col- leges, are produced by the turbulence and lawless passions of southern students. That such are the furious passions of slaveholders, no conside- rations of personal respect, none for the proprie- ties of life, none for the honor of our national legislature, none for the character of our country abroad, can restrain the slaveholding members of Congress from the most disgraceful personal en- counters on the floor of our nation's legislature — smiting their fists in each other's faces, throttling, and even kicking and trying to gouge each other — that even during the session of the Congress just closed, no less than six slaveholders, taking fire at words spoken in debate, have either rushed at each other's throats, or kicked, or struck, or attempted to knock each other down ; and that in all these instances, they would doubtless have killed each other, if their friends had not separat- ed them. Further, they know full well, these were not insignificant, vulgar blackguards, elect- ed because they were the head bullies and bottle- holders in a boxing ring, or because their consti- tuents went drunk to the ballot box ; but they were some of the most conspicuous members of the House — one of them a former speaker.
Our newspapers are full of these and similar daily occurrences among slaveholders, copied verbatim from their own accounts of them in their ov^n papers, and all this we fully credit ; no man is simpleton enough to cry out, ' Oh, I
can't believe that slaveholders do such things,' — and yet when we turn to the treatment which these men mete out to their slaves, and show that they are in the habitual practice of striking, kick- ing, knocking down and shooting them as well as each other — the look of blank incredulity that comes over northern dough-faces, is a study for a painter : and then the sentimental outcry, with eyes and hands uplifted, 'Oh, indeed, I can't be- lieve the slaveholders are so cruel to their slaves.' Most amiable and touching charity ! Truly, of all Yankee notions and free state products, there is nothing like a ' doughface ' — the great north- ern staple for the southern market — 'made to order,' in any quantity, and always on hand. ' Dough faces !' Thanks to a slaveholder's con- tempt for the name, with its immortality of truth, infamy and scorn.*
Though the people of the free states affect to disbelieve the cruelties perpetrated upon the slaves, yet slaveholders believe each other guilty of them, and speak of them with the utmost free- dom. If slaveholders disbelieve any statement of cruelty inflicted upon a slave, it is not on ac- count of its enormity. The traveler at the south will hear in Delaware, and in all parts of Mary- land and Virginia, from the lips of slaveholders, statements of the most horrible cruelties suffered by the slaves/ari/ter south, in theCarolinasand Geor- gia ; when he finds himself in those states he will hear similar accounts about the treatment of the slaves in Florida and Louisiana ; and in Missou- ri, Kentucky, and Tennessee he will hear of the tragedies enacted on the plantations in Arkansas, Alabama and Mississippi. Since Anti-Slavery Societies have been In operation, and slaveholders have found themselves on trial before the vforld, and put upon their good behavior, northern slaveholders have grown cautious, and now often substitute denials and set defences, for the volun- tary testimony about cruelty in the far south, which, before that period, was given with entire freedom. Still, however, occasionally the ' truth will out,' as the reader will see by the following testimony of an East Tennessee newspaper, in which, speaking of the droves of slaves taken from the upper country to Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, &c., the editor says, they are ' travel- ing to a region where their condition through time
WILL BE SECOND ONLY TO THAT OF THE WRETCHED
CREATURES IN HELL.' See " MaryviUe Intelli- gencer," of Oct. 4, 1835. Distant cruelties and cruelties long past, have been till recently, favor- ite topics with slaveholders. They have not only been ready to acknowledge that their fathers
* " Doe face," wJiich owes its pntemity to John Ran dolph, age has mellowed into '■'dough face" — a cog noraen quite as expressive and appropriate, if not as class- ical
Ohjections Considered — Cruelties Incredible.
115
have exercised great cruelty toward their slaves, but have voluntarily, in their ofticial acts, made proclamation of it and entered it on their public records. The Legislature of North Carolina, in 1798, branded the successive Icgislatiurs of that state for more than thirty years previous, with the infamy of treatment towards their slaves, which they pronounce to be ' disgraceful to humanity, and degrading in the highest degree to the laws and principles of a free, Christian, and enlightened country.' This treatment was the enactment and perpetuation of a most barbarous and cruel law.
But enough. As the objector can and does believe all the preceding facts, if he still •caH'^ believe' as to the cruelties of slavehold- ers, it would be barbarous to tantalize his inca- pacity either with evidence or argument. Let him have the benefit of the act in such ease made and provided.
Having sho^Ti that the mcrcdulity of the ob- jector respecting the cruelty inflicted upon the slaves, is discreditable to his consistency, wc now proceed to show that it is equally so to his intelligence.
Whoever disbelieves the foregoing statements of cruelties, on the ground of their enormity, pro- claims his own ignorance of the nature and histo- ry of man. What ! incredulous about the atro- cities perpetrated by those who hold human be- ings as property, to be used for their pleasure, when history herself has done little else m record- ing human deeds, than to dip her blank chart in the blood shed by arbitrary power, and unfold to human gaze the great red scroll ? That cruelty is the natural effect of arbitrary power, has been the result of all experience, and the voice of univer- sal testimony since the world began. Shall hu- man nature's axioms, six thousand years old, go for nothing ? Are the combined product of hu- man experience, and the concurrent records of human character, to be set down as ' old wives' fables ?' To disbelieve that arbitrary power na- turally and habitually perpetrates cruelties, where it can do it with impunity, is not only ignorance of man, but of things. It is to be Wind to innu- merable proofs which are before every man's eyes ; proofs that are stereotyped in the very words and phrases that are on every one's lips. Take for example the words despot and despotic. Despot, sitrnifies etymologically, merely one who possesses arbitrary power, and at first, it was used to desig- nate those alone who possessed unlimited power over human beings, entirely irrespective of the way in which they exercised it, whether merciful- ly or cruelly. But the fact, that those who pos- sessed such power, made their subjects their vic- tiins, has wrought a total change in the popular meaning of the word. It now signifies, in com- mon parlance, not one who possesses milimited
power over others, but one who exercises the power that he has, whether little or much, cruelly. So des- potic, instead of meaning what it once did, some- thing pertaining to the ^ossess/ora of unlimited pow- er, signifies something pertaining to the capricious, unmerciful and releritless exercise of such power.
The word tyrant, is another example — former- ly it implied merely a possession of arbitrary power, but from the invariable abuse of such power by its possessors, the proper and entire meaning of the word is lost, and it now signifies merely one who exercises power to the injury of others. The words tyrannical and tyranny fol- low the same analogy. So the word arbitrary ; which formerly implied that which pertains to the will of one, independently of others; but from the fact that those who had no restraint upon their wills, were invariably capricious, unreason- able and oppressive, these words convey accu- rately the present sense of arbitrary, when ap- plied to a person.
How can the objector persist in disbelieving that cruelty is the natural effect of arbitrary pow- er, when the very words of every da}', rise up on his lips in testimony against him — words which once signified the 7nere possession of arbitrary power, but have lost their meaning, and now sig- nify merely its cruel exercise ; because such a use of it has been proved by the experience of the world, to be inseparable from its possession — words now frigid with horror, and never used fven by the objector without feehng a cold chill run over him.
Arbitrary power is to the mind what alcohol is to the body ; it intoxicates. Man loves power. It is perhaps the strongest human passion ; and the more absolute the power, the stronger the de. sire for it ; and the more it is desired, the more its exercise is enjoyed : this enjoyment is to human na. ture a fearful temptation, — generally an overmatch for it. Hence it is true, with hardly an exception, that arbitrary power is abused in proportion as it is desired. The fact that a person intensely de- sires power over others, without restraint, shows the absolute necessity of restraint. What woman would marry a man who made it a condition that he should have the power to divorce her whenever he pleased ? Oh ! he might never wish to exer- cise it, but the power he would have ! No wo. man, not stark mad, would trust her happiness in such hands.
Would a father apprentice his son to a master, who insisted that his power over the laJ should be absolute ? The master might perhaps, never wish to comm.it a battery upon the boy, but if he should, he insists upon having full swing ! He who would leave his son in the clutches of such a wretch, would be bled and blistered for a lunatic as soon as his friends could get their hands upon him.
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The possession of power, even when greatly re- strained, is such a fiery stimulant, that its lodge- ment in human hands is always perilous. Give men the handling of immense sums of money, and all the eyes of Argus and the hands of Briareus can hardly prevent embezzlement.
The mutual and ceaseless accusations of the two great political parties in this country, show the universal belief that this tendency of human nature to abuse power, is so strong, that even the most powerful legal restraints are insufficient for its safe custody. From congress and state legisla- tures down to grog-shop caucuses and street- wranglings, each party keeps up an incessant din about abuses of -power. Hardlj' an officer, either of the general or state governments, from the President down to the ten thousand postmasters, and from governors to the fifty thousand consta- bles, escapes the charge of ' abuse ofpower.^ ' Op- pression,' 'Extortion,' 'Venality,' 'Bribery,' •Corruption,' 'Perjury,' 'Misrule,' 'Spoils,' 'De- falcation,' stand on every newspaper. Now with. out any estimate of the lies told in these mu- tual charges, there is truth enough to make each party ready to believe of the other, and of their best men too, any abuse of power, however mon- strous. As is the Stato, so is the Church. From General Conferences to circuit preachers ; and from General Assemblies to church sessions, abuses of power spring up as weeds from the dunghill.
All legal restraints are framed upon the pre- sumption, that men will abuse their power if not hemmed in by them. This lies at the bottom of all those checks and balances contrived for keep- ing governments upon their centres. If there is among human convictions one that is invariable and universal, it is, that when men possess unre- strained power over others, over their time, choice, conscience, persons, votes, or means of subsist- ence, they are under great temptations to abuse it ; and that the intensity with which such power is desired, generally measures the certainty and the degree of its abuse.
That American slaveholders possess a power over their slaves which is virtually absolute, none will deny.* That they desire this absolute pow- er, is shown from the fact of their holding and exercising it, and making laws to confirm and en- large it. That the desire to possess this power, every tittle of it, is intense, is proved by the fact, that slaveholders cling to it with such obstinate
* The following extracts from the laws of slave-states are proofs sufficient.
"The slave is ENTIRELY subject to the WILL of his master."— Louisiana Civil Code, Art. 273.
" Slaves shnll be deemed, sold, taken, reputed, and ad- judjied in law to be chattels personal, in the hands of their owners and possessors, and their executors, administrators and assigns, to all intents, constructions, and pur potEs, WHATSOEVER."— I„iwj of South Carolina, 2 Brev. Dig. "229 ; Prince's Digest, 446, &c.
tenacity, as well as by all their doings and sayings, their threats, cursings and gnashings against all who denounce the exercise of such power as usurpation and outrage, and counsel its immediate abrogation.
From the nature of the case — from the laws of mind, such power, so intensely desired, griped with such a death-clutch, and with such fierca spurningsofall curtailment or restraint, cannot but be abused. Privations and inflictions must be its natural, habitual products, with ever and anon, terror, torture, and despair let loose to do their worst upon the helpless victims.
Though power over others is in every case lia- ble to be used to their injury, yet, in almost all cases, the subject individual is siiielded from great outrages by strong safeguards. If he have talents, or learning, or wealth, or office, or personal re- spectability, or influential friends, these, with the protection of law and the rights of citizenship, stand round him as a body guard : and even if he lacked all these, yet, had he the same color, fea- tures, form, dialect, habits, and associations with the privileged caste of society, he would find in them a shield from many injuries, which would be invited, if in these respects he diffi^red widely from the rest of the community, and was on that account regarded with disgust and aver.sion. This is the condition of the slave ; not only is he de- prived of the artificial safeguards of the law, but has none of those natural safeguards enume- rated above, which are a protection to others. But not only is the slave destitute of those peculiari- ties, habits, tastes, and acquisitions, which by as similating the possessor to the rest of the commu- nity, excite their interest in him, and thus, in a measure, secure for him their protection ; but he possesses those peculiarities of bodily organization which are looked upon with deep disgust, con- tempt, prejudice, and aversion. Besides this, con- ' slant contact with the ignorance and stupidity of the slaves, their filth, rags, and nakedness ; their cowering air, servile employments, repulsive food, and squalid hovels, their purchase and sale, and use as brutes — all these associations, constantly mingling and circulating in the minds of slave- holders, and invetcrated by the hourly irritations vrhich must assail all who use human beings as things, produce in them a permanent state of feel- ing toward the slave, made up of repulsion and settled ill-will. When we add to this the corro- sions produced by the petty thefts of slaves, the necessity of constant watching, their reluctant service, and indiff'erence to their master's interests, their ill-concealed aversion to him, and spurning of his authority ; and finally, that fact, as old as human nature, that men always hate those whom they oppress, and oppress those whom they hate, thus oppression and hatred mutually begetting and
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perpetuating each otlier — and \vc have a raging c DiMpound of fiery elements and disturbing forces, fj sliniulating and inflaming the mind of the slaveholder against tJie slave, that it cannot, but break forth upon him with desolating^ fury.
To d.ny tliat ciueUyis the spontaneous and uniform product of arbitrary power, and that the natural and controlling tendency of such power is to make its potsessor cruel, ojjprcssivc, and re. vengeful towards those who arc subjected to his control, is, wc repeat, to set at nought the com- bined experience of the human race, to invalidate its testimony, and to reverse its decisions from time immemorial.
A volume might be filled with the testimony of American slaveholders alone, to the truth of the preceding position. We subjoin a few illus- trations, and first, the memoi-able declaration of President Jefferson, who lived and died a slave- holder. It has been published a thousand times, and will live forever. In his " Notes on Virginia," sixth Philadelphia edition, p. 251, he says, —
" The WHOLE COM:\IERCE between master and slave, is a PERPEl'U-\L EXERCISE of tlie most boisterous passions, the most unremit- ting DESPOTISM on the one part, and degrad- ing submission on the other The parent
storms, the child looks on, catches the lineaments of wrath, puts on the same airs in the circle of smaller slaves, GIVES LOOSE TO THE WORST OF PASSIONS ; and thus nursed, ed. ucated, and daily exercised in tyranny, cannot but be stamped by it with odious peculiarities."
Hon. Lewis Summers, Judge of the General Court of Virginia, and a slaveholder, said in a speech before the Virginia legislature in 1832 ; (see Richmond Whig of Jan. 26, 1832,)
"A slave population exorcises the most perni- cious injiuence upon the manners, habits an cha- racter, of those among whom it exists. Lisping infancy learns the vocabulary of abusive epithets, and struts the embryo tyrant of its little domain. The consciousness of superior destiny takes pos- session of his mind at its earliest dawning, and love cf power and rule, ' grows with his growth, and strengthens with his strength.' LTnless en- abled to rise above the operation of those powerful causes, he enters the world with miserable notions of self-importance, and under the government of an unbridled temper."
The late Judge TacKEii of Virginia, a slave- holder, and Professor of Law in the University of William and Mary, in his " Letter to a Member of the Virginia Legislature," 1801, says, —
"I say nothing of the baneful effects of slavery on our moraJ. character, because I know you have been long sensible of this point."
The Presbyterian Synod of South Carolina and Georgia, consisting of all the clergy of that de- nomination in those states, with a lay representa- tion from the churches, most, if not all of whom ,
arc slaveholders, published a report on slavery in 1834, from which the following is an extract.
" Those only who have the management of ser. vants, know what the hardening effect of it is upon their own feelings towards them. There is no necessity to dwell on this ])oint, as all owners and managers fully understand it. He who com mcnces to manage th';m with tenderness and with a willingness to favor them in every way, must be watchful, otherwise he wih settle down in indiffcr ence, if not severiii/."
General William H. Harrison, now of Ohio, son of the late Governor Harrison of Virginia, a slaveholder, while minister from the United States to the Republic of Colombia, wrote a letter to General Simon Bolivar, then President of that Republic, just as he was about assuming despotic power. The letter is dated Bogota, Sept. 22, 182G. The following is an extract.
" From a knowledge of your own disposition and present feelings, your excellency will not be willing to believe tliat you could ever be brought to an act of tyranny, or even to execute justice with unnecessary rigor. But trust me. sir, there is nothing more corrupting, nothing more destrue- tive of the noblest and finest feelings of our na. iure than the exercise of unlimited power. The man, v,'lio in the begiiming of such a career, mio-ht shudder at the idea of taking away the life of a fellow-being, might soon have his conscience so seared by the repetition of crime, that the agonies of his murdered victims might become music to his soul, and the drippings of the scaffold afford blood to swim in. History is full of such excesses."
William H. Fitzhugh, Esq. of Virginia, a slave- holder, says, — " Slavery, in its mildest form, is cruel and unnatural ; its injurious effects on our morals and habits are mutually felt."
Hon. Samuel S. Nicholas, late Judge of the Court of Appeals of Kentucky, and a slaveholder, in a speech before the legislature of that state, Jan. 1837, says, —
" The deliberate convictions of the most ma- tured consideration I can give the subject, are, that the institution of slavery is a 7nost serious in- jury to the habits, manners and ^norals of our while population — that it leads to sloth, indolence, dissipation, and vice."
Dr. Thomas Cooper, late President of the Col- lege of South Carolina, in a note to his edition of the " Institutes of Justinian," page 413, says, —
" All absolute power has a direct tendency, not only to detract from the happiness of the persons who are subject to it, but to deprave the good
qualities of those who possess it the whole
history of human nature, in the present and every former age, will justify me in saying that such is the tendency of power on the one hand and slavery on the other."
A South Carolina slaveholder, whose name is with the executive committee of the Am. A. S. Society, says, in a letter, dated April 4, 1838 : —
" I think it (slavery) ruinous to the temper and
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to our spiritual life ; it is a thorn in the flesh, for ■ ever and for ever goading us on to say and to do what the Eternal God cannot but be displeased •with. I speak from experience, and oh ! my de- sire is to be delivered from it."
Monsieur C. C. Robin, who was a resident of Louisiana from 1802 to 1806, published a work on that country ; in which, speaking of the effect of slaveholding on masters and their children, he says : —
" The young Creoles make the negroes who surround them the play-things of their whims : they flog, for pastime, those of their own age, just as their fathers flog the others at their will. These young Creoles, arrived at the ago in which the passions are impetuous, do not know how to bear contradiction ; they will have every thing done which they command, possible or not ; and in de- fault of this, they avenge their offended pride by multiplied punishments."
Dr. George Buchanan, of Baltimore, Maryland, member of the American Philosophical Society, hi an oration at Baltunorc, July 4, 1791, said : —
" For sucli are the effects of subjecting man to slavery, that it destroys every humane principle, vitiates the mind, instils ideas of unlawful cruel- ties, and eventually subverts the springs of govern- ment."— Buchanan's Oration, p. 12.
President Edwards the younger, in a sermon before the ConnccticiLt Abolition Society, in 1791, page S, says : —
" Slavery has a most direct tendenc)' to liaugh- tiness, and a domineering spirit and conduct in the proprietors of the slaves, in their children, and in all who have the control of them. A man who has been bred up in domineering over negroes, can scarcely avoid contracting such a habit of haughtiness and domination as will express itself in his general treatment of mankind, whether in his private capacity, or in any office, civil or mill- tary, with which he may be invested."
The celebrated Montesquieu, in his " Spirit of the Laws," thus describes the effect of slave- holding upon the master: —
" The master contracts aU sorts of bad habits ; and becomes haughty, passionate, obdurate, vin. dictive, voluptuous, and cruel.'"
"VViLBERFORCE, in his speech at the anniversary of the London Anti-Slavery Society, in March, 1828, said :—
" It is utterly impossible that they who live in the administration of the petty despotism of a slave community, whose minds have been warped and polluted by that contamination, should not lose that respect for their fellow creatures over whom they tjTannize, M'hich is essential in the nature and moral being of man, to rescue them from the abuse of power over their prostrate feUow crea- tures."
In the great debate, in the British Parliament, on the African slave-trade, Mr. Whitbread said :
" Arbitrary power would spoil the hearts of the best."
But we need not multiply proofs to establisii our position : it is sustained by the concurrent testimony of sages, philosophers, poets, statesmen, and moralists, in every period of the world ; and who can marvel that those in all ages who have wisely pondered men and things, should be unani- mous in such testimony, when the history of arbi- trary power has come down to us from the begin- ning of time, struggling through heaps of slain, and trailing her parchments in blood.
Time would fail to begin with the first despot and track down the carnage step by step. All nations, all ages, ail climes crowd forward as wit- nesses, v/ith their scars, and wounds, and dying agonies.
But to survey a multitude bewilders ; let us look at a single nation. We instance Rome ; both be- cause its history is more generally known, and because it furnishes a larger proportion of in- stances, in which arbitrary power was exercised with comparative mildness, than any other nation ancient of modern. And yet, her whole exist- ence was a tragedj', every actor was an execu- tioner, the curtain rose amidst shrieks and fell up- on corpses, and the only shifting of the scenes was from blood to blood. The whole world stood aghast, as under sentence of death, awaiting exe- cution, and all nations and tongues were driven, with her own citizens, as sheep to the slaughter. Of her seven kmgs, her hundreds of consuls, tri- banes., decemvirs, and dictators, and her fifty em- perors, there is hardly one whose name has come down to us unstained by horrible abuses of power ; and that too, notwithstanding we have mere shreds of the history of many of them, owing to their antiquity, or to the perturbed times in which they lived; and these shreds gathered from the records of their own partial countrymen, who wrote and sung their praises. What does this prove ? Not that the Romans were worse than other men, nor that their rulers were worse than other Romans, for liistory does not furnish nobler models of natural character than many of those same rulers, when first invested v/ith arbitrary power. Neither was it mainly because the mar- tial enterprise of the earlier Romans and tlie gross sensuality of the later, hardened their hearts to human suffering. In both periods of Roman his tory, and in both these classes, we find men, the keen sympathies, generosity, and benevolence of whose general character embalmed their names in the grateful memories of multitudes. They were human beings, and possessed power without restraint — this unravels the myster}'.
Who has not heard of the Emperor Trajan, of his moderation, his clemency, his gushing sym- pathies, his forgiveness of injuries and forgetful- ness of self, his tearing in pieces his own robe, to furnish bandages for the wounded — called by the whole world in his day, " the best emperor of
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Rome ;" and so afFcctionatel}'- regarded by his sub- jects, that, ever afterwards, in blessing' his suc- cessors upon their accession to power, they al- ways said, " May you have tlie virtue and good- ness of Trajan !" yet tiic deadly conflict of gladia- tors who are trained to kill each other, to make sport for the spectators, furnished his chief pas- time. At one time ho kept up those spectacles for 123 days in succession. In the tortures which lie inflicted on Christians, fire and poison, dag- gers and dungeons, wild beasts and serpents, and the rack, did their worst. He threw into the sea, Clemens, the venerable bishop of Rome, with an anchor about his neck ; and tossed to the famish- ing lions in the amphitheatre the aged Ignatius.
Plinj- the 3-ounger, who was proconsul under Trajan, may well be mentioned in connection with the emperor, as a striking illustration of the truth, that goodness and amiableness towards one class of men is often turned into cruelty towards another. History can hardly show a more gentle and lovely character than Pliny. While pleading at the bar, he always sought out the grievances of the poorest and most despised persons, entered into their wrongs with his whole soul, and never took a fee. Who can read his admirable letters without being touched by their tenderness and warmed by their benignity and philanthropy : and yet, this tender-hearted Pliny coolly plied with ex- cruciating torture two spotless females, who had served as deaconesses in the Christian church, hoping to extort from them matter of accusation against the Christians. He commanded Christians to abjure their faith, invoke the gods, pour out liba- tions to the statues of the emperor, burn incense to idols, and curse Christ. If they refused, ho or. dered them to execution.
Who has not heard of the Emperor Titus — so beloved for his mild virtues and compassionate regard for the suffering, that he was named " The Delight of Mankind ;" so tender of the hves of his subjects that he took the office of high priest, that his hands might never be defiled with blood ; and was heard to declare, with tears, that he had ra- ther die than put another to death. So intent upon making others happy, that when once about to retire to sleep, and not being able to recall any particular act of beneficence performed during the day, he cried out in anguish, " Alas ! I have lost a day !" And, finally, whom the learned Kennet, in his Roman Antiquities, characterizes as " the only prince in the world that has the cha- racter of never doing an ill action." Yet, wit. nessing the mortal combats of the captives taken in war, kilhng each other in the amphitheatre, amidst the acclamations of the populace, was a favorite amusement with Titus. At one time he exhibited shows of gladiators, which lasted one
hundred days, during which the amphitheatre was flooded with human blood. At another of his public exhibitions he caused five thousand wild beasts to be baited in the amphitheatre. During the siege of Jerusalem, ho set ambushes to seize the famishing Jews, who stole out of the city by night to glean food in the valleys : these he would first dreadfully scourge, then torment them with all conceivable tortures, and, at last, crucify them be- fore the wall of the city. According to J oscphus, not less than five hundred a day were thus tormented. And when many of the Jews, frantic with famine, deserted to the Romans, Titus cut olf their hands and drove them back. After the destruction of Jerusalem, ho dragged to Rome one hundred thousand captives, sold them as slaves, and scat- tered them through every province of the empire.
The kindness, condescension, and forbearance of Adrian were proverbial ; he was one of the most eloquent orators of his age ; and when pleading the cause of injured innocence, would melt and overwhelm the auditors by the pathos of his appeals. It was his constant maxim, that he was an Emperor, not for his own good, but for the benefit of his fellow creatures. He stoop- ed to relieve the wants of the meanest of his sub- jects, and would peril his life by visiting them when sick of infectious diseases ; he prohibited, by law, masters from killing their slaves, gave to slaves legal trial, and exempted them from tor- tm-e ; yet towards certain individuals and classes, he showed himself a monster of cruelty. He prided himself on his knowledge of architecture, and ordered to execution the most celebrated architect of Rome, because he had criticised one of the Emperor's designs. He banished all the Jews from their native land, and drove them to the ends of the earth ; and imloosed the blood- hounds of persecution to rend in pieces his Christian subjects.
The gentleness and benignity of the Emperor Aurelius, have been celebrated in story and song. History says of him, 'Nothing could quench his desire of being a blessing to mankind ;' and Pope's eulogy of him is in the mouth of every school- boy— ' Like good Aurelius, let him reign ;' and yet, ^ good Aurelius,' lifted the flood gates of the fourth, and one of the most terrible persecutions against Christians that ever raged. He sent or. ders into different parts of his empire, to have the Christians murdered who would not deny Christ. The blameless Polycarp, trembling under the weight of a hundred years, was dragged to the stake and burned to ashes. Pothinus, Bishop of Lyons, at the age of ninety, was dragged through the streets, beaten, stoned, trampled upon by the soldiers, and left to perish. Tender virgins were put into nets, and thrown to infuriated wild bulls ;
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Objections Considered — Cruelties Incredible.
others were fastened in red hot iron chairs; and venerable matrons were thrown to be devoured by dogs.
Constantine tlie Great has been the admiration of Christendom for his virtues. The early Cliris- tian writers adorn his justice, benevolence and piety with the most exalted eulogy. He was bap- tized, and admitted to the Christian church. He abrogated Paganism, and made Christianity the religion of his empire ; he attended the councils of the early fathers of the church, consulted with the bibhops, and devoted liiniself with the most untiring zeal to the propagation of Christianity, and to the promotion of peace and love among its professors ; he convened the Council of Nice, to settle disputes which had long distracted the church, appeared in the assembly with admirable modesty and temper, moderated the heats of the contending parties, implored them to exercise mutual forbearance, and exhorted them to love unfeigned, to forgive one another, as they hoped to be forgiven by Christ. Who would not think it uncharitable to accuse such a man of barbarity in the exercise of power ? — and yet he drove Arius and his associates into banishment, for opinion's sake, denounced death against all with whom his books should afterwards be found, and prohibited, on pain of death, the exercise, how- ever peaceably, of the functions of any other- re- ligion than Christianity. In a fit of jealousy and rage, he ordered his innocent son, Crispus, to execution, Vvithout granting him a hearing ; and upon finding him innocent, killed his own wife, who had falsely accused him.
To the preceding may be added Theodosius the Great, the last Roman emperor before the division of the empire. He was a member of the Christian church, and in his zeal against paganism, and what h« deemed heresy, surpassed all who were before him. The Christian writers of his time speak of him as a most illustrious model of justice, generosity, magnanimity, benevolence, and every virtue. And yet Theodosius denounced capital punishments against those who held ' heretical' opinions, and commanded inter-marriage between cousins to be punished by burning the parties alive. On hearing that the people of Antioch had demolished the statues set up in that city, in honor of himself, and had threatened the gov- ernor, he flew into a transport of fury, ordered the city to be laid in ashes, and all the inhabitants to be slaughtered ; and upon hearing of a resist- ance to his authority in Thessalonica, in which one of his lieutenants was killed, he instantly or- dered a general massacre of the inhabitants ; and in obedience to his command, seven thousand men, women and children were butchered in the space of three hours.
The foregoing are a few of many instances in
the history of Rome, and of a countless multitude in the history of the world, illustrating the truth, that the lodgement of arbitrary power, in the best human hands, is always a fearfully perilous ex- periment ; that the mildest tempers, the mosthu mane and benevolent dispositions, the most blameless and conscientious previous life, with the most rigorous habits of justice, are no securi- ty, that, in a moment of temptation, the possess- ors of such power will not make their subjects their victims; illustrating also the truth, that, while men may exhibit nothing but honor, hon- esty, mildness, justice, and generosity, in their intercourse with those of their own grade, or lan- guage, or nation, or hue, they may practice towards others, for whom they have contempt and aversion, the most revolting meanness, per- petrate robbery unceasingly, and inflict the se- verest privations, and the most barbarous cruel- ties. But this is not all : history is full of exam- pies, showing not only the effects of arbitrary power on its victims, but its terrible reaction on those who exercise it ; blunting their sympathies, and hardening to adamant their hearts toward them, at least, if not toward the human race gen- erally. This is shown in the fact, that almost every tyrant in the history of the world, has en- t-ered upon the exercise of absolute power with comparative moderation ; multitudes of thera with marked forbearance and mildness, and not a few with the most signal condescension, mag- nanimity, gentleness and compassion. Among these last are included those who afterwards be- came the bloodiest monsters that ever cursed the earth. Of the Roman Emperors, almost every one of whom perpetrated the most barbarous atrocities, Viteflius seems to have been the only one who cruelly exercised his power from the outset. Most of the other emperors, sprung up into fiends in the hot-bed of arbitrary power. If they had not been plied with its fiery stimulants, but had lived under the legal restraints of other men, instead of going to the grave under the curses of their generation, multitudes might have called them blessed.
The moderation which has generally distin- o-uished absolute monarehs at the commencement of their reigns, was doubtless in some cases as- sumed from policy ; in the greater number, how- ever, as is manifest from their history, it has been the natural workings of minds held in check by previous associations, and not yet hardened into habits of cruelty, by being accustomed to the ex- ercise of power without restraint. But as those associations have weakened, and the wielding of uncontrolled sway has become a habit, like other evil doers, they have, in the expressive language of Scripture, ' waxed worse and worse.'
For eighteen hundred years an involuntary
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pnudder lias run over tlio human race, at tlic mention of tiic name of Noro ; yet, at the com- mencement of his reign, he burst into tears when called upon to sign the death-warrant of a crim- niai, and exclaimed, ' Oli, that I had never learn- ed to write !' His mildness and magnanimity won the affections of his subjects ; and it was not till the poison of absolute power had worked with- in his nature for years, that it swelled him into a monster.
'I'iberius, Claudius, and Caligula, began the exercise of tlicir power with singular forbearance, and eacn grew into a prodigy of cruelty. So averse was Caligula to bloodshed, that he refused to looK at a list of conspirators against his own life, which was handed to him ; yet afterwards, a more cruel wretch never wielded a sceptre. In his thirst for slaughter, he wished all the necks in Rome one, that he might cut it off at a blow.
Doinitian, at the commencement of liis reign, carried his abhorrence of cruelty to such lengths, that he forbad the sacrificing of oxen, and would sit whole days on the judgment-seat, reversing the unjust decisions of corrupt judges ; j'et after- wards, he surpassed even Nero in cruelty. The latter was content to torture and kill by proxy, and without being a spectator; but Domitian could not be denied the luxury of seeing his vic- tims writhe, and hearing them shriek ; and often with his own hand directed the instrument of torture, especially when some illustrious senator or patrician was to be killed by piece-meal. Commodus began with gentleness and conde- scension, but soon became a terror and a scourge, outstripping in his atrocities most of his prede- cessors. Maximin too, was just and generous when first invested with power, but afterwards rioted in slaughter with the relish of a fiend. History has well said of this monarch, ' the change in his
disposition may readily serve to show how dan- gerous a thing is power, that could transform a person of such rigid virtues into such a monster.'
Instances almost innumerable might be fur- nished in the history of every age, illustrating tiie blunting of sympathies, and the total trans- formations of character wrought in individuals by the exercise of arbitrary power. Not to detain the reader with long details, let a single instance suffice.
Perhaps no man has lived in modern times, whose name excites such horror as that of Robes- ;)ierre. Yet it is notorious that he was naturally of a benevolent disposition, and tender sympa- thies.
" Before the revolution, when as a judge in his native city of Arras he had to pronounce judg- ment on an assassin, he took no food for two days afterwards, but was heard frequently ex- claiming, ' I am sure he was guilty ; he is a vil- lain ; but yet, to put a human being to death ! !' He could not support the idea ; and that the same necessity might not recur, he relinquished his judicial office. — -(See Laponneray's Life of Robespierre, p. 8 ) Afterwards, in the Conven. tion of 1791, he urged strongly the abolition of the punishment of death; and yet, for sixteen months, in 1793 and 1794, till he perished iiim- self by the same guillotine which he had so iner cilessly used on others, no one at Paris consigned and caused so many fellow-creatures to be put to death by it, with more ruthless insensibility." — Turner's Sacred History of the World, vol. 2. p. 119.
But it is time we had done with the objection, " such cruellies are incredible." If the obj-ec- tor still reiterates it, lie shall have the last word without farther molestation.
An objection kindred to the preceding now claims notice. It is the profound induction that slaves must be well treated because slaveholders say they are .'
Objection. II.— SLAVEHOLDERS PROTEST THAT THEY TREAT THEIR
SLAVES WELL.
Self-justification is human nature; self-con- demnation is a sublime triumph over it, and as rare as sublime. What culprits would be convict, ed, if their own testimony were taken by juries as good evidence ? Slaveholders are on trial, charg- ed with cruel treatment to their slaves, and though in their own courts they can clear them- selves by their own oaths,* they need not think to do it at the bar of the world. The denial of
* The law of which the following is an extract, exists in South Carolina. " If any slave shall suffer in life, limb or member, when no white person shall be present, or being present, shall refuse to give evidence, the owner or other person, who shall have the care of such slave, and in whose power such slave shall be, shall be deemed guilty of such of fenci, unless such owner or other person shall make the contrary appear by good and suliicient evidence, or shall 10
crimes, by men accused of them, goes for noth- ing as evidence in all civilized courts ; while the voluntary confession of them, is the best evidence possible, as it is testimony against themselves, and in the face of the strongest motives to conceal the truth. On the preceding pages, are hundreds of just suoh testimonies ; the voluntary and ex- plicit testimony of slaveholders against them- selves, their families and ancestors, their constit- uents and their rulers ; against their characters and their memories ; against their justice, their
BY HIS OWN OATH CLEAR AND EXCULPATE HIMSELF. Which'
oath every court where such offence shall be tried, is here- by empowered to administer, and to acquit the offender, if clear proof of the offence be not made by too witnesses at least." — 2 Brevard's Digest, 342. The state of Louisiana has a similar law.
122
Objections Considered — Slaveholders' Denial.
honesty, their honor and their benevolence. Now let candor decide between those two classes of slaveholders, which is most entitled to credit ; that which testifies in its own favor, just as self- love would dictate, or that which testifies against all selfish motives and in spite of them ; and though it has nothing to gain, but every thing to lose by such testimony, still utters it.
But if there were no counter testimony, if all slaveholders were unanimous in the declaration that the treatment of the slaves is good, such a declaration would not be entitled to a feather's weight as testimony ; it is not testimony but opin- ion. 'I'estimony respects matters of fact, not matters of opinion : it is the declaration of a witness as to facts, not the giving of an opinion as to the nature or qualifies of actions, or the character of a course of conduct. Slaveholders organize themselves into a tribunal to adjudicate upon their own conduct, and give us in their decisions, their estimate of their own character ; informing us with characteristic modesty, that they have a high opinion of themselves ; that in their own judgment they are very mild, kind, and merciful gentlemen ! In these conceptions of their own merits, and of the eminent propriety of their bearing towards their slaves, slaveholders remind us of the Spaniard, who always took ofT his hat whenever he spoke of himself, and of the Govern- or of Schiraz, who, from a sense of justice to his own character added to his other titles, those of, ' Flower of Courtesy,' ' Nutmeg of Consola- tion,' and ' Rose of Delight.'
The sincerity of those worthies, no one calls iu question ; their real notions of their own merits doubtless ascended into the sublime : but for aught that appears, they had not the arrogance to demand that their own notions of their personal excellence, should be taken as the proof of it. Not so with our slaveholders. Not content with offering incense at the shrine of their own virtues, they have the effrontery to demand, that the rest of the world shall offer it, because they do ; and shall implicitly believe the presiding divini- ty to be a good Spirit rather than a Devil, because they call him so ! In other words, since slave- holders profoundly appreciate their own gentle dispositions toward their slaves, and their kind treatment of them, and everywhere protest that they do truly show forth these rare excellencies, they demand that the rest of the world shall not only believe that they think so, but that they think rightly ; that these notions of themselves are true, that their taking off their hats to them- selves proves them worthy of homage, and that their assumption of the titles of, ' Flower of Kindness,' and ' Nutmeg of Consolation,' is conclusive evidence that tliey deserve such ap- pellations I
Was there ever a more ridiculous doctrine, than that a man's opinion of his own actions is the true standard for measuring them, and the certificate of their real qualities ! — that his own estimate of his treatment of others is to be taken as the true one, and such treatment be set down as good treatment upon the strength of his judg- ment. He who argues the good treatment of the slave, from the slaveholder's good opinion of such treatment, not only argues against human nature and all history, his own common sense, and even the testimony of his senses, but refutes liis own arguments by his daily practice. Every body acts on the presumption that men's feelings will vary with their practices ; that the light in which they view individuals and classes, and their feelings towards them, will modify their opinions of the treatment which they receive. In any case of treatment that affects himself, his church, or his political party, no man so stultifies himself as to argue that such treatment must be good, because the author of it thinks so.
Who would argue that the American Colonies were well treated by the mother country, because parliament thought so ? Or that Poland was well treated by Russia, because Nicholas thought so ? Or that the treatment of the Cherokees by Georgia is proved good by Georgia notions of it ? Or that of the Greeks by the Turks, by Turkish opinions of it ? Or that of the Jews by almost all nations, by the judgment of their persecutors ? Or that of the victims of the Inquisition, by the opinions of the Inquisitor general, or of the Pope and his cardinals ? Or that of the Quakers and Baptists, at the hands of the Puritans, — to be judged of by the opinions of the legislatures that authorized, and the courts that carried it into effect. All those classes of persons did not, in their own opin- ion, abuse their victims. If charged with per- petrating outrageous cruelty upon them, all those o])pressors would have repelled the charge with indignation.
Our slaveholders chime lustily the same song, and no man with human nature within him, and human history before him, and with sense enough to keep him out of the fire, will be gulled by such professions, unless his itch to be humbugged has put on the type of a downright chronic incurable. We repeat it — when men speak of the treatment of others as being either good or bad, their decla- rations are not generally to be taken as testimony to matters of fact, so much as expressions of their own feelings towards those persons or class- es who are the subjects of such treatment. If those persons are their fellow citizens ; if they are in the same class of society with themselves ; of the same language, creed, and color ; similar in their habits, pursuits, and sympathies ; they will
objections Considered— S\a\eho\der^s Denial.
123
keenly feel an}- wrong done to them, and denounce it as base, outrageous treatment ; but let the same wrongs be done to persons of a condition in all respects the reverse, persons whom they habit- ually despise, and regard only in the light of mere conveniences, to be used for their pleasure, and the idea that such treatment is barbarous will be laughed at as ridiculous. When wc hear slave- holders say that their slaves are loell treated, we have only to remember that they are not speaking of pel sons, but of property ; not of men and wo- men, but of chattels and things ; not of friends and associates, but of I'^assals and victims; not of those whom they respect and honor, but of those whom they scoi n and trample on ; not of those witli whom they s}'mpathize, and co-operate, and interchange courtesies, but of those whom they regard with contempt and aversion, and dis- dainfully set with the dogs of their flock. Reader, keep this fact in your mind, and you will liave a clue to the slaveholder's definition oi^'good treatment." Remember also, that a part of this " good treatment" of which slaveholders boast, is plundering the slaves of all their inalienable rights, of the ownership of their own bodies, of the use of their own limbs and muscles, of all their time, liberty, and earnings, of the free exercise of choice, of the rights of marriage and parental authority, of legal protection, of the right to be, to do, to go, to stay, to think, to feel, to work, to rest, to eat, to sleep, to learn, to teach, to earn money, and to expend it, to visit, and to be visit- ed, to speak, to be silent, to worship according to conscience, in fine, their right to be protected by just and equal laws, and to be amenable to such only. Oiall these rights the slaves are plundered ; and this is a part of that " good treatment" of which their plunderers boast ! What then is the rest of it ? The above is enough for a sample, at least a specimen-brick from the kiln. Reader, we ask you no questions, but merely tell you what you know, v/hen we say that men and women who can habitually do such things to human beings, can do any thing to them.
The declarations of slaveholders, that they treat their slaves well, will put no man in a quandary, who keeps in mind this simple principle, that the state of mind towards others, which leads one to inflict cruelties on them, blinds the ivjlicter to the real nature of his own acts. To him, they do not see?n to be cruelties ; consequently, when speak- ing of such treatment toward such persons, he will protest that it is not cruelty ; though, if inflicted upon himself or his friends, he would indignantly stigmatize it as atrocious barbarity. The objector equally overlooks another every-day fact of hu. man nature, which is this, that cruelties invariably cease to seem cruelties when the habit is formed, though previously the mind regarded them as such, and shrunk from them with horror.
The following fact, related by the late lament- ed Thomas Piunglk, whose Life and Poems have recently been published in England, is an appro, priate illusl ration. Mr. Pringlc states it on the au- tliority of Captain W. F. Owen, of the Roya! Navy.
" When his Majesty's ships, the Leven and the Barracouta, em])loyed in surveying the coast of Africa, were at Mozambique, in 1823, the officers were introduced to the family of Scnor Manuel Pedro d'Almeydra, a native of Portugal, who was a considerable merchant settled on that coast ; and it was an opinion agreed in by all, that Donna Sophia d'Almeydra was the most su- perior woman they had seen since they left Eng- land. Captain Owen, the leader of the cxpedi- tion, expressing to Senor d'Almeydra his detest- ation of slavery, the Senor replied, 'You will not be long here before j-ou change your sentiments. Look at my Sophia there. Before she would marry me, she made me promise that I should give up the slave trade. When we first settled at Mozambique, she was continually interceding for the slaves, and she constantly wept when I punished them ; and now she is among the slaves from morning to night ; she regulates the whole of my slave establishment ; she inquires into eve- ry offence committed by them, pronounces sen- tence upon the offender, and stands by and sees them punished.'
" To this, Mr. Pringle, who was himself for six years a resident of the English settlement at the Cape of Good Hope, adds, 'The writer of this article has seen, in the course of five or six years, as great a change upon English ladies and gen- tlemen of respectability, as that described to have taken place in Donna Sophia d'Almeydra ; and one of the individuals whom he has in his eye, while he writes this passage, lately confessed to him this melancholy change, remarking at the same time, ' how altered I am in my feelings; with regard to slavery. I do not appear to m}'- self the same person I was on my arrival in this colony, and if I would give the world for the feel- ings I then had, I could not recall them.'"
Slaveholders know full well that familiaritv with slavery produces indifference to its cruelties and reconciles the mind to them. The late Judge Tucker, a Virginia slaveholder and professor of law in the University of William and Mary, in the appendix to his edition of Blaekstone's Com- mentaries, part 2, pp. 56, 57, commenting on the law of Virginia previous to 1792, which out- lawed fugitive slaves, says :
" Such are the cruelties to which slavery gives rise, such the horrors to which the mind becomes reconciled by its adoption."
The followirng facts from the pen of Charles Stuart, happily illustrate the same principle :
"A young lady, the daughter of a Jamaica planter, was sent at an early age to school in England, and after completing her education, re- turned to her native country.
" She is now settled with her husband and famio
124
Objections Considered — Slaveholder's Denial.
ly in England. I visited her near Bath, early last spring, (1834.) Conversing on the above sub- ject, the paralyzing effects of slaveholding on the heart, she said :
" ' While at school in England, I often thought with peculiar tenderness of the kindness of a slave who had nursed and carried me about. Upon returning to my fathers, one of my first inquiries was about him. I was deeply afflicted to find that he was on the point of undergoing a *' law flogging for having run away." I threw myself at my father's feet and implored with tears, his pardon ; but my father steadily replied, that it would ruin the discipline of the plantation, and that the punishment must take place. I wept in vain, and retired so grieved and disgusted, that for some days after, I could scarcely bear with patience, the sight of my own father. But many months had not elapsed ere / was as ready as any body to seize the domestic whip, and flog my slaves without hesitation.''
" This lady is one of the most Christian and noble minds of my acquaintance. She and her husband distinguished themselves several years ago, in Jamaica, by immediately emancipating their slaves."
" A lady, now in the West Indies, was sent in her infancy, to her friends, near Belfast, in Ire- land, for education. She remained under their charge from five to fifteen years of age, and grew up every thing which her friends could wish. At fifteen, she returned to the West Indies — was married — and after some years paid her friends near Belfast, a second visit. Towards white people, she was the same elegant, and interesting woman as before ; apparently full of ever}' vir- tuous and tender feeling ; but towards the colored people she was hke a tigress. If Wilberforce's name was mentioned, she would say, ' Oh, I wish we had the wretch in the West Indies, I would be one of the first to help to tear his heart outr — and then she would tell of the manner in which the W^est Indian ladies used to treat their slaves. ' I have often,' she said, ' when my wo- men have displeased me, snatched their baby from their bosom, and running with it to a well, have tied my shawl round its shoulders and pre- tended to be drowning it : oh, it was so funny to hear the mother's screams ! !' — and then she laughed almost convulsively at the recollection."
Mr. -John M. Nelson, a native of Virginia, whose testimony is on a preceding page, furnishes a striking illustration of the principle in his own case. He says:
" When I was quite a child, I recollect it griev- ed me very much to see one tied up to be whip- ped, and I used to intercede with tears in their behalf, and mingle my cries with theirs, and fee] almost willing to take part of the punishment. Yet such is the hardening nature of such scenes, that from this kind of commiseration for the suf- fering slave, I became so blunted that I could not only witness their stripes with composure, but myself inflict them, and that without remorse. Wlien I was perhaps fourteen or fifteen years of age, I undertook to correct a young fellovi^ named i^ed, for some supposed offence, I think it was
leaving a bridle out of its proper place ; he be. ing larger and stronger than myself took hold of my arms and held me, in ojder to prevent my striking him ; this I considered the height of in- solence, and cried for help, when my faiher and mother both came running to my rescue. My father stripped and tied him, and took him into the orchard, vvhere switches were plenty, and di- rected me to whip him ; when one switch wore out he supplied me with others. After I had whipped him a while, he fell on his knees to im. plore forgiveness, and I kicked him in the face; my father said, ' don't kick him but whip him,' this I did until his back was literally covered with loeZis."
W. C. GiLDERSLEEVE, Esq., a native of Georgia, now elder of the Presbyterian church, Wilkes, barre, Penn. after describing the flogging of a slave, in which his hands were tied together, and the slave hoisted by a rope, so that his feet could not touch the ground ; in which condition one hundred lashes were inflicted, says :
" I stood by and witnessed the whole without feeling the least compaf.sion ; so hardening is the influence of slavery that it very much destroys feeling for the slave."
Mrs. Child, in her admirable "Appeal," has tne following remarks :
'• The ladies who remove from the free States into the slaveholding ones almost invariably write that the sight of slavery was at first exceedingly painful ; but that they soon become habituated to it ; and after a while, they are very apt to vindi- cate the system, upon the ground that it is ex- tremely convenient to have such submissive ser- vants. This reason was actually given by a lady of my acquaintance, who is considered an unusu ally fervent Christian. Yet Christianity express ly teaches us to love our neighbor as ourselves. This shows how dangerous it is, for even the best of us, to become accustomed to what is wrong.
"A judicious and benevolent friend lately tola me the story of one of her relatives, who married a slave owner, and removed to his plantation. The lady in question was considered very amia- ble, and had a serene, affectionate expression ot countenance. After several years residence among her slaves, she visited New England. ' Her hi.«tory was written in her face,' said my friend; ' its expression had changed into that of a fiend. She brought but few slaves with her ; and those few were of course compelled to per- form additional labor. One faithful negro wo- man niu-sed the twins of her mistress, and did all the washing, ironing, and scouring. If, after a sleepless night with the restless babes, (driven from the bosom of their mother,) she performed her toilsome avocations with diminished activity, her mistress, withher own lady-like lipnds, applied the cowskin, and the neighborhood resounded with the cries of her victim. The instrument of punishment was actually kept hanging in the entry, to the no small disgust of her New Eng- land visitors. For my part,' continued my friend, ' I did not try to be polite to her ; for I was not hypocrite enough to conceal my indignation.' "
Objections Considered — Slavcholding Hospitality.
125
The fact that the greatest cruelties may be ex- crcised quite unconsciouiily when cruelty has be- come a habit, and that at the same time, the mind may feel great sympathy and commiseration towards other persons and even towards irration- al animals, is ilhistrated in the case of Tamer- lane the Great. In his Life, written by himself, he speaks with the greatest sincerity and tender- ness of his grief at having accidentally crushed an ant ; and yet he ordered melted lead to be poured down the throats of certain persons who drank wine contrary to his commands. He was manifestly sincere in thinking himself humane, and when speaking of the most atrocious cruelties perpetrated by himself, it does not seem to ruffle in the least the self-complacency with which he regards his own humanity and piety. In one place he says, " I never undertook anything but I commenced it placing my faith on God " — and he adds soon after, " the people of Shiraz took part with Shah Mansur, and put my governor to death ; I therefore ordered a general 7nassacrc of all the inhahitants."
It is one of the most common caprices of hu- man nature, for the heart to become by habit, not only totally insensible to certain forms of cruelty, wliich at first gave it inexpressible pain, but even to find its chief amusement in such cruelties, till ntterly intoxicated by their stimulation ; -while at the same time the mind seems to be pained as Jieenly as ever, at forms of cruelty to which it has not become accustomed, thus retaining apparent- ly the same general susceptibilities. Illustrations of this are to be found every where ; one happens to lie before us. Bourgoing, in his history of modern Spain, speaking of the bull fights, the bar- barous national amusement of the Spaniards, says :
"Young ladies, old men, people of all ages and of all characters, are present, and yet the habit of attending these bloody festivals docs not cor- rect their weakness or their timidity, nor injure the sweetness of their manners. I have more- over known foreigners, distinguished by tiie gen- tleness of their manners, who experienced at first seeing a bull-fight such very violent emotions as made them turn pale, and they became ill ; but, notwithstanding, this entertainment became after- wards an irresistible attraction, without operat- ing anj' revolution in their characters."
Modern Slate of Spain, by J. F. Couif;oin<;, Minister Plenipotentiary from France to the Court of Madrid, Vol ii., page 342.
It is the novelty of cruelty, rather than the de- gree, which repels most minds. Cruelty in a new form, however slight, will often pain a mind that is totally unmoved by the most horrible cruelties in a form to which it is accustomed. When Pompey was at the zenith of his popularity in Rome, he ordered some elephants to be tortured in the amphitheatre for the amusement of the populace ; this was the first time they had wit- nessed the torture of those animals, and though for years accustomed to witne;!s in the same place, the torture of lions, tigers, leopards, and almost all sorts of wild beasts, as well as that of men of all nations, and to shout acclamations over their agonies, yet, this novel form of cruelty so shocked the beholders, that the most popular man in Rome was execrated as a cruel monster, and came near falling a victim to the fury of those who just before were ready to adore him.
We will now briefly notice another objection, somev hat akin to the preceding, and based mainly upon the same and similar fallacies
Objection III.— SLAVEHOLDERS ARE PROVERBIAL FOR THEIR KINDNESS, HOSPITALITY, BENEVOLENCE, AND GENEROSITY.
Multitudes scout as fictions the cruelties in. flicted upon slaves, because slaveholders are famed for their courtesy and hospitality. They tell us that their generous and kind attentions to their guests, and their well-known sympathy for the sniFering, sufliciently prove the charges of cruelty brought against them k) be calumnies, of which their tmiform character is a triumphant refutation.
Now that slaveholders are proverbially hospitable to their guests, and spare neither pains nor expense in ministering to their accommodation and plea- sure, is freely admitted and easily accounted for. That those who make their inferiors work for them, without pay, should be courteous and hos- pitable to those of their equals and superiors whose good opinions they desire, is human nature in its every-day dress. The objection consists of a fact and an inference : the fact, that slaveholders have
a special care to the accommodation of their guests; the inference, that therefore they must seek the comfort of their slaves — that as they are bland and obliging to their equals, they must be mild and condescending to their inferiors — tliat as the wrongs of their own grade excite their in- dignation, and their woes move their sympathies, they must be touched by those of their chattels — that as they are full of pains-taking toward those v/hose good opinions and good offices they seek, they will, of course, show special attention to those to whose good opinions they are indifferent, and whose good offices they can compel — that as they honor the literary and scientific, they must treat with high consideration those to whom they deny the alphabet — that as they are courteous to certain persons, they must be so to " property'' — eager to anticipate the wishes of visitors, they
126
Oijeciions Considered — Slaveholding Hospitality.
cannot but gratify those of their vassaLs — ^jealous lor the riglits of the Texans, quick to feel at the disfranchisement of Canadians and of Irishmen, ahve to the oppressions of the Greeks and the Poles, they must feel keenly for their negroes I Such conclusions from such premises do not call for serious refutation. Even a half-grown boy, w!io should argue, that because men have certain feelings toward certain persons in certain circum- etences, thc;y must have the same feelings toward all persons in all circumstances, or toward per- sons in opposite circumstances, of totally different grades, habits, and personal peculiarities, might fairly be set dowm as a hopeless simpleton : and yet, men of sense and reflection on other subjects, seem bent upon stultifying themselves by just such sliallow inferences from the fact, that slaveholders are hospitable and generous to certain persons in certain grades of society belonging to their own caste. On the ground of this reasoning, all the crimes ever committed may be disproved, by show- ing, that their perpetrators were hospitable and generous to those who sympathized and co-oper- ated with them. To prove that a man does not hate one of his neighbors, it is only necessary to show that he loves another; to make it appear that he does not treat contemptuously the igno- rant, he has only to show that he bows respect- fully to the learned ; to demonstrate that he does not disdain his inferiors, lord it over his depend- ents, and grind the faces of the poor, he need only show that he is polite to the rich, pays deference to titles and office, and fawns for favor upon those above him ! The fact that a man always smiles on his customers, proves that he never scowls at those who dun him ! and since he has always a melodious "good morning!" for " gentlemen of property and standing," it is certain that he never snarls at beggars. He vpho is quick to make room for a doctor of divinity, will, of course, see to it that he never runs against a porter ; and he who clears the way for a lady, will be sure never to run against a market-woman, or jostle an apple-seller's board. If accused of beating down his laundress to the lowest fraction, of making his boot-black call a dozen times for his pay, of higgling and screv/ing a fish, boy till he takes off two cents, or of threatening to discharge his seamstress unless she will work for a shilling a day ! how easy to brand it all as slander, by showing that he pays his minister in advance, is generous in Christmas presents, gives a splendid new-year's party, ex- pends hundreds on elections, and puts his name with a round sum on the subscription paper of the missionary society.
Who can forget the hospitality of King Herod, that model of generosity " beyond all ancient fame," who offered half his kingdom to a guest, as a comj/ensation for an hour's amusement. —
Could such a noble spirit have murdered John the Baptist ? Incredible ! Joab too ! how his soft heart was pierced at the exile of Absalom ! and how his bowels yearned to restore him to his home ! Of course, it is all fiction about his assas- sinating his nephew, Amasa, and Abner the cap- tain of the host ! Since David twice spared the life of Saul when he came to murder him, wept on the neck of Jonathan, threw himself upon the ground in anguish when his child sickened, and bewailed, with a broken heart, the loss of Absa- lom— it proves that he did not coolly plot and de- liberately consummate the murder of Uriah; As the Government of the United States generously gave a township of land to General La Fayette, it proves that they have never defrauded the In- dians of theirs ! So the fact, that the slaveholders of the present Congress are, to a man, favorable to recognizing the independence of Texas, with her fifty or sixty thousand inhabitants, before she has achieved it, and before it is recognized by any other government, proves that these same slaveholders do not oppose the recognition of Hay. ti, with her million of inhabitants, whose in depend- ence was achieved nearly half a century ago, and which is recognized by the most powerful goTcrn- ments on earth !
But, seriously, no man is so slightly versed in human nature as not to know that men habitually exercise the most opposite feelings, and indulge in the most opposite practices toward different persons or different classes of persons around them. No man has ever lived who was more celebrated for his scrupulous observance of the most exact justice, and for the illustration furnish- ed in his life of the noblest natural virtues, than the Roman Cato. His strict adherence to the nicest rules of equity — his integrity, honor, and in. corruptible faith — his jealous watchfulness over the rights of his fellow citizens, and his generous devotion to their interest, procured for him the sublime appellation of " The Just." Towards/ree- men his life was a model of every thing just and noble : but to his slaves he was a monster. At his meals, when the dishes were not done to his liking, or when his slaves were careless or inat. tentive in serving, he would seize a thong and violently beat them, in presence of his guests. — When they grew old or diseased, and were no longer serviceable, however long and faithfully they might have served him, he either turned them adrift and left them to perish, or starved them to death in his own family. No facts in his history are better authenticated than these.
No people were ever more hospitable and rnu. nificent than the Romans, and none more touched with the sufferings of others. Their public thea. tres often rung with loud weeping, thousands sod bing convulsively at once over fictitious woes and
Ohjectimis Considered — Slaveholding Hospitality.
127
imaginary sufferers : and yet those same multi- tudes would shout amidst the groans of a thou- sand dying gladiators, forced by their conquerors to kill each other in the amphitheatre for the amusement of the public.*
Alexander, the tyrant of Phcrses, sobbed like a child over the misfortunes of the Trojan queens, when the tragedy of .\ndromache and Hecuba was played before him ; yet he used to murder liis subjects every day for no crime, and without even setting up the pretence of any, but merely to make himself sport.
The fact that slaveholders ma}' be full of bene- volence and kindness toward their equals and to- v.-ard whites geiierall}^ even so much so as to at- tract the esteem and admiration of all, while they treat with the most inhuman neglect their own slaves, is well illustrated by a circumstance men- tioned by the Rev. Dr. Cuanning, of Boston, (who once lived in Virginia,) in his work on slavery, p. 162, 1st edition : —
" I cannot," says the doctor, " forget my feel- ings on visiting a hospital belonging to the plant- ation of a gentleman highly esteemed for his vir- tues, and whose manners and conversation ex- pressed much benevolence and conscientiousness. When I entered with him the hospital, the first object on which my eye fell was a young woman very ill, probably approaching death. She was stretched on the floor. Her head rested on some- thing like a pillow, but her body and limbs were extended on the hard boards. The owner, I doubt not, had, at least, as much kindness as myself; but he was so used to see the slaves living with- out common comforts, that the idea of unkind, ness in the present instance did not enter his mind."
Mr. George A. Avery, an elder of a Presbyte- rian church in Rochester, N. Y. who resided some years in Virginia, says : —
" On one occasion I was crossing the planta- tion and approaching the house of a friend, when I met him, rifle in hand, in pursuit of one of his negroes, declaring he would shoot him in a mo- ment if he got his eye upon him. It appeared that the slave had refused to be flogged, and ran off to avoid the consequences ; and yet the gener. ous hospitality of this inan to myself, and white friends generally, scarcely knew any bounds.
* Dr. Leland, in his " Necessity of a Divine Revelation," thus desciibes the prevalence of these shows among the Romans :— " They were exhibited at the funerals of great and rich men, and on many other occasions, by the Roman consuls, prstors, adiles, senators, knights, priests, and al- most all that bore great oifices in the state, as well as by the emperors; and in general, by all that had a mind to make an interest with the people, who were extravagantly fond of those kinds of shows. Not only the men, but the women, ran eagerly after them ; who were, by the prevalence of custom, so far divested of that compassion and softness which is natural to the sex, that they took a pleasure in seeing them kill one another, and only desired that they should fall genteelly, and in an agreeable attitude. Such was the frequency of those shows, and so great the number of men that were killed on those occasions, that Lipsius says, no war caused such slaughter of mankind, as did these Bp<irt3 of pleasure, throughout the several provinces of the vast Roman empire."— /.eland's JVeces. of Div. Rev. -vol.
a. p. 51.
" There were amongst my slaveliolding friends and acquaintances, persons who were as humane and conscientious as men can be, and persist in tlic impious claim of property in a fellow being. Still 1 can recollect but one instance of corporal punishment, whether the subject were male or female, in which the infliction was not on the bare back with the riiio hide, or a similar instru- ment, the subject being tied during the operation to a post or tree. The exception was in\(ier the following circumstances. I liad taken a v.'alk with a friend on his plantation, and approaching his gang of slaves, 1 sat down whilst he proceeded to the spot where they were at work ; and address- ing himself somewhat earnestly to a female who was wielding the hoe, in a moment caught up what I supposed a tobacco stick, (a stick some three feet in length, on which the tobacco, when cut, is suspended to dry,) about the size oi a marl's wrist, and laid on a number of blows furiously over her head. The woman crouched, and seem- ed stunned with the blows, but presently recom- menced the motion of her hoe."
Dr. David Nelson, a native of Tennessee, and late president of Marion College, Missouri, in a lecture at Northampton, Mass. in January, 1839, made the following statement : —
" I remember a young lady who played well on the piano, and was very ready to weep over any fictitious tale of suffering. I was present when one of her slaves lay on the floor in a high fever, and we feared she might not recover. I saw that young lady stainp upon her with her feet; and the only remark her mother made was, ' I am afraid Evelina is too much prejudiced against poor Mary.' "
General William Eaton, for some years U. S. Consul at Tunis, and commander of the expedi. tion against Tripoli, in 1805, thus gives vent to his feelings at the sight of many hundreds of Sar- dinians who had been enslaved by the Tunisian*:
" Many have died of grief, and the others lin- ger out a life less tolerable than death. Alas ! remorse seizes my whole soul when I reflect, that this is indeed but a copy of the very barbarity which m,y eyes have seen in my own native coun- try. How frequently, in the southern states of my own country, have I seen weeping mothers leading the guiltless infant to the sales with as deep anguish as if they led them to the slaughter ; and yet felt my bosom tranquil in the view of these aggressions on defenceless humanity. But when I see the same enormities practised upon beings whose complexions and blood claim kindred with my own, / curse the perpetrators, and weep over the wretched victims of their rapacity. Indeed, truth and justice demand from me the confession, that the Christian slaves among the barbarians of Africa are treated with more humanity than the African slaves among professing Christians of civilized America ; and yet here [in Tunis] sensibil- ity bleeds at every pore for the wretches whon* fate has doomed to slavery."
Rev. H. Lyman, late pastor of the free Presby- terian Church, Buffalo, N. Y. who spent the win ter of 1832-3 at the south, says : —
128
Objections Considered — Slaveholding Hospitality.
•' In the interior of Mississippi I was invited to the house of a planter, where I was received with groat cordiality, and entertained with marked hospitality.
" There I saw a master in the midst of his household slaves. The evening passed most plea- santly, as indeed it must, where assiduous hospi- talities are exorcised towards the guest.
" Late in the morning, when I had gained the tardy consent of my host to go on my way, as a final act of kindness, he called a slave to show me across the fields by a nearer route to the main road. ' David,' said he, 'go and show this gen. tleman as far as the post-office. Do you know the big bay tree ?' ' Yes, sir.' ' Do you know where the cotton mill is ?' ' Yes, sir.' ' Where Squire Malcolm's old field is ?' ' Y-e-s, sir,' said David, (beginning to be bewildered). " Do you know where Squire Malcolm's cotton field is ?' ' No, sir.' ' No, sir,' said the enraged master, levelling his gun at him. 'What do you stand here, saying, Yes, yes, yes, fi3r, when you don't know ?' All this was accompanied with threats and imprecations, and a manner that contrasted strangely with the religious conversation and gen- tle manners of the previous evening."
The Rev. James H. Dickey, formerly a slave- holder in South Carolina, now pastor of the Pres- byterian Church in Hennepin, 111. in his " Review of Nevins' Biblical Antiquities," after asserting that slaveholding tends to beget "a spirit of cru- elty and tyranny, and to destroy every generous and noble feeling," (page 33,) he adds the follow- ing as a note : —
" It may be that this will be considered censo- rious, and the proverbial generosity and hospital- ity of the south will be appealed to as a full con- futation of it. The writer thinks he can appre- ciate southern kindness and hospitality. Having been born in Virginia, raised and educated in South Carolina and Kentucky, he is altogether southern in his feelings, and habits, and modes of familiar conversation. He can say of the south
as Cowper said of England, ' With all thy faults I !ovc thee still, my country.' And nothing but the abominations of slavery could have induced him willingly to forsake a land endeared to him by all the associations of childhood and youth.
'' Yet it is candid to admit that it is not all gold that glitters. There is a fictitious kindness and hospitality. The famous Robin Hood was kind and generous — no man more hospitable — he rob. bed the rich to supply the necessities of tlie poor. Others rob the poor to bestow gifts and lavish kindness and hospitality on their rich friends and neighbors. It is an easy matter for a man to ap- pear kind and generous, when he bestows that which others have earned.
