FOOD;

Suffering from hunger;

Rations in the U.S. Army, &c;

Prison rations;

Testimony.

LABOR;

Slaves are overworked;

Witnesses;

Henry Clay;

Child-bearing prevented;

Dr. Channing;

Sacrifice of a set of hands every seven years;

Testimony;

Laws of Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, South Carolina, and Virginia.

CLOTHING;

Witnesses;

Advertisements;

Testimony;

Field-hands;

Nudity of slaves;

John Randolph's legacy to Essex and Hetty.

DWELLINGS;

Witnesses;

Slaves are wretchedly sheltered and lodged.

TREATMENT OF THE SICK.

PERSONAL NARRATIVES, PART II.

TESTIMONY of the REV. WILLIAM T. ALLAN;

Woman delivered of a dead child, being whipped;

Slaves shot by Hilton;

Cruelties to slaves;

Whipping post;

Assaults, and maimings;

Murders;

Puryear, "the Devil,";

Overseers always armed;

Licentiousness of Overseers;

"Bend your backs";

Mrs. H., a Presbyterian, desirous to cut Arthur Tappan's throat;

Clothing, Huts, and Herding of slaves;

Iron yokes with prongs;

Marriage unknown among slaves;

Presbyterian minister at Huntsville;

Concubinage in Preacher's house;

Slavery, the great wrong.

NARRATIVE of WILLIAM LEFTWICH;

Slave's life.

TESTIMONY of LEMUEL SAPINGTON;

Nakedness of slaves;

Traffic in slaves.

TESTIMONY of MRS. LOWRY;

Long, a professor of religion killed three men;

Salt water applied to wounds to keep them from putrefaction.

TESTIMONY of WILLIAM C. GILDERSLEEVE;

Acts of cruelty.

TESTIMONY of HIRAM WHITE;

Woman with a child chained to her neck;

Amalgamation, and mulatto children.

TESTIMONY of JOHN M. NELSON;

Rev. Conrad Speece influenced Alexander Nelson when dying not to

emancipate his slaves;

George Bourne opposed Slavery in 1810.

TESTIMONY of ANGELINA GRIMKÉ WELD;

House-servants;

Slave-driving female professors of religion at Charleston, S.C.;

Whipping women and prayer in the same room;

Tread-mills;

_Slaveholding religion_;

Slave-driving mistress prayed for the divine blessing upon her

whipping of an aged woman;

Girl killed with impunity;

Jewish law;

Barbarities;

Medical attendance upon slaves;

Young man beaten to epilepsy and insanity;

Mistresses flog their slaves;

Blood-bought luxuries;

Borrowing of slaves;

Meals of slaves;

All comfort of slaves disregarded;

Severance of companion lovers;

Separation of parents and children;

Slave espionage;

Sufferings of slaves;

Horrors of slavery indescribable.

TESTIMONY of CRUELTY INFLICTED UPON SLAVES;

Colonization Society;

Emancipation Society of North Carolina;

Kentucky.

PUNISHMENTS;

Floggings;

Witnesses and Testimony.

SLAVE DRIVING;

Droves of slaves.

CRUELTY TO SLAVES;

Slaves like Stock without a shelter;

"Six pound paddle."

TORTURES OF SLAVES.

Iron collars, chains, fetters, and hand-cuffs;

Advertisements for fugitive slaves;

Testimony;

Iron head-frame;

Chain coffles;

Droves of 'human cattle';

Washington, the National slave market;

Testimony of James K. Paulding, Secretary of the Navy;

_Literary fraud and pretended prophecy_ by Mr. Paulding;

Brandings, Maimings, and Gun-shot wounds;

Witnesses and Testimony;

Mr. Sevier, senator of the U.S.;

Judge Hitchcock, of Mobile;

Commendable fidelity to truth in the advertisements of slaveholders;

Thomas Aylethorpe cut off a slave's ear, and sent it to Lewis Tappan;

Advertisements for runaway slaves with their teeth mutilated;

Excessive cruelty to slaves;

Slaves burned alive;

Mr. Turner, a slave-butcher;

Slaves roasted and flogged;

Cruelties common;

Fugitive slaves;

Slaves forced to eat tobacco worms;

Baptist Christians escaping from slavery;

Christian whipped for praying;

James K. Paulding's testimony;

Slave driven to death;

Coroner's inquest on Harney's murdered female slave;

Man-stealing encouraged by law;

Trial for a murdered slave;

Female slave whipped to death, and during the torture delivered of

a dead infant;

Slaves murdered;

Slave driven to death;

Slaves killed with impunity;

George, a slave, chopped piece-meal, and burnt by Lilburn Lewis;

Retributive justice in the awful death of Lilburn Lewis;

Trial of Isham Lewis, a slave murderer.

PERSONAL NARRATIVES.--PART III.

NARRATIVE OF REV. FRANCIS HAWLEY;

Plantations;

Overseers;

No appeal from Overseers to Masters.

CLOTHING;

Nudity of slaves.

WORK;

Cotton-picking;

Mothers of slaves;

Presbyterian minister killed his slave;

Methodist colored preacher hung;

Licentiousness;

Slave-traffic;

Night in a Slaveholder's house;

Twelve slaves murdered;

Slave driving Baptist preachers;

Hunting of runaways slaves;

Amalgamation.

TESTIMONY OF REUBEN C. MACY, AND RICHARD MACY.

Whipping of slaves.

Testimony of Eleazer Powel;

Overseer of Hinds Stuart, shot a slave for opposing the torture of

his female companion.

TESTIMONY OF REV. WILLIAM SCALES.

Three slaves murdered with impunity;

Separation of lovers, parents, and children.

TESTIMONY OF JOS. IDE. Mrs. T.

a Presbyterian kind woman-killer;

Female slave whipped to death;

Food;

Nakedness of slaves;

Old man flogged after praying for his tyrant;

Slave-huts not as comfortable as pig-sties.

TESTIMONY OF REV. PHINEAS SMITH.

Texas;

Suit for the value of slave 'property';

Anson Jones, Ambassador from Texas;

No trial or punishment for the murder of slaves;

Slave-hunting in Texas;

Suffering drives the slaves to despair and suicide.

TESTIMONY OF PHIL'N BLISS.

Ignorance of northern citizens respecting slavery;

Betting upon crops;

Extent and cruelty of the punishment of slaves;

Slaveholders excuse their cruelties by the example of Preachers, and

professors of religion, and Northern citizens;

Novel torture, eulogized by a professor of religion;

Whips as common as the plough;

_Ladies_ use cowhides, with shovel and tongs.

TESTIMONY OF REV. WM. A. CHAPIN.

Slave-labor;

Starvation of slaves;

Slaves lacerated, without clothing, and without food.

TESTIMONY OF T.M. MACY.

Cotton plantations on St. Simon's Island;

Cultivation of rice;

No time for relaxation;

Sabbath a nominal rest;

Clothing;

Flogging.

TESTIMONY OF F.C. MACY.

Slave cabins;

Food;

Whipping every day;

Treatment of slaves as brutes;

Slave-boys fight for slaveholder's amusement;

Amalgamation common.

TESTIMONY OF A CLERGYMAN.

Natchez;

'Lie down,' for whipping;

Slave-hunting;

'Ball and chain' men;

Whipping at the same time, on three plantations;

Hours of Labor;

_Christians_ slave-hunting;

Many runaway slaves annually shot;

Slaves in the stocks;

Slave branding.

CONDITION OF SLAVES.

Slavery is unmixed cruelty;

Fear the only motive of slaves;

Pain is the means, not the end of slave-driving;

Characters of Slave drivers and Overseers, brutal, sensual, and

violent;

Ownership of human beings utterly destroys _their_ comfort.

OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED:

I. Such cruelties are incredible.

Slaves deemed to be working animals, or merchandize; and called

'Stock,' 'Increase,' 'Breeders,' 'Drivers,' 'Property,' 'Human

cattle';

Testimony of Thomas Jefferson;

Slaves worse treated than quadrupeds;

Contrast between the usage of slaves and animals;

Testimony;

Northern incredulity discreditable to consistency;

Religious persecutions;

Recent 'Lynchings,' and Riots, in the United States;

Many outrageous Felonies perpetrated with impunity;

Large faith of the objectors who 'can't believe';

'Doe faces,' and 'Dough faces';

Slave-drivers acknowledge their own enormities;

Slave plantations in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi 'second only

to hell';

Legislature of North Carolina;

Incredulity discreditable to intelligence;

Abuse of power in the state, and churches;

Legal restraints;

American slaveholders possess absolute power;

Slaves deprived of the safe guards of law;

Mutual aversion between the oppressor and the slave;

Cruelty the product of arbitrary power;

Testimony of Thomas Jefferson;

Judge Tucker;

Presbyterian Synod of South Carolina, and Georgia;

General William H. Harrison;

President Edwards;

Montesquieu;

Wilberforce;

Whitbread;

Characters.

OBJECTION II.--"Slaveholders protest that they treat their slaves well."

Not testimony but opinion;

'Good treatment' of slaves;

Novel form of cruelty.

OBJECTION III.--"Slaveholders are proverbial for their kindness, and

generosity."

Hospitality and benevolence contrasted;

Slaveholders in Congress, respecting Texas and Hayti;

'Fictitious kindness and hospitality.'

OBJECTION IV.--"Northern visitors at the south testify that the slaves

are not cruelly treated."

Testimony;

'Gubner poisened';

Field-hands;

Parlor slaves;

Chief Justice Durell.

OBJECTION V.--"It is for the interest of the masters to treat their

slaves well."

Testimony;

Rev. J.N. Maffitt;

Masters interest to treat cruelly the great body of the slaves;

Various classes of slaves;

Hired slaves;

Advertisements.

OBJECTION VI.--"Slaves multiply; a proof that they are not inhumanly

treated, and are in a comfortable condition."

Testimony;

Martin Van Buren;

Foreign slave trade;

'Beware of Kidnappers';

'Citizens sold as slaves';

Kidnapping at New Orleans;

Slave breeders.

OBJECTION VII.--"Public opinion is a protection to the slave."

Decision of the Supreme Court of North and South Carolina;

'Protection of slaves';

Mischievous effects of 'public opinion' concerning slavery;

Laws of different states;

Heart of slaveholders;

Reasons for enacting the laws concerning cruelties to slaves;

'Moderate correction';

Hypocrisy and malignity of slave laws;

Testimony of slaves excluded;

Capital crimes for slaves;

'Slaveholding brutality,' worse than that of Caligula;

Public opinion destroys fundamental rights;

Character of slaveholders' advertisements;

Public opinion is diabolical;

Brutal indecency;

Murder of slaves by law;

Judge Lawless;

Slave-hunting;

Health of slaves;

Acclimation of slaves;

Liberty of Slaves;

Kidnapping of free citizens;

Law of Louisiana;

FRIENDS', memorial;

Domestic slavery;

Advertisements;

Childhood, old age;

Inhumanity;

Butchering dead slaves;

South Carolina Medical college;

Charleston Medical Infirmary;

Advertisements;

Slave murders;

John Randolph;

Charleston slave auctions;

'Never lose a day's work';

Stocks;

Slave-breeding;

Lynch law;

Slaves murdered;

Slavery among Christians;

Licentiousness encouraged by preachers;

'Fine old preacher who dealt in slaves';

Cruelty to slaves by professors of religion;

Slave-breeding;

Daniel O'Connel, and Andrew Stevenson;

Virginia a negro raising menagerie;

Legislature of Virginia;

Colonization Society;

Inter-state slave traffic;

Battles in Congress;

Duelling;

Cock-fighting;

Horse-racing;

Ignorance of slaveholders;

'Slaveholding civilization, and morality';

Arkansas;

Slave driving ruffians;

Missouri;

Alabama;

Butcheries in Mississippi;

Louisiana;

Tennessee;

Fatal Affray in Columbia;

Presentment of the Grand Jury of Shelby County;

Testimony of Bishop Smith of Kentucky.

ATLANTIC SLAVEHOLDING REGION.

Georgia;

North Carolina;

Trading with Negroes;

Conclusion.

INTRODUCTION.

Reader, you are empannelled as a juror to try a plain case and bring

in an honest verdict. The question at issue is not one of law, but of

facts--"What is the actual condition of the slaves in the United

States?" A plainer case never went to a jury. Look at it. TWENTY-SEVEN

HUNDRED THOUSAND PERSONS in this country, men, women, and children,

are in SLAVERY. Is slavery, as a condition for human beings, good,

bad, or indifferent? We submit the question without argument. You have

common sense, and conscience, and a human heart;--pronounce upon it.

