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 b.u.t.t."
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 pa.s.sed 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 n.i.g.g.e.rs; 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 advertis.e.m.e.nts 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; f.a.n.n.y, 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 PEAc.o.c.k, 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 ill.u.s.trating 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."