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 similar advertisements from a variety of southern papers now before us.
The North Carolina Standard, of July 18, 1838, contains the following:–
“TWENTY DOLLARS REWARD. Ranaway from the subscriber, a negro 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 she 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 youngest 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.
_”I burnt her with a hot iron on the left side of her face,”–“I 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; perhaps by a gang of ‘squatters,’ in the Dismal Swamp, universally regarded as a pest, and edited by some scape-gallows, who is detested by the whole community.’ 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 paper is, “THE CONSTITUTION AND THE UNION OF THE STATES–THEY MUST BE PRESERVED.” The 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 apparently 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 containing the foregoing advertisement, the following _Editorial_ on the pending political canvass.
“We cannot refrain from expressing the hope that the Gubernatorial canvass will be conducted with a _due regard to the character_, and _feelings_ of the distinguished individuals who are candidates for that office; and that the press of North Carolina will _set an example_ in this respect, worthy of _imitation and of praise_.”
What is this but chivalrous and honorable feeling? 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 advertisement contained in the same number of the 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.
“Ranaway, a negro girl called Mary, has a small scar over her eye, a _good many teeth missing_, the letter A. _is branded on her cheek and forehead_.”
A.B. Metcalf thus advertises a woman in the same paper, June 15, 1838.
“Ranaway, Mary, a black woman, has a _scar_ on her back and right arm near the shoulder, _caused by a rifle ball_.”
John Henderson, in the “Grand Gulf Advertiser,” 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 Conception 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 30 years old and VERY MUCH SCARRED ABOUT THE NECK AND EARS, occasioned 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.) Courier,” of 1825.
“TWENTY DOLLARS REWARD.–Ranaway 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 Edgefield 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 advertisements, 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 written by slaveholders, printed by slaveholders, published by slaveholders, in newspapers edited by slaveholders and patronized by slaveholders; advertisement 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 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 ears cut off, their teeth drawn out, and their bones broken. He is referred also to the cool and shocking indifference with which these slaveholders, ‘gentlemen’ and ‘ladies,’ Reverends, and Honorables, and Excellencies, write and print, and publish and pay, and take money for, and read and circulate, 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 slaveholders which protects their slaves from all injury, and is an effectual guarantee of personal security.
However far gone a community may be in brutality, something of protection may yet be hoped for from its ‘public opinion,’ if _respect for woman_ survive 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 passion, 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 whips, 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 ‘gentlemen’ and ‘ladies;’ to say that the ‘public opinion’ of _such_ a community is a protection to its victims, is to blaspheme God, whose creatures they are, cast in his own sacred image, 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 regard 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 behind her neck, and SEVERAL OTHERS ON HER RUMP. The above reward, ($10,) will be given to whoever will bring that wench to P. ABDIE.”
The New Orleans Bee, in which the advertisement of this Vandal appears, is the ‘Official Gazette of the State–of the General Council–and of the first and third Municipalities of New Orleans.’ 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 daily paper, of $12 a year, and its circulation being mainly among the larger merchants, planters, and professional 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 paper.
Mr. WILLIAM ROBINSON, Georgetown, District of Columbia, advertised for his slave in the National Intelligencer, of Washington City, Oct. 2, 1837, as follows:
“Eloped from my residence a young negress, 22 years old, of a chestnut, or brown color. She has a very singular mark–this mark, to the best of my RECOLLECTION, covers a part of her _breasts_, _body_, and _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, Alabama, thus advertises a young girl of eighteen, in the Huntsville Democrat, of August 1st, 1837. “Ranaway 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, Autauga 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 advertisement, by offering a reward of _five hundred dollars_ 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 walking, 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 says “_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 Register, December 5, 1838. “Ranaway a negro girl–has a number of _black 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 _advanced in pregnancy_.”
Mr. J.H. LEVERICH & Co. No. 10, Old Levee, New Orleans, advertises in the ‘Bulletin,’ January 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 woman, named Esther, about thirty years of age, _large stomach_, wants her upper front teeth, and walks pigeon-toed–supposed to be about the lower fauxbourg.”
