We have already seen that one of the blessings which the slaveholders
attribute to their favorite institution, is exemption from popular
tumults, and from encroachments by the democracy upon the rights of
property. Their argument is, that political power in the hands of the
poor and laboring classes is always attended with danger, and that this
danger is averted when these classes are kept in bondage. With these
gentlemen, life and liberty seem to be accounted as the small dust of
the balance, when weighed against slavery and plantations; hence, to
preserve the latter they are ever ready to sacrifice the former, in
utter defiance of laws and constitutions.
We have already noticed the murderous proposition in relation to
abolitionists, made by Governor M'Duffie to the South Carolina
Legislature in 1835: "It is my deliberate opinion that the _laws_ of
every community should punish this species of interference, by DEATH
without benefit of clergy." In an address to a legislative assembly,
Governor M'Duffie refrained from the indecency of recommending _illegal_
murder; but we will soon find that the public sentiment of the South by
no means requires that abolitionists shall be put to death with legal
formalities; but on the contrary, the slaveholders are ready, in the
language of Mr. Payne, to "hang them like dogs."
We hazard little in the assertion, that in no civilized Christian
community on earth is human life less protected by law, or more
frequently taken with impunity, than in the slave States of the Federal
Union. We wish to impress upon you the danger and corruption to which
you and your children are exposed from the institution, which, as we
have shown you, exists by your sufferance. But you have been taught to
respect this institution; and hence it becomes necessary to enter into
details, however painful, and to present you with authorities which you
cannot reject. What we have just said of the insecurity of human life,
will probably be deemed by you and others as abolition slander. Listen,
then, to slaveholders themselves.
"We long to see the day," said the Governor of Kentucky in his message
to the Legislature, 1837, "when the law will assert its majesty, and
stop the wanton destruction of life which almost _daily_ occurs within
the jurisdiction of this commonwealth. MEN SLAUGHTER EACH OTHER WITH
ALMOST PERFECT IMPUNITY. A species of common law has grown up in
Kentucky, which, were it written down, would, in all civilized
countries, cause her to be re-christened, in derision, THE LAND OF
BLOOD."
The present Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Kentucky[10] a few years
since, published an article on the murders in that State. He states that
some with whom he had conversed, estimated them at 80 per annum; but
that he had rated them at about 30; and that he had ascertained that for
the last three years, there had not been "an instance of capital
punishment in any _white_ offender." "It is believed," says he, "there
are more homicides on an average of two years in _any_ of our more
populous _counties_, than in the whole of several of our _States_ of
equal, or nearly equal, population to Kentucky."
[10] It is believed this gentleman is _not_ a slaveholder.
Governor McVay, of Alabama, in his message to the Legislature, November
15, 1837, thus speaks, "We hear of homicides in different parts of the
State continually, and yet have few convictions and still fewer
executions! Why do we hear of stabbings and shootings almost _daily_ in
some part or other of our State?"
"DEATH BY VIOLENCE.--The moral atmosphere in our State appears
to be in a deleterious and sanguinary condition. Almost every
exchange paper which reaches us, contains some inhuman and
revolting case of murder, or death by violence. _Not less than_
FIFTEEN deaths by violence have occurred, to our certain
knowledge, within the past three months."--_Grand Gulf Miss.
Advertiser, 27th June, 1837._
CONTEMPT OF HUMAN LIFE.--In view of the crimes which are daily
committed, we are led to inquire whether it is owing to the
inefficiency of our laws, or to the manner in which these laws
are administered, that this FRIGHTFUL DELUGE OF HUMAN BLOOD
FLOWS THROUGH OUR STREETS AND OUR PLACES OF PUBLIC RESORT.--_New
Orleans Bee, 23d May, 1838._
At the opening of the Criminal Court in New Orleans, November 4th, 1837,
Judge Lansuque delivered an address, in which, speaking of the
prevalence of violence, he used the following language:
"As a Louisiana parent, I reflect with terror, that our beloved
children, reared to become one day honorable and useful
citizens, may be the victims of these votaries of vice and
licentiousness. Without some powerful and certain remedy, our
streets will become BUTCHERIES, OVERFLOWING WITH THE BLOOD OF
OUR CITIZENS!"
