"8th. The wrist of the left arm of each party shall be tied tight to his left thigh, and a strong cord shall be fastened around his left arm at the elbow, and then around his body. Rejected.
"9th. After the word is given, each party shall be allowed to advance or recede as he pleases, over the s.p.a.ce of twenty acres of ground, until death ensues to one of the parties. Agreed to--the parties to be placed in the centre of the s.p.a.ce.
"10th. The word shall be given by the winner of the same, in the following manner, viz: "Gentlemen are you ready?" Each party shall then answer, "I am!" The second giving the word shall then distinctly command--_strike_. Agreed to.
"If either party shall violate these rules, upon being notified by the second of either party, he may be liable to be shot down instantly. As established usage points out the duty of both parties, therefore notification is considered unnecessary."
The FAVORITE AMUs.e.m.e.nTS of slaveholders, like the gladiatorial shows of Rome and the Bull Fights of Spain, reveal a public feeling insensible to suffering, and a depth of brutality in the highest degree revolting to every truly n.o.ble mind. One of their most common amus.e.m.e.nts is c.o.c.k fighting. Mains of c.o.c.ks, with twenty, thirty, and fifty c.o.c.ks on each side, are fought for hundreds of dollars aside.
The fowls are armed with steel spurs or "_gafts_," about two inches long. These "gafts" are fastened upon the legs by sawing off the _natural_ "spur," leaving only enough of it to answer the purpose of a _stock_ for the tube of the "gafts," which are so sharp that at a stroke the fowls thrust them through each other"s necks and heads, and tear each other"s bodies till one or both dies, then two others are brought forward for the amus.e.m.e.nt of the mult.i.tude a.s.sembled, and this barbarous pastime is often kept up for days in succession, hundreds and thousands gathering from a distance to witness it. The following advertis.e.m.e.nts from the Raleigh Register, June 18, 1838, edited by Messrs. Gales and Son, the father and brother of Mr. Gales, editor of the National Intelligencer, and late Mayor of Washington City, reveal the public sentiment of North Carolina.
"CHATHAM AGAINST NASH, or any other county in the State. I am authorized to take a bet of any amount that may be offered, to FIGHT A MAIN OF c.o.c.kS, at any place that may be agreed upon by the parties--to be fought the ensuing spring. GIDEON ALSTON. Chatham county, June 7, 1838."
Two weeks after, this challenge was answered as follows:
"TO MR. GIDEON ALSTON, of Chatham county, N.C.
"SIR: In looking over the North Carolina Standard of the 20th inst. I discover a challenge over your signature, headed "Chatham against Nash," in which you state: that you are "authorized to take a bet of any amount that may be offered, to fight a main of c.o.c.ks, at any place that may be agreed upon by the parties, to be fought the ensuing spring" which challenge I ACCEPT: and do propose to meet you at Rolesville, in Wake county, N.C. on the last Wednesday in May next, the parties to show thirty-one c.o.c.ks each--fight four days, and be governed by the rules as laid down in Turner"s c.o.c.k Laws--which, if you think proper to accede to, you will signify through this or any other medium you may select, and then I will name the sum for which we shall fight, as that privilege was surrendered by you in your challenge.
"I am, sir, very respectfully, &c. NICHOLAS W. ARRINGTON, near Hilliardston, Nash co. North Carolina June 22nd, 1838"
The following advertis.e.m.e.nt in the Richmond Whig, of July 12, 1837, exhibits the public sentiment of Virginia.
"MAIN OF c.o.c.kS.--A large "MAIN OF c.o.c.kS," 21 a side, for $25 "the fight", and $500 "the odd," will be fought between the County of Dinwiddie on one part, and the Counties of Hanover and Henrico on the other.
"The "regular" fighting will be continued _three days_, and from the large number of "game uns" on both sides and in the adjacent country, will be prolonged no doubt a _fourth_. To prevent confusion and promote "sport," the Pit will be enclosed and furnished with _seats_; so that those having a curiosity to witness a species of diversion originating in a better day (for they had no rag money then,) can have _that_ very _natural_ feeling gratified.
"The Petersburg Constellation is requested to copy."
_Horse-racing_ too, as every body knows, is a favorite amus.e.m.e.nt of slaveholders. Every slave state has its race course, and in the older states almost every county has one on a small scale. There is hardly a day in the year, the weather permitting, in which crowds do not a.s.semble at the south to witness this barbarous sport. Horrible cruelty is absolutely inseparable from it. Hardly a race occurs of any celebrity in which some one of the coursers is not lamed, "broken down," or in some way seriously injured, often for life, and not unfrequently they are killed by the rupture of some vital part in the struggle. When the heats are closely contested, the blood of the tortured animal drips from the lash and flies at every leap from the stroke of the rowel. From the breaking of girths and other accidents, their riders (mostly slaves) are often thrown and maimed or killed.
