THE death of Dr. Morton, on the third day of his illness, came like
a shock upon his wife and daughters. The corpse had scarcely been
committed to its mother earth before new and unforeseen difficulties
appeared to them. By the laws of the Slave States, the children follow
the condition of their mother. If the mother is free, the children are
free; if a slave, the children are slaves. Being unacquainted with the
Southern code, and no one presuming that Marion had any negro blood in
her veins, Dr. Morton had not given the subject a single thought. The
woman whom he loved and regarded as his wife was, after all, nothing
more than a slave by the laws of the State. What would have been his
feelings had he known that at his death his wife and children would
be considered as his property? Yet such was the case. Like most men of
means at that time, Dr. Morton was deeply engaged in speculation, and
though generally considered wealthy, was very much involved in his
business affairs.
After the disease with which Dr. Morton had so suddenly died had to some
extent subsided, Mr. James Morton, a brother of the deceased, went
to New Orleans to settle up the estate. On his arrival there, he was
pleased with and felt proud of his nieces, and invited them to return
with him to Vermont, little dreaming that his brother had married a
slave, and that his widow and daughters would be claimed as such. The
girls themselves had never heard that their mother had been a slave, and
therefore knew nothing of the danger hanging over their heads.
An inventory of the property of the deceased was made out by Mr. Morton,
and placed in the hands of the creditors. These preliminaries being
arranged, the ladies, with their relative, concluded to leave the city
and reside for a few days on the banks of Lake Ponchartrain, where they
could enjoy a fresh air that the city did not afford. As they were
about taking the cars, however, an officer arrested the whole party--the
ladies as slaves, and the gentleman upon the charge of attempting to
conceal the property of his deceased brother. Mr. Morton was overwhelmed
with horror at the idea of his nieces being claimed as slaves, and asked
for time, that he might save them from such a fate. He even offered
to mortgage his little farm in Vermont for the amount which young
slave-women of their ages would fetch. But the creditors pleaded that
they were an “extra article,” and would sell for more than common
slaves, and must therefore be sold at auction.
The uncle was therefore compelled to give them up to the officers of the
law, and they were separated from him. Jane, the oldest of the girls, as
we have before mentioned, was very handsome, bearing a close resemblance
to her cousin Clotelle. Alreka, though not as handsome as her sister,
was nevertheless a beautiful girl, and both had all the accomplishments
that wealth and station could procure.
Though only in her fifteen year, Alreka had become strongly attached to
Volney Lapie, a young Frenchman, a student in her father's office. This
attachment was reciprocated, although the poverty of the young man and
the extreme youth of the girl had caused their feelings to be kept from
the young lady's parents.
The day of sale came, and Mr. Morton attended, with the hope that either
the magnanimity of the creditors or his own little farm in Vermont might
save his nieces from the fate that awaited them. His hope, however, was
in vain. The feelings of all present seemed to be lost in the general
wish to become the possessor of the young ladies, who stood trembling,
blushing, and weeping as the numerous throng gazed at them, or as the
intended purchaser examined the graceful proportions of their fair and
beautiful frames. Neither the presence of the uncle nor young Lapie
could at all lessen the gross language of the officers, or stay the rude
hands of those who wishes to examine the property thus offered for sale.
After a fierce contest between the bidders, the girls were sold, one for
two thousand three hundred, and the other for two thousand three hundred
and fifty dollars. Had these girls been bought for servants only, they
would in all probability have brought not more than nine hundred or a
thousand dollars each. Here were two beautiful young girls, accustomed
to the fondest indulgence, surrounded by all the refinements of life,
and with the timidity and gentleness which such a life would naturally
produce, bartered away like cattle in the markets of Smithfield or New
York.
The mother, who was also to have been sold, happily followed her husband
to the grave, and was spared the pangs of a broken heart.
The purchaser of the young ladies left the market in triumph, and the
uncle, with a heavy heart, started for his New England home, with no
earthly prospect of ever beholding his nieces again.
The seizure of the young ladies as slaves was the result of the
administrator's having found among Dr. Morton's papers the bill-of-sale
of Marion which he had taken when he purchased her. He had doubtless
intended to liberate her when he married her, but had neglected from
time to time to have the proper papers made out. Sad was the result of
this negligence.