" I said, there is a fictitious kindness and hos- pitality. I once knew a man who left his wife and children three days, without fire-wood, with, out bread-stufl^, and without shoes, while the ground was covered with snow — that he might in- dulge in his cups. And when I attempted to expostulate with him, he took the subject out of my handri, and expatiating on the evils of intern- perance more eloquently than I could, concluded by warning me, with tears, to avoid the snares of the latter. He had tender feelings, yet a hard heart. I once knew a young lady of polished manners and accomplished education, who would weep with sympathy over the fictitious woes ex- hibited in a novel. And waking from her reverie of grief, while her eye was yet wet with tears, would call her little waiter, and if she did not appear at the first call, would rap her head with her thimble till my head ached.
" I knew a man who was famed for kindly sympathies. He once took off his shirt and gave it to a poor white man. The same man hired a black man, and gave him for his daily task, through the winter, to feed the beasts, keep fires, and make one hundred rails : and in case of fail- ure the lash was applied so freely, that, in the spring, his back was one continued sore, from his shoulders to his waist. Yet this man was a pro- fessor of religion, and famous for his tender sym- pathies to white men !"
Objection IV.— ' NORTHERN VISITORS AT THE SOUTH TESTIFY THAT THE SLAVES ARE NOT CRUELLY TREATED.'
Answer : — Their knowledge on this point must have been derived, either from the slave- holders and overseers themselves, or from the slaves, or from their own obsen^ation. If from the slaveholders, their testimony has already been weighed and found wanting ; if they derived it from the slaves, they can hardly be so simple as to suppose that the gtiest, associate and friend of the master, would be likely to draw from his slaves any other testimony respecting his treat- ment of them, than such as would please him. The great shrewdness and tact exhibited by slaves in keeping themselves out of difficult]!, when close questioned by strangers as to their treat- ment, cannot fail to strike every accurate ob- server. The following remarks of Chief Justice
Henderson, a North Carolina slaveholder, in his decision (in 1830,) in the case of the State versus Charity, 2 Devsreaux's North Carolina Reports, 543, illustrate the folly of arguing the good treatment of slaves from their owri declarations, while in the poioer of their masters. In the case above cited, the Chief Justice, in refusing to per- mit a master to give in evidence, declarations made to him by his slave, says of masters and I slaves generally —
" The master has an almost absolute control ! over the body and ?nind of his slave. The mas. j tor's will is the slave's will. All his acts, all his 1 sayings, arc made with a view to propitiate his I master. His confessions arc made, not from a love of truth, not from a sense of duty, not to speak a falsehood, but to please his master — and
Ohjecttons Considered — Northern Visitors.
120
it is in vain that his master tells liiin to speak the truth, and conceals from him how lie wishes the question answered. The slave wil/. ascertain, or, ■which is the same thing-, think that he has ascer- tained t/ie wis/ies of his master, and mould his ANSWER ACCORDINGLY. We therefore more often get the wishes of the master, or the slave's belief of his wishes, than the truth."
The followinc^ extract of a letter from the Hon. Skth 31. Gates, member elect of the next Con- gress, furnishes a clue b}' which to interpret the looks, actions, and protestations of slaves, when in the presence of their masters' guests, and the pains sometimes taken by slaveholders, in teach- ing their slaves the art of pretending that they are treated well, love their masters, are happy, &c. Thd' letter is dated Leroy, Jan. 4, 1839.
" I have sent your letter to Rev. Joseph M. Sadd, Castile, Genesee county, who resided five years in a slave state, and left, disgusted with slavery. I trust he will give you some facts. I remember one fact, which his wife witnessed. A relative, where she boarded, returning to his plantation after a temporary absence, was not met by his servants with such demonstrations of joy as was their wont. He ordered his horse put out, took dovim his whip, ordered his servants to the barn, and gave them a most cruel beating, because they did not run out to meet him, and pretend great attachment to him. Mrs. Sadd had overheard the servants agreeing not to go out, before his return, as they said they did not love him — and this led her to watch his conduct to them. This man was a professor of religion !"
If these northern visitors derived their informa- tion that the slaves arc 7iot cruelly treated from their own observation, it amounts to this, they did not see cruelties inflicted on the slaves. To which we reply, that the preceding pages con- tain testimony from hundreds of witnesses, who testify that they did see the cruelties whereof they affirm. Besides this, they contain the sol- emn declarations of scores of slaveholders them- selves, in all parts of the slave states, that the slaves are cruelly treated. These declarations are moreover fully corroborated, by the laws of slave states, by a multitude of advertisements in their newspapers, describing runaway slaves, by their scars, brands, gashes, maimings, cropped ears, iron collars, chains, &c. &c.
Truly, after the foregoing array of facts and testimony, and after the objectors' forces have one after another filed off before thera, now to march up a phalanx of northern visitors, is to beat a retreat. ' Visitors I' What insight do casual visitors get into the tempers and daily practices of those whom they visit, or of the treatment that their slaves receive at their hands, especially if these visitors are strangers, and from a region where there are no slaves, and which claims to be opposed to slavery ? What oppor- tunity has a stranger, and a temporary guest, to 17
learn the every-day habits and caprices of his host ? Oh, these northern visitors tell us they have visited scores of families at the south, and never saw a master or mistress whip their slaves. Indeed ! They have, doubtless, visited hundreds of families at the north — did they ever see, on such occasions, the father or mother whip their children ? If so, they must associate with very ill-bred persons. Because well-bred parents do not whip their children in the presence, or within the hearing of their guests, are we to infer that they never do it out of their sight and hearing ? But perhaps the fact that these visitors do not rcmcmhcr seeing slaveholders strike their slaves, merely proves, that they had so little feeling for them, that though they might be struck every day in their presence, 3'et as they were only slaves and ' niggers,' it produced no effect upon them ; consequently they have no impressions to recall. These visitors have also doubtless rode with scores of slaveliolder--. Are they quite certain they ever saw them whip their horses ? and can they recall the persons, times, places, and circum- stances ? But even if these visitors regarded the slaves with some kind feelings, when they first went to the south, yet being constantly with their oppressors, seeing them used as articles of proper- ty, accustomed to hear them charged with all kinds of misdemeanors, their ears filled with com. plaints of their laziness, carelessness, insolence, obstinacy, stupidity, thefts, elopements, &c. and at the same time, receiving themselves the most. gratifying attentions and caresses from the same persons, who, vdute they make to them these representations of their slaves, are giving them airings in their coaches, making parties for them, taking them on excursions of pleasure, lavishin<r upon them their choicest hospitalities, and ui-ging them to protract indefinitely their stay — what more natural tlian for the flattered guest to ad- mire such hospitable people, catch their spirit, and fully sympathize with their feelings toward their slaves, regarding with increased disgust and aversion those who can habitually tease and wony such loveliness and generosity.* After
* Well saith the Scripture, " A gift blindetli tlie eyes." Tiip slaves understand tliis, tliough tlic guest may not ; they know very well that tlicy have no sympathy to expect from their master's guests; that the good cheer of the "big house," and the attentions shown them, will generally commit them in tlicir master's favor, and against tliem- sclves. Messrs. Thome and Kimball, in their late wor.k, state the following fact, in illustration of this feeling among the negro apprentices in Jamaica.
" The governor of one of the islands, shortly after his ar- rival, dined with one of the wealthiest proprietors. Tho next day one of the negroes of the estate said to another, " De new gubner been pot.so«'d." "What dat you say ■?"' inquired the other in astonishment, "De gubner'been poi- soned! Dah, now: — IIow him poisoned?'' ^'^ Him eat massa's turtle soup fast night" said the shrewd negro. The other took his meaning at once ; and his sympatliy for tlie governor was turned into concern for himself when he perceived that the poison was one from whicii hs was likely
130
Ohjeciions Considered — Northern Visitors.
the visitor had been in contact with the slave- holding spirit long enough to have imbibed it, (no very tedious process,) a cuff, or even a kick administered to a slave, would not be likely to give him such a shock that his memory would long retain the traces of it. But lest we do these visitors injustice, we will suppose that they car- ried with them to the south humane feelings for the slave, and that those feelings remained un- blunted ; still, what opportunity could they have to witness the actual condition of the slaves ? They come in contact with the house-servants only, and as a general thing, with none but the select ones of these, the parlor-servaxits ; who generally differ as widely in their appearance and treatment from the cooks and scullions in the kitchen, as parlor furniture does from the kitchen utensils. Certain servants are assigned to the parlor, just as certain articles of furniture are selected for it, to be seen — and it is no less ridic- ulous to infer that the kitchen scullions are clothed and treated like those servants who wait at the table, and are in the presence of guests, than to infer that the kitchen is set out with so- fas, ottomans, piano-fortes, and full-length mir- rors, because the parlor is. But the house-slaves are only a fraction of the whole number. The field-hands constitute the great mass of the slaves, and these the visitors rarely get a glimpse at. Tliey are away at their work by day-break, and do not return to their huts till dark. Their huts are commonly at some distance from the mas- ter's mansion, and the fields m which they labor, generally much farther, and out of sight. If the visitor traverses the plantation, care is taken that he does not go alone ; if he expresses a wish to see it, the horses are saddled, and the master or his son gallops the rounds with him ■, if he ex- presses a desire to see the slaves at work, his conductor will know where to take him, and when, and which of them to show ; the overseer, too, knowa.quite too well the part he has to act on such occasions, to shock the uninitiated ears of iie visitors with the shrieks of his victims. It is manifest that visitors can see only the least re- pulsive parts of slavery, inasmuch as it is wholly at the option of the master, what parts to show them ; as a matter of necessit}^ he can see only the outside — and that, like the outside of door- knobs and andirons, is furbished up to be looked at. So long as it is human nature to wear the best side out, so long the northern guests of southern slaveholders will see next to nothing of the reality of slavery. Those visitors may still keep up their autumnal migrations to the slave states, and, after a hasty survey of the tinsel hung before the curtain of slavery, without a sin- to suffer more than his excellency." — Emancipation in the IVest Indies, p. 331.
gle glance behind it, and at the paint and varnisf? that cover up dead men's bones, and while those who have hoaxed them with their smooth stories, and white-washed specimens of slavery, are tit . teringat their gullibility, they return in the spring on the same fool's-errand with their predecessors, retailing their lesson, and mouthing the praises of the masters, and the comforts of the slaves- They now become village umpires in all disputes about the condition of the slaves, and each thence forward ends all controversies with his oracular, " I've seen, and sure I ought to know."
But all northern visitors at the south are not thus easily gulled. Many of them, as the pre- ceding pages show, have too much sense to be caught with chaff.
We maj' add here, that those classes of visitors whose representations of the treatment of slaves are most influential in moulding the opinions of the free states, are ministers of the gospel, agents of benevolent societies, and teachers who have traveled and temporarily resided in the slave states — classes of persons less likely than any others to witness cruelties, because slaveholders generally take more pains to keep such visitors in ignorance than others, because their vocations would furnish them fewer opportunities for wit- nessing them, and because they come in contact with a class of society in which fewer atrocities are committed than in an}^ other, and that too. under circumstances which make it almost im- possible for them to witness those which arc actually committed.
Of the numerous classes of persons from the north who temporarily reside in the slave states, the mechanics who find employment on the plan, taiions, are the only persons who are in circum ■ stances to look " behind the scenes." Merchants, pedlars, venders of patents, drovers, speculators, and almost all descriptions of persons who go from the free states to the south to make money, see little of slavery, except upon the road, at pub- lic inns, and in villages and cities.
Let not the reader infer from what has been said, that the parlor-sla.ves, chamber-maids, &c. in the slave states are not treated with cruelty — far from it. They often experience terrible in- flictions ; not generally so terrible or so frequent as the field-hands, and very rarely in the presence of guests.* House-slaves are for the most part treated fai better than plantation-slaves, and
* Rev. JosEi-n M. Sadd, a Presbyterian clergyman, in Castile, Genesee -Tounty, N. Y. recently from Missouri, where he has preached five years, in the midst of slave- holders, says, in a letter just received, speaking of the pains taken by slaveholders to conceal from the ej-es of stratigers and visitors, the cruelties which they inflict upon their slaves —
" It is difficult to be an eye-witness of these things ; the master and mistress almost invariably punish their slaves, only in the preselice of other slaves, or before other meri- [ bers of their own family, and often at the dead of night."
Objections Considered — Northern Visitors.
131
those under the immediate direction of the mas- ter and mistress, than those under overseers and drivers. It is quite worthy of remark, that of the thousands of northern men who have visited the south, and arc always lauding the kindness of slaveholders and the comfort of the slaves, protesting that they have never seen cruelties inflicted on them, &c. each perhaps, without exception, has some story to tell which reveals, better perhaps than the most barbarous butchery could do, a public sentiment toward slaves, showing that the most cruel inflictions must of necessity be the constant portion of the slaves.
Though facts of this kind lie thick in every corner, the reader will, we are sure, tolerate even a needless illustration, if told that it is from the pen of N. P. Rogers, Esq. of Concord, N. H. who, whatever he writes, though it be, as in this case, a mere hasty letter, always finds readers to the end.
" At a court session at Guilford, Stafford county, N. H. in August, 1837, the Hon. Daniel M. Du- rell, of Dover, formerly Chief Justice of the Com- mon Pleas for ihat state, and a member of Con. gross, was charging the abolitionists, in presence of several gentlemen of the bar, at their boarding house, with exaggerations and misrepresentations of slave treatment at the south. ' One instance in particular,' he witnessed, he said, where he ' knew they misrepresented. It was in the Con- gregational meeting house at Dover. He was passing by, and saw a crowd entering and about the door; andon inquiry, found that abolition loas going on in there. He stood in the entry for a moment, and found the Englishman, Thompson, \\Tis holding forth. The fellow was speaking of the treatment of slaves ; and he said it was no uncommon thing for masters, v/hen exasperated with the slave, to hang him up by the two thumbs, and flog him. I knew the fellow ligd there,' said the judge, ' for I had traveled through the south, from Georgia north, and I never savv a single instance of the kind. The fellow said it was a common thing.' ' Did you see any exasperated masters. Judge,' said I, ' in your journey V ' No sir,' said he, ' not an individual instance.' ' You hardly are able to convict Mr. Thoinpson of falsehood, then. Judge,' said I, ' if I understood you right. He spoke, as I understood you, of exasperated masters — and you say you did not see any. Mr. Thompson did not say it was com- mon for masters in good humor to hang up their slaves.' The Judge did not perceive the materi- ality of the distinction. ' Oh, they misrepresent and lie about this treatment of the niggers,' he continued. ' In going through all the states I visited, I do not now remember a single instance of cruel treatment. Indeed, I remember of see. ing but one nigger struck, during my whole jour- ney. There was one instance. We were riding in the stage, pretty early one morning, and we met a black fellow, driving a span of horses, and a load (I think he said) of hay. The fellow turned out before we got to him, clean down into the ditch, as far as he could get. He knew, you see, what to depend on, if he did not give the
road. Our driver, as we passed the fellow, fetched him a smart crack with his whip across tlic cliops. He did not make any noise, though I guess it hurt him some — he grinned. — Oh, no ! tiicsc fellows exaggerate. The niggers, aa a gen- eral thing, are kindly treated. There may be ex- ceptions, but I saw nothing of it.' (By the way, the Judge did not know there were any abolition- ists present.) ' What did you do to the driver, Judge,' said I, ' for striking that man ?' ' Do I' said he, ' I did notliing to him, to be sure.' 'What did you say to him, sir V said I. ' Nothing,' he replied : ' I said nothing to him.' ' What did the other passengers do V said I. ' Nothing, sir,' said the Judge. ' The fellow turned out the white of his eye, but he did not make any noise.' ' Did the driver say any thing, Judge, when he struck the man?' 'Nothing,' said the Judge, ' only he damned him, and told him he'd learn him to keep out of the reach of his whip ' ' Sir,' said I, ' if George Thompson had told this story, in the warmth of an anti-slavery speech, I should scarcely have credited it. I have attended many anti-slavery meetings, and I never heard an in- stance of such cold-blooded, wanton, insolent, DIABOLICAL cruclty as this ; and, sir, if I live to attend another meeting, I shall relate this, and give Judge Durell's name as the witness of it.' An infliction of the most insolent character, en- tirely unprovoked, on a perfect stranger, who had showed the utmost civility, in giving all the road, and only could not get beyond the long reach of the driver's whip — and he a stage driver, a class generous next to the sailor, in the sober hour of morning — and borne in silence — and told to show that the colored man of the south was kindly treat ed — all evincing, to an unutterable extent, that the temper of the south toward the slave is mer- ciless, even to diabolism — and that the north regards him with, if possible, a more fiendish in- difference still !"
It seems but an act of simple justice to say, in conclusion, that many of the slaveholders from whom our northern visitors derive their informa- tion of the " good treatment" of the slave, may not design to deceive them. Such visitors are often, perhaps, generally brought in contact with the better class of slaveholders, whose slaves are really better fed, clothed, lodged, and housed ; more moderately worked ; more seldom whipped, and with less severity, than the slaves generally. Those masters in speaking of the good condition of their slaves, and asserting that tliey are treated loell, use terms that are not absolute but compara- tive : and it may be, and doubtless often is true that their slaves are treated well as slaves, in com- parison with the treatment received by slaves generally. So the overseers of such slaves, and the slaves themselves, may, without lying or designing to mislead, honestly give the same testimony. As the great body of slaves within their knowledge fare worse, it is not strange that, when speaking of the treatment on their own plantation, they should call it good.
132
Oijections Considered — Interest of Masters.
Ejection V.—' IT IS FOR THE INTEREST OF THE MASTERS TO TREAT THEIR
SLAVES WELL.'
So it is for the interest of the drunkard to quit his cups ; for the glutton to curb his appetite ; for the debauchee to bridle his lust ; for the sluggard to be up betimes ; for the spendthrift to be eco- nomical, and for all sinners to stop sinning. Even if it were for the interest of masters to treat their slaves well, he must be a novice who thinks that a proof that the slaves are well treated. The whole history of man is a record of real interests sacrificed to present gratification. If all men's actions were consistent with their best interests, iolly and sin would be words without meaning.
If the objector means that it is for the pecu- niary interests of masters to treat their slaves v/ell, and thence infers their good treatment, we reply, that though tiie love of money is strong, yet appetite and lust, pride, anger and revenge, the love of power and honor, are each an overmatch for it ; and when either of them is roused by a sudden stimulant, the love of rtoney is worsted in the grapple with it. Look at the hourly lavish outlays of money to procure a momentary gratifi. cation for those passions and appetites. As tlie de- sire for money is, in the main, merely a desire for the means of gratifjring other desires, or rather for one of the means, it must be the servant not the sovereign of those desires, to whose gratifica- tion its only use is to minister. But even if the love of money were the strongest human passion, who is simple enough to believe that it is all the time so powerfully excited, that no other passion or appetite can get the mastery over it ? Who does not knov/ that gusts of rage, revenge, jea- lousy and lust drive it before them as a tempest tosses a feather ?
The objector has forgotten his first lessons ; they taught him that it is human nature to gratify the uppermost passion : and is prudence the upper- most passion with slaveholders, and self-restraint their great characteristic ? The strongest feeling of any moment is the sovereign of that moment, and rules. Is a propensity to practice economy the predominant feeling with slaveholders ? Ri- diculous ! Every northerner knows that slave- holders are proverbial for lavish expenditures, never higgling about the price of a gratification. Human passions have not, like the tides, regular ebbs and flows, with their stationary, high and low water marks. They are a dominion convulsed with revolutions ; coronations and dethronements in ceaseless succession — each ruler a usurper and a despot. Love of money gets a snatch at the sceptre as well as the rest, not by hereditary right, but because, in the fluctuations of human feel- ings, a chance wave washes him up to the throne, and the next perhaps washes him off, without
time to nominate his successor. Since, then, as a matter of fact, a host of appetites and passions do hourly get the better of love of money, what pro- tection does the slave find in his master's interest, against the sweep of his passions and appetites ? Besides, a master can inflict upon his slave hor- rible cruelties without perceptibly injuring his health, or taking time from his labor, or lessening his value as property. Blows with a small stick give more acute pain, than with a large one. A club bruises, and benumbs the nerves, while a switch, neither breaking nor braising the flesh, in- stead of blunting the sense of feeling, wakes up and stings to torture all the susceptibilities of pain. By this kind of infliction, more actual cruelty can be perpetrated in the giving of pain at the instant, than by the most horrible bruisings and lacerations ; and that, too, with little comparative hazard to the slave's health, or to his value as property, and without loss of time from labor. Even giving to the objection all the force claimed for it, what protection is it to the slave ? It professes to shield the slave from such treatment alone, as would either lay him aside from labor, or injure his health, and thus lessen his value as a working animal, making him a damaged article in the market. Now, is nothing had treatment of a hu- man being except that which produces these ef- fects ? Does the fact that a man's constitution is not actually shattered, and his life shortened by his treatment, prove that he is treated well ? Is no treatment cruel except what sprains muscles, or cuts sinews, or bursts blood vessels, or breaks bones, and thus lessens a man's value as a work- ing animal ?
A slave may get blows and kicks every hour in the day, without having his constitution broken, or without suffering sensibly in his health, or flesh, or appetite, or power to labor. Therefore, beaten and kicked as he is, he must be treated well, ac- cording to the objector, since the master's inter, est does not suffer thereby.
Finally, the objector virtually maintains that all possible privations and inflictions suffered by slaves, that do not actually cripple their power to labor, and make them ' damaged merchandize,' are to be set down as ' good treatment,' and that nothing is bad treatment except what produces these effects.
Thus we see that even if the slave were effect- ually shielded from all those inflictions, which, by lessening his value as property, would injure the interests of his master, he would still have no protection against numberless and terrible cruel- ties. But we go further, and maintain that in re- spect to large classes of slaves, it is for the in-
Ohjections Considered — Interest of Masters.
133
tercst of their masters to treat them with barbarous inhumanity.
1. Old slaves. It would be for the interest of the masters to sliortcn their days.
2. Worn out slaves. Multitudesof slaves by be- ing overworked, have their constitutions broken in middle life. It would be economical for masters to starve or flog such to death.
3. The incurably diseased and 7naimcd. In all such cases it would be cheaper for masters to buy poison than medicine.
4. The blind, lunatics, and idiots. As all such would be a tax on him, it would be for his interest to shorten their days.
5. The deaf and dumb, and persons greatly de- formed. Such might or might not be serviceable to him ; many of tliem at least would be a burden, and few men carry burdens when they can throw them off.
6. Feeble infants. As such would require much nursing, the time, trouble and expense necessary to raise them, would generally be more than they would be worth as working animals. How many such mfants would be likely to be ' raised,' from disinterested benevolence ? To this it may be added that in the far south and south west, it is notoriously for the interest of the master not to ' raise' slaves at all. To buy slaves when nearly grown, from the northern slave states, would be cheaper than to raise them. This is shown in the fact, that mothers with infants sell for less in those states than those without them. And when slave- traders purchase such in the upper country, it is notorious that they not unfrequently either sell their infants, or give them away. Therefore it would be for the interest of the masters, through- out that region, to have all the new-born chil- dren left to perish. It would also be for his interest to make such arrangements as effectually to separate the sexes, or if that were not done, so to overwork the females as to prevent childbearing.
7. Incorrigible slaves. On most of the large plantations, there are, more or less, incorrigible slaves, — that is, slaves w*ho will not be profitable to their masters — and from whom torture can ex- tort little but defiance.* These are frequently slaves of uncommon minds, who feel so keenly the wrongs of slavery that their proud spirits spurn their chains and defy their tormentors.
They have commonly great sway over the other slaves, their example is contagious, and their influence subversive of 'plantation discipline.' Consequently they must be made a warning to
* Advertisements like the following are not unfrequent in the southern papers.
Prom the Elizabeth (JV. C; Phenix, Jan. 5, 1839.
"The subscriber offers for sale his blacksmith Nat, 28 years of age, and remarkably large and likely. Tlie only cause of my selling him is I cannot control him.
Hertford, Dec. 5, 1838. J. Gordon."
others. It is for the interest of the masters (at least they believe it to be) to put upon such slaves iron collars and chains, to brand and crop them ; to disfigure, lacerate, starve and torture them — in a word, to inflict upon them such vengeance as shall strike terror into the other slaves. To this class may be added the incorrigibly thievish and indolent; it would be for the interest of the mas- ters to treat them with such sevcrit}^ as would Av- tcr others from following their example.
7. Runaways. When a slave has once runaway from his master and is caught, he is thencefor- ward treated with severity. It is for the interest of the master to make an example of him, by the greatest privations and inflictions.
8. Hired slaves. It is for the interest of thof^e who hire slaves to get as much out of them as they can ; the temptation to overwork them is powerful. If it be said that the master could, in that case, recover damages, the answer is, that damages would not be recoverable in law unless actual injury — enough to impair the power of the slave to labor be proved. And this ordi- narily would be impossible, unless the slave has been worked so greatly beyond his strength as to produce some fatal derangement of the vital functions. Indeed, as all who are famihar with such cases in southern coiirty well laiow, the proof of actual injury to the slave, so as to lessen his value, is exceedingly difficult to make out, and every hirer of slaves can overvvork them, give them insufficient food, clothing, and shelter, and inflict upon them nameless cruelties with entire impunity. We repeat then that it is for the inter- est of the hirer to push his slaves to their utmost strength, provided he does not drive them to such an extreme, that their constitutions actually give way under it, while in his hands. The supreme court of Maryland has decided that, 'There must be at least a diminution of the faculty of the slave for bodily labor to warrant an action by the mas- ter.'— 1 Hams and Johnson^s Reports, 4.
9. Slaves under overseers whose wages are pro- portioned to the crop ivhich they raise. This is an arrangement common in the slave states, and in its practical operation is equivalent to a bounty on hard driving — a virtual premium offered to over- seers to keep the slaves whipped up to the top of their strength. Even where the overseer has a fixed salary, irrespective of the value of the crop which he takes off, he is strongly tempted to over- work the slaves, as those overseers get the highest wages who can draw the largest income from a plantation with a given number of slaves ; so that we may include in this last class of slaves, the majority of all those who are under overseers, whatever the terms on which those overseers are employed.
Another class of slaves may be mentionefl ; we
134
Objections Considered — Interest of Masters.
refer to the slaves of masters who bet upon their I crops. In the cotton and sugar region there is a fearful amount of this desperate gambling, in which, though money is the ostensible stake and forfeit, human life is the real one. The length to which this rivalry is carried at the south and south west, the multitude of planters who en- gage in it, and the recklessness of human life exhibited in driving the murderous game to its issue, cannot well be imagined by one who has not lived in the midst of it. Desire of gain is only one of the motives that stimulates them ; — the eclat of having made the largest crop with a given number of hands, is also a powerful stimu- lant ; the southern newspapers, at the crop sea- son, chronicle carefully the " cotton brag," and the " crack cotton picking," and " unpai'alleled driving," &c. Even the editor of professedly religious papers, cheer on the melee and sing the triumphs of the victor. Among these we recollect the celebrated Rev. J. N. Maffit, recent- ly editor of a religous paper at Natchez, Miss, in which he took care to assign a prominent place, and capitals to '' the cotton brag." The testimo- ny of Mr. Bliss, page 38, details some of the particulars of this betting upon crops. All the preceding classes of slaves are in circumstances ■whicli make it " for the interest of their masters," or those who have the management of them, to treat them cruelly.
Besides the operation of the causes already specified, which make it for the interest of mas- ters and overseers to treat cruelly certain classes of their slaves, a variety of others exist, which make it for their interest to treat cruelly the great body of their slaves. These causes are, the nature of certain kinds of products, the kind of labor required in cultivating and preparing them for market, the best times for such labor, the .state of the market, fluctuations in prices, facilities for transportation, the weather, seasons, &c. <fcc. Some of the causes which operate to produce this are —
1. The early market. If the planter can get his crop into market early, he may save thousands which might be lost if it arrived later.
2. Changes in the market. A sudden rise in the market with the probability that it will bo short, or a gradual fall with a probabihty that it will be long, is a strong temptation to the mas- ter to push his slaves to the utmost, that he may in the one case make all he can, by taking the tide at the flood, and in the other lose as little as may be, by taking it as early as possible in the ebb.
3. High prices. Whenever the slave grown staples bring a high price, as is now the case with cotton, every slaveholder is tempted to overwork his slaves. By forcing them to do
double work for a few weeks or months, while the price is up, he can afford to lose a number ol them and to lessen the value of all by over- driving. A cotton planter with a hundred vigor- ous slaves, would have made a profitable specu lation, if, during the years '34, 5, and 6, when the average price of cotton was 17 cents a pound, h5 had so overworked his slaves that half of them died upon his hands in '37, when cotton had fallen to six and eight cents. No wonder that the poor slaves pray that cotton and sugar maj? be cheap. The writer has frequently heard it declared by planters in the lower country, that, it is more profitable to drive the slaves to such over exertion as to use them up, in seven or eight years, than to give them only ordinary tasks and protract their lives to the ordinary period.*
4. Untimely seasons. When the winter en- croaches on the spring, and makes late seed time, the first favorable weather is a temptation to overwork the slaves, too strong to be resisted by those who hold men as mere working animals. So when frosts set in early, and a great amount ot work is to be done in a little time, or great loss suffered. So also after a long storm either in seed or crop time, when the weather becomes favorable, the same temptation presses, and in all these cases the master would save monej by overdriving his slaves.
5. Periodical pressure of certain lands of labor. The manufacture of sugar is an illustration.
In a work entitled " Travels in Louisiana in 1802," translated from the French, by John Davis, is the following testimony under this head : —
" At the rolling of sugars, an interval of from two to three months, they (the slaves in Louisi- ana,) work both night and day. Abridged of theh' sleep, they scarcely retire to rest dm'ing the whole period." See page 81.
In an article on the agriculture of Louisiana, published in the second number of the " Western Review," is the following : — " The work is ad- mitted to be severe for the hands, (slaves) requir- ing, when the process of making sugar is com menced, to be pressed night and dav."
It would be for the interest of the sugar planter greatly to overwork his slaves, during the amiual process of sugar-making.
The severity of this periodical pressure, in preparing for market other staples of the slave states besides sugar, may be infen-ed from the following. Mr. Hammond, of South Carohna, in his speech in Congress, Feb. 1. 1836, (See National Intelligencer) said, " In the heat of tho crop, the loss of one or two days, would inevit ably ruin it."
6. Times of scarcity. Drought, long rain, frost, &c. are liable to cut off the corn crop, upon
* The reader is referred to a variety of facts and testimo- ny on this point on the 39th page of this work.
Oijeciians Considered — Interest of Masters.
135
which the slaves arc fed. If this liappcns when the staple wliic'i they raise is at a low price, it is for the interest of the master to put the slave on short rations, thus forcing him to sutler from hunger.
7. The raisivg of crops for cxportatiort. In all those states where cotton and sugar are raised for exportation, it is, for the most part, more profitable to buy provisions for the slaves than to raise them. Where this is the case the slave- liolders believe it to be for their interest to give their slaves less food, than their hunger craves, and they do generally give them insufficient sus- tenance.*
Now let us make some estimate of the propor- tion which the slaves, included in the foregoing nine classes, sustain to the whole number, and then of the proportion affected by the operation of the seven causes just enumerated.
It would be nearly impossible to form an esti- mate of the proportion of the slaves included in a number of these classes, such as the old, the worn out, the incurably diseased, maimed and deform- ed, idiots, feeble infants, incorrigible slaves, &c. More or less of this description arc to be found on all the considerable plantations, and often, many on the same plantation ; though we have no accurate data for an estimate, the proportion cannot be less than one in twenty-five of the
* Hear the testimony of a slaveholder, on this subject, a member of Congress from Virginia, from lfal7 to 1830, Hon. Alexander Smyth.
In the debate on the Missouri question in the U. S. Congress. 1819-20, the admission of Missouri to the Union, as a slave state, was urged, among other grounds, as a measure of Immanity to the slaves of the south. Mr. Smyth, of Vir- ginia said, ■' The plan of our opponents seems to be to confine the slave population to tlie southern states, to the countries wheie sug'ar, cotton, and tobacco are cultivated. But, sir, by confining the slaves to a part of the country vvliere crops are raised for exportation, and tlie bread and meat are purchased, you doom them to scarcity and hunger. Is it not obvious that the way to render their situation more comfortable, is to allow tliem to be taken where there is not the same motive to force tlie slave to incessant toil, that there is in the country where cotton, sugar, and tobac- co, are raised for exportation. It is proposed to hem in the blacks where they are hard worked and ill fed, that they maybe rendered unproductive and the race be pre- vented from increasing. . . . The proposed measure would be EXTRExME CRL'ELTY to the blacks. . . . You would . . . doom them to scarcity and hard LABOR."— [Speech of Mr. Smyth, Jan. 28, 1S20.]— See National Intelligencer.
Those states where the crops are raised for exportation, and a large part of the provisions purchased, are, Louisiana, Mis.-'issippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Western Teimessee, Georgia, Florida, and, to a considerable extent. South Caro- lina. That this is the case in Louisiana, is siiowri by the following. " Corn.'fiour, and bread stufts, generally are ob- tained from Kentucky, Ohio," &c. See " Emigrant's Guide through the Valley of the Mississippi," Page 275. That it is the case with Alabama, appears from the testimony of VV. Jefferson Jones, Esq. a lawyer of high standing in Mobile. In a series of articles published by hiih in tlie Mobile Morn- ing Chronicle, he says ; (See that paper for Aug. 26, 1837.)
" The people of Alabama export wliat they raise, and import nearly all they consume." But it seems quite un- necessary to prove, what all persons of much inteUigence weU know, that the states mentioned export the larger part of what they raise, and import the larger part of what they consume. Now more than one viillion of slaves are held in those states, and parts of states, where provisions are mainly imported, and consequently they are " doomed to scarcity and hunger."
whole number of slaves, which would give a total of more than owe hundred thoiisand. Of some of the remaining classes we have data for a pretty accurate estimate.
1st. Lunatics. — Various estimates have been made, founded upon the data procured by actual investigation, prosecuted under the direction of the Legislatures of different States ; but the re- turns have been so imperfect and erroneous, that little reliance can be placed upon them. The Le- gislature of New Hampshire recently ordered in- vestigations to be made in every town in the state, and the number of insane persons to be reported. A committee of the legislature, who had the sub- ject in charge say, in their report — " From many towns no returns have been received, from others the accounts are erroneous, there being cases known io the committee which escaped the notice of the ' selectmen.' The actual number of in- sane persons is therefore much larger than appears by the documents submitted to the committee." The Medical Society of Connecticut appointed a committee of their number, composed of some of the most eminent physicians in the state, to as- certain and report the whole number of insane persons in that state. The committee say, in their report, " The number of towns from which returns have been received is seventy, and the cases of insanity which have been noticed in them are five hundred and ten." The committee add, " fifty more towns remain to be heard from, and if insanity should be found equally prevalent in them, the entire number v,nll scarcely fall short of one thousand in the state." This investigation was made in 1821, when the population of the state was less than two hundred and eighty thou sand. If the estimate of the Medical Society be correct, the proportion of the insane to the whole population would be about one in two hundred and eighty. This strikes us as a large estimate, and yet a committee of the legislature of that state in 1837, reported seven hundred and seven insane persons in the state, who were either whol- ly or in part supported as town paupers, or by charity. It can hardly be supposed that more than two-thirds of the insane in Connecticut be- long to families unable to support them. On this supposition, the whole number would be greater than the estimate of the Medical Society sixteen years previous, when the population was perhaps thirty thousand less. But to avoid the possibility of an over estimate, let us suppose the present number of insane persons in Connecticut to be only seven hundred.
The population of the state is now probably about three hundred and twenty thousand ; ac. cording to this estimate, the proportion of the in- sane to the whole population, would be one to about four hundred and sixty. Making this the
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Ohjections Considered — Interest of Masters.
basis of our calculation, and estimating the slaves in the United States at two millions, seven hundred thousand, their present probable number, and we come to this result, that there arc about six thou- sand insane persons among the slaves of the United States. We have no adequate data by which to judge whether the proportion of lunatics among slaves is greater or less than among the whites ; some considerations favor the supposition that it is. But the dreadful physical violence to which the slaves are subjected, and the constant sunder- ings of their tendcrest ties, might lead us to sup- pose that it would be more. The only data in our possession is the official census of Chatham coun- ty, Georgia, for 1838, containing the number of lunatics among the whites and the slaves. — (Sec the Savannah Georgian, July 24, 1838.) Accord- ing to this census, the number of lunatics among eight thousand three hundred and seventy three whites in the country, is only two, whereas, the number among ten thousand eight hundred and ninety-one slaves, is fourteen.
2d. The Deaf and Dumb. — The proportion of deaf and dumb persons to the other classes of the com.munity, is about one in two thousand. This is the testimony of the directors of the ' Ameri- can Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb,' located at Hartford, Connecticut. Making this the basis of our estimate, there would be one thousand six hundred deaf and dumb persons among the slaves of the United States.
3d. The Blind. — We have before us the last United States census, from which it appears, that in 1830, the number of blind persons in New Hampshire was one hundred and seventeen, out of a population of two hundred and sixty-nine thousand live hundred and thirty-three. Adopt- ing this as our basis, the number of blind slaves in the United States would be nearly one thousand three hundred.
4th. Runaivays. — Of the proportion of the slaves that run away, to those that do not, and of the proportion of the runaways that are taken to those that escape entirely, it would be difficult to make a probable estimate. Something, how- ever, can be done towards such an estimate. We have before us, in the Grand Gulf (Miss.) Ad- vertiser, for August 2, 1838, a list of runawa3's that were then in the jails of the two counties of Adams and Warren, in that State ; the names, ages, &c. of each one given ; and their owners are called upon to take them away. The num- ber of runaways thus taken up and committed in these tiDO counties, is forty-six. The whole number of counties in Mississippi is fiftysix. Many of them, however, are thinly populated. Now, without making this the basis of our esti- mate for the whole slave population in all the state — which would doubtless make the num-
ber much too large — we are sure no one who has any knowledge of facts as they arc in the south, will charge upon us an over-statement, when we say, that of the present generation of slaves, probably one in thirty is of that class — i. c., has at some time, perhaps often, runaway and been retaken ; on that supposition the whole number would be not far from ninety thousand.
5th. Hired Slaves. — It is impossible to csti. mate with accuracy the proportion which the hired slaves bear to the whole number. That it is very large all who have resided at the south, or tra- velled there, with their eyes open well know. Some of the largest slaveholders in the country, instead of purchasing plantations and working their slaves themselves, hire them out to others This practice is very common.
Kev. Horace Moulton, a minister of the Me- thodist Episcopal church in Marlborough, Mass., who lived some years in Georgia, says : " A large proportion of the slaves are owned by mas tcrs who keep them on purpce to hire out."
Large numbers of slaves, especially in Missis- sippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Alabama, and Florida, arc owned by non-residents ; thousands of them by northern capitalists, who hire them out. These capitalists in many cases own large plantations, vdiich are often leased for a term of j^ears with a ' stock ' of slaves sufficient to work them.
Multitudes of slaves 'belonging ' to heirs, are hired out by their guardians till such heirs become of age, or by the executors or trustees of persons deceased.
That the reader may form some idea of the large number of slaves that are hired out, we in- sert below a few advertisements, as a specimen of hundreds in the newspapers of the slave states.
From the " Pensacola Gazette," May 27. '' Notice TO Slaveholders. Wanted upon my contract, on the Alabama, Florida and Georgia Rail Road, FOUR HUNDRED BLACK LA- BORERS, for which a liberal in-ice will be paid. R. LORING, Contractor."
The same paper has the following, signed by an officer of the United States.
" Wanted at the Navy Yard, Pensacola, sixty LAEOREiis. The owners to subsist and quarter them beyond the limits of the yard. Persons having Laborers to hire, will apply to the Com- manding Officer. W. K. LATIMER."
From the " Richmond (Va.) Enquirer," April 10, 1838.
" Laborers wanted. — The James River, and Kenawha Company, are in immediate want of sevioral hundred good laborers,. Gentlemen wishing to send negroes from the country, are assured that the very best care shall be taken of them. RICHARD REINS,
Agent of the James River, and Kenawha. Co."
Ohjections Considered — Interest of Masters.
137
From the " Vicksburg (Mis.) Register," Dec. 27, 1S3S.
" 60 Nkuroes, males and females, for hire, for the rear 1839. Apply to H. HENDREN."
From the " Georgia Messenger," Dec. 37, 1S38.
" Negroes to hire. On the first Tuesdav next. Including CARPENTERS, BLACKSMITHS, SHOEMAKERS, SEAMSTRESSES, COOKS, <Sic. &.C. For information ; Apply to
OSSIAN GREGORY."
From the " Alexandria (D. C.) Gazette," Dec.
30, 1837.
" THE subscriber wishes to employ by the month or year, oxe hundred able bodied men, and THIRTY Bovs. Pcrsons having servants, will do well to give him a call. PHILIP ROACH, near Alexandria."
From the " Columbia (S. C.) Telescope," May 19, 1838.
" Wanted to hire, twelve or fifteen NEGRO GIRLS, from ten to fourteen years of age. They are wanted for the term of two or three years. E. H. & J. FISHER."
"Negroes wanted. The Subscriber is desirous of hiring 50 or GO Jirst rate Negro Men.
WILSON NESBITT."
From the " Norfolk (Va.; Beacon," March 21, 1838.
" Laborers wanted. One hundred able bodied men are wanted. The hands will be required to be delivered in Halifax by the oioners. Apply to SHIELD & WALKE."
From the " Lynchburg Virginian," Dec. 13, 1838.
" 40 NEGRO MEN. The subscribers wish to hire for the next year 40 NEGRO MEN.
LANGHORNE, SCRUGGS vSc COOK."
'' Hiring of negroes. On Saturday, the 29th day of December, 1838, at Mrs. Tayloe's tavern, in Amherst county, there will be hired thirty or forty valuable Negroes.
In addition to the above, I have for hire, 20 men, vromen, boys, and girls — several of them excellent house servants.
MAURICE H. GARLAND."
From the " Savannah Georgian," Feb. 5, 1838.
•' Wanted to hire, one hundred prime negroes, by the year. J. V. REDDEN."
From the " North Carolina Standard," Feb.
31, 1838.
'• Negroes wanted.— W. & A. STITH, will give twelve dollars per month for FIFTY strong Ne^ro fellows, to commence work immediately ; and for FIFTY more on the first day of Febua- ry, and for FIFTY on the first day of March."
From the " Lexington (Ky.) Reporter," Dec. 26, 1838.
"Will be hired, for one year, on the first day of January, 1839, on the farm of the late Mrs. Meredith, a number of valuable NEGROES. R. S. TODD, Sheriff of Fayette Co. And Curator for James and Ehzabeth Breekenridge." 18
" Negroes to hire. On Wednesday, the 26th inst. I will hire to the highest bidder, the NEGROES belonging to Charles and Robert Inncs. GEO. W. WILLIAMS.
Guardian.^''
The following niuc advertisements were pub. lished in one column of the "Winchester Virgi- nian," Dec. 20, 1838.
" NEGRO HIRINGS.' " Will be offered for hire, at Captain Long's Hotel, a number of SLAVES — men, women, boys and girls — belonging to the orphans of George Ash, deceased.
RICHARD W. BARTON." Guardian.
" Will be offered for hire, at my Hotel, a num- ber of SLAVES, consisting of men, women, boys and girls. JOSEPH LONG.
Exr. of Edmund Shackleford, dec'd."
" Will be offered for hire, for the ensuing year, at Capt. Long's Hotel, a number of SLAVES. MOSES R. RICHARDS."
'' Will be offered for hire, the slaves belonging to the estate of James Bowen, deceased, consist- ing of men, and women, boj's and girls.
GILES COOK. One of the Exrs. of James Bowen dec^d."
" The hiring at Millwood will take place on Friday, the 28th day of December, 1838.
BURWELL."
" N. B. We are desired to say that other valua- ble NEGROES will also be hired at Millwood on the same day, besides those offered by Mr. B."
" The SLAVES of the late John Jolliffe, about twenty in number, and of all ages and both sexes, will be offered for hire at Cain's Depot. DAVID W. BARTON. Administrator."
" I Will hire at public hiring before the tavern door of Dr. Lacy, about 30 NEGROES, consist- ing of men, and women.
JAMES R. RICHARDS."
" Will be hired, at Carter's Tavern, on 31st of December, a number of NEGROES.
JOHN J. H. GUNNELL."
" Negroes for hire, (prfvately.) About twelve servants, consisting of men, women, boys, and girls, for hire privately. Apply to the subscriber at Col. Smith's in Battletown.
JOHN W. OWEN."
A volume might easily be filled with advertise- ments like the preceding, showing conclusively that hired slaves must be a large proportion of the whole number. The actual proportion has been variously estimated, at J, I, \, i, &c. if we adopt the last as our basis, it will make the number of hired slaves, in the United States,
FIVE hundred and FORTY THOUSAND !
6th, Slaves under overseers whose wages are a part of the crop. — That this is a common usage appears from the following testimony. The late
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Objections Considered — Interest of Masters.
Hon. John Taylor, of Caroline Co. Virginia, one of the largest slaveholders in the state, President of the State Agricultural Society, and three times elected to the Senate of the United States, says, in his " Agricultural Essays," No. 15. P. 57,
" This necessary class of men, (overseers,) are bribed by agriculturalists, not to improve, but to impoverish their land, by a share of the crop for one year. . . . The greatest annual crop, and not the most judicious culture, advances his interest, and establishes his character ; and the fees of these land-doctors, are much higher for killing than for curing. . . . TJie most which the land can yield, and seldom or never improvement with a view to future profit, is a point of common consent, and mutual need be- tween the agriculturist and his overseer. , . Must the practice of hiring a man for one year, by a share of the crop, to lay out all his skill and industry in killing land, and as little as possible in improving it, be kept up to commemorate the pious leaning of man to his primitive state of ig- norance and barbarity ? Unless this is abolished, the attempt to fertilize our lands, is needless."
Philemon Bliss, Esq. of Elyria, Ohio, who lived in Florida, in 1834-5, says,
" It is common for owners of plantations and slaves, to hire overseers to take charge of them, while they themselves reside at a distance. Their wages depend principally upon the amount of labor which they can exact from the slave. The term " good overseer," signifies one who can make the greatest amoimt of the staple, cot- ton for instance, from a given number of hands, besides raising sufficient provisions for their con- sumption. He has no interest in the hfe of the slave. Hence the fact, so notorious at the south, that negroes are driven harder and fare worse under overseers than under their owners.
William Ladd, Esq. of Minot, Maine, formerly a slaveholder in Florida, speaking, in a recent letter of the system of labor adopted there, says ; '' The compensation of the overseers was acer- , tain portion of the crop."
E.ev. Phineas Smith, of Centreville, Allegany Co. N. y. who has recently retm-ned from a four years' residence, in the Southern slave states and Texas, says,
" The mode in which many plantations are managed, is calculated and designed^ as an in- ducement to the slave driver, to lay upon the slave the greatest possible burden, the overseer being entitled by contract, to a certain share of the crop.'"
We leave the reader to form his own opinion, as to the proportion of slaves under overseers, whose wages are in proportion to the crop, raised by them. We have little doubt that we shaU
escape the charge of wishing to make out z " strong case" when we put the proportion at 'jnc eighth of the whole number of slaves, which would be three hundred and. ffty thousand.
Without drawing out upon the page a sum in addition for the reader to " run up,"' it is easily seen that the slaves in the preceding classes, amount to more than eleven hundred thousand, exclusive of the deaf and dumb, and the blind, many of whom, especially the former, might ht profitable to their '' owners."
Now it is plainly for the interest of the " owners' of these slaves, or of those who have the charge of them, to treat them cruelly, to overwork, under-feed, half-clothe, half-shelter, poison, or kill outright, the aged, the broken down, the incurably diseased, idiots, feeble infants, most o\ the blind, some deaf and dumb, &c. It is be- sides a part of the slave-holder's creed, that it is for his interest to treat with terrible severity, all runaways and the incorrigibly stubborn, thievish, lazy, &c.; also for those who hire slaves, to over- work them ; also for overseers to overv/ork the slaves under them, when their own wages are increased by it.
We have thus shown that it would be ^^ for the interest," of masters and overseers to treat witli habitual cruelty more than one million of tlie slaves in the United States. But this is not all ; as we have said already, it is for the interest of overseers generally, whether their wages are proportioned to the crop or not, to overwork the slaves ; we need not repeat the reasons.
Neither is it necessary to re-state the argu ments, going to show that it is for the interest of slaveholders, who cultivate the great south- ern staples, especially cotton, and the sugar cane, to overwork periodically all their slaves, and habitually the majority of them, when the de- mand for those staples creates high prices, as has been the case with cotton for many years, with little exception. Instead of entering into a labored estimate to get at the proportion of the slaves, affected by the operation of these and the other causes enumerated, we may say, that they operate directly on the " field hands," employed in raising the southern staples, and in- directly upon all classes of the slaves. • Finally, we conclude this head by turning the objector's negative proposition into an afhrma. five one, and state formally what has been already proved.
It is for the interest of slaveholders, upon their own principles, and by their oicn showing, to TREAT CRUEiJ-Y the great body of their slaves
Objections Considered — Rapid Increase of Slaves.
139
Oejection VI.—' THE FACT THAT THE SLAVES MULTIPLY SO RAPIDLY PROVES
THAT THEY ARE NOT INHUMANLY TREATED, BUT ARE IN A
COMFORTABLE CONDITION.'
To this we reply in brief, 1st. It has been al- ready shown under a previous head, that, m con- siderable sections of the slave states, especially in the South West, the births among slaves arc fewer than the deaths, which would exhibit a fearful decrease of the slave population in those sections, if the deficiency were not made up by the slave trade from the upper country.
2d. The fact that all children born of slave mothers, whether their fathers are whites or free colored persons, are included in the census with the slaves, and further that all children born of white mothers, whose fathers are mulattos or blacks, are also included in the census with color- ed persons and almost invariably with slaves, shows that it is impossible to ascertain with any accuracy, what is the actual increase of the slaves alone.
3d. The fact that thousands of slaves, gener- ally in the prime of life, are annually smuggled into the United States from Africa, Cuba, and elsewhere, makes it manifest that all inferences drav/n from the increase of the slave population, wliich do not make large deductions, for con- stant importations, must be fallacious. Mr. Middleton of South Carolina, in a speech in Con- gress in 1819, declared that "thiiiteen thou- sand AFRICANS ARE ANNUALLY SMUGGLED INTO
THE SOUTHERN STATES." Mr. Mercer of Virgi- nia, in a speech in Congress about the same time declared that " Cargoes," of African slaves were smuggled mto the South to a deplorable extent.
Mr. Wright, of Maryland, m a speech in Con- gress, estimated the number annually at fifteen THOUSAND. Miss Martiucau, in her recent work, (Society ui America,) informs us that a large slaveholder in Louisiana, assured her in 1835, that the annual importation of native Africans was from thirteen to fifteen thousand.
The President of the United States, in his mes- sage to Congress, December, 1837, says,
" The large force under Commodore Dallas, [on the West India station,] has been most actively and efficiently employed in protecting our com- merce, IN PREVENTING THE IMPORTATION OF SLAVES," &C. &C.
and ages, been violated whenever the inducements to do SO afi'orded hopes of great profit.
'• The United States' law againsL the importa- tion of Africans, could it he strictly enforced, might in a few years give the sugar and cotton planters of Texas advantage over those of this state ; as it would, we apprehend, enable the former, under a stable government, to famish cot- ton and sugar at a lower price than we can do. When giving pubhcity to ^uch reflections as the subject seems to suggest, we protest against being considered advocates for any violation of the laws of our country. Every good citizen must respect those laws, notwithstanding we may deem them likely to be evaded by men less scrupulous."
That both the south and north swarm with men ' less scrupulous,' every one knows.
The Norfolk (Va.; Beacon, of June 8, 1837, has the following :
" Slave.Trade. — Eight African negroes have been taken into custody, at Apalaehicola, by the U. S. Deputy Marshal, alleged to have been im- ported from Cuba, on board the schooner Empe- ror, Captain Cox. Indictments for piracy, under the acts for the suppression of the slave trade, have been found against Captain Cox, and other parties implicated. The negroes were bought in Cuba by a Frenchman named Malherbe, fonner- ly a resident of Tallahassee, who was drowned soon after the arrival of the schooner."
The New Orleans Courier of 15th February, 1839, has these remarks :
" It is believed that African negroes have been repeatedly introduced into the United States. The number and the proximity of the Florida ports to the island of Cuba, make it no difficult matter ; nor is our extended frontier on the Sa- bine and Red rivers, at all unfavorable to the smuggler. Human laws have, in all countries
The following testimony of Rev. Horace MouLTON, now a minister of the Methodist Epis copal Church, in Marlborough, Mass. who re sided some years in Georgia, reveals some of the secrets of the slave-smugglers, and the connivance of the Georgia authorities at their doings. It is contained in a letter dated February 24, 1839.
"The foreign slave-trade was carried on to some considerable extent when I was at the south, notwithstanding a law had been made some ten years previous to this, making this traffic piracy on the high seas. I was somewhat ac- quainted with the secrets of this traffic, and, I suppose, I might have engaged in it, had I so de- sired. Were you to visit all the plantations in South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Missis- sippi, I think you would be convinced that the horrors of the traffic in human flesh have not yet ceased. I was surprised to find so many that could not speak English among the slaves, until the mystery was explained. This was done, when I learned that slave.cargoes were landed on the coast of Florida, not a thousand miles from St. Augustine. They could, and can still, in ray opinion, be landed as safely on this coast as in any port of this continent. You can imagine for yourself how easy it was to carry on the traffic between this place and the West Indies. When landed on the coast of Florida, it is an easy mat- ter to distribute them throughout the more south em states. The law which makes it piracy to traffic in the foreign slave trade is a dead letter ;
140
Objections Considered— Ra^id Increase of Slavfes.
and I doubt not it has been so in the more south- ern states ever since it was enacted. For you can perceive at once, that interested men, who believe the colored man is so much better off here than he possibly can be m Africa, will not hesi- tate to kidnap "the blacks whenever an opportu- nity presents itself. I will notice one fact that came under my own observation, which will con- vince you that the horrors of the foreign slave- trade have not yet ceased among our southern gentry. It is as follows. A slave ship, which I have reason to believe was employed by southern men, came near the port of Savannah with about FIVE HUNDRED SLAVES, from Guinea and Congo. It was said that the ship was driven there by con- trary winds; and the crew, pretending to be short of provisions, run the ship into a hj place, near the shore, between Tybce Light and Darien, to recruit their stores. Well, as Providence would have it, the revenue cutter, at that time taking a trip along the coast, fell in with this slave ship, took her as a prize, and brought her up into the port of Savannah. The cargo of human chattels was unloaded, and the captives were placed m an old barracks, in the fort of Savannah, under the protection of the city authorities, they pre- tending that they should return them all to their native countrv again, as soon as a convenient opportunity presented itself. The ship's crew of course were arrested, and confined in jail. Now for the sequel of this history. About one third part of the negroes died in a few weeks after they were landed, in seasoning, so called, or in be- coming acclimated — or, as I should think, a dis- temper broke out among them, and they died hke the Israelites, when smitten with the plague. Those who did not die in seasoning, must be hired out a little while, to be sure, as the city au- thorities could not afford to keep them on expense doing nothinsr. As it happened, the man in whose employ I was when the cargo of human beings arrived, hired some twenty or thirty of them, and put them under my care. They con- tinued with me mitil the sickly season drove me off to the north. I soon returned, but could not hear a word about the crew of pirates. They had something like a mock trial, as I should thmk, for no one, as I ever learned, was condemned, fined, or censured. But where were the poor captives, who were going to be returned to Afri- ca by the city authorities, as soon as they could make it convenient? Oh, forsooth, those of whom I spoke, being under my care, were tug- ging away for the same man ; the remainder were scattered about among different planters. When I returned to the north again, the next year, the city authorities had not, down to that time, made' it convenient to return these poor victims. The fact is, they belonged there ; and, in my opinion, they were designed to be landed near by the place where the revenue cutter seized them. Probably those very planters for whom they were originally designed received them ; and still there was a pretence kept up that they would be returned to Africa. This must have been done, that the consciences of those might be quieted, who were looking for justice to be ad- ministered to these poor captives. It is easy for a company of slaveholders, who desire to traffic in human flesh, to fit out a vessel, under Spanish
colors, and then go prowhng about the African coast for the victims of their lusts. If all the facts with relation to the African slave-trade, now secretly carried on at the south, could be disclosed, the people of the free states would be filled with amazement."
It is plain, from the nature of this trade, and the circumstances under which it is carried on, that the number of slaves imported would be likely to be estimated far below the truth. There can be httle doubt that the estimate of Mr. Wright, of Maryland, (fifteen thousand annu- ally,) is some thousands too small. But even according to his estimate, the African slave-trade
adds ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND SLAVES TO
EACH United States' census. These are in the prime of life, and their children would swell the slave population many thousands annually — thus making a great addition to each census.
4. It is a notorious fact, that large numbers of free colored persons are kidnapped every year in the free states, taken to the south, and sold as slaves.
Hon. George M. Stroud, Judge of the Crim- inal Court of Philadelphia, in his sketch of the slave laws, speaking of the kidnapping of free colored persons in the northern states, says—
" Remote as is the city of Philadelphia from, those slaveholding states in which the introduc- tion of slaves from places within the territory of the United States is freely permitted, and where also the market is tempting, it has been ascertain, ed, that more than thirty free colored per- sons, MOSTLY children, HAVE BEEN KIDNAPPED HERE, AND CARRIED AWAY, WITHIN THE LAST TWO
YEARS. Five of these, through the kind interpo- sition of several humane gentlemen, have been restored to their friends, though not svithout great expense and difficulty; the others are still retain- ed in bondage, and if rescued at all, it must be by sending white witnesses a journey of more than a thousand miles. The costs attendant upon law- suits, under such circumstances, will probably fall but little short of the estimated value, as slaves, of the individuals kidnapped."
The following is an extract from Mrs. Child's Appeal, pp. 64-6.
" I know the names of four colored citizens of Massachusetts, who went to Georgia on board a vessel, were seized under the laws of that state, and sold as slaves. They have sent the most earnest exhortations to their families and friends, to do something for their rehef ; but the attendant expenses require more money than the friends of negroes are apt to have, and the poor fellows, as yet, remain unassisted.
" A New York paper, of November, 1829, con tains the following caution.
"Beware of Kidnappers:— It is well under- stood that there is at present in this city, a gang of kidnappers, busily engaged in their vocation, of stealing colored children for the southern mar- I ket. It is believed that three or four have been
Oljections Considered — Kidnapping.
141
stolen within as many days. There are suspi- cions of a foul nature connected with some who servo the pohce in subordinate capacities. It is liinted that tlicre may be those in some authority, not altogether ignorant of these diabolical prac- tices. Let the public be on their guard ! It is still fresh in the memories of all, that a cargo, or rather drove of negroes, was made up from this city and Philadelphia, about the time that the emancipation of all the negroes in this state took place, under our present constitution, and were taken through Virginia, the Carolinas, and Ten- nessee, and disposed of in the state of Mississippi. Some of those who were taken from Philadelphia ^were persons of intelligence ; and after they had been driven through the country in chains, and disposed of by sale on the Mississippi, wrote back to their friends, and were rescued from bondage. The persons who were guilty of this abominable transaction are known, and now reside in North Carolina. They may very probably be engaged in similar enterprizes at the present time — at least there is reason to believe, that the system cf kidnapping free persons of color from the northern cities, has been carried on more extensively than the public are generally aware of."
George Bradburn, Esq. of Nantucket, Mass. a member of the Legislature of that state, at its last session, made a report to that body, March 6, 1839, ' On the deliverance of citizens liable to be sold as slaves.' That report contains the fol- - lowing facts and testimony.
" The following facts are a few out of a vast MULTITUDE, to wliicli the attention of the under- signed has been directed.
" On the 27th of February last, the undersigned had an interview with the Rev. Samuel Snowden, a respectable and intelligent clergyman of the city of Boston. This gentleman stated, and he is now ready to make oath, that during the last six years, he has himself, by the aid of various benevolent individuals, procured the deliverance from jail of six citizens of Massachusetts, who had been arrested and imprisoned as runaway slaves, and who, but for his timely interposition, would have been sold into perpetual bondage. The names and the places of imprisonment of those persons, as stated by Mr. S. were as follows :
"James Hight, imprisoned at Mobile ; William
,, Adams, at Norfolk; William Holmes, also at
Norfollv ; James Oxford, at Wilmington ; James
Smith, at Baton Rouge ; John Tidd, at New
Orleans.
" In 1836, Mary Smith, a native of this state, returning from New Orleans, whither she had been in the capacity of a servant, was cast upon the shores of North Carolina. She was there seized and sold as a slave. Information of the fact reached her friends at Boston. Those friends made an effort to obtain her liberation. They invoked the assistance of the Governor of this Commonwealth. A correspondence ensued be- tween His Excellency and the Governor of North Carolina : copies of which were offered for the inspection of your committee. Soon afterwards, by permission of the authorities of North Caroli- na, ' Mary Smith' returned to Boston. But it turned out, that this was not the Mary Smith,
whom our w^orthy Governor, and other excellent individuals of Boston, had taken so unwearied pains to redeem from slavery. It was another woman, of the same name, who was also a native of Massachusetts, and had been seized in North Carolina as a runaway slave. The Mary Smith has not yet been heard of. If alive, she is now, in all probability, wearing the chains of slavery. " About a year and a half since, sevei-al citizens of different free states were rescued from slavery, at New Orleans, by the direct personal efforts of an acquaintance of the undersigned. The be. nevolent individual alluded to is Jacob Barker, Esq. a name not unknown to the commercial world. Mr. Barker is a resident of New Or- leans. A statement of the cases in reference is contained in a letter addressed by him to the Hon. Samuel H. Jenks, of Nantucket."
The letter of Mr. Barker, referred to in this report to the Legislature of Massachusetts, bears date August 19, 1837. The following are extracts from it.
"A free man, belonging to Baltimore, by the name of Ephraim Larkin, who came here cook of the William Tell, was arrested and thrown into prison a few weeks since, and sent in chains to work on the road. I heard of it, and with diffi- culty found him ; and after the most diligent and active exertions, got him released — in effectiaig which, I traveled in the heat of the day, ther- mometer ranging in the shade from 94 to 100, more than twenty times to and fi'om prison, the place of his labor, and the different courts, a dis- tance of near three miles from my residence ; and after I had established his freedom, had to pay for his arrest, maintenance, and the advertising him as a runaway slave, f$29 89, as per copy of bill herewith — the allowance for work not equal- ling the expenses, the amount augments with every day of confinement.
" In pursuing the cook of the William Tell, I found three other free men, confined in the same prison ; one belonged also to Baltimore, by the name of Leaven Dogerty : he was also released, on my paying $'28 expenses ; one was a descend- ant of the Indians who once inhabited Nantucket — his name is Eral Lonnon. Lonnon had been six weeks in prison ; he was released without diffi- culty, on my paying .^20 38 expenses — and no one seemed to know why he had been confined or arrested, as the law does not presume persons of mixed blood to be slaves. But for the others, I had great difficulty in procuring what was con- sidered competent witnesses to prove them free. No complaint of improper conduct had been made against either of them. At one time, the Recorder said the witness must be white ; at an- other, that one respectable witness was insuffi- cient ; at another, that a person who had been (improperly) confined and released, was not a competent witness, &c. &c. Lonnon has been employed in the South Sea fishery from Nan- tucket and New Bedford, nearly all his life ; has sailed on those voyages in the ships Eagle, Mary- land, Gideon, Triton, and Samuel. He was bom at Marshpee, Plymouth [Barnstable] coun- ty, Mass. and prefers to encounter the leviathan of the deep, rather than the turnkeys of New Orleans.
142
Objections Considered — Kidnapping.
" The other was born in St. Johns, Nova Sco- tia, and bears the name of Wilham Smith, a seaman by profession.
"Immediately after these men were released, two others were arrested. They attempted to escape, and being pursued, ran for the river, in the vain hope of being able to swim across the Mississippi, a distance of a mile, with a current of four knots. One soon gave out, and made for a boat which had been despatched for their re- covery, and was saved ; the other being a better swimmer, continued on until much exhausted, then also made for the boat — it was too late ; he sank before the boat could reach him, and was drowned. They claimed to be freemen.
"On Sunday" last I was called to the prison of the Municipality in which I reside, to serve on an inquest on the body of a drowned man. There I saw one other free man confined, by the name of Henry Tier, a yellow man, born in New York, and formerly in my employ. He had been con- fined as a supposed runaway, near six months, without a particle of testimony ; although from his color, the laws of Louisiana presume him to be free. I applied immediately for his release, which was promptly granted. At first, expenses simi- lar to those exacted in the third Municipahty were required ; but on my demonstrating to the recorder that the law imposed no such burthen on free men, he was released without any charge whatever. How free men can obtain satisfac- tion for having been thus wrongfully imprisoned, and made to work in chains on the highway, is not for me to decide. I apprehend no satisfac- tion can be had without more active friends, willing to espouse their cause, than can be found m this" quarter. Therefore I repeat, that no per- son of color should come here without a certifi- cate of freedom from the governor of the state to which he belongs.
" Very respectfully, your assured friend,
''Jacob Barker."
» N". B. — Since writing the preceding, I have procured the release of another free man from the prison of the third Municipality, on the pay- ment of ^39 65, as per bill, copy herewith. His .name is William Lockman— he was born in New Jersey, of free parents, and resides at Philadel- ))hia. A greater sum was required which was re. duced by the allowance of his maintenance (writ- ten labor,) while at work on the road, which the law requires the Blunicipality to pay ; but it had not before been so expounded in the third Muni- cipality. I hope to get it back in the case of the other three. The allowance for labor, in addition to their maintenance, is twenty-five cents per day ; but they require those illiterate men to ad- vance the whole before they can leave the prison, and then to take a certificate for their labor, and go for it to another department — to collect which, is ten times more trouble than the money when received is worth. While these free men, with- out having committed any fault, were compelled to work in chains, on the roads, in the burning sun, for 25 cents per day, and pay in advance 18 3-4 cents per day for maintenance, doctor's, and other bills, and not able to work half their time, I paid others, working on ship-board, in sight, two dollars per day. J. B."
