The Anti-Slavery Examiner Volume III Part 71

MOUNT STERLING, Ky. July 20, 1837.

"Gentlemen:--A most unfortunate and fatal occurrence transpired in our town last evening, about 6 o'clock. Some of the most prominent friends of Judge French had a meeting yesterday at Col. Young's, near this place, and warm words ensued between Mr. Albert Thomas and Belvard Peters, Esq., and a few blows were exchanged, and several of the friends of each collected at the spot. Whilst the parties were thus engaged. Mr. Wm. White, who was a friend of Mr. Peters, struck Mr.

Thomas, whereupon B.F. Thomas Esq. engaged in the combat on the side of his brother and Mr. W. Roberts on the part of Peters--Mr. G.W.

Thomas taking part with his brothers. Albert Thomas had Peters down and was taken off by a gentleman present, and whilst held by that gentleman, he was struck by White; and B.F. Thomas having made some remark White struck him. B.F. Thomas returned the blow, and having a large knife, stabbed White, who nevertheless continued the contest, and, it is said, broke Thomas's arm with a rock of a chair. Thomas then inflicted some other stabs, of which White died in a few minutes.

Roberts was knocked down twice by Albert Thomas, and, I believe, is much hurt. G.W. Thomas was somewhat hurt also. White and B.F. Thomas had always been on friendly terms. You are acquainted with the Messrs.

Thomas. Mr. White was a much larger man than either of them, weighing nearly 200 pounds, and in the prime of life. As you may very naturally suppose, great excitement prevails here, and Mr. B.F. Thomas regrets the fatal catastrophe as much as any one else, but believes from all the circ.u.mstances that he was justifiable in what he did, although he would be as far from doing such an act when cool and deliberate as any man whatever."

The "New Orleans Bulletin" of Aug. 24, 1838, extracts the following from the Louisville Journal.

"News has just reached us, that Thomas P. Moore, attacked the Senior Editor of this paper in the yard of the Harrodsburg Springs. Mr. Moore advanced upon Mr. Prentice with a drawn pistol and fired at him; Mr.

Prentice then fired, neither shot taking effect. Mr. Prentice drew a second pistol, when Mr. Moore quailed and said he had no other arms; whereupon Mr. Prentice from superabundant magnanimity spared the miscreant's life."

From "The Floridian" of June 10, 1837. MURDER. Mr. Gillespie, a respectable citizen aged 50, was murdered a few days since by a Mr.

Arnett, near Mumfordsville, Ky., which latter shot his victim twice with a rifle.

The "Augusta (Ga.) Sentinel," May 11, 1838, has the following account of murders in Kentucky:

"At Mill's Point, Kentucky, Dr. Thomas Rivers was shot one day last week, from out of a window, by Lawyer Ferguson, both citizens of that place, and both parties are represented to have stood high in the estimation of the community in which they lived. The difficulty we understand to have grown out of a law suit at issue between them."

Just as our paper was going to press, we learn that the brother of Dr.

Rivers, who had been sent for, had arrived, and immediately shot Lawyer Ferguson. He at first shot him with a shot gun, upon his retreat, which did not prove fatal; he then approached him immediately with a pistol, and killed him on the spot."

The Right Rev. B.B. Smith, Bishop of the Episcopal diocese of Kentucky, published about two years since an article in the Lexington (Ky.) Intelligencer, ent.i.tled "Thoughts on the frequency of homicides in the state of Kentucky." We conclude this head with a brief extract from the testimony of the Bishop, contained in that article.

"The writer has never conversed with a traveled and enlightened European or eastern man, who has not expressed the most undisguised horror at the frequency of homicide and murder within our bounds, and at the _ease with which the homicide escapes from punishment_.

"As to the frequency of these shocking occurrences, the writer has some opportunity of being correctly impressed, by means of a yearly tour through many counties of the State. He has also been particular in making inquiries of our most distinguished legal and political characters, and from some has derived conjectural estimates which were truly alarming. A few have been of the opinion, that on an average one murder a year may be charged to the account of every county in the state, making the frightful aggregate of 850 human lives sacrificed to revenge, or the victims of momentary pa.s.sion, in the course of every ten years.

