It is impossible to reconcile the mind of the native slave to the idea
of living in a state of perfect equality, and boundless affection, with
the white people. Heaven will be no heaven to him, if he is not to be
avenged of his enemies. I know, from experience, that these are the
fundamental rules of his religious creed; because I learned them in the
religious meetings of the slaves themselves. A favorite and kind master
or mistress, may now and then be admitted into heaven, but this rather
as a matter of favor, to the intercession of some slave, than as matter
of strict justice to the whites, who will, by no means, be of an equal
rank with those who shall be raised from the depths of misery, in this
world.
The idea of a revolution in the conditions of the whites and the blacks,
is the corner-stone of the religion of the latter; and indeed, it seems
to me, at least, to be quite natural, if not in strict accordance with
the precepts of the Bible; for in that book I find it every where laid
down, that those who have possessed an inordinate portion of the good
things of this world, and have lived in ease and luxury, at the expense
of their fellow men will surely have to render an account of their
stewardship, and be punished, for having withheld from others the
participation of those blessings, which they themselves enjoyed.
There is no subject which presents to the mind of the male slave a
greater contrast between his own condition and that of his master, than
the relative station and appearance of his wife and his mistress. The
one, poorly clad, poorly fed, and exposed to all the hardships of the
cotton field; the other dressed in clothes of gay and various colors,
ornamented with jewelry, and carefully protected from the rays of the
sun, and the blasts of the wind.
As I have before observed, the Africans have feelings peculiar to
themselves; but with an American slave, the possession of the spacious
house, splendid furniture, and fine horses of his master, are but the
secondary objects of his desires. To fill the measure of his happiness,
and crown his highest ambition, his young and beautiful mistress must
adorn his triumph, and enliven his hopes.
I have been drawn into the above reflections, by the recollection of an
event of a most melancholy character, which took place when I had been
on this plantation about three months. Amongst the house-servants of my
master, was a young man, named Hardy, of a dark yellow complexion--a
quadroon, or mulatto--one-fourth of whose blood was transmitted from
white parentage.
Hardy was employed in various kinds of work about the house, and was
frequently sent on errands; sometimes on horseback. I had become
acquainted with the boy, who had often come to see me at the quarter,
and had sometimes staid all night with me, and often told me of the
ladies and gentlemen who visited at the great house.
Amongst others, he frequently spoke of a young lady, who resided six or
seven miles from the plantation, and often came to visit the daughters
of the family, in company with her brother, a lad about twelve or
fourteen years of age. He described the great beauty of this girl, whose
mother was a widow, living on a small estate of her own. This lady did
not keep a carriage; but her son and daughter, when they went abroad,
traveled on horseback.
One Sunday, these two young people came to visit at the house of my
master, and remained until after tea in the evening. As I did not go out
to work that day, I went over to the great house, and from the house to
a place in the woods, about a mile distant, where I had set snares for
rabbits. This place was near the road, and I saw the young lady and her
brother on their way home. It was after sundown when they passed me;
but, as the evening was clear and pleasant, I supposed they would get
home soon after dark, and that no accident would befall them.
No more was thought of the matter this evening, and I heard nothing
further of the young people until the next day, about noon, when a black
boy came into the field, where we were picking cotton, and went to the
overseer with a piece of paper. In a short time the overseer called me
to come with him; and, leaving the field with the hands under the orders
of Simon, the first captain, we proceeded to the great house.
As soon as we arrived at the mansion, my master, who had not spoken to
me since the day we came from Columbia, appeared at the front door, and
ordered me to come in and follow him. He led me through a part of the
house, and passed into the back yard, where I saw the young gentleman,
his son, another gentleman whom I did not know, the family doctor, and
the overseer, all standing together, and in earnest conversation. At my
appearance, the overseer opened a cellar door, and ordered me to go in.
I had no suspicion of evil, and obeyed the order immediately: as,
indeed, I must have obeyed it, whatever might have been my suspicions.
The overseer, and the gentlemen, all followed; and as soon as the cellar
door was closed after us, by some one whom I could not see, I was
ordered to pull off my clothes, and lie down on my back. I was then
bound by the hands and feet, with strong cords, and extended at full
length between two of the beams that supported the timbers of the
building.
The stranger, who I now observed was much agitated, spoke to the doctor,
who then opened a small case of surgeons' instruments, which he took
from his pocket, and told me he was going to skin me for what I had done
last night: "But," said the doctor, "before you are skinned, you had
better confess your crime." "What crime, master, shall I confess? I have
committed no crime--what has been done, that you are going to murder
me?" was my reply. My master then asked me why I had followed the young
lady and her brother, who went from the house the evening before, and
murdered her? Astonished and terrified at the charge of being a
murderer, I knew not what to say; and only continued the protestations
of my innocence, and my entreaties not to be put to death. My young
master was greatly enraged against me, and loaded me with maledictions
and imprecations; and his father appeared to be as well satisfied as he
was of my guilt, but was more calm, and less vociferous in his language.
The doctor, during this time, was assorting his instruments, and looking
at me--then stooping down, and feeling my pulse, he said, it would not
do to skin a man so full of blood as I was. I should bleed so much that
he could not see to do his work; and he should probably cut some large
vein, or artery, by which I should bleed to death in a few minutes; it
was necessary to bleed me in the arms for some time, so as to reduce the
quantity of blood that was in me, before taking my skin off. He then
bound a string round my right arm, and opened a vein near the middle of
the arm, from which the blood ran in a large and smooth stream. I
already began to feel faint, with the loss of blood, when the cellar
door was thrown open, and several persons came down, with two lighted
candles.
I looked at these people attentively, as they came near and stood around
me, and expressed their satisfaction at the just and dreadful punishment
that I was about to undergo. Their faces were all new and unknown to me,
except that of a lad, whom I recognized as the same who had ridden by
me, the preceding evening, in company with his sister.
