Narrative of Dimmock Charlton, a British subject, : taken from the brig "Peacock" by the U.S. sloop "Hornet," enslaved while a prisoner of war, and retained forty-five years in bondage

NARRATIVE

OF

DIMMOCK CHARLTON,

A BRITISH SUBJECT,

Taken from the Brig "Peacock'' hy the U, S, Sloop ''Hornet,''

ENSLAVED WHILE A PEISONER ^F WAR,

AND RETAINED

FORTY-FIVE YEARS IN BONDAGE.

^m

DIMMOCK CHARLTON

J^ IDE:FEi2<rC!E.

In the Anti-Slavery Standard of Nov. 21i\ 1858, a tissue of charges of the
most severe and crushing character appeared, entitled "a caution," respecting
a colored man, a native African, styled John Bull. This name was given him
by his British captors of the Peacock, in 1812, who took the Spanish slaver into
which he was thrust, when first kidnapped from Sierra Leone, his native home.
In the engagement with the Hornet, he became a prisoner of the United States,
and was fraudulently retained as a slave, when demanded in the exchange of
British prisoners, and with wilful falsehood reported dead of a fever. A series
of gross injustice baffled every effort for freedom, and continued his slavery
from youth' to grey hairs; and he has but recently recovered his liberty, after
45 years of bondage in its most aggravated forms. Soon after the publication
of the above named "caution," a viost respectful appeal was made to the Editors
of the Anti-Slavery Standard, requesting them to re-examine the source of these
charges. A minute account was also given of the causes of the misrepresen-
tation, and with the assurance that there was no intention on the part of his
friends to screen him, if they should be found true. But, if on a fair review
of the whole subject the charges proved to be without just foundation, his
friends united with him in claiming an honorable acquittal, so far as the same
press can produce it, which has been made the organ of injury to his charac-
ter. Such expressions as these, "being wanting in principle," "unwilling to
work," "collecting money in Philadelphia imder various false pretences" &c.
Certainly his appeal for the emancipation of his wife, a free woman of Nassau,-^
in the British Isle of Providence, Yf est Indies, and her four children and grand-
children, now in slavery, were not "false pretences," but facts fully confirmed
During his residence in this city since October last, he has applied to the friends
of humanity for aid and employment, to assist him in obtaining his earnest
wish, the freedom of his family in the South — ten persons in all — one grand-
child, brought to New York by those holding her as a slave, has been liberated
there by legal measm^es. Her freedom being established, he removed her to
Canada", to prevent what he feared, her re-capture. This he accomplished with
written as well as verbal authority, from two of the most respectable Attorneys
in New York, John Jay and Charles E. Whitehead, they giving him the full as-
surance that he had the sole right to dispose of her. He had steadfastly de-

*Is there no method by which this fact, which can be well established, may be made to give
freedom to herself and her descendants, now in bondage? Lsgal justice would cause their fetters
to fall.

res. 55

clined to bind liis little girl to one of the members of the Anti-Slavery Society,
who had been interested in her emancipation, and this decision, and his removal
of her to Canada, his eminent lawyer, John Jay, declares he believes to be the
only cha,rge they have against him. Can we wonder, after such sad experience,
at his unwillingness to put,any chain upon her newly enfranchised form and
soul? They say he threatened to shoot a colored man sent to prevent his re-
moving her — if he dared to lay a hand upon her. This he freely acknowledges,
as prompted by his agony, and which he does not defend as right. He says,
'•I am sorry, but I was provoked ; " he might have said, tortured at the thought
of her being again in bonds.

It will be only necessary here to add that his course in Philadelphia has
been under strict observance of those make this appeal and defence. They are
willing to show any inquirers who wish an honest explanation, the^rouuds of
this attempt to vindicate his claim to sympathy and respeet. His statements
in this city, so far from being '^various false pretences," are substantiated by
respectable authority, and his character given by a gentleman who says, "I
have known him for 30 years, ever since I was a boy, and I never knew a man
more injured by being deprived of his liberty and the fruits of his toil, after
the contracts for his freedom were, on his part, faithfully fulfilled. He was
always sober, industrious, peaceable and polite." This is briefly his warm and
sympathetic language, given to us personally.

No response being given by the Anti-Slavery Editors, the injured man feels
compelled to make this statement in contradiction to their ''caution," in which
they say they were requested "by his Philadelphia friends to denounce him."
We have no idea that such measures would be endorsed by the noble-minded
friends of freedom in the Anti-Slavery Society, if they were acquainted with
the particulars which "his friends in Philadelx)hia" have sought to place before
them. There is one individual — the only one known to them who could have
made such a request, whose statement in his own hand-writing, is, with other
documents, retained as testimony that he threatened thus to publish him, and
this, nothwithstanding the kindest remonstrance and explanation on his part,
previously given in the presence of his friends, who used their eiforts also, and
took all the blame from the accused, showing where the offence originated, and
tliat no injury was done or intended.

The charge against the accused was that he was going about injuring his
character, and retaining a paper of recommendation from him of which he de-
manded the return. Of both these charges he was entirely innocent. An Anti-
Slavery lady, of England, thought proper to call upon this person, whose name
we omit, to expostulate with him on account of the charge he had made for
board and washing for the accused. This was entirely her own act of kindness,
not only unprompted, but without the knowledge of his other friends or himself.
She had received the information in reply to her interrogatories of his expenses
and the means of his support, without a word or look of complaint.