The preceding letter of Mr. Barker, furnishes grounds for the belief, that hundreds, if not thou- sands of free colored persons, from the different states of this Union, both slave and free from the West Indies, South America, Mexico, and the British possessions in North America, and from other parts of the world, are reduced to slaverj' every year in our slave states. If a single indi- vidual, in the com'se of a few days, accideritally discovered six colored free men, working in irons, and soon to be sold as slaves, in a single southern city, is it not fair to infer, that in all the slave ^ states,, there must be multitudes of such persons, now in slavery, and that this number is rapidly increasing, by ceaseless accessions ?
The letter of Mr. Barker is valuable, also, as a graphic delineation of the ' public opinion' of the south. The great difficulty with which the re- lease of these free men was procured, notwith- standing the personal efforts of Mr. Jacob Barker, who is a gentleman of influence, and has, we believe, been an alderman of New Or- leans, reveals a 'public opinion,' insensible as adamant to the liberty of colored men.
It would be easy to fill scores of pages with de- tails similar to the preceding. We have furnish- ed enough, however, to show, that, in all proba. bility, each United States' census of the slave population, is increased by the addition to it of '•■ thousands of free colored persons, kidnapped and sold as slaves.
5th. To argue that the rapid multiplication of any class in the community, is proof that sucii a class is well-clothed, well-housed, abundantly fed, and very comforfaile, is as absurd as to argue that those who have feto children, must, of course, be ill-clothed, ill.houscd, badly lodged, overworked, ill-fed, &c. &c. True, privations and inflictions may be carried to such an extent as to occasion a fearful diminishment of popula tion. That was the case generally with the slave population in the West Indies, and, as has been shown, is true of certain portions of the southern states. But the fact that such an effect > is not produced, does not prove that the slaves do not experience great privations and severe inflic- tions. They may suffer much hardship, and great cruelties, without experiencing so great a derangement of the vita.l functions as to prevent child-bearing. The Israelites multiplied with astonishing rapidity, under the task-masters and - burdens of Egypt. Does this falsify the declara- tions of Scripture, that ' they sighed by reason of their bondage,' and that the Eg}T)tians 'made them serve with rigor,' and made ' their lives bitter with hard bondage.' ' I have seen,' said God, ' their afflictions. I have heard their groan ings,' &c. The history of the human race shows, that great privations and much suffering may be
Ohjeclions Considered — Public Opinion.
143
experienced, ■without materially checking the rapid increase of population.
Besides, if we should give to the objection all it claims, it would merely prove, that the female skves, or rather a portion of them, are in a com- fortable condition ; and that, so far as the abso- lute necessities of life are concerned, the females of child-hearing age, in Delaware, Maryland, northern, western, and middle Virginia, the upper
parts of Kentucky and Missouri, and among tho mountains of cast Tennessee and western North Carolina, are in general tolerably well supplied. The same remark, with some qualifications, may- be made of the slaves generally, in those parts of the country where the people are slaveholders, mainly, that they may enjoy the privilege and profit of being slave-breeders.
Objection VIII.— ' PUBLIC OPINION IS A PROTECTION TO THE SLAVE;
AxswER. It was public opinion that iiiade man a slave. In a republican government the people make the laws, and those laws are merely public opinio.! in legal forms. We repeat it, — public opinion made them slaves, and keeps them slaves ; in other words, it sunk them from men to chattels, and now, forsooth, this same public opinion will see to it, that these chnttels are treated like vien I
By looking a little into this matter, and finding out how this ' public opinion' (law) protects the slaves in some particulars, we can judge of the amount of it? protection in others. 1. It protects the slaves from robbery, by declaring that those who robbed tlieir mothers may rob them and their children, " All negroes, mulatoes, or mestizoes who now are, or shall hereafter be in this province, and all their ofrspring, are hereby declared to be, and shall remain, forever, hereafter, absolute slaves, and shall follow th<3 condition of the mo- ther."— Law of So'ith Carolina, 2 Brevard's Di- gest, 229. Others of the slave states have similar laws.
2. It protects their persons, by giving their master a right to flog, wound, and beat them v/hen he pleases. See Devereaux's North Carolina Re- ports, 263. — Case of the State vs. Mann, 1829; in which the Supreme Court decided, that a master who shot at a female slave and wo'mded her, be- cause she got loose from him when he was flog- ging her, and started to run from him, had violated 710 law, AND COULD NOT BE INDICTED. It has been decided by the highest courts of the slave states generally, that assault and battery upon a slave i-s not indictable as a criminal oiFence.
The following decision on this point was made by the Supreme Court of South Carolina in the case of the State vs. Cheetwood, 2 Hiirs Re. ports, 459.
Protection of slaves. — " The criminal ofienceof assault and battery cannot, at common law, le committed on the person of a slave. For, notwith. standing for some purposes a slave is regarded in law as a person, yet generally he is a mere chattel personal, and his right of personal protection be- longs to his master, who can maintain an action of trespass for the battery of his slave.
'' There can be therefore no offence against the
j state for a mere beating of a slave, unaccompa- nied by any circumstances of cruelty, or an at. I tempt to kill and murder. The peace of the I state is not thereby broken ; for a slave is not generally regarded as legally capable of being wilhin the peace of the state. He is not a citizen, and is not in that character entitled to her protection."
This 'public opinion' protects the persons of the slaves by depriving them of Jury trial ;* their consciences, by forbidding them to assemble for worship, unless their oppressors are present ;t their characters, by branding them as liars, in de. nying them their oath in law ;t their modesty, by leaving their master to clothe, or let them go na- ked, as he pleases :§ and their health, by leaving him to feed or starve them, to work them, wet or dry, with or without sleep, to lodge them, with or v/ithout covering, as the whim takes him ,iJ and their liberty, marriage relations, parental au- thority, and filial obligations, by annihilating the whole. T This is the protection which ' public OFiNioN,' in the form of laic, affords to the slaves; this is the chivalrous knight, always in stirrups, with lance in rest, to champion the cause of the slaves.
Public opinion, protection to the slave ! Brazen effrontery, h3'pocrisy, and falsehood ! We have, in the laws cited and referred to above, the for mal testimony of the Legislatures of the slave states, that, ' public opinion' does pertinaciously refuse to protect the slaves ; not onl}' so, but that it does itself persecute and plunder them all : that it originally planned, and now presides over, sanc- tions, executes and perpetuates the whole system of robbery, torture, and outrage under which they groan.
In all the slave states, this ' public opinion' has
* Law of South Carolina. James' Digest, 392-3. Law of Louisiana. Martin's Digest, 042. Law of Virginia. Eev, Code, 429.
t Miss. Rev. Code, 390. Similar laws exist in the slave states generally.
t " A slave cannot be a witness against a white person, either in a civil or criminal cause." Stroud's Sltetch of the Laws of Slaver}-, 65.
^ Stroud's Sketch of the Slave Laws, 132.
0 Stroud's Sketch, 26—32.
IT Stroud's Sketch, 22—24.
144
Objections Considered — Public Opinion.
taken away from the slave his liberty; it has robbed him of his right to his own body, of his right to improve his mind, of his right to read the Bible, of his right to worship God according to his conscience, of his right to receive and enjoy what he earns, of his right to live with his wife and children, of his right to better his condition, of his right to eat when he is hungry, to rest when he is tired, to sleep when he needs it, and to cover his nakedness with clothing : this ' pub- lic opinion' makes the slave a prisoner for hfe on the plantation, except when his jailor pleases to let him out with a ' pass,' or sells him, and trans. fers him in irons to another jail-j-ard : this ' pub. lie opinion' traverses the country, buying up men, women, children — chaining them in coffles, and driving them forever from their nearest friends ; it sets tliem on the auction table, to be handled, scrutinized, knocked off to the highest bidder; it proclaims that they shall not have their liberty ; and, if their masters give it them, ' public opinion' seizes and throws them back into slavery. This same ' public opinion' has formally attached the following legal penalties to the following acts of slaves.
If more than seven slaves are found togetJier in any road, without a white person, twenty lashes a piece ; for visiting a plantation without a writ. ten pass, ten lashes ; for letting loose a boat from %vhere it is made fast, thirty-nine lashes for the first offence; and for the second, 'shall have cut off from his head one ear ;' for keeping or carry- ing a club, thirty.nine lashes ; for having any ar- ticle for sale, without a ticket from his master, ten lashes; for traveling in any other than 'the most usual and accustomed road,' when going alone to any place, forty lashes; for traveling in the night, without a pzss, forty lashes; for being found in another person's negro-quarters, forty lashes; for hunting with dogs in the woods, thirty lashes; for being on horseback wdthout the written permission of his master, twenty five lash- es; for riding or going abroad in the night, or riding horses in the day time, without leave, a slave may be whipped, cropped, or branded in the cheek with the letter R, or otherwise punished, not extending to life, or so as to render him unfit for labor. The laws referred to may be found by consulting 2 Brevard's Digest, 228, 243, 246 ; Haywood's Manual, 78, chap. 13, pp. 518, 529 ; 1 Virginia Revised Code, 722-3 ; Prince's Digest, 454; 2 Missouri Laws, 741; Mississippi Revised Code, 371. Laws similar to these exist throughout the southern slave code. Extracts enough to fill a volume might be made from these laws, showing that the protection which ' public opinion' grants to the slaves, is hunger, naked, ness, terror, bereavements, robbery, imprison. ment, the stocks, iron collars, hunting and wor-
rying them with dogs and guns, mutilating their bodies, and murdering them.
A few specimens of the laws and the judi- cial decisions on them, will show what is th? state of 'public opinion' among slaveholders to- wards their slaves. Let the following suffice.— ' Any person may lawfully kill a slave, who hts been outlawed for running away and lurking in swamps, &c.' — Law of North Carolina : Juc^ge Stroud's Sketch of the Slave Laws, 103 ; Hiy- wood's Manual, 524. ' A slave endeavoring to entice another slave to runaway, if provisicms, &:-c. be prepared for the purpose of aiding in such running away, shall be punished with deatu. And a slave who shall aid the slave so endeavoring to entice another slave to run away, shall also suffer DEATH.' — Law of South Carolina ; Stroud's Sketch of Slave Laws, 103-4 ; 2 Brevard's Digest, 233, 244. Another law of South Carolina provides that if a slave shall, when absent from the plan- tation, refuse to be examined by 'any wiite per- son,' (no matter how crazy or drank,) 'such white person may seize and chastise him ; and if the slave shall strike such white person, such slave maybe lawfully killed.' — 2 Brevard's Digest, 231 ,
The following is a law of Georgia. ' If any slave shall presume to strike any whitJ person, such slave shall, upon trial and conviction before the justice or justices, suffer such punishment for the first offence as they shall think fit, not extending to life or limb ; and for the .^econd offence, DEATH.' — Prince's Digest, 450. The same law exists in South Carolina, with this difference, that death is made the punishment for the third offence. In both states, tiie law contains this remarkable proviso ; ' Provided always, that such strikings be not done by the command and in the defence of the person or property of the owner, or other person liaving tiie government of such slave, in which case the slave shall be wholly ex. cused.' According to this law, if a slave, by the direction of Yus overseer, strike a white man who is beating ss,id overseer's dog, ' the slave shall be wholly excused ;' but if the white man has rushed upon the slave himself, instead of the dog, and is fur.'ouslv boating him, if the slave strike back but a single blow, the legal penalty is 'any punishrent not extending to life or limb ;' and if the tortured slave has a second onset made upon him, and, after suffering all but death, again strike back in self-defence, the law kills him for it. So, if a female slave, in obedience to her mistress, and in defence of ' her property,' strike a white man who is kicking her mistress' pet kitten, she ' shall be wholly excused,' saith the considerate law ; but if the unprotected girl, when beaten and kicked herself, raise her hand against her brutal assailant, the law condemns her to ' any punishment, not extending to life or
Oljections Considered — Public Opinion.
145
limb ;' and if a wretch assail licr ag-ain, and at- tempt to violate her cliastity, and the trembling girl, in her anguish and terror, instinctively raise her hand against him in self-defence, she shall, saith the law, ' suffer deai u.'
Reader, this diabohcal law is the ' public opin- ion' of Georgia and South Carolina toward the slaves. This is the vaunted ' protection' afforded Ihem by their ' high-souled chivalry.' To show that the ' public opinion' of the slave states far more effectually protects the property of the mas- ter than the person of the slave, the reader is re- ferred to two laws of Louisiana, passed in 1819. The one attaches a penalty ' not exceeding one thousand dollars,' and ' imprisonment not exceed- ing two years,' to the crime of ' cutting or break- ing any iron chain or collar,' which any master of slaves has used to prevent their running away ; the other, a penalty ' not exceeding five hundred dollars,' to ' wilfully cutting out the tongue, put- ting out the eye, cnielly burning, or depriving any slave of any limb.' Look at it — the most horrible dismemberment conceivable cannot be punished by a fino of more than five hundred dollars. The law expressly fixes that, as the utmost limit, and it may not be half that sum ; not a single moment's imprisonment stays the wretch in his career, and the next hour he may cut out another slave's tongue, or burn his hand off. But let the same man break a chain put upon a slave, to keep him from running away, and, besides paying double the penalty that could be exacted from him for cutting off a slave's leg, the law imprisons him not exceeding two years .'
Tliis law reveals the heart of slaveholders to- wards their slaves, their diabolical indifference tJ the most excruciating and protracted tormpits inflicted on them by ' any person ;' it reveahj too, the relative pTolection afforded by 'pubj'i opin- ion' to the person of the slave, in appa-'dng con- trast with the vastly surer protect^n v/hich it affords to the master's property in -ae slave. The wretch who cuts out the tong^^e, tears out the eyes, shoots off the arms, or b^rns off the feet of a slave, over a slow fire, catnot legally be fined more than five hundred dollars ; but if he should in pity loose a chain from his galled neck, placed there by the master to keep him from escaping, and thus put his property in some jeopardy, he may be fined one thousand dollars, and thrust into a dungeon for two years ! and this, be it remem. bered, not for stealing the slave from the master, nor for enticing, or even advising him to run away, or giving him any information how he can effect his escape; but merely, because, touched with sympathy for the bleeding victim, as he sees the rough iron chafe the torn fles-h at every turn, he removes it ; — and, as escape without this incumbrance would be easier than with it, the
19
master's propcrt}' in the slave is put at some risk. For having caused this slight risk, the law provides a punishment — fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, and imprisonment not exceed- ing two years. We say ' slight rislc,' because tho slave may not be disposed to encounter the dan- gers, and hunger, and other sufferings of the woods, and the certainty of terrible inflictions if caught; and if he should attempt it, the risk of losing him is small. An advertisement of five lines will set the whole community howling on his track ; and the trembling and famished fugi. tivc is soon scented out in his retreat, and drag- ged back and delivered over to his tormentors.
The preceding law is another illustration of the ' protection' afforded to the limbs and mem- bers of slaves, by ' public opinion' among slave- holders.
Here follow two other illustraiions of the bru- tal indifference of ' public opinii)n' to the torments of the slave, v/hile it is full of zeal to compensate the master, if any one disables his slave so as to lessen his market value. The first is a law of South Carolina. It povides, that if a slave, en- gaged in his ownc^s service, be attacked by a person 'not bavin,;' sufiicient cause for so doing,' and if the slave jhall be ' maimed or disabled' by him, so that tte owner suffers a loss from his in- ability to jtbor, the person maiming him shall pay for hi-* ' lost time,' and ' also the charges for the cujrf of the slave !' This Vandal law does not ddgn to take the least notice of the anguish of t.'ie ' maimed' slave, made, perhaps, a groaninp c'ipple for life ; the horrible wrong and injurj'^ done to him, is passed over in utter silence. It is thus declared to be not a criminal act. But the pecuniary interests of the master are not to be thus neglected by ' public opinion.' Oh no ! its tender bowels run over with sympathy at the master's injury in the ' lost time' of his slave, and it carefully provides that he shall have pay for the whole of it.— See 2 Brevard's Digest, 231, 2. A law similar to the above has been passed in Louisiana, which contains an additional provision for the benefit of the master — ordaining, that ' if the slave' (thus maiined and disabled,) ' be forever rendered unable to work,' the person maiming, shall pay the master the appraised value of the slave before the injury, and shall, in addition, take the slave, and maintain him during life,' Thus ' public opinion' transfers the helpless crip- ple from the hand of his master, who, as he has always had the benefit of his services, might pos- sibly feel sopie tenderness for him, and puts him in the sole power of the wretch who has disabled him for life — protecting the victim from the fury of his tormentor, by putting him into his hands ! What but butchery by piecemeal can, under such circumstances, be expected from a man brutal
146
Ohjections Considered — Public Opinion.
enough at first to 'maim' and 'disable' him, and now exasperated by being obliged to pay his lull value to the master, and to have, in addition, the daily care and expense of his maintenance. Since writing the above, we have seen the fol- lowing judicial decision, in the case ofJourdan, vs. Patton — 5 Martin's Louisiana Reports, 615. A slave of the plaintiff had been deprived of his only eye, and thus rendered useless, on which ac- count the court adjudged that the defendant should pa}: the plaintiff his full value. The case went up, by appeal, to the Supreme court. Judge Mathews, in his decision said, that ' when the defendant had paid the sum decreed, the slave ought to be placed in his possession,' — adding, that ' the judgment making full compensation to the owner operates a change of property.^ He adds, ' The principle of humanity which would lead us to suppose, that the mistress whom he had long served, vould treat her miserable blind slave with more kii^ncss than the defendant to whom the judgment aught to transfer him, can- not BE TAKEN INTO CONSIDERATION !' The full
compensation of the misti-»sB for the loss of the services of the slave, is worthy of all ' considera- tion,' even to the uttermost farthing; 'public opinion ' is omnipotent for het protection ; but when the food, clothing, shelter, hie and lodging, medicine and nurser}^ comfort and entire condi- tion and treatment of her poor bind felave, throughout his dreary pilgrimage, is the question — ah ! that, says the mouth-piece of the la^x, and the representative of ' public opinion,' ' ca\^ot
BE TAKEN INTO CONSIDERATION.' Protection fef
slaves by ' public opinion ' among slaveholders 1 1 1 The foregoing illustrations of southern ' public opinion,' from the laws made by it and embody- ing it, are sufficient to show, that, so far from being an efficient protection to the slaves, it is their deadliest foe, persecutor and tormentor.
But here we shall probably be met by the legal lore of some ' Justice Shallow,' instructing us that the lije of the slave is fully protected by law, however unprotected he may be in other respects. This assertion we meet with a point blank denial. The law docs not, in reality, protect the life of the slave. But even if the letter of the law would fully protect the life of the slave, ' pubhc opinion ' in the slave states would make it a dead letter. The letter of the law would have been all-sufficient for the protection of the lives of the miserable gamblers in Vicksburg, and other places in Mississippi, from the rage of tliose whose mo- ney they had won ; but ' gentlemen of property and standing ' laughed the law to scorn, rushed to the gamblers' house, put ropes round their necks, dragged them through the streets, hanged tliem in the public square, and thus saved the sum they had not yet paid. Thousands witness.
ed this wholesale murder, yet of the scores of legal officers present not a soul raised a finger to prevent it, the whole city consented to it, and thus aided and abetted it. How many hundreds of them helped to commit the murders, iDith their ovm hands, does not appear, but not one of them has been indicted for it, and no one made the, least effort to bring them to trial. Thus, up to the present hour, the blood of those murdered men rests on that whole city, and it will continue to be a CITY oy murderers, so long as its citizens agree together to shield those felons from punish, ment ; and they do thus agree together so long as they encourage each other in refusing to bring them to justice. Now, the laws of Mississippi were not in fault that those men were murdered ; nor are they now in fault, that their murderers are not punished ; the laws demand it, but the people of Mississippi, the legal officers, the grand juries and legislature of the state, with one consent agree, that the law shall he a dead letter, and thus the whole state assumes the guilt of those murders, and in bravado, flourishes her reeking hands in the face of the world.*
The letter of the law on the statute book is one thing, the practice of the community under that law often a totally different thing. Each of the slave states has laws providing that the life of no white man shall be taken without his having first been indicted by a grand jury, allowed an impar- tial trial by a petit jury, with the right of counsel, cross-examination of witnesses, &c. ; but who does not know that if Arthur Tappan were pointed out in the streets of New Orleans, Mo- bile, Savannah, Charleston, Natchez, or St Louis, f-e would be torn in pieces by the citizens with ont accord, and that if any one should attempt to bring his murderers to punishment, he would be torn iu pieces also. The editors of southera- newspapers openly vaunt, that every abolitionist who sets fcr,t in their soil, shall, if he be disco- vered, be huhg at once, without judge or jury. What mockery to qiiote the letter of the law in those states, to diov/ that abolitionists would have secured to then', the legal protection of an impartial trial !
Before the objector cai^ make out his case, that the life of the slave is protected by the law, he must not only show that tht words of the late
* We have just learned from Mississippi papers, that the citizens of Vicksburg are erecting a public inonument in ho- nor of Dr. H. S. Bodley, who was tlie rinj-leadtr of the Lynchers, in their attack upon their miserable \'ictims. To give to crime the cold encouragement of impunity alone, or such slight tokens of favor as a home and a sanc- tuary, is beneath the chivalry and hospitality of Mississip- pians ; so they tender it incense, an altar, and a crown of glory. Let the marble rise till it be seen from afar, a bea- con marking the spot where law lies lifeless by the hand of felons ; and murderers, with chaplets on their heads, da]ic9 and siiout upon its grave, while ' all the people say, amen.'
Objections Considered — Public Opinion.
M7
grant him such protection, but that such a state of pubhc sentiment exists as will carry out the provisions of tlie law in iJicir true spirit. Any thing short of this will hs set down as mere prat- ing by ever3' man of common sense. It lias been already abundantly shown in the preceding pages, that the public sentiment of the slaveholding states toward the slaves is diabolical. Now, if there were laws in those states, the loords of which granted to tlic life of the slave the same protection granted to that of the master, what would they avail ? Acts constitute protection ; and is tliat public sentiment which makes the slave ' property,' and perpetrates hourly robbery and batteries upon him, so penetrated with a sense of the sacrcdness of his right to life, that it will protect it at all hazards, and drag to the gal. lows his OWNER, if lie take the life of his own property ? If it be asked, why the penalty for killing a slave is not a mere_^«e then, if his life is not really regarded as sacred by public sentiment — we answer, that formerly in most, if not in all the slave states, the murder of a slave was pun- ished by a mere fine. This was the case in South Carolina till a few years since. Yes, as late as 1821, in the state of South Carolina, which boasts of its chivalry and honor, at least as loudly as any state in the Union, a slaveholder might butcher his slave in the most deliberate manner — with the most barbarous and protracted torments, and yot not be subjected to a single hour's imprisonment — ])ay his fine, stride out of the court and kill another — pay his fine again and butcher anotter, and so long as he paid to the state, cash down, its own assessment of damages, without putt'ng it to the trouble of prosecuting for it, ke might strut ' a gentleman.' — See 2 Brevard's Digest, 241.
The reason assigned by che legislature for en- acting a law which published the wilful murder of a human being by s.fine, was that ' cruelty is HIGHLY UNBECOMING,' and 'ODIOUS.' It was doubti- less the same reason that induced the legislature in 1821, to make a show of giving 7nore protec- tion to the iJ/e of the slave. Their fathers, when they gave some protection, did it because the time had cane when, not to do it would make them * oDioPs.' So the legislature of 1821 made a show of giving still gi-eater protection, because, not to do it would make them ' odious.' Fitly did they wear the mantles of their ascending fathers ! In giving to the life of a slave the mis- erable protection of a fine, their fathers did not even pretend to do it out of any regard to the sa- credness of his life as a human being, but merely because cruelty is 'unbecoming' and 'odious.' The legislature of 1821 nominally increased this protection ; not that they cared more for the slave's rights, or for the inviolabity of his life as a human being, but the civilized world had ad-
vanced since the date of the first law. The slave-trade which was then honorable merchan- dise, and plied by lords, governors, judges, and doctors of divinity, raising them to immense wealth, had grown 'unbecoming,' and only raised its votaries by a rope to the yard arm ; besides this, the barbarity of the slave codes throughout the world was fast becoming ' odious ' to civilized nations, and slaveholders found that the only con- ditions on which they could prevent themselves from being thrust out of the pale of civilization, was to meliorate the iron rigor of their slave code, and thus seem to secure to their slaves some pro- tection. Further, the northern states had passed laws for the al)oIition of slavery — all the South American states were acting in the matter ; and Colombia and Chili passed acts of abolition that very year. In addition to all this the Missouri question had been for two years previous under discussion in Congress, in State legislatures, and in every village and stage coach ; and this law of South Carolina had been held up to execration by northern members of Congress, and in newspa- pers throughout the free states — in a word, the legislature of South Carolina found that they were becoming ' odious ;' and while in their sense of justice and humanity they did not surpass their fathers, they winced with equal sensitiveness under the sting of the world's scorn, and with equal promptitude sued for a truce by modifying the law.
The legislature of South Carolina modified an- other law at the same session. Previously, the killing of a slave ' on a sudden heat or passion, or by undue correction,' was punished by a fine of three hundred and fifty pounds. In 1821 an act was passed diminishing the fine to five hundred dollars, but authorizing an imprisonment ' not ex- ceeding six months.' Just before the American Revolution, the Legislature of North Carohna passed a law making imprisonment the penalty for the wilful and malicious murder of a slave. About twenty years after the revolution, the state found itself becoming ' odious,' as the spirit of abolition was pervading the nations. The legisla- ture, perceiving that Christendom would before long rank them with barbarians if they so cheap- ened human life, repealed the law, candidly as- signing in the preamble of the new one the rea- son for repealing the old — that it was ' disgrace- ful ' and ' degrading.' As this preamble ex- pressly recognizes the slave as ' a human crea- ture,' and as it is couched in a phraseology which indicates some sense of justice, we would gladly give the legislature credit for sincerity, and be- lieve them really touched with humane movings towards the slave, were it not for a proviso in the law clearly revealing that the show of humanity and regard for their rights, indicated by the
148
Objections Considered — Public Opinion.
words, is nothing more than a hollow pretence — I which is, slight chastisement; it is not even whip-
a hypocritical flourish to produce an impression favorable to their justice and magnanimity. Af- ter declaring that he who is ' guilty of wilfully and maliciously killing a slave, shall suffer the same punishment as if he had killed a freeman ;' the act concludes thus : ' Provided, always, this act shall not extend to the person killing a slave outlawed by virtue of any act of Assembly of this state ; or to any slave in the act of resistance to his lawful overseer, or master, or to any slave dying under their moderate correction.'' Reader, look at this proviso. 1. It gives free license to all persons to kill outlawed slaves. Well, what is an outlawed slave ? A slave who runs away, lurks in swamps, &c., and kills a hog or any other domestic animal to keep himself from starv- ing, is subject to a proclamation of outlawry ; (Haywood's Manual, 521,) and then whoever finds him may shoot him, tear him in pieces with dogs, bm-n him to death over a slow fire, or kill him by any other tortures. 2. The proviso grants full license to a master to kill his slave, if the slave resist him. The North Carolina Bench has decided that this law contemplates not only ac- tual resistance to punishment, &c., but also offer, ing to resist. (Stroud's Sketch, 37.) If, for ex- ample, a slave undergoing the process of branding should resist by pushing aside the burning stamp ; or if wrought up to frenzy by the torture of the lash, he should catch and hold it fast ; or if he break loose from his master and rim, refusing to stop at his command ; or if he refuse to be flog- ged ; or struggle to keep his clothes on while his master is trying to strip him ; if, in all these, or any one of the hundred other ways he resist, or oflfer, or threaten to resist the infliction ; or, if the master attempt the violation of the slave's wife, and the husband resist his attempts without the least effort to injure him, but merely to shield his wife from his assaults, this law does not merely permit, but it authorizes the master to murder the slave on the spot.
The brutality of these two provisos brands its authors as barbarians. But the third cause of ex- emption could not be outdone by the legislation of fiends. ' Dying under moderate correction ." MoDEUATE coirection and death — cause and efTectl ' Provided always,' says the law, ' this act shall not extend to any slave dying under moderate correction ." Here is a formal proclamation of impunity to murder — an express pledge o? acquit. tal to all slaveholders who wish to murder their slaves, a legal absolution — an indulgence granted before the commission of the crime ! Lock at the phraseology. Nothing is said of maimings, dismemberments, skull fractures, of severe bruis- ings, or lacerations, or even of floggings ; but a word is used, the common-parlance import of
ping, but ' correction.^ And as if hypocrisy and malignity were on the rack to outwit each other, even that weak word must be still farther diluted ; so 'moderate'' is added: and, to crown the cli- max, compounded of absurdity, hypocrisy, and cold-blooded murder, the legal definition of 'mo- derate correction' is covertly given ; which is, any punishment that kills the victim. All in- flictions are either moderate or immoderate; and the design of this law was manifestly to shield the murderer from conviction, hy carrying on its face the rule for its own interpretation ; thus ad- vertising, beforehand, courts and juries, that the fact of any infliction producing death, was no evi- dence that it was immoderate, and that beating a man to death came within the legal meaning of ' moderate correction !' The design of the-legis- lature of North Carolina in framing this law is manifest ; it was to produce the impression upon the world, that they had so high a sense of justice as voluntarily to grant adequate protection to the lives of their slaves. This is ostentatiously set forth in the preamble, and in the body of the law. That this was the most despicable hypocrisy, and that they had predetermined to grant no such pro- tection, notwithstanding the pains taken to get the credit of it, is fully revealed by the proviso, which was framed in such a way as to nullify the law, foT the express accommodation of slaveholding gentV.men murdering their slaves. All such find in this proviso a convenient accomplice before the fact, and a. packed jury, with a ready-made ver- dict of ' not ffuilty,' both gratuitously furnished by the govemmont '. The preceding law and pro- viso are to be fout.d in Haywood's Manual, 530 ; also in Laws of Tennessee, Act of October 23, 1791 ; and in Stroud's Sketch, 37.
Enough has been said already to show, that though the laws of the slave states profess to grant adequate protection to the life of the slave, such professions are mere empty pretence, no such pro- tection beinfr in reality afforded by them. But there is still another fact, showing t'nat all laws which profess to protect the slaves from injury by the whites are a mockery. It is this — l^at the testimony, neither of a slave nor of a free colored person, is legal testimony against a white. To this rule there is no exception in any of the slave states : and this, were there no other evidence, would be suflicient to stamp, as hypocritical, all the provisions of the codes which profess to pro- tect the slaves. Professing to grant protection, while, at the same time, it strips them of the only means by which they can make that protection available ! Injuries must be legaWj proved before they can be legally redressed : to deprive men of the power of proving their injuries, is itself the greatest of all injuries ; for it not only exposes to
Ohjections Considered — Public Opinion.
149
all, but invites them, by a virtual guarantee of impunity, and is tlius the author of all injuries. It matters not what other laws exist, professing to tlirow safeguards round the slave — this makes them blank paper. How can a slave prove out- rages perpetrated upon him by his master or over- seer, when his own testimony and that of all his fellow-slaves, his kindred, associates, and ac- quaintanccs, arc ruled out of court ? and when he is entirely in the power of those who injure him, ana when the only care necessary, on their part, is, to see that no white witness is looking on. Or- dinarily, but one white man, the overseer, is with the slaves while they are at labor ; indeed, on most plantations, to commit an outrage in the presence of a white witness would he, more diffi- cult than in their absence. He who wished to commit an illegal act upon a slave, instead of be- mg obliged to take pains and watch for an oppor- tunity to do it unobserved by a white, would find '.t difficult to do it in the presence of a white if he wished to do so. The supreme court of Louisi- ana, in their decision, in the case of Crawford vs. Cherry. 15, (Martin's La. Rep. 142; also "Law oj Slavery " 249.) where the defendant was sued for the value of a slave whom he had shot and killed, say, " The act charged here, is one rarely committed in the presence of witnesses," (whites). So in the case of the State vs. Mann, (Devereux, N. C. Rep. 263 ; and " Law of Slavery," 247 ;) in '.vhich the defendant was charged with shooting a slave girl ' belonging' to the plaintiff; the Su- preme Court of North Carolina, in their decision, speaking of the provocations of the master by the slave, and ' the consequent wrath of the master prompting him to bloody vengeance, add, ' a ven- geance generally practised with impunity, by rea- son of its privacy.''
Laws excluding the testimony of slaves and free colored persons, where a white is concerned, do not exist in all the slave states. One or two of them have no legal enactment on the subject ; but, in those, ' public opinioii' acts with the force of law, and the courts invariably reject it. This brings us back to the potency of that oft-quoted ■ public opinion,' so ready, according to our ob- jector, to do battle for the protection of the slave ! Another proof that 'public opinion,' in the slave states, plunders, tortures, and murders the slaves, instead oi protecting them, is found in the fact, that the laws of slave states inflict capital punishment on slaves for a variety of crimes, for which, if their masters commit them, the legal penalty is merely imprisonment. Judge Stroud, in his Sketch of the Laws of Slavery, says, that, by the laws of Virginia, there are ' seventy-one crimes for which slaves are capitally punished, though in none of these are whites pun shed in a manner more severe than by imprisonment in the
penitentiary.' (P. 107, where the reader will find all the crimes enumerated.) It should be added, however, that though the penalty for each of tlieso seventy. one crimes is ' death,' yet a majorHy of them are, in the words of the law, ' death with- in clergy ;' and in Virginia, clergyahle offences, though technically capital, arc not so in fact. In Mississippi, slaves are punished capitally for more than thirty crimes, for which whites are punished only by fine or imprisonment, or both. Eight of these are not recognized as crimes, either by com- mon law or by statute, when committed by whites. In South Carolina slaves arc punished capitally for nine more crimes than the whites — in Georgia, for six — and in Kentucky, for seven more than whites, &c. We surely need not de- tain the reader by comments on this monstrous inequality with which the penal codes of slave states treat slaves and their masters. When we consider that guilt is in proportion to intelligence, and that these masters have by law doomed their slaves to ignorance, and then, as they darkle and grope along their blind way, inflict penalties upon them for a variety of acts regarded as praise, worthy in whites ; killing them for crimes, when whites are only fined or imprisoned — to call such a ' public opinion' inhuman, savage, mur- derous, diabolical, would be to use tamo words, if theEnglish vocabulary could supply others of more horrible import.
But slaveholding brutality does not stop here. While punishing the slaves for crimes with vastly greater severity than it does their masters for the same crimes, and making a variety of acts crimes in law, which are right, and often duties, it per- sists in refusing to make known to the slaves that complicated and barbarous penal code which loads them with such fearful liabilities. The slave is left to get a knowledge of these laws as he can, and cases must be of constant occurrence at the south, in which slaves get their first knowledge of the existence of a law by suffering its penalty. Indeed, this is probably the way in which they commonly learn what the laws are ; for how else can the slave get a knowledge of the laws ? He cannot read — he cannot learn to read ; if he try to master the alphabet, so that he may spell out the words of the law, and thus avoid its penalties, the law shakes its terrors at him ; while, at the same time, those who made the laws refuse to make them known to those for whom they are de- signed. The memory of Caligula will blacken with execration while time lasts, because he hung up his laws so high that people could not read them, and then punished them because they did not keep them. Our slaveholders aspire to blacker infamv. Caligula was content wnth hanging up his laws y/here his subjects could see them ; and if they could not read them, they knew where
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Objecticms Considered — Public Opinion,
they were, and might get at them, if, in their zeal to learn his will, they had used the same means to get up to them that those did who hung them there. Even Caligula, wretch as he was, would have shuddered at cutting their legs off, to pre- vent their climbing to them ; . or, if they had got there, at boring their eyes out, to prevent their reading them. Our slaveholders virtually do both ; for thej^ prohibit their slaves acquiring that knowledge of letters which would enable them to read the laws ; and if, by stealth, they get it in spite of them, they prohibit them books and pa- pers, and flog them if they are caught at them. Further — Caligula merely hung his laws so high that they could not be read — our slaveholders have hung theirs so high above the slave that they cannot be seen — they are utterly out of sight, and he finds out that they are there only by the falling of the penalties on his head.* Thus the " public opinion" of slave states protects the de- fenceless slave by arming a host of legal penal- ties and setting them in ambush at every thicket along his path, to spring upon him unawares.
Stroud, in his Sketch of the Laws of Slavery, page 100, thus comments on this monstrous bar- barity.
"The hardened convict moves their sympathy, and is to be taught the laws before he is expected to obey them ;t yet the guiltless slave is subjected to an extensive system of cruel enactments, of no part of which, probably, has he ever heard."
Having already drawn so largely on the read- er's patience, in illustrating southern ' public opi- nion' by the slave laws, instead of additional illus- trations of the same point from another class of those laws, as was our design, we will group toge- ther a few particulars, which the reader can take in at a glance, showing that the "public opinion" of slaveholders towards their slaves, which exists at
* The following extract from the Alexandria (D. C.) Ga- zette is an illustration. "Criminals Condemned. — On Monday last the Court of tljo borough of Norfolk, Va. s.it on the trial of four negro boys arraigned for burglar}'. Tlie first indictment charged them with breaking into the hard- ware store of Mr. E. P. Tabb, upon which two of them were found guilty by the Court, and condemned to suffer the penalty' of the law, which, in the case of a slave, is death. The second Friday in April is appointed for the execution of their awful sentence. Their ages do not exceed sixteen. The first, a fine active boy, belongs to a widow lady in Al- exandria: the latter, a house servant, is owned by a gentle- man in the borough. The value of one was fixed at $1000, and the otlier at ^00 ; which sums are to be re-imburscd to their respective owners out of the state treasury." In all probability these poor boys, who are to be hung for stealing, never dreamed tliat death was the legal penalty of the crime.
Here is another, from the " New Orleans Bee" of 14.
1837. — "The slave who strtck some citizens in Canal- street, some weeks since, has been tried and found guilty, and is sentenced to be iiusg on the "tth.
t " It shall be the duty of the keeper [of the penitentiary] oil the receipt of each prisoner, to read to him or her such parts of the penal laws of this state as impose penalties for escape, and to malce all the prisoners in the penitentiary acquainted with the same. It shall also be his duty, on tlie discharge of such prisoner, to read to him or her such parts of the said laws as impose additional punishments for the repetition of offences." — Rule Vith^for the internal gov-rn- vicnt of the Pcnitentianj of Georgia. See 20 of the Peni- tentiary .Bet 0/1816. — Prince's Digest, -386.
the south, in the form of law, tramples on all those fundamcntalprinciplesofright, justice, and equity, which are recognized as sacred by all civilized na- tions, and receive the homage even of barbarians.
1. One of these principles is, that the benefits of law to the subject shoidd overbalance its bur- dens— its protection more than compensate for its restraints and exactions — and its blessings alto- gether outweigh its inconveniences and evils — the former being numerous, positive, and perma- nent, the latter few, negative, and incidental. To- tally the reverse of all this is true in the case of the slave. Law is to him all exaction and no pro- tection : instead of lightening his waiujaZ burdens, it crushes him under a multitude of artificial ones; instead of a friend to succor him, it is his deadliest foe, transfixing him at every step from the cradle to the grave. Law has been beautifully defined to be " benevolence acting by rule ;" to the Ame- rican slave it is malevolence torturing by system. It is an old truth, that responsibility increases with capacity ; but those same laws which make the slave a " chattel," require of him more than of men. The same law Vt'hich makes him a thing incapable of obligation, loads him with obligations superhuman — while sinking him below the level of a brute in dispensing its benefits, he lays upon him burdens which would break down an angel.
2. Innocence is entitled to the protection of law. Slaveholders make innocence free plunder ; this is their daily emplo3^ment ; their laws assail it, make it their victim, inflict upon it all, and, in some respects, more than all the penalties of the greatest guilt. To other innocent persons, law is a blessing, to the slave it is a curse, only a curse and that continually.
3. Deprivation of liberty is one of the highest punishments of crime ; and in proportion to its justice when inflicted on the guilty, is its injus- tice when inflicted on the innocent ; this terrible penalty is inflicted on two million seven hundred thousand, innocent persons in the Southern states.
4. Self-preservation and self-defence, are uni. versally regarded as the most sacred of human rights, yet the laws of slave states punish the slave with death for exercising these rights in that wa}% which in others is pronounced worthy of the highest praise.
5. The safe-guards of law are most needed where natural safe-guards are weakest. Every principle of justice and equity requires, that, those who are totally unprotected by birth, station, wealth, friends, influence, and popular favor, and especially those who are the innocent objects of public contempt and prejudice, should be more vigilantly protected by law, than those who are so fortified by defence, that they have far less need of legal protection ; yet the poor slave who is fortified by none of these personal bulwarks, is
Objections Co7isidered—? nhUc Opinion.
151
denied the protection of law, while the master, \ surrounded by them all, is panoplied in the mad of leo-al protection, even to the hair of his head ; vea, his very shoe-tic and coat-button are legal protegees.
6. The grand object of law is to protect men's natural rights, but instead of protecting the natural rights of the slaves, it gives slaveholders license to wrest them from the weak by violence, protects them in holding their plunder, and kills tlie rightful owner if he attempt to recover it.
Thrs is the protection thrown around the rights of American slaves by the ' public opinion,' of slaveholders ; these the restraints that hold back their masters, overseers, and drivers, from in- flicting injuries upon them 1
In a Republican government, laio is the pulse of its heart — as the heart beats the pulse beats, ex- cept that it often beats weaker than the heart, never stronger — or to drop the figure, laws are never worse than those who make tliem, very often better. If human history proves any- thing, cruelty of practice will always go beyond cruelty of law.
Law-making is a formal, deliberate act, per- formed by persons of mature age, embodying the mtelligencc, wisdom, justice and humanity, of the community ; performed, too, at leisure, after full opportunity had for a comprehensive survey of all the relations to be affected, after careful investigation and protracted discussion. Conse- quently laws must, in the main, be a true index of the permanent feelings, the settled /rame of mind, cherished by the community upon those subjects, and towards those persons and classes v.-hose condition the laws are designed to estab- lish. If the laws are in a high degree cruel and inhuman, towards any class of persons, it proves that the feelings habitually exercised towards that class of persons, by those who make and perpetuate those laws, are at least equally cruel and inhuman. We say at least equally so ; for if the habitual state of feehng towards that class be unmerciful, it must be unspeakably cruel, re- lentless and mahgnant when provoked ; if its ordinary action is inhuman, its contortions and spasms must be tragedies ; if the waves run high when there has been no wind, where will they not break when the tempest heaves them !
Further, when cruelty is the spirit of the law towards a proscribed class, when it legalizes great outrages upon them, it connives at, and abets greater outrages, and is virtually an accomplice of all who perpetrate them. Hence, in such cases, though the degree of the outrage is illegal, the perpetrator will rarely be convicted, and, even if convicted, will be almost sure to escape pun- ishment. This is not theory but history. Every judge and lawyer in the slave states knows, that
the legal conviction and punishment of masters and mistresscs,for illegal outrages upon their slaves, is an event which has rarely, if ever, occurred in the slave stutes ; they know, also, that although hundreds of slaves have been murdered by their masters and mistresses in the slave states, witiiin the last twent3r-five years, and though the fact of their having committed those murders has been established beyond a doubt in the minds of the Surrounding community, yet that the murderers have not, in a single instance, suffered the penalty of the law. Finally.since slaveholders have deliberately legal- ized the perpetration of the most cold-blooded atro- cities upon their slaves, and do pertinaciously re- fuse to make these atrocities illegal, and to punish those w ho perpetrate them, they stand convicted before the world, upon their own testimony, of the most barbarous, brutal, and habitual inhu- manity. If this be slander and falsehood, their own lips have uttered it, their own fingers have written it, their own acts have proclaimed it ; and however it may be with their morality, they have too much human nature to perjure them- selves for the sake of publishing their own in- famy.
Having dwelt at such length on the legal code of the slave states, that unerring index of the public opinion of slaveholders tov.'ards their slaves : and having sliown that it does not protect the slaves from cruelty, and that even hi the few in- stances in which the letter of the law, if executed, would afford some protection, it is virtually nulli- fied by the connivance of courts and juries, or by popular clamor; we might safely rest the case here, assured that every honest reader would spurn the absurd falsehood, that the ' public opinion' of the slave states protects the slaves and restrains the master. But, as the assertion is made so often by slaveholders, and with so much confidence, notwithstanding its absurdity is fully revealed by their ov/n legal code, we pro- pose to show its falsehood by applying other tests.
We lay it down as a truth that can be made no plainer by reasoning, that the same ' public opinion,' which restrains men from committing outrages, will restrain them from publishing such outrages, if they do commit them ; — in other words, if a man is restrained from certain acts through fear of losing his character, should they become known, he will not voluntarily destroy his character by making them known, should he be guilty of them. Let ub look at this. It is assumed by slaveholders, that ' public opinion' at the south so frowns on cruelty to the slaves, that fear of disgrace would restrain from the in- fliction of it, were there no other consideration. Now, that this is sheer fiction is shown by the
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Objections Considered — Public Opinion.
fact, that the newspapers in the slaveholding states, teem with advcrtisarncnts for runaway slaves, in v/hich the masters and iiiisiresses de- scribe their men and women, as having been ' branded with a hot iron,' on their ' cheeks,' 'jaws,' 'breasts,' 'arms,' 'legs,' and 'thighs;' also as ' scarred,' ' very much scarred,' ' cut up,' ' marked,' &c. ' with the whip,' also with ' iron collars on,' ' chains,' ' bars of iron,' ' fetters,' ' bells,' ' horns,' ' shackles,' &c. They, also, de- scribe them as having been wounded by ' buck- shot,' ' rific-balls,' &c. fired at them by their ' owners,' and others when in pursuit ; also, as having ' notches,' cut in their ears, the tops or bottoms of their ears ' cut off,' or ' slit,' or ' one ear cut off,' or ' both ears cut off,' &c. &c. The masters and mistresses who thus advertise their runaway slaves, coolly sign their names to their advertisements, giving the street and num- ber of their residences, if in cities, their post of- fice address, &c. if in the country ; thus ma- king public proclamation as widely as possible that they 'brand,' 'scar,' 'gash,' ' cut up,' &-c. tlie flesh of their slaves; load them with irons, cut off their ears, 6cc. ; they speak of these things with the utmost sang fioid, not seeming to think it possible, that any one will esteem them at all the less because of these outrages upon their slaves ; further, these advertisements swarm in many of the largest and most widely circulated political and commercial papers that are published m the slave states. The editors of those papers con- stitute the main body of the literati of the slave states ; they move in the highest circle of socie- ty, are among the ' popular' men in the commu. nity, and as a class, are more influential than any other ; yet these editors publish these advertise- ments with iron indifference. So far from pro- claiming to such felons, homicides, and murder- ers, that they will not be their blood-hounds, to hunt down the innocent and mutilated victims who have escaped from their torture, they freely furnish them with every facility, become their accomplices and share their spoils ; and instead of outraging ' public opinion,' by doing it, they are the men after its own heart, its organs, its representatives, its self^
To show that the ' public opinion' of the slave states, towards the slaves, is absolutely diabolical, we will insert a few, out of a multitude, of simi- lar advertisements from a variety of southern papers now before us.
The North Carolina Standard, of July l8, 1838, contains the following : —
" TWENTY DOLLARS REWARD. Ran- away from the subscriber, a n^gro woman and two children ; the woman is tall and black, and a few days before she went off, I burnt her with
A HOT IRON ON THE LEFT SIDE OF HER FACE ; I
TRIED TO MAKE THE LETTER M, and sJie kept a
cloth over her head and face, and a fly bonnet on her head so as to cover the burn ; her children are both boys, the oldest is in his seventh year ; he is a mulatto and has blue eyes ; the j'oungest is black and is in his fifth year. The woman's name is Betty, commonly called Bet.
MiCAJAH Ricks. Nash County, July 7, 1838.
Hear the wretch tell his story, with as much indifference as if he were describing the cutting of his initials in the bark of a tree.
" / burnt her with a hot iron on the left side of her face,"- — " / tried to make the letter M," and this he says in a newspaper, and puts his name to it, and the editor of the paper who is, also, its proprietor, publishes it for him and pockets his fee. Perhaps the reader will say, ' Oh, it must have been published in an insignificant sheet printed in some obscure corner of the state ; per- haps by a gang of ' squatters,' in the Dismal Swamp, universally regarded as a pest, and edit- ed by some scape-gallows, who is detested by the whole communitjT. To this I reply that the " North Carolina Standard," the . paper which contains it, is a large six columned weekly paper, handsomely printed and ably edited ; it is the leading Democratic paper in that state, and is published at Raleigh, the Capital of the state, Thomas Loring, Esq. Editor and Proprietor. The motto in capitals under the head of the pa- per is, " The constitution and the union of
THE states THEY MUST BE PRESERVED." Tho
same Editor and Proprietor, who exhibits such brutality of feeling towards the slaves, by giving the preceding advertisement a conspicuous place in his columns, and taking his pay for it, has ap- parently a keen sense of the proprieties of life, where whites are concerned, and a high regard for the rights, character and feelings of those whose skin is colored like his own. As proof of this, we copy from the number of the paper con- taining the foregoing advertisement, the follov/ing Editorial on the pending political canvass.
" We cannot refrain from expressing the hope that the Gubernatorial canvass will be conduct- ed with a liue re^flr<Z to the character, and feeL irigs of the distinguished individuals who are can- didates for that office ; and that the pi-ess of North Carolina will set an example in this respect, worthy of imitation and of praise."
What is this but chivalrous and honorable feel- ing ? The good name of North Carolina is dear to him — on the comfort, ' character and feelings,' of her white citizens he sets a high value ; he feels too, most deeply for the character of the Press of North Carolina, sees that it is a city set on a hill, and implores his brethren of the editorial corps to ' set an example' of courtesy and magnanimity worthy of imitation and praise. Now, reader, put all these things together and con them over, and then read again the preceding
Objections Considered — Public Opinion.
153
advertisement contained in the same number of tlie paper, and you have the true "North Carolina Standard," by which to measure the protection extended to slaves by the ' public opinion' of that state.
J. P. Ashford advertises as follows in the " Natchez Courier," August 24, 1838.
" Ranawaj^, a negro girl called Mary, has a small scar over her eye, a good many teeth mis- sing, the letter A. is branded on her cheek and forehead."
A. B. Metcalf thus advertises a woman in the ra.me paper, June 15, 1838.
" Ranaway, Mary, a black woman, has a scar on her back and right arm near the shoulder, caused by a riflle ball."
John Henderson, in the " Grand Gulf Adver- tiser," August 29, 1838, advertises Betsey.
" Ranaway, a black woman Betsey, has an iron bar on her right leg."
Robert Nicoll, whose residence is in Mobile, in Dauphin street, between Emmanuel and Concep- tion streets, thus advertises a woman in the " Mobile Commercial Advertiser."
" TEN DOLLARS REWARD will be given for my negro woman Liby. The said Liby is about SQ years old. and VERY MUCH SCAR. RED ABOUT THE NECK AND EARS, occa- sioned by whipping, had on a handkerchief tied round her ears, as she commonly wears it to hide
THE SCARS."
To show that slaveholding brutality now is the same that it was the eighth of a century ago, we publish the following advertisement from the " Charleston (S. C.) Com-ier," of 1825.
" TWENTY DOLLARS REWARD— Ran- away from the subscriber, on the 14th instant, a negro girl named Molly.
" The said girl was sold by Messrs. Wm. Payne & Sons, as the property of an estate of a Mr. Gearrall, and purchased by a Mr. Moses, and sold by him to a Thomas Prisley, of Edge- field District, of whom I bought her on the 17th of April, 1819. She is 16 or 17 years of age, slim made, lately branded on the left cheek,
THUS, R, AND A PIECE TAKEN OFF OF HER EAR ON THE SAME SIDE *, THE SAME LETTER ON THE INSIDE OF BOTH HER, LEGS.
" Abner Ross, Fairfield District."
But instead of filling pages with similar ad- vertisements, illustrating the horrible brutality of slaveholders towards their slaves, the reader is referred to the preceding pages of this work, to the scores of advertisements vsTritten by slave- holders, printed by slaveholders, published by slaveholders, in newspapers edited by slaveholders, and patronized by slaveholders ; advertisements describing not only men and boys, but women, aged and middle-aged, matrons and girls of tender years, their necks chafed with iron collars with prongs, their limbs galled with iron rings, and chains, and bars of iron, iron hobbles and
20
shackles, all parts of their persons scarred with the lash, and branded with hot irons, and torn with rifle bullets, pistol balls and buck shot, and gashed with knives, their eyes out, their cars cut oflT, their teeth drawn out, and their bones broken. He is referred also to the cool and shocking indif- ference with which these slaveholders, ' gentle- men' and ' ladies,' Reverends, and Honorable?, and Excellencies, write and print, and publish and pay, and take money for, and read and cir. culate, and sanction, such infernal barbarity. Let the reader ponder all this, and then lay it to heart, that this is that ' public opinion' of the slaveholder, which protects their slaves from all in- jury, and is an effectual guarantee of personal security.
However far gone a community may be in bru- tality, something of protection may yet be hoped for from its ' public opinion,' if respect for woman survives the general wreck ; that gone, protection perishes ; public opinion becomes universal rapine ; outrages, once occasional, become habitual ; the torture, which was before inflicted only by pas- sion, becomes the constant product of a system^ and, instead of being the index of sudden and fierce impulses, is coolly plied as the permanent means to an end. When women are branded with hot irons on their faces ; when iron collars, with prongs, are riveted about their necks ; when iron rings are fastened upon their limbs, and they are forced to drag after them chains and fetters ; when their flesh is torn with tvhips, and mangled with bullets and shot, and lacerated with knives ; and when those who do such things, are regarded in the community, and associated with as ' gen- tlemen' and ' ladies ;' to say that the ' public opin- ion' of such a community is a protection to its victims, is to blaspheme God, whose creatures they are, cast in his own sacred miage, and dear to him as the apple of his eye.
But we are not yet quite ready to dismiss this protector, ' Public Opinion.' To illustrate the hardened brutality with which slaveholders re- gard their slaves, the shameless and apparently unconscious indecency with which they speak of their female slaves, examine their persons, and describe them, under their own signatures, in newspapers, hand-bills, &c. just as they would describe the marks of cattle and swine, on all parts of their bodies ; we will make a few extracts from southern papers. Reader, as we proceed to these extracts, remember our motto — ' True humanity consists not in a squeamish ear.'
Mr. P. Abdie, of New Orleans, advertises in the New Orleans Bee, of January 29, 1838, for one of his female slaves, as follows ;
" Ranaway, the negro wench named Betsey, aged about 22 years, handsome-faced, and good countenance ; having the marks of the whip be- hind her neck, and several others on her rump.
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Ohjectioiis Considered — Public Opinion.
The above reward, ($10,) will be given to who- ever will bring that wench to P. Abdie."
The New Orleans I5ee, in which the advertise- ment of this Vandal appears, is the ' Official Ga- zette of the State — of the General Council — and of the first and third Municipalities of New Or- leans.' It is the largest, and the most influential paper in the south-western states, and perhaps the most ably edited — and has undoubtedly a larger circulation than any other. It is a dally paper, of ^12 a year, and its circulation being mainly among the larger merchants, planters, and pro- fessional men, it is a fair index of the ' public opinion' of Louisiana, so far as represented by those classes of persons. Advertisements equally gross, indecent, and abominable, or nearly so, can be found in almost every number of that pa- per.
Mr. William Robinson, Georgetown, District of Columbia, advertised for his slave in the Na- tional Intelligencer, of Washington City, Oct. 2, 1837, as follows:
" Eloped from my residence a young negress, 22 years old, of a chesnut, or brown color. She has a very singular mark — this mark, to the best of my RECOLLECTION, covers a part of her breasts, body, a.\\A limbs ; and when her neck and arms are uncovered, is very perceptible ; she has been frequently seen east and south of the Capitol Square, and is harbored by ill-disposed persons, of every complexion, for her services."
Mr. John C. Beasley, near Huntsville, Ala- bama, thus advertises a young girl of eighteen, in the Huntsville Democrat, of August 1st, 1837. " Ranawaj' Maria, about 18 years old, very far advanced with child." He then offers a reward to any one who will commit this young girl, in this condition, to jail.
Mr. James T. De Jarnett, Vernon, Antauga CO. Alabama, thus advertises a woman in the Pensacola Gazette, July 14. 1838. " Celia is a bright copper-colored negress, fine figure and very smart. On examining her back, you will find marks caused by the whip." He closes the advert- isement, by offering a reward of five hundred dol- lars to any person who will lodge her in jail, so that he can get her.
A person who lives at 124 Chartres street, New Orleans, advertises in the ' Bee,' of May 31, for " the negress Patience, about 28 years old, has large hips, and is bow-legged." A Mr. T.Cuggy, in the same paper, thus describes " the negress Caroline." ''She has awkward feet, clumsy ankles, turns out her toes greatly in walk- ing, and has a sore on her left shin."
In another, of June 22, Mr. P. Bahi advertises "Maria, with a clear white complexion, and double nipple on her right breast."
Mr. Charles Craige, of Federal Point, New Hanover co. North Carolina, in the Wilmington
Advertiser, August 11, 1837, offers a reward for his slave Jane, and sa3's " she is far advanced in pregnancy."
The New Orleans Bulletin, August 18, 1838, advertises '' the negress Mary, aged nineteen, has a scar on her face, walks parrot-toed, and is pregnant."
Mr. J. G. MuiR, of Grand Gulf, Mississippi, thus advertises a woman in the Vicksburg Regis- ter, December 5, 1838. " Ranaway a negro girl — has a number of olacJc lumps on her breasts, and is in a state of pregnancy."
Mr. Jacob Besson, Donaldsonville, Louisiana, advertises in the New Orleans Bee, August 7, 1838, '' the negro woman Victorine — she is ad- vanced in pregnancy."
Mr. J. H. Leverich & Co. No. 10, Old Levee, New Orleans, advertises in the ' Bulletin,' Janua- ry 22, 1839, as follows.
" $50 Reward. — Ranaway a negro girl named Caroline about 18 years of age, is far advanced in child-bearing. The above reward will be paid for her delivery at either of the jails of the city."
Mr. John Duggan, thus advertises a woman in the New Orleans Bee, of Sept. 7.
'■ Ranaway from the subscriber a mulatto wo- man, named Esther, about thirty years of age, large stomacJi, \v3Lnts her upper front teeth, and walks pigeon-toed — supposed to be about the lower fauxbourg.
Mr. Francis Foster, of Troup co. Georgia, advertises in the Columbus (Ga.) Enquirer of June 22, 1837 — " My negro woman Patsey, has a stoop in her walking, occasioned by a severe burn on her abdomen."
The above are a few specimens of the gross de- tails, in describing the persons of females, of all ages, and the marks upon all parts of their bodies ; proving incontestabl}-, that slaveholders are in the habit not only of stripping their female slaves of their clothing, and inflicting punishment upon their 'shrinking flesh,' but of subjecting their naked persons to the most minute and revolting inspection, and then of publishing to the world the results of their examination, as well as the scars left by their own inflictions upon them, their length, size, and exact position on the body ; and all this without impairing in the least, the standing in the community of the shameless wretches who thus proclaim their own abomina- tions. That such things should not at all affect the standing of such persons in society, is cer- tainly no marvel : how could they affect it, when the same communities enact laws requiring their own legal officers to inspect minutely the per. sons and bodily marks of all slaves taken up as runaways, and to publish in the newspapers a particular description of all such marks and pe- culiarities of their persons, their size, appearance,
Oljections Considered — Public Opinion.
155
position on tlic body, tStc. Yea, verily, when the ' public opinion' of the community, in the solemn form of law, commands jailors, slieritl's, captains of police, «fcc. to divest of their clothing aged ma- trons and young girls, minutely examine their naked persons, and publish the results of their examination — who can marvel, that the same ' public opinion' should tolerate the slaveholders themselves, in doing the sanae things to their own propcrt}', which they have appointed legal officers to do as their proxies.*
The zeal with which slavcholding 'public opinion' protects the lives of the slaves, may be illustrated by the following advertisements, taken from a multitude of similar ones in southern pa- pers. To show that slavcholding ' public opinion' is the same now, that it was half a century ago, we will insert, in the first place, an advertisement published in a North Carolina newspaper, Oct. ^9, 1785, by W. Skinner, the Clerk of the Count}^ of Perquiraous, North Carolina.
" Ten silver dollars reward will be paid for ap prehending and delivering to me my man Moses, who ran away tjiis morning ; or 1 will give five times the sum to any person who will make due proof of his being killed, and never ask a question to know by vi'hom it was done."
W. Skinner.
Perquimons County, N. C. Oct. 29, 1785.
The late John Parrish, of Philadelphia, an eminent minister of the religious society of Friends, who traveled through the slave states about thirty-Jive years since, on a religious mis- sion, published on his return a pamphlet of forty pages, entitled ' Remarks on the Slavery of the Black People.' From this work we extract the following illustrations of ' public opinion' in North and South Carolina and Virginia at that period.
" When I was traveling through North Caro- lina, a black man, who was outlawed, being shot by one of his pursuers, and left wounded in the woods, they came to an ordinary where I had stopped, to feed my horse, in order to procure a cart to bring the poor wretched object in. An- other, I was credibly informed, was shot, his head cut off, and carried in a bag by the perpe- trators of the murder, who received the reward,
* As a sample of these laws, we give the following ex- tract from one of the laws of Maryland, where slave- holding ' public opinion' exists in its mildest form.
"It shall be the duty of the sheriffs of the several coun- ties of this state, upon any runaway scr\-aiit or slave being committed to his custody, to cause the same to be adver- tised, &c. UTid to make particular and minute descriptions of live, person and Jorfii?/ mar/i:.s of such runaway." — Laws of Maryland of 1802, Chap. 96, Sec. 1 and 2.
That the sheriffs, jailors, &c. do not neglect this part of tlieir official ' duty,' is plain from the minute description which they give in the advertisements of marks upon all parts of the jiersons of females, as well as males ; and also from the occasional declaration, ' no scars discoverable on any part,' or 'no marks discoverable about her;" which last is taken from an advertisement in the Milledgeville (Geo.) Journal, June 25, 1838, signed ' T. S. Densler, Jailor.'
which was said to bo J$200, continental currcn. cy, and that his head was stuck on a coal house at an iron works in Virginia — and tliis for going to visit his wife at a distance. Crawford gives an account of a man being gibbetted alive in Sontli Carolina, and the buzzards came and picked out his eyes. Another was burnt to death at a stake in Charleston, surrounded by a multitude of spectators, some of whom were
people of the first rank ; the poor object
was heard to cry, as long as he could breathe, ' not guilty — not guilty.' "
The following is an illustration of the ' public opinion' of South Carolina about fifty years ago. It is taken from Judge Stroud's Sketch of the Slave Laws, page 39.
" I find in the case of ' the State vs. M'Gee,' 1 Bay's Reports, 164, it is said incidentally by Messrs. Pinckney and Ford, counsel for the state (of S. C), ' that the frerptency of the offence {wil- ful murder of a slave) was owing to the nature of the punishment,^ &-c. . . . This remark was made in 1791, when the above trial took place. It was made in a public place — a court-house — and by men of great personal respectability. There can be, therefore, no question as to its truth, and as little of its notoriety."
In 1791 the Grand Jury for the district of Che- raw, S. C. made a presentment, from which the following is an extract.
" We, the Grand Jurors of and for the district of Cheraw, do present the inefficacy of the pre- sent punishment for kdling negroes, as a great de feet in the legal system of this state : and we do earnestly recommend to the attention of the le- gislature, that clause of the negro act, which con- fines the penalty for killing slaves to fine and im- prisonment only : in full confidence, that they will provide some other more effectual measures to prevent the frequency of crimes of this na- ture."— Matthew Carey's American Museum, for Feb. 1791. — Appendix, p. 10.
The following is a specimen of the 'public opin. ion' of Georgia twelve years since. We give it iia the strong words of Colonel Stone, Editor of the New- York Commercial Advertiser. We take it from that paper of June 8, 1827.
" Hunting men with dogs. — A negro who had absconded from his master, and for whom a re- ward of ^100 was offered, has been apprehended and committed to prison in Savannah. The edi- tor, who states the fact, adds, with as much cool- ness as though there were no barbarity in the mat- ter, that he did not surrender till he was consider ably MAIMED BY the dogs that had been set on him — desperately fighting them — one of which he badly cut with a sword."
Twelve days after the publication of the pre- ceding fact, the following horrible transaction took place in Perry county, Alabama. We extract it from the African Observer, a monthly periodi- cal, published in Philadelphia, by the society of Friends. See No. for August, 1827.
"Tuscaloosa, Ala. June 20, 1827.
" Some time during the last week a Mr. M'Neil-
156
Objections Co7isidered — Public Opinion.
ly having lost some clothing, or other property of no great value, the slave of a neighboring planter was charged with the theft. M'Neilly, in compa- ny with his brother, found the negro driving his master's wagon ; they seized him, and either did, or were about to chastise him, when the negro stabbed M'Neilly, so that he died in an hour after- wards. The negro was taken before a justice of the peace, who waved his authority, perhaps through fear, as a crowd of persons had collected to the number of seventy or eighty, near Mr. People's (the justice) house. He acted as presi. dent of the mob, and put the vote, when it was de- cided he should be immediately executed by being burnt to death. The sable culprit was led to a tree, and tied to it, and a large quantity of pine knots collected and placed around him, and the fatal torch applied to the pile, even against the re- monstrances of several gentlemen who were pre- sent ; and the miserable being was in a short time burned to ashes.
" This is the SECOND negro who has been THUS put to death, without judge or jury, in this county."
