The recent case of Northrop, tried in Washington, D. C., throws light on this fearful subject. The following account is abridged from the New York Times: —
Solomon Northrop is a free coloured citizen of the United States; he was born in Essex County, New York, about the year 1808; became early a resident of Washington County, and married there in 1829. His father and mother resided in the county of Washington about fifty years, till their decease, and were both free. With his wife and children he resided at Saratoga Springs in the winter of 1841, and while there was employed by two gentlemen to drive a team South, at the rate of a dollar a day. In fulfilment of his employment, he proceeded to New York, and, having taken out free papers, to show that he was a citizen, he went on to Washington city, where he arrived the second day of April, the same year, and put up at Gadsby’s Hotel. Soon after he arrived he felt unwell, and went to bed.
While suffering with severe pain, some persons came in, and seeing the condition he was in, proposed to give him some medicine, and did so. This is the last thing of which he had any recollection, until he found himself chained to the floor of Williams’ slave-pen in this city, and handcuffed. In the course of a few hours, James H. Burch, a slave-dealer, came in, and the coloured man asked him to take the irons off from him, and wanted to know why they were put on. Burch told him it was none of his business. The coloured man said he was free, and told where he was born. Burch called in a man by the name of Ebenezer Rodbury, and they two stripped the man and laid him across a bench, Rodbury holding him down by his wrists. Burch whipped him with a paddle until he broke that, and then with a cat-o’-nine-tails, giving him a hundred lashes; and he swore he would kill him if he ever stated to any one that he was a free man. From that time forward the man says he did not communicate the fact, from fear, either that he was a free man, or what his name was, until the last summer. He was kept in the slave-pen about ten days, when he, with others, was taken out of the pen in the night by Burch, handcuffed and shackled, and taken down the river by a steam-boat, and then to Richmond, where he, with forty-eight others, was put on board the brig “Orleans.” There Burch left them. The brig sailed for New Orleans, and on arriving there, before she was fastened to the wharf, Theophilus Freeman, another slave-dealer, belonging to the city of New Orleans, and who in 1833 had been a partner with Burch in the slave-trade, came to the wharf, and received the slaves as they were landed, under his direction. This man was immediately taken by Freeman, and shut up in his pen in that city. He was taken sick with the small-pox immediately after getting there, and was sent to a hospital where he lay two or three weeks. When he had sufficiently recovered to leave the hospital, Freeman declined to sell him to any person in that vicinity, and sold him to a Mr. Ford, who resided in Rapides Parish, Louisiana, where he was taken, and lived more than a year, and worked with a carpenter, working with Ford at that business.
Ford became involved, and had to sell him. A Mr. Tibaut became the purchaser. He, in a short time, sold him to Edwin Eppes, in Bayou Beouf, about one hundred and thirty miles from the mouth of Red River, where Eppes has retained him on a cotton plantation since the year 1843.
To go back a step in the narrative, the man wrote a letter, in June, 1841, to Henry B. Northrop, of the State of New York, dated and post-marked at New Orleans, stating that he had been kidnapped and was on board a vessel, but was unable to state what his destination was; but requesting Mr. N. to aid him in recovering his freedom, if possible. Mr. N. was unable to do anything in his behalf, in consequence of not knowing where he had gone, and not being able to find any trace of him. His place of residence remained unknown, until the month of September last, when the following letter was received by his friends:
Bayou Beouf, August 1852.
GENTLEMEN, — It having been a long time since I have seen or heard from you, and not knowing that you are living, it is with uncertainty that I write to you; but the necessity of the case must be my excuse. Having been born free just across the river from you, I am certain you know me; and I am here now a slave. I wish you to obtain free papers for me, and forward them to me at Marksville, Louisiana, Parish of Avovelles, and oblige
Yours, SOLOMON NORTHROP .
Mr. William Peny, or Mr. Lewis Parker.