As to the paper it was detained by the undersigned, to show to some friends
as references, the inconsistency of charging the persecuted man with want of
(ruth, and being an imposter as to his family being slaves, when the sole tenor
of fhis paper, dated the 19th of October, was to confirm his identity, with the
individual in the printed documents from the New York Standard, and also from
))is British friends. After sending him with this paper to us, he came himself to

manifest liis interest in getting a pamphlet publislied and money subscribed, and
at the time lie sent it, it was accompanied by his note requesting our efforts in his
behalf. A few days, perhaps not more than a week elapsed, till this well mean!
expostulation of the English lady, changed the whole current of his procee(i-
ings. When we expostulated with him as to the date of this paper which lie
wished to recall before we had made it serve as a reference to vindicate the ac-
cused, we asked why did he send him to us as a person worthy of sympatJietic
aid, if certain letters whicli he then produced from New York, against him,
were then in his possession, and which he now claimed as authority against
him. He at first attempted to represent that they were not then received; he
afterwards, when the dates were shown him. as four and five days previous, said
"the truth was because I placed no confidence in the charges they contained."
Now these, with further discrepancies, are only narrated or retained for the re-
moval of aspersions, vfhich must crush his efforts to support himself, and to
liberate his beloved and suffering family. That these particulars are reluct-
antly given in this form, will be evident to all who may read the statement pre-
sented before the close of last year, to the Editors in New York, the pacific
tone and forbearing expostulations of which, we think, with the exigencies of
the case, demanded a reply, other than silence.

Mary L. & Susan H. Cox.
S. E. cor. of Race and 7tli Sts., opposite Franklin Square.
Pli'dada., 5 mo. Ith, 1859.

N. B. — Robert C. Beatty, Cashier of the Bank of Bristol, Penna., gives his
name as a reference. During the temporary residence of his familj- in this
city, thro' the past winter, he had with them an opportunity of knowing the in-
jured man, and his name was one of six signatures appended to the appeal to the
Editors in New York. No application was made for more names, or, unques-
tionably, they might have been obtained, and of equal respectability.

From the K"ew York Times.

The history of Solomon Northrup — a free citizen of New York, who spent
many years in Southern Slavery — is fresh in the memory of our readers. We
yesterday heard narrated another slave history rivalling it in interest, though in
many respects of a very different character. The subject of it is a venerable and
intelligent native African, recently arrived here from Savannah, Georgia, where
he was known as Dimmock Charlton, and served more than forty years as the
slave of various parties, while he claims to have been a British subject, and
enti^tled to British protection. The man's face is an honest one, and his integ-
rity and reliability are so well vouched for that it would be found difi&cult to
doubt or discredit his story. Indeed, he tells it in so straightforward, frank
and simple a manner as to carry conviction with it. Although utterly unedu-
cated, unable even to read or write, he displays a degree of intelligence and an
amount of sagacity, sound sense and native shrewdness which would do no
discredit to his former masters, however great their opportunities for mental

culture. We propose to give his history as received from liis own lips, trusting
that it will not only interest the reader, but that it may stimulate efforts among
the philanthropic to crown with well deserved happiness the declining years of
this dark-skinned hero, hy restoring to freedom those of his family who are still
Ijeld in servitude.

Our subject is now, as near as he can judge, 57 or 58 years of age, a native
of Kissee, peopled by a tribe of the same name, settled on one of the great
rivers in the interior of Africa — or, as he expresses it, "away up on the fresh
water." His name was Tallen at that time. When 9 or 10 years of age,
war was declared against his tribe by the Mandingos, who captured Kissee, and
took its inhabitants prisoners of war. Tallen, with six other bo,ys of about the
same age were a mile or so from the town at the time of the battle, but were
pursued and taken prisoners. This, as well as he can calculate, was in 1811
or 1812. The prisoners of which there were a large number, were all sent
down to the Coast, sold to a slave dealer, and stowed away with hundreds of
other unfortunates on board a Spanish slaver. The distance they traveled in
reaching the seashore may be estimated from the fact that the journey occupied
about four weeks.

The slaver put to sea with its human cargo, who began to suffer the horrors
of the middle passage, many of them dying for want of fresh air and exercise
during the three weeks they were stowed away in her suffocating "between
decks." At the end of this time the slaver was chased and captured by an
English war-brig, but Tallen does not remember the name of either of the
vessels. The prize and her cargo were taken to England, where the Africans
generally were sent ashore -until they could be properly disposed of. Tallen,
however, who had meantime been christened "John Bull" on board the British
vessel, was sent to the British brig Peacock, to serve as cabin-boy. Several
of the captured Spanish sailors were also transferred to that vessel. At this
time the war between the United States and Great Britian was in progress, and
sometime afterward the Peacock was engaged in action by the little American
schooner Hornet, commanded by the gallant captain Lawrence, which, as will
be remembered, speedily put her in a sinking condition, and forced his crew to
surrender. This was on the 24th of February, 1813.

Subsequently our hero was sent to Savannah, Ga., in charge of Lieut. W:.i.
Henry Harrison, from whence the latter was to take him to Washington.
Judge Charlton, of Savannah, proposed to" Harrison to leave Tallen, or
" John Bull," with him, promising that he would raise him for Harrison. The
latter declined, relating the particulars of his history, and saying that he must
take the boy as a prisoner of war to Washington, and let Congress decide what
should be done with him, adding, as his own supposition, that he would follow
the fortunes of the other prisoners in all respects. Judge Charlton then pro-
posed to keep the boy with him until he should be wanted at AYashington,
promising Lieut. Harrison that he would send him on whenever he should
write for him.

With this understanding, Harrison left the boy with Judge Charlton. Two
months afterward, Harrison sent for "John Bull," and Charlton replied that
the boy had died — which of course ended the Lieutenant's interest in and care
for him. The authority for this statement was Judge Charlton's waiting-
man or body servant, an old man named Isaac, of whom John speaks in high

terms. About the time this word was sent to "Washington, Charlton called all
his servants together and forbade them strictly ever to call Tallen " John
Bull" again, but ordered them to call him Dimmock Charltox, after — himself
by which name he has since been known.