You have a wife, or a husband, a child, a father, a mother, a brother

or a sister--make the case your own, make it theirs, and bring in your

verdict. The case of Human Rights against Slavery has been adjudicated

in the court of conscience times innumerable. The same verdict has

always been rendered--"Guilty;" the same sentence has always been

pronounced, "Let it be accursed;" and human nature, with her million

echoes, has rung it round the world in every language under heaven,

"Let it be accursed. Let it be accursed." His heart is false to human

nature, who will not say "Amen." There is not a man on earth who does

not believe that slavery is a curse. Human beings may be inconsistent,

but human _nature_ is true to herself. She has uttered her testimony

against slavery with a shriek ever since the monster was begotten; and

till it perishes amidst the execrations of the universe, she will

traverse the world on its track, dealing her bolts upon its head, and

dashing against it her condemning brand. We repeat it, every man knows

that slavery is a curse. Whoever denies this, his lips libel his

heart. Try him; clank the chains in his ears, and tell him they are

for _him_; give him an hour to prepare his wife and children for a

life of slavery; bid him make haste and get ready their necks for the

yoke, and their wrists for the coffle chains, then look at his pale

lips and trembling knees, and you have _nature's_ testimony against

slavery.

Two millions seven hundred thousand persons in these States are in

this condition. They were made slaves and are held each by force, and

by being put in fear, and this for no crime! Reader, what have you to

say of such treatment? Is it right, just, benevolent? Suppose I should

seize you, rob you of your liberty, drive you into the field, and make

you work without pay as long as you live, would that be justice and

kindness, or monstrous injustice and cruelty? Now, every body knows

that the slaveholders do these things to the slaves every day, and yet

it is stoutly affirmed that they treat them well and kindly, and that

their tender regard for their slaves restrains the masters from

inflicting cruelties upon them. We shall go into no metaphysics to

show the absurdity of this pretence. The man who _robs_ you every day,

is, forsooth, quite too tender-hearted ever to cuff or kick you! True,

he can snatch your money, but he does it gently lest he should hurt

you. He can empty your pockets without qualms, but if your _stomach_

is empty, it cuts him to the quick. He can make you work a life time

without pay, but loves you too well to let you go hungry. He fleeces

you of your _rights_ with a relish, but is shocked if you work

bareheaded in summer, or in winter without warm stockings. He can make

you go without your _liberty_, but never without a shirt. He can

crush, in you, all hope of bettering your condition, by vowing that

you shall die his slave, but though he can coolly torture your

feelings, he is too compassionate to lacerate your back--he can break

your heart, but he is very tender of your skin. He can strip you of

all protection and thus expose you to all outrages, but if you are

exposed to the _weather_, half clad and half sheltered, how yearn his

tender bowels! What! slaveholders talk of treating men well, and yet

not only rob them of all they get, and as fast as they get it, but rob

them of _themselves_, also; their very hands and feet, all their

muscles, and limbs, and senses, their bodies and minds, their time and

liberty and earnings, their free speech and rights of conscience,

their right to acquire knowledge, and property, and reputation;--and

yet they, who plunder them of all these, would fain make us believe

that their soft hearts ooze out so lovingly toward their slaves that

they always keep them well housed and well clad, never push them too

hard in the field, never make their dear backs smart, nor let their

dear stomachs get empty.

But there is no end to these absurdities. Are slaveholders dunces, or

do they take all the rest of the world to be, that they think to

bandage our eyes with such thin gauzes? Protesting their kind regard

for those whom they hourly plunder of all they have and all they get!

What! when they have seized their victims, and annihilated all their

_rights_, still claim to be the special guardians of their

_happiness_! Plunderers of their liberty, yet the careful suppliers of

their wants? Robbers of their earnings, yet watchful sentinels round

their interests, and kind providers for their comfort? Filching all

their time, yet granting generous donations for rest and sleep?

Stealing the use of their muscles, yet thoughtful of their ease?

Putting them under _drivers_, yet careful that they are not

hard-pushed? Too humane forsooth to stint the stomachs of their

slaves, yet force their _minds_ to starve, and brandish over them

pains and penalties, if they dare to reach forth for the smallest

crumb of knowledge, even a letter of the alphabet!

It is no marvel that slaveholders are always talking of their _kind

treatment_ of their slaves. The only marvel is, that men of sense can

be gulled by such professions. Despots always insist that they are

merciful. The greatest tyrants that ever dripped with blood have

assumed the titles of "most gracious," "most clement," "most

merciful," &c., and have ordered their crouching vassals to accost

them thus. When did not vice lay claim to those virtues which are the

opposites of its habitual crimes? The guilty, according to their own

showing, are always innocent, and cowards brave, and drunkards sober,

and harlots chaste, and pickpockets honest to a fault. Every body

understands this. When a man's tongue grows thick, and he begins to

hiccough and walk cross-legged, we expect him, as a matter of course,

to protest that he is not drunk; so when a man is always singing the

praises of his own honesty, we instinctively watch his movements and

look out for our pocket-books. Whoever is simple enough to be hoaxed

by such professions, should never be trusted in the streets without

somebody to take care of him. Human nature works out in slaveholders

just as it does to other men, and in American slaveholders just as in

English, French, Turkish, Algerine, Roman and Grecian. The Spartans

boasted of their kindness to their slaves, while they whipped them to

death by thousands at the altars of their gods. The Romans lauded

their own mild treatment of their bondmen, while they branded their

names on their flesh with hot irons, and when old, threw them into

their fish ponds, or like Cato "the Just," starved them to death. It

is the boast of the Turks that they treat their slaves as though they

were their children, yet their common name for them is "dogs," and for

the merest trifles, their feet are bastinadoed to a jelly, or their

heads clipped off with the scimetar. The Portuguese pride themselves

on their gentle bearing toward their slaves, yet the streets of Rio

Janeiro are filled with naked men and women yoked in pairs to carts

and wagons, and whipped by drivers like beasts of burden.

Slaveholders, the world over, have sung the praises of their tender

mercies towards their slaves. Even the wretches that plied the African

slave trade, tried to rebut Clarkson's proofs of their cruelties, by

speeches, affidavits, and published pamphlets, setting forth the

accommodations of the "middle passage," and their kind attentions to

the comfort of those whom they had stolen from their homes, and kept

stowed away under hatches, during a voyage of four thousand miles. So,

according to the testimony of the autocrat of the Russias, he

exercises great clemency towards the Poles, though he exiles them by

thousands to the snows of Siberia, and tramples them down by millions,

at home. Who discredits the atrocities perpetrated by Ovando in

Hispaniola, Pizarro in Peru, and Cortez in Mexico,--because they

filled the ears of the Spanish Court with protestations of their

benignant rule? While they were yoking the enslaved natives like

beasts to the draught, working them to death by thousands in their

mines, hunting them with bloodhounds, torturing them on racks, and

broiling them on beds of coals, their representations to the mother

country teemed with eulogies of their parental sway! The bloody

atrocities of Philip II, in the expulsion of his Moorish subjects, are

matters of imperishable history. Who disbelieves or doubts them? And

yet his courtiers magnified his virtues and chanted his clemency and

his mercy, while the wail of a million victims, smitten down by a

tempest of fire and slaughter let loose at his bidding, rose above the

_Te Deums_ that thundered from all Spain's cathedrals. When Louis XIV.

revoked the edict of Nantz, and proclaimed two millions of his

subjects free plunder for persecution,--when from the English channel

to the Pyrennees the mangled bodies of the Protestants were dragged on

reeking hurdles by a shouting populace, he claimed to be "the father

of his people," and wrote himself "His most _Christian_ Majesty."

But we will not anticipate topics, the full discussion of which more

naturally follows than precedes the inquiry into the actual condition

and treatment of slaves in the United States.

As slaveholders and their apologists are volunteer witnesses in their

own cause, and are flooding the world with testimony that their slaves

are kindly treated; that they are well fed, well clothed, well housed,

well lodged, moderately worked, and bountifully provided with all

things needful for their comfort, we propose--first, to disprove their

assertions by the testimony of a multitude of impartial witnesses, and

then to put slaveholders themselves through a course of

cross-questioning which shall draw their condemnation out of their own

mouths. We will prove that the slaves in the United States are treated

with barbarous inhumanity; that they are overworked, underfed,

wretchedly clad and lodged, and have insufficient sleep; that they are

often made to wear round their necks iron collars armed with prongs,

to drag heavy chains and weights at their feet while working in the

field, and to wear yokes, and bells, and iron horns; that they are

often kept confined in the stocks day and night for weeks together,

made to wear gags in their mouths for hours or days, have some of

their front teeth torn out or broken off, that they may be easily

detected when they run away; that they are frequently flogged with

terrible severity, have red pepper rubbed into their lacerated flesh,

and hot brine, spirits of turpentine, &c., poured over the gashes to

increase the torture; that they are often stripped naked, their backs

and limbs cut with knives, bruised and mangled by scores and hundreds

of blows with the paddle, and terribly torn by the claws of cats,

drawn over them by their tormentors; that they are often hunted with

bloodhounds and shot down like beasts, or torn in pieces by dogs; that

they are often suspended by the arms and whipped and beaten till they

faint, and when revived by restoratives, beaten again till they faint,

and sometimes till they die; that their ears are often cut off, their

eyes knocked out, their bones broken, their flesh branded with red hot

irons; that they are maimed, mutilated and burned to death over slow

fires. All these things, and more, and worse, we shall _prove_.

Reader, we know whereof we affirm, we have weighed it well; _more and

worse_ WE WILL PROVE. Mark these words, and read on; we will establish

all these facts by the testimony of scores and hundreds of eye

witnesses, by the testimony of _slaveholders_ in all parts of the

slave states, by slaveholding members of Congress and of state

legislatures, by ambassadors to foreign courts, by judges, by doctors

of divinity, and clergymen of all denominations, by merchants,

mechanics, lawyers and physicians, by presidents and professors in

colleges and _professional_ seminaries, by planters, overseers and

drivers. We shall show, not merely that such deeds are committed, but

that they are frequent; not done in corners, but before the sun; not

in one of the slave states, but in all of them; not perpetrated by

brutal overseers and drivers merely, but by magistrates, by

legislators, by professors of religion, by preachers of the gospel, by

governors of states, by "gentlemen of property and standing," and by

delicate females moving in the "highest circles of society." We know,

full well, the outcry that will be made by multitudes, at these

declarations; the multiform cavils, the flat denials, the charges of

"exaggeration" and "falsehood" so often bandied, the sneers of

affected contempt at the credulity that can believe such things, and

the rage and imprecations against those who give them currency. We

know, too, the threadbare sophistries by which slaveholders and their

apologists seek to evade such testimony. If they admit that such deeds

are committed, they tell us that they are exceedingly rare, and

therefore furnish no grounds for judging of the general treatment of

slaves; that occasionally a brutal wretch in the _free_ states

barbarously butchers his wife, but that no one thinks of inferring

from that, the general treatment of wives at the North and West.

They tell us, also, that the slaveholders of the South are

proverbially hospitable, kind, and generous, and it is incredible that

they can perpetrate such enormities upon human beings; further, that

it is absurd to suppose that they would thus injure their own

property, that self-interest would prompt them to treat their slaves

with kindness, as none but fools and madmen wantonly destroy their own

property; further, that Northern visitors at the South come back

testifying to the kind treatment of the slaves, and that the slaves

themselves corroborate such representations. All these pleas, and

scores of others, are bruited in every corner of the free States; and

who that hath eyes to see, has not sickened at the blindness that saw

not, at the palsy of heart that felt not, or at the cowardice and

sycophancy that dared not expose such shallow fallacies. We are not to

be turned from our purpose by such vapid babblings. In their

appropriate places, we propose to consider these objections and

various others, and to show their emptiness and folly.

The foregoing declarations touching the inflictions upon slaves, are

not hap-hazard assertions, nor the exaggerations of fiction conjured

up to carry a point; nor are they the rhapsodies of enthusiasm, nor

crude conclusions, jumped at by hasty and imperfect investigation, nor

the aimless outpourings either of sympathy or poetry; but they are

proclamations of deliberate, well-weighed convictions, produced by

accumulations of proof, by affirmations and affidavits, by written

testimonies and statements of a cloud of witnesses who speak what they

know and testify what they have seen, and all these impregnably

fortified by proofs innumerable, in the relation of the slaveholder to

his slave, the nature of arbitrary power, and the nature and history

of man.

Of the witnesses whose testimony is embodied in the following pages, a

majority are slaveholders, many of the remainder have been

slaveholders, but now reside in free States.

Another class whose testimony will be given, consists of those who

have furnished the results of their own observation during periods of

residence and travel in the slave States.

We will first present the reader with a few PERSONAL NARRATIVES

furnished by individuals, natives of slave states and others,

embodying, in the main, the results of their own observation in the

midst of slavery--facts and scenes of which they were eye-witnesses.

