Selma arrived at home about a week after her father's funeral. The
affairs of the plantation were going on much as usual, but Mrs. Preston
was there in apparently the greatest grief. She seemed inconsolable;
talked much of her loss, and expressed great fears for the future. Her
husband had left no will, and nothing would remain for her but the dower
in the real estate, and that would sell for but little.
The more Preston's affairs were investigated, the worse they appeared.
He was in debt everywhere. An administrator was appointed, and he
decided that a sale of everything--the two plantations and the
negroes--would be necessary.
Selma felt little interest in the pecuniary result, but sympathy for her
stepmother induced her to remain at home, week after week, when her
presence there was no longer of service. At last she made preparations
to return; but, as she was on the point of departure, Mrs.
Preston--whose face then wore an expression of triumphant malignity
which chilled Selma's very life-blood--told her that she could not go;
that she was a part of her father's estate, and must remain, and be sold
with the other negroes!
Dawsey, shortly prior to this, had become a frequent visitor at the
plantation; and, the week before, Phylly had been dreadfully whipped
under his supervision. Selma interceded for her, but could not avert the
punishment. She did not at the time know why it was done, but at last
the reason was revealed to her.
Among the papers of the first Mrs. Preston, the second wife had found a
bill of sale, by which, in consideration of one gold watch, two diamond
rings, an emerald pin, two gold bracelets, some family plate, and other
jewelry, of the total value of five hundred dollars, General ----, of
Newbern, had conveyed a negro girl called 'Lucy', to Mrs. Lucy Preston,
wife of Robert Preston, Esq. Said girl was described as seven years old,
light complexioned, with long, curly hair, of a golden brown; and the
child of Phyllis, otherwise called Phyllis Preston, then the property of
Jacob Larkin.
Mrs. Preston inquired of Phyllis what had become of the child. The nurse
denied all knowledge of it; but Selma's age, her peculiar hair, and her
strong resemblance to Rosey, excited the Yankee woman's suspicions, and
she questioned the mother more closely. Phyllis still denied all
knowledge of her child, and, for that denial, was whipped--whipped till
her flesh was cut into shreds, and she fainted from loss of blood. After
the whipping, she was left in an old cabin, to live or die--her mistress
did not care which; and there Ally found her at night, on his return
from his work in the swamp. Wrapping her mangled body in an oiled sheet,
he conveyed her to his cabin. Dinah carefully nursed her, and ere long
she was able to sit up. Then Mrs. Preston told her that, as soon as she
was sufficiently recovered to live through it, she would be again and
again beaten, till she disclosed the fate of the child.
She still denied all knowledge of it; but, fearing the rage of her
mistress, she sent for her husband, then keeping a small groggery at
Trenton, four miles away. He came and had a conference with Ally and
Dinah about the best way of saving his wife from further abuse. Phyllis
was unable to walk or to ride, therefore flight was out of the question.
Ally proposed that Mulock should oversee his gang for a time while he
remained about home and kept watch over her. None of the negroes could
be induced to whip her in his presence; and if Dawsey or any other white
man attempted it, he was free--he would meet them with their own
weapons. Mulock agreed to this, and the next day went to the swamp.
Learning of his presence on the plantation, the mistress sent for him,
and, by means of a paltry bribe, induced him to reveal all! Selma
thought he loved Phyllis as much as his brutal nature was capable of
loving, and that he betrayed her to save her mother from further ill
usage.
The next morning, four strong men entered Ally's cabin before he had
left his bed, bound him hand and foot, and dragged Phyllis away, to be
again whipped for having refused to betray Selma. Unable to stand, she
was tied to a stake, and unmercifully beaten. Weak from the effects of
the previous whipping, and crushed in spirit by anxiety for her child,
nature could no longer sustain her. A fever set in, and, at the end of a
week, she died.
Selma was told of their relation to each other. The nurse, so devotedly
attached to her, and whom she had so long loved, was her own mother! She
learned this only in time to see her die, and to hear her last blessing.