The very next day after this occurence, Charlton sold him to a French
tailor of Savannah, named John P. Setz, who is still living at Augusta, Ga.
He was sent doAvn to Setz's house in the morning, and staid there all day, but
at night expressed his intention of " going home." Setz told him no, — to stay
where he was, that he belonged to him now. Dimmock, &s we shall now call
him, replied, asserting that he was a free man and could not be sold. Setz, in
answer, said that Charlton bought clothes of him, and gave Dimmock in pay-
ment, and again ordered him to stay where he was and go to work. The boy
attempted to run away, but Setz caught and brought him back. Being sent
down into the kitchen, he slipped out of the back door, went to Charlton's
and asked if he had sold him. The Judge replied in the negative. Just then
Setz, in pursuit, came into the house, and seized the boy to drag him off,
Charlton interfei'ed, took Setz one side, had a short talk with him, and then told
Dimmock that he wanted him to go and learn the tailor's trade with the French-
man. Having become alarmed at the proceedings, he positively refused to stir
a step, unless dragged away by force.

Charlton then told Setz that he had better take the boy away from the
city. This information also was derived from the waiting-man Isaac. As the
Frenchman had a store in Augusta, he took Dimmock there. Thirteen months
later he sold him to Captain Dubois, who was commander of the Pulaslci at the
time of her wreck. At that time he commanded the steamer Samuel Howard,
but was building General Washington, to run between Savannah and Augusta,
and bought Dimmock to go on board of her as steward. After living with Cap-
tain Dubois two years, the latter sold him to Captain Davidson, of Savannah,
who, in turn, sold him to one Wm. Robinson, of the same city. Dimmock's
superior intelligence showed him that by hiring his time of his master, and
working for himself, he could save money to purchase back the freedom of
which he had been robbed. He formed his plans accordingly, and put them in
execution, finding employment as a superintending stevedore, and earning lib-
eral wages in loading cotton for export, at which he seems to have been verj^
successful. He arranged with Robinson to purchase himself at the price of
."pSOO. This he soon saved by hard work and economy, paid the entire sum in
in cash, and was then immediately sent to jail and kept there until his cruel
master had found a purchaser to take him off his hands.

His next master proved to be James Carr, then and now employed in the
Planters' Bank of Savannah. Dimmock ventured to express to Carr the hope
that he would not serve him as Robinson had, and related how villainously he

had been used by him. Carr replied that Robinson was a d d scoundrel,

but that he woidd deal justly with him. Thus encouraged, Dimmock again
hired his time, and proceeded to toil once more for liberty, agreeing with Carr
that he should have the privilege of purchasing himself at the price which was
paid to Robinson, w^hich he supposed was $700. At the time of his purchase
by Robinson, he cai-ried the latter $300, and four months latter gave him $400
more. Subsequently, he ascertained from Robinson that all Carr paid him
was $460. Thus was the poor fellow again swindled out of the gold for which
he had toiled so faithfully.

6

In the meantime lie had married a slave woman [a free woman of Nassau,
Proyidence Isle in the West Indies, enslaved by T. Pratt, senior, who took her
and her parents and sisters to Savannah,] by whom he had two daughters.
These all belonged to Mr. Pratt, of Savannah, of whom Dimmock speaks very
gratefully. Pratt finding that he would be compelled to sell his servants told
Dimmock, and said he would sell them reasonably to enable him to get some one
to buy them who would not send them oif. Not having yet learned that his
master had deceived him, Dimmock went to Caer, told him the case, and soli-
cited his aid to buy his wife and children, telling him that he had some little
money, — that it would probably cost $2,000 to make the purchase, and that he
would soon give him the balance. At this time he had $1,500, earned in steve-
doring, hid away dollar by dollar in a tin case buried in the earth. This sura
he carried to Carr, who purchased the family.

When he met Mr. Pratt afterwards, Di^imock learned that he had sold the
woman and children for $600 only, and had received that sum from Carr and
no more, supposing that he was giving the difference between it and their actual
value, to the husband and father. Upon his asking Carr what he had done
with the $900 balance, the later laughed, told Dimmock that he had the money
ill Bank for him, and to sa}^ nothing to anybody, that he and his family were
all free now, but to keep it to themselves, and live quietly with him. Thinking
tliej were in reality free, and could not be sent ofi" again among strangers at
any man's will, which was what they most dreaded, Dimmock and his wife re-
mained under Carr's "protection," quite contented for many years. Finally,
by representations made to his wife, Carr caused a separation between the
parties, and then sold the father to Mr. Hudson, of Savannah, the wife to Mr.
CuMMiNGS, and the children, — of whom there v^'ere now several, — each to a
different purchaser, thus almost hopelessly breaking up the family.

To this time Dimmock had carefull}^ concealed from his masters his 'aim to
liberty as a British subject. He foresaw that if it became known to them, they
would be likely to sell him off into the interior somewhere, and that then he might
bid farewell to all thought of ever regaining his liberty. So long as he could keep
in a seaport like Savannah, he knew he could earn and save money, and then
his chance of making good his claim to British protection would always be
better than if upon an interior plantation isolated from the busy world. But
when he found his family broken u|), and all of them again in slavery, his heart
was crushed, and he became reckless. He had repeatedly sought the protec-
tion of the British Consul at Savannah, Mr. Molyxeaux, but that functuary
refused to interfere in his behalf, apparently fearing to do so, and probably
looking upon Slrivery as a very satisfactory condiiion for a man with a black
skin — a theory which he illustrated by himself holding slaves. When Hudson
bought him, Dimmock asserted his right to freedom, ^and told him his story.
Hudson evidently was satisfied with the truth of his statement, and conse-
quently that he was very insecure proi^erty to hold; so he sent him to a trader
for sale. Mr. Davidson, a liquor dealer near tlie market in Savannah, became
his purchaser. He lived with him two years, when Davidson came to him one
(lay, told liim he had heard that he claimed to be a British subject, and asked
him what were the facts. He, too, was convinced of the ti'uth of the singular
history, and immediately sent him again to a slave-dealer, for sale at a pur-
chaser's risk. Mr. Benjamin Garman bought him for $550, in order to give

DiMMOCK another opportunity to purchase himself. This was a little more
than a year ago, since which time the poor fellow has returned the purchase
money, and a few days since came on here in the steamer Alabama, lest some
new device should bo found to deprive him of the liberty he has been forty-five
years in pursuit of.