In the next place, to give the reader as clear and definite a view of

the actual condition of slaves as possible, we propose to make

specific points; to pass in review the various particulars in the

slave's condition, simply presenting sufficient testimony under each

head to settle the question in every candid mind. The examination will

be conducted by stating distinct propositions, and in the following

order of topics.

1. THE FOOD OF THE SLAVES, THE KINDS, QUALITY AND QUANTITY, ALSO, THE

NUMBER AND TIME OF MEALS EACH DAY, &c.

2. THEIR HOURS OF LABOR AND REST.

3. THEIR CLOTHING.

4. THEIR DWELLINGS.

5. THEIR PRIVATIONS AND INFLICTIONS.

6. _In conclusion,_ a variety of OBJECTIONS and ARGUMENTS will be

considered which are used by the advocates of slavery to set

aside the force of testimony, and to show that the slaves are kindly

treated.

Between the larger divisions of the work, brief personal narratives

will be inserted, containing a mass of facts and testimony, both

general and specific.

* * * * *

PERSONAL NARRATIVES.

MR. NEHEMIAH CAULKINS, of Waterford, New London Co., Connecticut, has

furnished the Executive Committee of the American Anti-Slavery

Society, with the following statements relative to the condition and

treatment of slaves, in the south eastern part of North Carolina. Most

of the facts related by Mr. Caulkins fell under his personal

observation. The air of candor and honesty that pervades the

narrative, the manner in which Mr. C. has drawn it up, the good sense,

just views, conscience and heart which it exhibits, are sufficient of

themselves to commend it to all who have ears to hear.

The Committee have no personal acquaintance with Mr. Caulkins, but

they have ample testimonials from the most respectable sources, all of

which represent him to be a man whose long established character for

sterling integrity, sound moral principle and piety, have secured for

him the uniform respect and confidence of those who know him.

Without further preface the following testimonials are submitted to

the reader.

This may certify, that we the subscribers have lived for a number of

years past in the neighborhood with Mr. Nehemiah Caulkins, and have no

hesitation in stating that we consider him a man of high

respectability and that his character for truth and veracity is

unimpeachable. PETER COMSTOCK. A.F. PERKINS, M.D. ISAAC BEEBE.

LODOWICK BEEBE. D. G. OTIS. PHILIP MORGAN. JAMES ROGERS, M.D.

_Waterford, Ct., Jan. 16th, 1839._

Mr. Comstock is a Justice of the Peace. Mr. L. Beebe is the Town Clerk

of Waterford. Mr. J. Beebe is a member of the Baptist Church. Mr. Otis

is a member of the Congregational Church. Mr. Morgan is a Justice of

the Peace, and Messrs. Perkins and Rogers are designated by their

titles. All those gentlemen are citizens of Waterford, Connecticut.

To whom it may concern. This may certify that Mr. Nehemiah Caulkins,

of Waterford, in New London County, is a near neighbor to the

subscriber, and has been for many years. I do consider him a man of

_unquestionable veracity_ and certify that he is so considered by

people to whom he is personally known. EDWARD R. WARREN. _Jan. 15th,

1839._

Mr. Warren is a Commissioner (Associate Judge) of the County Court,

for New London County.

This may certify that Mr. Nehemiah Caulkins, of the town of Waterford,

County of New London, and State of Connecticut, is a member of the

first Baptist Church in said Waterford, is in good standing, and is

esteemed by us a man of truth and veracity. FRANCIS DARROW, Pastor of

said Church. _Waterford, Jan. 16th, 1839._

This may certify that Nehemiah Caulkins, of Waterford, lives near me,

and I always esteemed him, and believe him to be a man of truth and

veracity. ELISHA BECKWITH. _Jan. 16th, 1839._

Mr. Beckwith is a Justice of the Peace, a Post Master, and a Deacon of

the Baptist Church.

Mr. Dwight P. Jones, a member of the Second Congregational Church in

the city of New London, in a recent letter, says;

"Mr. Caulkins is a member of the Baptist Church in Waterford, and in

every respect a very worthy citizen. I have labored with him in the

Sabbath School, and know him to be a man of active piety. The most

_entire confidence_ may be placed in the truth of his statements.

Where he is known, no one will call them in question."

We close these testimonials with an extract, of a letter from William

Bolles, Esq., a well known and respected citizen of New London, Ct.

"Mr. Nehemiah Caulkins resides in the town of Waterford, about six

miles from this City. His opportunities to acquire exact knowledge in

relation to Slavery, in that section of our country, to which his

narrative is confined, have been very great. He is a carpenter, and

was employed principally on the plantations, working at his trade,

being thus almost constantly in the company of the slaves as well as

of their masters. His full heart readily responded to the call, [for

information relative to slavery,] for, as he expressed it, he had long

desired that others might know what he had seen, being confident that

a general knowledge of facts as they exist, would greatly promote the

overthrow of the system. He is a man of undoubted character; and where

known, his statements need no corroboration.

Yours, &c. WILLIAM BOLLES."

NARRATIVE OF MR. CAULKINS.

I feel it my duty to tell some things that I know about slavery, in

order, if possible, to awaken more feeling at the North in behalf of

the slave. The treatment of the slaves on the plantations where I had

the greatest opportunity of getting knowledge, _was not so bad_ as

that on some neighboring estates, where the owners were noted for

their cruelty. There were, however, other estates in the vicinity,

where the treatment was better; the slaves were better clothed and

fed, were not worked so hard, and more attention was paid to their

quarters.

The scenes that I have witnessed are enough to harrow up the soul; but

could the slave be permitted to tell the story of his sufferings,

which no white man, not linked with slavery, _is allowed to know,_ the

land would vomit out the horrible system, slaveholders and all, if

they would not unclinch their grasp upon their defenceless victims.

I spent eleven winters, between the years 1824 and 1835, in the state

of North Carolina, mostly in the vicinity of Wilmington; and four out

of the eleven on the estate of Mr. John Swan, five or six miles from

that place. There were on his plantation about seventy slaves, male

and female: some were married, and others lived together as man and

wife, without even a mock ceremony. With their owners generally, it is

a matter of indifference; the marriage of slaves not being recognized

by the slave code. The slaves, however, think much of being married by

a clergyman.

The cabins or huts of the slaves were small, and were built

principally by the slaves themselves, as they could find time on

Sundays and moonlight nights; they went into the swamps, cut the logs,

backed or hauled them to the quarters, and put up their cabins.

When I first knew Mr. Swan's plantation, his overseer was a man who

had been a Methodist minister. He treated the slaves with great

cruelty. His reason for leaving the ministry and becoming an overseer,

as I was informed, was this: his wife died, at which providence he was

so enraged, that he swore he would not preach for the Lord another

day. This man continued on the plantation about three years; at the

close of which, on settlement of accounts, Mr. Swan owed him about

$400, for which he turned him out a negro woman, and about twenty

acres of land. He built a log hut, and took the woman to live with

him; since which, I have been at his hut, and seen four or five

mulatto children. He has been appointed _justice of the peace_, and

his place as overseer was afterwards occupied by a Mr. Galloway.

It is customary in that part of the country, to let the hogs run in

the woods. On one occasion a slave caught a pig about two months old,

which he carried to his quarters. The overseer, getting information of

the fact, went to the field where he was at work, and ordered him to

come to him. The slave at once suspected it was something about the

pig, and fearing punishment, dropped his hoe and ran for the woods. He

had got but a few rods, when the overseer raised his gun, loaded with

duck shot, and brought him down. It is a common practice for overseers

to go into the field armed with a gun or pistols, and sometimes both.

He was taken up by the slaves and carried to the plantation hospital,

and the physician sent for. A physician was employed by the year to

take care of the sick or wounded slaves. In about six weeks this slave

got better, and was able to come out of the hospital. He came to the

mill where I was at work, and asked me to examine his body, which I

did, and counted twenty-six duck shot still remaining in his flesh,

though the doctor had removed a number while he was laid up.

There was a slave on Mr. Swan's plantation, by the name of Harry, who,

during the absence of his master, ran away and secreted himself is the

woods. This the slaves sometimes do, when the master is absent for

several weeks, to escape the cruel treatment of the overseer. It is

common for them to make preparations, by secreting a mortar, a

hatchet, some cooking utensils, and whatever things they can get that

will enable them to live while they are in the woods or swamps. Harry

staid about three months, and lived by robbing the rice grounds, and

by such other means as came in his way. The slaves generally know

where the runaway is secreted, and visit him at night and on Sundays.

On the return of his master, some of the slaves were sent for Harry.

When he came home, he was seized and confined in the stocks. The

stocks were built in the barn, and consisted of two heavy pieces of

timber, ten or more feet in length, and about seven inches wide; the

lower one, on the floor, has a number of holes or places cut in it,

for the ancles; the upper piece, being of the same dimensions, is

fastened at one end by a hinge, and is brought down after the ancles

are placed in the holes, and secured by a clasp and padlock at the

other end. In this manner the person is left to sit on the floor.

Barry was kept in the stocks _day and night for a week_, and flogged

_every morning_. After this, he was taken out one morning, a log chain

fastened around his neck, the two ends dragging on the ground, and he

sent to the field, to do his task with the other slaves. At night he

was again put in the stocks, in the morning he was sent to the field

in the same manner, and thus dragged out another week.

The overseer was a very miserly fellow, and restricted his wife in

what are considered the comforts of life--such as tea, sugar, &c. To

make up for this, she set her wits to work, and, by the help of a

slave, named Joe, used to take from the plantation whatever she could

conveniently, and watch her opportunity during her husband's absence,

and send Joe to sell them and buy for her such things as she directed.

Once when her husband was away, she told Joe to kill and dress one of

the pigs, sell it, and get her some tea, sugar, &c. Joe did as he was

bid, and she gave him the offal for his services. When Galloway

returned, not suspecting his wife, he asked her if she knew what had

become of his pig. She told him she suspected one of the slaves,

naming him, had stolen it, for she had heard a pig squeal the evening

before. The overseer called the slave up, and charged him with the

theft. He denied it, and said he knew nothing about it. The overseer

still charged him with it, and told him he would give him one week to

think of it, and if he did not confess the theft, or find out who did

steal the pig, he would flog every negro on the plantation; before the

week was up it was ascertained that Joe had killed the pig. He was

called up and questioned, and admitted that he had done so, and told

the overseer that he did it by the order of Mrs. Galloway, and that

she directed him to buy some sugar, &c. with the money. Mrs. Galloway

gave Joe the lie; and he was terribly flogged. Joe told me he had been

several times to the smoke-house with Mrs. G, and taken hams and sold

them, which her husband told me he supposed were stolen by the negroes

on a neighboring plantation. Mr. Swan, hearing of the circumstance,

told me he believed Joe's story, but that his statement would not be

taken as proof; and if every slave on the plantation told the same

story it could not be received as evidence against a white person.

To show the manner in which old and worn-out slaves are sometimes

treated, I will state a fact. Galloway owned a man about seventy years

of age. The old man was sick and went to his hut; laid himself down on

some straw with his feet to the fire, covered by a piece of an old

blanket, and there lay four or five days, groaning in great distress,

without any attention being paid him by his master, until death ended

his miseries; he was then taken out and buried with as little ceremony

and respect as would be paid to a brute.

There is a practice prevalent among the planters, of letting a negro

off from severe and long-continued punishment on account of the

intercession of some white person, who pleads in his behalf, that he

believes the negro will behave better, that he promises well, and he

believes he will keep his promise, &c. The planters sometimes get

tired of punishing a negro, and, wanting his services in the field,

they get some white person to come, and, in the presence of the slave,

intercede for him. At one time a negro, named Charles, was confined in

the stocks in the building where I was at work, and had been severely

whipped several times. He begged me to intercede for him and try to

get him released. I told him I would; and when his master came in to

whip him again, I went up to him and told him I had been talking with

Charles, and he had promised to behave better, &c., and requested him

not to punish him any more, but to let him go. He then said to

Charles, "As Mr. Caulkins has been pleading for you, I will let you go

on his account;" and accordingly released him.

