how slaveholders fear each other
the reader will please remember that we left nicholas, maddened to distraction at the perfidy of which grabguy makes him the victim, chained to an iron ring in the centre of graspum's slave pen. in addition to this very popular mode of subduing souls that love liberty, his wife and children are sold from him, the ekings of his toil, so carefully laid up as the boon of his freedom, are confiscated, and the wrong-doer now seeks to cover his character by proclaiming to a public without sympathy that no such convention existed, no such object entertained. grabguy is a man of position, and lady grabguy moves well in society no way vulgar; but the slave (the more honourable of the two) hath no voice-he is nothing in the democratic world. of his origin he knows not; and yet the sting pierces deeper into his burning heart, as he feels that, would justice but listen to his tale, freedom had not been a stranger. no voice in law, no common right of commoners, no power to appeal to the judiciary of his own country, hath he. overpowered, chained, his very soul tortured with the lash, he still proclaims his resolution-"death or justice!" he will no longer work for him who has stripped away his rights, and while affecting honesty, would crush him bleeding into the earth.
grabguy will counsel an expedient wherewith further to conceal his perfidy; and to that end, with seeming honesty lady grabguy would have her fashionable neighbours believe sincere, he will ship the oppressed man to new orleans, there to be sold.-"notwithstanding, he is an extremely valuable nigger," he says, affecting superlative indifference.
"i'd rather sell him for a song than he should disturb the peace of the city thus." to new orleans mr. grabguy sends his unsubdued property; but that the threatened sale is only a feint to more effectually dissolve the contract and forfeit the money paid as part of his freedom, he soon becomes fully sensible. doubly incensed at such conduct the fire of his determination burns more fiercely; if no justice for him be made manifest on earth his spirit is consoled with the knowledge of a reward in heaven. having tortured for months the unyielding man, grabguy, with blandest professions of kindness, commands that the lacerated servant be brought back to his domicile. here, with offers of kindness, and sundry pretexts of his sincerity, the master will pledge his honour to keep faith with his slave. the defrauded wretch knows but too well how little confidence he can place in such promises; to such promises does he turn a deaf ear. grabguy, if serious, must give him back his wife, his children, and his hard earnings, in which the joyous hope of gaining freedom was centred: that hope had carried him through many trials. sad is the dilemma in which mr. grabguy finds himself placed; simple justice to the man would have long since settled the question.
and now nicholas is a second time sent to graspum's pen, where living men are chained to rings of fierce iron for loving freedom and their country. for twenty-two days and nights is he chained to that floor where his soul had before been tortured. threats of being returned to new orleans again ring their leaden music in his ears; but they have no terrors for him; his indignant spirit has battled with torture and vanquished its smart--he will defend himself unto death rather than be made the object of a sham sale. a vessel for new orleans waits in the harbour a fair wind for sailing. on board of her mr. grabguy will carry out his resolve; and to which end the reader will please accompany us to a small cell in graspum's pen, about fourteen by sixteen feet, and seven in height--in the centre of which is chained to a ring that man, once so manly of figure, whose features are now worn down by sorrow or distorted by torture,--as three policemen enter to carry out the order of shipment. the heavy chain and shackle with which his left foot is secured yield to him a circuit of some four feet. as the officials advance his face brightens up with animation; his spirit resumes its fiery action, and with a flashing knife, no one knows by whom provided, he bids them advance no further.
"you must go to the whipping-post, my good fellow! i know it's kind of hard; but obey orders we must. ye see, i've gin ye good advice, time and agin; but ye won't take it, and so ye must abide the consequences," says one of the officials, who advances before the others, and addresses himself to the chained man.
"i'll go to a whipping-post no more!" exclaims nicholas, his angry spirit flashing in his face, as in an attitude of defence he presses his right hand into his bosom, and frowns defiantly upon the intruders.
"my name is monsel, an officer! not a word of disobedience," returns the officer, in a peremptory voice.
another suggests that he had better be throated at once. but the chained victim of democracy's rule warns them against advancing another step. "either must die if you advance. i have counselled death, and will lay my prostrate body on the cold floor rather than be taken from this cell to the whipping-post. it is far better to die defending my right, than to yield my life under the lash! i appeal to you, officers of the state, protectors of the peace, men who love their right as life's boons!" the men hesitate, whisper among themselves, seem at a loss as to what course to pursue. "you are setting the laws of the state at defiance, my good fellow!" rejoins monsel.
"i care not for the law of the state! its laws for me are founded in wrong, exercised with injustice!" turning towards the door, mr. monsel despatches his fellow-officers for a reinforcement. that there will be a desperate struggle he has no doubt. the man's gestures show him fully armed; and he is stark mad. during the interim, mr. monsel will hold a parley with the boy. he finds, however, that a few smooth words will not subdue him. one of the officials has a rope in his hand, with which he would make a lasso, and, throwing it over his head, secure him an easy captive. mr. monsel will not hear of such a cowardly process. he is a wiry man, with stunted features, and has become enured to the perils of negro catching. hand to hand he has had many an encounter with the brutes, and always came off victor; never did he fail to serve the interests of the state, nor to protect the property of his client. with a sort of bravado he makes another advance. the city esteems him for the valuable services he has rendered its safety; why should he shrink in this emergency?
