FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   1510   1511   1512   1513   1514   1515   1516   1517   1518   1519   1520   1521   1522   1523   1524   1525   1526   1527   1528   1529   1530   1531   1532   1533   1534  
1535   1536   1537   1538   1539   1540   1541   1542   1543   1544   1545   1546   1547   1548   1549   1550   1551   1552   1553   1554   1555   1556   1557   1558   1559   >>   >|  
and dirks to guard them. "At New Orleans I recollect seeing gangs of slaves that were driven out every day, the Sabbath not excepted, to work on the streets. These had heavy chains to connect two or more together, and some had iron collars and yokes, &c. The noise as they walked, or worked in their chains, was truly dreadful!" Rev. THOMAS SAVAGE, pastor of the Congregational Church at Bedford, New Hampshire, who was for some years a resident of Mississippi and Louisiana, gives the following fact, in a letter dated January 9, 1839. "In 1819, while employed as an instructor at Second Creek, near Natchez, Mississippi, I resided on a plantation where I witnessed the following circumstance. One of the slaves was in the habit of running away. He had been repeatedly taken, and repeatedly whipped, with great severity, but to no purpose. He would still seize the first opportunity to escape from the plantation. At last his owner declared, I'll fix him, I'll put a stop to his running away. He accordingly took him to a blacksmith, and had an _iron head-frame_ made for him, which may be called lock-jaw, from the use that was made of it. It had a lock and key, and was so constructed, that when on the head and locked, the slave could not open his mouth to take food, and the design was to prevent his running away. But the device proved unavailing. He was soon missing, and whether by his own desperate effort, or the aid of others, contrived to sustain himself with food; but he was at last taken, and if my memory serves me, his life was soon terminated by the cruel treatment to which he was subjected." The Western Luminary, a religious paper published at Lexington, Kentucky, in an editorial article, in the summer of 1833, says: "A few weeks since we gave an account of a company of men, women and children, part of whom were manacled, passing through our streets. Last week, a number of slaves were driven through the main street of our city, among whom were a number manacled together, two abreast, all connected by, and supporting a _heavy iron chain_, which extended the whole length of the line." TESTIMONY OF A VIRGINIAN. The _name_ of this witness cannot be published, as it would put him in peril; but his _credibility_ is vouched for by the Rev. Ezra Fisher, pastor of the Baptist Church, Quincy, Illinois, and Dr. Richard Eels, of the same place. These gentlemen say of him, "We have great confidence in his integrity, discre
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   1510   1511   1512   1513   1514   1515   1516   1517   1518   1519   1520   1521   1522   1523   1524   1525   1526   1527   1528   1529   1530   1531   1532   1533   1534  
1535   1536   1537   1538   1539   1540   1541   1542   1543   1544   1545   1546   1547   1548   1549   1550   1551   1552   1553   1554   1555   1556   1557   1558   1559   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

slaves

 
running
 

Church

 

pastor

 

published

 

Mississippi

 

plantation

 

repeatedly

 

manacled

 

number


streets

 

driven

 

chains

 

contrived

 

article

 

summer

 

desperate

 

effort

 

sustain

 

editorial


religious

 

Lexington

 

memory

 

serves

 

Kentucky

 

Luminary

 

terminated

 

missing

 
Western
 

treatment


subjected

 

vouched

 
Fisher
 

Baptist

 

Quincy

 

credibility

 

witness

 

Illinois

 

confidence

 

integrity


discre

 

gentlemen

 
Richard
 

VIRGINIAN

 

children

 
passing
 

account

 

company

 

street

 
extended