On receiving the above letter, Mr. N. applied to Governor Hunt, of New York, for such authority as was necessary for him to proceed to Louisiana as an agent to procure the liberation of Solomon. Proof of his freedom was furnished to Governor Hunt by affidavits of several gentlemen, General Clarke among others. Accordingly, in pursuance of the laws of New York, Henry B. Northrop was constituted an agent, to take such steps, by procuring evidence, retaining council, &c., as were necessary to secure the freedom of Solomon, and to execute all the duties of his agency.
The result of Mr. Northrop’s agency was the establishing of the claim of Solomon Northrop to freedom, and the restoring him to his native land.
It is a singular coincidence that this man was carried to a plantation in the Red River country, that same region where the scene of Tom’s captivity was laid; and his account of this plantation, his mode of life there, and some incidents which he describes, form a striking parallel to that history. We extract them from the article of the Times.
The condition of this coloured man during the nine years that he was in the hands of Eppes was of a character nearly approaching that described by Mrs. Stowe as the condition of “Uncle Tom” while in that region. During that whole period his hut contained neither a floor, nor a chair, nor a bed, nor a mattress, nor anything for him to lie upon, except a board about twelve inches wide, with a block of wood for his pillow, and with a single blanket to cover him, while the walls of his hut did not by any means protect him from the inclemency of the weather. He was sometimes compelled to perform acts revolting to humanity, and outrageous in the highest degree. On one occasion, a coloured girl belonging to Eppes, about seventeen years of age, went one Sunday, without the permission of her master, to the nearest plantation, about half a mile distant, to visit another coloured girl of her acquaintance. She returned in the course of two or three hours, and for that offence she was called up for punishment, which Solomon was required to inflict. Eppes compelled him to drive four stakes into the ground at such distances that the hands and ankles of the girl might be tied to them, as she lay with her face upon the ground; and, having thus fastened her down, he compelled him, while standing by himself, to inflict one hundred lashes upon her bare flesh, she being stripped naked. Having inflicted the hundred blows, Solomon refused to proceed any further. Eppes tried to compel him to go on, but he absolutely set him at defiance, and refused to murder the girl. Eppes then seized the whip, and applied it until he was too weary to continue it. Blood flowed from her neck to her feet, and in this condition she was compelled the next day to go into the field to work as a field-hand. She bears the marks still upon her body, although the punishment was inflicted four years ago.
When Solomon was about to leave, under the care of Mr. Northrop, this girl came from behind her hut, unseen by her master, and, throwing her arms around the neck of Solomon, congratulated him on his escape from slavery, and his return to his family; at the same time, in language of despair, exclaiming, “But, O God! what will become of me?”
These statements regarding the condition of Solomon while with Eppes, and the punishment and brutal treatment of the coloured girls, are taken from Solomon himself. It has been stated that the nearest plantation was distant from that of Eppes a half-mile, and of course there could be no interference on the part of neighbours in any punishment, however cruel, or however well disposed to interfere they might be.
Had not Northrop been able to write, as few of the free blacks in the slave States are, his doom might have been sealed for life in this den of misery.
Two cases recently tried in Baltimore also unfold facts of a similar nature.
The following is from
THE CASE OF RACHEL PARKER AND HER SISTER.
; It will be remembered that more than a year since a young coloured woman, named Mary Elizabeth Parker, was abducted from Chester County and conveyed to Baltimore, where she was sold as a slave, and transported to New Orleans. A few days after her sister, Rachel Parker, was also abducted in like manner, taken to Baltimore, and detained there in consequence of the interference of her Chester County friends. In the first case, Mary Elizabeth was, by an arrangement with the individual who had her in charge, brought back to Baltimore, to await her trial on a petition for freedom. So also with regard to Rachel. Both, after trial — the proof in their favour being so overwhelming — were discharged, and are now among their friends in Chester County. In this connexion we give the narratives of both females, obtained since their release.
RACHEL PARKER’S NARRATIVE.