My old master spoke to this boy by name, and told him to come and see
the murderer of his sister receive his due. The boy was a pretty youth,
and wore his hair long, on the top of his head, in the fashion of that
day. As he came round near my head, the light of a candle, which the
doctor held in his hand, shone full in my face, and seeing that the
eyes of the boy met mine, I determined to make one more effort to save
my life, and said to him, in as calm a tone as I could, "Young master,
did I murder young mistress, your sister?" The youth immediately looked
at my master, and said, "This is not the man--this man has short wool,
and he had long wool, like your Hardy."
My life was saved. I was snatched from the most horrible of tortures,
and from a slow and painful death. I was unbound, the bleeding of my arm
stopped, and I was suffered to put on my clothes, and go up into the
back yard of the house, where I was required to tell what I knew of the
young lady and her brother on the previous day. I stated that I had seen
them in the court yard of the house, at the time I was in the kitchen;
that I had then gone to the woods, to set my snares, and had seen them
pass along the road near me, and that this was all the knowledge I had
of them. The boy was then required to examine me particularly, and
ascertain whether I was, or was not, the man who had murdered his
sister. He said he had not seen me at the place where I stated I was,
and that he was confident I was not the person who had attacked him and
his sister. That my hair, or wool, as he called it, was short; but that
of the man who committed the crime was long, like Hardy's, and that he
was about the size of Hardy--not so large as I was, but black like me,
and not yellow like Hardy. Some one now asked where Hardy was, and he
was called for, but could not be found in the kitchen. Persons were sent
to the quarter, and other places, in quest of him, but returned without
him. Hardy was nowhere to be found. Whilst this inquiry, or rather
search, was going on, perceiving that my old master had ceased to look
upon me as a murderer, I asked him to please to tell me what had
happened, that had been so near proving fatal to me.
I was now informed that the young lady, who had left the house on the
previous evening in company with her brother, had been assailed on the
road, about four miles off, by a black man, who had sprung from a
thicket, and snatched her from her horse, as she was riding a short
distance behind her brother. That the assassin, as soon as she was on
the ground, struck her horse a blow with a long stick, which, together
with the fright caused by the screams of its rider when torn from it,
had caused it to fly off at full speed; and the horse of the brother
also taking fright, followed in pursuit, notwithstanding all the
exertions of the lad to stop it. All the account the brother could give
of the matter was, that as his horse ran with him, he saw the negro drag
his sister into the woods, and heard her screams for a short time. He
was not able to stop his horse, until he reached home, when he gave
information to his mother and her family. That people had been scouring
the woods all night, and all the morning, without being able to find the
young lady.
When intelligence of this horrid crime was brought to the house of my
master, Hardy was the first to receive it; he having gone to take the
horse of the person--a young gentleman of the neighborhood--who bore it,
and who immediately returned to join his friends in their search for the
dead body.
As soon as the messenger was gone, Hardy had come to my master, and told
him that if he would prevent me from murdering him, he would disclose
the perpetrator of the crime. He was then ordered to communicate all he
knew on the subject; and declared that, having gone into the woods the
day before, to hunt squirrels, he staid until it was late, and on his
return home, hearing the shrieks of a woman, he had proceeded cautiously
to the place; but before he could arrive at the spot, the cries had
ceased; nevertheless, he had found me, after some search, with the body
of the young lady, whom I had just killed, and that I was about to kill
him too, with a hickory club, but he had saved his life by promising
that he would never betray me. He was glad to leave me, and what I had
done with the body he did not know.
Hardy was known in the neighborhood, and his character had been good. I
was a stranger, and on inquiry, the black people in the kitchen
supported Hardy, by saying, that I had been seen going to the woods
before night by the way of the road which the deceased had traveled.
These circumstances were deemed conclusive against me by my master; and
as the offence of which I was believed to be guilty was the highest that
can be committed by a slave, according to the opinion of owners, it was
determined to punish me in a way unknown to the law, and to inflict
tortures upon me which the law would not tolerate. I was now released,
and though very weak from the effects of bleeding, I was yet able to
return to my own lodgings.
I had no doubt that Hardy was the perpetrator of the crime for which I
was so near losing my life; and now recollected that when I was at the
kitchen of the great house on Sunday, he had disappeared, a short time
before sundown, as I had looked for him when I was going to set my
snares, but could not find him.--I went back to the house, and
communicated this fact to my master.
By this time, nearly twenty white men had collected about the dwelling,
with the intention of going to search for the body of the lost lady; but
it was now resolved to make the look-out double, and to give it the
two-fold character of a pursuit of the living, as well as a seeking for
the dead.
I now returned to my lodgings in the quarter, and soon fell into a
profound sleep, from which I did not awake until long after night, when
all was quiet, and the stillness of undisturbed tranquillity prevailed
over our little community. I felt restless, and sunk into a labyrinth of
painful reflections, upon the horrid and perilous condition from which I
had this day escaped, as it seemed, merely by chance; and as I slept
until all sensations of drowsiness had left me, I rose from my bed, and
walked out by the light of the moon, which was now shining. After being
in the open air some time, I thought of the snares I had set on Sunday
evening, and determined to go and see if they had taken any game. I
sometimes caught oppossums in my snares; and, as these animals were very
fat at this season of the year, I felt a hope that I might be fortunate
enough to get one to-night. I had been at my snares, and had returned,
as far as the road, near where I had seen the young lady and her brother
on horseback on Sunday evening, and had seated myself under the boughs
of a holly bush that grew there. It so happened that the place where I
sat was in the shade of the bush, within a few feet of the road, but
screened from it by some small boughs. In this position, which I had
taken by accident, I could see a great distance along the road, towards
the end of my master's lane. Though covered as I was by the shade, and
enveloped in boughs, it was difficult for a person in the road to see
me.