"Others have placed the estimate much lower, and have thought that thirty for the whole state, every year, would be found much nearer the truth. An attempt has been made lately to obtain data more satisfactory than conjecture, and circulars have been addressed to the clerks of most of the counties, in order to arrive at as correct an estimate as possible of the actual number of homicides during the three years last past. It will be seen, however, that statistics thus obtained, even from every county in the state, would necessarily be imperfect, inasmuch as the records of the courts _by no means show all the cases_, which occur, some escaping without _any_ of the forms of a legal examination, and there being _many affrays_ which end only in wounds, or where the parties are separated.

"From these returns, it appears that in 27 counties there have been, within the last three years, of homicides of every grade, 35, but only 8 convictions in the same period, leaving 27 cases which have pa.s.sed wholly unpunished. During the same period there have been from eighty-five counties, only eleven commitments to the state prison, nine for manslaughter, and two for shooting with intent to kill, _and not an instance of capital punishment in the person of any white offender_. Thus an approximation is made to a general average, which probably would not vary much from one in each county every three years, or about 280 in ten years.

"It is believed that such a register of crime amongst a people professing the protestant religion and speaking the English language, is not to be found, with regard to any three-quarters of a million of people, since the downfall of the feudal system. Compared with the records of crime in Scotland, or the eastern states, the results are ABSOLUTELY SHOCKING! _It is believed there are more homicides, on an average of two years, in any of our more populous counties, than in the whole of several of our states, of equal or nearly equal white population with Kentucky._

"The victims of these affrays are not always, by any means, the most worthless of our population.

"It too often happens that the enlightened citizen, the devoted lawyer, the affectionate husband, and precious father, are thus instantaneously taken from their useful stations on earth, and hurried, all unprepared, to their final account!

"The question, is again asked, what could have brought about, and can perpetuate, this shocking state of things?"

As an ill.u.s.tration of the recklessness of life in Kentucky, and the terrible paralysis of public sentiment, the bishop states the following fact.

"A case of shocking homicide is remembered, where the guilty person was acquitted by a sort of acclamation, and the next day was seen in public, with two ladies hanging on his arm!"

Notwithstanding the frightful frequency of deadly affrays in Kentucky, as is certified by the above testimony of Bishop Smith, there are fewer, in proportion to the white population, than in any of the states which have pa.s.sed under review, unless Tennessee may be an exception. The present white population of Kentucky is perhaps seventy thousand more than that of Maine, and yet more public fatal affrays have taken place in the former, within the last six months, than in the latter during its entire existence as a state.

The seven slave states which we have already pa.s.sed under review, are just one half of the slave states and territories, included in the American Union. Before proceeding to consider the condition of society in the other slave states, we pause a moment to review the ground already traversed.

The present entire white population of the states already considered, is about two and a quarter millions; just about equal to the present white population of the state of New York. If the amount of crime resulting in loss of life, which is perpetrated by the white population of those states upon the _whites alone_, be contrasted with the amount perpetrated in the state of New York, by _all_ cla.s.ses, upon _all_, we believe it will be found, that more of such crimes have been committed in these states within the last 18 months, than have occurred in the state of New York for half a century. But perhaps we shall be told that in these seven states, there are scores of cities and large towns, and that a majority of all these deadly affrays, &c., take place in _them_; to this we reply, that there are _three times as many_ cities and large towns in the state of New York, as in all those states together, and that nearly all the capital crimes perpetrated in the state take place in these cities and large villages. In the state of New York, there are more than _half a million_ of persons who live in cities and villages of more than two thousand inhabitants, whereas in Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and Missouri, there are on the largest computation not more than _one hundred thousand_ persons, residing in cities and villages of more than two thousand inhabitants, and the white population of these places (which alone is included in the estimate of crime, and that too _inflicted upon whites only_,) is probably not more than _sixty-five thousand_.

