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had willed me to myself. Surely the words of the Psalmist came true in this case: They search out iniquities; they accomplish a diligent search; both the inward thought of every one of them, and the heart, is deep. But God shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly shall they be wounded."

CHAPTER II.

REMINISCENCES OF MY OLD MASTER.

WE will now speak about my old master, the father of those whom I have spoken of in the above chapter. He was originally a Quaker in North Carolina, United States, but he came to South Carolina and married a lady who had a few slaves. He then set up a liquor store on the Creek Swamp plantation, where he sold to the white people in the daytime, and at night traded with the slaves. He told the slaves round about to steal cotton and bring it to him, and he would give them whisky for it; but if their masters caught them, they were not to say that they' were bringing it to him. The consequence was, that some slaves brought one cwt. to him, for which he gave them one gallon of whiskey. The cwt. of cotton was worth fourteen dollars, or about £2 18s. 4d. in English money, and the gallon of whisky was worth one dollar, or about 4s. 2d.; but the slaves did not know this, and so they were cheated. Others who brought a half-cwt., received half-a-gallon, and so on. This he continued for a long time, until for fear of being betrayed, he put a stop to it. This method of getting rich is very common among the slaveholders of South Carolina. He afterwards became very rich, and owned two plantations, where he hired different overseers to whip his niggers, and he himself whipped them too. He used to work them till nine o'clock at night, and in the winter season he blew the horn at midnight, and put them to killing hogs, and cutting down pine trees, and threshing wheat and oats. He also had a mill on a "branch," and on the other side there is a Church called the Rock Church; he and other masters, made their slaves go to hear the Rev. Mr. Glen preach on such texts as "Servants obey your masters," Thou shalt not steal,"-" He that knew his master's will and did it not, shall be beaten with many stripes." But, after a while, Mr. Glen did not insist sufficiently on that doctrine, and therefore, they drove

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him away, and different "circuit riders" took his place. These circuit riders are a rascally set. The following is an instance of their wickedness: one of them, as he was riding along the road by the cotton fields where the slaves were working, saw a female slave named Matilda, who pleased him, and he told her to meet him at such a place. She did so; and when he had accomplished his vile purpose, he gave her a dollar, which turned out to be a bad one. He often preached at St. Luke's Church on Lynch's Creek. If the pastors do such things, what will the masters and their sons do? But, to return to my master; he could not bear any one of the negroes to finish his task before sunset; if any did, he would set them such heavy task next day, that it would be impossible for him to finish it, and then he would give him fifty lashes, which sometimes would cause him to fly to the woods; and when he returned, he would receive one hundred lashes, and fifty blows with the paddle.

A negro woman of the plantation, called my mother names, and thereupon my mother and this woman went to fighting; and when my master heard of it, he tied my mother up and gave her ninety lashes, but did not touch the other woman, (called Nancy) as she was his favourite ; and there was my mistress looking on and saying, "That's right, put it to her, cut her all to pieces." Among other things, the mule I had to plough with was a very vicious one, and used sometimes to kick the plough out of my hands. Once, as the mule was kicking, my master came into the field, and said that I spoiled the mule; he then at once tied me up and gave me fifty lashes. One morning, as he was going to whip me again, I started off for the swamp, and he set five dogs after me, and said, "Suboy! suboy! catch him!" When the dogs came level with me, clapped my hands also, and said, "Suboy! suboy! catch him!" as if both my master and I were in chase of a fox or hare ahead of us, and, upon that, the dogs went before me and were soon out of sight, and so I got away. About this time, my master went to the White Sulphur Springs, and hired a man named Burl Quiney, to oversee the plantation during his absence. There was a nigger-driver named Old Peter. Mrs. English told Burl Quiney that he should give the first slave that he took up to whip, a pretty good hiding to scare the whole plantation, for that they were a set of niggers never conquered by any overseer that had

ever been there. She said so, supposing that I or another slave named Isaac-whom she hated as much as she did me-would be the first to be made an example of. But it turned out differently. The task of Old Peter, the niggerdriver, was to see that all the negroes had their proper tasks. When Burl Quiney rode along, he noticed one of the females and said, "Peggy, you shall not do so much work as the rest of the girls to-day." So he moved the stake back, so that she should do only three tasks instead of four-the allotted quantity to each slave. This was done that she should have time to meet him in the evening. After a time, Old Peter coming along and seeing the stake moved, enquired, "Who moved that stake?" "Massa Burl Quiney," said Peggy, "because I have the cows to milk." Old Peter answered, "Massa makes you do as much as the rest, so I'll move the stake back." When Burl Quiney came that way and found the stake moved back again, he asked Peggy who moved it? "Uncle Peter," said Peggy. "How dare he move a stake from where a white man put it? Where is he?" said Burl Quiney. "At the other end of the field," replied Peggy. He then rode up to him and said, "Peter, haul off your jacket, sir! how dare you move that stake? "Massa always makes that girl do as much as the rest," replied Old Peter. Now, the example was to be made of Old Peter, the favourite slave of my mistress. He cut his back with a lash in which wire was interwoven. That evening, old Peter went to the house, and told his mistress that Burl Quiney had cut his back to pieces, because he told Peggy to do as much as the other slaves. "Did he want her to do less?" enquired Mrs. English. "Yes, ma'am." "What for? "I don't know," said he. But still, old Peter did know, but dared not tell his mistress. When Burl Quiney went to supper, Mrs. English said to him, "Mr. Quiney, I did not mean that you should whip Old Peter!" 'You made no distinction, madam, but told me that the first one I took up to whip I was to make an example of, to frighten the whole plantation." Next morning, when the horn was blown, Burl Quiney looked anxiously for Old Peter, intending to give him another whipping for telling his mistress what he did; but he did not make his appearance. So Burl Quiney hastened down to the nigger-house, and there found Old Peter lying sick from the effects of the whipping of the previous day. Burl Quiney then said,