Women are generally shown some little indulgence for three or four

weeks previous to childbirth; they are at such times not often

punished if they do not finish the task assigned them; it is, in some

cases, passed over with a severe reprimand, and sometimes without any

notice being taken of it. They ate generally allowed four weeks after

the birth of a child, before they are compelled to go into the field,

they then take the child with them, attended sometimes by a little

girl or boy, from the age of four to six, to take care of it while the

mother is at work. When there is no child that can be spared, or not

young enough for this service, the mother, after nursing, lays it

under a tree, or by the side of a fence, and goes to her task,

returning at stated intervals to nurse it. While I was on this

plantation, a little negro girl, six years of age, destroyed the life

of a child about two months old, which was left in her care. It seems

this little nurse, so called, got tired of her charge and the labor of

carrying it to the quarters at night, the mother being obliged to work

as long as she could see. One evening she nursed the infant at sunset

as usual, and sent it to the quarters. The little girl, on her way

home, had to cross a run or brook, which led down into the swamp; when

she came to the brook she followed it into the swamp, then took the

infant and plunged it head foremost into the water and mud, where it

stuck fast; she there left it and went to the negro quarters. When the

mother came in from the field, she asked the girl where the child was;

she told her she had brought it home, but did not know where it was;

the overseer was immediately informed, search was made, and it was

found as above stated, and dead. The little girl was shut up in the

barn, and confined there two or three weeks, when a speculator came

along and bought her for two hundred dollars.

The slaves are obliged to work from daylight till dark, as long as

they can see. When they have tasks assigned, which is often the case,

a few of the strongest and most expert, sometimes finish them before

sunset; others will be obliged to work till eight or nine o'clock in

the evening. All must finish their tasks or take a flogging. The whip

and gun, or pistol, are companions of the overseer; the former he uses

very frequently upon the negroes, during their hours of labor, without

regard to age or sex. Scarcely a day passed while I was on the

plantation, in which some of the slaves were not whipped; I do not

mean that they were _struck a few blows_ merely, but had a _set

flogging_. The same labor is commonly assigned to men and women,--such

as digging ditches in the rice marshes, clearing up land, chopping

cord-wood, threshing, &c. I have known the women go into the barn as

soon as they could see in the morning, and work as late as they could

see at night, threshing rice with the flail, (they now have a

threshing machine,) and when they could see to thresh no longer, they

had to gather up the rice, carry it up stairs, and deposit it in the

granary.

The allowance of clothing on this plantation to each slave, was given

out at Christmas for the year, and consisted of one pair of coarse

shoes, and enough coarse cloth to make a jacket and trowsers. If the

man has a wife she makes it up; if not, it is made up in the house.

The slaves on this plantation, being near Wilmington, procured

themselves extra clothing by working Sundays and moonlight nights,

cutting cordwood in the swamps, which they had to back about a quarter

of a mile to the ricer; they would then get a permit from their

master, and taking the wood in their canoes, carry it to Wilmington,

and sell it to the vessels, or dispose of it as they best could, and

with the money buy an old jacket of the sailors, some coarse cloth for

a shirt, &c. They sometimes gather the moss from the trees, which they

cleanse and take to market. The women receive their allowance of the

same kind of cloth which the men have. This they make into a frock; if

they have any under garments _they must procure them for themselves_.

When the slaves get a permit to leave the plantation, they sometimes

make all ring again by singing the following significant ditty, which

shows that after all there is a flow of spirits in the human breast

which for a while, at least, enables them to forget their

wretchedness.[1]

Hurra, for good ole Massa,

He giv me de pass to go to de city

Hurra, for good ole Missis,

She bile de pot, and giv me de licker.

Hurra, I'm goin to de city.

[Footnote 1: Slaves sometimes sing, and so do convicts in jails under

sentence, and both for the same reason. Their singing proves that they

_want_ to be happy not that they _are_ so. It is the _means_ that they

use to make themselves happy, not the evidence that they are so

already. Sometimes, doubtless, the excitement of song whelms their

misery in momentary oblivion. He who argues from this that they have

no conscious misery to forget, knows as little of human nature as of

slavery.--EDITOR.]

Every Saturday night the slaves receive their allowance of provisions,

which must last them till the next Saturday night. "Potatoe time," as

it is called, begins about the middle of July. The slave may measure

for himself, the overseer being present, half a bushel of sweet

potatoes, and heap the measure as long as they will lie on; I have,

however, seen the overseer, if he think the negro is getting too many,

kick the measure; and if any fall off tell him he has got his measure.

No salt is furnished them to eat with their potatoes. When rice or

corn is given, they give them a little salt; sometimes half a pint of

molasses is given, but not often. The quantity of rice, which is of

the small, broken, unsaleable kind, is one peck. When corn is given

them, their allowance is the same, and if they get it ground, (Mr.

Swan had a mill on his plantation,) they must give one quart for

grinding, thus reducing their weekly allowance to seven quarts. When

fish (mullet) were plenty, they were allowed, in addition, one fish.

As to meat, they seldom had any. I do not think they had an allowance

of meat oftener than once in two or three months, and then the

quantity was very small. When they went into the field to work, they

took some of the meal or rice and a pot with them; the pots were given

to an old woman, who placed two poles parallel, set the pots on them,

and kindled a fire underneath for cooking; she took salt with her and

seasoned the messes as she thought proper. When their breakfast was

ready, which was generally about ten or eleven o'clock, they were

called from labor, ate, and returned to work; in the afternoon, dinner

was prepared in the same way. They had but two meals a day while in

the field; if they wanted more, they cooked for themselves after they

returned to their quarters at night. At the time of killing hogs on

the plantation, the pluck, entrails, and blood were given to the

slaves.

When I first went upon Mr. Swan's plantation, I saw a slave in

shackles or fetters, which were fastened around each ankle and firmly

riveted, connected together by a chain. To the middle of this chain he

had fastened a string, so as in a manner to suspend them and keep them

from galling his ankles. This slave, whose name was Frank, was an

intelligent, good looking man, and a very good mechanic. There was

nothing vicious in his character, but he was one of those

high-spirited and daring men, that whips, chains, fetters, and all the

means of cruelty in the power of slavery, could not subdue. Mr. S. had

employed a Mr. Beckwith to repair a boat, and told him Frank was a

good mechanic, and he might have his services. Frank was sent for, his

_shackles still on_. Mr. Beckwith set him to work making _trundels_,

&c. I was employed in putting up a building, and after Mr. Beckwith

had done with Frank, he was sent for to assist me. Mr. Swan sent him

to a blacksmith's shop and had his shackles cut off with a cold

chisel. Frank was afterwards sold to a cotton planter.

I will relate one circumstance, which shows the little regard that is

paid to the feelings of the slave. During the time that Mr. Isaiah

Rogers was superintending the building of a rice machine, one of the

slaves complained of a severe toothache. Swan asked Mr. Rogers to take

his hammer and _knock out the tooth_.

There was a slave on the plantation named Ben, a waiting man. I

occupied a room in the same hut, and had frequent conversations with

him. Ben was a kind-hearted man, and, I believe, a Christian; he would

always ask a blessing before he sat down to eat, and was in the

constant practice of praying morning and night.--One day when I was at

the hut, Ben was sent for to go to the house. Ben sighed deeply and

went. He soon returned with a girl about seventeen years of age, whom

one of Mr. Swan's daughters had ordered him to flog. He brought her

into the room where I was, and told her to stand there while he went

into the next room: I heard him groan again as he went. While there I

heard his voice, and he was engaged in prayer. After a few minutes he

returned with a large cowhide, and stood before the girl, without

saying a word. I concluded he wished me to leave the hut, which I did;

and immediately after I heard the girl scream. At every blow she would

shriek, "Do, Ben! oh do, Ben!" This is a common expression of the

slaves to the person whipping them: "Do, Massa!" or, "Do, Missus!"

After she had gone, I asked Ben what she was whipped for: he told me

she had done something to displease her young missus; and in boxing

her ears, and otherwise beating her, she had scratched her finger by a

pin in the girl's dress, for which she sent her to be flogged. I asked

him if he stripped her before flogging; he said, yes; he did not like

to do this, but was _obliged_ to: he said he was once ordered to whip

a woman, which he did without stripping her: on her return to the

house, her mistress examined her back; and not seeing any marks, he

was sent for, and asked why he had not whipped her: he replied that he

had; she said she saw no marks, and asked him if he had made her pull

her clothes off; he said, No. She then told him, that when he whipped

any more of the women, he must make them strip off their clothes, as

well as the men, and flog them on their bare backs, or he should be

flogged himself.

Ben often appeared very gloomy and sad: I have frequently heard him,

when in his room, mourning over his condition, and exclaim, "Poor

African slave! Poor African slave!" Whipping was so common an

occurrence on this plantation, that it would be too great a repetition

to state the _many_ and _severe_ floggings I have seen inflicted on

the slaves. They were flogged for not performing their tasks, for

being careless, slow, or not in time, for going to the fire to warm,

&c. &c.; and it often seemed as if occasions were sought as an excuse

for punishing them.

On one occasion, I heard the overseer charge the hands to be at a

certain place the next morning at sun-rise. I was present in the

morning, in company with my brother, when the hands arrived. Joe, the

slave already spoken of, came running, all out of breath, about five

minutes behind the time, when, without asking any questions, the

overseer told him to take off his jacket. Joe took off his jacket. He

had on a piece of a shirt; he told him to take it off: Joe took it

off: he then whipped him with a heavy cowhide full six feet long. At

every stroke Joe would spring from the ground, and scream, "O my God!

Do, Massa Galloway!" My brother was so exasperated; that he turned to

me and said, "If I were Joe, I would kill the overseer if I knew I

should be shot the next minute."

In the winter the horn blew at about four in the morning, and all the

threshers were required to be at the threshing floor in fifteen

minutes after. They had to go about a quarter of a mile from their

quarters. Galloway would stand near the entrance, and all who did not

come in time would get a blow over the back or head as heavy as he

could strike. I have seen him, at such times, follow after them,

striking furiously a number of blows, and every one followed by their

screams. I have seen the women go to their work after such a flogging,

crying and taking on most piteously.

It is almost impossible to believe that human nature can endure such

hardships and sufferings as the slaves have to go through: I have seen

them driven into a ditch in a rice swamp to bail out the water, in

order to put down a flood-gate, when they had to break the ice, and

there stand in the water among the ice until it was bailed out. I have

_often_ known the hands to be taken from the field, sent down the

river in flats or boats to Wilmington, absent from twenty-four to

thirty hours, _without any thing to eat,_ no provision being made for

these occasions.

Galloway kept medicine on hand, that in case any of the slaves were

sick, he could give it to them without sending for the physician; but

he always kept a good look out that they did not sham sickness. When

any of them excited his suspicions, he would make them take the

medicine in his presence, and would give them a rap on the top of the

head, to make them swallow it. A man once came to him, of whom he said

he was suspicious: he gave him two potions of salts, and fastened him

in the stocks for the night. His medicine soon began to operate; and

_there he lay in all his filth till he was taken out the next day._

One day, Mr. Swan beat a slave severely, for alleged carelessness in

letting a boat get adrift. The slave was told to secure the boat:

whether he took sufficient means for this purpose I do not know; he

was not allowed to make any defence. Mr. Swan called him up, and asked

why he did not secure the boat: he pulled off his hat and began to

tell his story. Swan told him he was a damned liar, and commenced

beating him over the head with a hickory cane, and the slave retreated

backwards; Swan followed him about two rods, threshing him over the

head with the hickory as he went.

As I was one day standing near some slaves who were threshing, the

driver, thinking one of the women did not use her flail quick enough,

struck her over the head: the end of the whip hit her in the eye. I

thought at the time he had put it out; but, after poulticing and

doctoring for some days, she recovered. Speaking to him about it, he

said that he once struck a slave so as to put one of her eyes entirely

out.

A patrol is kept upon each estate, and every slave found off the

plantation without a pass is whipped on the spot. I knew a slave who

started without a pass, one night, for a neighboring plantation, to

see his wife: he was caught, tied to a tree, and flogged. He stated

his business to the patrol, who was well acquainted with him but all

to no purpose. I spoke to the patrol about it afterwards: he said he

knew the negro, that he was a very clever fellow, but he had to whip

him; for, if he let him pass, he must another, &c. He stated that he

had sometimes caught and flogged four in a night.

In conversation with Mr. Swan about runaway slaves, he stated to me

the following fact:--A slave, by the name of Luke, was owned in

Wilmington; he was sold to a speculator and carried to Georgia. After

an absence of about two months the slave returned; he watched an

opportunity to enter his old master's house when the family were

absent, no one being at home but a young waiting man. Luke went to the

room where his master kept his arms; took his gun, with some

ammunition, and went into the woods. On the return of his master, the

waiting man told him what had been done: this threw him into a violent

passion; he swore he would kill Luke, or lose his own life. He loaded

another gun, took two men, and made search, but could not find him: he

then advertised him, offering a large reward if delivered to him or

lodged in jail. His neighbors, however, advised him to offer a reward

of two hundred dollars for him _dead or alive_, which he did. Nothing

however was heard of him for some months. Mr. Swan said, one of his

slaves ran away, and was gone eight or ten weeks; on his return he

said he had found Luke, and that he had a rifle, two pistols, and a

sword.