The occurrence that had befallen me, in the course of the previous day,
had rendered me nervous, and easily susceptible of all the emotions of
fear. I had not been long in this place, when I thought I heard sounds,
as of a person walking on the ground at a quick pace; and looking along
the road, towards the lane I saw the form of some one, passing through a
space in the road, where the beams of the moon, piercing between two
trees, reached the ground. When the moving body passed into the shade, I
could not see it; but in a short time, it came so near that I could
distinctly see that it was a man, approaching me by the road. When he
came opposite me, and the moon shone full in his face, I knew him to be
a young mulatto, named David, the coachman of a widow lady, who resided
somewhere near Charleston; but who had been at the house of my master,
for two or three weeks, as a visiter, with her two daughters.
This man passed on at a quick step, without observing me; and the
suspicion instantly riveted itself in my mind, that he was the murderer,
for whose crime I had already suffered so much, and that he was now on
his way to the place where he had left the body, for the purpose of
removing, or burying it in the earth. I was confident, that no honest
purpose could bring him to this place, at this time of night, alone. I
was about two miles from home, and an equal distance from the spot where
the girl had been seized.
Of her subsequent murder, no one entertained a doubt; for it was not to
be expected, that the fellow who had been guilty of one great crime,
would flinch from the commission of another, of equal magnitude, and
suffer his victim to exist, as a witness to identify his person.
I felt animated, by a spirit of revenge, against the wretch, whoever he
might be, who had brought me so near to torture and death; and feeble
and weak as I was, resolved to pursue the foot-steps of this coachman,
at a wary and cautious distance, and ascertain, if possible, the object
of his visit to these woods, at this time of night.
I waited until he had passed me more than a hundred yards, and until I
could barely discover his form in the faint light of the deep shade of
the trees, when stealing quietly into the road, I followed, with the
caution of a spy traversing the camp of an enemy.--We were now in a dark
pine forest, and on both sides of us were tracts of low, swampy ground,
covered with thickets so dense as to be difficult of penetration even by
a person on foot. The road led along a neck of elevated and dry ground,
that divided these swamps for more than a mile, when they terminated,
and were succeeded by ground that produced scarcely any other timber
than a scrubby kind of oak, called black jack. It was amongst these
black jacks, about half a mile beyond the swamps, that the lady had been
carried off. I had often been here, for the purpose of snaring and
trapping the small game of these woods, and was well acquainted with the
topography of this forest, for some distance, on both sides of the road.
It was necessary for me to use the utmost caution in the enterprise I
was now engaged in. The road we were now traveling, was in no place very
broad, and at some points barely wide enough to permit a carriage to
pass between the trees, that lined its sides. In some places, it was so
dark that I could not see the man, whose steps I followed; but was
obliged to depend on the sound, produced by the tread of his feet, upon
the ground. I deemed it necessary to keep as close as possible to the
object of my pursuit, lest he should suddenly turn into the swamp, on
one side or the other of the road, and elude my vigilance; for I had no
doubt that he would quit the road, somewhere. As we approached the
termination of the low grounds, my anxiety became intense, lest he
should escape me; and at one time, I could not have been more than one
hundred feet behind him; but he continued his course, until he reached
the oak woods, and came to a place where an old cart-road led off to the
left, along the side of the Dark Swamp, as it was termed in the
neighborhood.
This road, the mulatto took, without turning to look behind him. Here my
difficulties and perils increased, for I now felt myself in danger, as I
had no longer any doubt, that I was on the trail of the murderer, and
that, if discovered by him, my life would be the price of my curiosity.
I was too weak to be able to struggle with him, for a minute; though if
the blood which I had lost, through his wickedness, could have been
restored to my veins, I could have seized him by the neck, and strangled
him.
The road I now had to travel, was so little frequented, that bushes of
the ground oak and bilberry stood thick in almost every part of it. Many
of these bushes were full of dry leaves, which had been touched by the
frost, but had not yet fallen. It was easy for me to follow him, for I
pursued by the noise he made, amongst these bushes; but it was not so
easy for me to avoid, on my part, the making of a rustling, and
agitation of the bushes, which might expose me to detection. I was now
obliged to depend wholly on my ears, to guide my pursuit, my eyes being
occupied in watching my own way, to enable me to avoid every object, the
touching of which was likely to produce sound.
I followed this road more than a mile, led by the cracking of the
sticks, or the shaking of the leaves. At length, I heard a loud, shrill
whistle, and then a total silence succeeded. I now stood still, and in a
few seconds, heard a noise in the swamp like the drumming of a pheasant.
Soon afterwards, I heard the breaking of sticks, and the sounds caused
by the bending of branches of trees. In a little time, I was satisfied
that something having life was moving in the swamp, and coming towards
the place where the mulatto stood.
This was at the end of the cart-road, and opposite some large pine
trees, which grew in the swamp, at the distance of two or three hundred
yards from its margin. The noise in the swamp still approached us; and
at length a person came out of the thicket, and stood for a minute, or
more, with the mulatto whom I had followed; and then they both entered
the swamp, and took the course of the pine trees, as I could easily
distinguish by my ears.
When they were gone, I advanced to the end of the road, and sat down
upon a log, to listen to their progress through the swamp. At length, it
seemed that they had stopped, for I no longer heard any thing of them.
Anxious, however, to ascertain more of this mysterious business, I
remained in silence on the log, determined to stay there until day, if I
could not sooner learn something to satisfy me. Why these men had gone
into the swamp. All uncertainty upon this subject was, however, quickly
removed from my mind; for within less than ten minutes, after I had
ceased to hear them moving in the thicket, I was shocked by the faint,
but shrill wailings of a female voice, accompanied with exclamations and
supplications, in a tone so feeble that I could only distinguish a few
solitary words.