While the slaveholders are terrified at the idea of the "great
democratic rabble," and rejoice in human bondage as superseding the
necessity of an "order of nobility, and all the appendages of a
hereditary government," they have established a reign of terror, as
insurrectionary and as sanguinary in principle, as that created by the
sans culottes of the French revolution. We indulge in no idle
declamation, but speak the words of truth and soberness.
A public meeting, convened in the _church_!! in the town of Clinton,
Mississippi, 5th September, 1835--
Resolved, "That it is our decided opinion, that any individual
who dares to circulate, with a view to effectuate the designs of
the abolitionists, any of the incendiary tracts or newspapers
now in the course of transmission to this country, is justly
worthy, in the sight of God and man, of immediate death; and we
doubt not that such would be the punishment of any such
offender, in any part of the State of Mississippi where he may
be found."
It would be tedious to copy the numerous resolutions of similar import,
passed by public meetings in almost every slave State. You well know
that the promoters of those lawless and sanguinary proceedings, did not
belong to the "rabble"--they were not "mean whites," but rich,
influential slaveholders. A meeting was held in 1835 at Williamsburgh,
Virginia, which was harangued by no less a personage than JOHN TYLER,
once Governor of the State, and since _President of the United States_:
under this gentleman's auspices, and after his address, the meeting
resolved--
"That we regard the printing and circulating within our limits,
of incendiary publications, tending to excite our slaves to
insurrection and rebellion, as treasonable acts of the most
alarming character, and that when we detect offenders in the
act, we will inflict upon them condign punishment, without
resorting to any other tribunal."
The profligacy of this resolution needs no comment. Mr. Tyler well knew
that the laws of Virginia, and every other State were abundantly
sufficient to punish crime: but he and his fellow lynchers wished to
deter the people from receiving and reading anything adverse to slavery;
and hence, with their usual audacity, they determined to usurp the
prerogative of courts and juries, and throw down all the bulwarks which
the law has erected for the protection of innocence.
Newspapers are regarded as the mirrors of public opinion. Let us see
what opinions are reflected in those of the South.
The _Charleston Courier_, 11th August, 1835, declared that "the
_gallows and the stake_" awaited the abolitionists who should
dare to "appear in person among us."
"The cry of the whole South should be death, instant death to
the abolitionist, wherever he is caught."--_Augusta (Geo.)
Chronicle._
"Let us declare through the public journals of our country, that
the question of slavery is not and shall not be open to
discussion; that the system is too deep-rooted among us, and
must remain for ever; that the very moment any private
individual attempts to lecture us upon its evils and immorality,
and the necessity of putting means in operation to secure us
from them, in the same moment his tongue shall be cut out and
cast upon the dunghill."--_Columbia (S.C.) Telescope._
This, it will be noticed, is a threat addressed, not to the Northern
abolitionists, but to _you_, fellow-citizens, to the great majority of
the white inhabitants of the South; and _you_ are warned not to express
_an opinion_ offensive to your aristocracy.
"AWFUL BUT JUST PUNISHMENT.--We learn, by the arrival of the
steamboat Kentucky last evening from Richmond, that Robinson,
the Englishman mentioned in the _Beacon_ of Saturday, as being
in the vicinity of Lynchburg, was taken about fifteen miles from
that town, and HANGED on the spot, for exciting the slaves to
insurrection."--_Norfolk (Va.) Beacon, 10th August, 1835._
"We can assure the Bostonians, one and all, who have embarked in
the nefarious scheme of abolishing slavery at the South, that
lashes will hereafter be spared the backs of their emissaries.