I left the plantation in the spring, and returned to the north; when I

went out again, the next fall, I asked Mr. Swan if any thing had been

heard of Luke; he said he was _shot_, and related to me the manner of

his death, as follows:--Luke went to one of the plantations, and

entered a hut for something to eat. Being fatigued, he sat down and

fell asleep. There was only a woman in the hut at the time: as soon as

she found he was asleep, she ran and told her master, who took his

rifle, and called two white men on another plantation: the three, with

their rifles, then went to the hut, and posted themselves in different

positions, so that they could watch the door. When Luke waked up he

went to the door to look out, and saw them with their rifles, he

stepped back and raised his gun to his face. They called to him to

surrender; and stated that they had him in their power, and said he

had better give up. He said he would not: and if they tried to take

him, he would kill one of them; for, if he gave up, he knew they would

kill him, and he was determined to sell his life as dear as he could.

They told him, if he should shoot one of them, the other two would

certainly kill him: he replied, he was determined not to give up, and

kept his gun moving from one to the other; and while his rifle was

turned toward one, another, standing in a different direction, shot

him through the head, and he fell lifeless to the ground.

There was another slave shot while I was there; this man had run away,

and had been living in the woods a long time, and it was not known

where he was, till one day he was discovered by two men, who went on

the large island near Belvidere to hunt turkeys; they shot him and

carried his head home.

It is common to keep dogs on the plantations, to pursue and catch

runaway slaves. I was once bitten by one of them. I went to the

overseer's house, the dog lay in the piazza, as soon as I put my foot

upon the floor, he sprang and bit me just above the knee, but not

severely; he tore my pantaloons badly. The overseer apologized for his

dog, saying he never knew him to bite a _white_ man before. He said he

once had a dog, when he lived on another plantation, that was very

useful to him in hunting runaway negroes. He said that a slave on the

plantation once ran away; as soon as he found the course he took, he

put the dog on the track, and he soon came so close upon him that the

man had to climb a tree, he followed with his gun, and brought the

slave home.

The slaves have a great dread of being sold and carried south. It is

generally said, and I have no doubt of its truth, that they are much

worse treated farther south.

The following are a few among the many facts related to me while I

lived among the slaveholder. The names of the planters and

plantations, I shall not give, _as they did not come under my own

observation_. I however place the fullest confidence in their truth.

A planter not far from Mr. Swan's employed an overseer to whom he paid

$400 a year; he became dissatisfied with him, because he did not drive

the slaves hard enough, and get more work out of them. He therefore

sent to South Carolina, or Georgia, and got a man to whom he paid I

believe $800 a year. He proved to be a cruel fellow, and drove the

slaves almost to death. There was a slave on this plantation, who had

repeatedly run away, and had been severely flogged every time. The

last time he was caught, a hole was dug in the ground, and he buried

up to the chin, his arms being secured down by his sides. He was kept

in this situation four or five days.

The following was told me by an intimate friend; it took place on a

plantation containing about one hundred slaves. One day the owner

ordered the women into the barn, he then went in among them, whip in

hand, and told them he meant to flog them all to death; they began

immediately to cry out "What have I done Massa? What have I done

Massa?" He replied; "D--n you, I will let you know what you have done,

you don't breed, I haven't had a young one from one of you for several

months." They told him they could not breed while they had to work in

the rice ditches. (The rice grounds are low and marshy, and have to be

drained, and while digging or clearing the ditches, the women had to

work in mud and water from one to two feet in depth; they were obliged

to draw up and secure their frocks about their waist, to keep them out

of the water, in this manner they frequently had to work from daylight

in the morning till it was so dark they could see no longer.) After

swearing and threatening for some time, he told them to tell the

overseer's wife, when they got in that way, and he would put them upon

the land to work.

This same planter had a female slave who was a member of the Methodist

Church; for a slave she was intelligent and conscientious. He proposed

a criminal intercourse with her. She would not comply. He left her and

sent for the overseer, and told him to have her flogged. It was done.

Not long after, he renewed his proposal. She again refused. She was

again whipped. He then told her why she had been twice flogged, and

told her he intended to whip her till she should yield. The girl,

seeing that her case was hopeless, her back smarting with the

scourging she had received, and dreading a repetition, gave herself up

to be the victim of his brutal lusts.

One of the slaves on another plantation, gave birth to a child which

lived but two or three weeks. After its death the planter called the

woman to him, and asked her how she came to let the child die; said it

was all owing to her carelessness, and that he meant to flog her for

it. She told, him with all the feeling of a mother, the circumstances

of its death. But her story availed her nothing against the savage

brutality of her master. She was severely whipped. A healthy child

four months old was then considered worth $100 in North Carolina.

The foregoing facts were related to me by white persons of character

and respectability. The following fact was related to me on a

plantation where I have spent considerable time and where the

punishment was inflicted. I have no doubt of its truth. A slave ran

away from his master, and got as far as Newbern. He took provisions

that lasted him a week; but having eaten all, he went to a house to

get something to satisfy his hunger. A white man suspecting him to be

a runaway, demanded his pass; as he had none he was seized and put in

Newbern jail. He was there advertised, his description given, &c. His

master saw the advertisement and sent for him; when he was brought

back, his wrists were tied together and drawn over his knees. A stick

was then passed over his arms and under his knees, and he secured in

this manner, his trowsers were then stripped down, and he turned over

on his side, and severely beaten with the paddle, then turned over and

severely beaten on the other side, and then turned back again, and

tortured by another bruising and beating. He was afterwards kept in

the stocks a week, and whipped every morning.

To show the disgusting pollutions of slavery, and how it covers with

moral filth every thing it touches, I will state two or three facts,

which I have on such evidence I cannot doubt their truth. A planter

offered a white man of my acquaintance twenty dollars for every one of

his female slaves, whom he would get in the family way. This offer was

no doubt made for the purpose of improving the stock, on the same

principle that farmers endeavour to improve their cattle by crossing

the breed.

Slaves belonging to merchants and others in the city, often hire their

own time, for which they pay various prices per week or month,

according to the capacity of the slave. The females who thus hire

their time, pursue various modes to procure the money; their masters

making no inquiry how they get it, provided the money comes. If it is

not regularly paid they are flogged. Some take in washing, some cook

on board vessels, pick oakum, sell peanuts, &c., while others, younger

and more comely, often resort to the vilest pursuits. I knew a man

from the north who, though married to a respectable southern woman,

kept two of these mulatto girls in an upper room at his store; his

wife told some of her friends that he had not lodged at home for two

weeks together, I have seen these two _kept misses_, as they are there

called, at his store; he was afterwards stabbed in an attempt to

arrest a runaway slave, and died in about ten days.

The clergy at the north cringe beneath the corrupting influence of

slavery, and their moral courage is borne down by it. Not the

hypocritical and unprincipled alone, but even such as can hardly be

supposed to be destitute of sincerity.

Going one morning to the Baptist Sunday School, in Wilmington, in

which I was engaged, I fell in with the Rev. Thomas P. Hunt, who was

going to the Presbyterian school. I asked him how he could bear to see

the little negro children beating their hoops, hallooing, and running

about the streets, as we then saw them, their moral condition entirely

neglected, while the whites were so carefully gathered into the

schools. His reply was substantially this:--"I can't bear it, Mr.

Caulkins. I feel as deeply as any one can on this subject, but what

can I do? MY HANDS ARE TIED."

Now, if Mr. Hunt was guilty of neglecting his duty, as a servant of

HIM who never failed to rebuke sin in high places, what shall be said

of those clergymen at the north, where the power that closed his mouth

is comparatively unfelt, who refuse to tell their people how God

abhors oppression, and who seldom open their mouth on this subject,

but to denounce the friends of emancipation, thus giving the strongest

support to the accursed system of slavery. I believe Mr. Hunt has

since become an agent of the Temperance Society.

In stating the foregoing facts, my object has been to show the

practical workings of the system of slavery, and if possible to

correct the misapprehension on this subject, so common at the north.

In doing this I am not at war with slave-holders. No, my soul is moved

for them as well as for the poor slaves. May God send them repentance

to the acknowledgment of the truth! Principle, on a subject of this

nature, is dearer to me than the applause of men, and should not be

sacrificed on any subject, even though the ties of friendship may be

broken. We have too long been silent on this subject, the slave has

been too much considered, by our northern states, as being kept by

necessity in his present condition.--Were we to ask, in the language

of Pilate, "what evil have they done"--we may search their history, we

cannot find that they have taken up arms against our government, nor

insulted us as a nation--that they are thus compelled to drag out a

life in chains! subjected to the most terrible inflictions if in any

way they manifest a wish to be released.--Let us reverse the question.

What evil has been done to them by those who call themselves masters?

First let us look at their persons, "neither clothed nor naked"--I

have seen instances where this phrase would not apply to boys and

girls, and that too in winter. I knew one young man seventeen years of

age, by the name of Dave, on Mr. J. Swan's plantation, worked day

after day in the rice machine as naked as when he was born. The reason

of his being so, his master said in my hearing, was, that he could not

keep clothes on him--he would get into the fire and burn them off.

Follow them next to their huts; some with and some without floors:--Go

at night, view their means of lodging, see them lying on benches, some

on the floor or ground, some sitting on stools, dozing away the

night:--others, of younger age, with a bare blanket wrapped about

them; and one or two lying in the ashes. These things _I have often

seen with my own eyes._

Examine their means of subsistence, which consists generally of seven

quarts of meal or eight quarts of small rice for one week; then follow

them to their work, with driver and overseer pushing them to the

utmost of their strength, by threatening and whipping.

If they are sick from fatigue and exposure, go to their huts, as I

have often been, and see them groaning under a burning fever or

pleurisy, lying on some straw, their feet to the fire with barely a

blanket to cover them; or on some boards nailed together in form of a

bedstead.

And after seeing all this, and hearing them tell of their sufferings,

need I ask, is there any evil connected with their condition? and if

so; upon whom is it to be charged? I answer for myself, and the reader

can do the same. Our government stands first chargeable for allowing

slavery to exist, under its own jurisdiction. Second, the states for

enacting laws to secure their victim. Third, the slaveholder for

carrying out such enactments, in horrid form enough to chill the

blood. Fourth, every person who knows what slavery is, and does not

raise his voice against this crying sin, but by silence gives consent

to its continuance, is chargeable with guilt in the sight of God. "The

blood of Zacharias who was slain between the temple and altar," says

Christ, "WILL I REQUIRE OF THIS GENERATION."

Look at the slave, his condition but little, if at all, better than

that of the brute; chained down by the law, and the will of his

master; and every avenue closed against relief; and the names of those

who plead for him, cast out as evil;--must not humanity let its voice

be heard, and tell Israel their transgressions and Judah their sins?

May God look upon their afflictions, and deliver them from their cruel

task-masters! I verily believe he will, if there be any efficacy in

prayer. I have been to their prayer meetings and with them offered

prayer in their behalf. I have heard some of them in their huts before

day-light praying in their simple broken language, telling their

heavenly Father of their trials in the following and similar language.

"Fader in heaven, look upon de poor slave, dat have to work all de day

long, dat cant have de time to pray only in de night, and den massa

mus not know it.[2] Fader, have mercy on massa and missus. Fader, when

shall poor slave get through de world! when will death come, and de

poor slave go to heaven;" and in their meetings they frequently add,

"Fader, bless de white man dat come to hear de slave pray, bless his

family," and so on. They uniformly begin their meetings by singing the

following--

"And are we yet alive

To see each other's face," &c.

[Footnote 2: At this time there was some fear of insurrection and the

slaves were forbidden to hold meetings.]

Is the ear of the Most High deaf to the prayer of the slave? I do

firmly believe that their deliverance will come, and that the prayer

of this poor afflicted people will be answered.

Emancipation would be safe. I have had eleven winters to learn the

disposition of the slaves, and am satisfied that they would peaceably

and cheerfully work for pay. Give them education, equal and just laws,

and they will become a most interesting people. Oh, let a cry be

raised which shall awaken the conscience of this guilty nation, to

demand for the slaves immediate and unconditional emancipation.

NEHEMIAH CAULKINS.

* * * * *

NARRATIVE AND TESTIMONY OF REV. HORACE MOULTON.

Mr. Moulton is an esteemed minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church,

in Marlborough, Mass. He spent five years in Georgia, between 1817 and

1824. The following communication has been recently received from him.

MARLBOROUGH, MASS., Feb. 18, 1839.

DEAR BROTHER--

Yours of Feb. 2d, requesting me to write out a few facts on the

subject of slavery, as it exists at the south, has come to hand. I

hasten to comply with your request. Were it not, however, for the

claims of those "who are drawn unto death," and the responsibility

resting upon me, in consequence of this request, I should forever hold

my peace. For I well know that I shall bring upon myself a flood of

persecution, for attempting to speak out for the dumb. But I am

willing to be set at nought by men, if I can be the means of promoting

the welfare of the oppressed of our land. I shall not relate many

particular cases of cruelty, though I might a great number; but shall

give some general information as to their mode of treatment, their

food, clothing, dwellings, deprivations, &c.

