THE STATE vs. CÆSAR, A SLAVE. If a white man wantonly inflicts upon a slave, over whom he has no au. thority, a severe blow or repeated blows, under unusual circumstances, and the slave, at the instant, strikes and kills, without evincing, by the means used, great wickedness or cruelty, he is only guilty of man-slaughter, giving due weight to motives of policy and the necessity for subordination. The same principle of extenuation applies to the case of the beaten slave's comrade or friend, who is present and instantly kills the assailant, without, in like manner, evincing, by the means used, great wickedness or eruelty. RUFFIN, C. J., dissented. The cases of the State v Tackett, 1 Hawks. 217, State v. Hale, 2 Hawks 582, State v. Will, 1 Dev. & Bat. 121, State v. Mann, 2 Dev. 263, and State v. Jarrott, 1 Ired. 86, cited, commented on and approved. Appeal from the Superior Court of Law of Martin County, at the Fall Term 1848, his Honor Judge DICK presiding. This was an indictment for murder in the words and figures following, to-wit: STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA, } Superior Court of Law, The jurors for the State, upon their oath. present, that Cæsar, a slave, the property of John Latham and Thomas Latham, not having the fear of God before his eyes, but being moved and seduced by the instigation of the devil, on the fourteenth day of August, A. D. eighteen hundred and forty eight, with force and arms, at and in the County of Martin aforesaid, in and upon one Kenneth Mizell, in the peace of God and the State then and there being, feloniously, wilfully and of his malice aforethought, did make an assault, and that the said Cæsar, with a certain large stick, which he the said Cæsar in both his hands then and there had and held, him the said Kenneth Mizell, State v. Cæsar. then and there feloniously, wilfully and of his malice aforethought, did strike and beat, giving to him the said Kenneth Mizell, then and there, by striking and beating him as aforesaid, with the stick aforesaid, in and upon the left jaw and the left side of the neck of him the said Kenneth Mizell, one mortal bruise, of the breadth of two inches and of the length of six inches, of which said mor. tal bruise the said Kenneth Mizell from the said fourteenth day of August in the year aforesaid, until the fif teenth day of the same month in the year aforesaid, at and in the County aforesaid, did languish and languishing did live; on which said fifteenth day of August in the year aforesaid, the said Kenneth Mizell in the County aforesaid died: And so, the jurors aforesaid, upon their oath aforesaid, do say that the said Cæsar the said Kenneth Mizell, in the manner and form aforesaid, feloniously, wilfully and of his malice aforethought, did kill and mur. der, contrary to the peace and dignity of the State. On which indictment, the prisoner being arraigned, pleaded not guilty. The prisoner being put on his trial, the State first examined one Brickhouse, who stated, that he went, in company with the deceased, to Jameston, in the County of Martin, in the afternoon of the 14th of August, 1848: that the deceased and he (the witness) drank spirits in the town of Jameston, until they were both intoxicated: that they went to the house of Mr. Cahoon about dark for the purpose of staying all night: that he (the witness) and the deceased went to bed together, and, after sleeping some short time, he was awoke by the deceased, who proposed that they should get up and walk out that they did so and crossed an old field and went into the town of Jameston: they had a bottle of spirits with them, and each took a drink while crossing the old field: that near a store house in Jameston they found two negro men lying on the ground: that the witness was not State v. Cæsar. acquainted with either of them, but had since learned, that they were the prisoner and a man named Dick: the witness informed the prisoner and Dick, that he and the deceased were patrollers, and he (the witness) took up a piece of board and gave the prisoner and Dick each two or three slight blows: that he (the witness) then entered into a conversation with the prisoner and Dick, and, while conversing with them, a third negro came up, who, he has since understood, is named Charles: that he (the witness) asked Charles if he knew they were patrollers, and took hold of Charles and ordered Dick to go and get a whip for him to whip Charles with: Dick went off a few steps and stopped: witness let Charles go and took hold of Dick: witness then received a violent blow on his head, which made a wound about an inch in length, and stunned him when he recovered, he saw the deceased lying on the ground at full length and the negroes all gone witness called the deceased, but received no answer: witness then went to