The following advertisements, testimony, &.c. will show that the slaveholders of to-day are the children of those who shot, and hunted with bloodhounds, and burned over slow fires, the slaves of half a century ago ; the worthy inherit- ors of their civilization, chivalry, and tender mercies.
The "Wilmington (North Carolina) Adver- tiser" of July 13, 1838, contains the following ad- vertisement.
" $100 will be paid to any person who may ap- prehend and safely confine in any jail in this state, a certain negro man, named Alfred. And the same reward will be paid, if satisfactory evidence is given of his having been killed. He has one or more scars on one of his hands, caused by his having been shot.
"the citizens of ONSLOW.
" Richlands, Onslow co. May 16th, 1838." In the same column with the above and direct- ly under it is the following : —
"Ranaway my negro man Richard. A re- ward of ^25 will be paid for his apprehension DEAD or ALIVE. Satisfactory proof will only be required of his being KILLED. He has with him, in all probability, his wife Eliza, who ran away from Col. Thompson, now a resident of Al- abama, about the time he commenced his journey to that state. durant h. Rhodes."
In the " Macon (Georgia) Telegraph," May 28, is the following : —
"About the 1st of March last the negro man Ransom left me without the least provocation whatever ; I will give a reward of twenty dollars for said negro, if taken dead or alive, — and if killed in any attempt, an advance of five dollai s will be paid. bryant johnson.
" Crawford co. Georgia.'"'
See the " Newbcrn (N. C.) Spectator," Jan. 5, 1338, for the following :—
** RANAWAY, from the subscriber, a negro
man named SAMPSON. Fifty dollars reward will be given for the delivery of him to me, or his confinement in an}' jail so that I get him, and should he resist in being taken, so that vio. lence is necessary to arrest him, I will not hold any person liable for damages should the slave be KILLED. Enoch Foy.
" Jones County, N. C."
From the " Macon (Ga.) Messenger," Jmie 14, 1838.
" To the owners of runaway negroes, a large mulatto Negro man, between thirty-five and forty years old, about six feet in height, having a high forehead, and hair slightly grey, was KILLED, near my plantation, on the 9th inst. He would not surrender, but assaulted Mr. Bowen, who killed him in self-defence. If the owner desires further information relative to the death of his negro, he can obtain it by letter, or by calling on the subscriber ten miles south of Perry, Houston county. Edm'd. Jas. McGehee."
From the ' Charleston (S. C.) Courier,' Feb, 20, 1836.
" $300 REWARD. Ranaway from the sub- scriber, in November last, his two negro men, named Billy and Pompey.
" Billy is 25 years old, and is known as the patroon of my boat for many years ; in all pro . bability he may resist ; in that event 50 dollars will be paid for his HEAD."
From the ' Newbern (N. C.) Spectator,' Dec. 2. 1836.
" .f 200 REWARD. Ranaway from the sub- scriber, about three years ago, a certain negro man named Ben, commonly known by the name of Ben Fox. He had but one eye. Also, one other negro, by the name of Rigdon, who ran- away on the 8th of this month.
" I will give the reward of one hundred dollars for each of the above negroes, to be delivered to me or confined in the jail of Lenoir or Jones county, or for the killing of them, so that I CAN SEE them. W. D. Cobb."
" In the same number of the Spectator two Justices of the Peace advertise the same run- aways, and give notice that if they do not imme. diately return to W. D. Cobb, their master, they will be considered as outlaws, and any body may kill them. The following is an extract from the proclamation of the justices.
" And we do hereby, by virtue of an act of tiic assembly of this state, concerning servants and slaves, intimate and declare, if the said slaves do not surrender themselves and return home to their master immediately after the publication of these presents, that any person may kill and de- stroy said slaves by such means as he or they think fit, without accusation or impeachment of any crime or offence for so doing, or ivithout in- curring any penalty or forfeiture thereby.
" Given under our hands and seals, this 12th November, 1836.
" B. Coleman, J. P. [Seal.] "Jas. Jones, J. P. [Seal.] "
On the 28th, of April 1836, in the city of St. Louis, Missouri, a black man, named Mcintosh,
Objections Considered — Public Opinion.
157
who had stabbed an officer, that had arrested him, was seized by the multitude, fastened to a tree in the midst of the city, wood piled around him, and in open day and in the presence of an im- mense throng of citizens, he was burned to death. The Allon (111.) Telegraph, in its account of the scene says ;
«' All was silent as death while the execution- ers were piling wood around their victim. He said not a word, until feeling that the flames had seized upon him. He then uttered an awful howl, attempting to sing and pray, then hung his head, and suffered ni silence, except in the following instance : — After the flames had surrounded their pre}', his eyes burnt out of his head, and his mouth seemingly parched to a cinder, some one in the crowd, more compassion- ate than the rest, proposed to put an end to his misery by shooting him, when it was replied, 'that would be of no use, since he was already out of pain.' ' No, no,' said the wretch, ' I am not, I am sufficing as much as ever ; shoot me, shoot me.' ' No, no,' said one of the fiends who was standing about the sacrifice they were roasting, ' he shall not be shot. / would sooner slacken the fire, if that would increase his misery f and the" man who said this was, as we understand,
an OFFICER OF JUSTICE 1"
The St. Louis correspondent of a New York paper adds,
" The shrieks and groans of the victim were loud and piercing, and to observe one limb after another drop into the fire was awful indeed. He was about fifteen minutes in dying. I visited the place this morning, and saw his body, or the remains of it, at the place of execution. He was burnt to a crump. His legs and arms were gone, and only a part of his head and body were left."
Lest this demonstration of ' public opinion' should be regarded as a sudden impulse merely, not an index of the settled tone of feeling in that community, it is important to add, that the Hon. Luke E. Lawless, Judge of the Circuit Court of Missouri, at a session of that Court in the city of St. Louis, some months after the burning of this man, decided officially that since the burning of Mcintosh was the act, either directly or by countenance of a majority of the citizens, it is ' a case which transcends the jurisdiction,' of the Grand Jm-y ! Thus the state of Missouri has proclaimed to the world, that the wretches who perpetrated that unspeakably diabolical murder, and the thousands that stood by consenting to it, were her representatives, and the Bench sancti- fies it with the solemnity of a judicial decision.
The ' New Orleans Post,' of June 7, 1836, pub- hshes the following ;
'' We understand, that a negro man was lately condemned, by the mob, to be burned OVER A SLOW FIRE, wliich was put into execu- tion at Grand Gulf, Mississippi, for murdering a black woman, and her master."
Mr. Henry Bradley, of Pennyan, N. Y., has
furnished us with an extract of a letter written by a gentleman in Mississippi to his brother in that village, detailing the particulars of the preceding transaction. The letter is dated Grand Gulf, Miss. August 15, 183G. The extract is as fol lows :
'' I left Vicksburg and came to Grand Gulf. This is afine place immediately on thebanksof the Mississippi, of something like fifteen hundred in- habitants in the winter, and at this time, 1 sup- . pose, tliere arc not over two hundred while inhabi- tants, but in the town and its vicinity there are negroes by thousands. The day I arrived at this
place there was a man by the name of G
murdered by a negro man that belonged to him.
G was born and brought up in A , state
of New York. His father and mother now live
south of A . He has left a property here, it
is supposed, of forty thousand dollars, and no fa- mily.
" They took the negro, mounted him on a horse, led the horse under a tree, put a rope around his neck, raised him up by throwing the rope over a limb; they then got into a quarrel among them- selves ; some swore that he should be burnt alive ; the rope was cut and the negro dropped to the ground. He immediately jumped to his feet; they then made him walk a short distance to a tree ; he was then tied fast and a fire kindled, when another quarrel took place ; the fire was pulled away from him when about half dead, and a committee of twelve appointed to say in what manner he should be disposed of. They brought in that he should then be cut down, his head cut ofF, his body burned, and his head stuck on a pole at the corner of the road in the edge of the town. That was done and all parties satisfied !
" G owned the negroes wife, and was in the
habit of sleeping with her ! The negro said he had killed him, and he beheved he should be re- warded in heaven for it.
" This is but one instance among many of a similar nature. S. S."
We have received a more detailed account of this transaction from Mr. William Armstrong, of Putnam, Ohio, through Maj. Horace Nye, of that place. Mr. A. who has been for some years em- ployed as captain and supercargo of boats de- scending the river, was at Grand Gulf at the time of the tragedy, and witnessed it. It was on the Sabbath. From Mr. Armstrong's statement, it ap- pears that the slave was a man of uncommon in- telligence ; had the over-sight of a large business — superintended the purchase of supplies for his master, &c. — that exasperated by the intercourse of his master with his wife, he was upbraiding her one evening, when his master overhearing him, went out to quell him, was attacked by the infuriated man and killed on the spot. The name of the master was Green ; he was a native of Au- burn, New York, and had been at the south but a few years.
Mr. EzEKiEL BiRDSEYE, of Comwall, Conn., a gentleman well known and highly respected in
158
Oijeciions Considered — Public Opinion.
Litchfield county, who resided a number of years in South Carolina, gives the following testimo- Jiy : —
"A man by the name of Waters was killed by his slaves, in Newberry District. Three of them Vifcre tried before the court, and ordered to be burnt. I was but a few miles distant at the time, and conversed with those who saw the execution. The slaves were tied to a stake, and pitch pine wood piled around them, to which the fire was communicated. Thousands were collected to witness this barbarous transaction. Other execu- tions of this kind look place in various parts of the state, during my residence in it,fro7nl8l8 to 1824. About three or four years ago, a young negro was burnt in Abbeville District, for an at- tempt at rape."
In the fall of 1837. there was a rumor of a pro- jected insurrection on the Red River, in Louisia- na. The citizens forthwith seized and hanged
NINE SLAVES, AND THREE FREE COLORED MEN, WITH- OUT TRIAL. A few months previous to that trans- action, a slave was seized in a similar manner and publicly burned to death, in Arkansas. In July. 1835, the citizens of Madison county, Mis- sissippi, were alarmed by rumors of an insurrec- tion • arrested five slaves and publicly executed them without trial.
The Missouri Republican, April 30, 1838, gives the particulars of the deliberate murder of a negro man named Tom, a cook on board the steamboat Pawnee, on her passage up from New Orleans to St. Louis. Some of the facts stated by the Re- publican are the following :
" On Friday night, about 10 o'clock, a deaf and dumb German girl was found in the store- room with Tom. The door was locked, and at first Tom denied she was there. The girl's father came. Tom unlocked the door, and the girl was found secreted in the room behind a barrel. The next morning some four or five of the deck passengers spoke to the captain about it. This was about breakfast time. Immediately after he left the deck, a number of the deck pas- sengers rushed upon the negro, bound his arms behind his back and carried him forward to the bow of the boat. A voice cried out ' throw him overboard,' and was responded to from every quarter of the deck — and in an instant he was plunged into the river. The whole scene of tying him and throwing him overboard scarcely occupied ten minutes, and was so precipitate that the officers were unable to interfere in time to save him.
" There were between two hundred and fifty and three hundred passengers on board."
The whole process of seizing Tom, dragging him upon deck, binding his arms behind his back, forcing him to the bow of the boat, and throwing him overboard, occupied, the editor informs us, about TEN MINUTES, and of the two hundred and fifty or three hundred deck passengers, with perhaps as many cabin passengers, it docs not appear that a single individual raised a finger to prevent this
deliberate murder ; and the cry " throw him over- board," was it seems, ''responded to from every quarter of the deck !"'
Rev. James A. Tiiojie, of Augusta, Ky., son of Arthur Thome, Esq , till recently a slaveholder, published five years since the following descrip- tion of a scene witnessed by him in New Or- leans :
" In December of 1833, I landed at New Oi- lcans, in the steamer W . It was after night,
dark and rainy. The passengers were called out of the cabin, from the enjoyment of a fire, which the cold, damp atmosphere rendered very comfort- able, by a sudden shout of, ' catch him — catch liim — catch the negro.' The cry vt^as answered by a hundred voices — ' Catch him — kill him,' and a rush from every direction toward our boat, in- dicated that the object of pursuit was near. The next moment we heard a man plunge into the river, a few paces above us. A crowd gathered upon the shore, with lamps and stones, and clubs, still crying, ' catch him — kill him — catch him — shoot him.'
" I soon discovered the poor man. He had taken refuge under the prow of another boat, and was standing in the water up to his waist. The angry vociferation of his pursuers, did not intim- idate him. He defied them all. ' Don't you dare to come near me, or I will sink you in the river.' He was armed with despair. For a moment the mob was palsied by the energy of his threatenings. They were afraid to go to him with a skiff, but a number of them went on to the boat and tried to seize him. They threw a noose rope down repeatedly, that they might pull him. up by the neck .' but he planted his hand firmly against the boat and dashed the rope away with his arms. One of tliem took a long bar of wood, and leaning over the prow, en. deavorcd to strike him on the head. The blow must have shattered the skull, but it did not reacii low enough. The monster raised up the heavy club again and said, 'Come out now, you oldras. cal, or die.' •' Strike,' said the negro ; ' strike — shiver my brains now ; I want to die ;' and down went the club again, without striking. This was repeated several times. The mob, see- ing their efforts fruitless, became more enraged and threatened to stone him, if he did not surren- der himself into their hands. He again defied them, and declared that he would drown himself in the river, before they should have him. They then resorted to persuasion, and promised they would not hurt him. ' I'll die first ;' was his only reply. Even the furious mob was awed, and for a while stood dumb.
" After standing in the cold water for an hour, the miserable being began to fail. We observed him gradually sinking — his voice grew weak and tremulous — yet he continued to curse '. In the midst of his oaths he uttered broken sentences — ' I did'nt steal the meat — I did'nt steal — my mas- ter lives — master — master lives up the river — (his voice began to gurgle in his throat, and he was so chilled that his teeth chattered audibly) — I did'nt — steal — I did'nt steal — :my — my master — mj^-- I want to see my master — I didn't — no — my mas — ^you want — you want to kill me — I didn't steal
Ohjections Considered — Public Opinion.
159
the' — ^His last words could just be heard as he sunk under the water.
" Durino; this indescribable scene, not one of the hundred that stood around made any effort to save the man until he was apparenthj drowned. He was then dragged out and stretclied on the bow of the boat, and soon sufficient means were used for his reco\'ery. The brutal captain ordered him to bo taken off liis boat — declaring, witli an oath, that he would throw him into the river again, if he was not immediately removed. I withdrew, sick and horrilied with this appalling exhibition of wickedness.
" Upon inquiry, I learned (hat tlie colored man lived some fifty miles up the Misssissippi ; that he had been charged with stealing some article from the wharf; was fired upon with a pistol, and pur- sued hy the mob.
" In reflecting upon this unmingled cruelty — this insensibility to suffering and disregard of life — I exclaimed,
' Is there no flesh in man's obdurate heart V
One poor man, chased like a wolf by a hundred blood hoimds, yelling, howling, and gnashing their teeth upon him — plunges into the cold river to seek protection ! A crowd of spectators wit- ness the scene, with all the composure with which a Roman populace would look upon a gla- diatorial show. Not a voice heard in the sufferer's behalf. At length the powers of nature give way ; the blood flov,-s back to the heart — the teeth chatter — the voice trembles and dies, while the victim drops down into his grave.
*' What an atrocious system is that which leaves two millions of souls, friendless and powerless — hunted and chased — afflicted and tortured and driven to death, without the means of redress. — Yet such is the system of slavery."
The ' public opinion ' of slaveholders is illus- trated by scores of announcements in southern papers, like the following, from tlie Raleigh, (N. C.) Register, August 20, 1838. Joseph Gales and Son, editors and proprietors — the father and brother of the editor of the National Intelligencer, Washington city, D. C.
" On Saturday night, Mr. George Holmes, of this county, and some of his friends, were in pur- suit of a runaway slave (the property of Mr. Holmes) and fell in with him in attempting to make his escape. Mr. H. discharged a gun at his legs, for the purpose of disabling him ; but un- fortunately, the slave stumbled, and the shot struck him near the small of the back, of which wound he died in a short time. The slave con- tinued to run some distance after he was shot, until overtaken by one of the party. We are sa tisfied, from all that we can learn, that Mr. H. had no intention of inflicting a mortal wound."
Oh 1 the gentleman, it seems, only shot at his legs, merely to ' disable ' — and it must be expect- ed that every gentleman will amuse himself in shooting at his own property whenever the notion takes him, and if he should happen to hit a little higher and go through the small of the back in- stead of the legs, v,-hy every body says it is ' un-
fortunate,' and the whole of the editorial corps, instead of branding him as a barbarous wretch for shooting at his slave, whatever jiart ho aimed ai, join with tlic oldest editor in North Carolina, in complacently exonerating Mr. Holmes by say- ing, " We are satisfied that Mr. li. had no inten- tion of inflicting a mortal wound." And so 'pub- lie opinion ' wraps it up !
The Franklin (La.) Republican, August 19, 1837, has the following :
"Negroes Take."J. — Four gentlemen of this vicinity, went out yesterday for the purpose of finding the camp of some noted runaways, sup- posed to be near this place ; the camp was disco, vercd about 11 o'clock, the negroes four in num- ber, three men and one woman, finding they were discovered, tried to make tiicir escape through the cane ; two of them were fired on, one of which made iiis escape ; the other one fell after running a short distance, his wounds are not sup- posed to be dangerous ; the other man was taken without any hurt ; the woman also made her es- cape."
Thus terminated the morning's amusement of the ^fo7ir gentlemer),' whose exploits are so com placently chronicled by the editor of the Franklin Republican. The three men and one woman were all fired upon, it seems, though only one of them was shot down. The half famished runa- Vv-ays made not the least resistance, they merely rushed in panic among the canes, at the sight of their pursuers, and the bullets whistled after them and brought to the ground one poor fellow, who was carried back by his captors as a trophy of the ' public opinion' among slaveholders.
In the Macon (Ga.) Telegraph, Nov. 27, 1838, we find the following account of a runaway's den, and of the good luck of a ' Mr. Adams,' in run- ning down one of them ' with his excellent dogs :'
" A runaway's den was discovered on Sunday near the Washington Spring, in a little patch of woods, where it had been for several months, so artfully concealed under ground, that it was de- tected only by accident, though in sight of two or three houses, and near the road and fields where there has been constant daily passing. The entrance v/as concealed by a pile of pine straw, representing a hog bed — which being re- moved, discovered a trap door and steps that led to a room about six feet square, comfortably ceiled with plank, containing a small fire-place the flue of which was ingeniously conducted above ground and concealed by the straw. The inmates took the alarm and made their escape ; but Mr. Adams and his excellent dogs being put upon the trail, soon run down and secured one of them, which proved to be a negro fellow who had been out about a year. He stated that the other occupant was a woman, who had been a runaway a still lon- ger time. In the den was found a quantity of meal, bacon, com, potatoes, &c., and various cooking utensils and wearing apparel."
Yes, Mr. Adams' ' excellent dogs ' did the work! They were well trained, swift, fresh,
160
Objections Considered — Public Opinion.
keen-scented, 'excellent' men-hunters, and i himself Isaac Turner; the other two are quite though the poor fugitive in his frenzied rush for black, the one passing- by the name_of James
liberty, strained every muscle, yet they gained upon him, and after dashing through fens, brier, beds, and the tangled undergrowth till faint and torn, he sinks, and the blood-hounds are upon him. What blood-vessels the poor struggler burst in his desperate push for life — how much he was bruised and lacerated in his plunge through the forest, or how much the dogs tore him, the Macon editor has not chronicled — they are matters of no moment. — but his heart is touched with the merits of Mr. Adams' ' excellent dogs,' that ' soon run down and secwred ' a guiltless and trembling hu. man creature !
The Georgia Constitutionalist, of Jan. 1837, contains the following letter from the coroner of Barnwell District, South Carolina, dated Aiken, S. C. Dec. 20, 1836. «' To the Editor of the Constitutionalist :
" I have just returned from an inquest I held over the body of a negro man, a runaway, that was shot near the South Edisto, in this District, (Barnwell,) on Saturday last. He came to his death by his own recklessness. He refused to be taken alive — and said that other attempts to take him had been made, and he was determined that he would not be taken. He was at first, (when those in pursuit of him found it absolutely neces- sary,) shot at with small shot, with the intention of merely crippling him. He was shot at several times, and at last he was so disabled as to be compelled to surrender. He kept in the run of a creek in a very dense swamp all the time that the neighbors were in pursuit of him. As soon as the negro was taken, the best medical aid was procured, but he died on the same evening. One of the witnesses at the Inquisition, stated that the negro boy said he was from Mississippi, and be- longed to so many persons, that he did not know who his master was, but again he said his mas- ter's name was Brown. He said his name was Sam, and when asked by another witness, who his master was, he muttered something like Au- gusta or Augustine. The boy was apparently above thirty -five or forty years of age, about six feet high, slightly yellow in the face, very long beard or whiskers, and very stout built, and a stern countenance ; and appeared to have been a runaway for a long time.
" William H. Pritchard, " Coroner (Ex-officio,) Barnwell Dist. S. C.
The Norfolk (Va.) Herald, of Feb. 1837, has the following :
"Three negroes in a ship's yawl, came on shore yesterday evening, near New Point Com- fort, and were soon after apprehended and lodged in jail. Their story is, that they belonged to a brig from New York bound to Havana, which was cast away to the southward of Cape Henry, some day last week ; that the brig was called the Maria, Captain Whittemore. I have no doubt they arc deserters from some vessel in the bay, as their statements are very confused and inconsist- ent. One of these fellows is a mulatto, and calls
Jones and the other John Murray. They have all their clothing with them, and are dressed in sea-faring apparel. They attempted to make their escape, and it was not till a musket was fired at them, and one of them slightly wounded, that they surrendered. They will be kept in jail till something further is discovered respecting them."
The ' St. Francisville (La.) Chronicle,' of Feb. 1, 1839. Gives the following account of a ' negro hunt,' in that Parish.
" Two or three days since a gentleman of this parish, in hunting runaway negroes, came upon a camp of them in the swamp on Cat Island. He succeeded in arresting two of them, but the third made fight ; and upon being shot in the shoulder, fled to a sluice, where the dogs suc- ceeded in drowning him before assistance could arrive."
" The dogs succeeded in drowning him" ! Poor fellow ! He tried hard for his life, plunged into the sluice, and, with a bullet in his shoulder, and the blood hounds unfleshing his bones, he bore up for a moment with feeble stroke as best he might, but ' public opinion,' ' succeeded in drowning him,' and the same ' public opinion,' calls tlie man who fired and crippled him, and cheered on the dogs, ' a gentleman,' and the editor v/ho cele- brates the exploit is a ' gentleman' also !"
A large number of extracts similar to the above, might here be inserted from Southern newspapers in our possession, but the foregoing are more than sufficient for our purpose, and wo bring to a close the testimony on this point, v/ith the following. Extract of a letter, from the Rev. Samuel J. May, ol South Scituate, Mass. dated Dec. 20, 1838.
" You doubtless recollect the narrative given in the Oasis, of a slave in Georgia, who having ranaway from his master, (accoimted a very hospitable and even humane gentleman,) was hunted by his master and his retainers with horses, dogs, and rifles, and having been driven into a tree by the hounds, was shot down by his more cruel pursuers. All the facts there given, and some others equally shocking, connected with the same case, were first communicated to me in 1833, by Mr. W. Russell, a highly respect- able teacher of youth in Boston. He is doubt- less ready to vouch for them. The same gentle- man informed me that he was keeping school on or near the plantation of the monster who per- petrated the above outrage upon humanity, that he was even invited by him to join in the liunt, and when he expressed abhorrence at the thought, the planter holding up the rifle which he had in his hand said with an oath, ' damn that rascal, this is the third time he has runaway, and he shall never run again. I'd rather put a ball into his side, than into the best buck in the land.' "
Mr. Russell, in the account given by him of this tragedy in the ' Oasis,' page 267, thus de- scribes the slaveholder who made the above ex- pression, and was the leader of the ' hunt,' and
Oijections Considered — Public Opinion.
161
m whose family he resided at the time as an in- etructor ; Jic says of him — He was " an opulont planter, in whose family the evils of slaveholding; were palliated by every expedient that a humane and generous disposition could suggest. He was a man of noble and elevated character, and distinguished for his generosity, and kindness of heart."
In a letter to Mr. May, dated Feb. 3, 1839, Mr. Russell, speaking of the Imnting of run- aways with dogs and guns, says : " Occurrences of a nature similar to the one related in the ' Oasis,' were not unfrequent in the interior of Georgia and South Carolina twenty years ago. Several such fell under my notice within the space of fifteen months. In tvi'o such ' hunts,' I was solicited to join."
The following was written by a sister-in-law of Gerrit Smith, Esq., Peterboro. She is married to the son of a North Carolinian.
" In North Carolina, some years ago, several slaves were arrested for committing serious crimes and depredations, in the neighborhood of Wilmington, among other things, burning houses, and, in one or more instances, murder.
'• It happened that the wife of one of these slaves resided in one of the most respectable families in W. in the capacity of nurse. Mr. J. the first lawyer in the place, came into the room, where the lady of the house was sitting, with the nurse, who held a child in her arms, and, addressing the nurse, said, Hannah ! would you know your husband if you should see him ? — Oh, yes, sir, she replied — when he drew from beneath his
CLOAK THE HEAD OF THE SLAVE, at the sight of
which the poor woman immediately fainted. The heads of the others were placed upon poles, in some part of the town, afterwards known as * Negro Head Point.' "
We have just received the above testimony, en- closed in a letter from Mr Smith, in which he says, " that the fact stated by my sister-in-law, actually occurred, there can be no doubt."
The following extract from the Diary of the Rev. Ell\s CoRXELias, we insert here, having neglected to do it under a preceding head, to which it more appropriately belongs.
" New Orleans, Sabbath, February 15, 1818. Early this morning accompanied A. H. Esq. to the hospital, with the view of making arrange- ments to preach to such of the siek as could un- derstand English. The first room we entered presented a scene of human misery, such as I had never before witnessed. A poor negro man was lying upon a couch, apparently in great dis. tress ; a more miserable object can hardly be conceived. His face was much disfigured, an
IRON COLLAR, TWO INCHES WIDE AND HALF AN INCH THICK, WAS CLASPED ABOUT HIS NECK, while
one of his feet and part of the leg were in a state of putrefaction. We inquired the cause of his being in this distressing condition, and he an- swered us in a faltering voice, that he was will- mg to tell us all the truth.
" He belonged to Mr. a Frenchman, ran-
21
away, was caught, and punished with one hun- dred lashes ! This happened about Christmas ; and dining the cold weather at that time, he was confined in the Cmie-hoitse, with a scanty portion of clothing, and loithout fire. In this situation his foot had frozen, and mortified, and having been removed from place to place, he was j^esterday brought here by order of his new master, who was an American. I had no time to protract my conversation with liim then, but resolved to return in a few hours and pray with him. * *
" Having returned home, I again visited the hospital at half past eleven o'clock, and concluded first of all [he was to preach at 12,] to pray with the poor lacerated negro. I entered the apart- ment in which he lay, and observed an old man sitting upon a couch ; but, without saying any- thing went up to the bed-side of the negro, who appeared to be asleep. I spoke to him, but he gave no answer. I spoke again, and moved his head, still he said nothing. My apprehensions were immediately excited, and I felt for his pulse, but it was gone. Said I to the old man, ' surely this negro is dead.' ' No,' he answered, ' he has fallen asleep, for he had a very restless sea- son last night.' I again examined and called the old gentleman to the bed, and alas, it was found true, that he was dead. Not an ej^e had witnessed his last struggle, and I was the fii-st, as it should happen, to discover the fact. I call- ed several men into the room, and without cere- mony they wrapped him in a sheet, and carried him to the dead.house as it is called." — Edwards? Life of Rev. Ellas Cornelius, pp. 10], 2, 3.
THE PROTECTION EXTENDED BY ' PUBLIC OPINION,' TO THE HEALTH* OF THE SLAVES.
This may be judged of from the fact that it is per- fectly notorious among slaveholders, both North and South, that of the tens of thousands of slaves sold annually in the northern slave states to be transported to the south, large numbers of them die under the severe process of acclimation, all suffer more or less, and multitudes much, in their health and strength, during their first years in the far south and south west. That such is the case is sufliciently proved by the care taken by all who advertise for sale or hire in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, &c. &c. to inform the reader, that their slaves are ' Creoles,' ' southern born,' country born,' &c. or if they are from the north, that they are ' acclimated,' and the importance attached to their acclimation, is shov>rn in the fact, that it is generally distinguished from the rest of the advertisements either by italics or CAPITALS. Almost every newspaper published in the states far south contains advertisments like the tollowing.
From the " Vicksburg (Mi.) Register," Dec. 27, 1838.
" I OFFER my plantation for sale. Also seven- ty-five acclimated Negroes. O. B. Cobb." From the " Southerner," June 7, 1837.
" I WILL sell ray Old-River plantation near Co- * See pp. 37-39.
102
Oijeciions Considered — Public Opinion.
lumbia in Arkansas ;— also ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY ACCLIMATED SLAVES. Benj. Hcgiies." Fort Gibson, Jan. 14, 1837.
From the " Planters' (La.) Intelligencer," March 22.
" Probate sale — Will be offered for sale at
Public Auction, to the highest bidder, ONE
HUNDRED AND THIRTY acclimated slaves."
G. W. Keeton.
Judge of the Parish of Concordia."
From the '• Arkansas Advocate," May 22, 1837.
" By virtue of a Deed of Trust, executed to me, I will sell at public auction at Fisher's Prairie, Arkansas, sixty LIKELY NEGROES, consist- ing of Men, Women, Boys and Girls, the most of whom are well acclimated.
GUANDISON D. RoYSTON,
Trustee." From the " New Orleans Bee," Feb. 9, 1838.
" VALUABLE ACCLIMATED NEGROES."
" Will be sold on Saturday, 10th inst. at 12 o'clock, at the city exchange, St. Louis street."
Then follows a description of the slaves, closing with the same assertion, which forms the cap. tion of the advertisement " all acclimated."
General Felix Houston, of Natchez, advertises in the « Natchez Courier," April 6, 1838, " Thir- ty five very fine acclimated Negroes."
Without inserting more advertisements, suf- fice it to say, that when slaves are advertised for sale or hire, in the lower southern country, if they are natives, or have lived in that region long enough to become acclimated, it is invariably stated.
But we are not left to cmjeciure the amount of suffering experienced bj' slaves from the north in undergoing the severe process of ' seasoning' to the climate, or ' acclimation.^ A writer in the New Orleans Argus, September, 1830, in an arti- cle on the culture of the sugar cane, says : ' The ftDSS by death in bringing slaves from a northern climate, which our planters are under the neces- sity of doing, is not less than twenty-five per
CENT.'
Nothwithstanding the immense amount of suffering endured in the process of acclimation, and the fearful waste of life, and the notori- ety of this fact, still the ' public opinion' of Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, Mis- souri, (fee. annually drives to the far south, thou- sands of their slaves to undergo these sufferings, and the ' public opinion,' of the far south bu3rs them, and forces the helpless victims to endure them.
THE ' PROTECTION,' VOUCHSAFED BY ' PUBLIC OPIN- ION,' TO LIBERTY.
This is shown by hundreds of advertisements in southern papers, like the following :
From the " Mobile Register," July 21. 1837- " WILL BE SOLD CHEAP FOR CASH, in front of the Court House of Mobile County, on the 22d day of July next, one mulatto man named HENRY HALL, who says he is free ; his owner or owners, if any, having failed to de- mand him, he is to be sold according to the statute in such cases made and provided, to pay Jail fees. Wm. Magee, Sh'ff. M. C."
From the " Grand Gulf (Miss.) Advertiser," Dec. 7, 1838.
" COMMITTED to the jail of Chickasaw Co. Edmund, Martha, John and Louisa ; the man 50, the woman 35, John 3 years old, and Lousia 14 months. They say they are free and were de- coyed to this state."
The " Southern Argus," of July 25, 1837, con- tains the following.
" RANAWAY from my plantation, a negro boy named William. Said boy was taken up by Thomas Walton, and says he "xas free, and that his parents live near Shawneetown, Illinois, and that he was taken from that place in July 1836 ; says his father's name is William, and his mother's Sally Brown, and that they moved from Frede- ricksburg, Virginia. I will give twenty dollars to any person wlio will deliver said boy to me or Col. Byrn, Columbus. SAMUEL H. BYRN."
The first of the following advertisements was a standing one, in the " Vicksburg Register," from Dec. 1835 till Aug. 1836. The second advertises the same free man for sale.
" SHERIFF'S SALE."
" COMMITTED, to the jail of Warren coun- ty, as a Runaway, on the 23d inst. a Negro man, who calls himself John J. Robinson ; says thai he is //ee, says that he kept a baker's shop in Co- lumbus, Miss, and that he peddled through the Chickasaw nation to Pontotoc, and came to Blemphis, where he sold his horse, took water, and came to this place. The owner of said boy is requested to come forward, prove property, pay charges, and take him away, or he will be dealt with as the law directs.
Wm. Everett, Jailer.
Dec. 24, 1S35."
" NOTICE is hereby given, that the above described boy, who calls himself John J. Robin- son, having been confined in the Jail of Warren county as a Runaway, for six months — and hav- ing been regularly advertised during this period, I shall proceed to sell said Negro boy at public auction, to the highest bidder for cash, at the door of the Court House in Vicksburg, on Mon- day, 1st day of August, 1836, in pursuance of the statute in such cases made and provided.
E. W. Morris, Sheriff.
Vicksburg, July 2, 1836."
See "Newburn (N. C.) Spectator," of Jan. 5, 1838, for the following advertisement.
" RANAWAY, from the subscriber a negro man known as Frank Pilot. He is five feet eight inches high, dark complexion, and about 50 years old, has been free sinck 1829 — is now my property, as heir at law of his last owner, 1 Samuel Ralston, dec. I will give the above re-
Objections Considered — Public Opinion.
163
ward if he is taken and confined in any jail so that I can get him. Samuel Ralston.
Pactolus, Pitt County." From the Tuscaloosa (Ala.) " Flag of the Union," June 7.
» COMMITTED to the Jail of Tuscaloosa county, a negro man, who says his name is Robert Winticld, and says he is free.
R. W. Barber, Jailer"
That " public opinion," in the slave states af- fords no protection to the liberty of colored per- sons, even after those persons become legally free, by the operation of their own laws, is declared by Governor Comegys, of Delaware, in his re- cent address to the Legislature of that state, Jan. 1839. The Governor, commentmg upon the law of the state which provides that persons con- victed of certain crimes shall be sold as servants for a limited time, says,
'' The case is widely different with the negro (.') Although ordered to be disposed of as a servant for a term of years, perpetual slavery in the south is his inevitable doom ; unless, peradventure, age or disease may have rendered him worthless, or some resident of the State, from motives of benevo- lence, will pay for him three or four times his intrinsic value. It matters not for how short a time he is ordered to be sold, so that he can be carried from the State. Once beyond its limits, all chance of restored freedom is gone — for he is removed far from the reach of any testimony to aid him in an effort to be released from bondage, when his legal term of servitude has expired. Of the many colored convicts sold out of the State, it is believed none ever return. Of course they are purchased with the express view to their trans- portation for life, and bring such enormous prices as to prevent all competition on the part of those of our citizens who require their services, and would keep them in the State."
From the " Memphis (Ten.) Enquirer," Dec. 28, 1838.
'• $50 Reward. Ranaway, from the subscri- ber, on Thursday last, a negro man named Isaac, 22 years old, about 5 feet 10 or 11 inches high, dark complexion, well made, full face, speaks quick, and very correctly for a negro. He was originally from New-York, and no doubt will at- tempt to pass himself as free. I will give the above reward for his apprehension and delivery, or confmement, so that I obtain him, if taken out of the state, or $ 30 if taken within the state.
Jno. Simpson. Memphis, Dec. 28."
Mark, with what shameless hardihood this Jno. Simpson, tells the public that he knew Isaac Wright was a free man ! ' He was originally FROM New York,' he tells us. And yet he adds with brazen effrontery, ' he will attempt to pass himself as free!' This Isaac Wright, was ship- ped by a man named Lewis, of New Bedford, Massachusetts, and sold as a slave in New Or- leans. After passing through several hands, and being flogged nearly to death, he made his escape,
and five days ago, (March 5,) returned to his friends in Pliiladelpliia.
From the " Baltimore Sun," Dec. 23, 1838.
" Free ]N egroes. — Merry Ewall, a free negro, from Virginia, was committed to jail, at Snow Hill, Md. last week, for remaining in the State longer than is allowed by the law of 1831. The fine in his case amounts to $225. Capril Purnell, a negro from Delaware, is now in jail in the same place, for a violation of the same act. His fine amounts to four thousand dollars, and he WILL be sold in a short time."
The following is the decision of the Supreme Court, of Louisiana, in the case of Gomez vs. Bonneval, Martin's La. Reports, i)56, and Wheel- er's '' Law of Slaverj'," p. 380-1.
Marginal remark of the Compiler. — " A slave does not become free on his being illegally im- ported into the state."
" Per Cur. Derbigny, J. The petitioner is a negro in actual state of slavery ; he claims his freedom, and is bound to prove it. In his at- tempt, however, to show that he was free before he was introduced into this country, he has failed, so that his claim rests entirely on the laws prohibit- ing the introduction of slaves in tlie United States. That the plaintiff was imported since that prohibition does exist is a fact sufficiently established by the evidence. What right he has acquired under the laws forbidding such importa- tion is the only question which we have to ex- amine. Formery, while the act dividing Louisiana into two territories was in force in this country, slaves introduced here in contravention to it, were freed by operation of law ; but that act was merged in the legislative provisions which were subsequently enacted on the subject of importa- tion of slaves into the United States generally. Under the now existing laws, the individuals thus imported acquire no personal right, they are mere passive beings, who are disposed of accord- ing to the will of the different state legisla. tures. In this country they are to remain slaves, and TO be sold for the benefit of the state. The plaintiff, therefore, has nothing to claim as a freeman ; and as to a mere change of master, should such be his wish, he cannot be listened to in a court of justice."
Extract from a speech of Mr. Thomson of Penn. in Congress, March 1, 1826, on the prisons in the District of Columbia.
" I visited the prisons twice that I might my- self ascertain the truth. * * In one of these cells (but eight feet square,) were confined at that time, seven persons, three women and four children. The children were confined under a strange system of law in this District, bj^ which a colored person who alleges he is free, and appeals to the tribunals of the country, to have the matter tried, is committed to prison, till the decision takes place. They were almost naked • one of them was sick, lying on the damp brick, floor, without bed, pilloio, or covering. In this- abominable cell, seven human beings were con- fined day by day, and night after night, without a bed, chair, or stool, or any other of the most
164
Objections Considered — Public Opinion.
common necessaries of life." — Gales' Congres- sional Debates, v. 2, p. 1480.
The following facts serve to show, that the pre- sent generation ol' slaveholders do but follow in the footsteps of their fathers, in their zeal for LIBERTY.
Extract from a document submitted by the Committee of the yearly meeting of Friends in Philadelphia, to the Committee of Congress, to whom was referred the memorial of the people called Quakers, in 1797.
" In the latter part of the year 1776, several of the people called Quakers, residing in the coun- ties of Perquimans and Pasquotank, in the state of North Carolina, liberated their negroes, as it was then clear there was no existing law to pre- vent their so doing ; for the law of 1741 could not at that time be carried into effect ; and they were suffered to remain free, until a law passed, in the spring of 1777, under which they were taken up and sold, contrary to the Bill of Rights, recog- nized in the constitution of that state, as a part thereof, and to which it was a,nnexed.
" In the spring of 1777, when the General As- sembly met for the first time, a law was enacted to prevent slaves from being emancipated, except for meritorious services, &c. to be judged of by the county courts or the general assembly ; and ordering, that if any should be manumitted in any other way, they be taken up, and the comity courts within whose jurisdictions they are appre- hended should order them to be sold. Under this law the county courts of Perquimans and Pasquo- tank, in the year 1777, ordered a large number
OF PERSONS TO BE SOLD, WHO WERE FREE AT THE
TIME THE LAW WAS MADE. In the year 1778 seve- ral of those cases were, b}^ certiorari, brought be- fore the superior court for the disti-ict of Eden- torn, where the decisions of the county courts were reversed, the superior court declaring, that said county courts, in such their proceedings, have exceeded their jurisdiction, violated the rights of the subject, and acted in direct opposi- tion to the Bill of Rights of this state, considered justly as part of the constitution thereof; by giv- ing to a law, not intended to affect this case, a retrospective operation, thereby to deprive free- men of this state of their liberty, contrary to the laws of the land. In consequence of this decree several of the negroes were again set at liberty ; but the next General Assembly, early in 1779, passed a law, wherein they mention, that doubts liave arisen, whether the purchasers of such slaves have a good and legal title thereto, and confirm the same ; under which they were again taken up by the purchasers and reduced to slavery."
[The number of persons thus re-enslaved was 134.]
The follownig are the decrees of the Courts, ordering the sale of those freemen : — " Perquimans Ci«mty, July term, at Hartford,
A. D. 1777.
" These may certify, that it was then and there ordered, that the sheriff of the county, to-morrow morning, at ten o'clock, expose to sale, to the highest bidder, for ready money.at the court-house
door, the several negroes taken up as free, and m his custody, agreeable to law.
" Test. Wm. Skinner, Clerk.
" A true copy, 25th August, 1791.
"Test. J. Harvey, Clerk."
" Pasquotank County, September Court, &,c. &c. 1777.
" Present, the Worshipful Thomas Boyd, Tim- othy Hickson, John Paclin, Edmund Chancey, Joseph Reading, and Thomas Rees, Esqrs. Jus- tices.
" It was then and there ordered, that Thomas Reading, Esq. take the free negroes taken up under an act to prevent domestic insurrections and other purposes, and expose the same to the best bidder, at public vendue, for ready money, and be accountable for the same, agreeable to the aforesaid act ; and make return to this or the next succeeding court of his proceedings.
" A copy. Enoch Reese, C. C."
the protection of " PUBLIC OPINION" TO
domestics ties.
The barbarous indifference with which slave, holders regard the forcible sundering of husbands and wives, parents and children, brothers and sisters, and the unfeeling brutality indicated by the language in which they describe the efforts made by the slaves, in their yearnings after those from whom they have been torn away, reveals a 'public opinion' towards them as dead to their agony as if they were cattle. It is well nigh im- possible to open a southern paper without finding evidence of this. Though the truth of this asser- tion can hardly be called in question, we subjoin a few illustrations, and could easily give hundreds.
From the " Savannah Georgian," Jan. 17, 1839.
" ^100 reward will be given for my two fellows. Abram and Frank. Abram has a wife at Colonel Stewart's, in Liberty county, and a sister in Sa. vannah, at Capt. Grovenstine's. Frank has a wife at Mr. Le Cont's, Liberty county ; a mother a'c Thunderbolt, and a sister in Savannah.
Wm. Robarts.
" Wallhourville, 5th Jan. 1839 "
From the " Lexington (Ky.) Intelligencer.' July 7, 1838.
•' ($160 Reward. — Ranavray from the subscrib- ers, living in this city, on Saturday 16th inst. a negro man, named Dick, about 37 years of age. It is highly probable said boy will make for New Orleans, as he has a loife living in that city, and he has been heard to say frequently that he teas determined to go to New Orleans.
" Drake & Thompson.
" Lexington, June 17, 1838."
From the " Southern Argus," Oct. 31, 1837.
" Runaway — my negro man, Frederick, about 20 years of age. He is no doubt near the planta- tion of G. W. Corprew, Esq. of Noxubbee county, Mississippi, as his wife belongs to that gentleman, and he followed her from ?ny residence. The above reward will be paid to any one who will confine him in jail and inform me of it at Athens, Ala.
" Athens, Alabama, Kerkman Lewis."
Ohjections Considered — Public Opinion.
165
From the '' Savannah Georgian," July 8, 1837.
" Ran away from the subscriber, his man Joe. He visits the city occasionally, where he has been harbored by his mother and sister. I will give one hundred dollars for proof sufficient to convict Iiis har borers, R. P. T. Mongin."
The " Macon (Georgia) Messenger," Nov. 23, 1837, has the following : —
" ^25 Reward. — Ran away, a negro man, named Cain. He was brought from Florida, and has a wife near Mariana, and probably will at, tempt to make his way there.
H. L. Cook."
From the " Riclimond (Va.) Whig," July 25, 1837.
" Absconded from the subscriber, a negro man, by the name of Wilson. He was born in the county of New Kent, and raised by a gentleman named RatlifFe, and by him sold to a gentleman named Taylor, on whose farm he had a wife and several children. Mr. Taylor sold him to a Mr. Slater, who, in consequence of removing to Ala- bama, Wilson left ; and when retaken was sold, and afterwards purchased, by his present owner, from T. Mc Cargo and Co. of Richmond."
From the " Savannah (Ga.) Republican," Sept. 3, 1838.
" ^20 Reward for my negro man Jim. — Jim is about 50 or 55 years of age. It is probable he will aim for Savannah, as he said he had children in that vicinity. J. G. Owens.
" Barnwell District, S. C."
From the " Staunton (Va.) pectator," Jan. 3, 1839.
"Ranaway, Jesse. — He has a wife, who be- longs to Mr. John RufF, of Lexmgton, Rockbridge county, and he may probably be lurking in that neighborhood. Moses Mc Cue,"
From the "Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle," July 10, 1837.
" §120 Reward for my negro Charlotte. She is about 20 years old. She was purchased some months past from Mr. Thomas J. Walton, of Au- gusta, by Thomas W. Oliver ; and, as her mother and acquaintances live in that city, it is very likely she is harbored by some of them.
Martha Oliver."
From the "Raleigh (N.C.) Register," July 18, 1837.
" Ranaway from the subscriber, a negro man named Jim, the property of Mrs. Elizabeth Whit- field. He has a wife at the late Hardy Jones', and may probably be lurking in that neighbor- hood. John O'Rorke."
From the " Richmond (Va.) Compiler," Sept. 8, 1837.
" Ranaway from the subscriber, Ben. He ran off without any knov/n cause, and / suppose he is aiming to go to his wife, who was carried from the neighborhood last winter, John Hunt."
From the " Charleston (S. C.) Mercury," Aug. 1, 1837.
" Absconded from Mr. E. D. Bailey, on Wad- malaw, his negro man, named Saby. Said fellow was purchased in January, from Francis Dickin- son, of St. Paul's parish, and is probably now in that neighborhood, where he has a wife.
Thomas N. Gadsden."
From the " Portsmouth (Va.) Times," August 3, 1838.
" $50 dollars Reward will be given for the ap- prehension of my negro man Isaac. He has a loife at James M. Riddick's, of Gates county, N. C. where he may probably be lurking.
C. Miller."
From the " Savannah (Georgia) Republican," May 24, 1838.
" ^40 Reward. — Ran away from the subscriber in Savannah, his negro girl Patsey. She was purchased among the gang of negroes, known as the HargreaveN estate. She is no doubt lurking about Liberty county, at which place she has rela- tives. Edward Houstoun, of Florida."
From the " Charleston (S. C.) Courier," June 29, 1837.
" §20 Reward will be paid for the apprehension and delivery, at the work-house in Charleston, of a mulatto woman, named Ida. It is probable she may have made her way into Georgia, where she has connections.
Matthew Muggridge."
From the "Norfolk (Va.) Beacon," March 31, 1838.
" The subscriber will give §20 for the appre- hension of his negro woman, Maria, who ran away about twelve months since. She is known to be lurking in or about Chuckatuch, in the county of Nansemond, where she has a husband, axiA. formerly belonged.
Peter Oneill."
From the " Macon (Georgia) Messenger," Jan. 16, 1839.
" Ranaway from the subscriber, two negroes. Davis, a man about 45 years old ; also Peggy, his wife, near the same age. Said negroes will probably make their way to Columbia county, as they have children living in that county. I will liberally reward any person v/ho may deliver them to me. Nehemiah King."
From the " Petersburg (Va.) Constellation," June 27, 1837.
" Ranaway, a negro man, named Peter. He has a wife at the plantation of Mr. C. Haws, near Suffolk, where it is supposed he is still lurking. John L. Dunn."
From the "Richmond (Va.) Whig," Dec. 7, 1739.
" Ranaway from the subscriber, a negro man, named John Lewis. It is supposed that he is lurking about in New Kent county, where he pro- fesses to have a wife. Hill Jones,
"Agent for R. F. & P. Railroad Co.''
From the " Red River (La.) Whig," June 2d, 1838.
" Ran away from the subscriber, a mulatto wo-
166
Objections Considered — Public Opinion,
man, named Maria. It is probable she may be found in the neighborhood of Mr. Jesse Bynum's plantation, where she has relations, &c.
Thomas J. Wells."
From the " Lexington (Ky.) Observer and Re- porter," Sept. 28, 1838.
" ,^50 Reward. — Ran away from the subscriber, a negro girl, named Maria. She is of a copper color, between l3 and 14 years of age — bare head- ed and bare footed. She is small of her age — very sprightly and very likely. She stated she was going to see her mother at Maysville.
Sanford Thomson."
From the "Jackson (Tenn.) Telegraph," Sept. 14, 1838.
" Committed to the jail of Madison county, a negro woman, who calls her name Fanny, and says she belongs to William Miller, of Mobile. She formerly belonged to John Givins, of this county, who now owns several of her children. David SniiorsHiRE, Jailor."
From the " Norfolk (Va.) Beacon," July 3d, 1838.
" Runaway from my plantation below Eden. ton, my negro man. Nelson. He has a mother living at Mr. James Goodwin's, in Ballahack, Perquimans county ; and tioo brothers, one be- longing to Job Parker, and the other to Josiah Coffield. Wm. D. Rascoe."
From the " Charleston (S. C.) Courier," Jan. 12, 1838.
"$100 Reward. — Run away from the sub- scriber, his negro fellow, John. He is well known about the city as one of my bread carriers : has a wife living at Mrs. Weston's, on Hempstead. John formei-ly belonged to Mrs. Moor, near St. Paul's church, where his inother still lives, and has been harbored by her before.
John T. Marshall. 60, Tradd-street."
From the " Newbern (N. C.) Sentinel," March 17, 1837.
" Ranaway, Moses, a black fellow, about 40 years of age — ^has a wife in Washington.
Thomas Bragg, Sen. Warren ton, N. C."
From the " Richmond (Va.) Whig," June 30, 1837.
" Ranaway, my man Peter. — He has a sister and mother in New Kent, and a wife about fifteen or eighteen miles above Richmond, at or about Taylorsville. Theo. A. Lacy."
From the "New Orleans Bulletin," Feb. 7, 1838.
" Ranaway, my negro Philip, aged about 40 years. — He may have gone to St. Louis, as he has a wife there.
W. G. Clark, 70 New Levee."
From the " Georgian," Jan. 29, 1838. " A Reward of .^5 will be paid for the appre- hension of his negro woman, Diana. Diana is from 45 to 50 age. She formerly belonged to Mr. Nath. Law, of Liberty county, where her hus-
band still lives. She will endeavor to go thero perhaps. D. O'Byrne."
From the " Richmond (Va.) Enquirer," Feb. 20, 1838.
" ^10 Reward for a negro woman, named Sal. ly, 40 years old. We have just reason to believe the said negro to be now lurking on the James River Canal, or in the Green Spring neighbor, hood, where, we arc informed, her husband re. sides. The above reward will be given to any person securing her.
Polly C. Shields. Mount Elba, Feb. 19, 1838."
" ^50 Reward. — Ran away from the subscriber, -, his negro man Pauladore, commonly called Paul. I understand Gen. R. Y. Hayne has purchased his wife and children from H. L. Pinckney, Esq. and has them now on his plantation at Goose, creek, where, no doubt, the fellow is frequently lurking. T. Davis."
" ^25 Reward. — Ran away from the subscriber, a negro woman, named Matilda. It is thought she may be somewhere up James River, as she was claimed as a wife by some boatman in Gooch- land. J. Alvis."
" Stop the Runaway ! ! ! — $25 Reward. Ran. away from the Eagle Tavern, a negro fellow, named Nat. He is no doubt attempting to follow his wife, who was lately sold to a speculator named Redmond. The above reward will be paid by Mrs. Lucy M. Downman, of Sussex county, Va."
Multitudes of advertisements like the above ap. ^ pear annually in the southern papers. Reader, look at the preceding list — mark the unfeeling barbarity with which their masters and mistresses describe the struggles and perils of sundered hus- bands and wives, parents and children, in their weary midnight travels through forests and rivers, with torn limbs and breaking hearts, seeking the embraces of each other's love. In one instance, a mother torn from all her children and taken to a remote part of another state, presses her way back through the wilderness, hundreds of miles, to clasp once more her children to her heart : but, when she has arrived within a few miles of them, in the same county, is discovered, seized, dragged to jail, and her purchaser told, through an adver. tisement, that she awaits his order. But we need not trace out the harrowing details already before the reader.
Rev. C. S. Renshaw, of Quincy, Ilhnois, who resided some time in Kentucky, says ; —
" T was told the following fact by a young lady, daughter of a slaveholder in Boone county, Ken- tucky, who lived within half a mile of Mr. Hughes' farm. Hughes and Neil traded in slaves down the river : they had bought up a part of their stock in the upper counties of Kentucky, and brought them dow"n to Louisville, where the re- mainder of their drove was in jail, waiting their arrival. Just before the steamboat put off for the lower country, two negro women were offered for sale, each of them having a young child at the
Objections Considered — Public Opinion.
167
breast. The traders bouglit tlicm, took tlicir babes | from tlicir arms, and ortercd them to the highest bidder ; and they were sold for one dollar apiece, whilst the stricken parents were driven on board the boat, and in an hour were on their way to the New Orleans market. You are aware that a young babe decreases the value of a field hand in the lower country, whilst it increases her value in the ' breeding states.' "
The following is an extract from an address, published by the Presbyterian Synod of Kentucky, to the churches under their care, m 1835 : —
" Brothers and sisters, parents and children, husbands and wives, are torn asunder, and per- mitted to see each other no more. These acts are daily occurring in the midst of us. The shrieks and the agony, often witnessed on such occasions, proclaim, with a trumpet tongue, the iniquity of our system. There j« not a neigh. horhood where these heart-rending scenes are not displayed. There is not a village or road that dges not behold the sad procession of manacled oiitcasts, whose mournful countenances tell that they are exiled by force from all that tiiejr
HEARTS HOLD DEAR." AddrCSS, p. 12.
Professor Andrews, late of the University of North Carolina, in his recent w^ork on Slavery and the Slave Trade, page 147, in relating a con- versation with a slave-trader, whom he met near Washington City, says, he inquired,
" ' Do you often buy the wife without the hus- band ?' 'Yes, VERY often; and FREQUENT- LY, loo, they sell me the mother while they keep her children. I have often known them take away the infant from its mother's breast, and keep it, while they sold her.'' "
The following sale is advertised in the " Geor- gia Journal," Jan. 2, 1838.
" Will be sold, the following property, to wit :
One Child, by the name of James, about
eight months old, levied on as the property of Gabriel Gunn."
The following is a standing advertisement in the Charleston (S. C.) papers : —
" 120 Negroes for Sale. — The subscriber has just arrived from Petersburg, Virginia, with one hundred and twenty likely young negroes of both sexes and every description, which he offers for sale on the most reasonable terms.
" The lot now on hand consists of plough boys, several likely and well-qualified house servants of both sexes, several women loith children, small girls suitable for nurses, and several small boys without their mothers. Planters and traders are earnestly requested te give the subscriber a call previously to making purchases elsewhere, as he is enabled and will sell as cheap, or cheaper, than can be sold by any other person in the trade. Benjamin Davis.
Hamburg, S. C. Sept. 28, 1838."
Extract of a letter to a member of Congress. from a friend in Mississippi, published in the "Washington Globe," June, 1837.
" The times are truly alarming here. Many plantations are entirely stripped of negroes (pro- tection !) and horses, by the marshal or sheriff. —
Suits are multiplying — two thousand five hundred in the United States Circuit Court, and three thousand in Hinds County Court "
Testimony of Mr. Silas Stone, of Hudson, New York. Mr. Stone is a member of the Epis- copal Cliurch, has several times been elected an Assessor of the city of Hudson, and for three years has filled the office of Treasurer of the County. In the fall of 1807, Mr. Stone witness- ed a sale of slaves, in Charleston, South Caroli- na, which he thus describes in a communication recently received from him.
" I saw droves of the poor fellows driven to the slave markets kept in different parts of the city, one of which I visited. The arrangements of this place appeared something like our north- ern horse-markets, having sheds, or barns, in the rear of a public house, where alcohol was a handy ingredient to stimulate the spirit of jockey- ing. As the traders appeared, lots of negroes were brought from the stables into the bar room, and by a flourish of the whip were made to as- sume an active appearance. ' What will you give for these fellows V ' How old are they ? 'Are they healthy?' 'Are they quick?' &c. at the same time the owner would give them a cut with a cowhide, and tell them to dance and jump, cursing and swearing at them if they did not move quick. In fact all the transactions in buying and selling slaves, partakes of joekey- ship, as much as buying and selling horses. There was as little regard paid to the feelings of the former as we witness in the latter.
" From these scenes I turn to another, which took place in front of the noble ' Exchange Buildings,' in the heart of the city. On the left side of the stops, as you leave the main hall, im- mediately under the windows of that proud build- ing, was a stage built, on which a mother with eight children were placed, and sold at auction. I watched their emotions closely, and saw their feelings were in accordance to human nature. The sale began with the eldest child, who, being struck off to the highest bidder, was taken from the stage or platform by the purchaser, and led to his wagon and stowed away, to be carried into the country ; the second, and third were also sold, and so until seven of the children were torn from their mother, while her discernment told her they were to be separated probably forever, causing in that mother the most agonizing sobs and cries, in which the children seemed to share. The scene beggars description ; suffice it to say, it was suflicient to cause tears from one at least ' whose skin was not colored like their own,' and I was not ashamed to give vent to them." the " protection" afforded by ' PUBLIC opinion' to childhood and old age.
In the "New Orleans Bee," May 31, 1837, Mr. P. Bahi, gires notice that he has committed to JAIL as a runaway ' a little negro aged about seven years.'
In the " Mobile Advertiser," Sept. 13, 1838, William Magee, Sheriff, gives notice that George Walton, Esq. Mayor of the city has committed to JAIL as a runaway slave, Jordan, about twelve
168
Objections Considered — Public Opinion.
^',
YEARS OLD, and the Sheriff proceeds to give no- tice that if no one claims him the boy will be anld as a slave to pay jail fees.
In the '' Memphis (Tenn.) Gazette," May 2,
1837, W. H. Montgomery advertises that he will sell at auction a boy aged 14, another aged 12, AND A girl lO, to pay the debts of their dc- ceased master.
" B. F. Chapman, Sheriff, Natchitoches (La.) advBrtises in the ' Herald,' of May 17, 1837, thaX he h&s'' committed to jail, as a runaway a negro boy between 11 and 12 years oe age."
In the " Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle," Feb. 13,
1838. E.. H. Jones, jailor, says, " Brought to jail a negro woman Sarah, she is about 60 or 65 years old."
In the " Winchester Virginian," August 8, 1837, Mr. R. H. Menifee, offers ten dollars re- ward to any one who will catch and lodge in jail, Abram and Nelly, about 60 years old, so that he can get them again.
J, Snowden, Jailor, Columbia, S. C. gives notice in the " Telescope," Nov, 18, 1837, that he has committed to jail as a runaway slave, " Caro- line fifty years of age."
Y. S. PicKARD, Jailor, Savannah, Georgia gives notice in the " Georgian," June 22, 1837, that he has taken up for a runaway and lodged in jail Charles, 60 years of age.
In the Savannah " Georgian," April 12, 1837) Mr. J. Cuyler, says he will give five dollars, to any one who will catch and bring back to him Saman, an old negro man, and grey, and has only one eye."
In the " Macon (Ga.) Telegraph," Jan. 15, 1839, Messrs. T. and L. Napier, advertise for sale Nancy, a woman 65 years of age, and Peggy, a v/oman 65 years of age.
The following is from the " Columbian (Ga.) Enquirer," March 8, 1838.
" ^25 Reward. — Ranaway, a Negro Woman named MATILDA, aged about 30 or 35 years. Also, on the same night, a Negro Fellow of small size, VERY aged, sioop.shouldered, who walks vert DECREriDLY, is supposed to have gone off. His name is DAVE, and he has claimed Matilda for wife. It may be they have gone off together.
'' I will give twenty.five dollars for the woman, delivered to me in Muscogee county, or confined in any jail so that I can get her.
MosEs Butt." J. B. Randall, Jailor, Cobb (Co.) Georgia, ad- vertises an old negro man, in the " Milledgeville Recorder," Nov. 6, 1838.
" A NEGRO MAN, has been lodged in the common jail of this county, who says his name is Jupiter. He has lost all his front teeih above and below — speaks very indistinctly, is very lame, so thai he can hardly walk."
Rev. Charles Stewart Renshaw, of Quincy,
Illinois, who spent some time in slave states, speaking of his residence in Kentucky, says : — " One Sabbath morning, whilst riding to meet, ing near Burlington, Boone Co. Kentucky, in company with Mr. Willis, a teacher of sacred music and a member of the Presbyterian Church, I was startled at mingled shouts and screams, proceeding from an old log house, some distance from the road side. As we passed it, some five or six boys from 12 to 15 years of age, came out, some of them cracking whips, followed by two colored boys crying. I asked Mr. W. what the scene meant. ' Oh,' he replied, '■ those boys have been whipping the niggers ; that is the way we bring slaves into subjection in Kentucky — we let the children beat them.' The boys returned again into the house, and again their shouting and stamping was heard, but ever and anon a scream of agony that would not be drowned, rose above the uproar ; thus they continued till the sounds were lost in the distance."
Well did Jefferson say, that the children of slaveholders are 'nursed, educated, and daily exercised in tyranny.'
The ' protection' thrown around a mother's yearnings, and the helplessness of childhood by the ' public opinion' of slaveholders, is shown by
thousands of advertisements of which the follow-
ing are samples.
From the " New Orleans Bulletin," June 2.
" NEGROES FOR SALE.— A negro woman 24 years of age, and has two children, one eight and the other three years. Said negroes will be sold separately or together as desired. The woman is a good seamstress. She will be sold low for cash, or exchanged for groceries. For terms apply to Mayhew Bliss, & Co.
1 Front Levee."
From the '' Georgia Journal," Nov. 7. " TO BE SOLD— One negro girl about 18 months old, belonging to the estate of William Chambers, dec'd. Sold for the purpose of distri- bution.'.' Jethro Dean, ^
Samuel Beall, \ ^^ o's.
From the " Natchez Courier," April 2, 1838.
" NOTICE — Is hereby given that the under- signed pursuant to a certain Deed of Trust will on Thursday the 12th day of April next, expose to sale at the Court House, to the highest bidder for cash, the following Negro slaves, to wit ; Fanny, aged about 28 years ; Mary, aged about 7 years ; Amanda, aged about 3 months ; Wilson, aged about 9 months.
" Said slaves, to be sold for the satisfaction of the debt secured in said Deed of Trust.
W. J. Minor."
From the " Milledgeville Jom-nal," Dec. 26, 1837.
"EXECUTOR'S SALE.
" Agreeable to an order of the court of Wil- kinson county, will be sold on the first Tuesday in April next, before the Court-house door in the town of Irwington, ONE NEGRO GIRL aboui two years old, named Rachel, belonging to the
Objections Considered — Public Opinion.
169
estate of William Cliambcrs dcc'd. Sold for the benefit of the heirs and creditors of said estate. Samuel Bell, \ ry , Jesse Peacock, \J^^ors.
From the " Alexandria (D. C.) Gazette" Dec. 19.
" I will fvive the highest cash price for likely ne- groes, fruiH lU to 25 years of age.
Geo. Kepiiart."
From the " Southern Whig," March 2, 1838. — *' WILL be sold in La Grange, Troup county, one negro girl, by the name of Charit)-, aged about 10 or 12 j-cars ; as the property of Littleton L. Burk, to satisfy a mortgage fi. fa. from Troup In- ferior Court, in favor of Daniel S. Robertson V?. said Burk."
From the " Petcrsburgh (Va.) Constellation," March IS, 1837.
" 50 Negroes wanted immediately. — The sub- scriber will give a good market price for fifty like- ly negroes, from 10 to 30 years of age.
Henry Davis."
The following is an extract of a letter from a gentleman, a native and still a resident of one of the slave states, and still a slaveholder. He is an elder in the Presbyterian Church, his letter is now before us, and his name is with the Execu- tive Committee of the Am. Anti-slavery Society.
" Permit me to say, that around this very place where I reside, slaves arc brought almost constantly, and sold to Miss, and Orleans ; that it is usual to part famihes forever by such sales — the parents from the children and the children from the parents, of every size and age. A mother was taken not long since^ in this town, from a sucking child, and sold to the lower country. Three young men I saw some time ago taken from this place in chains — while the mother of one of them, old and decrepid, followed with tears and prayers her son, 18 or 20 miles, and bid him a final fareioell .' O, thou Great Eter- nal, is this justice ! is this equity I ! — Equal Rights ! !"
We subjoin a few miscellaneous facts illus- trating the iNHUxMANiTY of slavcholding 'public opinion.'
The shocking indifference manifested at the death of slaves as human beings, contrasted with the grief at their loss as property, is a true index to the public opinion of slaveholders.
Colonel Oliver of Louisville, lost a valuable race-horse by the explosion of the steamer Oro- noko, a few months since in the Mississippi river. Eight human beings whom he held as slaves were also killed by the explosion. They were the-riders and grooms of his race-horses. A Louisville paper thus speaks of the occurrence :
" Colonel Oliver suffered severely by the ex. plosion of the Oronoko. He lost eight of his rub- bers and riders, and his horse, Joe Kearney, which he had sold the night before for $3,000."