My mind comprehended the whole ground of this matter, at a glance. The
lady supposed to have been murdered on Sunday evening, was still living;
and concealed by the two fiends who had passed out of my sight but a few
minutes before. The one I knew, for I had examined his features, within
a few feet of me, in the full light of the moon; and, that the other was
Hardy, I was as perfectly convinced, as if I had seen him also.
I now rose to return home; the cries of the female in the swamp still
continuing, but growing weaker, and dying away, as I receded from the
place where I had sat.
I was now in possession of the clearest evidence of the guilt of the two
murderers; but I was afraid to communicate my knowledge to my master,
lest he should suspect me of being an accomplice in this crime; and, if
the lady could not be recovered alive, I had no doubt that Hardy and his
companion were sufficiently depraved to charge me as a participation
with themselves, to be avenged upon me. I was confident that the
mulatto, David, would return to the house before day, and be found in
his bed in the morning; which he could easily do, for he slept in a part
of the stable loft; under pretence of being near the horses of his
mistress.
I thought it possible, that Hardy might also return home that night, and
endeavor to account for his absence from home on Monday afternoon, by
some ingenious lie; in the invention of which I knew him to be very
expert. In this case, I saw that I should have to run the risk of being
overpowered by the number of my false accusers; and, as I stood alone,
they might yet be able to sacrifice my life, and escape the punishment
due to their crimes. After much consideration, I came to the resolution
of returning, as quick as possible, to the quarter--calling up the
overseer--and acquainting him with all that I had seen, heard, and done,
in the course of this night.
As I did not know what time of night it was when I left my bed, I was
apprehensive that day might break before I could so far mature my plans
as to have persons to waylay and arrest the mulatto on his return home;
but when I roused the overseer, he told me it was only one o'clock, and
seemed but little inclined to credit my story; but, after talking to me
several minutes he told me he, now more than ever, suspected me to be
the murderer, but he would go with me and see if I had told the truth.
When we arrived at the great house, some members of the family had not
yet gone to bed, having been kept up by the arrival of several gentlemen
who had been searching the woods all day for the lost lady, and who had
come here to seek lodgings when it was near midnight. My master was in
bed, but was called up and listened attentively to my story--at the
close of which he shook his head, and said with an oath, "You ----, I
believe you to be the murderer; but we will go and see if all you say is
a lie; if it is, the torments of ---- will be pleasure to what awaits
you. You have escaped once, but you will not get off a second time," I
now found that somebody must die; and if the guilty could not be found,
the innocent would have to atone for them. The manner in which my master
had delivered his words, assured me that the life of somebody must be
taken.
This new danger aroused my energies--and I told them that I was ready to
go, and take the consequences. Accordingly, the overseer, my young
master, and three other gentlemen, immediately set out with me. It was
agreed that we should all travel on foot, the overseer and I going a few
paces in advance of the others. We proceeded silently, but rapidly, on
our way; and as we passed it, I showed them the place where I sat under
the holly bush, when the mulatto passed me. We neither saw nor heard any
person on the road, and reached the log at the end of the cart-road,
where I sat when I heard the cries in the swamp. All was now quiet, and
our party lay down in the bushes on each side of a large gum tree, at
the root of which the two murderers stood when they talked together,
before they entered the thicket. We had not been here more than an hour,
when I heard, as I lay with my head near the ground, a noise in the
swamp, which I believed could only be made by those whom we sought.
I, however, said nothing, and the gentlemen did not hear it. It was
caused, as I afterwards ascertained, by dragging the fallen branch of a
tree along the ground, for the purpose of lighting the fire.
The night was very clear and serene--its silence only being broken at
intervals by the loud hooting of the great long-eared owls, which are
numerous in these swamps. I felt oppressed by the cold, and was glad to
hear the crowing of a cock, at a great distance, announcing the approach
of day. This was followed, after a short interval, by the cracking of
sticks, and by other tokens, which I knew could proceed only from the
motions of living bodies. I now whispered to the overseer, who lay near
me, that it would soon appear whether I had spoken the truth or not.
All were now satisfied that people were coming out of the swamp, for we
heard them speak to each other. I desired the overseer to advise the
other gentlemen to let the culprits come out of the swamp, and gain the
high ground, before we attempted to seize them; but this counsel was,
unfortunately, not taken; and when they came near to the gum tree, and
it could be clearly seen that there were two men and no more, one of the
gentlemen called out to them to stop, or they were dead. Instead,
however, of stopping, they both sprang forward, and took to flight. They
did not turn into the swamp, for the gentleman who ordered them to stop,
was in their rear--they having already passed him. At the moment they
had started to run, each of the gentlemen fired two pistols at them. The
pistols made the forest ring on all sides; and I supposed it was
impossible for either of the fugitives to escape from so many balls.
This was, however, not the case; for only one of them was injured. The
mulatto, David, had one arm and one leg broken, and fell about ten yards
from us; but Hardy escaped, and when the smoke cleared away, he was
nowhere to be seen. On being interrogated, David acknowledged that the
lady was in the swamp, on a small island, and was yet alive--that he and
Hardy had gone from the house on Sunday, for the purpose of waylaying
and carrying her off, and intended to kill her little brother--this part
of the duty being assigned to him, whilst Hardy was to drag the sister
from her horse. As they were both mulattos, they blacked their faces
with charcoal, taken from a pine stump partially burned. The boy was
riding before his sister, and when Hardy seized her and dragged her from
her horse, she screamed and frightened both the horses, which took off
at full speed, by which means the boy escaped. Finding that the boy was
out of his reach, David remained in the bushes until Hardy brought the
sister to him. They immediately tied a handkerchief round her face, so
as to cover her mouth and stifle her shrieks; and taking her in their
arms, carried her back toward my master's house, for some distance,
through the woods, until they came to the cart-road leading along the
swamp. They then followed this road as far as it led, and, turning into
the swamp, took their victim to a place they had prepared for her the
Sunday before, on a small knoll in the swamp, where the ground was dry.
Her hands were closely confined, and she was tied by the feet to a tree.