Yet these amus.e.m.e.nts are attended by thousands in every part of the slave states. The wealth and fashion, the gentlemen and _ladies_ of the "highest circles" at the south, throng the race course.
That those who can fasten steel spurs upon the legs of dunghill fowls, and goad the poor birds to worry and tear each other to death--and those who can crowd by thousands to _witness_ such barbarity--that those who can throng the race-course and with keen relish witness the hot pantings of the life-struggle, the lacerations and fitful spasms of the muscles, swelling through the crimsoned foam, as the tortured steeds rush in blood-welterings to the goal--that such, should look upon the sufferings of their slaves with, indifference is certainly small wonder.
Perhaps we shall be told that there are thronged race-courses at the North. True, there are a few, and they are thronged chiefly by _Southerners_, and "Northern men with _Southern_ principles," and supported mainly by the patronage of slaveholders who summer at the North. c.o.c.k-fighting and horse-racing are "_Southern_ inst.i.tutions."
The idleness, contempt of labor, dissipation, sensuality, brutality, cruelty, and meanness, engendered by the habit of making men and women work without pay, and flogging them if they demur at it, const.i.tutes a congenial soil out of which c.o.c.k-fighting and horse-racing are the spontaneous growth.
Again,--The kind treatment of the slaves is often argued from the liberal education and enlarged views of slaveholders. The facts and reasonings of the preceding pages have shown, that "liberal education," despotic habits and ungoverned pa.s.sions work together with slight friction. And every day"s observation shows that the former is often a stimulant to the latter.
But the notion so common at the north that the majority of the slaveholders are persons of education, is entirely erroneous. A _very few_ slaveholders in each of the slave states have been men of _ripe_ education, to whom our national literature is much indebted. A larger number may be called _well_ educated--these reside mostly in the cities and large villages, but a majority of the slaveholders are ignorant men, thousands of them notoriously so, _mere boors_ unable to write their names or to read the alphabet.
No one of the slave states has probably so much general education as Virginia. It is the oldest of them--has furnished one half of the presidents of the United States--has expended more upon her university than any state in the Union has done during the same time upon its colleges--sent to Europe nearly twenty years since for her most learned professors, and in fine, has far surpa.s.sed every other slave state in her efforts to disseminate education among her citizens, and yet, the Governor of Virginia in his message to the legislature (Jan.
7, 1839) says, that of four thousand six hundred and fourteen adult males in that state, who applied to the county clerks for marriage licenses in the year 1837, "ONE THOUSAND AND FORTY SEVEN _were unable to write their names_." The governor adds, "These statements, it will be remembered, are confined to one s.e.x: the education of females it is to be feared, is in a condition of _much greater neglect_."
The Editor of the Virginia Times, published at Wheeling, in his paper of Jan. 23, 1839, says,--
"We have every reason to suppose that one-fourth of the people of the state cannot write their names, and they have not, of course, any other species of education."
Kentucky is the child of Virginia; her first settlers were some of the most distinguished citizens of the mother state; in the general diffusion of intelligence amongst her citizens Kentucky is probably in advance of all the slave states except Virginia and South Carolina; and yet Governor Clark, in his last message to the Kentucky Legislature, (Dec 5, 1838) makes the following declaration: "From the computation of those most familiar with the subject, it appears that AT LEAST ONE THIRD OF THE ADULT POPULATION OF THE STATE ARE UNABLE TO WRITE THEIR NAMES."
The following advertis.e.m.e.nt in the "Milledgeville (Geo.) Journal,"
Dec. 26, 1837, is another specimen from one of the "old thirteen."
"NOTICE.--I, Pleasant Webb, of the State of Georgia, Oglethorpe county, being an _illiterate man, and not able to write my own name_, and whereas it hath been represented to me that there is a certain promissory note or notes out against me that I know nothing of, and further that some man in this State holds a bill of sale for _a certain negro woman named Ailsey and her increase, a part of which is now in my possession_, which I also know nothing of. Now do hereby certify and declare, that I have no knowledge whatsoever of any such papers existing in my name as above stated and I hereby require all or any person or persons whatsoever holding or pretending to hold any such papers, to produce them to me within thirty days from the date hereof, shewing their authority for holding the same, or they will be considered fict.i.tious and fraudulently obtained or raised, by some person or persons for base purposes after my death.