Mr. King, of the New York American, makes 22
the following just comment on the barbarity of the above paragraph :
" Would any one, in rc^ading this paragraph from an evening paper, conjecture that these ^ eight rubbers and riders,' that togetiicr witli a horse, are merely mentioned as a ' loss' to their owner, were human beings — immortal as the writer who thus brutalizes them, and perhaps cherishing life as much ? In this view, perhaps, the ' eight' lost as much as Colonel Oliver."
The following is from the " Charleston (S. C.) Patriot," Oct. 18.
" Loss of Property .' — Since I have been here, (Rice Hope, N. Santec,) I have seen much mi- scry, and much of human suffering. The loss of PROPERTY has been immense, not only on South Santec, but also on this river. Mr. Shoolbred has lost, (according to the statement of the phy- sician,) forty-six negroes — the majority lost being the primest hands he had — bricklayers, carpen- ters, blacksmiths and Coopers. Mr. Wm. Ma- zyck has lost 35 negroes. Col. Thomas Pinkney, in the neighborhood of 40, and many other plant- ers, 10 to 20 on each plantation. Mrs. Elias Harry, adjoining the plantation of Mr. Lucas, has lost up to date, 32 negroes — the best part of her prim- est negroes on her plantation."
From the " Natchez (Miss.) Daily Free Trader," Feb. 12, 1838.
" Found. — A negro's head was picked up on
THE rail-road YESTERDAY, WHICH THE OWNER CAN HAVE BY CALLING AT THIS OFFICE AND PAYING FOR THE ADVERTISEMENT."
The way in which slavcholding ' public opi- nion' protects a poor female lunatic is illustrated in the following advertisement in the " Fayette- ville (N. C.) Observer," June 27, 1838 :
"Taken and committed to jail, a negro girl named Nancy, who is supposed to belong to Spencer P. Wright, of the State of Georgia. She is about 30 years of age, and is a luna- tic. The owner is requested to come forward, prove property, pay charges, and take her away,
or SHE will be sold to PAY HER JAIL FEES.
FRED'K HOME, Jailor." A late Prospectus of the South Carolina Me. dical College, located in Charleston, contains the following passage : —
" Some advantages of a peculiar character are connected with this Institution, which it may be proper to point out. No place in the United States offers as great opportunities for the acqui- sition of anatomical knowledge, subjects being
OBTAINED FROM AMONG THE COLORED POPULATION IN SUFFICIENT NUMBER FOR EVERY PURPOSE, AND PRO- PER DISSECTIONS CARRIED ON WITHOUT OFFENDING ANY INDIVIDUALS IN THE COMMUNITY ! !"
Without offending any individuals in the com. munity ! More than half the population of Charleston, we believe, is ' colored ;' their graves may be ravaged, their dead may be dug up, drag- ged into the dissecting room, exposed to the gaze,, heartless gibes, and experimenting knives, of a crowd of inexperienced operators, who are given to>
170
Objections Considered — Public Opinion.
understand in the prospectus, that, if they do not acquire manual dexterity in dissection, it will be wholly their own fault, in neglecting to improve the unrivalled advantages aiFoided by the institu- tion— since each can have as many human bodies as he pleases to experiment upon — and as to the fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, brothers, and sisters, of those whom they cut to pieces from day to day, why, they are not ' individuals in the community,' but ' property,' and however their feelings may be tortured, the ' public opi- nion' of slaveholders is entirely too ' chivalrous' to degrade itself by caring for them !
The following which has been for some time a standing advertisement of the South Carolina Medical College, in the Charleston papers, is ano- ther index of the same ' public opinion' toward slaves. We give an extract : —
" Surgery of the Medical College of South Car- olina^ Queen st. — The Faculty inform their pro- fessional brethren, and the public, that they have established a Surgery, at the Old College, ^ueen street, for the treatment of negroes, which will continue in operation, during the session of the College, say from first November, to the fif- teenth of March ensuing.
" The object of the Faculty, in opening this Sur- gery, is to collect as many interesting cases, as possible, for the benefit and instruction of their pupils — at the same time, they indulge the hope, that it may not only prove an accommodation, but also a matter of economy to the public. They would respectfully call the attention of planters, living in the vicinity of the city, to this subject ; particularly such as may have servants laboring under Surgical diseases. Such persons of color as may not be able to pay for Medical advice, will be attended to gratis, at stated hours, as often as may be necessary.
"The Faculty take this opportunity of soliciting the co-operation of such of their professional brethren, as arc favorable to their objects. "
" The first thing that strikes the reader of the advertisement is, that this Surgery is established exclusively ' for the treatment of negroes,'' and if he knows little of the hearts of slaveholders to- wards their slaves, he charitably supposes, that they ' feel the dint of pity,' for the poor sufferers and have founded this institution as a special charity for their relief. But the delusion va- nishes as he reads on ; the professors take special care that no such derogatory inference shall be drawn from their advertisement. They give us the three reasons which have induced them to open this ' Surgery for the treatment of negroes.' The first and main one is, 'to collect as many interesting cases as possible for the benefit and instruction of their pupils' — another is, ' the hope that it may prove an accommodation,'' — and the third, that it may be ' a matter of economy to the public.'' Another reason, doubtless, and a con- trolling one, though the professors are silent about it, is that a large collection of ' interesting eurgi- !
cal cases,' always on hand, would prove a power- ful attraction to students, and greatly increase the popularity of the institution. In brief, then, the motives of its founders, the professors, were these, the accommodation of their students — the accommodation of the public (which means, the t«//i<es)— and the accommodation of slaveholders who have on their hands disabled slaves, that would make ' interesting cases,' for surgical ope- ration in the presence of the pupils — to these reasons we may add the accommodation of the Medical Institution and the accommodation of themselves ! Not a syllable about the acco?«/«oJa. Hon of the hopeless sufferers, writhing with the agony of those gun shot wounds, fractured sculls, broken limbs and ulcerated backs which constitute the ' interesting cases' for the professors to ' show ofP before their pupils, and, as practice makes perfect, for the students themselves to try their hands at by way of experiment.
Why, we ask, was this surgery established ' for the treatment of negroes' alone ? Wliy were these ' interesting cases' selected from that class exclu- sively? No man who knows the feeling of slave- holders towards slaves will be at a loss for the reason. 'Public opinion' would tolerate surgical ex- periments, operations, processes, performed upon them, which it would execrate if performed upon their master or other whites. As the great object in collecting the disabled negroes is to have ' inter- esting cases' for the students, the professors who perform the operations will of course endeavor to make them as ' interesting' as possible. The in- struction of tile student is the immediate object, and if the professors can accomplish it best by protracting the operation, pausing to explain the different processes, &c. the subject is only a negro, and what is his protracted agony, that it should restrain the professor from making the case as ' interesting' as possible to the students by so using his knife as will give them the best knowledge of the parts, and the process, however it may pro- tract or augment the pain of the subject. The end to be accomplished is the instruction of the student, operations upon the negroes are the means to the end ; that tells the whole stoi-y — and he who knows the hearts of slaveholders and has com- mon sense, however short the allowance, can find the way to his conclusions without a lantern.
By an advertisement of the same Medical In- stitution, dated November 12, 1838, and puMish- ed in the Charleston papers, it appears that an ' in- firmary has been opened in connection with the college.' The professors manifest a great desire that the masters of servants should send in their dis- abled slaves, and as an inducement to the furnish- ing of such interesting cases say, all medical and surgical aid will be offered without making them liable to any professional charges. Disinterested
Ohjeciions Considered — Public Opinion.
171
bounty, pity, sympathy, philanthropy ! However difficult or numerous the surgical cases of slaves thus put into their hands b}' the masters, they charge not a cent for their professional services. Their yearnings over human distress arc so in- tense, that they bc£^ the privilege of performing all operations, and furnishing all the medical atten- tion needed, gratis, feeling that the relief of misery is its own reward ! 1 ! But we have put down our exclamation points too soon — upon read- ing the whole of the advertisement we find the professors conclude it with the following para- graph :—
" The SOLE OBJECT of the faculty in the estab- lishment of such an institution being to promote tlie interest of Medical Education within their native State and City."
In the '• Charleston (South Carolina) Mercury" of October 12, 1838, we find an advertisement of half a column, by a Dr. T. Stillman, setting forth the merits of another ' Medical Infirmary,' under his own special supervision, at No. 110 Church street, Charleston. The doctor, after inveighing loudly against ' men totally ignorant of medical science,' who flood the country with quack nos- trums backed up by ' fabricated proofs of mira- culous cures,' proceeds to enumerate the diseases to which his ' Infirmary' is open, and to which his practice will be mainly confined. Appreciat- ing the importance of ' interesting cases,' as a stock in trade, on which to commence his experi- ments, he copies the example of the medical pro- fessors, and advertises for them. But, either from a keener sense of justice, or more generosi- ty, or greater confidence in his skill, or for some other reason, he proposes to buy up an assort- ment of damaged negroes, given over, as incura- ble, by others, and to make such his ' interesting cases,' instead of experimenting on those who are tlie ' property' of others.
Dr. Stillman closes his advertisement with the following notice : —
"To Planters and others. — Wanted ^/<y nc. gross. Any person having sick negroes, consid- ered incurable by their respective physicians, and wishing to dispose of them. Dr. S. will pay cash for negroes affected with scrofula or king's evil, confirmed hypocondriasm, apoplexy, diseases of the liver, kidneys, spleen, stomach and intestines, bladder and its appendages, diarrhea, dysentery, &c. The highest cash price will be paid on appli- cation as above."
The absolute barbarism of a ' public opinion' which not only tolerates, but produces such advertisements as this, was outdone by nothing in the dark ages. If the reader has a heart of flesh, he can feel it without help, and if he has not, comment will not create it. The total indifference of slaveholders to such a cold blood- ed proposition, their utter unconsciousness of the
paralysis of heart, and death of sympathy, and every feeling of common humanity for the slave, which it reveals, is enough, of itself, to show that the tendency of the spirit of slaveholding is, to kill in the soul whatever it touches. It has no eyes to see, nor ears to hear, nor mind to under- stand, nor heart to feel for its victims as human beings. To show that the above indication of the savage state is not an index of individual feeling, but of ' public opinion,' it is sufllcient to say, that it appears to be a standing advertise- ment in the Charleston Mercury, the leading po- litical paper of South Carolina, the organ of the Honorables John C. Calhoun, Robert Barnwell Rhett, Hugh S. Legare, and others regarded as the elite of her statesmen and literati. Besides, candidates for popular favor, like the doctor who advertises for the fifty ' incurables,' take special care to conciliate, rather than outrage, ' public opinion.' Is the doctor so ignorant of ' public opinion' in his own city, that he has unwittingly committed violence upon it in his advertisement ? We trow not. The same ' public opinion' which gave birth to the advertisement of doctor Still, man, and to those of the professors in both the medical institutions, founded the Charleston ' Work House' — a soft name for a Moloch temple dedicated to torture, and reeking with blood, in the midst of the city; to which masters and mistresses send their slaves of both sexes to be stripped, tied up, and cut with the lash till the blood and mangled flesh flow to their feet, or to be beaten and bruised with the terrible paddle, or forced to climb the tread-mill till nature sinks, or to experience other nameless torments.
The "Vicksburg (Miss.) Register," Dec. 27, 1838, contains the following item of information :
" Ardor in Betting. — Two gentlemen, at a tavern, having summoned the waiter, the poor fellow had scarcely entered, when he fell down in a fit of apoplexy. ' He's dead !' exclaimed one. ' He'll come to !' replied the other. ' Dead, for five hundred !' ' Done !' retorted the second. The noise of the fall, and the confusion which followed, brought up the landlord, wlio called out to fetch a doctor. ' No ! no ! we must have no interference — there's a bet depending!' 'But, sir, I shall lose a valuable servant!' 'Never mind ! you can put him down in the bill !' "
About the time the Vicksburg paper containing the above came to hand, we received a letter from N. P. Rogers, Esq. of Concord, N. H. the editor of the ' Herald of Freedom,' from which the following is an extract :
'' Some thirty years ago, I think it was, Col. Thatcher, of Maine, a lawyer, v^as in Virginia, on business, and was there invited to dine at a public house, with a company oi" the gentry of the south. The place I forget — the fact was told me by George Kimball, Esq. now of Alton, Illi. nois, who had the story from Col. Thatcher him-
172
Oijections Considered — Public Opinion.
self. Among' the servants waiting was a young negro man, whose beautiful person, obliging and assiduous temper, and his activity and grace in serving, made him a favorite with the company. The dinner lasted into the evening, and the wine passed freely about the table. At length, one of the gentlemen, who was pretty highly excited with wine, became unfortunately incensed, either at some trip of the young slave, in waiting, or at some other cause happening when the slave was within his reach. He seized the long-necked ■wine bottle, and struck the young man suddenly in the temple, and felled him dead upon the floor. The fell arrested, for a moment, the festivities of the table. ' DevUish unlucky,' exclaimed one. * The gentleman is very unfortunate,' cried an- other. ' Really a loss,' said a third, &c. &.c. The body was dragged from the dining hall, and the feast went on ; and at the close, one of the gentlemen, and the very one, I believe, whose hand had done the homicide, shouted, in bacchanalian bravery, and southern generosity, amid the broken glasses and fragments of chairs, ' Landlord ! put the nigger into the bill !' This was that murdered young man's requiem and funeral service."
Mr. George A. Avery, a merchant in Roches- ter, New York, and an elder in the Fourth Pres- byterian Church in that city, who resided foiu: years in Virginia, gives the following testimony :
" I knew a young man who had been out hunt- ing, and returning with some of his friends, see- ing a negro man in the road, at a little distance, deliberately drew up his rifle, and shot him dead. This was done without the slightest provocation, or a word passing. This young man passed through the form of a trial, and, although it was not even pretended by his counsel that he was not guilty of the act, deliberately and wantonly perpetrated, he was acquitted. It was urged by his counsel, that he was a young man, (about 20 years of age,) had no malicious intention, his mother was a widow, &c. &c."
Mr. Benjamin Clendenon, of Colerain, Lan- caster county, Pennsylvania, a member of the Society of Friends, gives the following testimony :
'' Three years ago the coming month, I took a journey of about seventy-five miles from home, through the eastern shore of Maryland, and a small part of Delaware. Calling one day, near noon, at Georgetown Cross-Roads, I found my- self surrounded in the tavern by slaveholders. Among other subjects of conversation, their hu- man cattle came in for a share. One of the com- pany, a middle-aged man, then living with a second wife, acknowledged, that after the death of his first wife, he lived in a state of concubinage with a female slave ; but when the time drew near for the taking of a second wife, he found it expedient to remove the slave from the premises. The same person gave an account of a female slave he formerly held, who had a propensity for some one pursuit, I think the attendance of re- ligious meetings. On a certain occasion, she presented her petition to him, asking for this in- dulgence; he refused — she importuned — and he, with sovereign indignation, seized a chair, and ■with a blow upon the head, knocked her sense-
less upon the floor. The same person, for some act of disobedience, on the part, I think, of the same slave, when employed in stacking strav/, felled her to the earth with the handle of a pitch fork. All these transactions were related with the utmost composure, in a bar-room within thirty miles of the Pennaylvania line."
The two following advertisements are illustra- tions of the regard paid to the marriage relations by slaveholding judges, governors, senators in Congress, and mayors of cities.
From the " Montgomery, (Ala.) Advertiser," Sept. 29, 1837.
" ^20 Reward. — Ranaway from the subscriber, a negro man named Moses. He is of common size, about 28 j'ears old. He formerly belonged to Judge Benson, of Montgomery, and it is said, has a wife in that county. John Gayle."
The John Gayle who signs this advertisement, is an Ex-Governor of Alabama.
From the " Charleston Courier," Nov. 28.
" Ranaway from the subscriber, about twelve months since, his negro man Paulladore. His complexion is dark — about 50 years old. I un- derstand Gen. R. Y. Hayne has purchased his wife and children from H. L. Pinckney, Esq. and has them now on his plantation, at Goose Creek, where, no doubt, the fellow is frequently lurking. Thomas Davis."
It is hardly necessary to say, that the General R. Y. Hayne, and H. L. Pinckney, Esq. named in the advertisement, are Ex-Governor Hayne, formerly U. S. Senator from South Carolina, and Hon. Henry L. Pinckney, late member of Con- gress from Charleston District, and now Intendant (Mayor) of that city.
It is no difficult matter to get at the ' public opinion' of a community, when ladies ' of prop- erty and standing' publish, under their own names, such advertisements as the following.
Mrs. Elizabeth L. Carter, of Groveton, Prince William county, Virginia, thus advertises her ne- gro man Moses :
" Ranaway from the subscriber, a negro man named Moses, aged about 40 years, about six feet high, well made, and possessing a good address, and HiVS lost a part of one of his ears."
Mrs. B. Newman, of the same place, and in the same paper, advertises —
" Penny, the wife of Moses, aged about 30 years, brown complexion, tall and likely, no par- ticular marks of person recollected."
Both of the above advertisements appear in the National Intelligencer, (Washington city,) June 10, 1837.
In the Mobile Mercantile Advertiser, of Feb. 13, 1838, is an advertisement signed Sarah Walsh, of which the following is an extract :
"Twenty-five dollars reward will be paid to any one who may apprehend and deliver to me, or confine in any jail, so that I can get him, my man Isaac, who ranaway sometime in September
Oljections Considered — Public Opinion.
173
Jast. He is 2G years of age, 5 feet 10 inches high, has a scar on his forehead, caused by a blow, and one on liis back, made by a shot fiiom a pis- tol."
In the " New Orleans Bee," Dec. 21, 1838, Mrs. BuRVANT, whose residence is at the corner of Chartres and Toulouse streets, advertises a wo- man as follows :
" Ranaway, a negro woman named Rachel — has lost all her toes except the large one."
From the " Huntsville (Ala.) Democrat," June 16, 1838 :
" Ten Dollars Reward. — Ranaway from the subscriber, a negro woman named Sally, about 21 years of age, taking along her two children — one three years, and the other seven months old. These negroes were purchased by me at the sale of George Mason's negroes, on the first Monday in May, and left a few days thereafter. Any person delivering them to the jailor in Hunts- ville, or to me, at my plantation, five miles above Triana, on the Tennessee river, shall receive the above reward. Charity Cooper."
From the " Mississippian," May 13, 1838 :
" Ten Dollars Reward. — Ranaway from the subscriber, a man named Aaron, yellow com- plexion, blue eyes, &c. I have no doubt he is lurking about Jackson and its vicinity, probably harbored by some of the negroes sold as the property of 7ny late husband, Harry Long, deceased. Some of them are about Richland, in Madison co. I will give the above reward when brought to me, about six miles north-west of Jackson, or put in JAIL, 50 that I can get him. Lucy Long."
If the reader, after perusing the preceding facts, testimony, and arguments, still insists that the ' public opinion' of the slave states protects the slave from outrages, and alleges, as proof of it, that cruel masters are frowned upon and shun- ned by the community generally, and regarded as monsters, we reply b)' presenting the following facts and testimony,
" Col. Means, of Manchester, Ohio, says, that when he resided in South Carolina, his neighbor, a physician, became enraged with his slave, and sentenced him to receive two hundred lashes. After having received one hundred and forty, he fainted. After inflicting the full number of lashes, the cords vifith which he was bound were loosed. When he revived, he staggered to the house, and sat down in the sun. Being faint and thirsty, he begged for some water to drink. The master went to the well, and procured some water — but instead of giving him to drink, he threw the whole bucket-full in his face. Nature could not stand the shock — he sunk to rise no more. For this crime, the physician was bound over to Court, and tried, and acquitted — and THE NEXT YEAR HE WAS ELECTED TO THE LEGISLATURE 1"
Testimony of Hon. John Randolph, of Vir- ginia :
" In one of his Congressional speeches, Mr. R, says : Avarice alone can drive, as it does drive, this infernal traffic, and the wretched victims of
it, like so many post-horses, whipped to death in a mail coach. Ambilion has its cover-sluts in the pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war ; but where are the trophies of avarice ? The hand-caff, the manacle, the blood-stained cowhide ! What man is worse received in so- ciety FOR BEING a HARD MASTER ? WnO DENIES THF HAND OF A SISTER OR DAUGHTER TO SUCH MONSTERS ?"
Mr. George A. Avery, of Rochester, New York, who resided four years in Virginia, testi- fies as follows :
" I know a local Methodist minister, a man of talents, and popular as a preacher, who took his negro girl into his barn, in order to whip her — and she was brought out a corpse 1 His friends seemed to think this of -w little irnportance to his 7uinisterial standing, that although I lived near him about three years, I do not recollect to have heard them apologize for the deed, though I re- collect having heard one of his neighbors allege this fact as a reason why he did not wish to heaj him preach."
Notwithstanding the mass of testimony which has been presented establishing the fact that fn the ' public opinion' of the South the slaves find no protection, some may still claim that the ' public opinion' exhibited by the preceding facts is not that of the highest class of society at the South, and in proof of this assertion, refer to the fact, that 'Negro Brokers,' Negro Specu- lators, Negro Auctioneers, and Negro Breeders, &c., are by that class universally despised and avoided, as are all who treat their slaves with cruelty.
To this we reply, that, if all claimed by the objector were true, it could avail him nothing for ^public opinion' is neither made nor unmade by ' the first class of society.' That class pro- duces in it, at most, but slight modifications ; those who belong to it have generally a ' public opinion,' within their own circle which has rare- ly more, either of morality or mercy than the public opinion of the mass, and is, at least, equal, ly heartless and more intolerant. As to the esti- mation in which ' speculators, ' ' soul drivers,' &c. are held, we remark, that, they are not de- spised because they trade in slaves but because they are working men, all such are despised by slaveholders. White drovers who go with droves of swine and cattle from the free states to the slave states, and Yankee pedlars, who traverse the south, and white day-laborers are, in the main, equally despised, or, if negro-traders excite more contempt than drovers, pedlars, and day-laborers, it is be- cause, they are, as a class more ignorant and vulgar, men from low families and and boors in their manners. Ridiculous I to suppose, that a people, who have, by law, made men articles of trade equally with swine, should despise men- drovers and traders, more than hog-drovers and
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Objections Considered — Public Opinion.
traders. That they are not despised because it is their business to trade in human beings and bring them to market, is plain from the fact that when some ' gentleman of property and standing' and of a ' good family' embarks in a negro speculation, and employs a dozen ' soul drivers' to traverse the upper country, and drive to the south coffles of slaves, expending hundreds of thousands in his wholesale puichases, he does not lose caste. It is known in Alabama, that Mr. Erwin, son-in-law of the Hon. Henry Clay, and brother of J. P. Erwin, formerly postmaster, and late mayor of the city of Nashville, laid the foundation of a princely fortune in the slave-trade, carried on from the Northern Slave States to the Planting South ; that the Hon. H. Hitchcock, brother-in-law of Mr. E., and since one of the judges of the Supreme Court of Alaba- ma, was interested with him in the traffic ; and that a late member of the Kentucky Senate (Col. Wall) not only carried on the same business, a few years ago, but accompanied his droves in person down the Mississippi. Not as the driver, for that would be vulgar drudgery, beneath a gentleman, but as a nabob in state, ordering his understrappers.
It is also well known that President Jackson was a 'soul driver,' and that even so late as the year before the commencement of the last war. he bought up a coffle of slaves and drove them down to Louisiana for sale.
Thomas N. Gadsden, Esq. the principal slave auctioneer in Charleston, S. C. is of one of the first families in the state, and moves in the- very highest class of society there. He is a descendant of the distinguished General Gadsden of revolution- ary memory, the most prominent southern mem- ber in the Continental Congress of 1765, and after- wards elected lieutenant governor and then govern- or of the state. The Rev. Dr. Gadsden, rector of St. Philip's Church, Charleston, and the Rev. PhilUp Gadsden, both prominent Episcopal cler- gymen in South Carolina, and Colonel James Gadsden of the United States army, after whom a county in Florida was recently named, are all brothers of this Thomas N. Gadsden, Esq. the largest slave auctioneer in the state, under whose hammer, men, women and children go off by thou- sands ; its stroke probably sunders daily, husbands and wives, parents and children, brothers and sis- ters, perhaps to see each other's faces no more. Now who supply the auction table of this Thomas N. Gadsderi, Esq. with its loads of human mer- chandize ? These same detested ' soul drivers' forsooth ! They prowl through the country, buy, catch, and fetter them, and drive their chained coffles up to his stand, where Thomas N. Gads- den, Esq. knocks them off to the highest bidder, to Ex-Governor Butler perhaps, or to Ex-Governor Hayne, or to Hon. Robert Barnwell Rhett, or to his ovm reverend brother, Dr. Gadsden. Now
this high born, wholesale soul.seller doubtless de- spises the retail ' soul-drivers' who give him their custom , and so does the wholesale grocer, the driz- zling tapster who sneaks up to his counter for a keg of whiskey to dole out under a shanty in two cent glasses ; and both for the same reason.
The plea that the ' public opinion' among the highest classes of society at the south is mild and considerate towards the slaves, that they do not overwork, underfeed, neglect when old and sick, scantily clothe, badly lodge, and half shelter their slaves ; that they do not barbarously flog, load with irons, imprison in the stocks, brand and maim them ; hunt them when runaways with dogs and guns, and sunder by force and forever the nearest kindred — is shown, by almost every page of this work, to be an assumption, not only utterly ground- less, but directly opposed to masses of irrefragable evidence. If the reader will be at the pains to review the testimony recorded on the foregoing pages he will find that a very large proportion of the atrocities detailed were committed, not by the most ignorant and lowest classes of society, but by persons 'of property and standing,' by masters and mistresses belonging to the ' upper classes,' by persons in the learned professions, by civil, judicial, and military officers, by the literati, by the fashionable elite and persons of more than ordinary ' respectability' and external morality — large numbers of whom are professors of religion.
It wUl be recollected that the testimony of Sa- rah M. Grimkc, and Angelina G.Weld, was con- fined exclusively to the details of slavery as ex- hibited in the highest classes of society, mainly in Charleston, S. C. See their testimony pp. 22 — 24 and 52 — 57. The former has furnished us with the following testimony in addition to that already given.
"Nathaniel Hey ward of Combahee, S.C., oneof the wealthiest planters in the state, stated, in con- versation with some other planters who were com- plaining of the idle and lazyhabits of their slaves, and the difficulty of ascertaining whether their sickness was real or pretended, and the loss they suffered from their frequent absence on this ac. count from their work, said, ' I never lose a day's work : it is an established rule on my plan- tations that the tasks of all the sick negroes shall be done by those who are well in addition to their own. By this means a vigilant supervision is kept up by the slaves over each other, and they take care that nothing but real sickness keeps any one out of the field.' I spent several winters in the neighborhood of Nathaniel Hey ward's plantations, and well remember his character as a severe task master. / was present when the above statement was made.'"
The cool barbarity of such a regulation is hard- ly surpassed by the worst edicts of the Roman Caligula — especially when we consider that the plantations of this man were in the neighborhood of the Combahee river, one of the most unhealth
Objections Considered — Public Opinion.
175
. ".i the low country of South CaroHna ; furtlier, that large numbers of liis slaves worked in the rice vuirshes, or 'swamps' as they are called in that state — and tliat during six months of the year, so fatal to health is the malaria of the swamps in that region that the planters and their families invariably abandon tlieir plantations, re- garding it as downright presumption to spend a single day upon them ' between the frosts' of the early spring and the last of November.
The reader may infer the high standing of Mr. Heyward in South Carolina, from the fact that he was selected with four other freeholders to constitute a Court for the trial of the conspirators in the insurrection plot at Charleston, in 1822. Another of the individuals chosen to constitute tliat court was Colonel Henry Deas, now presi- dent of the Board of Trustees of Charleston Col- lege, and a few years since a member of the Se- nate of South Carolina, From a late corresp n- dence in the " Greenvile (S. C.) Mountaineer," between Rev. William IM. Wightmaii, a professor in Randolph, Macon, College, and a number of the citizens of Lodi, South Carolina, it appears that tlie cruelty of this Colonel Deas to his slaves, is proverbial in South Carolina, so much that Pro- fessor Wightman, in the sermon which occasion- ed the correspondence, spoke of the Colonel's in- humanity to his slaves as a matter of perfect no- toriety.
Another South Carolina slaveholder, Hon. Whitmarsh B. Seabrook, recently, we believe, Lieut. Governor of the state, gives the following testimony to his own inhumanity, and his certifi- cate of the ' public opinion ' among South Caro- lina slaveholders ' of high degree.'
In an essay on the management of slaves, read before the Agricultural Society of St. Johns, S. C. and published by the Society, Charleston, 1834, Mr. S. remarks :
" I consider imprisonment in the stocks at night, with or without hard labor in the day, as a pow- erful auxiliary in the cause of good government. To the correctness of this opinion many can bear testimony. Experience has convinced me that there is no punishment to which the slave looks with more horror.^'
The advertisements of the Professors in the Medical Colleges of South Carolina, published with comments — on pp. 169, 170, are additional il- lustrations of the ' public opinion ' of the literati.
That the 'public opinion ' o?the highest class of society in South Carolina, regards slaves as mere cattle, is shown by the following advertise- ment, which we copy from the "Charleston (S.C.) Mercury" of May 16 :
" Negroes for Sale. — A Girl about twenty years of age, (raised in Virginia,) and her two fe- male children, one four and the other two years old — is remarkably strong and healthy — never
having had a day's sickness, with the exception of the small pox, in her life. The children are lino and healthy. She is very i'kolu--ic in her GENERATING QUALITIES, and affords a rare ojtportu. niUj to any person ivho ivishcs to raise a family of strong and healthy servants for their own use. " Any person wishing to purchase, will please leave their address at the Mercury ofllcc,"
The Charleston Mercury, in which this adver- tisement appears, is the leading political paper in South Carolina, and is well known to be the po- litical organ of Messrs. Calhoun, Rhett, Pickens, and others of the most prominent politicians in the state. Its editor, John Stewart, Esq., is a law- yer of Charleston, and of a highly respectable fa- mily. He is a brother-in-law of Hon. Robert Barnwell Rhett, the late Attorney-General, now a Member of Congress, and Hon. James Rhett, a leading member of the Senate of South Carolina ; his wife is a niece of the late Governor Smith, of North Carolina, and of the late Hon. Peter Smith, Intendant (Mayor) of the city of Charles- ton ; and a cousin of the late Hon. Thomas S. Grimke.
The circulation of the ' Mercurj'' among the wealthy, the literary, and ths fashionable, is pro- bably much larger than that of any other paper in the state.
These facts in connection with the preceding advertisement, are a sufficient exposition of the ' public opinion ' towards slaves, prevalent in these classes of society.
The following scrap of ' public opinion' in Flo- rida, is instructive. We take it from the Frorida Herald, June 23, 1838 :
Ranaway from my plantation, on Monday night, the 13th instant, a negro fellow named Ben ; eighteen years of age, polite when spoken to, and speaks very good English for a negro. As I have traced him out in several places in town, I am certain he is harbored. This notice is given that I am determined, that whenever he is taken, to punish him till he informs me who has given him food and protection, and / shall apply the law of Judge Lynch to my own satisfaction, ou those concerned in his concealment.
A. Watson.
June 16, 1838."
Now, who is this A. Watson, who proclaims through a newspaper, his determination to put to the torture this youth of eighteen, and to Lynch to his ' satisfaction ' whoever has given a cup o.f cold water to the panting fugitive. Is he some low miscreant beneath public contempt ? Nav, verily, he is a ' gentleman of property and stand, ing,' one of the wealthiest planters and largest slaveholders in Florida. He resides in the vicini- ty of St. Augustine, and married the daughter of the late Thomas C. Morton, Esq. one of the first merchants in New York.
We may mention in this connection the well
176
Objections Considered — Public Opinion.
known fact, that many wealthy planters make it a rule never to employ a physician among their slaves. Hon. William Smith, Senator in Con- gress, from South Carolina, from 1816 to 1823, and afterwards from 1826 to 1831, is one of this number. He owns a number of large plantations in the south western states. One of these, bor- ders upon the village of Huntsville, Alabama. The people of that village can testify that it is a part of Judge Smith's system never to employ a physician even in the most extreme cases. If the medical skill of the overseer, or of the slaves themselves, can contend successfully with the disease , they live, if not, they die. At all events, a physician is not to be called. Judge Smith was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of the United States three years since.
The reader will recall a similar fact in the testi- mony of Rev. W. T. Allan, son of Rev. Dr. Al- lan, of Huntsville, (see p. 47,) who says that Co- lonel Robert H. Watkins, a wealthy planter, in Alabama, and a presidential elector in 1836, who works on his plantations three hundred slaves, ' After employing a physician for some time among his negroes, he ceased to do so, al. lodging as the reason, that it was cheaper to lose a few negroes every year than to pay a physician?
It is a fact perfectly notorious, that the late Ge. neral Wade Hampton, of South Carolina, who was the largest slaveholder in the United States, and probably the wealthiest man south of the Poto- mac, was excessively cruel in the treatment of his slaves. The anecdote of him related by a cler- gyman, on page 29, is perfectly characteristic.
For instances of barbarous inhumanity of va- rious kinds, and manifested by persons belonging
TO THE MOST RESPECTABLE CIRCLES OF SOCIETY, the
reader can consult the following references: — Testimony of Rev. John Graham, p. 25, near the bottom ; of Mr. Foe, p. 26, middle ; of Rev. J. O. Choules, p. 39, middle ; of Rev. Dr. Channing, p. 44, top ; of Mr. George A. Avery, p. 44, bot- tom ; of Rev. W. T. Allan, p. 47 ; of Mr. John M. Nelson, p. 51, bottom ; of Dr. J. C. Finley, p. 61, top ; of Mr. Dustin, p. 66, bottom ; of Mr. John Clarke, p. 87 ; of Mr. Nathan Cole, p. 89, middle ; Rev. William Dickey, p. 93 ; Rev. Fran- cis Hawley, p. 97 ; of Mr. Powell, p. 100 middle ; of Rev. P. Smith p. 102.
The preceding are but a few of a large num- ber of similar cases contained in the foregoing tes- timonies. The slaveholder mentioned by Mr. Ladd, p. 86, who knocked down a slave and af- terwards piled brush upon his body, and consum- ed it, held the hand of a female slave in tlie fire till it was burned so as to be useless for life, and
whipped a female slave to death in St. Louis, in 1837, as stated by Mr. Cole, p. 89, was a Major in, the United States Army. One of the physicians who was an abettor of the tragedy on the Brasses, in which a slave was tortured to death, and another so that he barely lived, (see Rev. Mr. Smith's testimony, p. 102.) was Dr. An- son Jones, a native of Connecticut, who was soon after appointed minister plenipotentiary from Texas to this government, and now resides at Washington city. The slave mistress at Lexing- ton, Ky., who, as her husband testifies, has killed six of his slaves, (see testimony of Mr. Clarke, p. 87,) is the wife of Hon. Fielding S. Turner, late judge of the criminal court of New Orleans, and one of the wealthiest slaveholders in Ken- tucky. Lilbum Lewis, who deliberately chopped in pieces his slave George, with a broad-axe, (see testimony of Rev. Mr. Dickey, p. 93) was a wealthy slaveholder, and a nephew of President Jefferson. Rev. Francis Hawley, who was a general agent of the Baptist State Convention of North Caroli- na, confesses (see p. 47,) that while residing in that state he once went out with his hounds and rifle, to hunt fugitive slaves. But instead of making further reference to testimony already be- fore the reader, we will furnish additional instan- ces of the barbarous cruelty which is tolerated and sanctioned by the ' upper classes ' of society at the south; we begin with clergymen, and other officers and members of churches.
That the reader may judge of the degree of ' protection' which slaves receive from ' public opinion,' and among the members and ministers of professed christian churches, we insert the following illustrations.
Extract from an editorial article in the " Lowell (Mass.) Observer" a religious paper edited at the time (1833) by the Rev. Daniel S. Southjiayd, who recently died in Texas.
" We have been among the slaves at the south. We took pains to make discoveries in respect to the evils of slavery. We formed our sentiments on the subject of the cruelties exercised towards the slave from having witnessed them. We now affirm, that we never saw a man, who had never been at the south, who thought as much of the cruelties practiced on the slaves, as we know to be a fact.
" A slave whom I loved for his kindness and the an^iableness of his disposition, and who belonged to the family where I resided, happened to stay o\xt fifteen minutes longer than he had permission to stay. It was a mistake — it was unintentional. But what was the penalty ? He was sent to the house of correction with the order that he should have thirty lashes upon his naked body loith a knotted rope ! ! ! He was brought home and laid down in the stoop, in the back of the house,
.in the sun, upon the floor. And there he lay, with confessed to Mr. Ladd, that he had killed four ^^^^ the appearance of a rotten carcass than a slaves, had been a member of the Senate of Geor. | living man, for four days before he could do more gia and a clergyman. The slaveholder who i than move. And wJio was this inhuman bcin;j
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177
calling God'b property his own, and using^ it as he would not have dared to use a beast ? You may say he was a tiger — one of the more wicked sort, and that we must not judge others by him. He was a professor of that religion lohich will pour itpon the loilling slaveholder the retribution due to his sin.
" We wish to mention another fact, which our own eyes saw and our own cars heard. We were called to evening prayers. The family as. sembled around the altar of their accustomed devotions. There was one female slave present, who belonged to another master, but who had been hired for the day and tarried to attend fami- ly worship. The precious Bible was opened, and nearly half a chapter had been read, when the eye of the master, who was reading, oliserved that the new female servant, instead of bemg seated like his own slaves, flat upon the floor, was standing in a stooping posture upon her feet. He told her to sit down on the floor. She said it was not her custom at home. He ordered her again to do it. She replied that her master did not re- quire it. Irritated by this answer, he repeatedly struck her upon the head with the very Bible he held in his hand. And not content with this, he seized his cane and caned her down stairs most unmercifully . He then returned to resume his profane work, but we need not say that all the family were not there. Do you ask again, who was this wicked man ? He was a professor of religion .' .'"
Rev. Huntington Lyman, late pastor of the Free Church in Buffalo, New York, says : —
" Walking one day in New Orleans with a professional gentleman, who was educated in Connecticut, we were met by a black man ; the gentleman was greatly incensed with the black man for passing so near him, and turning upon him he pushed him with violence off the walk into the street. This man was a professor of re- ligion."
[And we add, a member, and if we mistake not an officer of the Presbyterian Church which was established there by Rev. Joel Parker, and which was then under his teachings. — Ed.]
Mr. EzEKiEL BiRDSEYE, a gentleman of known probity, in Cornwall, Litchfield county, Conn, gives the testimony which follows : —
" A Baptist clergyman in Laurens District,
S. C. WHIPPED HIS SLAVE TO DEATH, whom he SUS.
pected of having stolen about sixty dollars. The slave was in the prime of life and was purchased a few weeks before for ^800 of a slave trader from Virginia or Maryland. The coroner, Wm. Irby, at whose house I was then boarding, told me, that on reviewing the dead body, he found it beat to a jelly from head to foot. The master's wife discovered the money a day or two after the death of the slave. She had herself removed it from where it was placed, not knowing what it was, as it was tied up in a thick envelope. I happened to be present when the trial of this man took place, at Laurens Court House. His daughter testified that her father untied the slave, when he appear- ed to be failing, and gave him cold water to drink, of which he took freely. His counsel pleaded that 23
his death might have been caused by drinking cold water in a state of excitement. The Judge cliarged the jury, that it would bo their duty to find tlic defendant guilty, if they believed the death was caused by tlic whipping ; but if they were of opinion that drinking cold water caused the death, tlicy would find him not guilty ! The jury found him — not guilty !"
Dr. Jeremiah S. Waugii, a physician in Somer- ville, Butler county, Ohio, testifies as follows : —
" In the year 1825, I boarded with the Rev. John Mushat, a Seceder minister, and principal of an academy in Iredel county, N. C. He had slaves, and was in the habit of restricting them on the Sabbath. One of his slaves, however, ven- tured to disobey his injunctions. The offence was, he went away on Sabbath evening, and did not return till Monday morning. About the time we were called to breakfast, the Rev. gentleman was engaged in chastising him for breaking the Sab- bath. He determined not to submit — attempted to escape by flight. Tlio master immediately took down his gun and pursued irim — levelled his in- strument of death, and told him, if he did not stop instantly he would blow him through. The poor slave returned to the house and submitted himself to the lash ; and the good master, while yet pale WITH RAGE, sat down to the table, and with a trem- bling voice ASKED God's blessing !"
The following letter was sent by Capt. Jacob Dunham, of New York city, to a slaveholder in Georgetown, D. C. more than twenty years since: " Georgetown, June 13, 1815.
" Dear sir — Passing your house yesterday, I beheld a scene of cruelty seldom witnessed ; that was the brutal chastisement of yom- negro girl, lashed to a ladder and beaten in an inhuman man- ner, too bad to describe. My blood chills while I contemplate the subject. This has led me to in- vestigate your character from your neighbors ; who inform me that you have caused the death of one negro man, whom you struck with a sledge for some trivial fault — that you have beaten ano- ther black girl with such severity that the splint- ers remained in her back for some weeks after you sold her — and many other acts of barbarity, too lengthy to enumerate. And to my great sur- prise, I find you are a professor of the Christian religion !
" You will naturally inquire, why I meddle with your family affairs. My answer is, the cause of humanity and a sense of my duty requires it. — With these hasty remarks I leave you to reflect on the subject ; but wish you to remember, that there is an all-seeing eye who knows all our faults and will reward us according to our deeds. I remain, sir, yours, &c.
Jacob Dunham, Master of the brig Cyrus, of N. Y."
Rev. Sylvester Cowles, pastor of the Presby- terian church in Fredonia, N. Y. says : —
" A young man, a member of the church in Conewango, went to Alabama last year, to reside as a clerk in an uncle's store. When he had been there about nine months, he wrote his father that he must return home. To sec members of the same church sit at the communion table of our
178
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Lord one dav, and the next to see one seize any weapon and knock the other down, as he had seen, he could not hve there. His good father forthwith gave him permission to return home."
The following is a specimen of the shameless hardihood with which a professed minister of the Gospel, and editor of a rehgious paper, assumes the right to hold God's image as a chattel. It is from the Southern Christian Herald : —
" It is stated in the Georgetown Union, that a negro, supposed to have died ofcholera, when that disease prevailed in Charleston, was carried to the public burying ground to be interred ; but before interment signs of life appeared, and, by the use of proper means, he was restored to health. And now the man who first perceived the signs of life in the slave, and that led to his preservation, claims the property as his own, and is about bring- ing suit for its recovery. As well might a man who rescued his neighbor's slave, or his horse, from drowning, or who extinguished the flames that would otherwise soon have burnt down his neighbor's house, claim the property as his own."
Rev. George Bourne, of New- York city, late Editor of the " Protestant Vindicator," who was a preacher seven years in Virginia, gives the fol- lowing testimony.*
" Benjamin Lewis, who was an elder in the Pres- byterian church, engaged a carpenter to repair and enlarge his house. After some time had elapsed, Kyle, the builder, was awakened very early in the morning by a most piteous moaning and shrieking. He arose, and following the sound, discovered a colored woman nearly naked, tied to a fence, while Lewis was lacerating her. Kyle instantly commanded the slave driver to de- sist. Lewis maintained his jurisdiction over his slaves, and threatened Kyle that he would punish him for his interference. Finally Kyle obtained the release of the victim.
" A second and a third scene of the same kind occurred, and on the third occasion the alterca-
* A few years since Blr. Bounie published a work en- titled, " Picture of slavery in the United States." In which he describes a variety of horrid atrocities perpetrated upon slaves ; such as brutal scourging and lacerations with the application of pepper, mustard, salt, vinegar, &;c., to the bleeding gashes; also maimings, cat-haulings, burnings, and other tortures similar to hundreds described on the pre- ceding pages. These descriptions of Mr. Bourne were, at that time, thought by multitudes incredible, and probably, even by some abolitionists, who had never given much reflection to the subject. We are happy to furnish the reader with the following testimony of a Virginia slaveholder to the accu- racy of Mi. Bonme'sAe\iaealions. Especially as this slave- holder is a native of one of the counties (Culpepper) near to which the atrocities described by Mr. B. were committed.
Testimony of Mr. William Hansborough, of Culpepper, County, Virginia, the " owner" of sixty slaves, to Mr. Bourne's " Picture of Slavery" as a tiiie delineation.
Lindley Coates, of Lancaster Co., Pa., a well Icnown member of the Society of Friends, and a member of the late Pennsylvania Convention for revising the Constitution of the State, in a letter now before us, describing a recent interview between him and Mr. Hansborough, of several days continuance, says, — " I handed liim Bourne's Pic- ture of slavery to read : after reading it, he said, that all of the sufferings of slaves therein related, were true delineations, and that he had seen all those modes of tor- ture himself."
tion almost produced a battle between the elder and the carpenter.
" Kyle immediately arranged his affairs, packed up his tools and prepared to depart. ' Where are you going V demanded Lewis. ' I am going home ;' said Kyle. ' Then I will pay you nothing for what you have done,' retorted the slave driver, 'unless you complete your contract.' The car- penter went away with tliis edifying declaration, ' I will not stay here a day longer ; for I expect the fire of God will come down and bum you up altogether, and I do not choose to go to hell with you.' Through hush-money and promises not to whip the women any more, I believe Kyle returned and completed his engagement.
"James Kyle of Harrisonburg, Virginia, fre. quently narrated that circumstance, and his son, the carpenter, confirmed it with all the minute particulars combined with his temporary resi- dence on the Shenandoah river.
"John M'Cue of Augusta county, Virginia, a Presbyterian preacher, frequently on the Lord's day morning, tied up his slaves and whipped them ; and left them bound, while he went to the meet- ing house and preached — and after his return home repeated his scourging. That fact, with others more heinous, was known to all persons in his congregation and around the vicinity; and so far from being censured for it, he and his brethren justified it as essential to preserve their ' domes- tic institutions.'
-' Mrs. Pence, of Rockmgham county, Virginia, used to boast, — ' I am the best hand to whip a wench in the whole county.' She used to pinion the girls to a post in the yard on the Lord's day morning, scourge them, put on the » negro plas. ter,'' salt, pepper, and vinegar, leave them tied, and walk away to church as demure as a nun, and after service repeat her flaying, if she felt the whim. I once expostulated with her upon her cruelty. ' Mrs. Pence, how can you whip your girls so pubhcly and disturb your neighbors so on the Lord's day morning.' Her answer was memo- rable. ' If I were to v/hip them on any other day I should lose a day's work ; but by whipping them on Sunday, their backs get well enough by Mon- day morning.' That woman, if alive, is doubtless a member of the chiurch now, as then.
" Rev. Dr. Staughton, formerly of Philadelphia, often stated, that when he lived at Georgetown, S. C. he could tell the doings of one of the slave- holders of the Baptist church there by his prayers at the prayer meeting. ' If,' said he, ' that man was upon good terms with his slaves, his words were cold and heartless as frost ; if he had been whipping a man, he would pray with life ; but if he had left a woman whom he had been flogging, tied to a post in his cellar, with a determination to go back and torture her again, O ! how he would pray !' The Rev. Cyrus P. Grosvenor of Massa- chusetts can confinn the above statement by Dr. Staughton.
" William Wilson, a Presbyterian preacher of Augusta county, Virginia, had a young colored girl who was constitutionally unhealthy. As no means to amend her were availing, he sold her to a member of his congregation, and in the usual style of human flesh dealers, warranted her ' sound,' &c. The fraud was instantly discover- ed ; but he would not refund the amount. A suit
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was commenced, and was long continued, and fi- nally the plaintift' recovered the money out of which ho had been swindled by slave-trading with his own preacher, No Presbyter}' censured him, although Judge Brown, the chancellor, severely condenmed the imposition.
" In the year 1811, Jehab Graham, a preacher, lived with Alexander Nelson a Presbyterian elder, near Stanton, Virginia, and he informed me that a man liad appeared before Nelson, who was a magistrate, and swore falsely against his slave, — that tiie elder ordered him tliirt3'-nine lashes. All that wickedness was done as an excuse for his dis- sipated owner to obtain money. A negro trader had oflered him a considerable sum for the ' boy,' and under the pretence of saving him from tlie punishment of the law, he was trafficked away from his woman and children to another state. The magistrate was aware of the perjury, and the whole abomination, but all the truth uttered by every colored person in the southern states would not be of any avail against the notorious false swearing of the greatest white villain who ever cursed the world. ' How,' said Jehab Graham, 'can I preach to-morrow?' I replied, 'Very well ; go and thunder the doctrine of retribution in their ears, Obadiah 15, till by the divine bless- ing you kill or cure them.' My friends, John M. Nelson of Hillsborough, Ohio, Samuel Linn, and Robert Herron, and others of the same vicin- ity, could ' make both the ears of every one who heareth them tingle' with the accounts which they can give of slave-driving by professors of religion in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia.
" In 1815, near Frederick, in Maryland, a most barbarous planter was killed in a fit of despera- tion, by four of his slaves in self-defence. It was declared by those slaves while m prison that, be- sides his atrocities among their female associates, he had dehberately butchered a number of his slaves. The four men were murdered by law, to appease the popular clamor. I saw them execut- ed on the twenty-eighth day of Jan'y, 1816. The facts I received from the Rev. Patrick Davidson of Frederick, who constantly visited them during their imprisonment — and who became an aboli- tionist in consequence of the disclosures which he heard from those men in the jail. The name of the planter is not distinctly recollected, but it can be known by an inspection of the record of the trial in the clerk's ofiice, Frederick.
"A minister of Virginia, still living, and whose name must not be mentioned for fear of Nero Preston and his confederate-hanging myrmidons, informed me of this fact in 1815, in his own house. «A member of my church, said he, lately whip- ped a colored youth to death. What shall I do ?' I answered, ' I hope you do not mean to continue him in your church.' That minister replied, * How can we help it !' We dare not call him to an account. We have no legal testimony.' Their communion season was then approaching. I ad- dressed his wife, — ' Mrs. do you mean to sit
at the Lord's table with that murderer ?' — ' Not I,' she answered : ' I would as soon commune with the devil himself.' The slave killer was equally unnoticed by the civil and ecclesiastical au- thority.
" John Baxter, a Presbyterian elder, the brother of that elaveholding doctor in divinity, George A,
Baxter, held as a slave the wife of a Baptist color- ed preacher, familiarly called ' Uncle Jack.' In a late period of pregnancy he scourged her so that tlic lives of herself and lu;r unborn child were con- sidered in jeopardy. Uncle Jack was advised to obtain the liberation of his wife. Baxter finally agreed, I think, to sell the woman and her chil- dren, three of them, I believe for six hundred dollars, and an additional hundred if the unborn child survived a certain period after its birth. Uncle Jack was to pay one hundred dollars per annum for his wife and children for seven years, and Bax- ter held a sort of mortgage upon them for the pay- ment. Uncle Jack showed me his back in fur. rows like a ploughed field. His master used to whip up the flesh, then beat it downwards, and then apply the ' negro plaster,^ salt, pepper, mus- tard, and vinegar, until all Jack's back was almost as hard and unimpressible as the bones. There is slaveholding religion ! A Presbyterian elder re- ceiving from a Baptist preacher seven hundred dollars for his wife and children. James Kyle and uncle Jack used to tell that story with great Christian sensibility ; and uncle Jack would weep tears of anguish over his wife's piteous tale, and tears of ectasy at the same moment that he was free, and that soon, by the grace of God, his wife and children, as he said, ' would be all free to- gether.' "
Rev. Jajies Nourse, a Presbyterian clergyman of MifHiii CO. Penn., whose father is, we believe, a slaveholder in Washington City, says, —
" The Rev. Mr. M , now of the Hunting- don Presbytery, after an absence of many months, was about visiting his old friends on what is com- monly called the ' Eastern Shore.' Late in the afternoon, on his journey, he called at the house of Rev. A. C. of P town, Md. With this bro- ther he had been long acquainted. Just at that juncture Mr. C. was about proceeding to whip a colored female, who was his slave. She was firmly tied to a post in FRONT of his dwelling, house. The arrival of a clerical visitor at such a time, occasioned a temporary delay in the execu- tion of Mr. C.'s purpose. But the delay was only temporary ; for not even the presence of such a guest could destroy the bloody design. The guest interceded with all the mildness yet earnestness of a brother and new visitor. But all in vain, ' the woman had been saucy and must be punish- ed.' The cowhide was accordingly produced, and the Rev. Mr. C, a large and very stout man, ap- plied it ' manfully' on ' woman's' bare and ' shrink- ing flesh.' I saj bare, because you know that the slave women generally have but three or four inches of the arm near the .shoulder covered, and the neck is left entirely exposed. As the cow- hide moved back and forward, striking right and left, on the head, neck and arms, at every few strokes the sympathizing guest would exclaim, ' O, brother C. desist.' But brother C. pursued his brutal work, till, after inflicting about sixty lashes, the woman was found to be suffased with blood on the hinder part of her neck, and under her frock between the shoulders. Yet this Rev. gentleman is well esteemed in the church — was, three or four years since, moderator of the synod of Philadelphia, and yet walks abroad, feeling himself unrebuked by law or gospel. Ah, sir
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does not this narration give fearful force to the query — ' What has the church to do with slavery V Comment on the facts is unnecessary, yet allow ine to conclude by saying, that it is my opinion such occurrences are not rare in the south.
J. N."
Rev. Charles Stewart Renshaw, of Quincy, Illinois, in a recent letter, speaking of his resi- dence, for a period, in Kentucky, says —
" In a conversation with Mr. Robert "Willis, he told me that his negro girl had run away from him some time previous. He was convinced that she was lurking round, and he watched for her. He soon found the place of her concealment, drew her from it, got a rope, and tied her hands across each other, then tlirew the rope over a beam in the kitchen, and hoisted her up by the wrists ; ' and,' said he, ' I whipped her there till I made the lint fly, I tell you.' I asked him the mean- ing of making ' the lint fly,' and he replied, ' till the blood few.' I spoke of the iniquity and cru- elty of slavery, and of its immediate abandon- ment. He confessed it an evil, but said, ' I am a colonizationist — I believe in that scheme.' Mr. Willis is a teacher of sacred music, and a mem- ber of the Presbyterian Church in Lexington, Kentucky."
Mr. R. speaking of the Presbyterian Minis- ter and church where he resided, says :
" The minister and all the church members held slaves. Some were treated kindly, others harsh- ly. There was not a shade of difference between their slaves and those of their infidel neighbors, either in their physical, intellectual, or moral state : in some cases the}'' would suffer in the com- parison.
" In the kitchen of the minister of the church, a slave man was living in open adultery with a slave woman, who was a member of the church, with an ' assured hope' of heaven — whilst the man's wife was on the minister's farm in Fayette county. The minister had to bring a cook down from his farm to the place in which he was preaching. The choice was between the wife of the man and this church member. He left the wife, and brought the church member to the adulterer's bed.
" A Methodist Preacher last fall took a load of produce down the river. Amongst other things he took down five slaves. He sold them at New Orleans — he came up to Natchez — bought seven there — and took them down and sold them also. Last March he came up to preach the Gospel again. A number of persons on board the steamboat (the Tuscarora,) who had seen liim in the slave-shambles in Natchez and New Orleans, and now, for the first lime, fouad him to be a preacher, had much sport at the exptnse of ' the fine old preacher who dealt in slaves.'
" A non-professor of religion, in Campbell county, Ky. sold a female and two children to a Methodist professor, with the proviso that they should not leave that region of country. The slave-drivers came, and offered ^50 more for the woman than he had given, and he sold her. She is now in the lower country, and her orphan babes are in Kentucky.
" I was much shocked once, to see a Presbyte-
rian elder's wife call a little slave to her to kiss her feet. At first the boy hesitated — but the command being repeated in tones not to be mis- understood, he approached timidly, knelt, and kissed her foot.
Rev. W. T. Allan, of Chatham, Illinois, gives the following in a letter dated Feb. 4, 1839 :
" Mr. Peter Vanarsdale, an elder of the Presby- terian church in Carrollton, formerly from Ken- tucky, told me, the other day, that a Mrs. Bur- ford, in the neighborhood of Harrodsburg, Ken- tucky, had separated a ivoman and her children from their husband and father, taking them into another state. Mrs. B. was a member of the Presbyterian Church. The bereaved husband and father was also a professor of religion.
" Mr. V. told me of a slave woman who had lost her son, separated from her by public sale. In the anguish other soul, she gave vent to her indignation freely, and perhaps harshly. Some- time after, she wished to become a member of the church. Before they received her, she had to make humble confession for speaking as she had done. Some of the elders that received her, and required the confession, were engag d in sell- ing the son from his mother."
The following communication from the Rev. William Bardwell, of Sandwich, Massachusetts, has just been published in Zion's Watchman, New York city :
" Mr. Editor : — The following fact was given me last evening, from the pen of a shipmaster, who has traded in several of the principal ports in the south. He is a man of unblemished cha- racter, a member of the M. E. Church in this place, and familiarly known in this town. The facts were communicated to me last fall in a letter to his wife, with a request that she would cause them to be published. I give them verba, tim, as they were written from the letter by brother Perry's own hand while I was in his house.
" A Methodist preacher, Wm. Whitby by name, who married in Bucksville, S. C, and by mar. riage came into possession of some slaves, in July, 1838, was about moving to another station to preach, and wished, also, to move his family and slaves to Tennessee, much against the will of the slaves, one of which, to get clear from him, ran into the woods after swimming a brook. The parson took after him with his gun, which, how- ever, got wet and missed fire, when he ran to a neighbor for another gun, with the intention, as he said, of killing him : he did not, however, catch or kill him ; he chained another for fear of his running away also. The above particulars were related to me by William Whitby himself. Thomas C. Perry.
March 3, 1839."
" I find by examining the minutes of the S. C. Conference, that there is such a preacher in the Conference, and brother Perry further stated to me tha'i he was well acquainted with him, and if this statement was published, and if it could be known wi^ere he was since the last Confer, ence, he wished a paper to be sent him contain, ing the whole affair. He also stated to me, ver
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bally, that the youngs man he attempted to shoot was about nineteen years of age, and had been shut up in a corn-house, and in tlie attempt of Mr. Wliitby to cliain liim, he broke down the door and made his escape as above-mentioned, and tliat Mr. W. was under the necessity of hiring him out for one year, with the risk of his employer's getting him. Brother Perry conversed with one of the slaves, who was so old that he thought it not profitable to remove so far, and had been sold; he informed him of all tlie above circumstances, and said, with tears, that he thought he had been so faithful as to be entitled to liberty, but instead of making him free, he had sold him to another master, besides parting one husband and wife from those ties rendered a thousand times dearer by an infant child which was torn for ever from the husband.
William Bardwell." Sandwich, Mass., March 4, 1839."
Mr. William Poe, till recently a slaveholder in Virginia, now an elder in the Presbyterian Church at Delhi, Ohio, gives the following tes- timony : —
" An elder in the Presbyterian Church in Lynchburg had a most faithful servant, whom he flogged severely and sent him to prison, and had him confined as a felon a number of da3'S, for be. ing saucy. Another elder of the same church, an auctioneer, habitually sold slaves at his stand — very frequently parted fainilies — would often go into the country to sell slaves on execution and otherwise ; when remonstrated with, he justified himself, saying, ' it was his business ;' the church also justified him on tiie same ground.
'' A Doctor Duval, of Lynchburg, Va. got of- fended with a very faithful, worthy servant, and immediately sold him to a negro trader, to be taken to New Orleans ; Duval still keeping the wife of the man as his slave. This Duval was a professor of religion."
Mr. Samuel Hall, a teacher in Marietta Col- lege, Ohio, says, in a recent letter : —
''A student in Marietta College, from Missis- sippi, a professor of religion, and in every way worthy of entire confidence, made to me the fol- lowing statement. [If his name were published it would probably cost him his hfe.]
" When I was in the family of the Rev. James Martin, of Louisville, Winston county, Mississip- pi, in the spring of 1838, Mrs. Martin became of- fended at a female slave, because she did not move faster. She commanded her to do so ; the girl quickened her pace ; again she was ordered to move faster, or, Mrs. M. declared, she would break the broomstick over her head. Again the slave quickened her pace ; but not coming up to the maximum desired by Mrs. M. the latter de. clared she would see whether she (the slave) could move or not ; and, going into another apartment, she brought in a raw hide, awaiting the return of lier husband for its application. In this instance I know not what was the final result, but I have heard the sound of the raw-hide in at least two other instances, applied by this same reverend gentleman to the back of his /e?7iaZe servant."
Mr. Hall adds — " The name of my informant
must be suppressed, as" he says, " there are those who would cut my throat in a moment, if the in- formation I give were to be coupled with my name." Suffice it to say that he is a professor of religion, a native of Virginia, and a student of Marietta College, whose character will bear the strictest scrutiny. He says : —
" In 1838, at Charlestown, Va. I conversed with several members of the church under the care of the Rev. Mr. Brown, of the same place. Taking occasion to speak of slaveiy, and of the sin of slaveholding, to one of them who was a lady, she replied, ' I am a slaveholder, and I glory in it.' I had a conversation, a few days after, with the pastor himself, concerning the state of religion in his church, and who were the most exemplary members in it- The pastor mentioned several of those who were of that description ; the first of whom, however, was the identical lady who glo- ried in being a slaveholder ! That churcli num- bers nearly two hundred members.
" Another lady, who was considered as devoted a Christian as any in the same church, but who was in poor health, was accustomed to flog some of her female domestics with a raw-hide till she was exhausted, and then go and lie down till her strength was recruited, rising again and resuming the flagellation. This she considered as not at all derogatory to her Christian character."
Mr. Joel S. Bingham, of Cornwall, Vermont, lately a student in Middlebury College, and a member of the Congregational Church, spent a few weeks in Kentucky, in the summer of 1838. He relates the following occurrence which took place in the neighborhood where he resided, and was a matter of perfect notoriety in the vicinity.
" Rev. Mr. Lewis, a Baptist minister in the vi- cinity of Frankfort, Ky. had a slave that ran away, but was retaken and brought back to his master, who threatened him with punishment for making an attempt to escape. Though terri- fied the slave immediately attempted to run away again. Mr. L. commanded him to stop, but he did not obey. Mr. L. then took a gun, loaded with small shot and fired at the slave, who fell; but was not killed, and afterward recovered. Mr. L. did not probably intend to kill the slave, as it was his legs which were aimed at and received the contents of the gun. The master asserted that he was driven to this necessity to maintain his authority. This took place about the first of July, 1838."
The following is given upon the authority of Rev. Orange Scott, o-f Lowell, Mass. for many years a presiding elder in the Methodist Episco- pal Church.
" Rev. Joseph Hough, a Baptist minister, for- merly of Springfield, Mass. now of Plainfield, N. H. while traveling in the south, a few years ago, put up one night with a Methodist family, and spent the Sabbath with them. While there, one of the female slaves did something which dis- pleased her mistress. She took a chisel and mal- let, and very deliberately cut off one of her toes !"
182
ObjecUons Considered — Public Opinion.
SLAVE BREEDING an index of ' public opi- nion' AMONG THE ' HIGHEST CLASS OF SOCIETY '
IN Virginia and other northern slave states.
But we shall be told, that ' slave-breeders' are regarded with contempt, and the business of slave breeding is looked upon as despicable ; and the hot disclaimer of Mr. Stevenson, our Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of St. James, in reply to Mr. O'Connell, who had intimated that he might be a ' slave breeder,' will doubtless be quoted.* In reply, we need not say what every body knows, that if Mr. Stevenson is not a ' slave breeder,' he is a solitary exception among the large slave- holders of Virginia. What! Virginia slavehold- ers not ' slave-breeders ?' the pretence is ridicu- lous and contemptible ; it is meanness, hypocrisy, and falsehood, as is abundantly proved by the tes- timony which follows : —
Mr. Gholson, of Virginia, in his speecn in the Legislature of that state, Jan. 18, 1831, (see Rich- mond Whig,) says : —
" It has always (perhaps erroneously) been con- sidered by steady and old-fashioned people, that the owner of land had a reasonable right to its an- nual profits ; the owner of orchards, to their an- nual fruits ; the owner of brood mares, to their product ; and the owner of /emaZe slaves, to their increase. We have not the fine-spun intelligence, nor legal acumen, to discover the technical dis- tinctions drawn by gentlemen. The legal maxim of Partus sequiiur ventrem' is coeval with the existence of the rights of property itself, and is founded in wisdom and justice. It is on the jus- tice and inviolability of this maxim that the mas- ter foregoes the service of the female slave ; has her nursed and attended during the period of her gestation, and raises the helpless and infant off- spring. The value of the property justifies the expense ; and I do not hesitate to say, that in its increase consists much of our wealth.'"
Hon. Thomas Mann Randolph, of Virginia, formerly Governor of that state, in his speech be- fore the legislature in 1832, while speaking of the
* The following is Mr. Stevenson's disclaimer : it was published in the ' London Mail,' Oct. 30, 1838.
To the Editor of the Evening Mail:
Sir— I did not see until ray return from Scotland the note addressed by Mr. O'Connell, to the editor of the Chronicle, purporting to give an explanation of the correspondence which has passed between us, and which I deemed it proper to make public. I do not intend to be drawn into any dis- cussion of the subject of domestic slavery as it exists ui the United States, nor to give any explanation of the motives or circumstances under which I have acted.
Disposed to regard Mr. O'Connell as a man of honor, I was induced to take the course I did ; whether justifiable or not, the world will now decide. The tone and report of his last note (in which he disavows responsibility for any thing he may say) precludes any further notice "from me, than to say that the charge wliich he has thought proper again to repeat, of my being a breeder of slaves for sale and traffick, is wholly destitute of truth ; and that I am warrant- ed in believing it has been made by him without the shglit- est authority. Such, too, I venture to say, is the cAse
IN RELATION TO HIS CHARGE OF SLAVE-BREEDING IN VIRGI- NIA.
I make this declaration, not because I admit Jtr. O'Con- nell's right to call for it, but to prevent my silence from being misinterpreted.