Among the Spanish sailors captured on board the Peacock, with Dimmock,
was one named Mingo. Between tliese two, a lasting friendship sprang up,
and they have managed to work together during all their many years residence
in Savannah. A year ngo, by advice of a friend, Dimmock took Mixgo before
a lawyer, who prepared the necessary affidavits setting forth the facts, of his
capture and his title to recognition as a British subject. To this Mingo made
oath in due form. A day or two afterwards, he was ai-rested upon the charge
of drunkenness, and throTfn into prison, where he died very suddenly and
mysteriously. The proofs however, are deemed ample to establish Dimjiock's
claim ; and his purpose is, if possible, to bring suit to recover damages of Cakr
and others for his long detention in Slavery. Whatever means he can realize
from this source, or from the donations of the charitable, he desires to appro-
priate to the release from Slavery of his wife and children and grandchildren.
His oldest child Virginia, is in Savannah with three children. The next,
Christiana, has one child. The third, Elizabeth, has two. Besides those,
he has a son who belongs to lawyer O'Byrne, of Savannah, vfho has befriended
DiMMOCK in his recent undertakings.

Since his arrival here, Dimjmock has called upon the Acting-British Consul
to make good his title to protection as a British subject, with a view to prose-
cuting his oppressors. That official sent him to his counsel, Mr. Edwards,
who discourages him from attempting to do anything because the case has laid
so long. If therg is a statute of limitations which deprives a subject of redress
for wrong, when he has been prevented by force from calling for it sooner, the
British Government will probably announce the fact when this case is brought
fairly before them. That Dimmock Charlton is entitled to redress from some
quarter is certain — and the question remains for practical decision who is re-
sponsible for it. Either the Government of the United States or that of Great
Britian is bound by every consideration of humanity and justice to see that he
receives some compensation for his life of oppression and cruel wrong.

From tlie Anti-Slavery Eeporter.

We venture to crave the attention of our friends to the following tale of a slave. It
is extracted from the columns of the JVatioual Antl-SUd-erij Standard, and we will, in
due place, complete the history.

"The fact was briefly stated;, in last week's Standard, of the freedom of a little girl,
held as a slave, having been secvired under a writ of Heahas Corpus, before Judge
Eobertson, in West Chester county,- and a promise was given that the details relating
both to the child and its grandfather, who appeared on its behalf, should be given in a
future number. We redeem the promise, in the hope that the story may be as inter-
esting and instructive to our readers as it has been to ourselves.

"Several weeks ago a black man called upon us to ask for aid and adyico in getting
possession of his grandchild, a little girl of five or six years, who, he said, was some-
where in this city, under the care of two ladies, sisters, by the name of Kerr, and who
would, he feared, carry the child back to the South and to slavery, whence they had
brought her a few months before. On inquiring further into his and her history, we
learned that he had recently arrived here from Savannah, having purchased his freedom
of his master, Mr. Benjamin Garman; that all his kindred about whom he knew any-
thing, wife, children, and grandchildren, were still slaves, exce^it only this little one,
now in New York, in the possession of the Misses Kerr; and that, for his own sake as
well as hers, he was desirous of securing the child, and placing her where her freedom
should be beyond the reach of either accident or hostile design, and where, by his exer-
tions, he could fulfil to her the duties of a parent, and secure for her liberty, at any
rate, and happiness as far as it should lie in his power.

"It is hardly necessary to say that this statement was enough to enlist the sympa-
thies and command the active exertions of any one professing to hold either principle
or feeling in regard to slavery; but tlje appeal was irresistible when we came to hear
from the man's own lips the romantic and touching history of his own life. To some
of our readers, perhaps, this is already familiar, as it was told, at about the time we
allude to, in a morning paper in this city. We have delayed relating it, as the less t]iat
was said about it publicly, till the fate of the grandchild was decided, the better; and
we wished, moreover, to hear what contradiction or corroboration it might call forth, as
undoubtedly it would provoke either one or the other within a short period. The event
has justified the delay, and we are enabled now to record the story with more entire
confidence than we hardly dared feel when we first heard it, while we have the satis-
faction also of rounding ofi" the tale with the successful appeal for the freedom of the
child, and her restoration to -the arms of her grandparent.

"Dimmock Charlton, for by this name he has been known for most of his life, though
he has now re-assumed an earlier one, is a native of Africa. One would hardly doubt
this who looks upon his intensely black skin, and listens to his broken English, though it
may be easy for him to mispronounce or the hearer to misapprehend the name by which
he calls his people. He says, however, that he was born in a country called Kissee,
on a great river in the interior of Africa — 'away up on the fresh water.' He is, he
thinks, about fifty-eight years old, and he remembers vividly the first twelve years of
his life, when he was called Tallen, and was a wild, untutored, and happy savage, and
had never heard of Christian mea. or nations. But then a war broke out between his
own and a neighboring tribe, and his people were conquered, and among the prisoners
who were captured and driven to the coast to be sold to the slavers was Tallen.

