THE LAND AGENT AND THE SQUATTER.
I have named, I believe, that all the colored people, who purchased lands
of Lewis, could get no deed nor any remuneration for their improvements.
This they thought hard and unfair. Some had built a house and barn,
cleared land, &c.; but when they wished to pay for their farms, they could
get no deed, and were obliged to lose all their labor.
This raised such a general complaint against the land agents, that they
finally agreed to pay the squatters for their improvements, if they would
leave their farms. An opportunity was soon offered to test their sincerity
in this agreement. A shrewd fellow, who had been many years a sailor,
named William Smith, had made valuable improvements on land, for which he
could get no deed, and then he wished to leave it. His wife, also, died
about this time, leaving him with eight children, which determined him to
leave the colony, and after providing homes for his children, to return to
his former occupation on the high seas; but he also determined not to
leave without receiving the pay which the agents had agreed to give for
his improvements.
"Oh yes," said they, in answer to his repeated solicitations, "you shall
be paid, certainly, certainly; you shall be paid every farthing." But when
the appointed day came for the pompous land agents to ride through the
settlement, you might see Smith station himself at first one and then
another conspicuous place on the road, hoping they would have the
magnanimity to stop and pay him, especially, as he had informed them of
his destitute and almost desperate condition, with eight young children to
maintain, and no means to do so, after giving up to them the farm. Before
them as usual rode their body servant, of whom Smith would inquire at what
hour the agents might be expected. And most blandly would he be informed
of some particular hour, when perhaps, within the next ten minutes, the
lordly agent would fly past him, on their foaming steeds, with the speed
of a "lightning train." This course they repeated again and again. One
day, when all of the land agents rode through the settlement in this
manner, Smith followed them on foot over fifty miles. He at last
intercepted them, and they promised with the coolest indifference, that on
a certain day, not far distant, they would certainly pay him all he
claimed, if he would meet them at a certain hotel in London. To this he
agreed; and the poor fellow returned to the colony almost exhausted.
His funds were nearly all spent, and he wished to take his children to New
York; yet his only hope was in the integrity and honor of the land agents.
On the day appointed, he was at London long before the hour to meet, had
arrived. He entered the village with a determined air, and saw the agents
just riding up to a hotel,--but not the one they had told him to call at.
He, however, waited for no invitation, but entered the hotel and inquired
of the servant for his master. He said his master was not there!
"I know he is," said Smith, "and I want to see him."
The servant withdrew, but soon returned to say that his master was engaged
and could not see him that day. Smith followed the servant into the hall,
calling out to him in the most boisterous manner, demanding to be told the
reason _why_ he could not see his master. The noise which Smith purposely
made, soon brought into the hall one of the agents, a Mr. Longworth, a
short, fat man,--weighing in the neighborhood of three hundred pounds!
When he saw Smith, he strutted about, assuring him that this disgraceful
uproar was quite uncalled for, and finally putting on a severe look, told
him that he could not have anything for his improvements; of course not,--
he really could not expect; certainly not, &c. Smith plainly assured the
agent that his "blarney" would avail him nothing; he had come by their own
appointment to get his pay, and that he certainly should _have_--if not in
the way they themselves agreed upon, he would choose his own method of
getting it! Thus saying, he stepped back, threw down his woolly head, and
goat fashion, let drive into the fat Englishman's "bread basket!" He
sprawled about and soon recovered his standing, but continued to scream
and halloo with rage and mortification, more than with pain, until he had
brought to the spot landlord, boarders, and servants, to witness the
affray; but Smith, nothing daunted, administered two or three more
effectual butts with his hard head into the lordly agent, when the subdued
and now silent English gentleman, drew from his pocket book, and carefully
counted out, every dollar Smith had at first demanded. Smith accepted it
pleasantly, thanked him and withdrew, amid the shouts and jeers of the
spectators, which the agent was more willing to avoid than he. That was
the way the land agent paid the squatter.
It seemed, however, a little too bad, to make a fine English gentleman,
feel as "flat" as Longworth appeared to feel; yet it was undoubtedly the
only method by which Smith could recover a farthing. The agents, it was
supposed, did not design to pay for any improvements; indeed, some very
hard and unjust incidents occurred in connection with, that matter, and
probably Smith was about the only one, who ever received the full value of
his claim.