Mr. FRANCIS FOSTER, of Troop 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 details, in describing the persons of females, of all ages, and the marks upon all parts of their bodies; proving incontestably, 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 abominations. That such things should not at all affect the standing of such persons in society, is certainly no marvel: how could they affect it, when the same communities enact laws _requiring_ their own legal officers to inspect minutely the persons and bodily marks of all slaves taken up as runaways, and to publish in the newspapers a particular description of all such marks and peculiarities of their persons, their size, appearance position on the body, &c. Yea, verily, when the ‘public opinion’ of the community, in the solemn form of law, commands jailors, sheriffs, captains of police, &c. to divest of their clothing aged matrons 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 same things to their own property, which they have appointed legal officers to do as their proxies.[37]
[Footnote 37: ‘As a sample of these laws, we give the following extract from one of the laws of Maryland, where slaveholding ‘public opinion’ exists in its mildest form.’
“It shall be the duty of the sheriffs of the several counties of this state, upon any runaway servant or slave being committed to his custody, to cause the same to be advertised, &c. and to make particular and minute descriptions of _the person and bodily marks_, 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 their official ‘duty,’ is plain from the minute description which they give in the advertisements of marks upon all parts of the persons 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 26, 1838, signed ‘T.S. Denster, Jailor.’]
The zeal with which slaveholding ‘_public opinion_’ protects the lives of the slaves, may be illustrated by the following advertisements, taken from a multitude of similar ones in southern papers. To show that slaveholding ‘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. 29, 1785, by W. SKINNER, the Clerk of the County of Perquimons, North Carolina.
“Ten silver dollars reward will be paid for apprehending and delivering to me my man Moses, who ran away this morning; or I 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 whom 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-five years_ since, on a religious mission, 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 Carolina, 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. Another, I was credibly informed, was shot, his head cut off, and carried in a bag by the perpetrators of the murder, who received the reward, which was said to be $200, continental currency, and that his head was stuck on a coal house at an iron works in Virginia–and this for going to visit his wife at a distance. Crawford gives an account of a man being gibbetted alive in South 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,’ I Bay’s Reports, 164, it is said incidentally by Messrs. Pinckney and Ford, counsel for the state (of S.C.), ‘that the _frequency_ of the offence (_wilful_ 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 courthouse–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 Cheraw, 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 present punishment for killing negroes, as a great defect in the legal system of this state: and we do earnestly recommend to the attention of the legislature, that clause of the negro act, which confines the penalty for killing slaves to fine and imprisonment only: in full confidence, that they will provide some other _more effectual_ measures to prevent the FREQUENCY of crimes of this nature.”–_Matthew Carey’s American Museum, for Feb. 1791_.–Appendix, p. 10.
The following is a specimen of the ‘public opinion’ of Georgia twelve years since. We give it in 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 reward of $100 was offered, has been apprehended and committed to prison in Savannah. The editor, who states the fact, adds, with as much coolness as though there were no barbarity in the matter, that he did not surrender till _he was considerably_ 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 preceding fact, the following horrible transaction took place in Perry county, Alabama. We extract it from the African Observer, a monthly periodical, 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’Neilly 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 company 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 afterwards. 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 president of the mob,_ and put the vote, when it was decided 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 remonstrances of several gentlemen who were present; 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 inheritors of their civilization, chivalry, and tender mercies.
The “Wilmington (North Carolina) Advertiser” of July 13, 1838, contains the following advertisement.
“$100 will be paid to any person who may apprehend 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 _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 directly under it is the following:–
“RANAWAY my negro man RICHARD. A reward 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 Alabama, about the time he commenced his journey to that state. DURANT H. RHODES.”
In the “Mason (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 dollars will be paid. BRYANT JOHNSON.
“_Crawford co. Georgia_”
See the “Newbern (N.C.) Spectator,” Jan. 5, 1838, 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 any jail so that I get him, and should he resist in being taken, so that violence 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,” June 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 subscriber, 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 probability he may resist; in that event 50 dollars will be paid for his HEAD.”
From the ‘Newbern (N.C.) Spectator,’ Dec 2. 1836.
“$200 REWARD. Ranaway from the subscriber, 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 ranaway 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 runaways, and give notice that if they do not immediately 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 the 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 destroy said slaves by such means as he or they think fit, without accusation or impeachment of any crime or offence for so doing, or without incurring 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 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 immense throng of citizens, he was burned to death. The Alton (Ill.) Telegraph, in its account of the scene says;
“All was silent as death while the executioners 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 in silence, except in the following instance:–After the flames had surrounded their prey, his eyes burnt out of his head, and his mouth seemingly parched to a cinder, some one in the crowd, more compassionate 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 suffering 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. _I would sooner slacken the fire, if that would increase his misery_;’ and the man who said this was, as we understand, an OFFICER OF JUSTICE!”