He said he had stolen some bread, and taken it to her that night; but
when they unbound her mouth to permit her to eat, she only wept and made
a noise, begging them to release her, until they were obliged again to
bandage her mouth.
It was now determined by the gentlemen, that as the lady was still
alive, we ought not to lose a moment in endeavoring to rescue her from
her dreadful situation. I pointed out the large pine trees, in the
direction of which I heard the cries of the young lady, and near which I
believed she was--undertaking, at the same time, to act as pilot, in
penetrating the thicket. Three of the gentlemen and myself accordingly
set out, leaving the other two with the wounded mulatto with directions
to inform us when we deviated from a right line to the pine trees. This
they were able to do by attending to the noise we made, with nearly as
much accuracy as if they had seen us.
The atmosphere had now become a little cloudy, and the morning was very
dark, even in the oak woods; but when we had entered the thickets of the
swamp, all objects became utterly invisible; and the obscurity was as
total as if our eyes had been closed. Our companions on the dry ground
lost sight of the pine trees, and could not give us any directions in
our journey. We became entangled in briers, and vines, and mats of
bushes, from which the greatest exertions were necessary to disengage
ourselves.
It was so dark, that we could not see the fallen trees; and, missing
these, fell into quagmires, and sloughs of mud and water, into which we
sunk up to the arm-pits, and from which we were able to extricate
ourselves, only by seizing upon the hanging branches of the surrounding
trees. After struggling in this half-drowned condition, for at least a
quarter of an hour, we reached a small dry spot, where the gentlemen
again held a council, as to ulterior measures. They called to those left
on the shore, to know if we were proceeding toward the pine trees; but
received for answer that the pines were invisible, and they knew not
whether we were right or wrong. In this state of uncertainty, it was
thought most prudent to wait the coming of day, in our present
resting-place.
The air was frosty, and in our wet clothes, loaded as we were with mud,
it may be imagined that our feelings were not pleasant; and when the day
broke, it brought us but little relief, for we found, as soon as it was
light enough to enable us to see around, that we were on one of those
insulated dry spots, called "_tussocks_" by the people of the South.
These _tussocks_ are formed by clusters of small trees, which, taking
root in the mud, are, in process of time, surrounded by long grass,
which, entwining its roots with those of the trees, overspread and cover
the surface of the muddy foundation, by which the superstructure is
supported. These _tussocks_ are often several yards in diameter. That
upon which we now were, stood in the midst of a great miry pool, into
which we were again obliged to launch ourselves, and struggle onward for
a distance of ten yards, before we reached the line of some fallen and
decaying trees.
It was now broad daylight, and we saw the pine trees, at the distance of
about a hundred yards from us; but even with the assistance of the
light, we had great difficulty in reaching them,--to do which we were
compelled to travel at least a quarter of a mile by the angles and
curves of the fallen timber, upon which alone we could walk; this part
of the swamp being a vast half-fluid bog.
It was sunrise when we reached the pines, which we found standing upon a
small islet of firm ground, containing, as well as I could judge, about
half an acre, covered with a heavy growth of white maples, swamp oaks, a
few large pines, and a vast mat of swamp laurel, called in the South
_ivy_. I had no doubt that the object of our search was somewhere on
this little island; but small as it was, it was no trifling affair to
give every part of it a minute examination, for the stems and branches
of the ivy were so minutely inter-woven with each other, and spread
along the ground in so many curves and crossings, that it was impossible
to proceed a single rod without lying down and creeping along the earth.
The gentlemen agreed, that if any one discovered the young lady, he
should immediately call to the others; and we all entered the thicket.
I, however, turned along the edge of the island, with the intention of
making its circuit, for the purpose of tracing, if possible, the
footsteps of those who had passed between it and the main shore. I made
my way more than half round the island, without much difficulty, and
without discovering any signs of persons having been here before me; but
in crossing the trunk of a large tree which had fallen, and the top of
which extended far into the ivy, I perceived some stains of mud on the
bark of the log. Looking into the swamp, I saw that the root of this
tree was connected with other fallen timber, extending beyond the reach
of my vision, which was obstructed by the bramble of the swamp, and the
numerous evergreens growing here. I now advanced along the trunk of the
tree until I reached its topmost branches, and here discovered evident
signs of a small trail, leading into the thicket of ivy. Creeping along
and following this trail by the small bearberry bushes that had been
trampled down and had not again risen to an erect position, I was led
almost across the island, and found that the small bushes were
discomposed quite up to the edge of a vast heap of the branches of
evergreen trees, produced by the falling of several large juniper
cypress trees, which grew in the swamp in a cluster, and having been
blown down, had fallen with their tops athwart each other, and upon the
almost impervious mat of ivies, with which the surface of the island
was coated over.
I stood and looked at this mass of entangled green bush, but could not
perceive the slightest marks of any entrance into its labyrinths; nor
did it seem possible for any creature, larger than a squirrel, to
penetrate it. It now for the first time struck me as a great oversight
in the gentlemen, that they had not compelled the mulatto, David, to
describe the place where they had concealed the lady; and, as the forest
was so dense that no communication could be had with the shore, either
by word or signs, we could not now procure any information on this
subject. I therefore called to the gentlemen, who were on the island
with me, and desired them to come to me without delay.
Small as this island was, it was after the lapse of many minutes that
the overseer and the other gentlemen arrived where I stood; and when
they came, they would have been the subjects of mirthful emotions, had
not the tragic circumstances in which I was placed, banished from my
heart every feeling but that of the most profound melancholy.