our southern readers, in a certain state, will readily recognise the scene we here describe. the chained man, drawing his shining steel from his bosom, says, "you take me not from here, alive." mr. monsel's face becomes pale, while nicholas's flashes angry scowls; an irresistible nervousness seizes him,--for a moment he hesitates, turns half round to see if his companions stand firm. they are close behind, ready for the spring, like sharp-eyed catamounts; while around the door anxious visitors crowd their curious faces. the officers second in command file off to the right and left, draw their revolvers, and present them in the attitude of firing. "use that knife, and you fall!" exclaims one, with a fearful imprecation. at the next moment he fires, as monsel rushes upon the chained man, followed by half a dozen officials. an agonising shriek is heard, and monsel, in guttural accents, mutters, "i am a murdered man-he has murdered me! oh, my god,--he has murdered me!" nicholas has plunged the knife into the fleshy part of monsel's right arm; and while the bloody weapon, wrested from his hand, lies on the floor, an official drags the wounded man from his grasp. as some rise, others fall upon him like infuriated animals, and but for the timely presence of grabguy and graspum would have despatched him like a bullock chained to a stake. the presence of these important personages produces a cessation of hostilities; but the victim, disarmed, lies prostrate on the ground, a writhing and distorted body, tortured beyond his strength of endurance. a circle where the struggle ensued is wet with blood, in which nicholas bathes his poor writhing body until it becomes one crimson mass.
all attention is now directed to the wounded man, who, it is found, although he has bled freely of good red blood, is neither fatally nor seriously wounded. it is merely a flesh wound in the arm, such as young gentlemen of the south frequently inflict upon each other for the purpose of sustaining their character for bravery. but the oppressed slave has raised his hand against a white man,--he must pay the penalty with his life; he no longer can live to keep peaceful citizens in fear and trembling. prostrate on the floor, the victors gather round him again, as graspum stoops down and unlocks the shackle from his leg. "it's the ingin, you see: the very devil wouldn't subdue it, and when once its revenge breaks out you might just as well try to govern a sweeping tornado," graspum remarks, coolly, as he calls a negro attendant, and orders the body to be drawn from out the puddle of disfiguring gore. languidly that poor bosom heaves, his eyes half close, and his motionless lips pale as death.
"had i know'd it when i bargained for him, he would never have pested me in this way, never! but he looked so likely, and had such a quick insight of things,--ingin's ingin, though!" says grabguy.
"the very look might have told you that, my dear fellow; i sold him to you with your eyes open, and, of course, expected you to be the judge," interrupts graspum, his countenance assuming great commercial seriousness.
mr. grabguy politely says, he meant no insinuations. "come, nicholas! i told you this would be the end on't," he continues, stooping down and taking him by the shoulders, with an air of commiseration.
the bruised body, as if suddenly inspired with new life, raises itself half up, and with eyes opening, gazes vacantly at those around, at its own hands besmeared with gore; then, with a curl of contempt on his lip, at the shackle just released from his limb-"ah, well, it's ended here; this is the last of me, no doubt," he murmurs, and makes another attempt to rise.
"don't move from where you are!" commands an official, setting his hand firmly against his right shoulder, and pressing him back. he has got the infective crimson on his hands, chafes them one against the other, perpendicularly, as nicholas looks at him doubtingly. "it's all over--i'll not harm you; take me to a slaughter-house if you will,--i care not," he says, still keeping his eye on the official.
grabguy, somewhat moved at the sight, would confirm his harmlessness. "you'll give up now, won't you?" he enquires, and before nicholas has time to answer, turns to the official, saying, "yes, i know'd he would!"
the official bows his head significantly, but begs to inform mr. grabguy, that the negro, having violated the most sacred law of the state, is no longer under his care. he is a prisoner, and must, as the law directs, answer for the heinous crime just committed. mr. grabguy, if he please, may forward his demand to the state department, and by yielding all claim to his criminal property, receive its award-two hundred round dollars, or thereabouts.
"stand back, gentlemen-stand back, i say!" commands the officer, as the crowd from the outside come pressing in, the news of the struggle having circulated through the city with lightning speed. rumour, ever ready to spread its fears in a slave state, reported an insurrection, and many were they who armed themselves to the very teeth.
the officer, in answer to a question why he does not take the man away, says he has sent for means to secure him. he had scarcely given out the acceptable information, when an official, followed by a negro man, bearing cords over his right arm, makes his appearance. the oppressed man seems subdued, and as they make the first knot with the cord they wind about his neck, he says, sarcastically, "'twouldn't be much to hang a slave! now round my hands. now, with a half hitch, take my legs!" thus mocking, as it were, while they twist the cords about his yielding limbs. now they draw his head to his knees, and his hands to his feet, forming a curve of his disabled body. "how i bend to your strong ropes, your strong laws, and your still stronger wills! you make good slip-nooses, and better bows of human bodies," he says, mildly, shaking his head contemptuously. the official, with a brutal kick, reminds him that there will be no joking when he swings by the neck, which he certainly will, to the great delight of many.
"i welcome the reality,--by heaven i do, for only in heaven is there justice for me!" with these words falling from his lips, four negro men seize the body, bear it to the door: an excited crowd having assembled, place it upon a common dray, amid shouts and furious imprecations of "d--him, kill him at once!" soon the dray rolls speedily away for the county prison, followed by the crowd, who utter a medley of yells and groans, as it disappears within the great gates, bearing its captive to a cell of torture.