Let me say, in the first place, that I spent nearly five years in

Savannah, Georgia, and in its vicinity, between the years 1817 and

1824. My object in going to the south, was to engage in making and

burning brick; but not immediately succeeding, I engaged in no

business of much profit until late in the winter, when I took charge

of a set of hands and went to work. During my leisure, however, I was

an observer, at the auctions, upon the plantations, and in almost

every department of business. The next year, during the cold months, I

had several two-horse teams under my care, with which we used to haul

brick, boards, and other articles from the wharf into the city, and

cotton, rice, corn, and wood from the country. This gave me an

extensive acquaintance with merchants, mechanics and planters. I had

slaves under my control some portions of every year when at the south.

All the brick-yards, except one, on which I was engaged, were

connected either with a corn field, potatoe patch, rice field, cotton

field, tan-works, or with a wood lot. My business, usually, was to

take charge of the brick-making department. At those jobs I have

sometimes taken in charge both the field and brick-yard hands. I have

been on the plantations in South Carolina, but have never been an

overseer of slaves in that state, as has been said in the public

papers.

I think the above facts and explanations are necessary to be connected

with the account I may give of slavery, that the reader may have some

knowledge of my acquaintance with _practical_ slavery: for many

mechanics and merchants who go to the South, and stay there for years,

know but little of the dark side of slavery. My account of slavery

will apply to _field hands_, who compose much the largest portion of

the black population, (probably nine-tenths,) and not to those who are

kept for kitchen maids, nurses, waiters, &c., about the houses of the

planters and public hotels, where persons from the north obtain most

of their knowledge of the evils of slavery. I will now proceed to take

up specific points.

THE LABOR OF THE SLAVES

Males and females work together promiscuously on all the plantations.

On many plantations _tasks_ are given them. The best working hands can

have some leisure time; but the feeble and unskilful ones, together

with slender females, have indeed a hard time of it, and very often

answer for non-performance of tasks at the _whipping-posts_. None who

worked with me had tasks at any time. The rule was to work them from

sun to sun. But when I was burning brick, they were obliged to take

turns, and _sit up all night_ about every other night, and work all

day. On one plantation, where I spent a few weeks, the slaves were

called up to work long before daylight, when business pressed, and

worked until late at night; and sometimes some of them _all night_. A

large portion of the slaves are owned by masters who keep them on

purpose to hire out--and they usually let them to those who will give

the highest wages for them, irrespective of their mode of treatment;

and those who hire them, will of course try to get the greatest

possible amount of work performed, with the least possible expense.

Women are seen bringing their infants into the field to their work,

and leading others who are not old enough to stay at the cabins with

safety. When they get there, they must set them down in the dirt and

go to work. Sometimes they are left to cry until they fall asleep.

Others are left at home, shut up in their huts. Now, is it not

barbarous, that the mother, with her child of children around her,

half starved, must be whipped at night if she does not perform her

task? But so it is. Some who have very young ones, fix a little sack,

and place the infants on their backs, and work. One reason, I presume

is, that they will not cry so much when they can hear their mother's

voice. Another is, the mothers fear that the poisonous vipers and

snakes will bite them. Truly, I never knew any place where the land is

so infested with all kinds of the most venomous snakes, as in the low

lands round about Savannah. The moccasin snakes, so called, and water

rattle-snakes--the bites of both of which are as poisonous as our

upland rattlesnakes at the north,--are found in myriads about the

stagnant waters and swamps of the South. The females, in order to

secure their infants from these poisonous snakes, do, as I have said,

often work with their infants on their backs. Females are sometimes

called to take the hardest part of the work. On some brick yards where

I have been, the women have been selected as the _moulders_ of brick,

instead of the men.

II. THE FOOD OF THE SLAVES.

It was a general custom, wherever I have been, for the masters to give

each of his slaves, male and female, _one peck of corn per week_ for

their food. This at fifty cents per bushel, which was all that it was

worth when I was there, would amount to twelve and a half cents per

week for board per head.

It cost me upon an average, when at the south, one dollar per day for

board. The price of fourteen bushels of corn per week. This would make

my board equal in amount to the board of _forty-six slaves!_ This is

all that good or bad masters allow their slaves round about Savannah

on the plantations. One peck of gourd-seed corn is to be measured out

to each slave once every week. One man with whom I labored, however,

being desirous to get all the work out of his hands he could, before I

left, (about fifty in number,) bought for them every week, or twice a

week, a beef's head from market. With this, they made a soup in a

large iron kettle, around which the hands came at meal-time, and

dipping out the soup, would mix it with their hommony, and eat it as

though it were a feast. This man permitted his slaves to eat twice a

day while I was doing a job for him. He promised me a beaver hat and

as good a suit of clothes as could be bought in the city, if I would

accomplish so much for him before I returned to the north; giving me

the entire control over his slaves. Thus you may see the temptations

overseers sometimes have, to get all the work they can out of the poor

slaves. The above is an exception to the general rule of feeding. For

in all other places where I worked and visited; the slaves had

_nothing from their masters but the corn_, or its equivalent in

potatoes or rice, and to this, they were not permitted to come but

_once a day_. The custom was to blow the horn early in the morning,

as a signal for the hands to rise and go to work, when commenced; they

continued work until about eleven o'clock, A.M., when, at the signal,

all hands left off and went into their huts, made their fires, made

their corn-meal into hommony or cake, ate it, and went to work again

at the signal of the horn, and worked until night, or until their

tasks were done. Some cooked their breakfast in the field while at

work. Each slave must grind his own corn in a hand-mill after he has

done his work at night. There is generally one hand-mill on every

plantation for the use of the slaves.

Some of the planters have no corn, others often get out. The

substitute for it is, the equivalent of one peek of corn either in

rice or sweet potatoes; neither of which is as good for the slaves as

corn. They complain more of being faint, when fed on rice or potatoes,

than when fed on corn. I was with one man a few weeks who gave me his

hands to do a job of work, and to save time one cooked for all the

rest. The following course was taken,--Two crotched sticks were driven

down at one end of the yard, and a small pole being laid on the

crotches, they swung a large iron kettle on the middle of the pole;

then made up a fire under the kettle and boiled the hommony; when

ready, the hands were called around this kettle with their wooden

plates and spoons. They dipped out and ate standing around the kettle,

or sitting upon the ground, as best suited their convenience. When

they had potatoes they took them out with their hands, and ate them.

As soon as it was thought they had had sufficient time to swallow

their food they were called to their work again. _This was the only

meal they ate through the day._ now think of the little, almost naked

and half starved children, nibbling upon a piece of cold Indian cake,

or a potato! Think of the poor female, just ready to be confined,

without any thing that can be called convenient or comfortable! Think

of the old toil-worn father and mother, without anything to eat but

the coarsest of food, and not half enough of that! then think of

_home_. When sick, their physicians are their masters and overseers,

in most cases, whose skill consists in bleeding and in administering

large potions of Epsom salts, when the whip and _cursing_ will not

start them from their cabins.

III. HOUSES.

The huts of the slaves are mostly of the poorest kind. They are not as

good as those temporary shanties which are thrown up beside railroads.

They are erected with posts and crotches, with but little or no

frame-work about them. They have no stoves or chimneys; some of them

have something like a fireplace at one end, and a board or two off at

that side, or on the roof, to let off the smoke. Others have nothing

like a fireplace in them; in these the fire is sometimes made in the

middle of the hut. These buildings have but one apartment in them; the

places where they pass in and out, serve both for doors and windows;

the sides and roofs are covered with coarse, and in many instances

with refuse boards. In warm weather, especially in the spring, the

slaves keep up a smoke, or fire and smoke, all night, to drive away

the gnats and musketoes, which are very troublesome in all the low

country of the south; so much so that the whites sleep under frames

with nets over them, knit so fine that the musketoes cannot fly

through them.

Some of the slaves have rugs to cover them in the coldest weather, but

I should think _more have not_. During driving storms they frequently

have to run from one hut to another for shelter. In the coldest

weather, where they can get wood or stumps, they keep up fires all

night in their huts, and lay around them, with their feet towards the

blaze. Men, women and children all lie down together, in most

instances. There may be exceptions to the above statements in regard

to their houses, but so far as my observations have extended, I have

given a fair description, and I have been on a large number of

plantations in Georgia and South Carolina up and down the Savannah

river. Their huts are generally built compactly on the plantations,

forming villages of huts, their size proportioned to the number of

slaves on them. In these miserable huts the poor blacks are herded at

night like swine, _without any conveniences of beadsteads, tables or

chairs._ O Misery to the full! to see the aged sire beating off the

swarms of gnats and musketoes in the warm weather, and shivering in

the straw, or bending over a few coals in the winter, clothed in rags.

I should think males and females, both lie down at night with their

working clothes on them. God alone knows how much the poor slaves

suffer for the want of convenient houses to secure them from the

piercing winds and howling storms of winter, almost as much in Georgia

as I do in Massachusetts.

IV. CLOTHING.

The masters [in Georgia] make a practice of getting two suits of

clothes for each slave per year, a thick suit for winter, and a thin

one for summer. They provide also one pair of northern made sale shoes

for each slave in _winter_. These shoes usually begin to rip in a few

weeks. The negroes' mode of mending them is, to _wire_ them together,

in many instances. Do our northern shoemakers know that they are

augmenting the sufferings of the poor slaves with their almost good

for nothing sale shoes? Inasmuch as it is done unto one of those poor

sufferers it is done unto our Saviour. The above practice of clothing

the slave is customary to some extent. How many, however, fail of

this, God only knows. The children and old slaves are, I should think,

_exceptions_ to the above rule. The males and females have their suits

from the same cloth for their winter dresses. These winter garments

appear to be made of a mixture of cotton and wool, very coarse and

_sleazy_. The whole suit for the men consists of a pair of pantaloons

and a short sailor-jacket, _without shirt, vest, hat, stockings, or

any kind of loose garments!_ These, if worn steadily when at work,

would not probably last more than one or two months; therefore, for

the sake of saving them, many of them work, especially in the summer,

with no clothing on them except a cloth tied round their waist, and

_almost all_ with nothing more on them than pantaloons, and these

frequently so torn that they do not serve the purposes of common

decency. The women have for clothing a short petticoat, and a short

loose gown, something like the male's sailor-jacket, _without any

under garment, stockings, bonnets, hoods, caps, or any kind of

over-clothes._ When at work in the warm weather, they usually strip

off the loose gown, and have nothing on but a short petticoat with

some kind of covering over their breasts. Many children may be seen in

the summer months _as naked as they came into the world_. I think, as

a whole, they suffer more for the want of comfortable bed clothes,

than they do for wearing apparel. It is true, that some by begging or

buying have more clothes than above described, but the _masters

provide them with no more_. They are miserable objects of pity. It may

be said of many of them, "I was _naked_ and ye clothed me not." It is

enough to melt the hardest heart to see the ragged mothers nursing

their almost naked children, with but a morsel of the coarsest food to

eat. The Southern horses and dogs have enough to eat and good care

taken of them, but Southern negroes, who can describe their misery?

V. PUNISHMENTS.

The ordinary mode of punishing the slaves is both cruel and barbarous.

The masters seldom, if ever, try to govern their slaves by moral

influence, but by whipping, kicking, beating, starving, branding,

_cat-hauling_, loading with irons, imprisoning, or by some other cruel

mode of torturing. They often boast of having invented some new mode

of torture, by which they have "tamed the rascals," What is called a

moderate flogging at the south is horribly cruel. Should we whip our

horses for any offence as they whip their slaves for small offences,

we should expose ourselves to the penalty of the law. The masters whip

for the smallest offences, such as not performing their tasks, being

caught by the guard or patrol by night, or for taking any thing from

the master's yard without leave. For these, and the like crimes, the

slaves are whipped thirty-nine lashes, and sometimes seventy or a

hundred, on the bare back. One slave, who was under my care, was

whipped, I think one hundred lashes, for getting a small handful of

wood from his master's yard without leave. I heard an overseer

boasting to this same master that he gave one of the boys seventy

lashes, for not doing a job of work just as he thought it ought to be

done. The owner of the slave appeared to be pleased that the overseer

had been so faithful. The apology they make for whipping so cruelly

is, that it is to frighten the rest of the gang. The masters say, that

what we call an ordinary flogging will not subdue the slaves; hence

the most cruel and barbarous scourgings ever witnessed by man are

daily and _hourly_ inflicted upon the naked bodies of these miserable

bondmen; not by masters and negro-drivers only, but by the constables

in the common markets and jailors in their yards.