Let them send out their men to Louisiana; they will never return
to tell their sufferings, but they shall expiate the crime of
interfering with our domestic institutions, by being BURNED AT
THE STAKE."--_New-Orleans True American._
"Abolition editors in slave States will not dare to avow their
opinions. It would be instant DEATH to them."--_Missouri Argus._
Here, again, is a threat directed against any of _you_, who may happen
to have the command of types and printer's ink.
Now, we ask what must be the state of society, where the public journals
thus justify and stimulate the public thirst for blood? The very idea of
_trial_ is scouted, and the mob, or rather the slaveholders themselves,
are acknowledged to be the arbiters of life and death. The question we
put to you as to the _state of society_, has been already answered by
the official declarations of the Governors of Kentucky and Alabama, and
of Judge Lansuque, of New Orleans; as well as by the extracts we have
given you from some of the southern journals, relative to the frequency
of murders among them. We could farther answer it, by filling sheets
with accounts of fearful atrocities. But we purposely refrain from
referring to assassinations and private crimes; for such, as already
remarked, occur in a greater or less degree in every community, and do
not necessarily form a test of the standard of morals. But we ask your
attention to a test which cannot be questioned. We will present for your
consideration a series of atrocities, perpetrated, not by individuals in
secret, but in open day by the _slaveholding populace_.
We have seen that two of the Southern papers we have quoted, threaten
abolitionists with THE STAKE. This awful and horrible punishment has
been banished, by the progress of civilization, from the whole of
Christendom, with the single exception of the American Slave States. It
is scarcely necessary to say, that even in them, it is unknown to the
laws, although familiar to the people. It is also deserving of remark,
that the two journals which have made this atrocious threat were
published, not among the rude borderers of our frontier settlements, but
in the populous cities of Charleston and New-Orleans, the very centres
of Southern refinement.
"TUSCALOOSA (Alab.) June 20, 1827. The negro [one who had killed
a Mr. M^cNeilly was taken before a Justice of the Peace, who
_waived 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 that he should be
immediately executed by being _burned 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
country."
On the 28th of April, 1836, a free negro was arrested in St. Louis
(Missouri) and committed to jail on a charge of murder. A mob assembled
and demanded him of the jailor, who surrendered him. The negro was then
chained to a tree _a short distance from the Court House_, and burned to
death.
"After the flames had surrounded their prey, and when his
clothes were in a blaze all over him, 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
it would be of no use, since he was already out of his pain.
'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, we
understand, an _officer of justice_."--_Alton Telegraph._
"We have been informed that the slave William, who murdered his
master (Huskey) some weeks since, was taken by a party a few
days since _from the Sheriff_ of Hot Spring, and _burned alive_!
yes, tied up to the limb of a tree and a fire built under him,
and consumed in a slow lingering torture."--_Arkansas Gazette,
Oct._ 29. 1836.
The _Natchez Free Trader, 16th June, 1842_, gives a horrible account of
the execution of the negro, Joseph, on the 5th of that month for murder.
"The body," says that paper, "was taken and chained to a tree
immediately on the bank of the Mississippi, on what is called
Union Point. The torches were lighted and placed in the pile. He
watched unmoved the curling flame as it grew, until it began to
entwine itself around and feed upon his body; then he sent forth
cries of agony painful to the ear, begging some one to blow his
brains out; at the same time surging with almost superhuman
strength, until the staple with which the chain was fastened to
the tree, not being well secured, drew out, and he leaped from
the burning pile. At that moment the sharp ring of several
rifles was heard, and the body of the negro fell a corpse to the
ground. He was picked up by two or three, and again thrown into
the fire and consumed."
"ANOTHER NEGRO BURNED.--We learn from the clerk of the
Highlander that, while wooding a short distance below the mouth
of Red river, they were _invited to stop a short time and see
another negro burned_."--_N. O. Bulletin._
Thus we see that burning negroes alive is treated as a spectacle, and
strangers are invited to witness it. The victim of this exhibition was
the negro Enoch, said to have been an accomplice of Joseph, and was
burned a few days after the other.
