98

Personal Narratives-Reuben G. Macy and Richard Macy.

TESTIMONY OF REUBEN G. MACY AND RICHARD MACY.

The following is an extract of a letter recently | which was dealt out to them every first day of received from CHARLES MARRIOTT of Hudson, New York. Mr. Marriott is an elder in the Religious Society of Friends, and is extensively known and respected.

"The two following brief statements, are furnished by Richard Macy and Reuben G. Macy, brothers, both of Hudson, New York. They are head carpenters by trade, and have been well known to me for more than thirty years, as esteemed members of the Religious Society of Friends. They inform me that during their stay in South Carolina, a number more similar cases to those here related, came under their notice, which to avoid repetition they omit.

C. MARRIOTT.

TESTIMONY OF REUBEN G. MACY.

the week, and such as were not there to receive their portion at the appointed time, had to live as had the privilege of planting a small piece of they could during the coming week. Each one ground, and raising poultry for their own use which they generally sold, that is, such as did improve the privilege which were but few. They had nothing allowed them besides the corn, except one quarter of beef at Christmas which a slave brought three miles on his head. They were allowed three days rest at Christmas. Their clothing consisted of a pair of trowsers and jacket, made of whitish woollen cloth called negro cloth. The women had nothing but a petticoat, and a very short short-gown, made of the same kind of cloth. Some of the women had an old pair of shoes, but they generally went barefoot. The houses for the field slaves were about fourteen feet square, built in the coarsest manner, having but one room, without any chinney, or flooring, with a hole at the roof at one end to let the smoke out.

the want of other food, were great hardships.

During the winter of 1818 and 19, I resided on an island near the mouth of the Savannah river, on the South Carolina side. Most of the slaves that came under my particular notice, be- "Each one was allowed one blanket in which longed to a widow and her daughter, in whose fa- they rolled themselves up. I examined their mily I lived. No white man belonged to the houses but could not discover any thing like a plantation. Her slaves were under the care of bed. I was informed that when they had a suf an overseer who came once a week to give orders, ficiency of potatoes the slaves were allowed some; and settled the score laid up against such as their but the season that I was there they did not raise mistress thought deserved punishment, which was more than were wanted for seed. All their corn from twenty-five to thirty lashes on their naked was ground in one hand-mill, every night just as backs, with a whip which the overseer generally much as was necessary for the family, then cach brought with him. This whip had a stout handle one his daily portion, which took considerable about two feet long, and a lash about four and a half time in the night. I often awoke and heard the feet. From two to four received the above, I be. sound of the mill. Grinding the corn in the lieve nearly every week during the winter, some-night, and in the dark, after their day's labor, and times in my presence, and always in my hearing. I examined the backs and shoulders of a number "The traveling in those parts, among the is. of the men, which were mostly naked while they lands, was altogether with boats, rowed by from were about their labor, and found them covered four to ten slaves, which often stopped at our planwith hard ridges in every direction. One day, tation, and staid through the night, when the while busy in the cotton house, hearing a noise, I slaves, after rowing through the day, were left to ran to the door and saw a colored woman plead-shift for themselves; and when they went to Saing with the overseer, who paid no attention to her crics, but tied her hands together, and passed the rope over a beam, over head, where was a platform for spreading cotton, he then drew the rope as tight as he could, so as to let her toes touch the ground; then stripped her body naked to the waist, and went deliberately to work with his whip, and put on twenty-five or thirty lashes, she pleading in vain all the time. I inquired, the cause of such treatment, and was informed it was for answering her mistress rather short."

vannah with a load of cotton they were obliged to sleep in the open boats, as the law did not allow a colored person to be out after eight o'clock in the evening, without a pass from his master."

.TESTIMONY OF RICHARD MACY.

"The above account is from my brother. I was at work on Hilton Head about twenty miles north of my brother, during the same winter. The same allowance of one peck of corn for a week, the same kind of houses to live in, and the "A woman from a neighboring plantation came same method of grinding their corn, and always where I was, on a visit; she came in a boat row-in the night, and in the dark, was practiced there. ed by six slaves, who, according to the common practice, were left to take care of themselves, and having laid them down in the boat and fallen asleep, the tide fell, and the water filling the stern of the boat, wet their mistresses trunk of clothes. When she discovered it, she called them up near where I was, and compelled them to whip each other, till they all had received a severe flogging. She standing by with a whip in her hand to see that they did not spare each other. Their usual allowance of food was one peck of corn per week, I

"A number of instances of severe whipping came under my notice. The first was this :two men were sent out to saw some blocks out of large live oak timber on which to raise my build. ing. Their saw was in poor order, and they sawed them badly, for which their master stripped them naked and flogged them.