the house of Cahoon to get a gun, but failing to do so, returned where he had left the deceased, and found the deceased some twenty yards from where he left him: deceased was lying on the ground the deceased got up and took his (witness') arm and witness conducted deceased to the house of Cahoon : deceased asked for some water, which witness procured for him, and he and the deceased went to bed together: after they were in bed, the deceased asked witness, if he would go with him on Thursday night after the negroes, and further remarked, that he could not talk much longer. Witness further stated, that, being considerably intoxicated, he fell asleep and was awoke about two or three o'clock in the morning by Mr. Cahoon. The deceased was dying, and blood and froth running out of his mouth and nose on the pillow where he lay. Deceased died in a few minutes after witness awoke. State v. Cæsar. The slave Dick was next examined on the part of the State. Dick stated, that he and the prisoner were lying on the ground near a store house about eleven o'clock at night that two white men, strangers to him, came to the place where he and the prisoner were lying: that one of them, who, he has since learned, was Mr. Brickhouse, said they were patrollers, and Brickhouse took a piece of board and gave the witness and the prisoner each two or three slight blows, which did not hurt the witness, and the witness thought it was done in sport by Brickhouse. Brickhouse then asked the witness, if he could not get some girls for them, and further remarked, that he had money a plenty; witness declined doing so: about that time, Charles came up: Brickhouse asked Charles, if he knew they were patrollers, and took hold of Charles and ordered witness to go and get a whip to whip Charles with witness moved off a few steps and stopped: Brickhouse then let go Charles and took hold of witness and the deceased also took hold of the hand of witness: Brickhouse then began to beat the witness with his fist and struck several blows on the head and in the side of witness, which hurt him, and he begged Brickhouse to quit. Witness further stated, that while Brickhouse was beating him with his fist and the deceased holding his hand, the prisoner went to the fence and got a rail, and struck in among them, and they all came down together, and he got up and ran off. Charles was next examined by the State. Charles stated, that he heard a conversation and went to the place, where he found two white men and Cæsar and Dick, engaged in conversation: Brickhouse asked him (the witness,) if he knew they were patrollers and took hold of him (the witness,) and told Dick to go and get a whip: Dick moved off a few steps and stopped: Brickhouse let wifness go and took hold of Dick and began to beat him with his fist, and the deceased also took hold of Dick: State v. Cæsar. the prisoner remarked to witness, that he could not stand that, and run to the fence and got a rail, and with the rail in both hands struck Brickhouse on the head: the rail broke in two pieces, leaving a piece of the rail three or four feet long in the hands of the prisoner: the prisoner then struck Mizell, the deceased, with the piece in his hands and felled him to the ground at full length: the prisoner then ran off and Brickhouse pursued him; witness also ran off, leaving the deceased lying at full length on the ground. This witness was then examined as to the size and quality of the rail, used by the prisoner. He stated, that it was a fence rail of the usual length, was fit for fencing, and was part of a fence, when taken by the prisoner, and was about the size of a piece of timber in the Court House, pointed out by the witness; which piece of timber was about four inches wide by two and a half inches thick. The witness further stated, that the rail aforesaid was of sap timber and tolerably rotten; and that it had rained the day before. Whitmell, a slave, was next examined by the State. He stated, that on the night of the homicide the prisoner came to his house in Jameston, and asked him (the witness) how he was. Witness replied, he was very well. Witness then asked the prisoner how he was. The prisoner replied, bad enough, and went on to say, that he had knocked down one white man and crippled another; and further said, the white men were beating Dick: that he took a rail and knocked them down, one for dead; that the other white man called the one he had knocked down, but he did not answer, and he (the prisoner) did not know whether he was dead or not; the prisoner further stated, that the white men gave them two or three licks round and walked off, and he (the prison and Disk laughed: the white men came back to Belling Dick-that he (the prisoner) asked as if he could stand that Charles said nothing-primer siderarles |