We have thus given you no less than _six_ instances of human beings
publicly burned alive in four slave States, and in each case with entire
impunity to the miscreants engaged in the horrible murder. But these
were cases which _happened_ to be reported in the newspapers, and with
which we _happened_ to become acquainted. There is reason to believe
that these executions are not of rare occurrence, and that many of them,
either through indifference or policy, are not noticed in the Southern
papers.
A recent traveller remarks, "Just before I reached Mobile, two men were
_burned alive_ there in a slow fire in the open air, in the presence of
the _gentlemen_ of the city. No word was breathed of the transaction in
the newspapers."--_Martineau's Society in America_, vol. I., p. 373.
But the murderous spirit deplored by the Governors of Kentucky and
Alabama, and the "frightful deluge of human blood" complained of by the
New Orleans editor, had no reference to the murder of _negroes_. Men who
can enjoy the sight of negroes writhing in flames, and are permitted by
the civil authorities to indulge in such exhibitions, will not be very
scrupulous in taking the lives of each other. You well know how
incessantly the work of human slaughter is going on among you: and no
reader of your public journals can be ignorant of the frequent
occurrence of your deadly street fights. But, for the reason already
given, we meddle not with these. We charge the slaveholding community,
as such, with _sanctioning_ murder, and protecting the perpetrators, and
setting the laws at defiance. This we know is a grievous charge, and
most grievous the proof of it. But mistake not our meaning. God forbid
we should deny that many of the community to which we refer, utterly
abhor the atrocities we are about to detail. We speak of the murderous
feelings of the slaveholding community, just as we speak of the
politics, the manners, and the morals of any other community, freely
acknowledging that there are numerous and honorable exceptions. For the
general truth of our assertion, we appeal to the authorities and the
facts we have already laid before you, and to those we are about to
offer.
You have already seen that the pro-slavery press has recommended the
murder of such northern abolitionists as may be caught in the South; we
now ask your attention to the efforts made by the slaveholders to get
prominent abolitionists into their power.
In 1831, a citizen of Massachusetts established a newspaper at Boston,
called the Liberator, and devoted to the cause of negro emancipation.
The undertaking was perfectly legal, and he himself, having never been
in Georgia, had of course violated none of her laws. The legislature,
however, forthwith passed a law, offering a bribe of $5000 to any person
who would arrest and bring to trial and conviction, in Georgia, the
editor and publisher of the Boston paper. This most atrocious law was
"approved" on the 26th Dec., 1831, by WILLIAM LUMPKIN, the Governor. The
object of the bribe could have been no other than the abduction and
murder of the conductor of the paper--his _trial_ and _conviction_ under
Georgia laws being a mere pretence: the Georgia courts have as much
jurisdiction over the Press in Paris as in Boston. A Lynch court was the
only one that could have taken cognizance of the offence, and its
proceedings would undoubtedly have been both summary and sanguinary.
The horrible example thus set by the Georgia Legislature was not without
its followers.
At a meeting of slaveholders at Sterling, Sept. 4, 1835, it was formally
recommended to the Governor to issue a proclamation, offering the $5000
appropriated by the Act of 1831, as a reward for the apprehension of
_either_ of _ten_ persons named in the resolution, citizens of New York
and Massachusetts, and one a subject of Great Britain; not one of whom
it was even pretended had ever set his foot on the soil of Georgia.
The _Milledgeville [Ga.] Federal Union_, of Feb. 1, 1836, contained an
offer of $10,000 for kidnapping A. A. Phelps, a clergyman residing in
the city of New York.
The Committee of Vigilance of the Parish of East Feliciana, offered in
the Louisiana Journal of 15th Oct., 1835, $50,000 to any person who
would deliver _into their hands_ Arthur Tappan, a New York merchant.