When the gentlemen had assembled, I informed them of signs of footsteps
that I had traced from the other side of the island; and told them that
I believed the young lady lay somewhere under the heap of brushwood
before us. This opinion obtained but little credit, because there was no
opening in the brush by which any one could enter it; but on going a few
paces round the heap, I perceived a small, snaggy pole resting on the
brush, and nearly concealed by it, with the lower end stuck in the
ground. The branches had been cut from this pole at the distance of
three or four inches from the main stem, which made it a tolerable
substitute for a ladder. I immediately ascended the pole, which led me
to the top of the pile, and here I discovered an opening in the brush,
between the forked top of one of the cypress trees, through which a man
might easily pass. Applying my head to this aperture, I distinctly heard
a quick and laborious breathing, like that of a person in extreme
illness; and again called the gentlemen to follow me.
When they came up the ladder, the breathing was audible to all; and one
of the gentlemen, whom I now perceived to be the stranger, who was with
us in my master's cellar, when I was bled, slid down into the dark and
narrow passage, without uttering a word. I confess that some feelings of
trepidation passed through my nerves when I stood alone; but now that a
leader had preceded me, I followed, and glided through the smooth and
elastic cypress tops, to the bottom of this vast labyrinth of green
boughs.
When I reached the ground, I found myself in contact with the gentleman
who was in advance of me, and near one end of a large concave, oblong,
open space, formed by the branches of the trees, having been supported
and kept above the ground, partly by a cluster of very large and strong
ivies, that grew here, and partly by a young gum tree, which had been
bent into the form of an arch by the falling timber.
Though we could not see into this leafy cavern from above, yet when we
had been in it a few moments, we had light enough to see the objects
around us with tolerable clearness; but that which surprised us both
greatly was, that the place was totally silent, and we could not
perceive the appearance of any living thing, except ourselves.
After we had been here some minutes, our vision became still more
distinct; and I saw, at the other end of the open space, ashes of wood,
and some extinguished brands, but there was no smoke. Going to these
ashes, and stirring them with a stick, I found coals of fire carefully
covered over, in a hole six or eight inches deep.
When he saw the fire, the gentleman spoke to me, and expressed his
astonishment that we heard the breathing no longer; but he had scarcely
uttered these words, when a faint groan, as of a woman in great pain,
was heard to issue apparently from the ground; but a motion of branches
on our right assured me that the sufferer was concealed there. The
gentleman sprung to the spot, pushed aside the pendant boughs, stooped
low beneath the bent ivies, and came out, bearing in his hands a
delicate female figure. As he turned round, and exposed her half-closed
eye and white forehead to the light, he exclaimed, "Eternal God! Maria,
is it you?" He then pressed her to his bosom, and sunk upon the ground,
still holding her closely in his embrace.
The lady lay motionless in his arms, and I thought she was dead. Her
hair hung matted and dishevelled from her head; a handkerchief, once
white, but now soiled with dust, and stained with blood, was bound
firmly round her head, covering her mouth and chin, and was fastened at
the back of the neck, by a double knot, and secured by a ligature of
cypress bark.
I knew not whom most to pity--the lady, who now lay insensible in the
arms that still clasped her tenderly; or the unhappy gentleman, who
having cut the cords from her limbs, and the handkerchief from her face,
now sat and silently gazed upon her death-like countenance. He uttered
not a sigh, and moved not a joint, but his breast heaved with agony; the
sinews and muscles of his neck rose and fell, like those of a man in
convulsions; all the lineaments of his face were, alternately,
contracted and expanded, as if his last moments were at hand; whilst
great drops of sweat rolled down his forehead, as though he struggled
against an enemy whose strength was more than human.
Oppressed by the sight of so much wretchedness, I turned from its
contemplation, and called aloud to the gentlemen without (who had all
this time been waiting to hear from us) to come up the ladder to the top
of the pile of boughs. The overseer was quickly at the top of the
opening, by which I had descended; and I now informed him that we had
found the lady. He ordered me to hand her up--and I desired the
gentleman who was with me to permit me to do so, but this he
refused--and mounting the boughs of the fallen trees, and supporting
himself by the strong branches of the ivies, he quickly reached the
place where the overseer stood.
He even here refused to part from his charge, but bore her down the
ladder alone. He was, however, obliged to accept aid, in conveying her
through the swamp to the place where we had left the two gentlemen with
the wounded mulatto, whose sufferings, demon as he was, were sufficient
to move the hardest heart. His right arm and left leg were broken, and
he had lost much blood before we returned from the island; and as he
could not walk, it was necessary to carry him home. We had not brought
any horses, and until the lady was recovered, no one seemed to think any
more about the mulatto after he was shot down.
It was proposed to send for a horse to take David home; but it was
finally agreed that we should leave him in the woods, where he was,
until a man could be sent for him with a cart. At the time we left him,
his groans and lamentations seemed to excite no sympathy in the breast
of any. More cruel sufferings yet awaited him.
The lady was carried home in the arms of the gentlemen; and she did not
speak, until after she was bathed and put to bed in my master's house,
as I afterwards heard. I know she did not speak on the way. She died on
the fourth day after her rescue, and before her death related the
circumstances of her misfortune, as I was told by a colored woman, who
attended her in her illness, in the following manner:
As she was riding in the dusk of the evening, at a rapid trot, a few
yards behind her brother, a black man sprang from behind a tree standing
close by the side of the road; seized her by her riding dress, and
dragged her to the ground, but failed to catch the bridle of the horse,
which sprang off at full speed.--Another negro immediately came to the
aid of the first, and said, "I could not catch him--we must make haste."
They carried her as fast as they could go to the place where we found
her, when they bound her hands, feet and mouth, and left her until the
next night; and had left her the second morning, only a few minutes,
when she heard the report of guns. Soon after this, by great efforts,
she extricated one of her feet from the bark with which she was bound;
but finding herself too weak to stand, she crawled, as far as she could,
under the boughs of the trees, hoping that when her assassins returned
again they would not be able to find her, and that she might there die
alone.