When the slaves are whipped, either in public or private, they have

their hands fastened by the wrists, with a rope or cord prepared for

the purpose: this being thrown over a beam, a limb of a tree, or

something else, the culprit is drawn up and stretched by the arms as

high as possible, without raising his feet from the ground or floor:

and sometimes they are made to stand on tip-toe; then the feet are

made fast to something prepared for them. In this distorted posture

the monster flies at them, sometimes in great rage, with his

implements of torture, and cuts on with all his might, over the

shoulders, under the arms, and sometimes over the head and ears, or on

parts of the body where he can inflict the greatest torment.

Occasionally the whipper, especially if his victim does not beg enough

to suit him, while under the lash, will fly into a passion, uttering

the most horrid oaths; while the victim of his rage is crying, at

every stroke, "Lord have mercy! Lord have mercy!" The scenes exhibited

at the whipping post are awfully terrific and frightful to one whose

heart has not turned to stone; I never could look on but a moment.

While under the lash, the bleeding victim writhes in agony, convulsed

with torture. Thirty-nine lashes on the bare back, which tear the skin

at almost every stroke, is what the South calls a very _moderate

punishment!_ Many masters whip until they are tired--until the back is

a gore of blood--then rest upon it: after a short cessation, get up

and go at it again; and after having satiated their revenge in the

blood of their victims, they sometimes _leave them tied, for hours

together, bleeding at every wound_.--Sometimes, after being whipped,

they are bathed with a brine of salt and water. Now and then a master,

but more frequently a mistress who has no husband, will send them to

jail a few days, giving orders to have them whipped, so many lashes,

once or twice a day. Sometimes, after being whipped, some have been

shut up in a dark place and deprived of food, in order to increase

their torments: and I have heard of some who have, in such

circumstances, died of their wounds and starvation.

Such scenes of horror as above described are so common in Georgia that

they attract no attention. To threaten them with death, with breaking

in their teeth or jaws, or cracking their heads, is _common talk_,

when scolding at the slaves.--Those who run away from their masters

and are caught again generally fare the worst. They are generally

lodged in jail, with instructions from the owner to have them cruelly

whipped. Some order the constables to whip them publicly in the

market. Constables at the south are generally savage, brutal men. They

have become so accustomed to catching and whipping negroes, that they

are as fierce as tigers. Slaves who are absent from their yards, or

plantations, after eight o'clock P.M., and are taken by the guard in

the cities, or by the patrols in the country, are, if not called for

before nine o'clock A.M. the next day, secured in prisons; and hardly

ever escape, until their backs are torn up by the cowhide. On

plantations, the _evenings_ usually present scenes of horror. Those

slaves against whom charges are preferred for not having performed

their tasks, and for various faults, must, after work-hours at night,

undergo their torments. I have often heard the sound of the lash, the

curses of the whipper, and the cries of the poor negro rending the

air, late in the evening, and long before day-light in the morning.

It is very common for masters to say to the overseers or drivers, "put

it on to them," "don't spare that fellow," "give that scoundrel one

hundred lashes," &c. Whipping the women when in delicate

circumstances, as they sometimes do, without any regard to their

entreaties or the entreaties of their nearest friends, is truly

barbarous. If negroes could testify, they would tell you of instances

of women being whipped until they have miscarried at the

whipping-post. I heard of such things at the south--they are

undoubtedly facts. Children are whipped unmercifully for the smallest

offences, and that before their mothers. A large proportion of the

blacks have their shoulders, backs, and arms all scarred up, and not a

few of them have had their heads laid open with clubs, stones, and

brick-bats, and with the butt-end of whips and canes--some have had

their jaws broken, others their teeth knocked in or out; while others

have had their ears cropped and the sides of their cheeks gashed out.

Some of the poor creatures have lost the sight of one of their eyes by

the careless blows of the whipper, or by some other violence.

But punishing of slaves as above described, is not the only mode of

torture. Some tie them up in a very uneasy posture, where they must

stand _all night_, and they will then work them hard all day--that is,

work them hard all day and torment them all night. Others punish by

fastening them down on a log, or something else, and strike them on

the bare skin with a board paddle full of holes. This breaks the skin,

I should presume, at every hole where it comes in contact with it.

Others, when other modes of punishment will not subdue them,

_cat-haul_ them--that is, take a cat by the nape of the neck and tail,

or by the hind legs, and drag the claws across the back until

satisfied. This kind of punishment poisons the flesh much worse than

the whip, and is more dreaded by the slave. Some are branded by a hot

iron, others have their flesh cut out in large gashes, to mark them.

Some who are prone to run away, have iron fetters riveted around their

ancles, sometimes they are put only on one foot, and are dragged on

the ground. Others have on large iron collars or yokes upon their

necks, or clogs riveted upon their wrists or ancles. Some have bells

put upon them, hung upon a sort of frame to an iron collar. Some

masters fly into a rage at trifles and knock down their negroes with

their fists, or with the first thing that they can get hold of. The

whiplash-knots, or rawhide, have sometimes by a reckless stroke

reached round to the front of the body and cut through to the bowels.

One slaveholder with whom I lived, whipped one of his slaves one day,

as many, I should think, as one hundred lashes, and then turned the

_butt-end_ and went to beating him over the head and ears, and truly I

was amazed that the slave was not killed on the spot. Not a few

slaveholders whip their slaves to death, and then say that they died

under a "moderate correction." I wonder that ten are not killed where

one is! Were they not much hardier than the whites many more of them

must die than do. One young mulatto man, with whom I was well

acquainted, was killed by his master in his yard with _impunity_. I

boarded at the same time near the place where this glaring murder was

committed, and knew the master well. He had a plantation, on which he

enacted, almost daily, cruel barbarities, some of them, I was

informed, more terrific, if possible, than death itself. Little notice

was taken of this murder, and it all passed off without any action

being taken against the murderer. The masters used to try to make me

whip their negroes. They said I could not get along with them without

flogging them--but I found I could get along better with them by

coaxing and encouraging them than by beating and flogging them. I had

not a heart to beat and kick about those beings; although I had not

grace in my heart the three first years I was there, yet I sympathised

with the slaves. I never was guilty of having but one whipped, and he

was whipped but eight or nine blows. The circumstances were as

follows: Several negroes were put under my care, one spring, _who were

fresh from Congo and Guinea_. I could not understand them, neither

could they me, in one word I spoke. I therefore pointed to them to go

to work; all obeyed me willingly but one--he refused. I told the

driver that he must tie him up and whip him. After he had tied him, by

the help of some others, we struck him eight or nine blows, and he

yielded. I told the driver not to strike him another blow. We untied

him, and he went to work, and continued faithful all the time he was

with me. This one was not a sample, however--many of them have such

exalted views of freedom that it is hard work for the masters to whip

them into brutes, that is to subdue their noble spirits. The negroes

being put under my care, did not prevent the masters from whipping

them when they pleased. But they never whipped much in my presence.

This work was usually left until I had dismissed the hands. On the

plantations, the masters chose to have the slaves whipped in the

presence of all the hands, to strike them with terror.

VI. RUNAWAYS

Numbers of poor slaves run away from their masters; some of whom

doubtless perish in the swamps and other secret places, rather than

return back again to their masters; others stay away until they almost

famish with hunger, and then return home rather than die, while others

who abscond are caught by the negro-hunters, in various ways.

Sometimes the master will hire some of his most trusty negroes to

secure any stray negroes, who come on to their plantations, for many

come at night to beg food of their friends on the plantations. The

slaves assist one another usually when they can, and not be found out

in it. The master can now and then, however, get some of his hands to

betray the runaways. Some obtain their living in hunting after lost

slaves. The most common way is to train up young dogs to follow them.

This can easily be done by obliging a slave to go out into the woods,

and climb a tree, and then put the young dog on his track, and with a

little assistance he can be taught to follow him to the tree, and when

found, of course the dog would bark at such game as a poor negro on a

tree. There was a man living in Savannah when I was there, who kept a

large number of dogs for no other purpose than to hunt runaway

negroes. And he always had enough of this work to do, for hundreds of

runaways are never found, but could he get news soon after one had

fled, he was almost sure to catch him. And this fear of the dogs

restrains multitudes from running off.

When he went out on a hunting excursion, to be gone several days, he

took several persons with him, armed generally with rifles and

followed by the dogs. The dogs were as true to the track of a negro,

if one had passed recently, as a hound is to the track of a fox when

he has found it. When the dogs draw near to their game, the slave must

turn and fight them or climb a tree. If the latter, the dogs will stay

and bark until the pursuer come. The blacks frequently deceive the

dogs by crossing and recrossing the creeks. Should the hunters who

have no dogs, start a slave from his hiding place, and the slave not

stop at the hunter's call, he will shoot at him, as soon as he would

at a deer. Some masters advertise so much for a runaway slave, dead or

alive. It undoubtedly gives such more satisfaction to know that their

property is dead, than to know that it is alive without being able to

get it. Some slaves run away who never mean to be taken alive. I will

mention one. He run off and was pursued by the dogs, but having a

weapon with him he succeeded in killing two or three of the dogs; but

was afterwards shot. He had declared, that he never would be taken

alive. The people rejoiced at the death of the slave, but lamented the

death of the dogs, they were such ravenous hunters. Poor fellow, he

fought for life and liberty like a hero; but the bullets brought him

down. A negro can hardly walk unmolested at the south.--Every colored

stranger that walks the streets is suspected of being a runaway slave,

hence he must be interrogated by every negro hater whom he meets, and

should he not have a pass, he must be arrested and hurried off to

jail. Some masters boast that their slaves would not be free if they

could. How little they know of their slaves! They are all sighing and

groaning for freedom. May God hasten the time!

VII. CONFINEMENT AT NIGHT.

When the slaves have done their day's work, they must be herded

together like sheep in their yards, or on their plantations. They have

not as much liberty as northern men have, who are sent to jail for

debt, for they have liberty to walk a larger yard than the slaves

have. The slaves must all be at their homes precisely at eight

o'clock, P.M. At this hour the drums beat in the cities, as a signal

for every slave to be in his den. In the country, the signal is given

by firing guns, or some other way by which they may know the hour when

to be at home. After this hour, the guard in the cities, and patrols

in the country, being well armed, are on duty until daylight in the

morning. If they catch any negroes during the night without a pass,

they are immediately seized and hurried away to the guard-house, or if

in the country to some place of confinement, where they are kept until

nine o'clock, A.M., the next day, if not called for by that time, they

are hurried off to jail, and there remain until called for by their

master and his jail and guard house fees paid. The guards and patrols

receive one dollar extra for every one they can catch, who has not a

pass from his master, or overseer, but few masters will give their

slaves passes to be out at night unless on some special business:

notwithstanding, many venture out, watching every step they take for

the guard or patrol, the consequence is, some are caught almost every

night, and some nights many are taken; some, fleeing after being

hailed by the watch, are shot down in attempting their escape, others

are crippled for life. I find I shall not be able to write out more at

present. My ministerial duties are pressing, and if I delay this till

the next mail, I fear it will not be in season. Your brother for those

who are in bonds,

HORACE MOULTON

* * * * *

NARRATIVE AND TESTIMONY OF SARAH M. GRIMKÉ.

Miss Grimké is a daughter of the late Judge Grimké, of the Supreme

Court of South Carolina, and sister of the late Hon. Thomas S. Grimké.

As I left my native state on account of slavery, and deserted the home

of my fathers to escape the sound of the lash and the shrieks of

tortured victims, I would gladly bury in oblivion the recollection of

those scenes with which I have been familiar; but this may not, cannot

be; they come over my memory like gory spectres, and implore me with

resistless power, in the name of a God of mercy, in the name of a

crucified Savior, in the name of humanity; for the sake of the

slaveholder, as well as the slave, to bear witness to the horrors of

the southern prison house. I feel impelled by a sacred sense of duty,

by my obligations to my country, by sympathy for the bleeding victims

of tyranny and lust, to give my testimony respecting the system of

American slavery,--to detail a few facts, most of which came under my

_personal observation_. And here I may premise, that the actors in

these tragedies were all men and women of the highest respectability,

and of the first families in South Carolina, and, with one exception,

citizens of Charleston; and that their cruelties did not in the

slightest degree affect their standing in society.