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 Jury! 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 sanctifies it with the solemnity of a judicial decision.
The ‘New Orleans Post,’ of June 7, 1836, publishes the following;
“We understand, that a negro man was lately condemned, by the mob, to be BURNED OVER A SLOW FIRE, which was put into execution 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, 1836. The extract is as follows:
“I left Vicksburg and came to Grand Gulf. This is a fine place immediately on the banks of the Mississippi, of something like fifteen hundred inhabitants in the winter, and at this time, I suppose, there are not over two hundred white inhabitants, 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 family.
“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 themselves; 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 negro’s wife, and was in the habit of sleeping with her!_ The negro said he had killed him, and he believed he should be rewarded 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 employed as captain and supercargo of boats descending 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 appears that the slave was a man of uncommon intelligence; 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 Auburn, New York, and had been at the south but a few years.
Mr. EZEKIEL BIRDSEYE, of Cornwall, Conn., a gentleman well known and highly respected in Litchfield county, who resided a number of years in South Carolina, gives the following testimony:–
“A man by the name of Waters was killed by his slaves, in Newberry District. Three of them were 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 executions of this kind took place in various parts of the state, during my residence in it, from 1818 to 1824_. About three or four years ago, a young negro was burnt in Abbeville District, for an attempt at rape.”
In the fall of 1837, there was a rumor of a projected insurrection on the Red River, in Louisiana. The citizens forthwith seized and hanged NINE SLAVES, AND THREE FREE COLORED MEN, WITHOUT TRIAL. A few months previous to that transaction, a slave was seized in a similar manner and publicly burned to death, in Arkansas. In July, 1835, the citizens of Madison county, Mississippi, were alarmed by rumors of an insurrection 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 Republican are the following:
“On Friday night, about 10 o’clock, a deaf and dumb German girl was found in the storeroom 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 passengers 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 does not appear that _a single individual raised a finger to prevent this deliberate murder_; and the cry “throw him overboard,” was it seems, “responded to from every quarter of the deck!”
Rev. JAMES A. THOME, of Augusta, Ky., son of Arthur Thome, Esq., till recently a slaveholder, published five years since the following description of a scene witnessed by him in New Orleans:
“In December of 1833, I landed at New Orleans, 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 comfortable, by a sudden shout of, ‘catch him–catch him–catch the negro.’ The cry was answered by a hundred voices–‘Catch him–_kill_ him,’ and a rush from every direction toward our boat, indicated 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 intimidate 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 them took a long bar of wood, and leaning over the prow, endeavored to strike him on the head, The blow must have shattered the skull, but it did not reach low enough. The monster raised up the heavy club again and said, ‘Come out now, you old rascal, 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, seeing their efforts fruitless, became more enraged and threatened to stone him, if he did not surrender 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 master 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–my–I want to see my master–I didn’t–no–my mas–you want–you want to kill me–I didn’t steal the’–His last words could just be heard as be sunk under the water.
“During this indescribable scene, _not one of the hundred that stood around made any effort to save the man until he was apparently drowned_. He was then dragged out and stretched on the bow of the boat, and soon sufficient means were used for his recovery. The brutal captain ordered him to be taken off his boat–declaring, with an oath, that he would throw him into the river again, if he was not immediately removed. I withdrew, sick and horrified with this appalling exhibition of wickedness.
“Upon inquiry, I learned that the colored man lived some fifty miles up the Mississippi; that he had been charged with stealing some article from the wharf; was fired upon with a pistol, and pursued by 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?’
“One poor man, chased like a wolf by a hundred blood hounds, yelling, howling, and gnashing their teeth upon him–plunges into the cold river to seek protection! A crowd of spectators witness the scene, with all the composure with which a Roman populace would look upon a gladiatorial show. Not a voice heard in the sufferer’s behalf. At length the powers of nature give way; the blood flows 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 illustrated by scores of announcements in southern papers, like the following, from the Raleigh, (N.C.) Register, August 20, 1838. Joseph Gale and Son, editors and proprietors–the father and brother of the editor of the National Intelligence, Washington city, D.C.