"Given under my hand this 2nd day of December, 1837. PLEASANT WEBB.
his mark X."
FINALLY, THAT SLAVES MUST HABITUALLY SUFFER GREAT CRUELTIES, FOLLOWS INEVITABLY FROM THE BRUTAL OUTRAGES WHICH THEIR MASTERS INFLICT ON EACH OTHER.
Slaveholders, exercising from childhood irresponsible power over human beings, and in the language of President Jefferson, "giving loose to the worst of pa.s.sions" in the treatment of their slaves, become in a great measure unfitted for self control in their intercourse with each other. Tempers accustomed to riot with loose reins, spurn restraints, and pa.s.sions inflamed by indulgence, take fire on the least friction.
We repeat it, the state of society in the slave states, the duels, and daily deadly affrays of slaveholders with each other--the fact that the most deliberate and cold-blooded murders are committed at noon day, in the presence of thousands, and the perpetrators eulogized by the community as "honorable men," reveals such a prostration of law, as gives impunity to crime--a state of society, an omnipresent public sentiment reckless of human life, taking b.l.o.o.d.y vengeance on the spot for every imaginary affront, glorying in such a.s.sa.s.sinations as the only true honor and chivalry, successfully defying the civil arm, and laughing its impotency to scorn.
When such things are done in the green tree, what will be done in the dry? When slaveholders are in the habit of caning, stabbing, and shooting _each other_ at every supposed insult, the unspeakable enormities perpetrated by such men, with such pa.s.sions, upon their defenceless slaves, _must_ be beyond computation. To furnish the reader with an ill.u.s.tration of slaveholding civilization and morality, as exhibited in the unbridled fury, rage, malignant hate, jealousy, diabolical revenge, and all those infernal pa.s.sions that shoot up rank in the hot-bed of arbitrary power, we will insert here a ma.s.s of testimony, detailing a large number of affrays, lynchings, a.s.sa.s.sinations, &c., &c., which have taken place in various parts of the slave states within a brief period--and to leave no room for cavil on the subject, these extracts will be made exclusively from newspapers published in the slave states, and generally in the immediate vicinity of the tragedies described. They will not be made second hand from _northern_ papers, but from the original _southern_ papers, which now lie on our table.
Before proceeding to furnish details of certain cla.s.ses of crimes in the slave states, we advertise the reader--1st. That _we shall not_ include in the list those crimes which are ordinarily committed in the free, as well as in the slave states. 2d. We shall not include any of the crimes perpetrated by whites upon slaves and free colored persons, who const.i.tute a majority of the population in Mississippi and Louisiana, a large majority in South Carolina, and, on an average, two-fifths in the other slave states. 3d. Fist fights, canings, beatings, biting off noses and ears, gougings, knockings down, &c., unless they result in _death_, will not be included in the list, nor will _ordinary_ murders, unless connected with circ.u.mstances that serve as a special index of public sentiment. 4th. Neither will _ordinary, formal duels_ be included, except in such cases as just specified. 5th. The only crimes which, as the general rule, will be specified, will be deadly affrays with bowie knives, dirks, pistols.
rifles, guns, or other death weapons, and _lynchings_. 6th. The crimes enumerated will, for the most part, be only those perpetrated _openly_, without _attempt at concealment_. 7th. We shall not attempt to give a full list of the affrays, &c., that took place in the respective states during the period selected, as the only files of southern papers to which we have access are very imperfect.
The reader will perceive, from these preliminaries, that only a _small_ proportion of the crimes actually perpetrated in the respective slave states during the period selected, will be entered upon this list. He will also perceive, that the crimes which will be presented are of a cla.s.s rarely perpetrated in the free states; and if perpetrated there at all, they are, with scarcely an exception, committed either by slaveholders, temporarily resident in them, or by persons whose pa.s.sions have been inflamed by the poison of a southern contact--whose habits and characters have become perverted by living among slaveholders, and adopting the code of slaveholding morality.
We now proceed to the details, commencing with the new state of Arkansas.
ARKANSAS.
At the last session of the legislature of that state, Col. John Wilson, President of the Bank at Little Rock, the capital of the state, was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives. He had been elected to that office for a number of years successively, and was one of the most influential citizens of the state. While presiding over the deliberations of the House, he took umbrage at words spoken in debate by Major Anthony, a conspicuous member, came down from the Speaker"s chair, drew a large bowie knife from his bosom, and attacked Major A., who defended himself for some time, but was at last stabbed through the heart, and fell dead on the floor. Wilson deliberately wiped the blood from his knife, and returned to his seat. The following statement of the circ.u.mstances of the murder, and the trial of the murderer, is abridged from the account published in the Arkansas Gazette, a few months since--it is here taken from the Knoxville (Tennessee) Register, July 4, 1838.