But it will doubtless be pleaded in mitigation, that the cities and large villages in those states are _new_; that they have not had sufficient time thoroughly to organize their police, so as to make it an effectual terror to evil doers; and further, that the rapid growth of those places has so overloaded the authorities with all sorts of responsibilities, that due attention to the preservation of the public peace has been nearly impossible; and besides, they have had no official experience to draw upon, as in the older cities, the offices being generally filled by young men, as a necessary consequence of the newness of the country, &c. To this we reply, that New Orleans is more than a century old, and for half that period has been the centre of a great trade; that St. Louis, Natchez, Mobile, Nashville, Louisville and Lexington, are all half a century old, and each had arrived at years of discretion, while yet the sites of Buffalo, Rochester, Lockport, Canandaigua, Geneva, Auburn, Ithaca, Oswego, Syracuse, and other large towns in Western New-York, _were a wilderness_. Further, as _a number_ of these places are larger than _either_ of the former, their growth must have been more _rapid_, and, consequently, they must have encountered still greater obstacles in the organization of an efficient police than those south western cities, with this exception, THEY WERE NOT SETTLED BY SLAVEHOLDERS.

The absurdity of a.s.signing the _newness_ of the country, the unrestrained habits of pioneer settlers, the recklessness of life engendered by wars with the Indians, &c., as reasons sufficient to account for the frightful amount of crime in the states under review, is manifest from the fact, that Vermont is of the same age with Kentucky; Ohio, ten years younger than Kentucky, and six years younger than Tennessee; Indiana, five years younger than Louisiana; Illinois, one year younger than Mississippi; Maine, of the same age with Missouri, and two years younger than Alabama; and Michigan of the same age with Arkansas. Now, let any one contrast the state of society in Maine, Vermont, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan with that of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Missouri, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Mississippi, and candidly ponder the result. It is impossible satisfactorily to account for the immense disparity in crime, on any other supposition than that the latter states were settled and are inhabited almost exclusively by those who carried with them the violence, impatience of legal restraint, love of domination, fiery pa.s.sions, idleness, and contempt of laborious industry, which are engendered by habits of despotic sway, acquired by residence in communities where such manners, habits and pa.s.sions, mould society into their own image.[43] The practical workings of this cause are powerfully ill.u.s.trated in those parts of the slave states where slaves abound, when contrasted with those where very few are held. Who does not know that there are fewer deadly affrays in proportion to the white population--that law has more sway and that human life is less insecure in East Tennessee, where there are very few slaves, than in West Tennessee, where there are large numbers. This is true also of northern and western Virginia, where few slaves are held, when contrasted with eastern Virginia; where they abound; the same remark applies to those parts of Kentucky and Missouri, where large numbers of slaves are held, when contrasted with others where there are comparatively few.

We see the same cause operating to a considerable extent in those parts of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, settled mainly by slaveholders and others, who were natives of slave states, in contrast with other parts of these states settled almost exclusively by persons from free states; that affrays and breaches of the peace are far more frequent in the former than in the latter, is well known to all.

We now proceed to the remaining slave states. Those that have not yet been considered, are Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, and the territory of Florida. As Delaware has hardly two thousand five hundred slaves, arbitrary power over human beings is exercised by so few persons, that the turbulence infused thereby into the public mind is but an inconsiderable element, quite insufficient to inflame the pa.s.sions, much less to cast the character of the ma.s.s of the people; consequently, the state of society there, and the general security of life is but little less than in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, upon which states it borders on the north and east.

The same causes operate in a considerable measure, though to a much less extent to Maryland and in Northern and Western Virginia. But in lower Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, the general state of society as it respects the successful triumph of pa.s.sion over law, and the consequent and universal insecurity of life is, in the main, very similar to that of the states already considered. In some portions of each of these states, human life has probably as little real protection as in Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana; but generally throughout the former states and sections, the laws are not so absolutely powerless as in the latter three.

Deadly affrays, duels, murders, lynchings, &c., are, in proportion to the white population, as frequent and as rarely punished in lower Virginia as in Kentucky and Missouri; in North Carolina and South Carolina as in Tennessee; and in Georgia and Florida as in Alabama.

To insert the criminal statistics of the remaining slave states in detail, as those of the states already considered have been presented, would, we find, fill more s.p.a.ce than can well be spared. Instead of this, we propose to exhibit the state of society in all the slaveholding region bordering on the Atlantic, by the testimony of the slaveholders themselves, corroborated by a few plain facts. Leaving out of view Florida, where law is the _most_ powerless, and Maryland where probably it is the _least_ so, we propose to select as a fair ill.u.s.tration of the actual state of society in the Atlantic slaveholding regions, North Carolina whose border is but 250 miles from the free states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and Georgia which const.i.tutes its south western boundary.