“I was taken from Joseph C. Miller’s about twelve o’clock on Tuesday (Dec. 30th, 1851), by two men who came up to the house by the back door. One came in and asked Mrs. Miller where Jesse McCreary lived, and then seized me by the arm, and pulled me out of the house. Mrs. Miller called to her husband, who was in the front porch, and he ran out and seized the man by the collar, and tried to stop him. The other, with an oath, then told him to take his hands off, and if he touched me he would kill him. He then told Miller that I belonged to Mr. Schoolfield, in Baltimore. They then hurried me to a waggon, where there was another large man, put me in, and drove off.
“Mr. Miller ran across the field to head the waggon, and picked up a stake to run through the wheel, when one of the men pulled out a sword (I think it was a sword, I never saw one), and threatened to cut Miller’s arm off. Pollock’s waggon being in the way, and he refusing to get out of the road, we turned off to the left. After we rode away, one of the men tore a hole in the back of the carriage, to look out to see if they were coming after us, and they said they wished they had given Miller and Pollock a blow.
“We stopped at a tavern near the railroad, and I told the landlord (I think it was) that I was free. I also told several persons at the car-office; and a very nice looking man at the car-office was talking at the door, and he said he thought they had better take me back again. One of the men did not come further than the tavern. I was taken to Baltimore, where we arrived about seven o’clock the same evening, and I was taken to jail.
“The next morning a man with large light-coloured whiskers took me away by myself, and asked me if I was no Mr. Schoolfield’s slave. I told him I was not; he said that I was, and that if I did not say I was he would ‘cow-hide me and salt me, and put me in a dungeon.’ I told him I was free, and that I would say nothing but the truth.”
MARY E. PARKER’S NARRATIVE.
“I was taken from Matthew Donelly’s on Saturday night (Dec. 6th or 13th, 1851); was caught whilst out of doors, soon after I had cleared the supper-table, about seven o’clock, by two men, and put into a waggon. One of them got into the waggon with me, and rode to Elkton, Md., where I was kept until Sunday night at twelve o’clock, when I left there in the cars for Baltimore, and arrived there early on Monday morning.
“At Elkton a man was brought in to see me by one of the men, who said that I was not his father’s slave. Afterwards, when on the way to Baltimore in the cars, a man told me that I must say that I was Mr. Schoolfield’s slave, or he would shoot me, and pulled a ‘rifle’ out of his pocket and showed it to me, and also threatened to whip me.
“On Monday morning Mr. Schoolfield called at the jail in Baltimore, to see me, and on Tuesday morning he brought his wife and several other ladies to see me. I told them I did not know them, and then Mr. C. took me out of the room, and told me who they were, and took me back again, so that I might appear to know them. On the next Monday I was shipped to New Orleans.
“It took about a month to get to New Orleans. After I had been there about a week, Mr. C. sold me to Madame C., who keeps a large flower-garden. She sends flowers to sell to the theatres, sells milk in market, &c. I went out to sell candy and flowers for her when I lived with her. One evening, when I was coming home from the theatre, a watchman took me up, and I told him I was not a slave. He put me in the calaboose, and next morning took me before a magistrate, who sent for Madame C., who told him she bought me. He then sent for Mr. C., and told him he must account for how he got me. Mr. C. said that my mother and all the family were free, except me. The magistrate told me to go back to Madame C., and he told Madame C. that she must not let me go out at night, and he told Mr. C. that he must prove how he came by me. The magistrate afterwards called on Mrs. C. at her house, and had a long talk with her in the parlour. I do not know what he said, as they were by themselves. About a month afterwards I was sent back to Baltimore. I lived with Madame C. about six months.
“There were six slaves came in the vessel with me to Baltimore, who belonged to Mr. D., and were returned because they were sickly.
“A man called to see me at the jail after I came back to Baltimore, and told me that I must say that I was Mr. Schoolfield’s slave, and that if I did not do it he would kill me the first time he got a chance. He said Rachel (her sister) said she came from Baltimore, and was Mr. Schoolfield’s slave. Afterwards some gentlemen called on me (Judge Campbell and Judge Bell, of Philadelphia, and William H. Norris, Esq., of Baltimore), and I told them I was Mr. Schoolfield’s slave. They said they were my friends, and I must tell them the truth. I then told them who I was, and all about it.