Exhausted by the efforts she had made to remove herself, she fell into
the stupor of sleep, from which she was aroused by the noise we made
when we descended into the cavern. She then, supposing us to be her
destroyers returned again, lay still, and breathed as softly as
possible, to prevent us from hearing her; but when she heard the voice
of the gentleman who was with me, the tones of which were familiar to
her, she groaned and moved her feet, to let us know where she was. This
exertion, and the idea of her horrid condition, overcame the strength of
her nerves; and when her deliverer raised her from the ground she had
swooned, and was unconscious of all things.
We had no sooner arrived at the house, than inquiry was made for Hardy;
but it was ascertained in the kitchen, that he had not been seen since
the previous evening, at night-fall, when he had left the kitchen for
the purpose of going to sleep at the stable with David, as he had told
one of the black women; and preparation was immediately made to go in
pursuit of him.
For this purpose all the gentlemen present equipped themselves with
pistols, fowling pieces, and horns--such as are used by fox hunters.
Messengers were despatched round the country, to give notice to all the
planters, within the distance of many miles, of the crime that had been
committed, and of the escape of one of its perpetrators, with a request
to them to come without delay, and join in the pursuit, intended to be
given. Those who had dogs, trained to chase thieves, were desired to
bring them; and a gentleman who lived twelve miles off, and who owned a
blood-hound, was sent for, and requested to come with his dog, in all
haste.
In consequence, I suppose, of the information I had given, I was
permitted to be present at these deliberations, and though my advice was
not asked, I was often interrogated, concerning my knowledge of the
affair. Some proposed to go at once, with dogs and horses, into the
woods, and traverse the swamp and thickets, for the purpose of rousing
Hardy from the place of concealment he might have chosen; but the
opinion of the overseer prevailed, who thought, that from the intimate
knowledge possessed by him, of all the swamps and coverts in the
neighborhood, there would be little hope of discovering him in this
manner. The overseer advised them to wait the coming of the gentleman
with his blood-hound, before they entered the woods; for the reason,
that if the blood hound could be made to take the trail, he would
certainly find his game, before he quit it, if not thrown off the scent
by the men, horses, and dogs crossing his course; but if the blood hound
could not take the scent, they might then adopt the proposed plan of
pursuit, with as much success as at present. This counsel being adopted,
the horses were ordered into the stable; and the gentlemen entered the
house to take their breakfast, and wait the arrival of the blood hound.
Nothing was said of the mulatto, David, who seemed to be forgotten--not
a word being spoken by any one of bringing him from the woods. I knew
that he was suffering the most agonizing pains, and great as were his
crimes, his groans and cries of anguish still seemed to echo in my ears;
but I was afraid to make any application in his behalf, lest, even yet,
I might be suspected of some participation in his offences; for I knew
that the most horrid punishments were often inflicted upon slaves merely
on suspicion.
As the morning advanced, the number of men and horses in front of my
master's mansion increased; and before ten o'clock I think there were,
at least, fifty of each--the horses standing hitched and the men
conversing in groups without, or assembled together within the house.
At length the owner of the blood hound came, bringing with him his dog,
in a chaise, drawn by one horse. The harness was removed from the horse,
its place supplied by a saddle and bridle, and the whole party set off
for the woods. As they rode away, my master, who was one of the company,
told me to follow them; but we had proceeded only a little distance,
when the gentlemen stopped, and my master, after speaking with the owner
of the dog, told the overseer to go back to the house, and get some
piece of the clothes of Hardy, that had been worn by him lately. The
overseer returned, and we all proceeded forward to the place where David
lay.
We found him where we had left him, greatly weakened by the loss of
blood, and complaining that the cold air caused his wounds to smart
intolerably. When I came near him, he looked at me and told me I had
betrayed him. None of the gentlemen seemed at all moved by his
sufferings, and when any of them spoke to him it was with derision, and
every epithet of scorn and contumely. As it was apparent that he could
not escape, no one proposed to remove him to a place of greater safety;
but several of the horsemen, as they passed, lashed him with the thongs
of their whips; but I do not believe he felt these blows--the pain he
endured from his wounds being so great as to drown the sensation of such
minor afflictions.
The day had already become warm, although the night had been cold; the
sun shone with great clearness, and many carrion crows, attracted by the
scent of blood, were perched upon the trees near where we now were.
When the overseer came up with us, he brought an old blanket, in which
Hardy had slept for some time, and handed it to the owner of the dog;
who, having first caused the hound to smell of the blanket, untied the
cord in which he had been led, and turned him into the woods. The dog
went from us fifty or sixty yards, in a right line, then made a circle
around us, again commenced his circular movement, and pursued it nearly
half round. Then he dropped his nose to the ground, snuffed the tainted
surface, and moved off through the wood slowly, almost touching the
earth with his nose. The owner of the dog and twelve or fifteen others
followed him, whilst the residue of the party dispersed themselves along
the edge of the swamp, and the overseer ordered me to stay and watch the
horses of those who dismounted, going himself on foot in the pursuit.
When the gentlemen were all gone out of sight, I went to David, who lay
all this time within my view, for the purpose of asking him if I could
render him any assistance. He begged me to bring him some water, as he
was dying of thirst, no less than with the pain of his wounds. One of
the horsemen had left a large tin horn hanging on his saddle; this I
took, and stopping the small end closely with leaves, filled it with
water from the swamp, and gave it to the wounded man, who drank it, and
then turning his head towards me, said:--"Hardy and I had laid a plan to
have this thing brought upon you, and to have you hung for it--but you
have escaped." He then asked me if they intended to leave him to die in
the woods, or to take him home and hang him. I told him I had heard them
talk of taking him home in a cart, but what was to be done with him I
did not know. I felt a horror of the crimes committed by this man; was
pained by the sight of his sufferings, and being unable to relieve the
one, or to forgive the other, went to a place where I could neither see
nor hear him, and sat down to await the return of those who had gone in
the pursuit of Hardy.