''They were about thirty days on this journey from Kissee to the sea coast; but
once there, and they were huddled by hundreds, some from the tribe of Kissee and
some from other tribes equally wretched, on board a Spanish vessel waiting for her
cargo. Then came a voyage of three weeks — three weeks of horror. The little savage
from the great 'fresh water' of Central Africa, who had never heard of civilization,
and had never been taught to believe in any other God than Fetish, took noAV his first
step in that great scheme whereby, our Doctors of Divinity teach us, the Heavenly
Father is to lead his race to the blessed knowledge of Christian light and life. He met
the horrors of the 'Middle Passage.' He listened, day and night, to the groans of the
dying; ho suffered the agonies of thirst and suff"ocation; he saw his fellow suSerers
taken up to be thrown into the sea, and might have envied them the early and easier
martyrdom which was accepted as their share in the sacrifice for the redemption of
their race. At the end of three weeks, however, the Spaniard was captured by a Brit-
ish cruiser, and she and Avhat was left of her human cargo were taken to England.
Unfortunately Tallen cannot recall, if ho ever knew, the names of either of these ves-
sels.

"On his arrival in England a pleasant prospect seemed, for a little while, to open

before him. On the dispersion of the Africans, it fell to his lot to bo put on board tha
British brig Peacock as a cabin boy, and that vessel soon after sailed on a cruise. The
Dr. Southsides, perhaps, will think that it was only returning him into the true path of
providential redemption that this happened to be the cruise in which the Peacock fell
in with the American schooner Hornet, and in the memorable naval battle which fol-
lowed that encounter she struck her flag to Captain Lawrence. Tallen or, as he was
now called, John Bull, a second time in his short career a prisoner of war, was brought
to this country.

"Here he fell in charge of Lieut, (afterwards President) "William Henry Harrison,
and for some unexplained reason, was taken to Savannah, Ga. In that city he was
left with Judge Charlton, until he should be ordered to Washington, to be disposed of
with the other prisoners, the crew of the Peacock. Judge Charlton proposed to Lieut.
Harrison that he should leave the boy with him to be brought up, but this the Lieut-
enant declined, as being a prisoner he was not within his control. Two months subse»
quentiy he sent to the Judge for his charge, and received for answer that the boy had
died of the fever. Such was the statement made to John Bull by an old servant of
Judge Charlton, named Isaac, and subsequent events seem to verify it.

"The Lieutenant, John Bull never saw or heard from, again,* but at about the time
that he must, if the statement be true, have been sent for to go to "Washington, and
when the Judge returned him as dead of fever, he — the Judge—called together his
servants, and announced to them that it was his pleasure that hereafter the boy should
no longer be known as 'John Bull,' but thenceforward be called by that name which
belonged to himself; and he incited them to remember his orders by that incentive
which slaveholders usually supply to their slaves— the threat of the cowhide. There-
after 'John Buir was known only as Dimmock Charlton, and by that name he has
gone ever since.

"As Judge Charlton was, during his lifetime, a very well known person, a man of
high standing and great respectability, a lawyer of some eminence, an author of ons
or two law books, and one against whom we, at least, never heard any thing worse
than that he published a volume of most dreary rhymes, it may seem incredible that
he could be guilty of so despicable a crime as is here laid to his charge.* But we must
remember that the act is to be measured by the code of slaveholding morality, and not
by that which obtains in more civilized communities. It might, indeed, be arjued
that men who steal men from themselves — the. original owners — wovild not be very
scrupulous in stealing from each other, were it not that the universal principle of
'honor among thieves' would operate as a sufficient restraint in a state of society where
its infringement would lead to the wildest confusion. But in the case of this 'John
Bull' there need enter no such consideration. He, according to the code which prevails
among our Southern brethren, belonged to nobody — was a mere waif and estray which
the fortunes of war had landed upon our shores, from the coast of Africa, and anybody
might pick it up who would be at the trouble. Some consideration, perhaps, might be
due to Lieutenant Harrison, but he had no claim upon the property, as property, but
simply upon the man as a prisoner. If discharged of his duty to him, in that regard,
he had nothing further to do with him; and if persuaded of the truth of that conve-
nient fiction, that the boy was dead, all remonstrance from him would be avoided;
Judge Charlton would, in an easy way, be so much the richer, to the value of this
particular piece of goods: nobody would lose anything except the Government, whose
loss of a prisoner, who might be a burthen, would be a gain, and the poor boy himself
would have somebody to take care of him. So, perhaps, reasoned the Judge; so, at
least, only could he reason to any sort of self-justification. At any rate, he took care
of the poor African by giving him his own name, and selling him the next day to a
Frenchman.

* Judge Charlton was very intemperate.

10

''The Frenchman's name was John P. Setz, and he is still living in Augusta, Ga.
Dimmock, when told that he belonged to him, protested, as was natural enough in an
untutored and heathen African, not yet made acquainted by any Savannah divine with
the good things God had in store for his native land, nor what his particular share
was to be in that great scheme of Christianization, that he was nobody's slave, but a
freeman. Setz, on the other hand, condescending to reason on the subject, asserted
that the Judge, Dimmock's late master, owed him — Setz was a tailor — for a bill of
clothes, and that the boy was transferred for the vahie thereof. An appeal was made
to the Judge. He denied to Dimmock that he had sold him, but had a talk aside with
the tailor. The result Dimmock soon learned; for the particulars he was indebted to
his friend Isaac, the Judge's body servant. He was taken by Setz, in accordance with
the Judge's advice, to Augusta, where, about a year after, he sold him to a Mr. Dubois,
a steamboat captain. With him he lived two years, and was then sold, successively,
to a Captain Davidson, and then to one Mr. Robinson, of Savannah.