There was committed about this time, a most shocking murder, in the London
district. A farmer who had a respectable family, consisting of a wife and
several children, became so addicted to the use of spirituous liquors,
that he neglected both his family and farm so much, that his friends felt
called upon to request the distiller, who was his near neighbor, to
furnish him with no more intoxicating drink. This, so exasperated the
poor, ruined and besotted wretch, that he raved like a madman--such as he
undoubtedly was--crazed and infuriated, by the contents of the poisoned
cup of liquid damnation, held to his lips by a neighboring distiller; a
fellow-being, who for the consideration of a few shillings, could see his
neighbor made a brute and his family left in destitution and sorrow.
Perhaps, however, he did not anticipate a termination so fearful; yet that
is but a poor excuse for one who lives by the sale of rum. When a
rumseller gives that to a man, which he knows will "steal away his
brains," and make him a maniac, how can he anticipate his future conduct?
And who is responsible? Ah, who?
When Severin found he could get no more intoxicating beverage, he in his
demoniacal rage, conceived the idea of despatching his whole family, and
set about his purpose by first snatching the young babe and casting it
into the fire! When the poor wife and mother came shrieking to the rescue
of her darling infant, he with one furious blow, laid her a bleeding
corpse at his feet! Two other young children he next murdered, and left
them mingling their blood with that of their mother's, while he ran
furiously after the two older ones, who were endeavoring to escape to a
neighbor's for assistance; and overtaking, killed them both! When the
miserable wretch had completed his hellish design, he started for his
nearest neighbor, named Smith, and told him that there was a black and a
white man at his house, murdering his family, requesting him to go to
their assistance. Mrs. Smith, believing that Severin designed to murder
her husband, insisted on his calling his young men to assist him, which he
did; and on arriving at the scene of slaughter, a most horrid spectacle
was before them: five dead bodies weltering in blood, aside from that of
the innocent babe, whose little form lay roasted and charred, on the fatal
and bloody hearthstone of the drunkard! Victims all, of an intoxicated
husband and father! When the guilty man saw the mangled remains of his
household, he only increased his depravity by trying to make others
responsible for the wicked deed,--exclaiming in feigned anguish, "my dear
wife! my poor children! I was afraid they would murder you! Oh, my lost
family!" &c. Community was soon alarmed; Severin, arrested, tried,
convicted, and sentenced to suffer the extreme penalty of the law.
It is sufficient for us to say, that the evidence was clear and
conclusive, that he was the only murderer of his family; nor was it
doubted that Mrs. Smith's suspicion was correct; yet, with all the array
of positive testimony brought against him, he denied the commission of the
crime to the last moment of his life! When brought out for execution, he
was placed under the gallows, and the rope with its fatal noose adjusted
around his neck, when one of the attorneys arose, and with great
solemnity, addressed him, in the most impressive manner: "We have done,"
said he, "all in our power to save your life; but you are justly
condemned, and in a few minutes more, will enter the presence of the
All-seeing eye of Jehovah; now let me beseech you, in the name of God, to
tell the truth, before you die." Severin declared himself innocent of the
crime, for which he was about to suffer; but was consoled, he said, with
the belief that he should, in a few short moments, meet in blissful
re-union his dear, murdered wife and children in heaven, to part no more!
Prayers were read; and during the reading of the Lord's prayer, at the
words "Thy will be done," the hardened wretch was launched into eternity.
No room was left to doubt the fact, that Severin with his own hand
destroyed the life of his unhappy and abused wife, and also that of his
helpless family. Yet in one sense, may we say with the murderer, it was
not he who committed the awful and inhuman deed, but boldly and truthfully
charge it to man's bitterest foe--Rum! What but the maddening effects of
spirituous liquors, could so demoralize, so demonize a man, as to convert
the once loving husband and proud father, into a reckless fiend, a
heartless savage? Oh, Rum! earth contains not another so fell a foe!
Should any who may read these humble pages, find an effectual warning in
the unhappy end of Severin, one which shall induce them to pause in their
course, or at once and forever abandon the use of alcoholic drinks, I
shall gratefully feel that I have not written this incident in vain.
Before I left Wilberforce, the Rev. S.E. Cornish, made a visit, and
preached the Word of Life to the colony, greatly to the satisfaction and
comfort of the settlers. After distributing liberally of his abundance,
to his poor brethren, he departed for the States, attended by the prayers
and blessings of the Wilberforce colonists.