The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Omnibus
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Chapter 188 : From the "Charleston (S.C.) Courier," Jan. 12, 1838."$100 Reward.--Run
From the "Charleston (S.C.) Courier," Jan. 12, 1838.
"$100 Reward.--Run away from the subscriber, his negro fellow, John.
He is well known about the city as one of my bread carriers: _has a wife_ living at Mrs. Weston's, on Hempstead. John formerly belonged to Mrs. Moor, near St. Paul's church, where his _mother_ still lives, and _has been harbored by her_ before.
JOHN T. MARSHALL.
60, Tradd street."
From the "Newbern (N.C.) Sentinel," March 17, 1837.
"Ranaway, Moses, a black fellow, about 40 years of age--has a _wife_ in Was.h.i.+ngton.
THOMAS BRAGG, Sen.
Warrenton, N.C."
From the "Richmond (Va.) Whig," June 30, 1837.
"Ranaway, my man Peter.--He has a _sister_ and _mother_ in New Kent, and a _wife_ about fifteen or eighteen miles above Richmond, at or about Taylorsville. THEO. A. LACY."
From the "New Orleans Bulletin," Feb. 7, 1838.
"Ranaway, my negro Philip, aged about 40 years.--He may have gone to St. Louis, as _he has a wife there_. W.G. CLARK, 70 New Levee."
From the "Georgian," Jan. 29, 1838.
"A Reward of $5 will be paid for the apprehension of his negro woman, Diana. Diana is from 45 to 50 age. She formerly belonged to Mr. Nath.
Law, of Liberty county, _where her husband still lives_. She will endeavor to go there perhaps. D. O'BYRNE."
From the "Richmond (Va.) Enquirer," Feb. 20, 1838.
"$10 Reward for a negro woman, named Sally, 40 years old. We have just reason to believe the said negro to be now lurking on the James River Ca.n.a.l, or in the Green Spring neighborhood, where, we are informed, _her husband resides_. The above reward will be given to any person _securing_ her.
POLLY C. s.h.i.+ELDS.
Mount Elba, Feb. 19, 1838."
"$50 Reward.--Ran away from the subscriber, his negro man Pauladore, commonly called Paul. I understand GEN. R.Y. HAYNE _has purchased his wife and children_ from H.L. PINCKNEY, Esq. and has them now on his plantation at Goosecreek, where, no doubt, the fellow is frequently _lurking_. T. DAVIS."
"$25 Reward.--Ran away from the subscriber, a negro woman, named Matilda. It is thought she may be somewhere up James River, as she was claimed as _a wife_ by some boatman in Goochland. J. ALVIS."
"Stop the Runaway!!!--$25 Reward. Ranaway from the Eagle Tavern, a negro fellow, named Nat. He is no doubt attempting to _follow his wife, who was lately sold to a speculator_ named Redmond. The above reward will be paid by Mrs. Lucy M. Downman, of Suss.e.x county, Va."
Mult.i.tudes of advertis.e.m.e.nts like the above appear annually in the southern papers. Reader, look at the preceding list--mark the unfeeling barbarity with which their masters and _mistresses_ describe the struggles and perils of sundered husbands and wives, parents and children, in their weary midnight travels through forests and rivers, with torn limbs and breaking hearts, seeking the embraces of each other's love. In one instance, a mother torn from all her children and taken to a remote part of another state, presses her way back through the wilderness, hundreds of miles, to clasp once more her children to her heart: but, when she has arrived within a few miles of them, in the same county, is discovered, seized, dragged to jail, and her purchaser told, through an advertis.e.m.e.nt, that she awaits his order.
But we need not trace out the harrowing details already before the reader.
Rev. C.S. RENSHAW, of Quincy, Illinois, who resided some time in Kentucky, says;--
"I was told the following fact by a young lady, daughter of a slaveholder in Boone county, Kentucky, who lived within half a mile of Mr. Hughes' farm. Hughes and Neil traded in slaves down the river: they had bought up a part of their stock in the upper counties of Kentucky, and brought them down to Louisville, where the remainder of their drove was in jail, waiting their arrival. Just before the steamboat put off for the lower country, two negro women were offered for sale, each of them having a young child at the breast. The traders bought them, took their babes from their arms, and offered them to the highest bidder; and they were sold for one dollar apiece, whilst the stricken parents were driven on board the boat; and in an hour were on their way to the New Orleans market. You are aware that a young babe _decreases_ the value of a field hand in the lower country, whilst it increases her value in the 'breeding states.'"
The following is an extract from an address, published by the Presbyterian Synod of Kentucky, to the churches under their care, in 1835:--
"Brothers and sisters, parents and children, husbands and wives, are _torn asunder_, and permitted to see each other no more. These acts are DAILY occurring in the midst of us. The _shrieks_ and the _agony, often_ witnessed on such occasions, proclaim, with a trumpet tongue, the iniquity of our system. _There is not a neighborhood_ where these heart-rending scenes are not displayed. _There is not a village or road_ that does not behold the sad procession of manacled outcasts, whose mournful countenances tell that they are exiled by _force_ from ALL THAT THEIR HEARTS HOLD DEAR."--_Address_, p. 12.