"The next instance was a boy about sixteen years of age. He had crept into the coach to sleep; after two or three nights he was caught by the coach driver, a northern man, and stripped entire

ly naked, and whipped without mercy, his master looking on.

"Another instance. The overseer, a young white man, had ordered several negroes, a boat's crew, to be on the spot at a given time. One man did not appear until the boat had gone. The overseer was very angry and told him to strip and be flogged; he being slow, was told if he did not instantly strip off his jacket, he, the overscer, would whip it off, which he did in shreds, whipping him cruelly.

The man ran into the barrens and it was about a month before they caught him. He was nearly starved, and at last stole a turkey; then another, and was caught.

seer was going from one to the other causing
them to lay down their hoe, strip off their gar-
ment, hold up their hands and receive their num-
ber of lashes. Thus he went on from one to the
other until we were out of sight. In the course
of the winter a family came where I was, on a
visit from a neighboring island; of course, in a
boat with negroes to row them-one of these a
barber, told me that he ran away about two years
before, and joined a company of negroes who had
fled to the swamps. He said they suffered a great
deal-were at last discovered by a party of hun-
ters, who fired among them, and caused them to
scatter. Himself and one more fled to the coast,
took a boat and put off to sea, a storm came on
and swamped or upset them, and his partner was
drowned, he was taken up by a passing vessel
and returned to his master.
RICHARD MACY.

TESTIMONY OF MR. ELEAZAR POWELL.

EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM Mr. WILLIAM SCOTT, | ner, the bottom covered with clapboards, and a highly respectable citizen of Beaver co. Pennsyl-over that a bundle of worn out clothes. In some vania, dated Jan. 7, 1839.

"In the month of December, 1836, I went to the State of Mississippi to work at my trade, (masonry and bricklaying,) and continued to work in the counties of Adams and Jefferson, between four and five months. In following my business I had an opportunity of seeing the treatment of slaves in several places.

huts there was no bedstead at all. The above description applies to the places generally with which I was acquainted, and they were mostly old settlements.

46

In the east part of Jefferson county I built a chimney for a man named M'Coy; he had forty-seven laboring hands. Near where I was at work, M'Coy had ordered one of his slaves to set a post for a gate. When he came to look at it, he said the slave had not set it in the right place; and ordered him to strip, and lie down on his face; telling him that if he struggled, or attempted to get up, two men, who had been called to the spot, should seize and hold him fast. The slave agreed to be quiet, and M'Coy commenced flogging him on the bare back, with the wagon whip. After some time the sufferer attempted to get up; one of the slaves standing by, seized him by the feet and held him fast; upon which he yielded, and M'Coy continued to flog him ten or fifteen minutes. When he was up, and had put on his trowsers, the blood came through them.

"In Adams county I built a chimney for a man named Joseph Gwatney; he had forty-five field hands of both sexes. The field in which they worked at that time, lay about two miles from the house; the hands had to cook and cat their "About half a mile from M'Coy's was a planta. breakfast, prepare their dinner, and be in the field tion owned by his step-daughter. The overseer's at daylight, and continue there till dark. In the name was James Farr, of whom it appears Mrs. evening the cotton they had picked was weighed, M'Coy's waiting woman was enamoured. One and if they fell short of their task they were night, while I lived there, M'Coy came from whipped. One night I attended the weighing- Natchez, about 10 o'clock at night. He said that two women fell short of their task, and the mas- Dinah was gone, and wished his overseer to go ter ordered the black driver to take them to the with him to Farr's lodgings. They went accordquarters and flog them; one of them was to re-ingly, one to each door, and caught Dinah as she ceive twenty-five lashes and pick a peck of cotton seed. I have been with the overseer several times through the negro quarters. The huts are generally built of split timber, some larger than rails, twelve and a half feet wide and fourteen feet long-some with and some without chimneys, and generally without floors; they were generally without daubing, and mostly had split clapboards nailed on the cracks on the outside, though some were without even that: in some there was a kind of rough bedstead, made from rails, polished with the axe, and put together in a very rough man

rax out, she was partly dressed in her mistress's clothes; M'Coy whipped her unmercifully, and she afterwards made her escape. On the next day, (Sabbath), M'Coy came to the overseer's, where I lodged, and requested him and me to look for her, as he was afraid that she had hanged her. self. He then gave me the particulars of the flogging. He stated that near Farr's he had made her strip and lie down, and had flogged her until he was tired; that before he reached home he had a second time made her strip, and again flogged her until he was tired; that when he

TESTIMONY ON THE AUTHORITY OF REV. WM. SCALES, LYNDON, VT. The following is an extract of a letter from two away and went to a place about thirty miles disprofessional gentlemen and their wives, who have tant. There he was found by his pursuers on horselived for some years in a small village in one of back, and compelled by the whip to run the disthe slave states. They are all persons of the high-day-and within a few hours after he arrived at tance of thirty miles. It was an exceedingly hot est respectability, and are well known in at least one of the New England states. Their names are with the Executive Committee of the American Anti-Slavery Society; but as the individuals would doubtless be murdered by the slaveholders, if they were published, the Committee feel sacredly bound to withhold them. The letter was addressed to a respected clergyman in New England. The writers say:

Personal Narratives-Joseph Ide, Esq.-Rev. Phineas Smith.