"In the course of these and subsequent years, and successive changes of OAvnership,
Dimmock's mind became so far enlightened as, if not to reconcile himself to slavery,
to suggest to him the expediency of recognizing it as his inevitable fate, and of find-
ing some other way of escaping from it than merely protesting against it. He hired
his time of his master, and being an industrious man, in the course of time made
money enough in his business, as a stevedore, to purchase himself of Robinson, for the
sum of eight hundred dollars. This man had no sooner received the money than he
sent him to jail, and kept him there on sale till a new buyer was found for him. H-^^-e
again we may think a sense of honor should have restrained this Robinson, as to our
Northern sense, it might seem that Judge Charlton overstepped the boundaries of
truth and justice; but the slave code distinctly says that a slave can possess nothing,
and that all that he has, or can earn, belongs to his master. Strictly speaking, there-
fore, the eight hundred dollars, which Dimmock hoped would purchase his freedom,
belonged to Robinson at any rate. To look at the subject in any other light woiild
have been mere magnanimity and gratuitous generosity in Robinson ; and he, pro-
bably, is not a man who permits himself to be carried away by such enthusiastic
impulses.

^•The purchaser this time was James Kerr, of Savannah, who expressed a great deal
of indignation when told by Dimmock of the manner in which money had been made
out of him by his former master. Encouraged by this sympathy, Dimmock again
commenced the accumulation of a fund for a second purchase of his freedom. Kerr
agreed to accept as a ransom the sum he had himself paid to Robinson, and Dimmock
at length put into his hands seven hundred dollars, which he supposed was that sum.
He afterwards learned that he had paid two hundred and fifty dollars too much, but
of course he had no redress.

**In the mean time, Dimmock had become a husband and father. A Mr. Pratt was
the owner of his wife and children, and he consented to sell them at a moderate price
to any one Avho would hold them for Dimmock till he could redeem them. He had at
this time paid the price of himself to Kerr, but was not aware that that gentleman
had quietly taken tAvo hundred and fifty dollars more than the stipulated price. He
interceded with him to become the purchaser of his wife and two children, with the
understanding that it should be on account of the husband and father. Kerr consen-
ted, and the purchase was made — Dimmock putting into his hands $1500, which in
the course of time he had accumulated from his business, and hoarded away in the
earth. The sum he supposed Pratt would ask was $2000, and this he promised to
make good to his kind master. His kind master accepted the trust, and went, as
Dimmock afterwards ascertained, to Pratt and made the purchase for $600. When
reproached with this breach of trust, and called to account for the balance of $900, he
laughingly said it was safe in the bank, and gave his written obligation for it. This
obligation Dimmock put in his trunk, but on one occasion, while he was absent from

11

home, the trunk was broken open and the paper stolen. That the papei', alone, waa
the object of the thief was evident from the fact that he did not meddle with fifty dol-
lars which laid beside it.

" For many years Dimiuock lived with Kerr, contentedly with his family, persuaded
that his and their freedom were secure, and that they could not be again sold or sepa-
rated from each other. That little money transaction between the man and his master
was so entirely in accordance with the man's experience of its being in the usual way
of business between white and black folks, that he took no special precaution against
further knaverj'-, nor even seemed to be aware that such precaution was possible. He
trusted his master as if he had nothing to expect of himljut the fairest and most gen-
erous dealing. But the time came when he was to be disabused of any such misap-
pi'ehensions. At length Kerr sold him to one man, his wife to another, and scattered
some of the children about among various owners. Then it was that despair seized
him, and he returned again to his original assertion, that he was a British subject, and
wrongfully held in Slavery — a fact about which he had thought for many years it was
wisest and most prudent to keep silence, lest he shoiiid be sold into the interior, or to
the South, be separated for ever from his family, and lose all chance of ever regaining
his liberty. His story seems to have obtained credence. One Hudson, who bought
him of Kerr, believed it, and, probably considering that he might have made an unsafe
investment, sent him to a trader for sale. A liquor dealer by the name of Davidson
then bought him, but, on learning his story, put him again in the market. Lastly, he
was bought by Mr. G-arman a little more than a year ago, who honestly permitted him
to purchase himself, and to leave Savannah a free man when the price was paid.

"So strange a tale, when made public, has not been allowed to pass uncon-
tradicted. The Savannah papers have declared it to be untrue; and a Mr,
Fay — a northern man, but a resident of Savannah — has, in a letter to the Is^etv
York Times, avowed his disbelief in some of its essential points. That it would
be acknowledged as true, however, was not to be expected. Those most con-
cerned in it have an obvious and direct interest in its disapproval ; and these,
or some of these persons are undoubtedly responsible for the contradiction of
the Savannah papers. The testimony of Mr. Fay may also, possibly, have an
interested motive. He is known to have befriended Dimmock in Savannah,
and being a Northern man it is, perhaps, best that he should free himself from
any suspicion of having been privy to a statement made in a Northern paper
so damaging to Southern morality and honor. But all these contradictions, be
it observed, identify the man as the person he professes to be — as having been
a slave of some, at least, of the pei'sons mentioned, from Judge Charlton down
to Mr. Garman ; and of having j)urchased himself of the last-named gentleman.
His story is thus corroborated in some very essential particulars, and contra-
dicted only where we can reasonably expect nothing but denial. Miss Kerr,
moreover, in her testimony before Judge Robertson, in the case of the child
Ellen, said, she had long knoum that Dimmock claimed to be a British subject, and
to have been taken a prisoner of war in the brig Peacock, and she believed it to he
true. And this testimony is the more important that it was made voluntarily,
when there was no opportunity for consultation with others who had a direct
interest in concealing a fact, not only important in itself, but one from which the
subsequent transactions naturally spring. But besides all this there was, accor-
ding to Dimmock's statement, a Spaniard — long resident in Savannah, Mingo
by name — who was a fellow-prisoner with him on board the Peacock, and ever
after a firm friend. This man was familiar with the whole story, and, by the
advice of a fi-iend, he was taken before a magistrate and made affidavit to the

12

facts within his knowledge. Mingo is dead, but the papers are now, as Dim-
mock believes, in the hands of a certain lawyer in Savannah. This gentleman
has been written to at different times by two different persons, but no reply
has been received by either of them. If no such papers are in his hands, why
does he not say so. If there were any, even merely negative evidence, that
could be produced to disprove a tale inculpating so many Southern persons,
and especially showing so conclusively how utterly destructive slavery is of all
sense of honor and every dictate of honesty, such evidence, w& believe, would
be eagerly sought for and instantly produced.