At a public meeting of the citizens of Mount Meigs, Alabama, 13th
August, 1836, the Honorable [!] Bedford Ginress in the chair, a reward
of $50,000 was offered for the apprehension of Arthur Tappan, or Le Roy
Sunderland, a clergyman of the Methodist Church residing in New York.
Let us now witness the practical operation of that murderous spirit
which dictated the foregoing villainous bribes. We have already seen the
conduct of the slave-holding community to _negro_ offenders; we are now
to notice its tender mercies to men of its own color.
In 1835, there was a real or affected apprehension of a servile
insurrection in the State of Mississippi. The slaveholders, as usual on
such occasions, were exceedingly frightened, and were exceedingly cruel.
A pamphlet was afterwards published, entitled "_Proceedings of the
Citizens of Madison County, Miss., at Livingston, in July, 1835, in
relation to the trial and punishment of several individuals implicated
in a contemplated insurrection in this State.--Prepared by Thomas
Shuckelford, Esquire. Printed at Jackson, Miss._" This pamphlet, then,
is the _Southern_ account of the affair; and while it is more minute in
its details than the narratives published in the newspapers at the time,
we are not aware that it contradicts them. It may be regarded as a sort
of semi-official report put forth by the slaveholders, and published
under their implied sanction. It appears, from this account, that in
consequence of "rumors" that the slaves meditated an insurrection--that
a colored girl had been heard to say that "she was tired of waiting on
the white folks--wanted to be her own mistress for the balance of her
days, and clean up her own house, &c.," a meeting was held at which
resolutions were signed, organizing a committee, and authorizing them
"_to bring before them any person or persons, either white or black, and
try in a summary manner any person brought before them, with power to
hang or whip, being always governed by the laws of the land, so far only
as they shall be applicable to the case in question; otherwise to act as
in their discretion shall seem best for the benefit of the country and
the protection of its citizens_."
This was certainly a most novel mode of erecting and commissioning a
Court of judicature, with the power of life and death, expressly
authorized to act independently of "the laws of the land."
The Constitution of the State of Mississippi, which no doubt many of the
honorable Judges of the Court had on other occasions taken an oath to
support, contains the following clause:--"No person shall be accused,
arrested or detained, except in cases ascertained by law, and according
to the forms which the same has prescribed; and no person shall be
punished, but in virtue of a law established and promulgated prior to
the offence, and legally applied."
_Previous_ to the organization of this Court, FIVE slaves had already
been HUNG by the people. The Court, or rather, as it was modestly called
by the meeting who erected it, "the committee," proceeded to try Dr.
Joshua Cotton, of New England. It was proved to the satisfaction of the
committee that he had been detected in many low tricks--that he was
deficient in feeling and affection for his second wife--that he had
traded with negroes--that he had asked a negro boy whether the slaves
were whipped much, how he would like to be free? &c. It is _stated_ that
Cotton made a confession that he had been aiming to bring about a
conspiracy. The committee condemned him TO BE HANGED IN AN HOUR AFTER
SENTENCE.
William Saunders, a native of Tennessee, was next tried. He was
convicted "of being often out at night, and giving no satisfactory
explanation for so doing"--of equivocal conduct--of being intimate with
Cotton, &c. Whereupon, by a unanimous vote, he was found guilty and
sentenced to be HUNG. He was executed with Cotton on the 4th of July.
Albe Dean, of Connecticut, was next tried. He was convicted of being a
lazy, indolent man, having very little _pretensions_ to honesty--of
"pretending to make a living by constructing washing machines"--of
"often coming to the owners of runaways, to intercede with the masters
to save them from a whipping." He was sentenced to be HUNG, and was
executed.
A. L. Donavan, of Kentucky, was then put on his trial. He was suspected
of having traded with the negroes--of being found in their cabins, and
enjoying himself in their Society. It was proved that "at one time he
actually undertook to release a negro who was tied, which negro
afterwards implicated him," and that he once told an overseer "it was
cruel work to be whipping the poor negroes as he was obliged to do." The
committee were satisfied, from the evidence before them, that Donavan
was an emissary of those deluded fanatics of the North, the
abolitionists. He was condemned to be HUNG, and suffered accordingly.