101

cle, the centre of which shall be, the residence | been the amount of murder in the whole slave of the writers, and the radius fifteen miles, and in territory? The whole south is rife with the about one year three, and I think four slaves crime of separating husbands and wives, parents have been murdered, within that circle, under and children." circumstances of horrid cruelty.-What must have

TESTIMONY OF JOSEPH IDE, ESQ.

Mr. IDE is a respected member of the Baptist Church in Sheffield, Caledonia county, Vt.; and recently the Postmaster in that town. He spent a few months at the south in the years 1837 and 8. In a letter to the Rev. Wm. Scales of Lyndon, Vt. written a few weeks since, Mr. Ide writes as follows.

limited, being with few exceptions confined to the different families where I have boarded. My stopping places at the south have mostly been in cities. In them the slaves are better fed and clothed than on plantations. The house servants are fed on what the families leave. But they are kept short, and I think are oftener whipped for stealing something to eat than any other crime. On plantations their food is principally hommo"In answering the proposed inquiries, I will ny, as the southerners call it. It is simply cracksay first, that although there are various other ed corn boiled. This probably constitutes sevenmodes resorted to, whipping with the cowskin is eights of their living. The house-servants in the usual mode of inflicting punishment on the cities are generally decently clothed, and some poor slave. I have never actually witnessed a favorite ones are richly dressed, but those on the whipping scene, for they are usually taken into plantations, especially in their dress, if it can be some back place for that purpose; but I have called dress, exhibit the most haggard and squalid often heard their groans and screams while writh- appearance. I have frequently seen those of ing under the lash; and have seen the blood flow both sexes more than two-thirds naked. I have from their torn and lacerated skins after the ven- seen from forty to sixty, male and female, at geance of the inhuman master or mistress had work in a field, many of both sexes with their been glutted. You ask if the woman where I bodies entirely naked-who did not exhibit signs boarded whipped a slave to death. I can give of shame more than cattle. As I did not go you the particulars of the transaction as they among them much on the plantations, I have had were related to me. My informant was a gen. but few opportunities for examining the backs of tleman-a member of the Presbyterian church in slaves-but have frequently passed where they Massachusetts-who the winter before boarded were at work, and been occasionally present with where I did. He said that Mrs. T had a them, and in almost every case there were marks female slave whom she used to whip unmerciful-- of violence on some parts of them-every age, ly, and on one occasion, she whipped her as long sex and condition being liable to the whip. A as she had strength, and after the poor creature son of the gentleman with whom I boarded, a was suffered to go, she crawled off into a cellar. young man about twenty-one years of age, had As she did not immediately return, search was a plantation and eight or ten slaves. He used to made, and she was found dead in the cellar, and boast almost every night of whipping some of the horrid deed was kept a secret in the family, them. One day he related to me a case of whip. and it was reported that she died of sickness.ping an old negro-I should judge sixty years of This wretch at the same time was a member of a agc. He said he called him up to flog him for Presbyterian church. Towards her slaves she some real or supposed offence, and the poor old was certainly the most cruel wretch of any wo- man, being pious, asked the privilege of praying man with whom I was ever acquainted-yet she before he received his punishment. He said he was nothing more than a slaveholder. She would granted him the favor, and to use his own ex. deplore slavery as much as I did, and often told pression, The old nigger knelt down and pray. me she was much of an abolitionist as I was. Sheed for me, and then got up and took his whipwas constant in the declaration that her kind treatment to her slaves was proverbial. Thought I, then the Lord have mercy on the rest. She has often told me of the cruel treatment of the slaves on a plantation adjoining her father's in the low country of South Carolina. She says she has often seen them driven to the necessity of eating frogs and lizards to sustain life. As to the mode of living generally, my information is rather

ping.' In relation to negro huts, I will say that planters usually own large tracts of land. They have extensive clearings and a beautiful mansion house-and generally some forty or fifty rods from the dwelling are situated the negro cabins, or huts, built of logs in the rudest manner. Some consist of poles rolled up together and covered with mud or clay-many of them not as comfortable as northern pig-sties."

TESTIMONY OF REV. PHINEAS SMITH.

MR. SMITH is now pastor of the Presbyterian | lements in Texas. The following is an extract Church in Centreville, Allegany county, N. Y. of a letter lately received from him.