"We come now to Ellen, the grandchild. Dimmock believed that she was in this city
when he arrived, and he was informed, as he thought, precisely where, by one who pro-
fessed to be his friend. It was soon ascertained that the information was incorrect, and
the person was sought for from whom it was received. He carefully kept out of the
way, however, and evidently avoided both Dimmock and a messenger who went with
him. For the purpose, apparently, of getting rid of them both, he gave them another,
a second direction, which turned out to be as false as the first. All inquiries were
bafiSed, and it seemed impossible to get any clue to the child.

"So matters stood when Dimmock's story appeared in the Morning Times. Whoever
had possession of the child would, it was supposed, when thus warned of the presence
of the grandfather, be careful to put her beyond his reach. It was afterwards ascer-
tained that the conjecture was well founded, as the Misses Kerr left town the morning
after the appearance of the article in the Times. Without then knowing this fact,
however, but little hop© was entertained of the recovery of Ellen.

"But, as it happened, that which it was feared would be a serious obstacle in the
way of the search,* turned out to be a fortunate incident in aid of it. Information
reached us — how, it would not be proper thus publicly to say — but information as
complete as authentic, and as direct as we could possibly wish for, in relation to the
Misses Kerr, their past movements, their present residence, and their plans for the fu-
ture. Their intentions, we were led to believe, were good: their only wish was to
secure the happiness of the little girl, and to this end they had instituted a subscription
for the purpose of raising the sum of 250 dollars, for which amount, it was said, their
brother James Kerr, of Savannah, Dimmock's former master, was willing to emanci-
pate her. A portion of this sum had already been raised, but a quietus was given to this
plan by the publication of the story; for the benevolent individuals who had been disposed
to aid in it were no longer willing to contribute to any fund which was to go to Mr. Jas.
Kerr, whose gains out of the Dimmock Charlton family were thought to be already
rather in advance of his claims. If the money was not raised, however, it was under-
stood that the child was not to be returned to him; and as his sisters were not supposed
to be able to pay such a sum for her freedom, however well-disposed they might and
were believed to be toward her, the necessity of taking her from their custody was
imperative. Mr. John Jay, the District- Attorney for this district, his father and
grandfather have been before him, of all held in or threatened with slavery, was con-
sulted, and it was determined that a writ of habeas corpus bo asked of the Hon. Wm.
H. Robertson, Judge of the County of Westchester.

" The writ was issued and the parties sought for at Sing-Sing. They were only found,
however, after a diligent search of an entire day, as there were some mistakes of names,
which, there is some reason to suppose, where put in the way of any inquiry that might
might be made as to the locality of the Misses Kerr and there ^ro^e^re, for the purpose
of misleading. But they were at last found, and on the 12th inst. a hearing was had
before Judge Robertson at Katonah. After the usual preliminary proceedings, Misa
Kerr, who declined to appear by counsel, was called as a witness by Mr. Jay, and
tcBtified as follows : » « , « i.

"'I reside in Savannah, Georgia; I am the lister of Mr, James Keri; of Savanaaa;

13

he is the trustee for myself and my sister ; the child Ellen, now present in Court, is one
of a large family of slaves belonging to my brother and sister. I cannot say in whom
in particular the title to her is vested 5 I think in my sister, Eugenia M. Kerr, who is
now stajing with me at Mr. David A. Griffin's, in the town of Sing Sing. I came
on from the South the last Spring, arriving in New York about the 14th of April; my
sister Eugenia was already there, having come on last October; I brought Ellen with
me with my sister's approval, and Ellen has lived with us ever since, at New York and
Sing Sing; my brother knew that Ellen was coming on, and approved it; her mother
had been sold by my brother, and her grandmother neglected her, and we took an in-
terest in her on this occount; Ellen was valued at four hundred dollars ; her light
complexion increased her value ; slaves of that complexion usally make clever servants;
my brother consented to take three hundred and fifty dollars ; the child's grandmother
has frequently been at the North, and could not be persuaded to remain ; the mother
of Ellen is the youngest daughter to Dimmock, who calls himself John Bull ; Dim-
mock once belonged to my brother, Mr. James Kerr ; Dimmock is now free ; he was
freed by his last Master, Mr. Benjamin Garman — his price being raised in part by
Dimmock himself, and in part by contribution ; Ellen is about five years and six
months old ; I brought her to the North because I did not know what would become
of her ; I had her entered on our departure from Savannah as my slave or servant ;
my sister and myself proposed to remain at the north, for an indefinite time — for sev-
eral years — visiting the South occasionally ; I have no wish that the child should be
returned to slavery, but I did wish to raise the money, that we should not lose her
whole value ; my brother having thrown off fifty dollars, and being in embarrassed
circumstances, could not afford to throw off any more; I am very reluctant to have
the child taken away from me; I am attached to her, and wish to keep her with me;
I have already commenced to educate her ; her grandfather, Dimmock, knows how to
read; I long since heard of his having been on board of the Peacock when taken by
the Hornet, and I believe that part of his story is true.'

" Mr. Jay then briefly submitted to the Court that upon the evidence there could bo
no doubt as to the rights of the child and law of the case, and moved that
she be declared to be free. The Judge reviewed the facts and applied the statute, and
without hesitation granted the motion. He remanded the child, however, into the care
of the constable till Monday, the 17th, as he wished to take time to consider the ques-
tion of guardianship. A good deal of emotion was shown by Miss Kerr and the child
at parting, the former feeling unquestionably a warm interest in one whom she had,
we hope, the will, though not the power, to protect from those who might at any
moment return her to bondage, while the child only knew in a kind mistress an all-
sufficient friend.