Ruel Blake was next tried, condemned and HUNG. "He protested his
innocence to the last, and said his life was sworn away."
Here we have a record of no less than TEN men, five black and five
white, probably all innocent of the crime alleged against them,
deliberately and publicly put to death by the slaveholders, without the
shadow of legal authority.
The Maysville, Ken. Gazette, in announcing Donavan's murder, says, "he
formerly belonged to Maysville, and was a much respected citizen."
A letter from Donavan to his wife, written just before his execution,
and published in the Maysville paper, says, "I am doomed to die
to-morrow at 12 o'clock, on a charge of having been concerned in a negro
insurrection, in this State, among many other whites. We are not tried
by a regular jury, but by a committee of PLANTERS appointed for the
purpose, who have not time to wait on a person for evidence.... Now I
must close by saying, before my Maker and Judge, that I go into his
presence as innocent of this charge as when I was born.... I must bid
you a final farewell, hoping that the God of the widow and the
fatherless will give you grace to bear this most awful sentence."
And now, did these butcheries by the Mississippi PLANTERS excite the
indignation of the slaveholding communities? Receive the answer from an
editor of the Ancient Dominion, replying to the comments of a Northern
newspaper. "The Journal may depend upon it that the Cottons and the
Saunders, men confessing themselves guilty of inciting and plotting
insurrection, will be HANGED UP wherever caught, and that _without the
formality of a legal trial_. Northern or Southern, such will be their
inevitable doom. For our part, WE APPLAUD the transaction, and none in
our opinion can condemn it, who have not a secret sympathy with the
Garrison sect. If Northern sympathy and effort are to be cooled and
extinguished by such cases, it proves but this, that the South ought to
feel little confidence in the professions it receives from that
quarter."--_Richmond Whig._
About the time of the massacre in Clinton County, another awful tragedy
was performed at Vicksburg in the same State. FIVE men, said to be
_gamblers_, were HANGED by the mob on the 5th July, in open day.
The _Louisiana Advertiser_, of 13th July, says, "These unfortunate men
claimed to the last, the privilege of American citizens, the _trial by
Jury_, and professed themselves willing to submit to anything their
country would legally inflict upon them: but we are sorry to say, their
petition was in vain. The black musicians were ordered to strike up, and
the voices of the supplicants were drowned by the fife and drum. _Mr.
Riddle, the Cashier of the Planters' Bank_, ordered them to play Yankee
Doodle. The unhappy sufferers frequently implored a drink of water, _but
they were refused_."
The sympathy of the Louisiana editor, so different from his brother of
Richmond, was probably owing to the fact, that the murdered men were
accused of being gamblers, and not abolitionists.
When we said these five men were hung by the _mob_, we did not mean what
Chancellor Harper calls "the democratic rabble." It seems the Cashier of
a Bank, a man to whom the slaveholders entrust the custody of their
money, officiated on the occasion as Master of Ceremonies.
A few days after the murders at Vicksburg, a negro named Vincent was
sentenced by a Lynch club at Clinton, Miss., to receive 300 lashes, for
an alleged participation in an intended insurrection. We copy from the
_Clinton Gazette_.
"On Wednesday evening Vincent was carried out to receive his
stripes, but the ASSEMBLED MULTITUDE were in favor of _hanging_
him. A vote was accordingly _fairly_ taken, and the hanging
party had it by an overwhelming majority, as the politicians
say. He was remanded to _prison_. On the day of execution a
_still larger crowd was assembled_, and fearing that the public
sentiment might have changed in regard to his fate, after
everything favorable to the culprit was alleged which could be
said, the vote was taken, and his _death was demanded by the
people_. In pursuance of this sentiment, so unequivocally
expressed, he was led to a black jack and suspended to one of
its branches--WE APPROVE ENTIRELY OF THE PROCEEDINGS; THE PEOPLE
HAVE ACTED PROPERLY."