“When I was in New Orleans Mr. C. whipped me because I said that I was free.”
Elizabeth, by her own account above, was seized and taken from Pennsylvania, Dec. 6th or 13th, 1851, which is confirmed by other testimony.
It is conceded that such cases, when brought into Southern Courts, are generally tried with great fairness and impartiality. The agent for Northrop’s release testifies to this, and it has been generally admitted fact; but it is probably only one case in a hundred that can get into Court. Of the multitudes who are drawn down in the ever-widening Maëlstrom, only now and then one ever comes back to tell the tale.
The succeeding chapter of advertisements will show the reader how many such victims there may probably be.
CHAPTER IX.
SLAVES AS THEY ARE, ON TESTIMONY OF OWNERS.
THE investigation into the actual condition of the slave population at the South is beset with many difficulties. So many things are said pro and con — so many said in one connexion and denied in another — that the effect is very confusing.
Thus we are told that the state of the slaves is one of blissful contentment; that they would not take freedom as a gift; that their family relations are only now and then invaded; that they are a stupid race, almost sunk to the condition of animals; that generally they are kindly treated, &c.
In reading over some two hundred Southern newspapers this fall, the author has been struck with the very graphic and circumstantial pictures, which occur in all of them, describing fugitive slaves. From these descriptions one may learn a vast many things. The author will here give an assortment of them taken at random. It is a commentary on the contented state of the slave population that the writer finds two or three always, and often many more, in every one of the hundreds of Southern papers examined.
In reading the following little sketches of “slaves as they are,” let the reader notice:
1. The colour and complexion of the majority of them.
2. That it is customary either to describe slaves by some scar, or to say, “No scars recollected.”
3. The intelligence of the parties advertised.
4. The number that say they are free that are to be sold to pay jail fees.
Every one of these slaves has a history — a history of woe and crime, degradation, endurance, and wrong. Let us open the chapter.
South-side Democrat, October 28, 1852. Petersburgh, Virginia: —
REWARD.
Twenty-five dollars, with the payment of all necessary expenses, will be given for the apprehension and delivery of my man CHARLES, if taken on th
e Appomattox river, or within the precincts of Petersburgh. He ran off about a week ago, and if he leaves the neighbourhood, will no doubt make for Farmville and Petersburgh. He is a mulatto, rather below the medium height and size, but well proportioned, and very active and sensible. He is aged about 27 years, has a mild, submissive look, and will, no doubt, show the marks of a recent whipping if taken. He must be delivered to the care of Peebles, White, Davis, & Co.
Oct. 25. — 3t. R. H. DE JARNETT, Lunenburgh.
Poor Charles! — mulatto! — has a mild, submissive look, and will probably show marks of a recent whipping!
Kosciusko Chronicle, November 24, 1852:
COMMITTED
To the Jail of Attila County, on the 8th instant, a negro boy, who calls his name GREEN, and says he belongs to James Gray, of Winston County. Said boy is about 20 years old, yellow complexion, round face, has a scar on his face, one on his left thigh, and one in his left hand: is about 5 feet 6 inches high. Had on when taken up a cotton check shirt, Linsey pants, new cloth cap, and was riding a large roan horse about 12 or 14 years old, and thin in order. The owner is requested to come forward, prove property, pay charges, and take him away, or he will be sold to pay charges.
E. B. SANDERS, Jailer A. C.
Oct. 12, 1852. n12tf.
Capitolian Vis-à-Vis, West Baton Rouge, Nov. 1, 1852.
ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS REWARD.
RUNAWAY from the subscriber, in Randolph County, on the 18th of October, a yellow boy, named JIM. This boy is 19 years old, a light mulatto with dirty sunburnt hair inclined to be straight; he is just 5 feet 7 inches high, and slightly made. He had on when he left a black cloth cap, black cloth pantaloons, a plaided sack coat, a fine shirt, and brogan shoes. One hundred dollars will be paid for the recovery of the above-described boy, if taken out of the State, or fifty dollars if taken in the State.
Complete Works of Harriet Beecher Stowe Page 705