“On Saturday night, Mr. George Holmes, of this county, and some of his friends, were in pursuit 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 unfortunately, 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 continued to run some distance after he was shot, until overtaken by one of the party. We are satisfied, from all that we can learn, that Mr. H. had no intention of inflicting a mortal wound.”
Oh! the _gentleman_, it seems, only shot at his legs, merely to ‘disable’–and it must be expected 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 instead of the legs, why every body says it is ‘unfortunate,’ and the whole of the editorial corps, instead of branding him as a barbarous wretch for shooting at his slave, whatever part be aimed at, join with the oldest editor in North Carolina, in complacently exonerating Mr. Holmes by saying, “We are satisfied that Mr. H. had no intention of inflicting a mortal wound.” And so ‘public opinion’ wraps it up!
The Franklin (La.) Republican, August 19, 1837, has the following:
“NEGROES TAKEN.–Four gentlemen of this vicinity, went out yesterday for the purpose of finding the camp of some noted runaways, supposed to be near this place; the camp was discovered about 11 o’clock, the negroes four in number, three men and one woman, finding they were discovered, tried to make their escape through the cane; two of them were fired on, one of which made his escape; the other one fell after running a short distance, his wounds are not supposed to be dangerous; the other man was taken without any hurt; the woman also made her escape.”
Thus terminated the mornings amusement of the ‘_four gentlemen_,’ whose exploits are so complacently 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 runaways 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 running 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 detected 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 was concealed by a pile of pine straw, representing a hog bed–which being removed, 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 longer time. In the den was found a quantity of meal, bacon, corn, potatoes, &c., and various cooking utensils and wearing apparel.”
Yes, Mr. Adams’ ‘EXCELLENT DOGS’ did the work! They were well trained, swift, fresh, keen-scented, ‘excellent’ men-hunters, and though the poor fugitive in his frenzied rush for 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 _secured_’ a guiltless and trembling human 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 necessary,) 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 belonged to so many persons, that he did not know who his master was, but again he said his master’s name was Brown. He said his name was Sam, and when asked by another witness, who his master was, he muttered something like Augusta 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 Comfort, 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 are deserters from some vessel in the bay, as their statements are very confused and inconsistent. One of these fellows is a mulatto, and calls himself Isaac Turner; the other two are quite black, the one passing by the name of James 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 succeeded_ 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 the man who fired and crippled him, and cheered on the dogs, ‘a gentleman,’ and the editor who celebrates 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 we bring to a close the testimony on this point, with the following. Extract of a letter, from the Rev. Samuel J. May, of 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, (accounted 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 respectable teacher of youth in Boston. He is doubtless ready to vouch for them. The same gentleman informed me that he was keeping school on or near the plantation of the monster who perpetrated the above outrage upon humanity, that he was even invited by him to join in the hunt, 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 describes the slaveholder who made the above expression, and was the leader of the ‘hunt,’ and in whose family he resided at the time as an instructor he says of him–he was “an opulent 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 hunting of runaways 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 two 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, enclosed 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. ELIAS CORNELIUS, 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 arrangements to preach to such of the sick as could understand 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 distress; 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 answered us in a faltering voice, that he was willing to tell us all the truth.
“He belonged to Mr. —- a Frenchman, ran-away, was caught, and punished with one hundred lashes! This happened about Christmas; and during the cold weather at that time, he was confined in the _Cane-house, with a scanty portion of clothing, and without fire_. In this situation his foot had frozen, and mortified, and having been removed from place to place, he was yesterday brought here by order of his new master, who was an American. I had no time to protract my conversation with him 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 apartment in which he lay, and observed an old man sitting upon a couch; but, without saying anything 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 season 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 eye had witnessed his last struggle, and I was the first, as it should happen, to discover the fact. I called several men into the room, and without ceremony they wrapped him in a sheet, and carried him to the _dead-house_ as it is called.”–Edwards’ Life of Rev. Elias Cornelius, pp. 101, 2, 3.
THE PROTECTION EXTENDED BY ‘PUBLIC OPINION,’ TO THE HEALTH[38] OF THE SLAVES.
This may be judged of from the fact that it is perfectly 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 sufficiently proved by the care taken by all who advertise for sale or hire in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, &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 shown 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 advertisements like the following.