A handsome mulatto woman, about 18 or 20 years of age, whose

independent spirit could not brook the degradation of slavery, was in

the habit of running away: for this offence she had been repeatedly

sent by her master and mistress to be whipped by the keeper of the

Charleston work-house. This had been done with such inhuman severity,

as to lacerate her back in a most shocking manner; a finger could not

be laid between the cuts. But the love of liberty was too strong to be

annihilated by torture; and, as a last resort, she was whipped at

several different times, and kept a close prisoner. A heavy iron

collar, with three long prongs projecting from it, was placed round

her neck, and a strong and sound front tooth was extracted, to serve

as a mark to describe her, in case of escape. Her sufferings at this

time were agonizing; she could lie in no position but on her back,

which was sore from scourgings, as I can testify, from personal

inspection, and her only place of rest was the floor, on a blanket.

These outrages were committed in a family where the mistress daily

read the scriptures, and assembled her children for family worship.

She was accounted, and was really, so far as almsgiving was concerned,

a charitable woman, and tender hearted to the poor; and yet this

suffering slave, who was the seamstress of the family, was continually

in her presence, sitting in her chamber to sew, or engaged in her

other household work, with her lacerated and bleeding back, her

mutilated mouth, and heavy iron collar, without, so far as appeared,

exciting any feelings of compassion.

A highly intelligent slave, who panted after freedom with ceaseless

longings, made many attempts to get possession of himself. For every

offence he was punished with extreme severity. At one time he was tied

up by his hands to a tree, and whipped until his back was one gore of

blood. To this terrible infliction he was subjected at intervals for

several weeks, and kept heavily ironed while at his work. His master

one day accused him of a fault, in the usual terms dictated by passion

and arbitrary power; the man protested his innocence, but was not

credited. He again repelled the charge with honest indignation. His

master's temper rose almost to frenzy; and seizing a fork, he made a

deadly plunge at the breast of the slave. The man being far his

superior in strength, caught the arm, and dashed the weapon on the

floor. His master grasped at his throat, but the slave disengaged

himself, and rushed from the apartment, having made his escape, he

fled to the woods; and after wandering about for many months, living

on roots and berries, and enduring every hardship, he was arrested and

committed to jail. Here he lay for a considerable time, allowed

scarcely food enough to sustain life, whipped in the most shocking

manner, and confined in a cell so loathsome, that when his master

visited him, he said the stench was enough to knock a man down. The

filth had never been removed from the apartment since the poor

creature had been immured in it. Although a black man, such had been

the effect of starvation and suffering, that his master declared he

hardly recognized him--his complexion was so yellow, and his hair,

naturally thick and black, had become red and scanty; an infallible

sign of long continued living on bad and insufficient food. Stripes,

imprisonment, and the gnawings of hunger, had broken his lofty spirit

for a season; and, to use his master's own exulting expression, he was

"as humble as a dog." After a time he made another attempt to escape,

and was absent so long, that a reward was offered for him, _dead or

alive_. He eluded every attempt to take him, and his master,

despairing of ever getting him again, offered to pardon him if he

would return home. It is always understood that such intelligence will

reach the runaway; and accordingly, at the entreaties of his wife and

mother, the fugitive once more consented to return to his bitter

bondage. I believe this was the last effort to obtain his liberty. His

heart became touched with the power of the gospel; and the spirit

which no inflictions could subdue, bowed at the cross of Jesus, and

with the language on his lips--"the cup that my father hath given me,

shall I not drink it?" submitted to the yoke of the oppressor, and

wore his chains in unmurmuring patience till death released him. The

master who perpetrated these wrongs upon his slave, was one of the

most influential and honored citizens of South Carolina, and to his

equals was bland, and courteous, and benevolent even to a proverb.

A slave who had been separated from his wife, because it best suited

the convenience of his owner, ran away. He was taken up on the

plantation where his wife, to whom he was tenderly attached, then

lived. His only object in running away was to return to her--no other

fault was attributed to him. For this offence he was confined in the

stocks _six weeks_, in a miserable hovel, not weather-tight. He

received fifty lashes weekly during that time, was allowed food barely

sufficient to sustain him, and when released from confinement, was not

permitted to return to his wife. His master, although himself a

husband and a father, was unmoved by the touching appeals of the

slave, who entreated that he might only remain with his wife,

promising to discharge his duties faithfully; his master continued

inexorable, and he was torn from his wife and family. The owner of

this slave was a professing Christian, in full membership with the

church, and this circumstance occurred when he was confined to his

chamber during his last illness.

A punishment dreaded more by the slaves than whipping, unless it is

unusually severe, is one which was invented by a female acquaintance

of mine in Charleston--I heard her say so with much satisfaction. It

is standing on one foot and holding the other in the hand. Afterwards

it was improved upon, and a strap was contrived to fasten around the

ankle and pass around the neck; so that the least weight of the foot

resting on the strap would choke the person. The pain occasioned by

this unnatural position was great; and when continued, as it sometimes

was, for an hour or more, produced intense agony. I heard this same

woman say, that she had the ears of her waiting maid _slit_ for some

petty theft. This she told me in the presence of the girl, who was

standing in the room. She often had the helpless victims of her

cruelty severely whipped, not scrupling herself to wield the

instrument of torture, and with her own hands inflict severe

chastisement. Her husband was less inhuman than his wife, but he was

often goaded on by her to acts of great severity. In his last illness

I was sent for, and watched beside his death couch. The girl on whom

he had so often inflicted punishment, haunted his dying hours; and

when at length the king of terrors approached, he shrieked in utter

agony of spirit, "Oh, the blackness of darkness, the black imps, I can

see them all around me--take them away!" and amid such exclamations he

expired. These persons were of one of the first families in

Charleston.

A friend of mine, in whose veracity I have entire confidence, told me

that about two years ago, a woman in Charleston with whom I was well

acquainted, had starved a female slave to death. She was confined in a

solitary apartment, kept constantly tied, and condemned to the slow

and horrible death of starvation. This woman was notoriously cruel. To

those who have read the narrative of James Williams I need only say,

that the character of young Larrimore's wife is an exact description

of this female tyrant, whose countenance was ever dressed in smiles

when in the presence of strangers, but whose heart was as the nether

millstone toward her slaves.

As I was traveling in the lower country in South Carolina, a number of

years since, my attention was suddenly arrested by an exclamation of

horror from the coachman, who called out, "Look there, Miss Sarah,

don't you see?"--I looked in the direction he pointed, and saw a human

head stuck up on a high pole. On inquiry, I found that a runaway

slave, who was outlawed, had been shot there, his head severed from

his body, and put upon the public highway, as a terror to deter slaves

from running away.

On a plantation in North Carolina, where I was visiting, I happened

one day, in my rambles, to step into a negro cabin; my compassion was

instantly called forth by the object which presented itself. A slave,

whose head was white with age, was lying in one corner of the hovel;

he had under his head a few filthy rags but the boards were his only

bed, it was the depth of winter, and the wind whistled through every

part of the dilapidated building--he opened his languid eyes when I

spoke, and in reply to my question, "What is the matter?" He said, "I

am dying of a cancer in my side."--As he removed the rags which

covered the sore, I found that it extended half round the body, and

was shockingly neglected. I inquired if he had any nurse. "No,

missey," was his answer, "but de people (the slaves) very kind to me,

dey often steal time to run and see me and fetch me some ting to eat;

if dey did not, I might starve." The master and mistress of this man,

who had been worn out in their service, were remarkable for their

intelligence, and their hospitality knew no bounds towards those who

were of their own grade in society: the master had for some time held

the highest military office in North Carolina, and not long previous

to the time of which I speak, was the Governor of the State.

On a plantation in South Carolina, I witnessed a similar case of

suffering--an aged woman suffering under an incurable disease in the

same miserably neglected situation. The "owner" of this slave was

proverbially kind to her negroes; so much so, that the planters in the

neighborhood said she spoiled them, and set a bad example, which might

produce discontent among the surrounding slaves; yet I have seen this

woman tremble with rage, when her slaves displeased her, and heard her

use language to them which could only be expected from an inmate of

Bridewell; and have known her in a gust of passion send a favorite

slave to the workhouse to be severely whipped.

Another fact occurs to me. A young woman about eighteen, stated some

circumstances relative to her young master, which were thought

derogatory to his character; whether true or false, I am unable to

say; she was threatened with punishment, but persisted in affirming

that she had only spoken the truth. Finding her incorrigible, it was

concluded to send her to the Charleston workhouse and have her whipt;

she pleaded in vain for a commutation of her sentence, not so much

because she dreaded the actual suffering, as because her delicate mind

shrunk from the shocking exposure of her person to the eyes of brutal

and licentious men; she declared to me that death would be preferable;

but her entreaties were vain, and as there was no means of escaping

but by running away, she resorted to it as a desperate remedy, for her

timid nature never could have braved the perils necessarily

encountered by fugitive slaves, had not her mind been thrown into a

state of despair.--She was apprehended after a few weeks, by two

slave-catchers, in a deserted house, and as it was late in the evening

they concluded to spend the night there. What inhuman treatment she

received from them has never been revealed. They tied her with cords

to their bodies, and supposing they had secured their victim, soon

fell into a deep sleep, probably rendered more profound by

intoxication and fatigue; but the miserable captive slumbered not; by

some means she disengaged herself from her bonds, and again fled

through the lone wilderness. After a few days she was discovered in a

wretched hut, which seemed to have been long uninhabited; she was

speechless; a raging fever consumed her vitals, and when a physician

saw her, he said she was dying of a disease brought on by over

fatigue; her mother was permitted to visit her, but ere she reached

her, the damps of death stood upon her brow, and she had only the sad

consolation of looking on the death-struck form and convulsive agonies

of her child.

A beloved friend in South Carolina, the wife of a slaveholder, with

whom I often mingled my tears, when helpless and hopeless we deplored

together the horrors of slavery, related to me some years since the

following circumstance.

On the plantation adjoining her husband's, there was a slave of

pre-eminent piety. His master was not a professor of religion, but the

superior excellence of this disciple of Christ was not unmarked by

him, and I believe he was so sensible of the good influence of his

piety that he did not deprive him of the few religious privileges

within his reach. A planter was one day dining with the owner of this

slave, and in the course of conversation observed, that all profession

of religion among slaves was mere hypocrisy. The other asserted a

contrary opinion, adding, I have a slave who I believe would rather

die than deny his Saviour. This was ridiculed, and the master urged to

prove the assertion. He accordingly sent for this man of God, and

peremptorily ordered him to deny his belief in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The slave pleaded to be excused, constantly affirming that he would

rather die than deny the Redeemer, whose blood was shed for him. His

master, after vainly trying to induce obedience by threats, had him

terribly whipped. The fortitude of the sufferer was not to be shaken;

he nobly rejected the offer of exemption from further chastisement at

the expense of destroying his soul, and this blessed martyr _died in

consequence of this severe infliction_. Oh, how bright a gem will this

victim of irresponsible power be, in that crown which sparkles on the

Redeemer's brow; and that many such will cluster there, I have not the

shadow of a doubt.

SARAH M. GRIMKÉ. _Fort Lee, Bergen County, New Jersey, 3rd Month,

26th_, 1830.

TESTIMONY OF THE LATE REV. JOHN GRAHAM of Townsend, Mass., who resided

in S. Carolina, from 1831, to the latter part of 1833. Mr. Graham

graduated at Amherst College in 1829, spent some time at the

Theological Seminary, in New Haven, Ct., and went to South Carolina,

for his health in 1830. He resided principally on the island of St.

Helena, S.C., and most of the time in the family of James Tripp, Esq.,

a wealthy slave holding planter. During his residence at St. Helena,

he was engaged as an instructer, and was most of the time the stated

preacher on the island. Mr. G. was extensively known in Massachusetts;

and his fellow students and instructers, at Amherst College, and at

Yale Theological Seminary, can bear testimony to his integrity and

moral worth. The following are extracts of letters, which he wrote

while in South Carolina, to an intimate friend in Concord,

Massachusetts, who has kindly furnished them for publication.

EXTRACTS.

_Springfield, St. Helena Isl., S.C., Oct. 22, 1832._

"Last night, about one o'clock, I was awakened by the report of a

musket. I was out of bed almost instantly. On opening my window, I

found the report proceeded from my host's chamber. He had let off his

pistol, which he usually keeps by him night and day, at a slave, who

had come into the yard, and as it appears, had been with one of his

house servants. He did not hit him. The ball, taken from a pine tree

the next morning, I will show you, should I be spared by Providence

ever to return to you. The house servant was called to the master's

chamber, where he received 75 lashes, very severe too; and I could not

only hear every lash, but each groan which succeeded very distinctly

as I lay in my bed. What was then done with the servant I know not.

Nothing was said of this to me in the morning and I presume it will

ever be kept from me with care, if I may judge of kindred acts. I

shall make no comment."

In the same letter, Mr. Graham says:--

"You ask me of my hostess"--then after giving an idea of her character

says: "To day, she has I verily believe laid, in a very severe manner

too, more than 300 _stripes_, upon the house servants," (17 in

number.)