A. Stevenson.
23 Portland Place, Oct. 29.
number of slaves annually sold from Virginia to the more southern slave states, said : —
" The exportation has averaged eight thou- sand FrvE HUNDRED for the last twenty years. Forty years ago, the whites exceeded the color- ed 2.5,000, the colored now exceed the whites 81,000 ; and these results too during an exporta. tion of near 260,000 slaves since the year 1790, now perhaps the fruitful progenitors of half a million in other states. It is a practice and an in- creasing practice, in parts of Virginia, to rear slaves for market. How can an honorable mind, a patriot and a lover of his country, bear to see this ancient dominion converted into one grand menagerie, where men are to be reared for market, like oxen for the shambles."
Professor Dew, now President of the Universi- tj of William and Mary, Virginia, in his Review of the Debate in the Virginia Legislature, 1831-2, says, p 49.
" From all the information we can ob- tain, we have no hesitation in saying that up- wards of six thousand [slaves] are yearly ex- ported [from Virginia] to other states.' Again, p. 61 : ' The 6000 slaves which Virginia annual- ly sends off to the south, are a source of wealth to Virginia.' — Again, p. 120 : ' A full equivalent being thus left in the place of the slave, this emi- gration becomes an advantage to the state, and does not check the black population as much as, at first view, we might imagine — because it fur- nishes every inducement to the master to attend to the negroes, to encourage breeding, and to cause the greatest number possible to be raised. &c."
'' Virginia is, in fact, a negro-raising state for other states."
Extract from the speech of Mr. Faulkner, iu theVa. House of Delegates, 1832. [See Rich- mond Whig.]
" But he [Mr. Gholson,] has labored to show- that the Abolition of Slavery, were it practicable, would be impolitic, because as the drift of this portion of his argument runs, J^our slaves con- stitute the entire wealth of the state, all the productive capacity Virginia possesses. And, sir, as things are, / believe he is correct. He says, and in this he is sustained by the gentleman from Halifax, Mr. Bruce, that the slaves constitute the entire available wealth at present, of Eastern Virgi- nia. Is it true that for 200 years the only in. crease in the wealth and resources of Virginia, has been a remnant of the natural increase of this miserable race ? — Can it be, that on this in- crease, she places her sole dependence ? I had always understood that indolence and extrava- gance were the necessary concomitants of slave- ry ; but, until I heard these declarations, I had not fully conceived the horrible extent of this evil. These gentlemen state the fact, which the histo- ry and present aspect of the Comvionvjealth but too well sustain. The gentlemen's facts and ar. gument in support of his plea of impolicy, to me, seem rather unhappy. To me, such a state of things would itself be conclusive at least, that something, even as a measure of policy, should be done. What, sir, have you lived for two
Objections Considered — Public Opinion.
183
hundred years, without personal effort or produc. live industry, in extravagance and indolence, sustained alone by the reiurn from sales of the increase of slaves, and retaining merely such a number as your now impoverished lands can sus- tain, AS STOCK, depending, too, upon a most un- certain market? When "that market is closed, as in the nature of things it must be, what then will become of this gentleman's hundred millions worth of slaves, and tue annual troduct ?"
In the debates in the Virginia Convention, in 1829, Judge Upsher said — " The value of slaves as an article" of property [and it is in that view only that they are legitimate subjects of taxation] depends much on the state of the market abroad. In this view, it is the value of land abroad, and not of land here, which furnishes the ratio. It is well known to us all, that nothing is more fluc- tuatuig than the value of slaves. A late law of Louisiana reduced their value 25 per cent, in two hours after its passage was known. If it should
BE our lot, as I TRUST IT WILL BE, TO ACQUIRE THE COUNTRY OF TeXAS, THEIR PRICE WILL RISE AGAIN." p. 77.
Mr. Goode, of Virginia, in his speech before the Virginia Legislature, in Jan. 1832, [See Richmond Whig, of that date,] said : —
" The superior usefulness of the slaves in the south, will constitute an effectual demand, which will remove them from our limits. We shall send them from our state, because it will be our interest to do so. Our planters are already be- coming farmers. Many who grew tobacco as their only staple, have already introduced, and commingled the wheat crop. They are al- ready semi-farmers ; and in the natural com-se of events, they must become more and more so. — As the greater quantity of rich western lands are appropriated to the production of the staple of our planters, that staple will become less profitable. — We shall gradually divert our lands from its production, until we shall become actual farmers. — Then will the necessity for slave labor diminish ; then will the effectual demand diminish, and then will the quantity of slaves diminish, until they shall be adapted to the effectual demand.
" But gentlemen are alarmed lest the markets of other states be closed against the introduction of our slaves. Sir, the demand for slave labor MUST INCREASE through the South and West. It has been heretofore limited by the want of cap- ital ; but when emigrants shall be relieved from their embarrassments, contracted by the purchase of their lands, the annual profits of their estates, will constitute an accumulating capita], which they will seek to invest in labor. That the de- mand for labor must increase in proportion to the increase of capital, is one of the demonstra- tions of political economists ; and I confess, that for the removal of slavery from Virginia, I look to the efficacy of that principle ; together with the circumstance that our southern brethren are constrained to continue planters, by their position, soil and climate."
The following is from Niles' Weekly Register, published at Baltimore, Md. vol. 35. p. 4.
" Dealing in slaves has become a large busi-
ness; establishments are made in several places in Maryland and Virginia, at which they are sold like cattle ; these places of deposit are strongly built, and well supplied with tliumb-screws and gags, and ornamented with cow-skins and other whips oftentimes bloody."
R. S. FiNLY, Esq. late General Agent of the American Colonization Societj^, at a meeting in New York, 27th Feb. 1833, said :
" In Virginia and other grain-growing slave states, the blacks do not support themselves, and the only profit their masters derive from them is, repulsive as the idea may justly seem, in breeding them, like other live stock for the more southern states."
Rev. Dr. Graham, of Fayetteville, N. C. at a Colonization Meeting, held in that place in the fall of 1837 said :
" He had resided for 15 years in one of the larg- est slaveholding countiesin the state, had long and anxiously considered the subject, and still it was dark. There were nearly 7000 slaves offered in New Orleans market last winter. From Virginia alone 6000 were annually sent to the south ; and from Virginia and N. C. there had gone, in the same direction, in the last twenty years, 300,000 slaves. While not 4000 had gone to Africa. What it portended, he could not predict, but ho felt deeply, that loe must awake in these states and consider the subject."
Hon. Philip Doddridge, of Virginia, in his speech in the Virginia Convention, in 1829, [De- bates p. 89.] said : —
" The acquisition of Texas will greatly en- hance the value of the property, in question, [Vir- ginia slaves.]"
Hon. C. F. Mercer, in a speech before the same Convention, in 1829, says :
" The tables of the natural growth of the slave population demonstrate, when compared with the increase of its numbers in the commonwealth for twenty years past, that an annual revenue of not less than a million and a half of dollars is derived from the exportation of a part of this population." (Debates, p. 199.)
Hon. Henry Clay, of Ky., in his speech before the Colonization Society, in 1829, says :
" It is believed that nowhere in the farming portion of the United States, would slave labor be generally employed, if the proprietor were not tempted to raise slaves by the high price of
THE SOUTHERN MARKET WHICH KEEPS IT UP IN HIS OWN."
The New Orleans Courier, Feb. 15, 1839, speaking of the prohibition of the African slave, trade, while the internal slave-trade is plied, says :
" The United States law may, and probably does, put millions into the pockets of the people living between the Roanoke, and Mason and Dixon's line; still we think it would require some casuistry to show that the present slave-trade from that quarter is a whit better than the one from Africa. One thing is certain — that its re
1S4
Objections Considered — Public Opinion.
suits are more menacing to the tranquillity of the people in this quarter, as there can be no compa- rison between the ability and inclination to do mis- chief, possessed by the Virginia negro, and that of the rude and ignorant African."
That the New Orleans Editor does not exagge- rate in saying that the internal slave-trade puts * millions ' into the pockets of the slaveholders in Maryland and Virginia, is very clear from the following statement, made by the editor of the Virginia Times, an influential political paper, pub. lished at Wheeling, Virginia. Of the exact date of the paper we are not quite certain, it was, how- ever, sometime in 1836, probably near the middle of tiie year — the file will show. The editor says : —
" We have heard intelligent men estimate the number of slaves exported from Virginia within the last twelve months, at 120,000 — each slave averaging at least ^600, making an aggregate at $72,000,000. Of the number of slaves exported, not more than one-third have been sold, (the others having been carried by their owners, who have removed,) wldch would leave in the state the
SUM OF J$24,000,000 ARISING FROM THE SALE OF SLAVES."
According to this estimate about FORTY THOUSAND SLAVES were sold out of the State of Virginia in a single tear, and the ♦slave-breeders' who hold them, put into their pockets twenty-four million of dollars, the price of the ' souls of men.'
The New York Journal of Commerce of Oct. 12, 1835, contained a letter from a Virginian, whom the editor calls ' a very good and sensible man,' asserting that twenty thou»and slaves had been driven to the south from Virginia during that year, nearly one-fourth of which was then remaining.
The Mary^'ille (Tenn.) Intelligencer, some time in the early part of 1836, (we have not the date,) says, in an article reviewing a communi. cation of Rev. J. W. Douglass, of Fayetteville, North Carolina :" Sixty thousand slaves passed through a little western town for the southern mar- ket, during the year 1835."
The Natchez (Miss.) Courier, says " that the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Arkansas, imported TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND SLAVES from the more northern slave states in the year 1836."
The Baltimore American gives the following from a Mississippi paper, of 1837 :
" The report made by the committee of the citizens of Mobile, appointed at their meeting held on the 1st instant, on the subject of the existing pecuniary pressure, states, among other things : that so large has been the return of slave labor, that purchases by Alabama of that species of property from other states since 1833, have amounted to about ten million dollars annu- ally."
Further the inhumanity of a slaveholding ' public opinion' toward slaves, follows legitimately from the downright ruffianism of the slavehold- ing spirit in the ' highest class of society.' When roused, it tramples upon all the pi-oprie- ties and courtesies, and even common decencies of life, and is held in check by none of those con- siderations of time, and place, and relations of station, character, law, and national honor, which are usually sufficient, even in the absence of con- scientious principles, to restrain other men from outrages. Our National Legislature is a fit illus- tration of this. Slaveholders have converted the Congress of the United States into a very bear gar. den. Within the last three years some of the most prominent slaveholding members of the House, and among them the late speaker, have struck and kicked, and throttled, and seized each other by the hair, and with their fists pummelled each other's faces, on the floor of Congress. We need not publish an account of what every body knows, that during the session of the last Congress, Mr. Wise of Virginia and Mr. Bynum of North Ca- rolina, after having called each other " liars, vil- lains" and '• damned rascals" sprung from theii seats " both sufficiently armed for any desperate purpose," cursing each other as they rushed to- gether, and would doubtless have butchered each other on tlie floor of Congress, if both had not been seized and held by their friends.
The New York Gazette relates the following which occurred at the close of the session of 1838.
" The House could not adjourn vrithout ano- ther brutal and bloody row. It occurred on Sun- day morning immediately at the moment of ad- journment, between Messrs. Campbell and Mau- rj, both of Tennessee. He took offence at some remarks made to him by his colleague, Mr. Camp- bell, and the fight followed."
The Huntsville (Ala.) Democrat of June 16, 1838, gives the particulars which follow :
" Mr. Maury is said to be badly hurt. He was near losing his life by being knocked through the window; but his adversary, it is said, saved him by clutching the hair of his head with his left hand, while he struck him with his right."
The same number of the Huntsville Democrat, contains the particulars of a fist-fight on the floof of the House of Representatives, between Mr. Bell, the late Speaker, and his colleague Mr. Turney of Tennessee. The following is an ex- tract :
" Mr. Turney concluded his remarks in reply to Mr. Bell, in the course of which he commented upon that gentleman's course at difiercnt periods of his political career with great severity.
" He did not think his colleague [Mr. Turney,] was actuated by private malice, but was the wil- ling voluntary instrument of others, the fool of fools.
Objections Considered — Public Opinion.
185
Mr. Turney. It is false ! it is false !
Mr. Stanley called Mr. Tuknev to order.
At tlio same moment both gentlemen were perceived in personal conflict, and blows with the fist V ere aimed by each at the other. Several members interfered, and suppressed the per- sonal violence ; others called order, order, and some called for tlie interference of tiie Speaker.
The Speaker hastily took the chair, and in- sisted upon order ; but botii gentlemen continued struggling, and endeavoring, notwithstanding the constraint of their friends, to strike each other."
The correspondent of the New York Gazette gives the following, which took place about the time of the preceding aflrays :
The House was much agitated last night, by the passage between Mr. Biddle, of Pittsburgh, and Mr. Downing, of Florida. Mr. D. ex- claimed " do you impute falsehood to me I" at tlie same time catching up "-ome missile and making a demonstration to advance upon Mr. Biddle. Mr. Biddle repeated his accusation, and meanwhile, Mr. Downing was arrested by many members."
" The last three fights all occurred, if we mistake not, in the short space of one month. The fisti- cuffs between Messrs. Bynum and Wise occurred at the previous session of Congress. At the same session Messrs. Peyton of Tenn. and Wise of Vir- ginia, went armed with pistols and dirks to the meeting of a committee of Congress, and threat- ened to shoot a witness while giving his testimony.
We begin with the first on the list. Who are Messrs. Wise and Bjmum ? Both slaveholders. Who are Messrs. Campbell and Maury? Both slaveholders. Who are Messrs. Bell and Tur- ney ? Both slaveholders. Who is Mr. Downing, who seized a weapon and rushed upon Mr. Bid- dle ? A slaveholder. Who is Mr. Peyton who drew his pistol on a witness before a committee of Congress ? A slaveholder of course. All these bullies were slaveholders, and they magnified their office, and slaveholding was justified of her children. We might fill a volume with similar chronicles of slaveholding brutality. But time would fail us. Suffice it to say, that since the or- ganization of the government, a majority of the most distinguished men in the slaveholding states have gloried in strutting over the stage in the character of murderers. Look at the men whom the people delight to honor. President Jackson, Senator Benton, the late Gen. Coffee, — it is but a few years since these slaveholders shot at, and stabbed, and stamped upon each other in a tavern broil. General Jackson had previously killed Mr. Dickenson. Senator Clay of Kentucky has im- mortalized himself by shooting at a near relative of Chief Justice Marshall, and being wounded by him ; and not long after by shooting at John Ran- dolph of Virginia. Governor M'Duffie of South Carolina has signalized himself also, both by shoot- ing and being shot, — so has Governor Poindexter,
24
and Governor Rowan, and Judge M'Kinley of the U. S. Supreme Court, late senator in Congress from Alabama, — but wc desist ; a full catalogue would fill pages. We will only add, that a few months since, in the city of London, Governor Hamilton, of South Carolina, went armed with pis- tols, to the lodgings of Daniel O'Conncll, ' to stop his wind' in the bullying slang of his own publish- ed boast. During the last session of Congress Messrs. Dromgoole and Wise* of Virginia, W. Cost Johnson and Jenifer of Maryland, Pickens and Campbell of South Carolina, and we Icnow not how manymore slaveholding membersof Congress? have been engaged, either as principals or seconds, in that species of murder dignified with the name of duelling. But enough ; we are heart-sick. What meaneth all this ? Are slaveholders worse than other men ? No ! but arbitrary power has wrought in them its mystery of iniquity, and poi- soned their better nature with its infuriating sorcery.
Their savage ferocity toward each other when their passions are up, is the natural result of their habit of daily plundering and oppressing the slave. The North Carolina Standard of August 30, l887, contains the following illustration of this ferocity exhibited by two southern lawyers in set- tling the preliminaries of a duel.
" The following conditions were proposed by Alexander K. McClung, of Raymond, in the State of Mississippi, to H. C. Stewart, as the laws to govern a duel they were to fight near Vicksburg :
Article 1st. The parties shall meet opposite Vicksburg, in the State of Louisiana, on Thurs- day the 29th inst. precisely at 4 o'clock, P. M. Agreed to.
2d. The weapons to be used by each shall weigh one pound two and a half ounces, measur- ing sixteen inches and a half in length, including the handle, and one inch and three-eighths in breadth. Agreed to.
3d. Both knives shall be sharp on one edge, and on the back shall be sharjj only one inch at the point. Agreed to.
4th. Each party shall stand at the distance of eight feet from the other, until the word is given. Agreed to.
5th. The second of each party shall throw up, with a silver dollar, on the ground, for the word, and two best out of three shall win the word. Agreed to.
6th. After the wora is given, either party may take what advantage he can with his knife, but on throwing his knife at the other, shall be shot down by the second of his opponent. Agreed to.
7th. Each party shall be stripped entirely naked, except one pair of linen pantaloons ; one pair of socks, and boots or pumps as the party please. Acceded to.
8th. The wrist of the left arm of each party
* Mr. Wise said in one of his speerfies during the last session of (Jongress, tliat lie was obliged to go armed for the protection of his life in Washington. It could no! have been for fear of J^orthem men.
186
Objections Considered — Public Opinion.
cord shall be fastened around his left arm at th e elbow, and then around his body. Rejected.
9tli. After the word is given, each party shall be allowed to advance or recede as he pleases, over the space of twenty acres of ground, until death ensues to one of the parties. Agreed to — the parties to be placed in the centre of the
space.
10th. The word shall be given by the win- ner of the same, in the following manner, viz : " Gentlemen are you ready ?" Each party shall then answer, " I am !" The second giv- ing the word shall then distinctly command — strike. Agreed to.
If either party shall violate these rules, upon being notified by the second of either party, he may be liable to be shot down instantly. As established usage points out the duty of both parties, therefore notification is considered unne- cessary."
The FAVORITE AMUSEMENTS of slaveholders, like the gladiatorial shows of Rome and the Bull Fights of Spain, reveal a public feehng insensible to suffering, and a degree of brutality in the high- est degree revolting to every truly noble mind. One of their most common amusements is cock fighting. Mains of cocks, with twenty, thirty, and fifty cocks on eachside,are fought for himdreds of dollars aside. The fowls are armed with steel spurs or ' gafts,' about two inches long. These ♦ gafts' are fastened upon the legs by sawing off the natural ' spur,' leaving enough only of it to ansv/er the purpose of a stock for the tube of the "gafts," which are so sharp that at a stroke the fowls thrust them through each other's necks and heads, and tear each other's bodies till one or both diesj then two others are brought forward for the amusement of the multitude assembled, and this barbarous pastime is often kept up for days in succession, hundreds and thousands gathering from a distance to witness it. The following ad- vertisements from the Raleigh Register, June 18, 1838, edited by Messrs. Gales and Son, the father and brother of Mr. Gales, editor of the National Intelligencer, and late Mayor of Washington City, reveal the public sentiment of North Caro- Ima.
"CHATHAM AGAINST NASH, or any other county in the State. I am authorized to take a bet of any amount that may be offered, to FIGHT A MAIN OF COCKS, at any place that may be agreed upon by the parties — to be fought the ensuing spring. Gideon Alston.
Chatham county, June 7, 1838."
Two weeks after, this challenge was answered as follows :
'^ TO MR. GIDEON ALSTON, of Chatham county, N. C.
" Sir : In looking over the North Carolina Standard of the 20th inst. I discover a challenge over your signature, headed ' Chatham against
shall he tied tight to his left thigh, and a strong 1 ized to take a bet of any amount that may be of- „„_j _u_ii u„ ^„„i J J i.:_ ,_i-. . .V fered, to fight a main of cocks, at any place that
may be agreed upon by the parties, to be fought the ensuing spring,' which challenge I accept : and do propose to meet you at Ilclcsville, in Wake county, N. C. on the last Wednesday in May next, the parties to show thirty-one cocks each— fight four days, and be governed by the rules as laid down in Turner's Cock Laws — which, if you think proper to accede to, you will signify through this or any other medium you may select, and then I will name the sum for which we shall fight, as that privilege was surrendered by you in your challenge.
I am, sir, very respectfully, &i,c. Nicholas W. Arrington,,
near Hilliardston, Nash co. North Carolina. June 22nd, 1838."
The following advertisement in the Richmond Whig, of July 12, 1837, exhibits the pubhc senti- ment of Virginia.
" MAIN OF COCKS.— A large ' MAIN OF COCKS,' 21 a side, for $25 ' the fight,' and -^500 ' the odd,' will be fought between the County of Dinwiddle on one part, and the Coun- ties of Hanover and Henrico on the other.
" The ' regular' fighting will be continued three days, and from the large number of ' game uns' on both sides and in the adjacent country, will be prolonged no doubt a. fourth. To prevent confusion and promote ' sport,' the Pit will be en- closed and furnished with seats ; so that those having a curiosity to witness a species of diver- sion originating in a better day (for they had no rag money then,) can have that very natural feel- ing gratified.
" [ET The Petersburg Constellation is requested to copy."
Horse-racing too, as every body knows, is a fa- vorite amusement of slaveholders. Every slave state has its race course, and in the older states almost every county has one on a small scale. There is hardly a day in the year, the weather permitting, in which crowds do not assemble at the south to witness this barbarous sport. Hor- rible cruelty is absolutely inseparable from it. Hardly a race occurs of any celebrity in which some one of the coursers are. not lamed, ' broken down,' or in some way seriously injured, often for life, and not unfrequently they are killed by the rupture of some vital part in the struggle. When the heats are closely contested, the blood of the tortured animal drips from the lash and flies at every leap from the stroke of the rowel. From the breaking of girths and other accidents, their riders (mostly slaves) are often thrown and maimed or killed. Yet these amusements are attended by thousands in every part of the slave states. The wealth and fashion, the gentlemen and ladies of the ' highest circles' at the south, throng the race course.
That those who can fasten steel spurs upon the
Nash,' in which you state that you are ' author, legs of dunghill fowls, and goad the poor birds to
Objections Considered — Public Opinion.
187
worry and tear each other to death — and those who can crowd by thousands to witness such barbarity — that those who can throng the race-course and with keen rehsh wit- ness the hot pantings of the hfc-struggle, the lacerations and fitful spasms of the muscles, swel- ling tlirougli the crimsoned loam, as the tortured steeds rush in blood-welterings to the goal — that such should look upon the sutTerings of their slaves with indifference is certainly small wonder.
Perhaps we shall be told that there are throng. ed race-courses at the North. True, there are a few, and they are thronged chiefly by Southerners, and ' Northern men with Southern principles,' and supported mainly by the patronage of slave- holders who summer at the North. Cock-fight- ing and horse-racing are " Southern institutions." The idleness, contempt of labor, dissipation, sen- suality, brutality, cruelty, and meanness, engen- dered by the habit of making men and women work without pay, and flogging them if they de- mur at it, constitutes a congenial soil out of which cock-fighting and horse-racing are the spontaneous growth.
Again, — The kind treatment of the slaves is often argued from the liberal education and en- larged views of slaveholders. The facts and rea- sonings of the preceding pages have shov/n, that ' liberal education,' despotic habits and ungovern- ed passions work together with slight friction. And every day's observation shows that the form- er is often a stimulant to the latter.
But the notion so common at the north that the majority of the slaveholders are persons of education, is entirely erroneous. A very feiv slaveholders in each of the slave states have been men oiripe education, to whom our national lite- rature is much indebted. A larger number may be called well educated — these reside mostly in the cities and large villages, but a majority of the slaveholders are ignorant men, thousands of them notoriously so, mere boors unable to write their names or to read the alphabet.
No one of the slave states has probably so much general education as Virginia. It is the oldest of them — has fui-nished one half of the presidents of the United States — has expended more upon her university than any state in the Union has done during the same time upon its colleges — sent to Europe nearly twenty years since for her most learned professors, and in fine, has far surpassed every other slave state in her efforts to disseminate education among her citizens, and yet, the Gov- ernor of Virginia in his message to the legislature (Jan. 7, 1839) says, that of four thousand six hun. dred and fourteen adult males in that state, who applied to the county clerks for marriage licenses in the year 1837, ' one thousand and forty- seven loere unable to write their names? The
governor adds, ' These statements, it will be re. mcmbercd, arc confined to one sex: the education of females, it is to be feared, is in a condition of much greater neglect.'
The Editor of the Virginia Times, published at Wheeling, in his paper of Jan. 23, 1830, says, —
" We have every reason to suppose that one- fourth of the people of the state cannot write their names, and they have not, of course, any other species of education."
Kentucky is the child of Virginia ; her first set. tiers were some of the most distinguished citizens of the mother state ; in the general diffusion of in. telligcnce amongst her citizens Kentucky is pro- babl}^ in advance of all the slave states except Virginia and South Carolina ; and yet Governor Clark, in his last message to the Kentucky Legis- lature, (Dec 5, 1838) makes the following declara. tion : ' From the computation of those most fa- miliar with the subject, it appears that at least
ONE third of the ADDLT POPULATION OF THE STATE ARE UNABLE TO WRITE THEIR NAMES.'
The following advertisement in the " Milledge- ville (Geo.) Journal," Dec. 26, 1837, is another specimen from one of the ' old thirteen.'
" Notice. — I, Pleasant Webb, of the State of Georgia, Oglethorpe county, being an illiterate man, and not able to write my own name, and whereas it hath been represented to me that there is a certain promissory note or notes out against me that I know nothing of, and further that some man in this State holds a bil' of sale for a certain negro woman named Ailsey and her increase, a part of lohich is now in my possession, which I also know nothing of. Now I do hereby certify and declare, that I have no knowledge whatsoev- er of any such papers existing in my name as above stated, and I hereby require all or any per. son or persons v>'hatsoever holding or pretending to hold any such papers, to produce them to me within thirty days from the date hereof, shewing their authority for holding the same, or they will be considered fictitious and fraudulently obtained or raised, by some person or persons for base pur- poses after my death.
" Given under my hand this 2nd day of Decem- ber, 1837. his
"PLEASANT X WEBB. mark Finally, that slaves must habitually suffek
great cruelties, follows inevitably from THE brutal outrages WHICH THEIE MASTERS INFLICT ON EACH OTHER.
Slaveholders, exercising from childhood irrespon- sible power over human beings, and in the language of President Jefferson, " giving loose to the worst of passions" in the treatment of their slaves, become in a great measure unfitted for self control in their in. tercourse with each other. Tempers accustomed to riot with loose reins, spurn restraints, and passions inflamed by indulgence, take fire on the least friction. We repeat it, the state of society in the slave states,, the duels, and daily deadly affrays of slaveholders
188
Ohjections Considered — Public Opinion.
with each other — the fact that the most dehberate and cold-blooded murders are committed at noon day, in the presence of thousands, and the perpetrators eulogized by the community as " honorable men," reveals such a prostration of law, as gives impunity to crime — a state of society, an omnipresent public sentiment reckless of human life, taking bloody vengeance on the spot for every imaginary affront, glorying in such assassinations as the only true honor and chivalry, successfully defying the civil arm, and laughing its impotency to scorn.
When such things are done in the green tree, what will be done in the dry ? When slaveholders are in the habit of caning, stabbing, and shooting each other at every supposed insult, the unspeaka- ble enormities perpetrated by such men, with such passions, upon their defenceless slaves, must be beyond computation. To furnish the reader with an illustration of slaveholding civihzation and mo- rality, as exhibited in the unbridled fury, rage, ma- lignant hate, jealousy, diabohcal revenge, and all those infernal passions that shoot up rank in the hot-bed of arbitrary power, we will insert here a mass of testimony, detailing a large number of af- frays, lynchings, assassinations, &c., &c., which have taken place in various parts of the slave states within a brief period — and to leave no room for cavil on the subject, these extracts will be made exclusively from nev/spapers pubhshed in the slave states, and generally in the immediate vicinity of the tragedies described. They will not be made second hand from northern papers, but from the ori- ginal southern papers, which now lie on our table.
Before proceeding to furnish details of certain classes of crimes in the slave states, we advertise the reader — 1st. That we shall not include in the list those crimes which are ordinarily committed in the free, as well as in the slave states. 2d. We shall not include anv of the crimes perpetrated by
whites upon slaves and free colored persons, who constitute a majority of the population in Missis- sippi and Louisiana, a large majority in South Caro- hna, and, on an average, two-fifths in the other slave states. 3d. Fist fights, canings, beatings, biting off noses and ears, gougings, knockings down, &c., unless they result in death, will not be included in the hst, nor will ordinary murders, un- less connected with circumstances that serve as a special index of public sentiment. 4th Neither will ordinary, formal duels be included, except in such cases as just specified. 5th. The only crimes which, as the general rule, will be specified, will be deadly affrays with bowie knives, dirks, pistols, rifles, guns, or other death weapons, and lynch- ings. 6th. The crimes enumerated will, for the most part, be only those perpetrated openly, without attempt at concealment. 7th. We shall not at- tempt to give afull hst of the affrays, &c., that took place in the respective states during the period se. lected, as the only files of southern papers to which we have access are very imperfect.
The reader will perceive, from these prehmina- ries, that only a small proportion of the crimes ac- tually perpetrated in the respective slave states during the period selected, will be entered upon this list. He will also perceive, that the crimes which will be presented are of a class rarely perpe- trated in the free states ; and if perpetrated there at all, they are, with scarcely an exception, com- mitted either by slaveholders, temporarily resident in them, or by persons whose passions have been inflamed by the poison of a southern contact — whose habits and characters have become perverted by hving among slaveholders, and adopting the code of slaveholding morahty.
We now proceed to the details, commencing with the new state of Arkansas.
ARKANSAS.
At the last session of the legislature of that state. Col. John Wilson, President of the Bank at Little Rock, the capital of the state, was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives. He had been elected to that oflfice for a number of years succes- sively, and was one of the most influential citizens of the state. While presiding over the delibera- tions of the House, he took umbrage at words spo- ken in debate by Major Anthony, a conspicuous member, came down from the Speaker's chair, drew a large bowie knife from his bosom, and at. tacked Major A., who defended himself for some time, but was at last stabbed through the heart, and fell dead on the floor. Wilson deliberately wiped the blood from his knife, and returned to his eeat. The foUovidng statement of the circumstances of the murder, and the trial of the murderer, is abridged from the account published in the Arkan-
sas Gazette, a few months since — it is here taken from the Knoxville (Tennessee) Register, July_4,
1838.
" On the 14th of December last, Maj. Joseph J. Anthony, a member of the Legislature of Arkan- sas, was murdered, while performing his duty as a member of the House of Representatives, by John Wilson, Speaker of that House.
The facts were these : A bill came from the Se- nate, commonly called the Wolf Bill. Among the amendments proposed, was one by Maj. Anthony, that the signature of the President of the Real Es- tate Bank should be attached to the certificate of the wolf scalp. Col. Wilson, the Speaker, asked Maj. Anthony whether he intended the remark as personal. Maj. Anthony promptly said, " No, 1 do not." And at that instant of time, a message was delivered from the Senate, which suspended the proceedings of the House for a few minutes. Immediately after the messenger from the Senate
Objections Considered — Public Opinion,
189
had retired, Maj. Anthony rose from his seat, and said he wished to explain, that he did not intend to insuh the Speai^er or the House ; when Wilson, in- terniptinsr, peremptorily ordered him to take his seat. Maj. Anthony said, as a member, he had a right to the floor, to explain himselt". Wilson said, in an angry tone, ' Sit down, or you had better ;' and thrust his hand into his bosom, and drew out a large bowie knite, 10 or 11 inches in length, and descended from the Speaker's chair to the floor, with the knife drawn in a menacing manner. Maj. Anthony, seeing the danger he was placed in, by Wilson's advance on him with a drawn knife, rose from his chair, set it out of his way, stepped back a pace or two, and drew his knife. Wilson caught up a chair, and struck Anthony with it. Anthony, recovering from the blow, caught the chair in his left hand, and a fight ensued over the chair. Wil- son received two wounds, one on each arm, and Anthony lost his knife, either by throwing it at Wilson, or it escaped by accident. After Anthony had lost his knife, Wilson advanced on Anthony, who was then retreadng, looking over his shoulder. Seeing Wilson pursuing him, he threw a chair. Wilson still pursued, and Anthony raised another chair as high as his breast, with a view, it is sup- posed, of keeping Wilson off. Wilson then caught hold of the chair with his left hand, raised it up, and with his right hand deliberately thrust the knife, up to the hilt, into Anthony's heart, and as deliber- ately dre%v it out, and wiping off the blood with his thumb and finger, retired near to the Speaker's chair.
" As the knife was withdrawn from Anthony's heart, he fell a lifeless corpse on the floor, w-ithout uttering a word, or scarcely making a struggle ; so trae did the knife, as dehberately directed, pierce his heart.
" Three days elapsed before the constituted au- thorities took any notice of this horrible deed ; and not then, until a relation of the murdered Anthony had demanded a warrant for the apprehension of Wilson. Several days then elapsed before he was brought before an examining court. He then, in a carriage and four, came to the place appointed for his trial. Four or five days were employed in the examination of witnesses, and never was a clearer case of murder proved than on that occasion. Not- withstanding, the court (Justice Brown dissenting) admitted Wilson to bail, and positively refused that the prosecuting attorney for the state should introduce the law, to show that it was not a bail- able case, or even to hear an argument from him.
" At the time appointed for the session of the Cir- cuit Court, Wilson appeared agreeably to his re- cognizance. A motion was made by Wilson's counsel for change of venue, founded on the affi. davits of Wilson, and two other men. The court thereupon removed the case to Sahne county, and ordered the Sheriff to take Wilson into custody, and deliver him over to the Sheriff of Saline county.
" The Sheriff of Pulaski never confined Wilson one minute, but permitted him to go where he pleas- ed, without a guard, or any restraint imposed on him whatever. On his way to Saline, he entertain- ed him freely at his own house, and the next day delivered him over to the Sheriff of that county, who conducted the prisoner to the debtor's room in the jail, and gave him the key, so that he and every
body else had free egress and ingress at all times. Wilson invited every body to call on him, as he wished to see his friends, and his room was crowd- ed with visitors, who called to drink grog, and laugh and talk with him. But this theatre was not suffi- ciently large for his purpose. He afterwards visit- ed the dram-shops, where he freely treated all that would partake with him, and went fishing and hunting with others at pleasure, and entirely with out restraint. He also ate at the same table with the Judge, while on trial.
" When the court met at Saline, Wilson was put on his ti-ial. Several days were occupied in exam- ining the witnesses in the case. After the exam- ination was closed, while Col. Taylor was engaged in a very able, lucid, and argumentative speech, on the part of the prosecution, some man collected a parcel of the rabble, and came within a few yards of the court-house door, and bawled in a loud voice, ' part them — part them !' Every body supposed there was an affray, and ran to the doors and win. dows to see ; behold, there was nothing more than the man, and the rabble he had collected around him, for the purpose of annoying Col. Taylor while speaking. A few minutes afterwards, this same person brought a horse near the court-house door, and commenced crying the horse, as though he was for sale, and continued for ten or fifteen minutes to ride before the court-house door, crying the horse, in a loud and boisterous tone of voice. The Judge sat as a silent listener to the indignity thus offered the court and counsel by this man, without inter- posing his authority.
" To show the depravity of the times, and the peo- ple, after the verdict had been delivered by the jury, and the court informed Wilson that he was dis- charged, there was a rush toward him : some seized him by the hand, some by the arm, and there was great and loud rejoicing and exultation, direcdy in the presence of the court : and Wilson told the Sheriff to take the jury to a grocery, that he might treat them, and invited every body that chose to go. The house was soon filled to overflowing. The rejoicing was kept up till near supper time : but to cap the climax, soon after supper was over, a ma- jority of the jury, together with many others, went to the rooms that had been occupied several days by the friend and relation of the murdered Antho- ny, and commenced a scene of the most ridiculous dancing, (as it is beheved,) in triumph for Wilson, and as a triumph over the feelings of the relations of the departed Anthony. The scene did not close here. The party retired to a dram-shop, and con- tinued their rejoicing until about half after 10 o'clock. They then collected a parcel of horns, trumpets, &c., and marched through the streets, blowing them, till near day, when one of the com- pany rode his horse in the porch adjoining the room which was occupied by the relations of the de- ceased."
This case is given to the reader at length, in or- der fully to show, that in a community where the law sanctions the commission of every species of outrage upon one class of citizens, it fosters pas- sions which will paralyze its power to protect the other classes. Look at the facts developed in this case, as exhibiting the state of society among slave- holders. 1st. That the members of the legislature
190
Objections Considered — Public Opinion.
are in the habit of wearing bovvie knives. Wil- son's knife was 10 or 11 inches long.* 2d. The murderer, Wilson, was a man of wealth, president of the bank at the capital of the state, a high mili- tary officer, and had, for many years, been Speaker of the House of Representatives, as appears from a previous statement in the Arkansas Gazette. 3d. The murder was committed in open day, before all the members of the House, and many spectators, not one of whom seems to have made the least attempt to intercept Wilson, as he advanced upon Anthony with his knife drawn, but " made way for him," as is stated in another account. 4th. Though the murder was committed in the state-house, at the capital of the state, days passed before the civil authorities moved in the matter ; and they did not finally do it, until the relations of the murdered man demanded a warrant for the apprehension of the murderer. Even then, several days elapsed before he was brought before an examining court. When his trial came on, he drove to it in state, drew up before the door with "his coach and four," alighted, and strided into court like a lord among his vassals ; and there, though a clearer case of de- liberate murder never reeked in the face of the sun, yet he was admitted to bail, the court absolutely refusing to hear an argument from the prosecuting attorney, showing that it was not a bailable case. 5th. The sheriff of Pulaski county, who had Wil- son in custody, " never confined him a moment, but permitted him to go at large wholly unrestrain. ed." When transferred to Saline co. for trial, the sheriff of that county gave Wilson the same hberty, and he spent his time in parties of pleasure, fish- ing, hunting, and at houses of entertainment. 6th. Finally, to demonstrate to the world, that justice among slaveholders is consistent with itself; that authorizing man-stealing and patronising robbery, It will, of course, be the patron and associate of murder also, the judge who sat upon the case, and the murderer who was on trial for his Hfe before him, were boon-companions together, eating and drinking at the same table throughout the trial. Then came the conclusion of the farce — the up- roar round the court-house during the trial, drown- ing the voice of the prosecutor while pleading, without the least attempt by the court to put it down — then the charge of the judge to the jury, and their unanimous verdict of acquittal — then the rush from all quarters around the murderer with congratulations — the whole crowd in the court room shouting and cheering — then Wilson leading the way to a tavern, in\iting the sheriff, and jury, and all present to " a treat" — then the bacchanahan revelry kept up all night, a majority of the jurors
* A correspondent of the " Frederick Herald," writing from Liule Rock, says, "Anthony's knife was about twenty-eight inches in length. They all carry knives here, or pistols. There are several kinds of knives in use — a narrow blade, and about twelve inches long, is called an " Arkansas tooth-pick."
participating — the dancing, the triumphal proces sion through the streets with the blowing of horns and trumpets, and the prancing of horses through the porch of the house occupied by the relations" of the murdered Anthony, adding insult and mock- ery to their agony.
A few months before this murder on the floor of the legislature, George Scott, Esq., formerly mar- shal of the state was shot in an affray at Van Bu- ren, Crawford co., Arkansas, by a man named Walker ; and Robert Carothers, in an affray in St. Francis co., shot WiOiam Rachel, just as Rachel was shooting at Carothers' father. {National Intel. Ugencer, May 8, 1837, and Little Sock Gazette, August 30, 1837.)
While Wilson's trial was in progress, Mr. Ga. briel Sibley was stabbed to the heart at a public dinner, in St. Francis co., Arkansas, by .Tames W. Grant. (Arkansas Gazette, May 30, 1838.)
Hardly a week before this, the following oc- curred :
"On the 16th ult., an encounter took place at Little Rock, Ark., between David F. Douglass, a young man of 18 or 19, and Dr. Wm. C. Howell. A shot was exchanged between them at the dis- tance of 8 or 10 feet with double-barrelled guns. The load of Douglass entered the left hip of Dr. Howell, and a buckshot from the gun of the latter struck a negro girl, 13 or 14 years of age, just be- low the pit of the stomach. Douglass then fired a second time and hit Howell in the left groin, penetrating the abdomen and bladder, and causing his death in four hours. The negro girl, at the last dates, was not dead, but no hopes were enter- tained of her recovery. Douglass was committed to await his trial at the April term of the Circuit Court." — Louisville Journal.
" The Little Rock Gazette of Oct. 24, says, " We are again called upon to record the cold blooded murder of a valuable citizen. On the 10th instant, Col. John Lasater, of Franklin co., was murdered by John W. Whitson, who dehbe- rately shot him with a shot gun, loaded with a handful of rifle balls, six of which entered his body. He lived twelve hours after he was shot.
"Whitson is the son of William Whitson, who was unfortunately killed, about a year since, in a rencontre with Col. Lasater, (who was fully exone- rated from all blame by a jury,) and, in revenge of his father's death, committed this bloody deed."
These atrocities were all perpetrated within a few months of the time of the deliberate assassi- nation, on the floor of the legislature by the speaker, already described, and are probably but a small portion of the outrages committed in that state during the same period. The state of Ar- kansas contains about fortj'-five thousand white inhabitants, which is, if we mistake not, the pre- sent population of Litchfield county, Connecticut. And we venture the assertion, that a pubhc affray, with deadly weapons, has not taken place in that county for fifty years, if indeed ever since its settle- ment, a century and a half ago.
Objections Considered — Public Opinion.
191
MISSOURI.
Missouri became one of the United States in 1821. Its present white population is about two hundred and fifty tliousand. The following are a few of the affrays that have occurred there during the yeare 1837 and '38.
The " Salt River Journal," March 8, 1838, has the following.
" Fatal Affray. — An affray took place during last week, in the town of New London, between Dr. Peake and Dr. Bosley, both of that village, growing out of some trivial matter at a card party. After some words, Bosley threw a glass at Peake, which was followed up by other acts of violence, and in the quarrel Peake stabbed Bosley, several times with a dirk, in consequence of which, Bos- ley died the following morning. The court of inquiry considered Peake justifiable, and dis- charged him from arrest."
From the " St. Louis Republican," of September 29, 1837.
"We learn that a fight occurred at Bowling. Green, in this state, a few days since, between Dr. Michael Reynolds and Henry Lalor. Lalor pro- cured a gun, and Mr. Dickerson wrested the gun from him ; this produced a fight between Lalor and Dickerson, in which the former stabbed the latter in the abdomen. Mr. Dickerson died of the wound."
The following was in the same paper about a month previous, August 21, 1837.
" A Horse Thief Shot. — A thief was caught in the act of stealing a horse on Friday last, on the opposite side of the river, by a company of persons out sporting. Mr. Kremer, who was in the com- pany, levelled his rifle and ordered him to stop ; which he refused ; he then fired and lodged the contents in the thief's body, of which he died soon afterwards. Mr. K. went before a magistrate, who after hearing the case, kefused to hold him fok
FirF.THER TRIAL !"
On the 5th of July, 1838, Alpha P. Buckley mur- dered William Yaochum in an affray in Jackson county, Missouri. (Missouri Repubhcan, July 24, 1838.)
General Atkinson of the United States Army was M-aylaid on the 4th of September, 1838, by a number of persons, and attacked in his carriage near St. Louis, on the road to Jefferson Barracks, but escaped after shooting one of the assailants. The New Orleans True American of October 29, '38, speaking of this says : " It will be recollected that a few weeks ago. Judge Dougherty, one of the most respectable citizens of St. Louis, was mur- dered upon the same road."
The same paper contains the following letter from the murderer of Judge Dougherty.
" Murder of Judge Dougherty. — The St. Louis Repubhcan received the following mysterious ktter, unsealed, regarding this brutal murder :" — 25
" Natchez, Miss., Sept. 24. " Messrs. Editors : — Revenge is sweet. On the night of the lllh, 12th, and 13th, I made prepara- tions, and did, on the 14th July kill a rascal, and only regret that I have not the privilege of telling the circumstance. I have so placed it that I can never be identified ; and further, I have no com- punctions of conscience for the death of Thomas M. Dougherty."
But instead of presenting individual affrays and single atrocities, however numerous, (and the Mis. souri papers abound with them,) in order to exhibit the true state of society there, we refer to the fact now universally notorious, that for months during the last fall and winter, some hundreds of inoffen- sive Mormons, occupying a considerable tract of land, and a flourishing village in the interior of the state, have suffered every species of inhuman outrage from the inhabitants of the surrounding counties — that for weeks together, mobs consisting of hundreds and thousands, kept them in a state of constant siege, laying waste their lands, destroying their cattle and provisions, tearing down their houses, ravishing the females, seizing and dragging off and killing the men. Not one of the thousands engaged in these horrible outrages and butcherings has, so far as we can learn, been indicted. The following extract of a letter from a mihtary officer of one of the brigades ordered out by the Governor of Missouri, to terminate the matter, is taken from the North Alabamian of December 22, 1838.
Correspondence of the Nashville Whig. THE MORMON WAR. " MiLLERSBURG, Mo. November 8.
" Dear Sir — A lawless mob had organized themselves for the express purpose of driving the Rlormons from the country, or extermina. ting them, for no other reason, that I can perceive, than that these poor deluded creatures owned a large and fertile body of land in their neighborhood, and would not let them (the Mobocrats) have it for their own price. I have just returned from the seat of difliculty, and am perfectly conversant with all the facts in relation to it. The mob meeting with resistance altogether unanticipated, called loudly upon the kindred spirits of adjacent counties for help. The Mormons de- termined to die in defence of their rights, set about fortifying their town "Far West," with a resolution and energy that kept the mob (who al! the time were extending their cries of help to all parts of Missouri) at bay. The Governoi-, from exagge- rated aecounts of the Mormon depredations, issued orders for the raising of several thousand mounted riflemen, of which this division raised five hundred, and the writer of this was honored v/ith the ap- pointment of to the Brigade.
" On the first day of tiris month, we marched for the " seat of war," but General Clark, Commander, in-chief, having reached Far West on the day pre- vious with a large force, the difficulty was settled
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Objections Considered — Public Opinion.
when we arrived, so we escaped the infamy and disgrace of a bloody victory. Before General Clarli's arrival, the mob had increased to about four thousand, and determined to attack the town. The Mormons upon the approach of the mob, sent out a white flag, which being fired on by the mob, Jo Smith and Rigdon, and a few other Mormons of less influence, gave themselves up to the mob, with a view of so far appeasing their wrath as to save their women and children from violence. Vain hope ! The prisoners being secured, the mob entered the town and perpetrated every conceivable act of brutality and outrage — forcing fifteen or twenty Mormon girls to yield to their brutal pas- sions!!! Of these things I was assured by many persons while I was at Far West, in whose veracity I have the utmost confidence. I conversed with many of the prisoners, who numbered about eight hundred, among whom there were many young and interesting girls, and I assure you, a more
distracted set of creatures I never saw. I as. sure you, my dear sir, it was peculiarly heart- rending to see old gray headed fathers and mothers, young ladies and innocent babes, forced at this inclement season, with the thermometer at 8 de- grees below zero, to abandon their warm houses, and many of them the luxuries and elegances of a high degree of civilization and intelligence, and take up their march for the uncultivated wilds of the Missouri frontier.
" The better informed here have but one opinion of the result of this Mormon persecution, and that is, it is a most fearful extension of Judge Lynch's jurisdiction."
The present white population of Missouri is but thirty thousand less than that of New Hamp- shire, and yet the insecurity of human life in the former state to that in the latter, is probably at least twenty to one.
ALABAMA.
This state was admitted to the Union in 1819. Its present white population is not far from three hundred thousand. The security of human fife in Alabama, may be inferred from the facts and tes- timony which follow :
The Mobile Register of Nov. 15, 1837, contains the annual message of Mr. McVay, the acting Governor of the state, at the opening of the Legis- lature. The message has the following on the frequency of homicides :
" We hear of homicides in different parts of the slate continually, and j'et how few convictions for murder, and still fewer executions ? How is this to be accounted for ? In regard to ' assault and battery with intent to commit murder,' why is it that this offence continues so common — why do we hear of stabbings and shootings almost daily in some part or other of our state ?"
The " Montgomery (Alabama) Advertiser" of April 22, 1837, has the following from the Mobile Register :
" Within a few days a man was shot in an aflfray in the upper part of the town, and has since died. The perpetrator of the violence is at large. We need hardly speak of another scene which occurred in Royal street, when a fray occurred be- tween two individuals, a third standing by with a cocked pistol to prevent interference. On Satur- day night a still more exciting scene of outrage took place in the theatre.
" An altercation commenced at the porquett en- trance between the check-taker and a young man, which ended in the first being desperately wound- ed by a stab with a knife. The other also drew a pistol. If some strange manifestations of public opinion, do not coerce a spirit of deference to law, and the abandonment of the habit of carr}'ing secret arms, we shall deserve every reproach we may receive, and have our punishment in the un- checked growth of a spirit of lawlessness, reckless deeds, and exasperated feeling, which will des. troy our social comfort at home, and respecta- bility abroad."
From the " Huntsville Democrat," of Nov. 7, 1837. " A trifling dispute arose between Silas Randal and Pharaoh Massingale, both of Marshall county. They exchanged but a few words, when the former drew a Bowie knife and stabbed the latter in the abdomen fronting the left hip to the depth of several inches ; also inflicted several other dan- gerous wounds, of which Massengale died imme- diately. — Kandal is yet at large, not having been apprehended."
From the "Free Press" of August 16, 1838.
" The streets of Gainesville, Alabama, have re- cently been the scene of a most tragic afi^air. Some five weeks since, at a meeting of the citi. zens. Col. Christopher Scott, a lawyer of good standing, and one of the most influential citizens of the place, made a violent attack on the Tom- beckbee Rail Road Company. A Mr. Smith, agent for the T. R. R. Company, took Col. C's re- marks as a personal insult, and demanded an ex- planation. A day or two after, as Mr. Smith was passing Colonel Scott's door, he was shot down by him, and after lingering a few hours expired.
" It appears also from an Alabama paper, that Col. Scott's brother, L. S. Scott Esq., and L. J. Smith Esq., were accomphces of the Colonel in the murder."
The following is from the " Natchez Free Tra- der," June 14, 1838.
" An affray, attended with fatal consequences, oc- curred in the town of Moulton, Alabama, on the 12th May. It appears that three young men from the country, of the name of J. Walton, Geo. Bowling, and Alexander Bowling, rode into Moul- ton on that day for the purpose of chastising the bar-keeper at McCord's tavern, whose name is Cowan, for an alleged insult offered by him to the father of young Walton. They made a furi- ous attack on Cowan, and drove him into the bar room of the tavern. Some time after, a second attack was made upon Cowan in the street by one of the Bowlings and Walton, when pistols were resorted to by both parties. Three rounds were fired, and the third shot, which was said to have
Ohjeciions Considered — Public Opinion.
193
been discharged by Walton, struck a young man by the name of Neil, who happened to be passing in the street at the time, and killed him instantly. The combatants were taken into custody, and after an examination before two magistrates, were bailed."
The following exploits of the " Alabama Volun- teers," are recorded in the Florida Herald, Jan. 1, 1838.
" Save us from ouk Friends. — On Monday last, a large body of men, caUing themselves Alabama Volunteers, arrived in the vicinity of this city. It is reported that their conduct during their march from Tallahassee to this city has been a series of excesses of every description. They have committed almost every crime except murder, and have even threatened life.
" Large numbers of them paraded our streets, grossly insulted our females, and were otherwise extremely riotous in their conduct. One of the squads, forty or fifty in number, on reaching the bridge, where there was a small guard of three or four men stationed, assaulted the guard, overturn- ed the sentry-box into the river, and bodily seized two of the guard, and threw them into the river, where the water was deep, and they were forced to swim for their lives. At one of the men while in the water, thej^ pointed a musket, threatening to kill him ; and pelted with every missile wliich came to hand."
The following Alabama tragedy is published by the " Columbia (S. C.) Telescope," Sept. 16, 1837, from the Wetumpka Sentinel.
" Our highly respectable townsman, Mr. Hugh Ware, a merchant of Wetumpka, was standing in the door of his counting-room, between the hours of 8 and 9 o'clock at night, in company with a friend, when an assassin lurked within a few pa- ces of his position, and discharged his musket, loaded with ten or fifteen buckshot. Mr. Ware instantly fell, and expired without a struggle or a groan. A coroner's inquest decided that the de- ceased came to his death by violence, and that Abner J. Cody, and his servant John, were the perpetrators. John frankly confessed, that his master, Cody, compelled him to assist, threatening his life if he dared to disobey ; that he carried the musket to the place at which it was discharged ; that his master then received it from him, rested it on the fence, fired and killed Mr. Ware."
From the " Southern (Miss.) Mechanic," April 17, 1838.
" Horrid Butchery. — A desperate fight oc- curred in Montgomery, Alabama, on the 28th ult. We learn from the Advocate of that city, that the persons engaged were Wm. S. Mooney and Kenyon Mooney, his son, Edward Bell, and Bushrod Bell, Jr. The first received a wound in the abdomen, made by that fatal instrument, the Bowie knife, which caused his death in about fifteen hours. The second was shot in the side, and would doubtless have been killed, had not the ball partly lost its force by first striking his arm. The third received a shot in the neck, and now lies without hope of recovery. The fourth escaped unhurt, and, we understand has fled. This is a
brief statement of one of the bloodiest fights that we ever heard of."
From the " Virginia Statesman," May 6, 1837. " Several aflrays, wherein pistols, dirks and knives were used, lately occurred at Mobile. One took place on the 8th inst., at the theatre, in which a Mr. Bellum was so badly stabbed that his life ia despaired of. On the Wednesday preceding, a man named Johnson shot another named Snow dead. No notice was taken of the afliair."
From the " Huntsville Advocate," June 20, 1837. "Desperate Affray. — On Sunday the 11th inst., an affray of desperate and fatal character occurred near Chater's Landing, Marshall county, Alabama. The dispute which led to it arose out of a contested right to possession of a piece of land. A Mr. Steele was the occupant, and Mr. James McFarlane and some others, claimants. Mr. F. and his friends went to Mr. Steele's house with a view to take possession, whether peaceably or by violence, we do not certainly know. As they entered the house a quarrel ensued between two of the opposite parties, and some blows per- haps followed ; in a short time, several guns were discharged from the house at Mr. McFarlane and friends. Mr. M. was killed, a Mr. Freamster dangerously wounded, and it is thought will not recover ; two others were also wounded, though not so as to endanger life. Mr. Steele's brother was wounded by the discharge of a pistol from one of Mr. M's. friends. We have heard some other particulars about the affray, but we abstain from giving them, as incidental versions are often erroneous, and as the whole matter will be sub- mitted to legal investigation. Four of Steele's party, his brother, and three whose names are Lemen, Collins and Wills, have been arrested, and are now confined in the goal in this place."
From the " Norfolk Beacon," July 14, 1838.
" A few days since at Claysville, Marshal co., Alabama, Messrs. Nathaniel and Graves W. Steele, while riding in a carriage, were shot dead, and Alex. Steele and Wm. Collins, also in the carriage, were severely wounded, (the former sup- posed mortally,) by Messrs. Jesse Allen, Alexan- der and Arthur McFarlane, and Daniel Dicker- son. The Steeles, it appears, last year killed James McFarlane and another person in a simi- lar manner, which led to this dreadful retaliation." ■
From the " Montgomery (Ala.) Advocate — Washington, Autauga Co., Dec. 28, 1838.
" Fatal Rencontre. — On Friday last, the 28th ult., a fatal rencontre took place in the town of Washington, Autauga county, between John Tittle and Thomas J. Tarleton, which resulted in the death of the former. After a patient investi- gation of the matter, Mr. Tarleton was released by the investigating tribunal, on the ground that the homicide was clearly justifiable."
The "Columbus (Ga.)*Sentinel," July 6, 1837, quotes the following from the Mobile (Ala.) Ex- aminer.
" A man by the name of Peter Church was killed on one of the wharves night before last. The person by whom it was done delivered him. self to the proper authorities yesterday morning
194
Objections Considered — Public Opinion.
The deceased and his destroyer were friends, and ' the act occurred in consequence of an immaterial quarrel."
The " Milledgeville Federal Union" of July 11, 1837, has the following:
"In Selma, Alabama, resided lately messrs. Philips and Dickerson, physicians. Mr. P. is brother to the wife of W. Bleevin Esq., a rich cotton planter in that neighborhood ; the latter has a very lovely daughter, to whom Dr. D. paid his addresses. A short time since a gentleman from Mobile married her. Soon after this, a schoolmaster in Selma set a story afloat to the effect, that he had heard Dr. D. say things about the lady's conduct before marriage which ought not to be said about any lady. Dr. D. denied having said such things, and the other denied having spread the story ; but neither denials suffi- ced to pacify the enraged parent. He met Dr. D. fired at him two pistols, and wounded him. Dr. D. was unarmed, and advanced to Mr. Bleevin, holding up his hands imploringly, when Mr. B. drew a Bowie knife, and stabbed him to the heart. The doctor dropped dead on the spot : and Mr. Bleevin has been held to bail."
The following is taken from the " Alabama In- telligencer," Sept. 17, 1838.
" On the 5th instant, a deadly rencounter took place in the streets of Russelville, (our county town,) between John A. Chambers, Esq., of the city of mobile, and Thomas L. Jones, of this county. In the rencounter, Jones was wounded by several balls which took effect in his chin, ijnouth, neck, arm, and shoulder, believed to be mortal ; he did not fire his gun.
" Mr. Chambers forthwith surrendered himself to the Sheriff of the county, and was on the 6th, tried and fully acquitted, by a court of inquiry."
The " Maysville (Ky.) Advocate" of August 14, 1838, gives the following affray, which took place in Girard, Alabama, July 10th.
" Two brothers named Thomas and Hal Lucas, who had been much in the habit of quarrelling, came together under strong excitement, and Tom, as was his frequent custom, being about to flog Hal with a stick of some sort, the latter drew a ,>istol and shot the former, his own brother, through the heart, who almost instantly expired !"
The " New Orleans Bee" of Oct, 5, 1838, re-
lates an affray in Mobile, Alabama, between Ben- jamin Alexander, an aged man of ninety, with Thomas Hamilton, his grandson, on the 24th of September, in which the former killed the latter with a dirk.
The " Red River Whig" of July 7, 1838, gives the particulars of a tragedy in Western Alabama, in which a planter near Lakeville, left home for some days, but suspecting his wife's fidelity, returned home late at night, and finding his suspicions veri- fied, set fire to his house and waited with his rifle before the door, till his wife and her paramour at- tempted to rush out, when he shot them both dead.
From the " Morgan (Ala.) Observer," Dec. 1838.
" We are informed from private sources, that on last Saturday, a poor man who was moving westward with his wife and three little children, and driving a small drove of sheep, and perhaps a cow or two, which was driven by his family, on arriving in Florence, and while passing through, met with a citizen of that place, who rode into his flock and caused him some trouble to keep it to- gether, when the mover informed the individual that he must not do so again or he would throw a rock at him, upon which some words ensued, and the individual again disturbed the flock, when tha mover, as near as we can learn, threw at him , upon this the troublesome man got off his horse, went into a grocery, got a gun, and came out and deliberately shot the poor stranger in the presence of bis wife and little children. The wounded man then made an effort to get into some house, when his murderous assailant overtook and stabbed him to the heart with a Bowie knife. This revolting scene, we are informed, occurred in the presence of many citizens, who, report says, never even lifted their voices in defence of the murdered man."
A late number of the "Flag of the Union," pub- hshed at Tuscaloosa, the seat of the government of Alabama, states, that since the commencement of the late session of the legislature of that state, " no less than thirteen fights had been had within sight of the capilol." Pistols and Bowie knives were used in every case.
The present white population of Alabama is about the same with that of New Jersey, yet for the last twenty years there have not been so many public deadly affrays, and of such a horrible character, in New Jersey, as have taken place in Alabama within the last eight months.
MISSISSIPPI.
Mississippi became one of the United States in 1817. Its present white population is about one hundred and sixty thousand.
The following extracts will serve to show that those who combine together to beat, rob, and mana- cle innocent men, women and children, will stick at nothing when their passions are up.
The following murderous affray at Canton, Mis- sissippi, is from the " Alabama Beacon," Sept, 13, 1838.
" A terrible tragedy recently occurred at Canton,
Miss., growing out of the late duel between Messrs. Dickins and Drane of that place. A Kentuckian happening to be in Canton, spoke of the duel, and charged Mr. Mitchell Calhoun, the second of Drane, with cowardice and unfairness. Mr. Calhoun call- ed on the Kentuckian for an explanation, and the offensive charge was repeated. A challenge and fight with Bowie knives, toe to toe, were the con- sequences. Both parties were dreadfully and dan- gerously wounded, though neither was dead at the last advices. Mr. Calhoun is a brother to the Hon John Calhoun, member of Congress.",
Objections Considered — Public Opinion.
195
Here follows the account of the duel referred to above, between Messrs. Dickins and Drane.
" Intelligence has been received in this town of a fatal duel that took place in Canton, Miss., on the 28th ult., between Rufus K. Dickins, and a Mr. Westley Drane. They fought with double barrel- led guns, loaded with buckshot — both were mor- tally wounded."
The "Louisville Journal" publishes the follow- ing, Nov. 23.
" On the 7th instant, a fatal affray took place at Gallatin, Mississippi. The principal parties con- cerned were, Messrs. John W. Scott, James G. Scott, and Edmund B. Hatch. The latter was shot down and then stabbed twice through the body, by J. G. Scott."
The " Alabama Beacon" of Sept. 13, 1838, says : " An attempt was made in Vicksburg lately, by a gang of Lynchers, to inflict summary punishment on three men of the name of Fleckenstein. The assault was made upon the house, about 11 o'clock at night. Meeting with some resistance from the three Fleckensteins, a leader of the gang, by the name of Helt, discharged his pistol, and wounded one of the brothers severely in the neck and jaws. A volley of four or five shots was almost instantly returned, when Helt fell dead, a piece of the top of the skull being torn off, and almost the whole of his brains dashed out. His comrades seeing him fall, suddenly took to their heels. There were, it is supposed, some ten or fifteen concerned in the transaction."
The " Manchester (Miss.) Gazette," August 11, 1838, says :
" It appears that Mr. Asa Hazeltine, who kept a pubHc or boarding house in Jackson, during the past winter, and Mr. Benjamin Tanner, came here about five or six weeks since, with the intention of opening a public house. Foiled in the design, in the settlement of their affairs some difficulty arose as to a question of veracity between the parties. Mr. Tanner deeply excited, procured a pistol and loaded it with the charge of death, sought and found tbe object of his hatred in the afternoon, in the yard of Messrs. Kezer & Maynard, and in the presence of several persons, after repeated and in. effectual attempts on the part of Capt. Jackson to baffle his fell spirit, shot the unfortunate victim, of which wound Mr. Hazeltine died in a short time.
lEF " We understand that Mr. Hazeltine was a native of Boston."
The " Columbia (S. C.) Telescope," Sept. 16, 1837, gives the details below :
" By a letter from Mississippi, we have an ac- count of a rencontre which took place in Rodney, on the 27th July, between Messrs. Thos. J. John- ston and G. H. Wilcox, both formerly of this city. In consequence of certain publications made by these gentlemen against each other, Johnston chal- lenged Wilcox. The latter declining to accept the challenge, Johnston informed his friends at Rod- ney, that he would be there at the term of the court then not distant, when he would make an attack upon him. He repaired thither on the 26th, and on the next morning the following communication
was read aloud in the presence of Wilcox and a large crowd :
" liodneij, July 27, 1837.
" Mr. Johnston informs Mr. Wilcox, that at or about 1 o'clock of this day, he will be on the common, opposite the Presbyterian Church of this town, waiting and expecting Mr. Wilcox to meet him there.
" I pledge my honor that Mr. Johnston will not fire at Mr. Wilcox, until he arrives at a distance of one hundred yards from him, and I desire Mr. Wil- cox or any of his friends, to see that distance ac- curately measured.
" Mr. Johnston will wait there thirty minutes. "J. M. DUFFIELD.
" Mr. Wilcox declined being a party to any such arrangement, and Mr. D. told him to be prepared for an attack. Accordingly, about an hour after this, Johnston proceeded towards Wilcox's office, armed with a double-barrelled gun, (one of the bar- rels rifled,) and three pistols in his belt. He halted about fifty yards from W's door and leveled his gun. W. withdrew before Johnston could fire, and seized a musket, returned to the door and flashed. .Johnston fired both barrels without effect. Wilcox then seized a double barrel gun, and Johnston a musket, and both again fired. Wilcox sent twen- ty-three buck shot over Johnston's head, one of them passing through his hat, and Wilcox was slightly wounded on both hands, his thigh and leg.'»
From the "Alabama Beacon," May 27, 1838.
" An affray of the most barbarous nature was expected to take place in Arkansas opposite Prince- ton, on Thursday last. The two original parties have been endeavoring for several weeks, to settle their differences at Natchez. One of the individu- als concerned stood pledged, our informant states, to fight three different antagonists in one day. The fights, we understand, were to be with pistols ; but a variety of other weapons were taken along — among others, the deadly Bowie knife. These lat- ter instruments, we are told, were whetted and dressed up at Grand Gulf, as the parties passed up, avowedly with the intention of being used in the field." From the " Southern (Miss) Argus," Nov. 21, 1837.
" We learn that, at a wood yard above Natchez, on Sunday evening last, a difficulty arose between Captain Crosly, of the steamboat Galenian, and one of his deck passengers. Capt. C. drew a Bowie knife, and made a pass at the throat of the passenger, which failed to do any harm, and the captain then ordered him to leave his boat. The man went on board to get his baggage, and the captain immediately sought the cabin for a pistol. As the passenger was about leaving the boat, the captain presented a pistol to his breast, which snapped. Instantly the enraged and wronged in. dividual seized Capt. Crosly by the throat, and brought him to the ground, when he drew a dirk and stabbed him eight or nine times in the breast, each blow driving the weapon into his body up to the hilt. The passenger was arrested, carried to Natchez, tried and acquitted."
The "Planter's Intelligencer" publishes the follow- ing from the Vicksburg Sentmel of June 19, 1838.