[Footnote 38: See pp. 37-39.]
From the “Vicksburg (Mi.) Register,” Dec. 27, 1838.
“I OFFER my plantation for sale. Also seventy-five _acclimated Negroes_. O.B. COBB.”
From the “Southerner,” June 7, 1837.
“I WILL sell my Old-River plantation near Columbia in Arkansas;–also ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY ACCLIMATED SLAVES.
BENJ. HUGHES.”
_Port 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, consisting of Men, Women, Boys and Girls, the most of whom are WELL ACCLIMATED.
GRANDISON 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 caption of the advertisement “ALL ACCLIMATED.”
General Felix Houston, of Natchez, advertises in the “Natchez Courier,” April 6, 1838, “Thirty five very fine _acclimated_ Negroes.”
Without inserting more advertisements, suffice 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 _conjecture_ the amount of suffering experienced by 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 article on the culture of the sugar cane, says; ‘The loss by _death_ in bringing slaves from a northern climate, which our planters are under the necessity 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 _notoriety_ of this fact, still the ‘public opinion’ of Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, Missouri, &c. annually DRIVES to the far south, thousands of their slaves to undergo these sufferings, and the ‘public opinion,’ of the far south buys them, and forces the helpless victims to endure them.
THE ‘PROTECTION’ VOUCHSAFED BY ‘PUBLIC OPINION,’ 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 demand 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 Louisa 14 months. They say they are FREE and were decoyed to this state.”
The “Southern Argus,” of July 25, 1837, contains the following.
“RANAWAY from my plantation, a negro boy named William. Said boy was taken up by Thomas Walton, and says _he was 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 Fredericksburg, Virginia. I will give twenty dollars to any person who 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 county, as a Runaway, on the 23d inst. a Negro man, who calls himself John J. Robinson; _says that he is free_, says that he kept a baker’s shop in Columbus, Miss. and that he peddled through the Chickasaw nation to Pontotoc, and came to Memphis, 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, 1835″
“NOTICE is hereby given, that the above described boy, who calls himself John J. Robinson, having been confined in the Jail of Warren county as a Runaway, for six months–and having 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 Monday, 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 “Newborn (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 SINCE_ 1829–is now my property, as heir at law of his last owner, _Samuel Ralston_, dec. I will give the above reward 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 Winfield, and _says he is free_.
R.W. BARBER, _Jailer_.”
That “public opinion,” in the slave states affords no protection to the liberty of colored persons, even after those persons become legally free, by the operation of their own laws, is declared by Governor Comegys, of Delaware, in his recent address to the Legislature of that state, Jan. 1839. The Governor, commenting upon the law of the state which provides that persons convicted 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 _benevolence_, 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 transportation 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 subscriber, 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 attempt to pass himself as free. I will give the above reward for his apprehension and delivery, or confinement, 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 shipped by a man named Lewis, of New Bedford, Massachusetts, and sold as a slave in New Orleans. 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 Philadelphia.
From the “Baltimore Sun,” Dec. 23, 1838.
“FREE NEGROES–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, 656, and Wheeler’s “Law of Slavery,” p. 380-1.
_Marginal remark of the Compiler.–“A slave does not become free on his being illegally imported 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 attempt, 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 prohibiting the introduction of slaves in the 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 importation is the only question which we have to examine. Formerly, 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 importation 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 _according to the will_ of the different state legislatures. 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 myself 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, by 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, pillow, or covering_. In this abominable cell, seven human beings were confined day by day, and night after night, without a bed, chair, or stool, or any other of the most common necessaries of life.”–_Gales’ Congressional Debates_, v.2, p. 1480.
The following facts serve to show, that the present generation of 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 counties of Perquimans and Pasquotank, in the state of North Carolina, liberated their negroes, as it was then clear there was no existing law to prevent 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, recognized in the constitution of that state, as a part thereof, and to which it was annexed.
“In the spring of 1777, when the General Assembly 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 county courts within whose jurisdictions they are apprehended should order them to be sold. Under this law the county courts of Perquimans and Pasquotank, 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 several of those cases were, by certiorari, brought before the superior court for the district of Edentorn, 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 opposition to the Bill of Rights of this state, considered justly as part of the constitution thereof; by giving 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 have 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 following are the decrees of the Courts, ordering the sale of those freemen:–
“Perquimans County, 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 in 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, Timothy Hickson, John Paelin, Edmund Clancey, Joseph Reading, and Thomas Rees, Esqrs. Justices.