" On Monday, the 17th, the case again came up on the question of guardianship,
Mr. Jay took the ground that the power to appoint a guardian did not lie with a
County Court, and the Judge concurring in this view of the case, signed an order for
the delivery of the child into the hands of its grandfather. A little scene had again to
be gone through with when she parted from her kind friend, Mr. Hoy t, the constable ;
but she soon forgot her griefs in two happy hours in the family of her counsel, who
sent her on her way rejoicing, with more gifts than probably her little hands ever
clasped before. And she has been ever since among some new found friends, as con^
tinted and as good a child as if she had never known a parting or a change of place.

*' We may as well say, now and here, that the intention is to place her in some family,
where she will be kindly, judiciously, and carefully brought up. If among our readers
there are any who are disposed to take upon themselves such a charge, we shall be
glad to hear from them. Ellen is a bright mulatto, very intelligent, very tractable,
good tempered and winning. She cannot fail, we think, to well repay the friends who
ihall be at the trouble of her nurture and education. Any letters in regard to her may
bs addressed to S. H, Gay, at this office,"

14

jolin Bull, otherwise Dimmock Charlton, believing Mmself to be a British
subject, or, at any rate, imagining that' he had some claim to be considered
such, having served on board a British man-of-war, and been taken prisoner
whilst in the British service, was anxious to come to England, especially as
there lacked an important link in the chain of evidence necessary to establish
his identity. He obtained a letter of introduction to Mr. John Cropper of Liv-
erpool from the son of Judge Jay, who rescued John Bull's grandchild from
Slavery under the circumstances narrated above, and was referred to us. For-
tunately he succeeded, discovering in Greenwich Hospital a pensioner who was
serving on board the Peacock at the time she was captured. The following is
the declaration of this important witness :

"'I, Thomas Trethowan, aged 61, native of Kenwen, near Truro, in the
county of Cornwall, formerly on board the Peacock, an English brig of war, and
now an inmate of Greenwich Hospital, do solemnly and sincerely declare, that
I was serving in the capacity of servant to Captain William Peek, commander
of the Peacock, an eighteen gun English brig of war, in February, One thou-
sand eight hundred and twelve, when she was attacked off the Spanish Main
and sunk, by the Hornet, a twenty gun ship, belonging to the United States of
America, and commanded by Captain Lawrence ; that I was rated as a boy on
the ship's books ; that there was on board a colored boy, who, to the best of
my recollection at this distance of time, came on board at Demerara; that dur-
ing the engagement he remained in the captain's cabin, which was used as a
cockpit; that I remember his uttering several shrieks when our mainmast fell
overboard ; that I saw that boy again on board the Hornet — he having been
saved with others of the Peacock's crew as she went down ; that we were all
conveyed as prisoners to New York, except the boy aforesaid, our colored cook
(whose name was Gould,) and an American seaman who had been impressed and
taken on board the Peacock. That I heard, when in prison, that these three per-
had been conveyed away South, and that the boy was going to be taken to a place
in Georgia they called Savannah ; that from the conversations I have had with
the colored man, John Bull, otherwise Dimmock Charlton, and from the
answers he has returned to the questions I have put to him I firmly believe him
to be the same individual who came on board the Peacock at Demerara, was on
board of her when she was sunk, and was taken to New York, and thence con-
veyed to Savannah in Georgia. And I make this solemn Declaration, conscien-
tiously believing the same to be true; and by virtue of the provisions of an Act
made and passed in the sixth year of the reign of His Majesty King William the
Fourth, intituled An Act to repeal an Act of the present session of Parliament,
intituled An Act for the more effectual abolition of oaths and affirmations taken
and made in various departments of the State, and to substitute declarations in
lieu thereof, and for the more entire suppression of voluntary and extra-judicial
oaths and affidavits, and to make other provisions for the abolition of unnecess-
ary oaths. "Thomas TnETnowAN.

"Declared at the Mansion House, in tbe City of Lo-ndon, this tenth dny of
December 1857, before me,

"William Cuiiitt, Alderman."

15

[The following testimonials are appended in support of Dimmock Charlton's
good character. For obvious reasons the signature to the last one is omitted.
Many others are in his possessien, voluntarily given by those who had known
him in Savannah, Ga., New York, London, Eng., and other places:]

51 FijSH Street, New York, |
November 17th, 1859. |

I have known John* Bull, alias Dimmock Charlton, for about eighteen months,
and from all I have seen of him, believe him to be an honest, sober man, and
that a life of hardships and sufferings, gives him some claim upon the
benevolent.

N. Sa.nds.

20 Nassau Street, N. Y., )
July 15th, 1858. /

John BvLL^—Dear Sir—You have a perfect right to take your child where you
please, without the consent of any one. There is no one but yourself to have
any right over her.

Yours, &c.,

Chas. E. Whitehead.

Philadelphia, January 20th, 1859.

I hereby certify that the bearer, Dimmock Charlton, has been known to me
for over twenty-five years, as a slave in the city of Savannah, state of Georgia;
has always maintained a good character for honesty and sobriety.

His wife and children are at present in bondage as slaves in the city of Sa-
vannah, but can no doubt be ransomed at fair prices, upon proper steps or ap-
plication being resorted to, or addressed to the respective owners.

Formerly/ of Savannah, Ga.

P. S. — The wife of Dimmock is owned by G. B. Gumming,
Daughter " " '' W. H. May,

Son " *' " D. O'Byrne,

Daughter " " '* J. M, Tison,

" " " " Some party unknown, but the wife

can tell by whom.