Professor ANDREWS, late of the University of North Carolina, in his recent work on Slavery and the Slave Trade, page 147, in relating a conversation with a slave-trader, whom he met near Was.h.i.+ngton City, says, he inquired,
"'Do you _often_ buy the wife without the husband?' 'Yes, VERY OFTEN; and FREQUENTLY, too, they _sell me the mother while they keep her children. I have often known them take away the infant from its mother's breast, and keep it, while they sold her_.'"
The following sale is advertised in the "Georgia Journal," Jan, 2, 1838.
"Will be sold, the following PROPERTY, to wit: One ---- CHILD, by the name of James, _about eight months old_, levied on as the property of Gabriel Gunn."
The following is a standing advertis.e.m.e.nt in the Charleston (S.C.) papers:--
"120 Negroes for Sale--The subscriber has _just arrived from Petersburg, Virginia_, with one hundred and twenty _likely young_ negroes of both s.e.xes and every description, which he offers for sale on the most reasonable terms.
"The lot now on hand consists of plough boys several likely and well-qualified house servants of both s.e.xes, several _women with children, small girls_ suitable for nurses, and several SMALL BOYS WITHOUT THEIR MOTHERS. Planters and traders are earnestly requested to give the subscriber a call previously to making purchases elsewhere, as he is enabled and will sell as cheap, or cheaper, than can be sold by any other person in the trade. BENJAMIN DAVIS. Hamburg, S.C. Sept.
28, 1838."
Extract Of a letter to a member of Congress from a friend in Mississippi, published in the "Was.h.i.+ngton Globe," June, 1837.
"The times are truly alarming here. Many plantations _are entirely stripped of negroes_ (protection!) and horses, by the marshal or sheriff.--Suits are multiplying--two thousand five hundred in the United States Circuit Court, and three thousand in Hinds County Court."
Testimony of MR. SILAS STONE, of Hudson, New York. Mr. Stone is a member of the Episcopal Church, has several times been elected an a.s.sessor of the city of Hudson, and for three years has filled the office of Treasurer of the County. In the fall of 1807, Mr. Stone witnessed a sale of slaves, in Charleston, South Carolina, which he thus describes in a communication recently received from him.
"I saw droves of the poor fellows driven to the slave markets kept in different parts of the city, one of which I visited. The arrangements of this place appeared something like our northern horse-markets, having sheds, or barns, in the rear of a public house, where alcohol was a handy ingredient to stimulate the spirit of jockeying. As the traders appeared, lots of negroes were brought from the stables into the bar room, and by a flourish of the whip were made to a.s.sume an active appearance. 'What will you give for these fellows?' 'How old are they? 'Are they healthy?' 'Are they quick?' &c. at the same time the owner would give them a cut with a cowhide, and tell them to dance and jump, cursing and swearing at them if they did not move quick. In fact all the transactions in buying and selling slaves, partakes of jockey-s.h.i.+p, as much as buying and selling horses. There was as little regard paid to the feelings of the former as we witness in the latter.
"From these scenes I turn to another, which took place in front of the n.o.ble 'Exchange Buildings,' in the heart of the city. On the left side of the steps, as you leave the main hall, immediately under the windows of that proud building, was a stage built, on which a mother with eight children were placed, and sold at auction. I watched their emotions closely, and saw their feelings were in accordance to human nature. The sale began with the eldest child, who, being struck off to the highest bidder, was taken from the stage or platform by the purchaser, and led to his wagon and stowed away, to be carried into the country; the second, and third were also sold, and so until seven of the children were torn from their mother, while her discernment told her they were to be separated probably forever, causing in that mother the most agonizing sobs and cries, in which the children seemed to share. The scene beggars description; suffice it to say, it was sufficient to cause tears from one at least 'whose skin was not colored like their own,' and I was not ashamed to give vent to them."
THE "PROTECTION" AFFORDED BY "PUBLIC OPINION"
TO CHILDHOOD AND OLD AGE.
In the "New Orleans Bee," May 31, 1837, MR. P. BAHI, gives notice that he has _committed to_ JAIL as a runaway 'a _little_ negro AGED ABOUT SEVEN YEARS.'
In the "Mobile Advertiser," Sept. 13, 1838, WILLIAM MAGEE, Sheriff, gives notice that George Walton, Esq. Mayor of the city has _committed_ to JAIL as a runaway slave, Jordan, ABOUT TWELVE YEARS OLD, and the Sheriff proceeds to give notice that if no one claims him the boy will be _sold as a slave_ to pay jail fees.
In the "Memphis (Tenn.) Gazette," May 2, 1837, W.H. MONTGOMERY advertises that he will sell at auction a BOY AGED 14, ANOTHER AGED 12, AND A GIRL 10, to pay the debts of their deceased master.
B.F. CHAPMAN, Sheriff, Natchitoches (La.) advertises in the 'Herald,' of May 17, 1837, that he has "_committed to_ JAIL, as a runaway a negro boy BETWEEN 11 AND 12 YEARS OF AGE."
In the "Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle," Feb. 13, 1838. R.H. JONES, jailor, says, "Brought to _jail_ a negro _woman_ Sarah, she is about 60 or 65 _years old_."