Then Selma experienced all the bitterness of slavery. She was set at
work in the kitchen with the other slaves. It seemed that Mrs. Preston
took especial delight in assigning to the naturally high-spirited and
sensitive girl the most menial employments. Patiently trusting in God
that He would send deliverance, she endeavored to perform,
uncomplainingly, her allotted tasks. Wholly unaccustomed to such work,
weary in body and sick at heart, she dragged herself about from day to
day, till at last Mrs. Preston, disgusted with her 'laziness,' as she
termed it, directed her to be taken to the quarters and beaten with
fifty lashes!
Ally had been ordered away by the mistress, and that morning had gone to
Trenton to consult the administrator, and get his permission to stay on
the plantation. That gentleman--a kind-hearted, upright man--not only
told him he could remain, but gave him a written order to take and keep
Selma in his custody.
He returned at night, to find she had been whipped. His blood boiling
with rage, he entered the mansion, and demanded to see her. Mrs. Preston
declined. He then gave her the order of the administrator. She tore it
into fragments, and bade him leave the house. He refused to go without
Selma, and quietly seated himself on the sofa. Mrs. Preston then called
in ten or twelve of the field hands, and told them to eject him. They
either would not or dared not do it; and, without more delay, he
proceeded to search for Selma. At last he found her apartment. He burst
open the door, and saw her lying on a low, miserable bed, writhing in
agony from her wounds. Throwing a blanket over her, he lifted her in his
arms, and carried her to his cabin. Dinah carefully attended her, and
that night she thanked God, and--slept.
The next morning, before the sun was fully up, Dawsey and three other
white men, heavily armed, came to the cabin, and demanded admittance.
Ally refused, and barricaded the door. They finally stealthily effected
an entrance through a window in the kitchen, and, breaking down the
communication with the 'living room,' in which apartment the mulatto man
and his mother were, they rushed in upon them. Ally, the previous day,
had procured a couple of revolvers at Trenton, and Dinah and he,
planting themselves before the door of old Deborah's room, in which
Selma was sleeping, pointed the weapons at the intruders. The assailants
paused, when Dawsey shouted out: 'Are you afraid of two d--d
niggers--and one a woman!' Aiming his pistol at Ally, he fired. The ball
struck the negro's left arm. Discharging two or three barrels at them,
the old woman and her son then rushed upon the white men, and they FLED!
all but one--he remained; for Dinah caught him in a loving embrace, and
pummelled him until he might have been mistaken for calves-foot jelly.
Ally then sent a messenger to the administrator, who rode over in the
afternoon, and took Selma to his own house. There she remained till her
brother reached the plantation--three days before my arrival.
As soon as she was safely at Trenton, Selma wrote to her friends,
mailing the letters at that post office. She received no answers. Again
and again she wrote; the administrator also wrote, but still no replies
came. At last Ally suggested mailing the letters at Newbern, and rode
down with one to Joe, one to Alice, and one to Kate.
Her brother came on at once. In the first ebullition of his anger he
ejected his stepmother from the mansion. She went to Dawsey's, and, the
next day, appeared at the sale with that gentleman; and then announced
that for two months she had been the woman-whipper's wife.
Dawsey had bought the plantation, and most of the furniture, the day
before, and had said he intended to buy all of the 'prime' negroes.
As Selma concluded, Joe quietly remarked:
'He'll be disappointed in that. I allowed him the plantation and
furniture, because I've no use for them; but I made him pay more than
they are worth. The avails will help me through with father's debts; but
not a single hand shall go into his clutches, I shall buy them myself.'
'What will you do with them?'
'I have bought a plantation near Mobile. I shall put them upon it. Joe
will manage them, and I'll live there with Selly.'
'You're a splendid fellow, Joe. But it seems a pity that woman should
profane your father's house.'
'Oh! there's no danger of that. I've engaged 'furnished apartments' for
her elsewhere.'
'What do you mean?'
'The sheriff is asleep up stairs. He has a warrant against her for the
murder of Phyllis. When she comes here in the morning, it will be
served!'