“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 slaveholders 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 impossible to open a southern paper without finding evidence of this. Though the truth of this assertion 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 Savannah, at Capt. Grovenstine’s. Frank has a _wife_ at Mr. Le Cont’s, Liberty county; a _mother_ at Thunderbolt, and a _sister_ in Savannah.
WM. ROBARTS. Wallhourville, 5th Jan. 1839″
From the “Lexington (Ky.) Intelligencer.” July 7, 1838.
“$160 Reward.–Ranaway from the subscribers 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 wife_ living in that city, and he has been heard to say frequently that _he was determined to go to New Orleans_.
“DRAKE C. 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 plantation of G.W. Corprew, Esq of Noxubbee County, Mississippi, as _his wife belongs to that gentleman, and he followed her from my 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.”
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 his harborers_. 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 attempt to make his way there. H.L. COOK.”
From the “Richmond (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 Alabama, Wilson left; and when retaken was sold, and afterwards purchased, by his present owner, from T. McCargo 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.) Spectator,” Jan. 3, 1839.
“Runaway, Jesse.–He has a _wife_, who belongs to Mr. John Ruff, of Lexington, Rockbridge county, and he may probably be lurking in that neighborhood. MOSES McCUE.”
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 Augusta, 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 Whitfield. He _has a wife_ at the late Hardy Jones’, and may probably be lurking in that neighborhood. JOHN O’RORKE.”
From the “Richmond (Va.) Compiler,” Sept. 8, 1837.
“Ranaway from the subscriber, Ben. He ran off without any known cause, and _I 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 Wadmalaw, his negro man, named Saby. Said fellow was purchased in January, from Francis Dickinson, 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 apprehension of my negro man Isaac. He _has a wife_ 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 Hargreave’s estate. She is no doubt lurking about Liberty county, at which place _she has relatives_. 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 workhouse 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 apprehension 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_, and _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 who 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 professes 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 woman, 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 Reporter,” Sept. 28, 1838.
“$50 Reward.–Ran away from the subscriber, a negro girl, named Maria. She is of a copper color, between 13 and 14 years of age–_bare headed_ 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 SHROPSHIRE, Jailor.”
From the “Norfolk (Va.) Beacon,” July 3d, 1838.
“Runaway from my plantation below Edenton, my negro man, Nelson. _He has a mother living_ at Mr. James Goodwin’s, in Ballahack, Perquimans county; and _two brothers_, one belonging 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 subscriber, 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 formerly belonged to Mrs. Moor, near St. Paul’s church, where his _mother_ 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.
Warrenton, 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 apprehension of his negro woman, Diana. Diana is from 45 to 50 age. She formerly belonged to Mr. Nath. Law, of Liberty county, _where her husband still lives_. She will endeavor to go there perhaps. D. O’BYRNE.”
From the “Richmond (Va.) Enquirer,” Feb. 20, 1838.
“$10 Reward for a negro woman, named Sally, 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 neighborhood, where, we are informed, _her husband resides_. 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 Goosecreek, 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 Goochland. J. ALVIS.”
“Stop the Runaway!!!–$25 Reward. Ranaway 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 appear 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 husbands 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 advertisement, that she awaits his order. But we need not trace out the harrowing details already before the reader.
Rev. C.S. RENSHAW, of Quincy, Illinois, who resided some time in Kentucky, says;–
“I was told the following fact by a young lady, daughter of a slaveholder in Boone county, Kentucky, 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 down to Louisville, where the remainder 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 breast. The traders bought them, took their babes from their arms, and offered 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, in 1835:–
“Brothers and sisters, parents and children, husbands and wives, are _torn asunder_, and permitted 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 is not a neighborhood_ where these heart-rending scenes are not displayed. _There is not a village or road_ that does not behold the sad procession of manacled outcasts, whose mournful countenances tell that they are exiled by _force_ from ALL THAT THEIR HEARTS HOLD DEAR.”–_Address_, p. 12.