" About 1 o'clock, we observed two men ' pum- meling" one another in the street, to the infinite
196
Objections Considered — Public Opinion.
amusement of a crowd. Presently a third hero made his appearance in the arena, with Bowie knife in hand, and he cried out, ' Let me come at him !' Upon hearing this threat, one of the pugi- lists ' took himself off,' our hero following at full speed. Finding his pursuit was vain, our hero re- turned, when an attack was commenced upon an- other individual. He was most cruelly beat, and cut through the skull with a knife ; it is feared the wounds will prove mortal. The sufferer, we learn, is an inoffensive German."
From the " Mississippian," Nov. 9, 1838.
" On Tuesday evening last, 23d, an affray oc- curred at the town of Tallahasse, in this county, between Hugh Roark and Captain Flack, which resulted in the death of Roark. Roark went to bed, and Flack, who was in the bar-room below, observed to some persons there, that he believed they had set up Roark to whip him ; Roark, upon hearing his name mentioned, got out of bed and came down stairs. Flack met and stabbed him in the lower part of his abdomen with a knife, letting out his bowels. Roark ran to the door, and re- ceived another stab in the back. He lived until Thursday night, when he expired in great agony. Flack was tried before a justice of the peace, and we understand was only held to bail to appear at court in the event Roark should die."
From the "Grand Gulf Advertiser," Nov. 7, 1838. " Attempt at Riot at Natchez. — The Courier says, that in consequence of the discharge of cer- tain individuals who had been arraigned for the murder of a man named Medill, a mob of about 200 persons assembled on the night of the 1st in- stant, with the avowed purpose of lynching them. But fortunately, the objects of their vengeance had escaped from town. Foiled in their purpose, the rioters repaired to the shantee where the murder was committed, and precipitated it over the bluff. The military of the city were ordered out to keep order."
From the " Natchez Free Trader."
" A violent attack was lately made on Captain Barrett, of the steamboat Southerner, by three per- sons from Wilkinson co.. Miss., whose names are Carey, and one of the name of ,T. S. Towles. The only reason for the outrage was, that Captain B. had the assurance to require of the gentlemen, who were quarreling on board his boat, to keep order for the peace and comfort of the other passengers. Towles drew a Bowie knife upon the Captain, which the latter wrested from him. A pistol, drawn by one of the Careys was also taken, and the as- sailant was knocked overboard. Fortunately for him he was rescued from drowning. The brave band then landed. On her return up the river, the Southerner stopped at Fort Adams, and on her leaving that place, an armed party, among whom were the Careys and Towles, fired into the boat, but happily the shot missed a crowd of passengers on the hurricane deck."
From the " Mississippian," Dec. 18, 1838.
" Greer Spikes, a citizen of this county, was kill- ed a few days ago, between this place and Ray- mond, by a man named Pegram. It seems that Pegi-am and Spikes had been carrying weapons for each other for some time past. Pegram had threat-
ened to fake Spikes' life on first sight, for the base treatment he had received at his hands.
" We have heard something of the particulars, but not enough to give them at this time. Pegram had not been seen since."
The " Lynchburg Virginian," July 23, 1838, says : " A fatal affray occurred a few days ago in Clin- ton, Mississippi. The actors in it were a Mr. Par. ham, Mr. Shackleford, and a Mr. Henry. Shac- kleford was killed on the spot, and Henry was shghtly wounded by a shot gun with which Par- ham was armed."
From the " Columbus (Ga.) Sentinel," Nov. 22, 1838.
" Butchery. — A Bowie knife slaughter took place a few days since in Honesville, Bliss. A Mr. Hobbs was the victim ; Strother the butcher."
The "Vicksburg Sentinel," Sept. 28, 1837, says : "It is only a few weeks since humanity was shocked by a most atrocious outrage, inflicted by the Lynchers, on the person of a Mr. Saunderson of Madison co. in this state. They dragged this respectable planter from the bosom of his family, and mutilated him in the most brutal manner — maiming him most inhumanly, besides cutting Off his nose and ears and scarifying his body to the very ribs ! We believe the subject of this foul out- rage still drags out a miserable existence — an ob- ject of horror and of pity. Last week a club of Lynchers, amounting to four or five individuals, as we have been credibly informed, broke into the house of Mr. Scott of Wilkinson co., a respecta- ble member of the bar, forced him out, and hung him dead on the next tree. We have heard of nu- merous minor outrages committed against the peace of society, and the welfare and happiness of the country; but we mention these as the most enor- mous that we have heard for some months.
"It now becomes our painful duty, to notice a most disgraceful outrage committed by the Lynch- ers of Vicksburg, on last Sunday. The victim was a Mr. Grace, formerly of the neighborhood of War- ronton, Va., but for two years a resident of this ci- ty. He was detected in giving free passes to slaves and brought to trial before Squire Maxcy. Unfor- tunately for the wretch, either through the want of law or evidence, he could not be punished, and he was set at liberty by the magistrate. The city mar- shal seeing that a few in the crowd were disposed to lay violent hands on the prisoner in the event of his escaping punishment by law, resolved to accom- pany him to his house. The Lynch mob still fol- lowed, and the marshal finding the prisoner could only be protected by hurrying him to jail, endeavor- ed to effect that object. The Lynchers, however, pursued the officer of the law, dragged him from his horse, bruised him, and conveyed the prisoner to the most convenient point of the city for carry- ing their blood-thirsty designs into execuUon. We blush while we record the atrocious deed ; in this city, containing nearly 5,000 souls, in the broad hght of day, this aged wretch was stripped and flogged, we believe within hearing of the lamenta. tions and the shrieks of his afflicted wife and chil- dren."
In an affray at Montgomery, Mississippi, July 1, 1838, Mr. A. L. Herbert was killed by Dr. J
Objections Considered — Public Opinion.
197
B. Harrington. See Grand Gulf Adverliser, Au- gust 1, 1838.
The " Maryland Republican" of January 30, 1838, has the following :
" A street rencounter lately took place in Jack- son, Miss., between Mr. Robert McDonald and Mr. W. H. Lockhart, in which McDonald was shot with a pistol and immediately expired. Lockhart was committed to prison."
The '• Nashville Banner," June 22, 1S38, has the following :
" On the 8th inst. Col. James M. Hulet was shot with a rifle without any apparent provocation in Gallatin, Miss., by one Richard M. Jones."
From the " Huntsville Democrat," Dec. 8, 1838.
" The Aberdeen (Miss.) Advocate, of Saturday last, states that on the morning of the day previous, (the 9th) a dispute arose between Mr. Robert Smith and Mr. Alexander Eanes, both of Aber- deen, which resulted in the death of Mr. Smith, who kept a boarding-house, and was an amiable man and a good citizen. In the course of the con- tradictory words of the disputants, the lie was given by Eanes, upon which Smith gathered up a piece of iron and threw it at Eanes, but which missed him and lodged in the walls of the house. At this, Eanes drew a large dirk knife, and stabbed Smith in the abdomen, the knife penetrating the vitals, and thus causing immediate death. Smith breathed only a few seconds after the fatal thrust.
" Eanes immediately mounted his horse and rode off, but was pursued by Mr. Hanes, who arrested and took him back, when he was put under guard to await a trial before the proper authorities."
From the " Vicksburg Register," Nov. 17, 1838.
" On the 2d inst. an affray occurred between one Stephen Scarbrough and A. W. Higbee of Grand Gulf, in which Scarbrough was stabbed with a knife, which occasioned his death in a few hours. Higbee has been arrested and committed for trial."
From the "Huntsville (Ala.) Democrat," Nov. 10, 1838.
" Life in the Southwest. — A friend in Louisiana writes, under date of the 31st ult., that a fight took place a few days ago in Madison parish, 60 miles below Lake Providence, between a Mr. Nevils and a Mr. Harper, which terminated fatally. The po- lice jury had ordered a road on the right bank of the Mississippi, and the neighboring planters were out with their forces to open it. For some offence, Nevils, the superintendent of the operations, flogged two of Harper's negroes. The next day the par- ties met on horseback, when Harper dismounted, and proceeded to cowskin Nevils for the chastise- ment inflicted on the negroes. Nevils immediate- ly drew a pistol and shot his assailant dead on the spot. Both were gentlemen of the highest respec- tability.
" An affray also came off recently, as the same correspondent writes us, in Raymond, Hinds co., Miss., which for a serious one, was rather amusing. The sheriff had a process to serve on a man of the name of Bright, and, in consequence of some dif- ficulty and intemperate language, thought proper to commence the service by the application of his
cowskin to the defendant. Bright thereupon floored his adversary, and, wresting his cowhide from him, applied it to its owner to the extent of at least five hundred lashes, meanwhile threatening to shoot the first bystander who attempted to inter- fere. The sheriff was carried home in a state of insensibility, and his life has been despaired of. The mayor of the place, however, issued his war- rant, and started three of the sherifl's deputies in pursuit of the delinquent, but the latter, after keep- ing them at bay till they found it impossible to arrest him, surrendered himself to the magistrate, by whom he was bound over to the next Circuit Court. From the mayor's office, his honor and the pardes litigant proceeded to the tavern to take a drink by way of ending hostilities. But the civil functionary refused to sign articles of peace by touching glasses with Bright, whereupon the latter made a furious assault upon him, and then turned and flogged ' mine host' within an inch of his hfe because he interfered. Satisfied with his day's work. Bright retired. Can we show any such specimens of chivalry and refinement in Kentucky 1"
From the " Grand Gulf (Miss.) Advertiser," June 27, 1837.
" Death by Violence. — The moral atmosphere in our state appears to be in a deleterious and sanguinary condition. Almost every exchange paper vjhich reaches us contains some inhuman and revolting case of murder or death by vio- lence. Not less than fifteen deaths by violence have occurred, to our certain knowledge, within the past three months. Such a state of things, in a country professing to be moral and christian, is a disgrace to human nature, and is well calculated to induce those abroad unacquainted with our general habits and feelings, to regard the morals of our people in no very enviable light ; and does more to injure and weaken our political institu- tions than years of pecuniary distress. The fre- quency of such events is a burning disgrace to the morality, civilization, and refinement of feeling to which we lay claim, and so often boast, in com- parison with the older states. And unless we sot about and put an immediate and effectual ter- mination to such revolting scenes, we shall be compelled to part with what all genuine southern- ers have ever regarded as their richest inheritance, the proud appellation of the ' brave, high-minded and chivalrous sons of the south.^
" This done, we should soon discover a change for the better — peace and good order would prevail, and the ends of justice be effectually and speedily attained, and then the people of this wealthy state would be in a condidon to bid defiance to the dis- graceful reproaches which are now daily heaped upon them by the religious and moral of other states."
" The present white population of Mississippi is but httle more than half as great as that of Ver- mont, and yet more horrible crimes are perpetra- ted by them every month, than have ever been perpetrated in Vermont since it has been a state, now about half a century. Whoever doubts it, let him get data and make his estimate, and he will find that this is no random guess.
198
Objections Considered — Public Opioion.
LOUISIANA.
' Louisiana became one of the United States in ISIL Its present white population is about one hundred and fifteen thousand.
The extracts which follow furnish another illus- tration of the horrors produced by passions blown up to fury in the furnace of arbitrary power. We have just been looking over a broken file of Louis- iana papers, including the last six months of 1837, and the whole of 1838, and find ourselves obliged to abandon our design of publishing even an ab- stract of the scores and hundreds of affrays, mur- ders, assassinations, duels, lynchings, assaults, &c. which took place in that state during that period. Those which have taken place in New Orleans alone, during the last eighteen months, would, in detail, fill a volume. Instead of inserting the de- tails of the principal atrocities in Louisiana, as in the states already noticed, we will furnish the read- er with the testimony of various editors of newspa- pers, and others, residents of the state, which will perhaps as truly set forth the actual state of society there, as could be done by a publication of the out- rages themselves.
From the "New Orleans Bee," of May 23, 1838.
" Contempt of human life. — In view of the crimes which are daily committed, we are led to inquire whether it is owing to the inefficiency of our laws, or to the manner in which those laws are administered, that this frightful deluge of human blood flows through our streets and our places of public resort.
" Whither will such contempt for the life of man lead us ? The unhealthiness of the climate mows down annually a part of our population ; the mur- derous steel despatches its proportion ; and if crime increases as it has, the latter will soon become the most powerful agent in destroying life.
"We cannot but doubt the perfection of our criminal code, when we see that almost every cri. minal eludes the law, either by boldly avowing the crime, or by the tardiness with which legal prose, cutions are carried on, or, lastly, by the convenient application of bail in criminal cases."
The " New Orleans Picayune" of July 30, 1837, says :
" It is with the most painful feelings that we daily hear of some fatal duel. Yesterday we ■were told of the unhappy end of one of our most influential and highly respectable merchants, who fell yesterday morning at sunrise in a duel. As usual, the circumstances which led to the meeting were trivial."
The New Orleans correspondent of the New York Express, in his letter dated New Orleans, July 30, 1837, says :
" Thirteen dxiels have been fought in and near
the city during the week ; five more were to take place this morning."
The "New Orleans Merchant" of March 20, 1838, says :
" Murder has been rife within the two or three weeks last past ; and what is worse, the authorities of those i>]aces where they occur are perfectly re. gardlcss of the fact."
The " New Orleans Bee" of September 8, 1838, says :
" Not two months since, the miserable Barba became a victim to one of the most cold-blooded schemes of assassination that ever disgraced a civilized community. Last Sunday evening an individual, Gonzales by name, was seen in perfect health, in conversation with his friends. On Mon. day morning his dead body was withdrawn from the Mississippi, near the ferry of the first munici- pality, in a state of terrible mutilation. To cap the climax of horror, on Friday morning, about half past six o'clock, the coroner was called to hold an inquest over the body of an individual, between Magazine and Tchoupitoulas streets. The head was entirely severed from the body ; the lower ex- tremities had hkewise suffered amputation ; the right foot was completely dismembered from the leg, and the left knee nearly severed from the thigh. Several stabs, wounds and bruises, were discovered on various parts of the body, which of themselves were sufficient to produce death."
The " Georgetown (South Carolina) Union" cf May 20, 1837, has the following extract from a New Orleans paper.
" A short time since, two men shot one another down in one of our bar rooms, one of whom died instantly. A day or two after, one or two infants were found murdered, there was every reason to believe, by their own mothers. Last week we had to chronicle a brutal and bloody murder, committed in the heart of our city : the very next day a mur- der-trial was commenced in our criminal court : the day ensuing this, we pubhshed the particulars of Hart's murder. The day after that, Tibbetts was hung for attempting to commit a murder ; the next day again we had to pubhsh a murder com- mitted by two Spaniards at the Lake — this was on Friday last. On Sunday we pubhshed the account of another murder committed by the Italian, Gre- gorio. On Monday, another murder was commit, ted, and the murderer lodged in jail. On Tuesday morning another man was stabbed and robbed, and is not likely to recover, but the assassin es- caped. The same day Reynolds, who killed Bar- re, shot himself in prison. On Wednesday, another person, Mr. Nicolet, blew out his brains. Yester- day, the unfortunate George Clement destroyed himself in his cell ; and in addition to this dreadful catalogue we have to add that of the death of tMO brothers, who destroyed themselves through grief at the death of their mother ; and truly may we say that ' we know not what to-morrow will bring forth.' "
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The " Louisiana Advertiser," as quoted by the Salt River (Mo.) Journal of May 25, 1837, says :
" Within the last ten or twelve days, three sui- cides, four murders, and two executions, have oc- curred in the city ! "
The " New Orleans Bee" of October 25, 1837, says:
"We remark with regret the frightful list of ho- micides that are daily committed in New Orleans."
The " Planter's Banner" of September 30, 1838, pubhshed at Franklin, Louisiana, after giving an account of an affray between a number of planters, in which three were killed and a fourth mortally wounded, says that " Davis (one of tlie murderers) was arrested by the by-standers, but a justice of the peace came up and told them, he did not think It right to keep a man ' tied in that manner,' and ' thought it best to turn him loose.' It was ac- cordingly so done."
This occurred in the parish of Harrisonburg. The Banner closes the account by saying:
" Our informant states that five white inen and one negro have been murdered in the parish of Madison, during the months of July and August."
This justice nf the peace, who bade the by- standers unloose the murderer, mentioned above, has plenty of birds of his own feather among the law officers of Louisiana. Two of the leading officers in the New Orleans poUce took two wit- nesses, while undergoing legal examination at Lexington, near New Orleans, " carried them to a bye-place, and lynched them, during which inqui- sitorial operations, they divulged every thing to the officers, Messrs. Foyle and Grossman." The pre- ceding fact is published in the Maryland Republi- can of August 22, 1837.
Judge Lansuge of New Orleans, in his address at the opening of the criminal court, Nov. 4, 1837, published in the " Bee" of Nov. 8, in remarking upon the prevalence of out-breaking crimes, says :
" Is it possible in a civihzed country such crying abuses are constantly encountered ? How many individuals have given themselves up to such cul- pable habits ! Yet we find magistrates and juries hesitating to expose crimes of the blackest dye to eternal contempt and infamy, to the vengeance of the law.
" As a Louisianian parent, I reflect with terror that our beloved children, reared to become one day honorable and useful citizens, may be the vic- tims of these votaries of vice and licentiousness. Without some powerful and certain remedy, our streets will become butcheries overflowing with the blood of our citizens."
The Editor of the " New Orleans Bee," in his pa- per of Oct. 21, 1837, has a long editorial article, in which he argues for the virtual legalizing of Lynch Law, as follows :
" We think then that in the circumstances in which we are placed, the Legislature ought to sanc- tion such measures as the situation of the country render necessary, by giving to justice a convenient latitude There are occasions when the delays inseparable from the administration of justice would 26
be inimical to the public safety, and where the most fatal consequences would be the result.
" It appears to us, that there is an urgent neces- sity to provide against the inconveniences which result from popular judgment, and to check the disposition for the speedy execution of justice, re- sulting from the unconstitutional principle of a pretended Lynch law, by authorizing the parish court to take cognizance without delay, against every free man who shall be convicted of a crime, from the accusations arising from the mere provo- cations to the insurrection of the working classes.
" All judicial sentences ought to be based upon law, and the terrible privilege which the populace now have of punishing with death certain crimes, ought tobe consecrated by law, powerful interests would not suffice in our view to excuse the inter- ruption of social order, if the pubhc safety was not with us the supreme law.
" This is the reason that whilst we deplore the imperious necessity which exists, we entreat the legislative power to give the sanction of principle to what already exists in fact."
The Editor of the " New Orleans Bee," in his pa- per, Oct. 25, 1837, says :
" We remark with regret the frightful hst oi homicides, whether justifiable or not, that are daily committed in New Orleans. It is not through any inherent vice of legal provision that such outrages are perpetrated with impunity : it is rather in the neglect of the application of the law which exists on this subject.
" We will confine our observation to the danger- ous facilities afforded by this code for the escape of the homicide. We are well aware that the laws m question are intended for the distribution of equal justice, yet we have too often witnessed the ac quittal of dehnquents whom we can denominate by no other title than that of homicides, while the simple affirmation of others has been admitted (in default of testimony) who are themselves the authors of the deed, for which they stand in judg- ment. The indiscriminate system of accepting bail is a blot on our criminal legislation, and is one great reason why so many violators of the law avoid its penalties. To this doubtless must be as- cribed the non-interference of the Attorney General. The law of habeas corpus being subjected to the interpretation of every magistrate, whether versed or not in criminal cases, a degree of arbitrary and incorrect explanation necessarily results. How frequently does it happen that the Mayor or Re- corder decides upon the gravest case without put. ting himself to the smallest trouble to inform the Attorney General, who sometimes only hears of the affair when investigation is no longer possible, or when the criminal has wisely commuted hjs punishment into temporary or perpetual exile.
That morality suffers by such practices, is be- yond a doubt ; yet moderation and mercy are so beautiful in themselves, that we would scarcely protest against indulgence, were it not well known that the acceptance of bail is the safeguard of every dehnquent who, through wealth or connec- tions, possesses influence enough to obtain it. Here arbitrary construction ghdes amidst the con- fusion of testimony ; there it presumes upon the want of evidence, and from one cause oranotheritis extremely rare, that a refusal to bail has dehvercd
200
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the accused into the hands of justice. In crimi- 1 nal cases, the Court and Jury are the proper tribu- ! nals to decide upon the reahty of the crime, and ■ the palHating circumstances ; yet it is not unfre- \ qnent for the pubhc voice to condemn as an odious assassin, the very individual v/ho by the acquittal of the judge, walks at large and scoffs at justice.
" It is time to restrict within its proper hmits this pretended right of personal protection ; it is time to teach our population to abstain from mutual murder upon slight provocation. — Duelling, Hea- ven knows, is dreadful enough, and quite a suffi- cient means of gratifying private aversion, and avenging insult. Frequent and serious brawls in our cafes, streets and houses, every where attest the insufficiency or misapplication of our legal code, or the want of energy in its organs. To say that unbounded hcense is the result of liberty is folly. Liberty is the consequence of well regulated laws — without these. Freedom can exist only in name, and the law which favors the escape of the opu- lent and aristocratic from the penalties of retribu- tion, but consigns the poor and friendless to the chain-gang or the gallows, is in fact the very es- sence of slavery ! !
The editor of the same paper says (Nov. 4, 1837.) " Perhaps by an equitable, but strict application of that law, (the law which forbids the wearing of deadly weapons concealed,) the effusion of human blood might be stopt which now defiles our streets and our coffee-houses as if they were shambles ! Reckless disregard of tlie life of man is rapidly gaining ground among us, and the habit of seeing a man whom it is taken for granted was armed, murdered merely for a gesture, may influence the opinion of a jury composed of citizens, whom,
LONG IMPUNITY TO HOMICIDES OF EVERY KIND has
persuaded, that the right of self-defence extends even to the taking of life for gestures, more or less threatening. So many daily instances of out- breaking passion which have thrown whole fami- lies into the deepest affliction, teach us a terrible lesson."
From the " Columbus (Ga.) Sentinel," July 6, 1837.
" Wholesale Murders. — No less than three
murders were committed in New Orleans on Monday evening last. The first was that of a man in Poydras, near the corner of Tehapitoulas. The murdered individual had been suspected of a liason with another man's wife in the neighbour- hood, was caught in the act, followed to the above corner and shot.
" The second was that of a man in Perdido street. Circumstances not known.
" The third was that of a watchman, on the cor. ner of Custom House and Burgundy street, who was found dead yesterday morning, shot through the heart. The deed was evidently committed on the opposite side from where he was found, as the unfortunate man was tracked by his blood across the street. In addition to being shot through the heart, two wounds in his breast, supposed to have been done with a Bowie knife, were discov- ered. No arrests have been made to our know- ledge."
The editor of the "Charleston, (S. C.) Mercury" of April, 1837, makes the following remarks.
" The energy of a Tacon is much needed to vivify the police of New Orleans. In a single pa- per we find an account of the execution of one man for robbery and intent to kill, of the arrest oi another for stabbing a man to death with a carving knife ; and of a third found murdered on the Levee on the previous Sunday morning. In the last case, although the murderer was known, no steps had been taken for his arrest ; and to crown the whole, it is actually stated in so many words, that the City guards are not permitted, according to their instructions, to patrol the Levee after night, for fear of attacks from persons employed in steamboats 1"
The present white population of Louisiana is but little more than that of Rhode Island, yet more appalhng crime is committed in Louisiana every day, than in Rhode Island during a year, notwith- standing the tone of pubhc morals probably is lower in the latter than in any other New England state.
TENNESSEE.
Tennessee became one of the United States in 1796. Its present white population is about seven hundred thousand.
The details which follow, go to confirm the old truth, that the exercise of arbitrary power tends to make men monsters. The following, from the " Memphis (Tennessee) Enquirer," was published in the Virginia Advocate, Jan. 26, 1S38.
" Below will be found a detailed account of one of the most unnatural and aggravated murders ever recorded. Col. Ward, the deceased, was a man of high standing in the state, and very much es- teemed by his neighbors, and by all who knew him. The brothers concerned in this ' murder, most foul and unnatural,' were Lafayette, Chamberlayne, Csesar, and Achilles Jones, (the nephews of Col. Ward.)
" The four brothers, all armed, went to the resi. dence of Mr. A. G. Ward, in Shelby co., on the evening of 22d instant. They were conducted into the room in which Col. Ward was sitting, together with some two or three ladies, his intended wife amongst the number. Upon their entering the room. Col. Ward rose, and extended his hand to Lafayette. He refused, saying he would shake hands with no such d d rascal. The rest an- swered in the same tone. Col. Ward remarked that they were not in a proper place for a difficulty, if they sought one. Col. Ward went from the room to the passage, and was followed by the broth- ers. He said he was unarmed, but if they would lay down their arms, he could whip the whole of them ; or if they would place him on an equal foot- ing, he could whip the whole of them one by one Caesar told Chamberlayne to give the Col. one of his
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pistols, Vv'hich he did, and both went out into the yard, the other brothers following. While stand- ing a few paces from each other, Lafayette came up, and remarked to the Col., ' If you spill my brotb.er's blood, I will spill yours,' about which time Chanibcrlayne's pistol fired, and immediately La- fayette burs.ed a cap at him. The Colonel turned to Lai'ayene, and said, 'Lafayette, you intend to kill,' and discharged his pistol at him. The ball struck the pistol of Lafiiyette, and glanced into his arm. By this time Albert Ward, being close by, and hearing ihe fuss, came up to the assistance of the Cclonel, when a scuffle amongst all hands en- sued. The Colonel stumbled and fell down — he received several wounds from a large bowie knife; and, after being stabbed, Chamberlayne jumped upon him, and stamped him several times. After the scuffle, Ccesar Jones was seen to put up a large bowie knife. Colonel Ward said he was a dead man. By the assistance of Albert Ward, he reached the house, distance about 15 or 20 yards, and in a few minutes expired. On examination by the Cor- oner, it appeared that he had received several wounds from pistols and knives. Albert Ward was also badly bruised, not dangerously."
The " New Orleans Bee," Sept. 22, 1838, pub- lished the following from the " Nashville (Tennes- see) Whig."
"The Nashville Whig, of the 11th ult., says: Pleasant Watson, of De Kalb county, and a Mr. Carmichael, of Alabama, were the principals in an affray at Livingston, Overton county, last week, which terminated in the death of the former. Wat- son made the assault with a dirk, and Carmichael defended himself with a pistol, shooting his antag- onist through the body, a few inches below the heart. Watson was living at the last account. The dispute grew out of a horse race."
The New Orleans Courier, April 7, 1837, has the following extract from the " McMinersville (Tennessee) Gazette."
" On Saturday, the 8th instant. Colonel David L. Mitchell, the worthy sheritT of White county, was most barbarously murdered by a man named Jo- seph Little. Colonel Mitchell had a civil process against Little. He went to Little's house for the purpose of arresting him. He found Little armed with a rifle, pistols, &c. He commenced a con. versation with Litde upon the impropriety of his resisting, and stated his determination to take him, at the same time slowly advancing upon Little, who discharged his rifle at him without eflfect. Mitchell then attempted to jump in, to take hold of him, when Little struck him over the head with the bar- rel of his rifle, and literally mashed his skull to pieces ; and, as he lay prostrate on the earth, Lit- tle deliberately pulled a large pistol from his belt, and placing the muzzle close to Mitchell's head, he shot the ball through it. Little has made his es- cape. There were three men near hy when the murder was committed, who made no attempt to arrest the murderer."
The following affray at Athens, Tennessee, is from the Mississippian, August 10, 1838.
" An unpleasant occurrence transpired at Athens on Monday. Captain James Byrnes was stabbed four times, twice in the arm, and tvsdce in the side,
by A. R. Livingston. The wounds are said to be very severe, and fears are entertained of their prov- ing mortal. The afliiir underwent an examination before Sylvester Nichols, Esq., by whom Living- ston was let to bail."
The "West Tennessean," Aug. 4, 1837, says — " A duel was fought at Calhoun, Tenn., between G. W. Carter and J. C. Sherley. They used yau- gers at the distance of 20 yards. The former was slightly wounded, and the latter quite danger- ously."
June 23d, 1838, Benjamin Shipley, of Hamiltoni CO., Tennessee, shot Archibald McCallie. (Nash- ville Banner, July 16, 1838.)
June 23d, 1838, Levi Stunston, of Weakly co., Tennessee, killed William Price, of said county, in an affray. (Nashville Banner, July 6, 1838.)
October 8, 1838, in an affray at WolPs Ferry, Tennessee, Martin Farley, Senior, was killed by John and Solomon Step. (Georgia Telegraph, Nov. 6, 1838.)
Feb. 14, 1838, John Manie was killed by Wil- liam Doss at Decatur, Tennessee. (Memphis Ga- zette. May 15, 1838.)
" From the Nashville Whig."
'■^ Fatal Affray in Columbia, Tenn. — A fatal street encounter occurred at that place, on the 3d inst., between Richard H. Hays, attorney at law, and Wm. Polk, brother to the Hon. Jas. K. Polk. The parties met, armed with pistols, and exchanged shots simultaneously. A buck-shot pierced the brain of Hays, and he died early the next morn, ing. The quarrel grew out of a sportive remark of Hays', at dinner, at the Columbia Inn, for which he offered an apology, not accepted, it seems, as Polk went to Hays' office, the same evening, and chastised him with a whip. This occurred on Fri- day, the fatal result took place on Monday."
In a fight near Memphis, Tennessee, May 15, 1837, Mr. Jackson, of that place, shot through the heart Mr. W. F. Gholson, son of the late Mr. Gholson, of Virginia. (Raleigh Register, June 13, 1837.)
The following horrible outrage, committed ire West Tennessee, not far from Randolph, was pub- lished by the Georgetown (S. C.) Union, May 26, 1837, from the Louisville Journal.
" A feeble bodied man settled a few years ago on the Mississippi, a short distance below Ran- dolph, on the Tennessee side. He succeeded irt amassing property to the value of about $14,000, and, hke most of the settlers, made a business of seUing wood to the boats. This he sold at $2 50 a cord, while his neighbors asked $3. One of them came to remonstrate against his underselling, and had a fight with his brother-in-law Clark, in which he was beaten. He then went and obtained legal process against Clark, and returned with a deputy sheriff, attended by a posse of desperate villains. When they arrived at Clark's house, he was seated among his children — they put two or three balls through his body. Clark ran, was overtaken and knocked down ; in the midst of his cries for mer- cy, one of the villains fired a pistol in his mouth,
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•tilling him instantly. They then required the set- tler to sell his property to them, and leave the country. He, fearing that they would otherwise lake his life, sold them his valuable property for $300, and departed with his family. The sheriff was one of the purchasers."
The Baltimore American, Feb. 8, 1838, publish- es the following from the Nashville (Tennessee) Banner :
" A most atrocious murder was committed a kvf days ago at Lagrange, in this state, on the body of Mr. John T. Foster, a respectable merchant of that town. The perpetrators of this bloody act are E. Moody, Thomas Moody, J. E. Douglass, W. R. Harris, and W, C. Harris. The circumstances at- tending this horrible affair, are the following : — On the night previous to the murder, a gang of villains, under pretence of wishing to purchase goods, en- tered Mr. Foster's store, took him by force, and rode him through the streets on a rail. The next morning, Mr. F. met one of the party, and gave him a caning. For this just retahation for the out- rage which had been committed on his person, he was pursued by the persons above named, while taking a walk with a friend, and murdered in the open face of day."
The following presentment of a Tennessee Grand Jury, sufficiently explains and comments on itself:
The Grand Jurors empanelled to inquire for the county of Shelby, would separate without having discharged their duties, if they were to omit to no- tice public evils which they have found their pow- ers inadequate to put in train for punishment. The evils referred to exist more particularly in the town of Memphis.
The audacity and frequency with which outrages are committed, forbid us, in justice to our con- sciences, to omit to use the powers we possess, to
bring them to the severe action of the law ; ana when we find our powers inadequate, to draw upon them public attention, and the rebuke of the good.
An infamous female publicly and grossly assaults a lady ; therefore a public meeting is called, the mayor of the town is placed in the chair, resolutions are adopted, providing for the summary and law- less punishment of the wretched woman. In the progress of the affair, hundreds of citizens assem- ble at her house, and raze it to the ground. The unfortunate creature, together with two or three men of like character, are committed, in an open canoe or boat, without oar or paddle, to the middle of the Mississippi river.
Such is a concise outline of the leading incidents of a recent transaction in Memphis. It might be filled up by the detail of individual exploits, which would give vivacity to the description ; but we for- bear to mention them. We leave it to others to admire the manliness of the transaction, and the courage displayed by a mob of hundreds, in the various outrages upon the persons and property of three or four individuals who fell under its ven- geance.
The present white population of Tennessee is about the same with that of Massachusetts, and yet more outbreaking crimes are committed in Ten- nessee in a single month, than in Massachusetts during a whole year ; and this, too, notwithstand- ing the largest town in Tennessee has but six thou- sand inhabitants ; whereas, in Massachusetts, be- sides one of eighty thousand, and two others of nearly twenty thousand each, there are at least a dozen larger than the chief town in Tennessee, which gives to the latter state an important advan- tage on the score of morality, the country being so much more favorable to it than large towns.
KENTUCKY.
Kentucky has been one of the United States since 1792. Its present white population is but six hundred thousand.
The details which follow show still further that those who unite to plunder of their rights one class of human beings, regard as sacred the rights of no class.
The following affair at Maysville, Kentucky, is extracted from the Maryland Republican, January 30, 1838.
" A fight came off at Maysville, Ky. on the 29th ultimo, in which a Mr. Coulster was stabbed in the side and is dead ; a Mr. Gibson was well hacked with a knife ; a Mr. Farris was dangerously wounded in the head, and another of the same name in the hip ; a Mr. Shoemaker was severely beaten, and several others seriously hurt in various ways."
The following is extracted from the N. C. Stan- dard.
" A most bloody and shocking transaction took place in the httle town of Clinton, Hickman co. Ken. The circumstances are briefly as follows : A
special canvass for a representative from the county of Hickman, had for some time been in progress. A gentleman by the name of Binford was a candidate. The State Senator from the district. Judge James, took some exceptions to the reputation of Binford, and intimated that if B. should be elected, he (James) would resign rather than serve with such a colleague. Hearing this, Binford went to the house of James to demand an explanation. Mrs. James remarked, in a jest as Binford thought, that if she was in the place of her husband she would resign her seat in the Senate, and not serve with such a character. B. told her that she was a woman, and could say what she pleased. She replied that she was not in earnest. James then looked B. in the face and said that, if his wife said so, it was the fact — ' he was an in- famous scoundrel and d — d rascal.' He asked B. if he was armed, and on being answered in the affirmative, he stepped into an adjoining room to arm himself He was prevented by the family from returning, and Binford walked out. J. then told him from his piazza, that he would meet him next day in Chnton.
True to their appointment, the enraged parties met on the streets the following day. James shot
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first, his ball passing through his antagonist's liver, whose pistol fired immediately afterwards, and missing J., the ball pierced the head of a stranger by the name of Colhns, who instantly fell and expired. After being shot, Binford sprang upon J. with the fury of a wounded tiger, and would have taken his life but ibr a second shot received through the back from Bartin James, the brother of Thomas. Even after he received the last fatal wound he struggled with his antagonist until death relaxed his grasp, and he fell with the horrid ex- clamation, ' I am a dead man ."
" Judge James gave himself up to the authorities ; and when the informant of the editor left Clinton, Binford, and the unfortunate stranger lay shrouded corpses together."
The "N. 0. Bee" thus gives the conclusion of the matter:
"Judge James was tried and acquitted, the death of Binford being regarded as an act of justi- fiable homicide."
From the "Flemingsburg Kentuckian," June 2J, '33. Affray. — Thomas Binford, of Hickman coun- ty, Kentucky, recently attacked a Mr. Gardner of Dresden, with a drawn knife, and cut his face pretty badly. Gardner picked up a piece of iron and gave him a side- wipe above the ear that brought him to terms. The skull was fractured about two inches. Binford's brother was killed at Chnton, Kentucky, last fall by Judge James.
The " Red River Whig" of September 15, 1838, says : — " A ruffian of the name of Charles Gibson, attempted to murder a girl named Mary Green, of Louisville, Ky. on the 23d ult. He cut her in six different places with a Bowie knife. His object, as stated in a subsequent investigation before the Police Court, was to cut her throat, which she prevented by throwing up her arms."
From the " Louisville Advertiser," Dec. 17th, 1838 1 — "A startling tragedy occurred in this city on Saturday evening last, in which A. H. Meeks was instantly killed, John Rothwell mortally wounded, William Holmes severely wounded, and Henry Oldham slightly, by the use of Bowie knives, by Judge E. C. Wilkinson, and his brother, B. R. Wilkinson, of Natchez, and J. Murdough, of Holly Springs, Mississippi. It seems that Judge Wilkinson had ordered a coat at the shop of Messrs. Varnum & Redding. The coat was made ; the Judge, accompanied by his brother and Mr. Mur- dough, went to the shop of Varnum & Redding, tried on the coat, and was irritated because, as he beheved, it did not fit him. Mr. Redding under- took to convince him that he was in error, and ventured to assure the Judge that the coat was well made. The Judge instantly seized an iron poker, and commenced an attack on Redding. The blow with the poker was partially warded off — Redding grappled his assailant, when a companion of the Judge drew a Bowie knife, and, but for the interposition and interference of the unfortunate Meeks, a journeyman tailor, and a gendeman pas- sing by at the moment, Redding might have been assassinated in his own shop. Shortly afterwards. Redding, Meeks, Rothwell, and Holmes went to the Gait House. They sent up stairs for Judge Wilkinson, and he came down into the bar room,
when angry words were passed. The Judge went up stairs again, and in ashorttime returned with his companions, all armed with knives. Harsh lan- guage was again used. Meeks, felt called on to state what he had seen of the conflict, and did so, and Murdough gave him the d — d lie, for which Meeks struck him. On receiving the blow with the whip, Murdough instantly plunged his Bowie knife into the abdomen of Meeks, and killed him on the spot.
" At the same instant B. R. Wilkinson attempted to get at Redding, and Holmes and Rothwell inter- fered, or joined in the affray. Holmes was wounded, probably by B. R. Wilkinson ; and the Judge, having left the room for an instant, returned, and finding Rothwell contending with his brother, or bending over him, he (the Judge) stabbed Rothwell in the back, and inflicted a mortal wound."
Judge Wilkinson, his brother, and J. Murdough, have been recently tried and acquitted. From the "New Orleans Bee," Sept. 27, 1838.
" It appears from the statement of the Lex- ington Intelligencer, that there has been for some time past, an enmity between the drivers of the old and opposition lines of stages running from that city. On the evening of the 13th an encoun- ter took place at the Circus between two of them, Powell and Cameron, and the latter was so much injured that his life was in imminent danger. About 12 o'clock the same night, several drivers of the old line rushed into Keizer's Hotel, where Powell and other drivers of the opposition-line boarded, and a general melee took place, in the course of which several pistols were discharged, the ball of one of them passing through the head of Crabster, an old line driver, and kiUing him on the spot. Crabster, before he was shot, had dis- charged his own pistol which had burst into frag, ments. Two or three drivers of the opposition were wounded with buck shot, but not dan- gerously."
The " Mobile Advertiser" of September 15, 1838, copies the following from the Louisville (Ky.) Journal.
"A Mr. Campbell was killed in Henderson county on the 31st ult. by a Mr. Harrison. It ap- pears, that there was an affray between the parties some months ago, and that Harrison subsequently left home and returned on the 31st in a trading boat. Campbell met him at the boat with a loaded rifle and declared his determination to kill him, at the same time asking him whether he had a rifle and expressing a desire to give him a fair chance. Harrison affected to laugh at the whole matter and invited Campbell into his boat to take a drink with him. Campbell accepted the invitation, but, while he was in the act of drinking, Harrison seized his rifle, fired it off, and laid Campbell dead by striking him with the barrel of it."
The " Missouri Republican" of July 29, 1837, pubhshed the details which follow from the Louis- ville Journal.
Mount Sterling, Ky. July 20, 1837.
" Gentlemen : — A most unfortunate and fatal occurrence transpired in our town last evening, about 6 o'clock. Some of the most prominent
201
Objections Considered — Public Opinion.
friends of Judge French had a meeting yesterday at Col. Young's, near this place, and warm words ensued between Mr. Albert Thomas and Belvard Peters, Esq., and a few blows were exchanged, and several of the friends of each collected at the spot. Wliilst the parties were thus engaged, Mr. Wm. White, who was a friend of Mr. Peters, struck Mr. Thomas, whereupon B. F. Thomas Esq. engaged in the combat on the side of his brother and Mr. W. Roberts on the part of Peters — Mr. G. W. Thomas taking part with his brothers. Albert Thomas had Peters down and was taken off by a gentleman present, and whilst held by that gentleman, he was struck by White ; and B. F. Thomas having made some remark White struck him. B. F. Thomas returned the blow, and having a large knife, stabbed White, who never- theless continued the contest, and, it is said, broke Thomas's arm with a rock of a chair. Thomas then inflicted some other stabs, of which White died in a few minutes. Roberts was knocked down twice by Albert Thomas, and, I beheve, is much hurt. G. W. Thomas was somewhat hurt also. White and B. F. Thomas had alwa}'s been on friendly terms. You are acquainted with the Messrs. Thomas. Mr. White was a much larger man than either of them, weighing nearly 200 pounds, and in the prime of life. As you may very naturally suppose, great excitement prevails here, and Mr. B. F. Thomas regrets the fatal ca- tastrophe as much as any one else, but believes from all the circumstances that he was justifiaWe in what he did, although he would be as far from doing such an act when cool and deliberate as any man whatever.
The "New Orleans Bulletin" of Aug. 24, 1838, extracts the following from the Louisville Journal.
"News has just reached us, that Thomas P. Moore, attacked the Senior Editor of this paper in the yard of the Harrodsburg Springs. Mr. Moore advanced upon Mr. Prentice with a drawn pistol and fired at him ; Mr. Prentice then fired, neither shot taking effect. Mr. Prentice drew a second pistol, when Mr. Moore quailed and said he had no other arms ; whereupon Mr. Prentice from su. perabundant magnanimity spared the miscreant's life."
From " The Floridian" of June 10, 1837. MuEDER. Mr. Gillespie, a respectable citizen aged 50, was murdered a few days since by a Mr. Arnett, near Mumfordsville, Ky., which latter shot his victim twice with a rifle.
The "Augusta (Ga.) Sentinel," May 11, 1838, has the following account of murders in Kentucky :
" At Mill's Point, Kentucky, Dr. Thomas Rivers was shot one day last week, from out of a window, hy Lawyer Ferguson, both citizens of that place, and both parties are represented to have stood high in the estimation of the community in which they Kved. The difficulty we understand to have grown out of a law suit at issue between them.
Just as our paper was going to press, we learn that the brother of Dr. Rivers, who had been sent for, had arrived, and immediately shot Lawyer Ferguson. He at first shot him with a shot gun, upon his retreat, which did not prove fatal ; he then
approached him immediately with a pistol, and kill, ed him on the spot."
The Right Rev. B. B. Smith, Bishop of the Epis- copal diocese of Kentucky, published about two years since an article in the Lexington (Ky.) In- telligencer, entided " Thoughts on the frequency of homicides in the state of Kentucky." We con- clude this head with a brief extract from the testi. mony of the Bishop, contained in that article.
" The writer has never conversed with a traveled and enlightened European or eastern man, who has not expressed the most undisguised horror at the frequency of homicide and murder within our bounds, and at the ease with which the homicide escapes from punishment.
" As to the frequency of these shocking occur- rences, the writer has some opportunity of being correctly impressed, by means of a yearly tour through many counties of the State. He has also been particular in making inquiries of our most dis- tinguished legal and political characters, and from some has derived conjectural estimates which were truly alarming. A few have been of the opinion, that on an average one murder a year may be charged to the account of every county in the state, making the frightful aggregate of 850 human lives sacrificed to revenge, or the victims of momentary passion, in the course of every ten years.
" Others have placed the estimate much lower, and have thought that thirty for the whole state, every year, would be found much nearer the truth. An attempt has been made lately to obtain data more satisfactory than conjecture, and circulars have been addressed to the clerks of most of the counties, in order to arrive at as correct an esdmate as possible of the actual number of homicides du- ring the three years last past. It will be seen, how- ever, that statistics thus obtained, even from every county in the state, would necessarily be imper- fect, inasmuch as the records of the courts by no means show all the cases which occur, some esca- ping without any of the forms of a legal examina- rion, and there being many affrays which end only in wounds, or where the parties are separated.
" From these returns, it appears that in 27 coun- ties there have been, within the last three years, of homicides of every grade, 35, but only 8 convic- tions in the same period, leaving 27 cases which have passed wholly unpunished. During the same period there have been from eighty-five counties, only eleven commitments to the state prison, nine for manslaughter, and two for shooting with intent to kill, and not an instance of capital punishment in the person of any white offender. Thus an approximation is made to a general average, which probably would not vary much from one in each county every three years, or about 280 in ten years.
" It is believed that such a register of crime amongst a people professing the protestant religion and speaking the Enghsh language, is not to be found, with regard to any three-quarters of a mil. lion of people, since the downfall of the feudal sys- tem. Compared with the records of crime in Scodand, or the eastern states, the results are ab- solutely SHOCKING ! It is believed there are more homicides, on an average of two years, in any of our more populous counties, than in the whole of
Ohjectims Considered — Public Opinion.
205
several of our states, of equal or nearly equal white population icith Kentucky,
" The victims of these affrays are not always, by any means, the most worthless of our population.
" It too often happens that the enlightened citizen, the elevated lawyer, the affectionate husband, and precious father, are thus instantaneously taken from their useful stations on earth, and hurried, all unprepared, to their final account !
" The question is again asked, what could have brought about, and can perpetuate, this shocking state of things ? "
As an illustration of the recklessness of life in Kentucky, and the terrible paralysis of public sen- timent, the bishop states the following fact.
" A case of shocking homicide is remembered, where the guilty person was acquitted by a sort of acclamation, and the next day was seen in public, with two ladies hanging on his arm ! "
Notwithstanding the frightful frequency of dead- ly affrays in Kentucky, as is certified by the above testimony of Bishop Smith, there are fewer, in pro- portion to the white population, than in any of the states which have passed under review, unless Tennessee may be an exception. The present white population of Kentucky is perhaps seventy thousand more than that of Maine, and yet more public fatal affrays have taken place in the former, within the last six months, than in the latter during its emtire existence as a state.
The seven slave states which we have already passed under review, are just one half of the slave states and territories, included in the American Union. Before proceeding to consider the condi- tion of society in the other slave states, we pause a moment to review the ground already traversed.
The present entire white population of the states already considered, is about two and a quarter millions ; just about equal to the present •white population of the state of New York. If the amount of crime resulting in loss of life, which is perpetrated by the white population of those states upon the whites alone, be contrasted with the amount perpetrated in the state of New York, by all classes, upon all, we believe it will be found, that more of such crimes have been com- mitted in these states within the last 18 months, than have occurred in the state of New York for half a century. But perhaps we shall be told that in these seven states, there are scores of cities and large towns, and that a majority of all these deadly affrays, &c., take place in the7n ; to this we reply, that there are three times as many cities and large towns in the state of New York, as in all those states together, and that nearly all the capital crimes perpetrated in the state take place in these cities and large villages. In the state of New York, there are more than half amillion of persons who live in cities and villages of more than two thousand inhabitants, whereas in Kentucky, Ten-
nessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkan- sas and Missouri, there are on the largest compu- tation not more than one hundred thousand per- sons, residing in cities and villages of more than two thousand inhabitants, and the while popula- tion of these places (which alone is included in the estimate of crime, and that too inflicted upon whites only,) is probably not more than sixty-five thousand.
But it will doubtless be pleaded in mitigation, that the cities and large villages in those states are new; that they have not had sufficient time tho- roughly to organize their poHce, so as to make it an effectual terror to evil doers ; and further, that the rapid growth of those places has so overloaded the authorities with all sorts of responsibilities, that due attention to the preservation of the public peace has been nearly impossible ; and besides, they have had no official experience to draw upon, as in the older cities, the offices being generally filled by young men, as a necessary consequence of the newness of the country, &c. To this we reply, that New Orleans is more than a century old, and for half that period has been the centre of a great trade ; that St. Louis, Natchez, Mobile, Nashville, Louisville and Lexington, are all half a century old, and each had arrived at years of dis- cretion, while yet the sites of Buffalo, Rochester, Lockport, Canandaigua, Geneva, Auburn, Ithaca, Oswego, Syracuse, and other large towns in Wes- tern New- York, were a wilderness. Further, as a number of these places are larger than either of the former, their growth must have been more rapid, and, consequently, they must have encoun- tered still greater obstacles in the organization of an efficient police than those south western cities, with this exception, they weke not settled by
SLAVEHOLDERS.
The absurdity of assigning the newness of the country, the unrestrained habits of pioneer settlers, the recklessness of life engendered by wars with the Indians, &c., as reasons sufficient to account for the frightful amount of crime in the states un- der review, is manifest from the fact, that Vermont is of the same age with Kentucky ; Ohio, ten years younger than Kentucky, and six years younger than Tennessee ; Indiana, five years younger than Louisiana ; Illinois, one year younger than Missis- sippi ; Maine, of the same age with Missouri, and two years younger than Alabama ; and Michigan of the same age with Arkansas. Now, let any one contrast the state of society in Maine, Vermont, Ohio, Indiana, lUinois, and Michigan with that of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Missouri, Louisi- ana, Arkansas, and Mississippi, and candidly pon- der the result. It is impossible satisfactorily to ac- count for the immense dispanty in crime, on any other supposition than that the latter states were settled and are inhabited almost exclusively by
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Ohjections Considered — Public Opinion.
those who carried with them the violence, impa- tience of legal restraint, love of domination, fiery passions, idleness, and contempt of laborious indus. try, which are engendered by habits of despotic sway, acquired by residence in communities where such manners, habits and passions, mould society into their own image.* The practical workings of this cause are powerfully illustrated in those parts of the slave states where slaves abound, when con- trasted with those where very few are held. Who does not know that there are fewer deadly affrays in proportion to the white population — that law has more sway and that human life is less insecure in East Tennessee, where there are very few slaves, than in West Tennessee, where there are large numbers. This is true also of northern and wes- tern Virginia, where few slaves are held, when con- trasted with eastern Virginia, where they abound ; the same remark applies to those parts of Kentucky and Missouri, where large numbers of slaves are held, when contrasted with others where there are comparatively few.
We see the same cause operating to a considera- ble extent in those parts of Ohio, Indiana and Illi- nois, settled mainly by slaveholders and others, who were natives of slave states, in contrast with other parts of these states settled almost exclusively by persons from free states ; that affrays and breaches of the peace are far more frequent in the former than in the latter, is well known to all.
We now proceed to the remaining slave states. Those that have not yet been considered, are Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, and the territory of Florida. As Delaware has hardly two thousand five hun- dred slaves, arbitrary power over human beings is exercised by so few persons, that the turbulence infused thereby into the public mind is but an in-
* Bishop Smith of Kentucky, in his testimony respect- iag homicides, which is quoted on a preceding page, thus speaks of the influence of slave-holding, as an exciting cause.
" Are not some of the indirect influences of a system, the existence of which amongst us can never be sufficiently deplored, discoverable in these affrays .' Are not our young men more heady, violent and imperious in conse- quence of their early habits of command ? And are not our taverns and other public places of resort, much more crowded with an inflammable material, than if young men ■jvere brought up in the staid and frugal habits of those who are constrained to earn their bread by the sweat of their brow ? * * * Is not intemperance more so- cial, more inflammatory, more pugnacious where a fan- cied superiority of gentlemanly character is felt, in con- sequence of exemption from severe manual labor ? Is there ever stabbing where there is not idleness and strong drink ?"
The Bishop also gives the following as another exciting cause ; it is however only the product of the preceding.
" Has not a public sentiment which we hear charac- terized as singularly high-minded and honorable, and sensitively alive to every affront, whether real or ima- ginary, but which strangers denominate rough and fero- cious, much to do in provoking these assaults, and then in applauding instead of punishing the offender."
The Bishop says of the young men of Kentucky, that they "grow up proud, impetuous, and reckless of all responsibility ;" and adds, that the practice of carrying tifiadly weapons is with them " nearly cnivebsai-."
considerable element, quite insufficient to inflame the passions, much less to cast the character of the mass of the people ; consequently, the state of so. ciety there, and the general security of Hfe is but little less than in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, upon which states it borders on the north and east. The same causes operate in a considerable mea- sure, though to a much less extent, in Maryland and in Northern and Western Virginia. But in lower Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, the general state of society as it re. spects the successful triumph of passion over law, and the consequent and universal insecurity oi life is, in the main, very similar to that of the states already considered. In some portions of each of these states, human hfe has probably as litde real protection as in Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisi- ana ; but generally throughout the former states and sections, the laws are not so absolutely power- less as in the latter three. Deadly affrays, duels, murders, lynchings, &c., are, in proportion to the white population, as frequent and as rarely pun- ished in lower Virginia as in Kentucky and Mis- souri ; in North Carolina and South CaroHna as in Tennessee ; and in Georgia and Florida as in Alabama.
To insert the criminal statistics of the remaining slave states in detail, as those of the states already considered have been presented, would, we find, fill more space than can well be spared. Instead of this, we propose to exhibit the state of society in all the slaveholding region bordering on the Atlan- tic, by the testimony of the slaveholders themselves, corroborated by a few plain facts. Leaving out of view Florida, where law is ihe most, powerless, and Maryland where probably it is the least so, we propose to select as a fair illustration of the actual state of society in the Atlantic slaveholding regions. North Carohna whose border is but 250 miles from the free states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and Georgia which constitutes its south western boundary.
We will begin with Georgia. This state was settled more than a century ago by a colony under General Oglethorpe. The colony was memorable for its high toned morality. One of its first regu- lations was an absolute prohibition of slavery in every form : but another generation arose, the prohibition was abolished, a multitude of slaves were imported, the exercise of unlimited power over them lashed up passion to the spurning of all control, and now the dreadful state of society that exists in Georgia, is revealed by the following testi- mony out of her own mouth.
The editor of the Darien (Georgia) Telegraph, in his paper of November 6, 1838, published the following.
"3Iurderous Attack. — Between the hours of three and four o'clock, on Saturday last, the editor
Ohjections Considered — Public Opinion.
207
of this paper was attacked by FOURTEEN armed ruffians, and knocked down by repeated blows of bludgeons. All his assailants were armed with pistols, dirks, and large clubs. Many of them are known to us; but there is neither law nor justice, to be had in Dnrien ! We arc doomed to death by the employers of the assassins who attacked us on Saturday, and no less than our blood will satisfy them. The cause alleged for this unmanly, base, cowardly outrage, is some expressions which oc- curred in an election squib, printed at this office, and extensively circulated through the county, be- fore the election. The names of those who sur- rounded us, when the attack was made, are, A. Lefils, jr. (son to the representative), Madison Thomas, Francis Harrison, Thomas Hopkins, Alexander Blue, George Wing, James Eilands, W. I. Perkins, A. J. Raymur : the others we can. not at present recollect. The two first, Lefils and Thomas struck us at the same time. Pistols were levelled at us in all directions. We can produce the most respectable testimony of the truth of this statement."
The same number of the " Darien Telegraph," from which the preceding is taken, contains a cor- respondence between six individuals, settling the preliminaries of duels. The correspondence fills, with the exception of a dozen lines, five columns of tiie paper. The parties were Col. W. Whig Haz- zard, commander of one of the Georgia regiments m the recent Seminole campaign, Dr. T. F. Haz- zard, a physician of St. Simons, and Thomas Haz- zard, Esq. a county magistrate, on the one side, and Messrs. J. A. Willey, H. W. Willey, and H. B. Gould, Esqs. of Darien, on the other. In their published correspondence the parties call each other "liar," "mean rascal," "puppy," "villain," &c.
The magistrate, Thomas Hazzard, who accepts the challenge of J. A. Willey, says, in one of his letters, "Being a magistrate, under a solemn oath to do all in my power to keep the peace," &c., and yet this personification of Georgia justice super- scribes his letter as follows : " To the Liar, Puppy, Fool, and Poltroon, Mr. John A. Willey." The magistrate closes his letter thus :
" Here I am ; call upon me for personal satisfac- tion (in propria forma) ; and in the Farm Field, on St. Simon's Island, {Beo juvante,) I will give you a full front of my body, and do all in my pow- er to satisfy your thirst for blood ! And more, I will wager you ^100, to be planked on the scratch ! that J. A. Willey will neither kill or defeat T. F. Hazzard."
The following extract from the correspondence is a sufficient index of slaveholding civihzation.
" ARTICLES OF BATTLE BETWEEN JOHN A. WILLEY AND W. WHIG HAZZARD.
Condition 1. The parties to fight on the same day, and at the same place, (St. Simon's beach, near the lighthouse,) where the meeting between T. F. Hazzard and J. A. Willey will take place.
Condition 2. The parties to fight with broad- swords in the right hand, and a dirk in the left.
Condition 3. On the word " Charge," the parties
to advance, and attack with the broad-sword, or close with the dirk.
Condition 4. The head of the vanquished to
BE CUT off by THE VICTOR, AND STUCK UPON A POLE
ON THE Farm Field dam, the original cause of dis- pute.
Condition 5. Neither party to object to each other's weapons ; and if a sword breaks, the con- test to continue with the dirk."
This Col. W. Whig Hazzard is one of the most prominent citizens in the southern part of Georgia, and previously signalized himself, as we learn from one of the letters in the correspondence, by " three dehberate rounds in a duel."
The Macon (Georgia) Telegraph of October 9, 1838, contains the following notice of two affi-ays in that place, in each of which an individual was killed, one on Tuesday and the other on Saturday of the same week. In publishing the case, the Macon editor remarks :
" We are compelled to remark on the inefficien- cy of our laws in bringing to the bar of public jus- fice, persons committing capital offences. Under the present mode, a man has nothing more to do than to leave the state, or step over to Texas, or some other place not farther off, and he need en- tertain no fear of being apprehended. So long as such a state of things is permitted to exist, just so long will every man who has an enemy (and there are but few who have not) be in constant danger of being shot down in the streets."
To these remarks of the Macon editor, who is in the centre of the state, near the capital, the editor of the Darien Telegraph, two hundred miles distant, responds as follows, in his paper of October 30. 1838.
" The remarks of our contemporary are not without cause. They apply, with peculiar force, to this community. Murderers and rioters will never stand in need of a sanctuary as long as Darien is what it is."
It is a coincidence which carries a comment with it, that in less than a week after this Darien editor made these remarks, he was attacked in the street by '■^fourteen gentlemen," armed with bludgeons, knives, dirks, pistols, &c., and would doubtless have been butchered on the spot if he had not been rescued.
We give the following statement at length as the chief perpetrator of the outrages. Col. W. N. Bishop, was at the time a high functionary of the State of Georgia, and, as we learn from the Ma. con Messenger, still holds two public offices in the State, one of them from the direct appoint- ment of the governor.
From the " Georgia Messenger" of August 25,
1837.
" During the administration of Wilson Lump- kin, WILLIAM N. BISHOP received from his Excellency the appointment of Indian Agent, in the place of William Springer. During that year (1834,) the said governor gave the command
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Objections Considered — Public Opinion.
of a company af men, 40 in number, to the said W. N. Bishop, to be selected by him, and arm- ed with the muskets of the State. This band was organized for the special purpose of keeping the Cherokees in subjection, and although it is a no- torious fact that the Cherokees in the neighbor- hood of Spring Place were peaceable and by no means refractory, the said band were kept there, and seldom made any excursion whatever out of the county of Murray. It is also a notorious fact, that the said band, from the day of their or. ganization, never permitted a citizen of Murray county opposed to the dominant party of Geor- gia, to exercise the right of suffrage at any elec- tion whatever. From that period to the last of January election, the said band appeared at the polls with the arms of the State, rejecting every vote that " was not of the true stripe," as they called it. That they frequently seized and drag- ged to the polls honest citizens, and compelled them to vote contrary to their will.
"Such acts of arbitrary despotism were tolerated by the administration. Appeals from the citizens of Murray county brought them no relief — and incensed at such outrages, they determined on the first Monday in January last, to turn out and elect such Judges of the Inferior Court and coun- ty officers, as would be above the control of Bishop, that he might thereby be prevented from packing such a jury as he chose to try him for his brutal and unconstitutional outrages on their rights. Accordingly on Sunday evening previous to the election, about twenty citizens who lived a distance from the county site, came in unarm- ed and unprepared for battle, intending to re- main in town, vote in the morning and return home. They were met by Bishop and his State band, and asked by the former ' whether they were for peace or war.' They unanimously re- sponded " we are for peace." At that moment Bishop ordered a fire, and instantly every musket of his band was discharged on those citizens, 5 of whom were wounded, and others escaped with butlet holes in their clothes. Not satisfied with the outrage, they dragged an aged man from his wagon and beat him nearly to death.
" In this way the voters were driven from Spring Place, and before day light the next morning, the polls were opened by order of Bishop, and soon after sun rise they were closed ; Bishop having ascertained that the band and Schley men had all voted. A runner was then dispatched to Mil- ledgeville, and received from Governor Schley commissions for those self-made officers of Bish- op's, two of whom have since runaway, and the rest have been called on by the citizens of the county to resign, being each members of Bishop's band, and doubtless runaways from other States.
" After these outrages. Bishop apprehending an appeal to the judiciary on the part of the injured citizens of Murray county, had a jury drawn to suit him and appointed one of his band Clerk of the Superior Court. For these acts,the Governor and officers of the Central Bank rewarded him with an ofiice in the Bank of the State, since which his own jury found eleven true bills against him."
In the Milledgeville Federal Union of May 2, 3837, we find the following presentment of the
Grand Jury of Union County, Georgia, which aa it shows some relics of a moral sense, still linger- ing in the state we insert.
Presentment of the Grand Jury of Union Co., March term, 1837.
" We would notice, as a subject of painful in- terest, the appointment of Wm. N. Bishop to the high and responsible office of Teller, of the Central Bank of the State of Georgia — an insti- tution of such magnitude as to merit and demand the most unslumbering vigilance of the freemen of this State ; as a portion of whom, we feel bound to express our indignant reprehension of the promotion of such a character to one of its most responsible posts — and do exceedingly re- gret the blindness or depravity of those who can sanction such a measure.
" We request that our presentment be published in the " Mmers' Recorder and Federal Union. John Martin, Foreman."
On motion of Henry L. Sims, Solicitor Gene- neral, " Ordered by the court, that the present- ments of the Grand Jury, be published according to their request." Thomas Henry, Clerk.
The same paper, four weeks after publishing the preceding facts, contained the following : we give it in detail as the wretch who enacted the tragedy was another public functionary of the state of Georgia and acting in an official capa- city.
" Murder. — One of the most brutal and inhu- man murders it has ever fallen to our lot to no- tice, was lately committed in Cherokee county, by Julius Bates, the son of the principal keeper of the Penitentiary, upon an Indian.
" The circumstances as detailed to us by the most respectable men of both parties, are these. At the last Superior Court of Cass county, the unfortunate Indian was sentenced to the Peniten- tiary. Bates, as one of the Penitentiary guard, was sent with another to carry him and others, from other counties to Milledgeville. He started from Cassville with the Indian ironed and bare- footed ; and walked him within a quarter of a mile of Canton, the C. H. in Cherokee, a distance of twenty-eight to thirty miles, over a very rough road in little more than half the day. On arriv- ing at a small creek near town, the Indian [who had walked until the soles of his feet were off and those of his heel turned back,] made signs to get water. Bates refused to let him, and ordered him to go on : the Indian stopped and finally set down, whereupon Bates dismounted and gather- ing a pine knot, commenced and continued beat- ing him and jirking him by a chain around his neck, until the citizens of the village were drawn there by the severity of the blows. The unfortu- nate creature was taken up to town and died in a few hours.
"An inquest was held, and the jury found a verdict of murder by Bates. A warrant was is- sued, but Bates had departed that morning in charge of other prisoners taken from Canton, and the worthy officers of the county desisted from his pursuit, ' because they apprehended he had passed the limits of the county.' We understand that the warrant was immediately sant to 1}io
Ohjectioiis Considered — Public Opinion.
209
Governor to Iiave him arrested. Will it be done ? We shall see."
Having devoted so much space to a revelation of the state of society among tiie slaveholders of Georgia, we will tax the reader's patience with only a single illustration of the public sentiment — the degree of actual legal protection enjoyed in the state of North Carolina.
North Carolina was settled about two centu- ries ago ; its present white population is about five hundred thousand.
Passing by the murders, affrays, &.c. with which the North Carolina papers abound, we in- sert the following as an illustration of the public sentiment of North Carolina among ' gentlemen of property and standing.'
The ' North Carolina Literary and Commercial Journal,' of January 20, 1838, pubhshed at Eliza- beth City, devotes a column and a half to a des- cription of the lynching, tarring, feathering, ducking, riding on a rail, pumping, &c., of a Mr. Charles Fife, a merchant of that city, for the crime of ' trading with negroes.' The editor in- forms us that this exploit of vandahsm was per- formed very deliberately, at mid-day, and Oy a number of the citizens, the most kespectable in THE CITY,' &c. We proceed to give the reader an abridgement of the editor's statement in his own words. —
'' Such being the case, a number of the citi- zens, THE MOST RESPECTABLE IN THIS CITY, Col- lected, about ten days since, and after putting the fellow on a rail, carried him through town with a duck and chicken tied to him. He was taken down to the water and his head tarred and fea- thered ; and when they returned he was put un. der a pump, where for a few minutes he under- went a little cooling. He was then told that he must leave town by the next Saturday — if he did not he would be visited again, and treated more in accordance with the principles of the laws of Judge Lynch.