"On the 14th of December last, Maj. Joseph J. Anthony, a member of the Legislature of Arkansas, was murdered, while performing his duty as a member of the House of Representatives, by John Wilson, Speaker of that House.
"The facts were these: A bill came from the Senate, commonly called the _Wolf Bill_. Among the amendments proposed, was one by Maj. Anthony, that the signature of the President of the Real Estate Bank should be attached to the certificate of the wolf scalp. Col. Wilson, the Speaker, asked Maj. Anthony whether he intended the remark as personal. Maj. Anthony promptly said, "_No, I do not_." And at that instant of time, a message was delivered from the Senate, which suspended the proceedings of the House for a few minutes. Immediately after the messenger from the Senate had retired, Maj. Anthony rose from his seat, and said he wished to explain, that he did not intend to insult the Speaker or the House; when Wilson, interrupting, peremptorily ordered him to take his seat. Maj. Anthony said, as a member, he had a right to the floor, to explain himself. Wilson said, in an angry tone, "Sit down, or you had better;" and thrust his hand into his bosom, and drew out a large bowie knife, 10 or 11 inches in length, and descended from the Speaker"s chair to the floor, with the knife drawn in a menacing manner. Maj. Anthony, seeing the danger he was placed in, by Wilson"s advance on him with a drawn knife, rose from his chair, set it out of his way, stepped back a pace or two, and drew his knife. Wilson caught up a chair, and struck Anthony with it.
Anthony, recovering from the blow, caught the chair in his left hand, and a fight ensued over the chair. Wilson received two wounds, one on each arm, and Anthony lost his knife, either by throwing it at Wilson, or it escaped by accident. After Anthony had lost his knife, Wilson advanced on Anthony, who was then retreating, looking over his shoulder. Seeing Wilson pursuing him, he threw a chair. Wilson still pursued, and Anthony raised another chair as high as his breast, with a view, it is supposed, of keeping Wilson off. Wilson then caught hold of the chair with his left hand, raised it up, and with his right hand deliberately thrust the knife, up to the hilt, into Anthony"s heart, and as deliberately drew it out, and wiping off the blood with his thumb and finger, retired near to the Speaker"s chair.
"As the knife was withdrawn from Anthony"s heart, he fell a lifeless corpse on the floor, without uttering a word, or scarcely making a struggle; so true did the knife, as deliberately directed, pierce his heart.
"Three days elapsed before the const.i.tuted authorities took any notice of this horrible deed; and not then, until a relation of the murdered Anthony had demanded a warrant for the apprehension of Wilson. Several days then elapsed before he was brought before an examining court. He then, in a carriage and four, came to the place appointed for his trial. Four or five days were employed in the examination of witnesses, and never was a clearer case of murder proved than on that occasion. Notwithstanding, the court (Justice Brown dissenting) admitted Wilson to bail, and positively refused that the prosecuting attorney for the state should introduce the law, to show that it was not a bailable case, or even to hear an argument from him.
"At the time appointed for the session of the Circuit Court, Wilson appeared agreeably to his recognizance. A motion was made by Wilson"s counsel for _change of venue_, founded on the affidavits of Wilson, and two other men. The court thereupon removed the case to Saline county, and ordered the Sheriff to take Wilson into custody, and deliver him over to the Sheriff of Saline county.
"The Sheriff of Pulaski never confined Wilson one minute, but permitted him to go where he pleased, without a guard, or any restraint imposed on him whatever. On his way to Saline, he entertained him freely at his own house, and the next day delivered him over to the Sheriff of that county, who conducted the prisoner to the debtor"s room in the jail, and gave him the key, so that he and every body else had free egress and ingress at all times. Wilson invited every body to call on him, as he wished to see his friends, and his room was crowded with visitors, who called to drink grog, and laugh and talk with him. But this theatre was not sufficiently large for his purpose. He afterwards visited the dram-shops, where he freely treated all that would partake with him, and went fishing and hunting with others at pleasure, and entirely with out restraint. He also ate at the same table with the Judge, while on trial.