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"Peter, did you not hear the horn blow?" Yes, sir, but I am sick!" "Out with you, sir, or I'll make you sicker than that before I have done with you." So he hauled him out, and kicked and beat him all the way the field. When he got him there, he said, Now, sir, haul off your jacket, I am going to give you one hundred lashes!" The old man would not. He then kicked him in the stomach several times, and knocked him down with the butt end of his whip, and said, "Now, cross your hands, sir." And he kicked him, and he cried out to the slaves, "Run here, this man is going to kill me!" The slaves immediately surrounded him; but Burl Quiney seeing them do so, said, "Why do you come round me? go off to your work!" And he ran off a short distance; but we all surrounded him again like blackbirds, and would not go away, because we thought we should frighten him from the old man. Old Peter's daughter went to her mistress, and told her to come and stop Burl Quiney from beating papa; and as she was coming, the slaves cried out to her, "Come on quickly, missus; Burl Quiney is going to kill Uncle Peter!" She answered, "What can I do? go away from there, you niggers, that man will have you all hung and burnt!" Then, Burl Quiney tied his hands and tied him to a tree, and gave him one hundred lashes; he then ordered him to do his duty, but the poor old nigger-driver was unable. Two slaves, named Isaac and Prince, took him on a handbarrow to the nigger-house; but Burl Quiney went down and ordered him into the field. He was forced out by the cowhide. When he got to the field, he lay down, and Burl Quiney whipped him up, and again made him discharge his duties; but he lay down again, and was again whipped up with a horrid oath. At twelve o'clock, the horn was again sounded for the negroes to go home to breakfast. But, to return to Old Peter; he was carried home on a mule to the nigger-house, never again to come out of it. He died three days after. A coroner's inquest was held upon the body, and also a post mortem examination, and Dr. Gray found that one of his bowels was ruptured. The jury returned the following verdict: "Burl Quiney, overseer to Mr. English, did wilfully cause the death of the deceased by whipping with the cowhide." But Burl Quiney answered, "Yes, gentlemen, but Mrs. English was the cause of it." Mrs. English exclaimed, "You are a liar, sir!" The Rev. Thomas English here

said, "Sir, if you say that ma was the instigation of your killing that old nigger, you are a liar, and the truth is not in you!" Burl Quiney was then committed to jail; and on taking him to Sumpterville prison, all three mounted, Burl Quiney having a much better horse than either of the other two. When, therefore, Quiney bade the others "Good night," he put spurs to his horse and was soon out of sight. During the inquest, Thomas English said, "Let this be an example to you niggers; " but I (Jackson) said in my mind, "No, let it be an example to you and your mother."

CHAPTER III.

MY MISTRESS.

My mistress was a native of South Carolina; she was mean to everybody but her own family; she used to say that the bran flour was too good for the slaves to eat. The sight which most delighted her eyes, was to see a slave whipped. John Durant had a large plantation of slaves on Lynch's Creek, which he willed to John Ashmore, his nephew. The uncle was drunk one night, and it was understood that John Ashmore tied a silk handkerchief round his uncle's neck and strangled him, in order to take possession of the property, which he did. He took liberties among the female slaves. Three brothers of the deceased, Alex Durant, Davy Durant, and Dr. Durant, believed that John Ashmore had murdered their brother, and they sued him for the property. The lawsuit was progressing when I left, and some of the negroes were sold to carry it on ; but it is most likely John Ashmore won it, as he engaged the best lawyer in Sumpterville, named Lawyer Moses. I bought of one of the slaves, who was leaving, a little sow pig, for which I gave three yards of cloth, and took it to Wells' plantation, where my wife lived, and she raised it there and it increased to twenty pigs. My mistress found out that my wife had some hogs; one of the slaves informed of me. "Is it Jackson's wife?" said she, they are his hogs then, and he feeds them on my plantation." She then called my mother: "Old Bet, where does Jackson get food for his hogs? 'They live on the acorns, ma'am." "You are a liar, they feed on my corn," said she; "I will order Ransom Player (the overseer) to give him one hundred lashes and kill all his hogs, the

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