Professor ANDREWS, late of the University of North Carolina, in his recent work on Slavery and the Slave Trade, page 147, in relating a conversation with a slave-trader, whom he met near Washington City, says, he inquired,
“‘Do you _often_ buy the wife without the husband?’ ‘Yes, VERY OFTEN; and FREQUENTLY, too, 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 “Georgia 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 with children, small girls_ suitable for nurses, and several SMALL BOYS WITHOUT THEIR MOTHERS. Planters and traders are earnestly requested to 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_ (protection!) 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 Episcopal Church, 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 witnessed a sale of slaves, in Charleston, South Carolina, 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 northern horse-markets, having sheds, or barns, in the rear of a public house, where alcohol was a handy ingredient to stimulate the spirit of jockeying. 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 assume an active appearance. ‘What will you give for these fellows?’ ‘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 jockey-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 steps, as you leave the main hall, immediately under the windows of that proud building, 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 sufficient 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, gives 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 YEARS OLD, and the Sheriff proceeds to give notice that if no one claims him the boy will be _sold 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 10, to pay the debts of their deceased master.
B.F. CHAPMAN, Sheriff, Natchitoches (La.) advertises in the ‘Herald,’ of May 17, 1837, that he has “_committed to_ JAIL, as a runaway a negro boy BETWEEN 11 AND 12 YEARS OF AGE.”
In the “Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle,” Feb. 13, 1838. R.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 reward 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, “_Caroline 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 anyone 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 woman 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, _stoop-shouldered_, who walks VERY DECREPIDLY, 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, advertises 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 teeth above and below–speaks very indistinctly, is very lame, so that 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 meeting 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 following are samples.
From the “New Orleans Bulletin,” June 2.
“NEGROES FOR SALE.–A negro woman 21 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 _distribution!!_ JETHRO DEAN, SAMUEL BEALL, Ex’ors.”
From the “Natchez Courier,” April 2, 1838.
“NOTICE–Is hereby given that the undersigned 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 Journal,” Dec. 26, 1837.
“EXECUTOR’S SALE.
“Agreeable to an order of the court of Wilkinson county, will be sold on the first Tuesday in April next, before the Court-house door in the town of Irwington, ONE NEGRO GIRL _about two years old_, named Rachel, belonging to the estate of William Chambers dec’d. Sold _for the benefit_ of the heirs and creditors of said estate.
SAMUEL BELL, JESSE PEACOCK, Ex’ors.”
From the “Alexandria (D.C.) Gazette” Dec. 19.
“I will give the highest cash price for likely negroes, _from 10 to 25 years of age_.
GEO. KEPHART.”
From the “Southern Whig,” March 2, 1838.–
“WILL be sold in La Grange, Troup county, one negro girl, by the name of Charity, aged about 10 or 12 years; as the property of Littleton L. Burk, to satisfy a mortgage fi. fa. from Troup Inferior Court, in favor of Daniel S. Robertson vs. said Burk.”
From the “Petersburgh (Va.) Constellation,” March 18, 1837.
“50 _Negroes wanted immediately_.–The subscriber will give a good market price for fifty likely 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 Executive Committee of the Am. Anti-slavery Society.
“Permit me to say, that around this very place where I reside, slaves are brought almost constantly, and sold to Miss. and Orleans; that _it is usual_ to part families 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 farewell_! O, thou Great Eternal, is this justice! is this equity!!–Equal Rights!!”
We subjoin a few miscellaneous facts illustrating the INHUMANITY of slaveholding ‘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 Oronoko, a few months since on 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 explosion of the Oronoko. He lost _eight_ of his rubbers 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 the following just comment on the barbarity of the above paragraph:
“Would any one, in reading this paragraph from an evening paper, conjecture that these ‘_eight_ rubbers and riders,’ that together with 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. Santee,) I have seen much misery, and much of human suffering. The loss of PROPERTY has been immense, not only on South Santee, but also on this river. Mr. Shoolbred has lost, (according to the statement of the physician,) forty-six negroes–the majority lost being the _primest hands_ he had–bricklayers, carpenters, blacksmiths and Coopers. Mr. Wm. Mazyck has lost 35 negroes. Col. Thomas Pinkney, in the neighborhood of 40, and many other planters, 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 primest_ 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 slaveholding ‘public opinion’ protects a poor female lunatic is illustrated in the following advertisement in the “Fayetteville (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 LUNATIC. 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 Medical College, located in