Thus, SIXTEEN human beings were deliberately and publicly murdered, by
assembled crowds, in different parts of the State of Mississippi, within
little more than one WEEK, in open defiance of the laws and Constitution
of the State.
And now we ask, what notice did the chief magistrate of Mississippi,
sworn to support her Constitution, sworn to execute her laws--what
notice, we ask, did he take of these horrible massacres? Why, at the
next session of the Legislature, Governor Lynch, addressing them in
reference to abolition, remarked, "Mississippi has given a _practical_
demonstration of feeling on this exciting subject, that may serve as an
impressive admonition to offenders; and however we may regret the
occasion, we are constrained to admit, that necessity will sometimes
prompt a summary mode of trial and punishment unknown to the law."
The iniquity and utter falsehood of this declaration, as applied to the
transactions alluded to, are palpable. If the victims were innocent, no
necessity required their murder. If guilty, no necessity required their
execution contrary to law. There was no difficulty in securing their
persons, and bringing them to trial.
* * * * *
In 1841, an _unsuccessful_ attempt was made in Kentucky to murder a man.
The assailants were arrested and lodged in jail for trial. Their fate is
thus related in a letter by an eye-witness, published in the Cincinnati
Gazette:--
"_Williamstown, Ky., July 11, 1841._
"The unfortunate men, Lyman Couch and Smith Maythe, were taken
out of jail on Saturday about 12 o'clock, and taken to the
ground where they committed the horrid deed on Utterback, and at
4 o'clock were HUNG on the tree where Utterback lay when his
throat was cut. The jail was opened by force. I suppose there
were from FOUR TO SEVEN HUNDRED people engaged in it. Resistance
was all in vain. There were three speeches made to the mob, but
all in vain. They allowed the prisoners the privilege of clergy
for about five hours, and then observed that they had made their
peace with God, and they deserved to die. The mob was conducted
with coolness and order, more so than I ever heard of on such
occasions. But such a day was never witnessed in our little
village, and I hope never will be again."
The fact that this atrocity was perpetrated in "our little village," and
by a rural population, affords an emphatic and horrible indication of
the state of morals in one of the oldest and best of our slave States.
Would that we could here close these fearful narratives; but another and
more recent instance of that ferocious lawlessness which slavery has
engendered, must still be added. The following facts are gathered from
the Norfolk (Va.) Beacon of 19th Nov., 1842.
George W. Lore was, in April, 1842, convicted in Alabama, on
circumstantial evidence, of the crime of murder. The Supreme Court
granted a new trial, remarking, as is stated in another paper, that the
testimony on which he was convicted was "unfit to be received by any
court of justice recognized among civilized nations." In the mean time,
Lore escaped from jail, and was afterwards arrested. He was seized by a
mob, who put it to vote, whether he should be surrendered to the civil
authority or be _hung_. Of 132 votes, 130 were for immediate death, and
he was accordingly HUNG at Spring Hill, Bourbon County, on the 4th
November.
And now, fellow-citizens, what think you of Mr. Calhoun's "most safe and
stable basis for free institutions?" Do you number TRIAL BY JURY among
free institutions? You see on what basis it rests--the will of the
slaveholders. You see by what tenure you and your children hold your
lives. In New York, you are told by high Southern authority, "you may
find loafer, and loco-foco, and agrarian, and the most corrupt and
depraved of rabbles." But we ask you, where would your life be most
secure if charged with crime, amid the rabble of New York or that of
Clinton, Vicksburg, and Williamstown? We think we have fully proved our
assertion respecting the disregard of human life felt by the
slaveholding community; and of course their contempt for those legal
barriers which are erected for its protection. Let us now inquire more
particularly how far slavery is indeed a stable basis, on which free
institutions may securely rest.