"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 advertis.e.m.e.nt 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 advertis.e.m.e.nts, ill.u.s.trating the horrible brutality of slaveholders towards their slaves, the reader is referred to the preceding pages of this work, to the scores of advertis.e.m.e.nts written by slaveholders, printed by slaveholders, published by slaveholders, in newspapers edited by slaveholders and patronized by slaveholders; advertis.e.m.e.nt 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 p.r.o.ngs, 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 b.a.l.l.s 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 pa.s.sion, becomes the constant product of a _system_, and, instead of being the index of sudden and fierce impulses, is coolly plied as the permanent means to an end. When _women_ are branded with hot irons on their faces; when iron collars, with p.r.o.ngs, 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 a.s.sociated with as "gentlemen" and "ladies;" to say that the "public opinion" of _such_ a community is a protection to its victims, is to blaspheme G.o.d, 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 ill.u.s.trate 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 advertis.e.m.e.nt of this Vandal appears, is the "Official Gazette of the State--of the General Council--and of the first and third Munic.i.p.alities 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 cla.s.ses of persons.
Advertis.e.m.e.nts 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 _b.r.e.a.s.t.s_, _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 advertis.e.m.e.nt, 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 b.r.e.a.s.t.s, 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 advertis.e.m.e.nts 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 advertis.e.m.e.nt 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 ill.u.s.trated by the following advertis.e.m.e.nts, taken from a mult.i.tude 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 advertis.e.m.e.nt 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, ent.i.tled "Remarks on the Slavery of the Black People." From this work we extract the following ill.u.s.trations 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 mult.i.tude 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 ill.u.s.tration 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 quant.i.ty 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."