He has recently returned from a residence in the "You inquire respecting instances of cruelty slave states, and the American slave holding set-that have come within my knowledge. I reply.

Avarice and cruelty constitute the very gist of the whole slave system. Many of the enormities committed upon the plantations will not be described till God brings to light the hidden things of darkness, then the tears and groans and blood of innocent men, women and children will be revealed, and the oppressor's spirit must confront that of his victim.

"I will relate a case of torture which occurred on the Brassos while I resided a few miles distant upon the Chocolate Bayou. The case should be remembered as a true illustration of the nature of slavery, as it exists at the south. The facts are these. An overseer by the name of Alexander, notorious for his cruelty, was found dead in the timbered lands of the Brassos. It was supposed that he was murdered, but who perpetrated the act was unknown. Two black men were however seized, taken into the Prairie and put to the torture. A physician by the name of Parrott from Tennessee, and another from New England by the name of Anson Jones, were present on this occasion. The latter gentleman is now the Texan minister plenipotentiary to the United States, and resides at Washington. The unfortunate slaves being stripped, and all things arranged, the torture commenced by whipping upon their bare backs. Six athletic men were employed in this scene of inhumanity, the names of some of whom I well remember. There was one of the name of Brown, and one or two of the name of Patton. Those six executioners were successively employed in cutting up the bodies of these defenceless slaves, who persisted to the last in the avowal of their innocence. The bloody whip was however kept in motion till savage barbarity itself was glutted. When this was accomplished, the bleeding victims were re-conveyed to the inclosure of the mansion house where they were deposited for a few moments. The dying groans however incommoding the ladies, they were taken to a back shed where one of them soon expired. The life of the other slave was for a time despaired of, but after hanging over the grave for months, he at length so far recovered as to walk about and labor at light work. These facts cannot be controverted. They were disclosed under the solemnity of an oath, at Columbia, in a court of justice. I was present, and shall never forget them. The testimony of Drs. Parrott and Jones was most appalling. I seem to hear the death-groans of that murdered man. His cries for mercy and protestations of inno*The words of Dr. Parrott, a witness on the trial hereaf

ter referred to.

cence fell upon adamantine hearts. The facts above stated, and others in relation to this scene of cruelty came to light in the following manner. The master of the murdered man commenced legal process against the actors in this tragedy for the recovery of the value of the chattel, as onc would institute a suit for a horse or an ox that had been unlawfully killed. It was a suit for the recovery of damages merely. No indictment was even dreamed of. Among the witnesses brought upon the stand in the progress of this cause were the physicians, Parrott and Jones above named. The part which they were called to act in this affair was, it is said, to examine the pulse of the victims during the process of torture. were mistaken as to the quantum of torture But they which a human being can undergo and not die under it. Can it be believed that one of these physicians was born and educated in the land of the pilgrims? Yes, in my own native New England. It is even so! nifested at the trial of the above cause, and the The stone-like apathy mascreams and the death-groans of an innocent man, as developed by the testimony of the witnesses, can never be obliterated from my memory. They form an era in my life, a point to which I look back with horror.

"Another case of cruelty occurred on the San Bernard near Chance Prairie, where I resided for some time. The facts were these. A slave man filed from his master, (Mr. Sweeny) and being closely pursued by the overseer and a son of the owner, he stepped a few yards in the Bernard and placed himself upon a root, from which there was no possibility of his escape, for he could not swim. In this situation he was fired upon with a blunderbuss loaded heavily with ball and grape shot. The overseer who shot the gun was at a distance of a few feet only. The charge entered the body of the negro near the groin. He was conveyed to the plantation, lingered in inexpressible agony a few days and expired. A physician was called, but medical and surgical skill was unavailing. No notice whatever was taken of this murder by the public authorities, and the murderer was not discharged from the service of his employer.

"When slaves flee, as they not unfrequently do, to the timbered lands of Texas, they are hunted with guns and dogs.

drive him to despair and suicide. At a plantation "The sufferings of the slave not unfrequently on the San Bernard, where there were but five slaves, two during the same year committed suicide by drowning."

TESTIMONY OF PHILEMON BLISS, ESQ.

list.

Mr. Bliss is a highly respectable member of 1836, and published in the New York Evangethe bar, in Elyria, Lorain Co. Ohio, and meinber of the Presbyterian church, in that place. He resided in Florida, during the years 1834 and 5. The following extracts are from letters, written by Mr. B. in 1835, while residing on a plantation near Tallahassee, and published soon after in the Ohio Atlas; also from letters written in

"In speaking of slavery as it is, I hardly know where to begin. The physical condition of the slave Gentlemen traveling in the south can know is far from being accurately known at the north. nothing of it. They must make the south their residence; they must live on plantations, before they can have any opportunity of judging of the