In the circumstances which surrounded me, it cannot be supposed that my
feelings were pleasant, or that time moved very fleetly; but painful as
my situation was, I was obliged to bear it for many hours. From the time
the gentlemen left me, I neither saw nor heard them, until late in the
afternoon, when five or six of them returned, having lost their
companions in the woods.
Toward sundown, I heard a great noise of horns blown, and of men
shouting at a distance in the forest; and soon after, my master, the
owner of the blood hound, and many others returned, bringing with them
Hardy, whom the hound had followed ten or twelve miles through the
swamps and thickets; had at last caught him, and would soon have killed
him, had he not been compelled to relinquish his prey. When the party
had all returned, a kind of court was held in the woods, where we then
were, for the purpose of determining what punishment should be inflicted
upon Hardy and David. All agreed at once, that an example of the most
terrific character ought to be made of such atrocious villains, and that
it would defeat the ends of justice to deliver these fellows up to the
civil authority, to be hanged like common murderers. The next measure
was to settle upon the kind of punishment to be inflicted upon them, and
the manner of executing the sentence.
Hardy was, all this time, sitting on the ground covered with blood, and
yet bleeding profusely, in hearing of his inexorable judges. The dog had
mangled both his arms and hands in a shocking manner; torn a large piece
of flesh entirely away from one side of his breast, and sunk his fangs
deep in the side of his neck. No other human creature that I have ever
seen presented a more deplorable spectacle of mingled crime and cruelty.
It was now growing late, and the fate of these miserable men was to be
decided before the company separated to go to their several homes. One
proposed to burn them, another to flay them alive, and a third to starve
them to death, and many other modes of slowly and tormentingly
extinguishing life were named; but that which was finally adopted was,
of all others, the most horrible. The wretches were unanimously
sentenced to be stripped naked, and bound down securely upon their
backs, on the naked earth, in sight of each other; to have their mouths
closely covered with bandages, to prevent them from making a noise to
frighten away the birds, and in this manner to be left to be devoured
alive by the carrion crows and buzzards, which swarm in every part of
South Carolina.
The sentence was instantly carried into effect, so far as its execution
depended on us. Hardy and his companion were divested of their clothes,
stretched upon their backs on the ground; their mouths bandaged with
handkerchiefs--their limbs extended--and these, together with their
necks, being crossed by numerous poles, were kept close to the earth by
forked sticks driven into the ground, so as to prevent the possibility
of moving any part of their persons; and in this manner these wicked men
were left to be torn in pieces by birds of prey. The buzzards and
carrion crows, always attack dead bodies by pulling out and consuming
the eyes first. They then tear open the bowels, and feed upon the
intestines.
We returned to my master's plantation, and I did not see this place
again until the next Sunday, when several of my fellow slaves went with
me to see the remains of the dead, but we found only their bones. Great
flocks of buzzards and carrion crows were assembled in the trees, giving
a dismal aspect to the woods; and I hastened to abandon a place fraught
with so many afflicting recollections.
The lady, who had been the innocent sacrifice of the brutality of the
men, whose bones I had seen bleaching in the sun, had died on Saturday
evening, and her corpse was buried on Monday, in a grave-yard on my
master's plantation. I have never seen a large cotton plantation, in
Carolina, without its burying ground. This burying ground is not only
the place of sepulture of the family, who are the proprietors of the
estate, but also of many other persons who have lived in the
neighborhood. Half an acre, or an acre of ground, is appropriated as a
grave-yard, on one side of which the proprietors of the estate, from age
to age, are buried; whilst the other parts of the ground are open to
strangers, poor people of their vicinity, and, in general, to all who
choose to inter their dead within its boundaries. This custom prevails
as far north as Maryland; and it seems to me to be much more consonant
to the feelings of solitude and tender recollections, which we always
associate with the memory of departed friends, than the practice of
promiscuous interment in a church-yard, where all idea of seclusion is
banished, by the last home of the dead being thrown open to the rude
intrusions of strangers; where the sanctity of the sepulchre is treated
as a common, and where the grave itself is, in a few years, torn up, or
covered over, to form a temporary resting-place for some new tenant.
The family of the deceased lady, though not very wealthy, was amongst
the most ancient and respectable in this part of the country; and, on
Sunday, whilst the dead body lay in my master's house, there was a
continual influx and efflux of visiters, in carriages, on horse-back,
and on foot. The house was open to all who chose to come; and the best
wines, cakes, sweetmeats and fruits, were handed about to the company by
the servants; though I observed that none remained for dinner, except
the relations of the deceased, those of my master's family, and the
young gentleman who was with me on the island. The visiters remained but
a short time when they came, and were nearly all in mourning. This was
the first time that I had seen a large number of the fashionable people
of Carolina assembled together, and their appearance impressed me with
an opinion favorable to their character. I had never seen an equal
number of people anywhere, whose deportment was more orderly and
decorous, nor whose feelings seemed to be more in accordance with the
solemnity of the event, which had brought them together.
I had been ordered by the overseer to remain at the great house until
the afternoon, for the purpose, as I afterwards learned, of being seen
by those who came to see the corpse; and many of the ladies and
gentlemen inquired for me, and when I was pointed out to them, commended
my conduct and fidelity, in discovering the authors of the
murder--condoled with me for having suffered innocently, and several
gave me money. One old lady, who came in a pretty carriage, drawn by two
black horses, gave me a dollar.
On Monday the funeral took place, and several hundred persons followed
the corpse to the grave, over which a minister delivered a short sermon.
The young gentleman who was with me when we found the deceased on the
island, walked with her mother to the grave-yard, and the little brother
followed, with a younger sister.
After the interment, wines and refreshments were handed round to the
whole assembly, and at least a hundred persons remained for dinner with
my master's family. At four o'clock in the afternoon the carriages and
horses were ordered to the door of the court-yard of the house, and the
company retired. At sundown, the plantation was as quiet as if its peace
had never been disturbed.