" On Saturday last, he was again visited, and as Fife had several of his friends to assist him, some little scuffle ensued, when several were knocked down, but nothing serious occurred. Fife was again mounted on a rail and brought into town, but as he promised if they would not trouble him he would leave toum in a few days, he was set at liberty. Several of our magistrates took no notice of the affair, and rather seemed to tacitly acquiesce in the proceedings. The whole subject every one supposed was ended, as Fife was to leave in a few days, when what was our ASTONISHMENT to hear that Mr. Charles R. Kin- ney had visited Fife, advised him not to leave and actually took upon himself to examine wit- nesses, and came before the public as the defend- er of Fife. The consequence was, that all the rioters were summoned by the Sheriff to appear in the Court House and give bail for their ap- pearance at our next court. On Monday last the court opened at 12 o'clock, Judge Bailey presid- ing. Such an excitement we never witnessed
before in our town. A great many witnesses wore examined, which proved the character of File bc)'ond a doubt. At one time ratlier serious consequences were apprehended — high words were spoken, and luckily a blow which was aimed at Mr. Kinney, was parried oft', and wc are happy to say the court adjourned after ample securities being given. The next day Fife was taken to jail for trading with negroes, but has since been released on paying $100. Tlic inter- ference of Mr. Kinney was wholly unnecessary ; it was an assumption on his part which properly belonged to our magistrates. Fife had agreed to go away, and the matter would have been ami- cably settled but for him. We have no unfriend- ly feelings towards Mr. Kinney : no personal ani- mosities to gratify : we have always considered him as one of our best lawyers, But when he comes forth as the supporter of such a fellow as Fife, under the plea that the laws have been vio- lated— when he arraigns the acts of thirty of the inhabitants of this place, it is high time for him to reflect seriously on the consequences. The Penitentiary system is the result of the refinement of the eighteenth century. As man advances in the sciences, in the arts, in the intercourse of so- cial and civilized life, in the same proportion does crime and vice keep an equal pace, and always makes demands on the wisdom of legislators. Now, what is the Lynch law but the Penitentiary Eystem carried out to its full extent, with a little more steam power ? or more properly, it is sim- ply thus : There are some scoundrels in society on whom the laws take no effect ; the most expe- ditious and short way is to let a majority decide and give them JUSTICE."
Let the reader notice, 1st, that this outrage was perpetrated with great deliberation, and after it was over, the victim was commanded to leave town by the next week : when that cooling inter- val had passed, the outrage was again deliberate- ly repeated. 2d. It was perpetrated by " thirty persons,' " the most respectable in the city." 3d. That at the second lynching of Fife, several of his neighbors who had gathered to defend him, (seeing that all the legal officers in the city had refused to do it, thus violating their oaths of of- fice,) were knocked down, to which the editor adds, with the business air of a professional butcher, " nothing serious occurred !" 4th. That not a single magistrate in the city took the least notice either of the barbarities inflicted upon Fife, or of the assaults upon his friends, knocking them down, &c. , but, as the editor informs us, all " seemed to acquiesce in the proceedings." 5th. That this conduct of the magistrates was well pleasing to the great mass of the citizens, is plain, from the remark of the editor that " every one supposed that the whole subject was ended," and from his wondering exclamation, " what was OUR ASTONISHMENT to hear that Mr. C. R. Kin. ney had actually took upon him to examine wit- nesses," &e., and also from the editor's declara- tion, '' Such an excitement we never before wit-
210
Ohkctims Considered— VnhXiC Opinion.
nesscd m our town." Excitement at what ? Not because the laws had been most impiously tram- pled down at noon-day by a conspiracy of thirty persons, " the most respectable in the city ;" not because a citizen had been twice seized and pub- licly tortured for hours, without trial, and in utter defiance of all authority ; nay, verily ! this was all complacently acquiesced in ; but because in this slaveholding Sodom there was found a solitary Lot who dared to uplift his voice for law and the right of trial Oy jury ; this crime stirred up such an uproar in that city of " most respectable" lynchers as was " never witnessed before" and the noble lawyer who thus put every thing at stake in invoking the majesty .of law, would, it seems, have been knocked down, even in the pre- sence of the Court, if the blow had not been " parried." 6th. Mark the murderous threat of the editor — "when he arraigns the acts,^'' (no matter how murderous) " of thirty citizens of this place, it is high time for him to reflect seriously on the consequences." 7th. The open advocacy of '' Lynch law" by a set argument, boldly set- ting it above all codes, with which the editor closes his article, reveals a public sentiment in the community which shows, that in North Ca- rolina, though society may still rally under the flag of civilization, and insist on wrapping itself in its folds, barbarism is none the less so in a stolen livery, and savages are savages still, though tricked out with the gauze and tinsel of the stars and stripes.
It may be stated, in conclusion, that the North
Carolina "Literary and Commercial Journal," from which the article is taken, is a large six- columned paper, edited by F. S. Proctor, Esq., a graduate of a University, and of considerable literary note in the South.
Having drawn out this topic to so great a length, we waive all comments, and only say to the reader, in conclusion, ponder these things, and lay it to heart, that slaveholding " is justified of her children." Verily, they have their re- ward ! " With what measure ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again." Those who combine to trample on others, will trample on each other. The habit of trampling upon one, be- gets a state of mind that will trample upon all. Accustomed to wreak their vengeance on their slaves, indulgence of passion becomes with slave- holders a second law of nature, and, when excited even by their equals, their hot blood brooks nei. ther restraint nor delay ; gratification is the first thought — prudence generally comes too late, and the slaves see their masters fall a prey to each other, the victims of those very passions which have been engendered and infuriated by the prac- tice of arbitrary rule over them. Surely it need not be added, that those who thus tread down their equals, must trample as in a wine-press their defenceless vassals. If, when in passion, they seize those who are on their own level, and dash them under their feet, with what a crush- ing vengeance will they leap upon those who are always under their feet ?
INDEX.
To facilitate the use of the Index, some of the more common topics are aiTanged under one general title. Thus all the volumes which are cited are classed under the word, Books ; and to that head reference must be made. The same plaii has been adopted concerning Female Slave-Drivers, Laics, jYarratives, Overseers, Rxmcways, Slaveholders, Slave- J^urdorers Slave-Plantations, Slaves, Female and Male, Testimony and Witnesses. Therefore, with a few emphatical exceptions only, the facts will be found, by recurrhig to the prominent person or subject wivich any circumstance in- cludes- All other miscellaneous articles will be discovered in alphabetical order.
A.
Absolute power of slaveholders
Absurdity of slaveholding pretexts
Abuse of power
Accliraated slaves
Adrian
Adultery in a preacher's house
Advertisement for slaves
Advertisement for slaves to hire
Advertisements, 62, 63, 77-82, 83,
Affray
African slave-trade
Aged slaves uncommon
Alabama
Alexander the tyrant
Allowance of provisions
Amalgamation
|
American Colonization Society |
60 |
||
|
116 |
" Amiable and touching charity !" |
114 |
|
|
7 |
Amusements of slave-drivers |
107. |
186 |
|
115 |
Animals and slaves, usage of, contrasted |
112 |
|
|
161 |
Antioch, massacre at |
120 |
|
|
119 |
" Arbitrary," |
115 |
|
|
. 180 |
Arbitrary power, cruelty of |
117 |
|
|
41 |
" " pernicious |
115 |
|
|
34, 136, 137 |
Ardor in betting |
171 |
|
|
, 152, 164, |
Arius |
120 |
|
|
167, 168, 172 |
Arkansas |
188 |
|
|
201, 203 |
Atlantic Slaveholding Region |
206 |
|
|
8, 113 |
Auctioneers of slaves |
174, |
181 |
|
38 |
Auctions for slaves |
167, |
174 |
|
39, 177, 192 |
Augustine |
103 |
|
|
127, 92 |
Aurelius |
119 |
|
|
13, 47, 98 |
Aversion between the oppressor and the slave 116 |
||
|
1, 51, 97, 107 |
Index.
211
B.
Babbling of slaveholders 9
Backs of slaves carded 46
" " putrid 54
" Ball and chain" men 108
Baptist preachers 97
Battles in Cong-ress 184
Beating a woman's face with shoes 26
Bedaubing of slaves with oil and tar 27
Begetting slaves for pay 16
" Bend your backs" 47
Benevolence of slaveholders 125 Betting on crops 38, 103
" slaves 176
Beware of Kidnappers 140
Bibles searched for 51 Blind slaves 133, 136
Blocks with sharp pegs and nails 104
Blood-bought luxuries 55
Bodley, H. S. 149
Bones dislocated 77
155 60
155 59
167
155
123
52
125
178
African Observer
American Convention, minutes of
" Museum
" State Papers Andrews' Slavery and the Slave Trade Bay's Reports Benezet's Caution to Britain and her Colonies
57, 112 Blackstone's Commentaries, by Tucker Book and Slavery irreconcilable Bourgoing's Spain ,
Bourne's Picture of Slavery Brevard's Digest of the Laws of South Caro- lina 35, 40, 116, 143, 144, 145, 147 Brewster's Exposition of Slave Treatment 30 Buchanan's Oration 58, 112, 118
Carey's American Museum CaroUna, History of Channing on Slavery Charity, " amiable and touching ! " Childs' Appeal Civil Code of Louisiana Clay's Address to Georgia Presbytery Colonization Society's Reports Cornehus Elias, Life of Davis's Travels in Louisiana Debates in Virginia Convention
55 35
38, 127 114 124, 140 116 30 60 161 35, 36, 134 183 Devereux's North Carolina Reports 143, 149
Dew's Review of Debates in the Virginia
Legislature 182
Edwards' Sermon 28, 58, 118
Emancipation in the West Indies 129
Emigrant's Guide through the Valley of Mis- sissippi 135 Gales' Congressional Debates 164 Harris and Johnson's Reports 133 Haywood's Manual 29, 144, 148 Hill's reports 143 Human Rights 93 James' Digest 143 Jefferson's Notes 117 Josephus' History 119 Justinian, Institutes of 117 Kennet's Roman Antiquities 119 Laponneray's Life of Robespierre 121 Law of Slavery 149 Laws of United States 32
Lcland's necessity of Divine Revelation 127
Letters from the South, by J. K. Paulding 76, 89 Life of Elias Cornelius 161
Louisiana, civil code of HG
" sketches of 42
Martineau's Harriet, Society in America 139
Martin's Digest of the laws of Louisiana 40,
143. 146. 149, 163 Maryland laws of 155 Mead's Journal 59 Mississippi Revised Code 143 144 Missouri Laws 144 Modern state of Spain by J F. Bourgoing 125 Montesquieu's Spirit of Laws 118 Necessity of Divine Revelation 127 Niles' Baltimore Register 60 North Carolina Reports by Devereaux,128,143,149 Oasis 160 Parrish's remarks on slavery 30, 155 Paulding's letters from the South 76, 89 Paxton's letters on slavery I44 Presbyterian Synod, Report of II7 Picture of slavery 178 Prince's Digest 116, 144, 150 Prison Dicipline Society, reports of 33, 35 Rankin's Letters 60 Reed and Matheson's visit to Am. churches 39 Review of Nevins' Biblical Antiquities 128 Rice, speech of in Kentucky convention 112 Robespierre, Life of l21 Robin's travels 39, 59 Roman Antiquities 119 Savery's Journal 30, 65 Slavery and the Slave Trade 167 Society in America 131 Sewall's Diary 113 South Carohna, Laws of 116, 121, 143, 144 South vindicated by Drayton 110 Spirit of Laws 118 Swain's address 60 Stroud's Sketch of the Slave Laws 143, 144,
148. 149. 150, 155 Taylor's Agricultural Essays 35, 138 Travels in Louisiana 35, 36, 134 Tucker's Blackstone 123 Tucker's Judge, Letter 117 Turner's Sacred History of the world 121 Virginia Legislature, Review of Debates in 182
" Revised Code 143, 144
" Negro-raising state 182
Visit to American churches, 39
Western Medical Journal 60
Western Medical Reformer 31
Western Review 35
Wheeler's Law of slavery 60,163
Wirt's Life of Patrick Henry 109
Woolman John, Life of 58, 113
Books of slaves stolen 51
Borrowing of slaves 55
Bourne, George, anecdote of 52
Boy killed 97
Boys fight to amuse their drivers 107
Bowie Knives 190
Boys' retort 57 Brandings 77, 108
Branding with hot iron 21
Brassos 102
"Breeders" llO
Breeding of slaves prevented 39
212
Index.
|
" Breeding wenches " |
15, |
175 |
|
<' " comparative value of |
167 |
|
|
Bribes for begetting slaves |
16 |
|
|
Brick-yards |
18 |
|
|
" Broken-winded " slaves |
38 |
|
|
Brutality to slaves |
148, |
149 |
|
Brutes and slaves treated alike |
106 |
|
|
Burial of slaves |
5 |
|
|
Burning of Mc Intosh |
157 |
|
|
Burning slaves 26, 72, 86, 93, |
155, |
157 |
|
Burning with hot iron |
26 |
|
|
Burning with smoothing irons |
68 |
|
|
Butchery C Cabins of slaves 11, 19, 41, 43, |
193, |
196 |
|
101, |
106 |
|
|
Cachexia Africana |
3] |
, 43 |
|
Caligula |
121, |
149 |
|
Can't believe |
114 |
|
|
Capital Crimes |
149 |
Captain in the U. S. navy, tried for murder 26
Carding of Slaves 46
Cat-hauling 21, 88
Cato the Just 8, 126
Causes of the laws punishing cruelty to slaves 147
Chained slave 13
Chains 72
Changes in the market 134
Character of Overseers 72, 95,169
" Romans 118
" Slave-dnvers 109
Charleston 22, 44
" Infirmary at 170
« Jail 23
" Slave auctions 174
" Surgery at 170
Woik-house 23, 171
Chastity punished 15
Child-bearing prevented 57
Child-birth of slaves 12
Childhood unprotected 167
Children flogged 20
" naked 19
Choking of slaves 23
Chopping of slaves piecemeal 93
Christian females tortured 119
" martyr 24
" slave-iiunting 108
" islave-murderer 50
Christian, slave whipped to death 50
Christians, persecutions of 119
" slavery among 45, 176
" treat their slaves like others 42, 177
Christian woman kidnapped 52
Chronic diseases 44
Churches, abuse of power in 115
Church members 47
'' Citizens sold as slaves" 41
Civilization and morality 188
Clarkson, Thomas 8
Claudius 121
Clemens 119
Clothing for slaves 13, 19, 40, 47, 95, 98, 105, 106
Cock-fighting 186
Code of Louisiana 116
Collars of iron 72, 74
Columbia, district of 67
" fatal af&ay at 201
Comfort of slaves disregarded 55, 56
Commodus 121
Concubinage 85
Condemned criminals 150
Condition of slaves 108
Confinement at night 22
Congress of the United'States 114
'' a bear garden 184
Connecticut, law of, against Quakers 113
Constables, character of 20
Constantine the Great 120
Contempt of human life 198
Contrasts of benevolence 126
Conversation between C, and H 104
Converted slave 23
Cooking for slaves 18
Correction moderate ] 48
Corrupting influence of slavery 16
Cotton-picking 96
Cotton-plantations 105
Cotton seed mixed with corn for food 29
Council of Nice 120
Courts, decrees of 164
Cowhides, with shovel and tongs 104
Crack of the whip heard afar off 107
Crimes of slaves, capital 149
Criminals condemned 150
Cringing of Northern Preachers 16
Cropping of ears 20, 83
Crops for exportation 135
Cruelties, common 87
" inflicted upon slaves 57, 87
" of Cortez in Mexico 8
" Ovando in Hispaniola 8
" Pizarro in Peru 8
" of slave-drivers incredible 110 Cruel treatment of slaves the masters' interest 138
Cultivation of rice 106 Cutting of A. T.'s throat by a Presbyterian
woman 47
D.
D'Almeydra, Donna Sophia 123
Damaged negroes bought 171
Darlington C. H., South Carolina 25
Dauphin Island, Mobile Bay 85 "Dead or Alive" 21, 23, 156
Dead slave claimed 178 Deaf slaves 133, 136
Death at child birth 45, 90
Death-bed, horrors of a slave driver 23
Death by violence, 197
Death of a slave murderer 94
Decrees of Courts 164
Decisions, judicial 144
Declarations of slaveholders 28
Deformed slaves 133 Delivery of a dead child from whipping 46, 90 Description of slave drivers, by John Ran-
dolph 173
Despair of slaves 102
Desperate affray 193
"Despot" 115
" Dimensum " of Roman slaves 34
Diseased slaves J33
Dislocation of bones 77
District of Columbia 67
" " prisons in, 163
Ditty of slaves 13
" Doe-faces " — " Dough-faces" 114
Dogs provided for 19
Dogs to hunt slaves 15
Inaex.
213
Domestic slavery 164
Domitian 121
Donnell, Rev. Mr. 70
" Dough-faces " 114
"Drivers" 110
Driving of slaves 89, 92
Droves of" human cattle " 76 " " slaves . 69, 70, 167
Duelling 185 Dumb slaves 133, 136
Dwellings of slaves 43
Dying slaves 45
Dying young women 44
E.
Ear-cropping 20, 77, 83
Early market 134
Ear-notching 83, 84
Ear-slitting 23
Eating tobacco w'orms 88
Effects of pubhc opinion concerning slavery 144 Emancipation society of North Carolina 60
English ladies and gentlemen 123
Enormities of slave drivers 114
Evenings in the " Negro quarter" 20
Evidence of slaves vs. white persons null 12, 71 Ewall, Merry 162
Examples pleaded in justification of cruel- ty to slaves 104 Exchange of slaves 168 Exportation of slave from Virginia 182, 184 Eyes struck out 20, 77
F.
Faithof objectors who "can'i JeKece" 113, 114
Fatal rencontre 193
" Fault-finding " 54
Favorite amusements of slaveholders 186
Fear, the only motive of slaves 108
Feast for slaves 87
Feeding insufficient 30
Feeble infants 133
Felonies on account of slavery 113
" perpetrated with impunity 113
Female hypocrite 22, 53
Females in brick yards 18
Female slave deranged, 97, 106
FEMALE SLAVE DRIVEES.
Burford, Mrs. 180— Carter, Mrs. Elizabeth L. 79^ 172— Charleston, 22, 23— Charlestown, Va. 181— Galway, Mrs. 12— Harris, Mrs. 26— H. Mrs. throat cutter, 47 — Laurie Madame La, 91 — Mallix Mrs. 65— Mann Mrs. 71— Mabtin Mrs. 81 — Maxwell Mrs. 1 — McNeil Mrs. 68 — Morgan Mrs. — Newman Mrs. B. 172— Pence Mrs, 178 — Philips Mrs. 70 — Professor of religion, 44, 53 — Ruffner Mrs. 50— South Carolina, 24 — Starky ]\jrs. 68 — Swan Mrs. 14 — Teacher at Charleston, 54— T. Mrs. 101— Trip Mrs. 52— Truby, Mrs. 100— Turner Mrs. 87— Walsh, Sarah, 172.
Female slave starved to death 23 ' " whipped to death by a
Methodist preacher 173
Female stripped by order of her mistress 14 Fetters 21, 72, 74
Field-hands 130
Fighting of boys to amuse their drivers 107
' Fine old preacher who dealt in slaves' 180
Fingers cut ofli" 77
Flogging for unfinished tasks 12
" of children 20
" '' pregnant women until they
miscarry 20
" ;< slaves 20, 25, 2G, 53, 107
" '' young man 106
Floggings 26, 62
Florida 38
Food, kinds of 2S
" of slaves 18, 27, 47, 95, 101, 105, 106
" quahtyof 30
" quantity of 29, 98
Free citizens stolen 162, 164
Free woman 56
" " kidnapped 52
Frequent murders 46 204, 208
Friends, emorialof 164
Front-teeth knocked out 83
Fundamental rights destroyed 150
G.
Gadsden Thomas N. Slave Auctioneer 174
Gagging of slaves 75
Galloway flogging Jo. 14
Gambling on crops 38
Gambling slaveholder 46
Gang of slaves 76
Generosity of slaveholders 123
Georgia 61, 206
Girls' backs burnt with smoothing irons 68
Girls' toe cut off 181
Good treatment of slaves 123
Governor of North Carolina 24
" Shiraz 122 Grand Jury presentment of, 202, 202
Guiltiness of Slavery 17
Gun shot wounds 77
H.
Habits of slave-drivers 53
Hampton Wade, murderer of slaves 29
Handcuffs 72
" Hands tied" 16
Hanging of nine slaves 158
Harris Benjamin, slave murderer 26
' Head found 169
Head of a runaway slave on a pole 33
Health of slaves 161
Heart of slaveholders 47
Herding of slaves, . 47
Hilton James, slave murderer 46 Hired slaves 133, l36
Hiring of slaves 55
" Horrible malady" 31
' Horrid butchery' 193
Horrors of a slave-driver at death 23
" " the " middle passage" ll3
Horse-racing 186
Horses more cared for than slaves 19
Hospitality of slaveholders 123
Hours of rest 36
" " work 13, 14, 36, 103, 105, 108
Hospital at New Orleans 161
House-slaves 52
Houses of slaves 19
" House-wench" 48
Hovels of slaves "■ 4«
HuguenotSj persecution of 8
214
Index.
«' Human cattle," 76, 110
Human rights against slavery 7
Hunger of slaves 28
Hunter of slaves 21
Hunting men with dogs 155, 160
Hunting of slaves 21, 97, 108, 155, 159, 160
Hunt, Rev. Thomas P. 16
Husband whipping his wife 85
Huts of slaves 11, 19, 41, 43, 101, 106
Hymn-books searched for 51
Hypocrisy of vice 8
|
Idiot slaves |
133 |
|
|
Ignatius |
10 |
|
|
Ignorance of northern citizens ofslavery |
102 |
|
|
" " slaveholders |
107 |
|
|
Impunity of killing slaves 2 1, 46, 47, 50, 54, 91, 92 |
||
|
Inadequate clothing |
41 |
|
|
Income from hiring slaves |
55 |
|
|
Incorrigible slaves |
133 |
|
|
Incredibility of evidence against slavery |
110 |
|
|
Incredulity discreditable to consistency |
112 |
|
|
" " " intelligence |
115 |
|
|
Indecency of slave-drivers |
153 |
|
|
Indiana Legislature, resolutions of |
59 |
|
|
Infant drowned |
12 |
|
|
Infant slaves |
133 |
|
|
Infirmary at Charleston |
170 |
|
|
Infliction of pain |
55 |
|
|
Inspection of naked slaves |
154 |
|
|
Intercession for slaves |
12 |
|
|
Interest of slaveholders |
132 |
|
|
Introduction |
7 |
|
|
Iron collars |
21, 72, 74, 75 |
|
|
Iron fetters |
2 |
, 72, 74 |
|
Iron head-front, |
76 |
|
|
Israelites in Egypt, |
142 |
|
|
J. Jewish law |
54 |
|
|
Joe flogged |
14 |
|
|
Jones, Anson, Minister from Texas |
102 |
|
|
Judicial decisions |
144 |
|
|
Kentucky |
66, 202 |
|
|
" Sunday morning |
160 |
|
|
Kicking of slaves |
97 |
|
|
Kidnappers |
140 |
|
|
Kidnapping |
140, |
141, 164 |
|
Kindness of slaveholders |
125 |
|
|
Kinds of food |
28 |
|
|
Kind treatement of slaves. |
8 |
|
|
Knives, Bowie |
190 |
|
|
Knocking out of teeth, L. Labor, hours of |
13 |
, 20, 83 |
|
36, 108 |
||
|
Labor of slaves |
18,35 |
|
|
Ladies Benevolent Society |
44 |
|
|
Ladies flog with cowhides |
104 |
|
|
Ladies, public opinion known |
by |
172 |
|
Ladies use shovel and tongs |
104 |
|
|
Law concerning slavery |
143, 144 |
|
|
Law-making |
151 |
|
|
Laws, Georgia |
40 |
|
|
" Louisiana |
40, 116, |
143, 163 |
|
" Maryland |
40, 155 |
" Mississippi 143 " North Carolina 31, 128, 143, 144 " South Carolina 40, 116, 143, 144, 155
" Spirit of 151
" Tennessee 148
" United States 32
" Virginia 40, 143
Law, safeguards of taken from slaves 116
Law suit for a murdered slave, 71
Legal restraints 116
Licentiousness - 16
" encouraged by preachers 180
Licentiousness of slavedrivers 70, 97
" Lie dov;n" for whipping, 107
Life in the South-west, 197
Lives of slaves unprotected 155
Lodging of slaves 43
Long, his cruelty 50
' Loss of property' 169
Louisiana 39 198
" law of, 40
" sketches of, 42
Louis XIV. of France 8
Lovers severed, 56
Lunatic slaves 133
" Lynchings" in the United States 113
Lynch Law, 199
M.
Maimed slaves 133
Maimings 77
Malady of slaves 31
Manacling of slaves 21
Maniac woman 97, 106
Man sold by a Presbyterian elder 52
Man-stealing paid for 90
Marriage unknown among slaves 47
Martyr for Christ 24
Maryland Journal 29, 58
Maryville Intelligencer 61, 114
Massacre at Antioch 120
" " Thessalonica 120
" " Vicksburg 146
Masters grant no redress to slaves 95
Mcintosh, burning of 157
Maximin ]21
Meals number of 31 " of slaves 18, 19, 55
" time of 31
" Meat once a year" 29
Mediation for slaves 12
Medical attendance 55
" college of South Carolina 169
" Infirmary at Charleston 171
Medicine administered to slaves 14
Members of churches 47
Memorial of friends 164
Menagerie of slaves 182
Men and women whipped 107
Methodist colored preacher hung, 96
Methodist girl whipped for her chastity 15
Methodist preacher, a slave dealer 180
" " " driver 11
'' woman cut off" a girl's toe 181
Method of taking meals 18, 19
" Middle passage" 8, 113 Miscarriage of women at the whipping post 20
Mississippi 39, 194
Missouri 191
Mistresses flog slaves, 55
Index.
215
68 21, 148
113
191
164, 165
9(3
51
139
2G, 90
90
29
34
39
Mobile
" Moderate correction"
Moors, repulsion ol'
Morgan, William
Mormons
Mothers and babes separated
Mothers of slaves
Mulatto children in all families
Multiplying of slaves
Murderers of slaves tried and acquitted
Murder of slaves by law
tt «» " bad feeling
ti " '' piece-meal
u <i every seven years
u .. frequent 46,97,176
«» " with impunity, 21, 46, 47, 50,54,91,92,96,97.100,102,108,176
Murders in Alabama, |^~
«' " Arkansas, ^°°
N.
Naked children 19. 41, 95
" females whipped ^*> |^^
" " inspected •'■"'4
" Men and women at work in a field lOl
Nakedness of slaves 19, 40, 41, 95, 101
Nantz, edict of Jt
• National slave-market' ,„„ in/J Natchez 107, 196 Nat Turner _^'? ' Negro Head Point, 161
♦ Negroes for sale, *° '» f ' jr ' Negroes taken j^:: Nero 1;^ ' Never lose a day's work' ^,'* New England, witches of ^^^ New Orleans ^|
Hospital 1°1
New York, thirteen persons burnt at 11^ Nice, council of
' Nigger put in the bill' ^ '^
Night-confinement ^;f
Night at a slaveholder's house ^i
Night in slave huts I'^R
Nine slaves hanged 1^^
No marriage among slaves 4 /
North Carolina ^^' ^^
«. " Governor of '^j
t« " Legislature of 115i 1^4
" " Kidnappers 164
Northern visitors to the slave states, 128
Nothing can disgrace slave-drivers 5d
Novel torture •'.'i^
Nudity of slaves 40, 41, 47, 95
Nursing of slave-children ■'•■^
Overseers, character of 72, 95, 96, 109
" generally armed ll, 12, 72
'' no appeal from 95
Overseers of slaves —
Alabama, 95— Alexander killed, 102— Belle- mont, 53— Bellows, 72— IMockon's, 47— Bradley, 70— Cormick's, 86— Cruel to a proverb, 10&— Farr, James, 99— Galloway, 11— (Jibbs, 70
Goochland, 26— Methodist preacher, 11— Mil- lio-an's Bend, 75— Nowland's, 92— Tune, 45- Turncr's cousin, 46— Walker, 47— Overworkmg of slaves, 35, 37— Ownership of human bemgs destroys their comfort, 109.
71
20, 46, 103
109
53
56
130
97
14
16
134
113, 1 8
O.
Objections considered Ocra, a slave-driver. Oiling of a slave
Old age uncommon among slaves " " unprotected
Old dying slaves
" Old settlement" " slaves
Oppressor aversion of to his slave
Outlawry of slaves
HO
106
27
38
167
12
99
133
116
156
» Paddle" torture
Paddle whipping
Pain, the means of slave drivers
" Pancake sticks"
Parents and children separated
Parlor-slaves
Parricide threatened
Patrol
Pay for begetting mulatto slaves
Periodical pressure
Persecution of Huguenots
Persecution for religion
Personal Narratives,, U, 17, 22 25 26 44,
45, 48, 51,
Philanthropist 66
Philip II. and the Moors °
Physicians not employed for slaves 17b
Physicians of slaves 44, 47
Physician's statement 104 Pig-sties more comfortable than slave-huts, 101
Plantations 94
Pleas for cruelty to slaves 1"*
Ploughs and whips equally common 104
Pliny ^^l
Poles, Russian clemency to ^
Polycarp ^^^
" Poor African slave" -^^
Portuguese slaves ^
Pothinus _
Prayer of slaves ^' Praying and slave-whippmg in the same room Sd
Praying slaves whipped °^
Preacher claims a dead slave J-7»
Preacher hung, ^^
Preachers, cringing of ^
Preacher's " hands tied" ^^
Preachers silenced ^ Pregnant slaves ^^.^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^
Presbyterian Elders at Lynchburg 181
Presbyterian minister killed his slave ^^
Presbyterian slave-trader •^' Presbyterian woman desirious to cut A. 1 3
throat ^.r.
Presentment of the Grand Jury at Cheraw 155
Pretexts for slavery absurd 7
Prisons in the District of Columbia 1^^ Prison slave
Outrageous Felonies on account of slavery 113 " " perpetrated with impunity lid
Privations of the slaves —
Clothing, 40-Dwellings, 43-Food,27-Kinds of food, 28-Labor, 25-Number of meals, ol- Quality of food, 30— Quantity of food, 29— lime of meals, 31.
216
Index.
Promiscuous concubinage §5
" Property" HO
" ' Joss of 159
Protection of slaves ' 143
Protestants in France 8
Provisions, allowance of 13
Public opinion destroys fundamental rights, 150
" " diabolical 152
" " protects the slave 143, 144
Punishment of slaves ]9, 20
Punishments 62, 'lOi^
Purchasing a wife I79
Puryer, " the devil" 47
Putrid backs of slaves 54
Quality of food Quantity of food
Q.
R.
30 13, 29
Race of slaves murdered every seven years 39 Randolph John will of 42, 58
" " description of slavedrivers J.73
" " Doe faces"
Rations
Rearing of slaves Relaxation, no time for Religious persecutions Respect for woman lost Rest, hours of Restraints, legal Retort of a boy
Rhode Island, kidnappers and pirates of Rice plantations Richmond Whig Rio Janeiro slavery at Riot at Natchez Riots in the United States Robespierre Romans Roman slavery Runaways Runaway Slaves —
Advertisements for
Baptist man and woman
Buried alive
Chilton's
Converted
" Dead or alive"
Head on a pole
Hung
Hunting of
Intelligent man
Jim Dragon
Luke
Man buried
" dragged by a horse
" maimed
" murdered
" severe punishments of
" shot "" "' — -- -
114
33
182
106
113
153
36
116
57
113
106
110
8
196
113
121
118-126
21-133-136
62-63
88
15
27
23
21
23
46
21-97
22
47
14
15
85
85
76-100
103
15, 21, 46, 91 96, 100, 102, 107
** " by Baptist preacher 181
" taken from jail 16
" tied and driven 92
" to his wife 23
'' whipped to death 87
Many, annually shot 108
Stallard's man 89
White Peter 91
Young wom?.n 24, 88
S.
Sabbath, a nominal hohday, 106
Safeguards of the law taken from slaves, 116
Sale of a man by a Presbyterian elder, 52
Sale of slaves, I67
Savannah, Ga., 17
Savannah slave-hunter, 21
Save us from our friends, 193
Scarcity, times of 134
Scenes of horror, 20
Search for Bibles and Hymn books, 51
Secretary of the Navy, 76, 89 Separation of slaves, 56, 101, 164
Shame unknown among naked slaves, 101
Shoes for slaves, 19
Sick, treatment of 161
" Six pound paddle," 71
" Slack-jaw," 97
Slave-breeders, 143
" breeding, 182 Slave-drivers acknowledge their enormities, 114
" " character of 109
Slaveholders —
Adams,
Baptist preachers,
Barr,
Baxter, George A
Baxter, John
Bloeker, Colonel
Blount,
Britt, Benjamin W.
Burbecker,
Burvant, Mrs.
C. A., Rev.
Casey,
Chilton, Joseph
Clay,
C, Mr.
Cooper, Charity
Curtis,
Davis, Samuel
Dras, Henry
Delaware,
Female hypocrite,
Gautney, Joseph
Gayle, Governor
Governor of North Carolinaj.
Green,
Hampton, Wade
Harney, William S.
Harris, Benjamin James
Hayne, Governor
Hedding,
Henrico county, Va.,
Heyward, Nathaniel
Hughes, Philip O.
Hutchinson, '-;
Hypocrite woman.
Indecency of,
Jones,
Jones, Henry
Lewis, Benjamin,
Lewis, Isham,
Lewis, Lilburn,
Lewis, Rev. Mr.
Long, Lucy
Long, Reuben
L., of Bath, Ky.,
69, 159
97, 177
46.
179
179
47
65
91
88
173
179
69
27
71
103
173
64
90
175
172
22
99
172
24
157
29
89
26
166
51
26
174
100
86
22
153
47
89
178
93
93
181
173
50
90
Index.
217
Maclay, John "1
Martin, Rev. James 181
Matthews' Bend, <J9
M'Cov, 99
M'Cuc, John 178
JV'^thodist, / 42
Methodist Preachers, 180
M'IN'eiliy, 155
Moresville, 90
Morgan, 85
Mosely, William 46
Murderer, 21
Mushat, Rev. John 177
Nanseinond, Va., 84
Natchez planter, 87 Nelson, Alexander 51, 179
Nichols, of Connecticut, 27 North Carohna, 24, 161
Owens, Judge, 69
Painter, 65
Physician, 55
Pinckney, H. L. 172
Presbyterian, 97
Presbyterian minister, Huntsville, 47
" " North Carolina, 96
" preacher, 180
Professing Christian, 23
Puryar, "the Devil," 47
Randolph, John 42
Reiks, Micajah, 152
Rodney, 87
Ruffner, 50
Shepherd, S. G. 29
Sherrod, Ben 47
Slaughter, 65 Smith, Judge 45, 176
Sophistry of 9 South Carolina, 23, 25
Sparks, William 91
Stallard, David 89.
Starky, 68
Swan, John 11
Teacher at Charleston, 54
Thompson, 47
Thorpe, 71
Trabue, Charles 71
Tripp, James , 25
Truly, James I 100
Turner, Fielding S. • 87
Turner, uncle of 46
Virginian, 44
Wall, 91
Watkins, Billy 47 Watkins, Robert H. 45, 47, 176
Watson, A. 175
W., Colonel 103
Webb, Carroll 105
Pleasant 187
West's uncle, 68
Widow and daughter, Savannaa river, 98
Willis, Robert 180
Wilson, WiUiam 178 Woman, 23, 24 Woman, professor of religion, 22, 44, 53
Slaveholders justify theur cruelties by example, 1 04
" possess absolute power, 116
" sophistry of 9
Slaveholding amusements, 107, 186
" brutality, 149, 153
28
" indecency, 153
" murderers, 189, 190
" religion, 54
Slave-mothers, 90
" plantations second only to hell, 114
Slavery among Christians, 45
Slavery illustrated —
Slave-auctions, 167
" blocks with nails, 104
" boys fight to amuse their drivers, 107
" branding, 21, 77, 108
" breeding, 39, 85, 182
" burner, 26
" burning, 72, 155
Slave-cabins, 11, 16, 19, 41, 43, 101, 106
«' at night, 19,22,25
Slave-children nursed, 12
|
" choking, |
23 |
|
" clothing, 13, 19, 40, 47, 95, 98, |
105, 106 |
|
" collars, 21, 72, 74, 75 |
|
|
" cookery. |
18 |
|
Slave-ditty, |
13 |
|
" dogs. |
15,21 |
|
" driver's death. |
23,94 |
|
" " Ucentiousness of |
70 |
|
" driving. |
85,92 |
|
" fetters, 21, 72, 74 |
|
|
" food, 18,27,47,95,101 |
105,106 |
|
" gagging, |
75 |
|
" gangs. |
76 |
|
" handcuffs. |
72 |
|
" herding. |
19,47 |
|
Slaveholders, civihzation and morality of |
188 |
|
" declarations of |
28 |
|
" habits of |
53 |
|
" heart of |
145 |
|
" hospitality of |
125 |
|
" interest of |
132 |
|
" sophistry of |
a |
|
" " treat their slaves well," |
•' 121 |
|
Slaveholding professor, |
50 |
|
" Slaveholding religion," |
S4 |
|
Slave-hovels, |
47, 106 |
|
" hunting, 21, 97, 108, |
155, 160 |
|
«' " by Christians, |
108 |
|
« «« in Texas, |
102 |
|
Slave imprisoned. |
23 |
|
" in chains. |
13 |
|
" in the stocks. |
12 |
|
" kicking. |
97 |
|
" killed, and put in the hill. |
172 |
|
«« killing vvdth impunity, 21, 46, 47, 5C |
>, 54, 91, |
|
92, 96, 97, 100, 102 lOS |
|
|
" labor, 18 35, |
103, 105 |
" manacles, " martyr, " meals, " mothers,
'* murderers, tried and acquitted, " patrol, " physicians, " punishments of Slave quarters. Slavery, code of law respecting,
" among Christians,
" domestic,
" guilt of,
" of whites,
♦' public opinion and effects of,
21
24
1&, 19
96
26
14
44
19, 20, 62
16, 17
143
45, 176
164
17
25
143, 144
218
Index.
" unmixed cruelty, 108
Slave selling, 167
Slaves, aversion of to their oppressors, 116
" backs of , putrid 13
» blind, 133
" books of searched for, 51
" branded, 77, 108
" brutality to, 148
" burial ot, 48
" carded, 46
" cat-hauling of, 21,88
" comfort of disregarded, 55, 56
" deaf, 133
" dead or aUve, 21, 23
" deformed, 133
" deprived of every safeguard of the law, 116
" described, 110
" diseased, 133
" dread to be sold for the South, 15
" dumb, 133
" dying, 45
" evidence of againstwhite personsnuU, 12, 71
" exchanged, 168
«' reported from Virginia, 192
" fear their only motive, 108
" feasted and flogged, 87
" hired, 133
" idiots, 133
" incorrigible, 133
" infant, 133
" in the stocks, 108
" " U. S., treatment of, 9
" lunatics, 133
" maimed, 77, 133
" merchandise, 110
" multiply, 139
" murdered by cotton-seed, 29
" " overwork, 37
«« " piece-meal, 34, 93
" " starvation, 37
«* " every seven years, 39 «' » frequently, 46, 97, 100 i« «' with impunity, 21, 46, 47, 50, 54,
91, 92, 96, 97, 100, 102
" naked, 19, 40, 41, 47
" not treated as human beings, 46
« old, 133
" outlawed, , 156
" overworked, 35
" prayers of, 17
" privations of, 27
" protection of, 143
" sale of, 167
" stock, 110
" surgeons of, 44
" taking medicine, 14
" tantahzed, 56
« starvation of, 13, 14, 28, 29, 35, 105
" teeth of knocked out, 13, 20, 22, 83
" tied up all night, 20
" toe cut oflT, 101
" torments of, 145
" . travelling in droves, 69, 70. 72
" treated worse as they are farther South, 15
*' treatment of" by Christians, 42
" under overseers, 133, 137
" watching of, 57
" without redress, 95
" " shelter, 43
<' working animals, ilO
" worn out, 133
" worse treated than brutes. 111, 112
" wounded by gun-shot, 77
Slave testimony excluded, 149
" torturing hypocrite, 22
" trade with Africa, 8
" trading, 49, 97
" " honorable, 174
" traffic, 97, 167
Slave Murderers, 21, 26, 29, 46, 50, 54, 91, 92,
93, 96, 97, 100, lOl, 108, 157, 158, 159, 161, 173,
177, 179, 181.
Slave plantation, 11, 24, 25, 29, 38,41, 42, 44, 45, 46, 53, 68, 70, 7], 72, 75, 76, 84, 85, 86, 92, 98, 99, 102, 105, 106, 207, 114, 174. Slave usage contrasted with that of animals, 112 Slave whipping, 20, 25, 26, 27, 51, 59, 98, 106
Slave yokes.
Whipped
Whipped and burnt
Whipped to death
Slaves, treatment of
Slave trade.
Sleeping in clothes.
Slitting of ears.
Smoothing iron on girl's backs,
Sophistry of slaveholders,
74
26, 47, 50, 70, 85, 98, 100
26, 86, 92
26, 50, 64, 67, 70, 72, 87, 90
9
139, 140, 182, 184
19
23
68
9
South Carolina, laws of 40, 116
" " medical college, 169
Southern dogs and horses, 19
Spartan slavery, 8 Speece, Rev. Conrad, opposed to emancipation, 52
Spirit of laws, 151
Springfield, S. C. 25
Starvation of a female slave, 23
" " slaves, 105
Statement of a physician, 104
State, abuse of power in 115
Stealing of freemen, 162
Stevenson, Andrew, letter by 182
St. Helena, S. C. 25 Stillman's, Dr. medical infirmary at Charleston, 171
Stocks for slaves, 11, 108, 175
" Stock without shelter," 71
" Subject of prayer," 54
Suffering of slaves, 57, 102, 105
" " " by hunger, 28, 105 drives to despair and suicide, 102
Sugar-planters, Suicide of slaves. Suit for a dead slave,
" " " murdered slave, Sunday morning in Kentucky, Surgeon of slaves. Surgery at Charleston, " Susceptibilitv of pain,"
Tanner's oil poured on a slave
Tantahsing of slaves
Tappan Arthur
Tarring of slaves
Taskwork of slaves
Teeth knocked out
Tunder regard of slaveholders for slave
Teimessee
38
102
178
71, 102
168
44 170 109
27 56
47 27 12
13, 20, 83
7,8 200
Index.
219
Testimony. — Allen, Rev. William T. Avery, George A. Caulkins, Neiiemiah Clianninu, Dr. Chapin Rev. William A. Chapman, Gordon Cler/yman, Cruelty to slaves Dickey, Rev. William Drayton, Colonel Gilderslecve, William C, Graham, Rev. John Grimke, Sarah M. Hawley, Rev. Francis Ide, Joseph lOl Jefferson, Thomas Macy, F. C
" Reuben G,
" Richard
«« T. D. M. Moulton,. Rev. Horace Nelson, John M. New Orleans Of slaves excluded Paulding, James K. Foe, William Powel, Eleazar Sapington, Lemuel Scales, Rev. William Secretary of the Navy Smith, Rev. Phineas Summers, Mr. Virginian
Westgate, George W. Weld, Angelina Grimke White, Hiram Wist, Willam
45
44
10
38,44
105
84
107
57
93
110
50
25
22,44
94
101
110
106
98
98
105
17, 109
51
35,91
149
76,89
26
99
49
100
76,89
109
J 10
76
30
52
51
109
102 120 120 51 121 106 134 119
University of Virginia
Untimely seasons
Usage of slaves and brutes contrasted
Vapid babblings of slaveholders Vice, liypocrisy of Vicksburg, massacre of Virginia, a slave menagerie
" exportation of slaves from
" University of Visitors to slave states Vitcllius
114
134
111, 112
Texas
Theodosius the Great
Thessalonica, massacre at
Thumb-screws
Tiberius
Time for relaxation, not allowed
Times of scarcity
Titus
Tobacco worms eaten o°
Toes cut off iq on 22
Tooth knocked out l-*. -^^u, ^^
Tortures
« eulogized by a professor of religion 104
Trading with negroes 209
Traffic in slaves _^l
Trajan ^V^
Treatment of sick slaves 44
Treatment of slaves in the United States 9, 48 by professing Christians 42, 97. 180
'' httle better than that of brutes 10b
Trial of women, " white and black," 25
Trials for murdering slaves 46, 91, 94, 108, 173 Turkish slavery ^
Turner, Nat , ^°
Twelve slaves killed by overwork 97
Twenty-seven hundred thousands of free-bom
citizens in the United States 7
Tying up of slaves at night 20
" Tyrant" 115
" Uncle Jack," Baptist preacher 179
Under garments not allowed to slaves l3
United States, Laws of 32
146
182 182 114 128 120
Washing for slaves 95
Washington slavery 67
" the national slave market 76
West Indian slaves 1^2
Whip, cracking of heard at a distance l07
" Whipped to death" 72, 96, 102, 108
Whipping —
Children 20
Everv day 1^"
Females 13, 14, 48, 53, 103, 107
On three plantations heard at one time 108 Pregnant women 20, 90, 179
Slaves 13, 20, 22, 25, 26, 50, 51, 88, 98, 102,
Slaves after a feast ^7
" for praying ^8
With paddle 20, 46
Women with prayer ia on ar
Whipping-posts -lO) •^"' ^o
Whips equally common on plantations as
ploughs 10*
" White or black," trial of 25
Whites in slavery 25
White slave 48
Wholesale murders 200
Wife, purchase of a 1'"
Will of John Randolph 42
Wilmington, N. C. 11
Witches of New-England 113
WITNESSES.
Aobot, Jordan '^^
Abdie, P. 1^3
Adams, Mr. l^"
African Observer !< 155
Alexandria Gazette 150
Allan, James M., 45 Allan, Rev, William T. 45, 61, 180
Alston, J. A., Hehs of, 85
Alton Telegraph ' 157
Alvis, J. 164
Anderson, Benjamin 42
Andrews, Professor 167
Anthony, Julius C. . 68
Antram, Joshua °0
Appleton, John James . ' "0
Arkansas Advocate • 162
Armstrong, William 64, 157
Artop, James ' ^
Ashford, J. P. .1 -. 78, 153
Augusta Chronicle 165 Avery, George A. 42, 43, 127, 172
Aylethorpe, Thomas , 83
Bahi, P. 154, 167
Baker, William 81
Baldwin, J. G. 64
Baldwin, Jonathan F. 75
Balhnger, A. S. 81
220
Index.
Baltimore Sun ;," 163
Baptist Deacon 39
Bardwell, Rev. William 180
Barker, Jacob 141
Barnard, Alonzo 63
Barnes, George W. 84
Barr, James 81
" Mrs, ' 46
" Rev. Hugh 46
Barrer, B. G. 79
Barton, David W. 137
" Richard W. I37
Bateman, William 78
Baton Rouge, Agricultural Society of 38
Bayhi, P. 74, 8I
Beall, Samuel 168
Beasley, A. G. A. 84
" JohnC. 154
" Robert 63, 79
Beene, Jesse 63
BeU, Abraham 65
" Samuel 169
Bennett, D. B. 63
Besson, Jacob 154
Bezon, Mr. 79
Bingham, Joel S. 8I
Birdseye, Ezekiel 90, 157, l79
Birney, James G. 37, 47
Bishop, J. 7g
Blackwell, Samuel 39
Bland, R. J. 63
Bliss Mayhew and Co 168
" Philemon, 31, 35, 36, 37, 41,43, 102, 138
Bolton, J. L. and W. H. 73
Boudinot, Tobias Bouldin, T. T. Bourgoing, J. F. Bourne, George Bradley, Henry Bragg, Thomas Brasseale, W. H. Brewster, Jarvis Brothers, Menard Brove, A. Brown, J, A.
" John
« Rev. Abel
" Thomas
" William Bruce Mr. Buchanan, Dr. Buckels, William D. Bmrant, Madame Burwell Bush, Moses E. Buster, Mr. Butt, Moses Byrn, Samuel H, Calvert, Robert Carney, R. P. Carohna, History of Carter, Mrs. Elizabeth L. Caulkins, Nehemiah Channing, Dr. Chapin, Rev. William A» Chapman, B. F.
'' Gurdon Charleston Courier " Mercury " Patriot
28,92
40
125
28,52,178
157
166
63
30
73
81
77,82
47
88
80
80
182
40, 58, 112, 118
80
77
137
81
70
168
162
84
77
35
79, 172
11, 30, 31, 36
38, 44, 127
105
168
84
153, 156, 165, 166
84, 165, 171, 175
169
|
herry, John W. |
80 |
|
Child, David L. |
90 |
|
" Mrs. |
90, 124, 140 |
|
Choules, Rev. John O. |
39 |
|
Citizens of Onslow |
156 |
|
Clark, W. G. |
166 |
|
Clarke, John |
87 |
|
Clay, Henry |
37, 183 |
|
" Thomas |
28, 29, 30 |
|
Clenderson, Benjamin |
172 |
|
Clergyman |
107 |
|
Coates Lindley |
170 |
|
Cobb, W. D. |
156 |
|
Colborn, J. L. |
84 |
|
Cole, Nathan |
61,89 |
|
Coleman, H. |
156 |
|
Colonization Society |
60 |
|
Columbian Inquirer |
168 |
|
Comegys, Governor |
163 |
|
Congress, Member of |
67 |
|
Connecticut, Medical Society of |
135 |
|
Constant, Dr. |
67 |
|
Cooke, Owen |
73 |
|
Cook, Giles |
137 |
|
" H.L. |
165 |
|
Cooper, Thomas |
117 |
|
Cornelius, Rev. Elias |
161 |
|
Corner, Charles |
73 |
|
" L. E. |
63 |
|
Cotton planters |
38 |
|
Cowles, Mrs. Mary |
85 |
|
" Rev. Sylvester |
177 |
|
Craige, Charles |
154 |
|
Crane, William |
63 |
|
Crutchfield, Thomas |
81 |
|
Cuggy, T. |
73, 154 |
|
Curtis, Mr. |
75 |
|
" Rev. John H. |
64 |
|
Cuyler, J. |
168 |
|
Daniel and Goodman |
82 |
|
Darien Telegraph |
207 |
|
Davidson, Rev. Patrick |
179 |
|
Davis, John |
35, 36 |
|
Davis, Benjamin |
167 |
|
» T. |
166 |
|
" Thomas |
172 |
|
Dean, Jethro |
68 |
|
Debruhl, Jesse |
83,84 |
|
Demming, Dr. |
39 |
|
Densler, T. S. |
155 |
|
Derbigny, Judge |
163 |
|
Dew, Philip A. || |
84 |
|
" President '' |
182 |
|
Dickey, Rev. James H. |
128 |
|
" William 1 |
93 |
|
Dickinson, Mr. ^ |
39 |
|
Dillahunty, John H. f |
80 |
|
Doddridge, Philip >,• |
183 |
|
Dorrah, James |
62 |
|
Downman, Mrs. Lucy M. i |
164 |
|
Douglas, Rev. J. W {"■ |
184 |
|
Drake and Thomson , j. |
164 |
|
Drayton, Colonel |
110 |
|
Drown, WiUiam |
75 |
|
Dudley, Rev. John |
74 |
|
Duggan, John |
154 |
|
Dunn, John L- |
165 |
|
Dunham, Jacob |
177 |
|
Durell, Judge |
131 |
Index.
221
Durett, Francis Dustin, W Dyer, William
Eastman, Rev. D, B, Eaton, General William Edmunds, Nicholas Edwards, F. L. C
" President
" Junior " Ellison, Samuel Ellis, Orren Ellsworth, Elijah Emancipation Society of N. Enorlish, Walter R. Evans, R. A. Everett, William
Faulkner, Mr. Fayetteville Observer Fernandez and Whiting Finley, James C
" R. S. Fishers, E, H. and I. Fitzhugh, William H Ford, John Foster, Francis Fox, John B. Foy, Enoch Francisville Chronicle Franklin Republican Frederick, John Friends, Yearly Meeting of Fuller, Isaac C. Fullerton, G. S. Furman, B. Gadsden, Thomas N. Gaines, Rev. Ludwell, G. Gales, Joseph Garcia, Henrico Y. Garland, Maurice H. Gates, Seth M. Gayle, John Georgetown Union Georgia Constitutionalist
" Journal Georgian Gholson, Mr. Giddings, Mr. Gilbert, E. W. Gildersterre, William C.
Glidden, Mr. Goode, Mr. Gourden and Co. Grace, Byrd M. Graham, Rev. John
Rev. Dr. Grand Gulf Advertiser Graham, Jehab Gray, Abraham Greene, R. A. Green, James R. Gregory, Ossian Gridley, H. Grimke, Sarah M. Grosvenor, Rev. Cyrus P Guex, D. F. Gunnell, John J. H. Guthrie, A. A. Guyler, J.
73, 74 (iG 73
29, 62
127
77
79
28,118
11, 31, 58
42, 64
80
65
28, 60
80
63
162
182 169 82 60 183 137 117 82 154 82 156 160 159 83,84 164 92 69 79
165
92
153
67
139
129
172
178
160
167
166
182
76
84
30, 35, 36, 37, 41, 44
50, 124
69
183
80
84
25
183
78, 136
179
80
79
73
137
73
22, 44, 62
178
74
137
45
77
Halley, Preston Hall, Samuel Han, E
Hand, John H. Hansborough, William Hanson, Peter Harding, N. H. Harman, Samuel Harrison, General W. H. Hart, F. A.
" Rev. Mr. Harvey, J. Hawlcy, David
" Rev. Francis Hayne, General R. Y. Henderson, John " Judge
Hendren, H. Herring, D. Dr. Hitchcock, Judge Kite, S. N. Hodges, B. W.
" Rev. Coleman S. Holcombe, John P. Holmes, George, Home, Frederick Honerton, Philip Hopkins, Rev. Henry T. Horsey, Outerbridge Hough, Rev. Joseph Houstoun, Edward Hudnall, Thomas Hughes, Benjamin Hunt, John
" Rev. Thomas P. Hussey, George P. C. Huston, Felix Hutchings, A. J.
Ide, Joseph
Indiana, Legislature of
Jackson, Stephen M.
" Telegraph James, Joseph Jarnett, James T. De Jarvett, James T. Jefferson, Thomas Jenkins, John Jett, Marshall Johnson, Bryant " Cornelius " Isaac " Josiah S. Jolley, J. L. Jones, Alexander
" Anson
" Hill
" James
» R. H.
" W. Jefferson Jourdan, Green B. Judd, D.
" Mrs. Nancy
Keeton, G. W. Kennedy, John Kentucky, Synod of Kephart, George Kernin, Charles Keyes, Willard
80
69, 75, 76, 92, 181
81
63,73
92, 178
80
61
84
117 92 86
164
64,91
94
166 73, 153
128
137 81 84 79 81 74 87 82
159
169 79 88 37
181
165 78
162
83, 164
IG
76
162 83
101 59
79
166
78
154
62
110, 117
80
82
62, 79
36, 37, 43, 65
78
38
78
39
102
165
156
168
135
82
62
88
162
82
61, 167
169 74 70
222
Index.
129 171
79 169
82 165
36
70 178 178
16f,
30, 40, 43, 86, 138
77
73
73
81
137
69
136
157
80
78
28, 36, 41, 43, 48
73
154
164
164
166
75
73
137
Kimball and Thome " George
Kimboroiigh, James
King, Ciiarles " JoiinH. " Nehemiah
Knapp, Henry E. " Isaac
Kyle, Frederick " James
Lacy, Theodore A.
Ladd, William 29,
Lains, O. W.
Lambeth, William L.
Lambre, Mr.
Lancette, R.
Langhorne, Scruggs and Cook
Larrimer, Thomas
Latimer, W. K.
Lawless, Judge
Lawyer, Zadok
Led with, Thomas
Leftwich, William
Lemes, Ferdinand
Leverich and Co.
Lewis, Kirkman
Lexington Intelligencer " Observer
Little, Mrs. Sophia
Loflano, Hazlet
Long, Joseph
Loomis, Henry H.
Loring, R. l36
" Thomas 152
Louisville Reporter 67
Lovvry, Mrs. Nancy 50
Luminals, A. 78
Xiyman, Judge 75
" Rev. H. 42, 65, 127, 177
Macoin, J. 73
Macon Messenger 165
Telegrap 159
Macy, F. C. 30, 105
'' Reuben G 28, 41, 43, 98
" Richard 30, 41, 98
" T.D.M. 105
Magee, William 82, 162 167
Males, Henry 7I
Maltby, Stephen E. 41 43, 64
Manning, P. T. ' 73
Marietta College, student of 69
Marks, James 81
Marriott, Charles 98
Marshall, John T. 166
Martineau, Harriet I49
Maryland Journal 29, 58
Maryville Intelligencer 61 114
Mason, Samuel 78
Mathieson, Rev. James 39
May, Rev. Samuel J. 160
Mc Cue, Moses 165
McDonnell, James 80
McGehee, Edward J. 156
McGregor, Henry M- 82
McMurrain, John 78, 83
Mead Whitman ' 59
Medical College of, South Carolina 169
Memphis Gazette 1G8
" Inquirer ^63
Menefee, R. H. Menzies, Judge Mcrcej-, Mr. Metcalf, Asa B, Middleton, Mr. Miles, Lemuel Milledgevillc Journal
" Recorder
Miller, C.
Minister from Texas, A. Jones Minor, W. I. Missouri Republican Mitchell, Dr. Robert Mitchell, Isaac M'Neilly Mobile Advertiser
" Examiner
" Register Mongin, R. P. T. Montesquieu Montgomery, W. H. Moore, Mr. Va. Moorhead, John H. Morris, E. W. Moulton, Rev. H orace 28, 30, 3
Moyne Dr. F. Julius Le Muggridge Matthew Muir J. G. Murat A. Murphy S. B.
Napier T. and L. Natchez Courier
" Daily Free Trade National Intelligencer Nelson Dr. David
" John M. Ncsbitt Wilson Newbern Sentinel " Spectator New Hampshire, legislature of Newman Mrs. B. New Orleans Argus
Bee 36, 79, 84, 91, 150, " Bulletin " Courier " Kidnapping at " Mercantile Advertiser " Post New York American
" Sun
Neyle S. Nicholas Judge Nicoll Robert Niles Hezekiah Noe James Norfolk Beacon " Herald N. C. Literary and Comm
" Journal Nourse Rev. James Nye Horace
O'Byrne
O'Connell Daniel Oliver Colonel O'Neill Peter Onslow, Citizens of Orme Moses O'Rorke John
168
88
139, 183
77, 153
139
79
155
168
165
102
168
158
86,89
81
155
167, 172
67
162
166
118
168
60
66
82, 16
, 45 88, 109
112, 136,139
88
165
154
73
63,78
168 162, 168 169 154> 172 86, 127 51, 74, 124 137 166 156, 162 135 172 164 154, 162, 107 154, 166 91, 139, 183 141 91 157 169 91 78,83 117 62, 153 60, 183 63 139, 165, 166 160 '-^ 152
9
>b
56
78
i65
Index.
223
Overstrcct Richard " William Owen Captain N. F.
" John W Owens J. G.
Parrish John
Parrott Dr.
Patterson Willie
Paulding James K.
Peacock Jesse
Perry Thomas C.
Petersburg Constellation
Philanthropist
Pickard J. S.
Pinckncy H. L.
Pinkncv" William
Planter's Intelligencer
Planters of South Carolina
Poc William
Porter Mr.
Portsmouth Times
Powell Eleazar
Presbyterian elder,
President of the United States
Pringle Thomas
Pritchard William H.
Probate sale
Purdon James
Ragland Samuel
Raleigh Register
Ralston Samuel
Randall J. B.
Randolph John
Randolph Thomas Mann
Rankin Rev. John 28,
Rascoe William D.
Rawlins Samuel
Raworth Egbert A.
Redden J. V.
Red River Whig
Reed, Rev. Andrew
" William H. Reese Enoch Reins Richard Reeves W. P. Renshaw Rev. C. S. 30, 31, 41
180 Rhodes Durant H,
Rice H. W. " Rev. David
Richardson G. C.
Richards James K. " Moses R. " Stephen M.
Richmond Compiler " Inquirer
" Whig
Ricks, Micajah
Riley, W.
Ripley, George B.
Roach, Philip
Robbius, Welcome H.
Robarts, William
Roberts, J. H.
Robin, C. C.
Robinson, N. M. C.
Robinson, WiUiam
Roebuck, George
Rogers, N. P.
8op-crs. Thomas "
79
77
123
137
165
30, 40, 155
103
81, 82
76, 89
169
180
1G5
66
168
166, 172
58
162
39
26, 181
66
165
28, 31, 36, 99
90, 169
139
123
160
38
84
81
165
163
80, 168
58
182
40, 43, 60, 67, 92
166
82
83 137 165
39
75 164 136
73 , 61, 88, 166, 168,
156
73
58, 112
81
137
137 81
165
166
165, 165, 182
77
78
84
137 80
164
63
39, 59, 118
81
154
131, 171
Ross, Abner 153
Rowland John A. 63
Ruffin, Judge 60
Russel, Benjamin 79, 83
Russcl. W. 160
Rymes, Littlejohn 81
Sadd, Rev. Joseph M. 43, 62, 64, 130
Salvo, Conrad 80
Sapington, Lemuel 41, 43, 49
Saunders, James 80
Savage, Rev. Thomas 76, 87
Savannah Georgian 156
'' Republican 165
Savory, William 30, 40, 65
Scales, Rev. William 68, 100, 105
Schmidt, Louis 80
Scott, Rev. Orange 181
Scott, William 99
Scrivener, J. 77
Seabrook, Whitmarsh B. 175
Secretary of the navy 76, 89
Selfer 84
Senator of the United Stales 79
Sevier Ambrose H. 79
Sewall Stephen 85, 115*
Shafter M. M. 91
Sheith M, J. 81
Shield and Walker 137
Shields Polly C. 166
Shropshire David 166
Simmons B. C. 78
Simpson John I6J5
Sizer R. W. 77
Skinner, W. 155, 164
Slaveholders 35
Smith, Bishop of Kentucky 204, 208
" Gerrit ' 67,86,161
" Professor 31 » Rev. Phineas 31, 40, 45, 62, 101, 109, 112,
138
Smyth Alexander 28, 35, 135
Snow Henry H. 70
Snowden J. I68
" Rev. Samuel 141
South Carolina, legislature of 35
" Medical College of 169
Slaveholder of 117
Southern Argus 162
Southern Christian Herald 178
Southerner 161
Southmayd, Rev. Daniel S. 176
Spillman, Mr. 89
Stansell, William 79
Staughton, Rev. Dr. 178
Staunton Spectator 165
Stearns and Co. "79
Stevenson, Andrew 182
Stewart, Samuel 63
Stillmam, Dr. 171
Stith, W. and A.
Stone, Asa A.
» Silas
" WiUiam L.
Strickland, William
Stroud, George M.
Stuart, Charles
Summers, Mr.
Swain, B.
Synod of South Carolina and Georgia
Tart, John
224
Index.
Taylor, James H. 81
'• John 138
" Lawton, and Co, 80
Texan minister, Auson Jones, 102
Thatcher, Colonel 171
Thome and 'Kimball, '" • 129
Thome, James A 61, 158
Thompson, Henry P. . 87
Thomson, Mr. 163
" Sandford 166
Todd, R. S. 137
Toler, William 73
Tolin, Cornelius D. 63
Townsend, Ely 78
" Samuel 84
Tucker, Judge 117,123
Turnbull, Robert 28, 36, 44
Turner, John . 63
" John D. 79
" L. 46
Turton.S. B. , 82
Tuscaloosa Flag of the Union 163
Upsher, Judge 183
Ustick, William A. 69
Vance, John 65
Van Buren, Martin I39
Varillat, H. 63
Vicksburg Register 161, l62
Virginia Minister I79
Virginian 76
Walker, John 63
Walton, George - 167
" John W. 79
Walsh, Sarah 78, 172
Washington Globe 167
Waugh, Dr. Jeremiah S. 177
Weld, Angelina Grimk6 52
Wells, Thomas J. 166
West, Eli 68
Western Luminary 76
" Medical Journal 60
" " Reformer 31, 40,43
" Review 35, 134
Westgate, George W. 30, 36, 37, 42, 43, 72
Whitbread, Samuel 118
|
Whitefield, George |
28, 57, 112 |
|
" Needham |
8.1 |
|
Whitehead, C. C. |
bii |
|
W. W. |
80 |
|
White, Hiram |
51 |
|
Wightman, Rev. William M. |
175 |
|
Wilberforce, W, |
118 |
|
Wilkins, C. W. |
81 |
|
Wilkinson, Alfred |
66, 75 |
|
Williams, George W. |
137 |
|
Willis, Robert |
180 |
|
Willis, William |
91 |
|
Wilmington Advertiser |
156 |
|
Wilson, Rev. Joseph G. |
90 |
|
Winchester Virginian |
168 |
|
Wirt, Wilham |
109 |
|
Wisner, F. |
83 |
|
Witherspoon, Dr. |
29 |
|
Woodward, Jeremiah |
82 |
|
Woolman, John |
58 |
|
Wotton, John |
63 |
|
Wright, Mr. |
139 |
|
Yampert, T. J. De |
73 |
|
Yearly meeting of Friends |
164 |
|
Woman dying |
44 |
|
" flogged because her child died 16 |
|
|
" maniac |
97, 106 |
|
" no respect for |
153 |
|
Women at childbirth |
12 |
|
" «' the same labor with men 13 |
|
|
" " work |
18 |
|
" miscarry under the whip |
20, 90 |
|
" not breeding |
15 |
|
" pregnant whipped |
20, 90, 106 |
|
" severe whippers of slaves |
55,59 |
|
" slaves |
12 |
|
Work-house at Charleston |
23, 171 |
|
Working hours 13, 85, |
103, 105, 108 |
|
" of slaves |
12, 85, 95 |
|
Worn-out slaves |
12, 133 |
|
" Worse and worse" |
120 |
|
Worship of God prohibited |
51 |
|
Wounds by gunshot |
77 |
|
Wright Isaac |
163 |
|
Yokes for slaves |
74 |
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