We will begin with GEORGIA. This state was settled more than a century ago by a colony under General Oglethorpe. The colony was memorable for its high toned morality. One of its first regulations was an absolute prohibition of slavery in every form: but another generation arose, the prohibition was abolished, a mult.i.tude of slaves were imported, the exercise of unlimited power over them lashed up pa.s.sion to the spurning of all control, and now the dreadful state of society that exists in Georgia, is revealed by the following testimony out of her own mouth.

The editor of the Darien (Georgia) Telegraph, in his paper of November 6, 1838, published the following.

"_Murderous Attack_.--Between the hours of three and four o'clock, on Sat.u.r.day last, the editor of this paper was attacked by FOURTEEN armed ruffians, and knocked down by repeated blows of bludgeons. All his a.s.sailants were armed with pistols, dirks, and large clubs. Many of them are known to us; but _there is neither law nor justice to be had in Darien! We are doomed to death_ by the employers of the a.s.sa.s.sins who attacked us on Sat.u.r.day, and no less than our blood will satisfy them. The cause alleged for this unmanly, base, cowardly outrage, is some expressions which occurred in an election squib, printed at this office, and extensively circulated through the county, _before the election_. The names of those who surrounded us, when the attack was made, are, A. Lefils, jr. (son to the representative), Madison Thomas, Francis Harrison, Thomas Hopkins, Alexander Blue, George Wing, James Eilands, W.I. Perkins, A.J. Raymur: the others we cannot at present recollect. The two first, LEFILS and THOMAS struck us at the same time. Pistols were levelled at us in all directions. We can produce the most respectable testimony of the truth of this statement."

The same number of the "Darien Telegraph," from which the preceding is taken, contains a correspondence between six individuals, settling the preliminaries of duels. The correspondence fills, with the exception of a dozen lines, _five columns_ of the paper. The parties were Col.

W. Whig Hazzard, commander of one of the Georgia regiments in the recent Seminole campaign, Dr. T.F. Hazzard, a physician of St.

Simons, and Thomas Hazzard, Esq. a county magistrate, on the one side, and Messrs. J.A. Willey, A.W. Willey, and H.B. Gould, Esqs. of Darien, on the other. In their published correspondence the parties call each other "liar," "mean rascal," "puppy," "villain," &c.

The magistrate, Thomas Hazzard, who accepts the challenge of J.A.

Willey, says, in one of his letters, "Being a magistrate, under a solemn oath to do all in my power to keep the peace," &c., and yet this personification of Georgia justice superscribes his letter as follows: "To the Liar, Puppy, Fool, and Poltroon, Mr. John A. Willey"

The magistrate closes his letter thus:

"Here I am; call upon me for personal satisfaction (in _propria forma_); and in the Farm Field, on St. Simon's Island, (_Deo juvante_,) I will give you a full front of my body, and do all in my power to satisfy your thirst for blood! And more, I will wager you $100, to be planked on the scratch! that J.A. Willey will neither kill or defeat T.F. Hazzard."

The following extract from the correspondence is a sufficient index of slaveholding civilization.

"ARTICLES OF BATTLE BETWEEN JOHN A. WILLEY AND W. WHIG HAZZARD.

"Condition 1. The parties to fight on the same day, and at the same place, (St. Simon's beach, near the lighthouse,) where the meeting between T.F. Hazzard and J.A. Willey will take place.

"Condition 2. The parties to fight with broad-swords in the right hand, and a dirk in the left.

"Condition 3. On the word "Charge," the parties to advance, and attack with the broadsword, or close with the dirk.

"Condition 4. THE HEAD OF THE VANQUISHED TO BE CUT OFF BY THE VICTOR, AND STUCK UPON A POLE ON THE FARM FIELD DAM, the original cause of dispute.

"Condition 5. Neither party to object to each other's weapons; and if a sword breaks, the contest to continue with the dirk.

"This Col. W. Whig Hazzard is one of the most prominent citizens in the southern part of Georgia, and previously signalized himself, as we learn from one of the letters in the correspondence, by "three deliberate rounds in a duel."