"When the court met at Saline, Wilson was put on his trial. Several days were occupied in examining the witnesses in the case. After the examination was closed, while Col. Taylor was engaged in a very able, lucid, and argumentative speech, on the part of the prosecution, some man collected a parcel of the rabble, and came within a few yards of the court-house door, and bawled in a loud voice, "part them--part them!" Every body supposed there was an affray, and ran to the doors and windows to see; behold, there was nothing more than the man, and the rabble he had collected around him, for the purpose of annoying Col. Taylor while speaking. A few minutes afterwards, this same person brought a horse near the court-house door, and commenced crying the horse, as though he was for sale, and continued for ten or fifteen minutes to ride before the court-house door, crying the horse, in a loud and boisterous tone of voice. The Judge sat as a silent listener to the indignity thus offered the court and counsel by this man, without interposing his authority.
"To show the depravity of the times, and the people, after the verdict had been delivered by the jury, and the court informed Wilson that he was discharged, there was a rush toward him: some seized him by the hand, some by the arm, and there was great and loud rejoicing and exultation, directly in the presence of the court: and Wilson told the Sheriff to take the jury to a grocery, that he might treat them, and invited every body that chose to go. The house was soon filled to overflowing. The rejoicing was kept up till near supper time: but to cap the climax, soon after supper was over, a majority of the jury, together with many others, went to the rooms that had been occupied several days by the friend and relation of the murdered Anthony, and commenced a scene of the most ridiculous dancing, (as it is believed,) in triumph for Wilson, and as a triumph over the feelings of the relations of the departed Anthony. The scene did not close here. The party retired to a dram-shop, and continued their rejoicing until about half after 10 o"clock. They then collected a parcel of horns, trumpets, &c., and marched through the streets, blowing them, till near day, when one of the company rode his horse in the porch adjoining the room which was occupied by the relations of the deceased."
This case is given to the reader at length, in order fully to show, that in a community where the law sanctions the commission of every species of outrage upon one cla.s.s of citizens, it fosters pa.s.sions which will paralyze its power to protect the other cla.s.ses. Look at the facts developed in this case, as exhibiting the state of society among slaveholders. 1st. That the members of the legislature are _in the habit_ of wearing bowie knives. Wilson"s knife was 10 or 11 inches long.[42] 2d. The murderer, Wilson, was a man of wealth, president of the bank at the capital of the state, a high military officer, and had, for many years, been Speaker of the House of Representatives, as appears from a previous statement in the Arkansas Gazette. 3d. The murder was committed in open day, before all the members of the House, and many spectators, not one of whom seems to have made the least attempt to intercept Wilson, as he advanced upon Anthony with his knife drawn, but "made way for him," as is stated in another account.
4th. Though the murder was committed in the state-house, at the capital of the state, days pa.s.sed before the civil authorities moved in the matter; and they did not finally do it, until the relations of the murdered man demanded a warrant for the apprehension of the murderer. Even then, several days elapsed before he was brought before an examining court. When his trial came on, he drove to it in state, drew up before the door with "his coach and four," alighted, and strided into court like a lord among his va.s.sals; and there, though a clearer case of deliberate murder never reeked in the face of the sun, yet he was admitted to bail, the court absolutely refusing to hear an argument from the prosecuting attorney, showing that it was not a bailable case. 5th. The sheriff of Pulaski county, who had Wilson in custody, "never confined him a moment, but permitted him to go at large wholly unrestrained." When transferred to Saline co. for trial, the sheriff of that county gave Wilson the same liberty, and he spent his time in parties of pleasure, fishing, hunting, and at houses of entertainment. 6th. Finally, to demonstrate to the world, that justice among slaveholders is consistent with itself; that authorizing man-stealing and patronising robbery, it will, of course, be the patron and a.s.sociate of murder also, the judge who sat upon the case, and the murderer who was on trial for his life before him, were boon-companions together, eating and drinking at the same table throughout the trial. Then came the conclusion of the farce--the uproar round the court-house during the trial, drowning the voice of the prosecutor while pleading, without the least attempt by the court to put it down--then the charge of the judge to the jury, and their unanimous verdict of acquittal--then the rush from all quarters around the murderer with congratulations--the whole crowd in the court room shouting and cheering--then Wilson leading the way to a tavern, inviting the sheriff, and jury, and all present to "a treat"--then the baccha.n.a.lian revelry kept up all night, a majority of the jurors partic.i.p.ating--the dancing, the triumphal procession through the streets with the blowing of horns and trumpets, and the prancing of horses through the porch of the house occupied by the relations of the murdered Anthony, adding insult and mockery to their agony.
A few months before this murder on the floor of the legislature, George Scott, Esq., formerly marshall of the state was shot in an affray at Van Buren, Crawford co., Arkansas, by a man named Walker; and Robert Carothers, in an affray in St. Francis co., shot William Rachel, just as Rachel was shooting at Carothers" father. (_National Intelligencer, May 8, 1837, and Little Rock Gazette, August 30, 1837._)