Raynors HCA 2015-05
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 5/21/2015
Newspaper, a complete and authentic issue of the New York Semi-Weekly Tribune, August 3, 1860, 8pp., disbound. From the interior, very lengthy report running 90% on the full page, eye witness observations of plantation life. The author traveled to the Southern plantations and farms to observe the Slave Labor. In this report, we are presented with 14 topics observing the slave’s life. Under “Labor and Wages, he stayed with a German farmer who owned four slaves, rented them out rather employ them on the farm. On renting his slaves, “...his men earned $30 a month in Natchez ...he hired a strong white man to work the farm for $10 a month.” Then, under the topic “Review A First-Rate Plantation,” he stops at a plantation. In small part, “The whole plantation covered several square miles .. there were 135 slaves, big and little, of which 67 went to the fields regularly ..Besides the field hands, there were 3 mechanics, 2 seamstresses, 1 cook, 1 stable servant, ... These were all first class hands. There was a nursery for sucklings at the quarters and twenty women at this time left their work four times a day for this purpose. .. He had no runaways at this time but had just sold a bad one to go to Texas. He was whipping the fellow, when he turned and tried to stab him - then broke from him and ran away. After catching him, he kept him irons until he sold him. His niggers did not very often run, he said, ... as soon as he saw one was gone he put the dogs on ...The property consisted of four adjoining plantations, each with its own negro cabins, stables and overseer .. The overseers were superior to most of their class ..These men were the only white men ... within several miles. Of course to secure their own safety ... operate unjustly and cruelly. In general the negroes appeared to be well taken care of and abundantly supplied ... There was a large blacksmith’s shop. Within the shop there were some fifty plows which they were putting in order. The manager inspected the work, found some faulty, sharply reprimanded the workman and threatened one of them with a whip. ... ‘There’s that girl Caroline ..put her up to hoeing, there’s nothing the matter with her, except she is sore with the whipping she got’ ... Then under “Plow Girls we read, “The plowing both single and double mule teams was generally performed by women, and very well performed too. They were superintended by a male negro driver who carried a whip which he frequently cracked at them. ... they are steadily driven .. This was especially the case with the hoe-gangs. One of them numbered nearly 200 hands moving across the field in parallel lines. .. A very tall and powerful negro walked to and fro in the rear of the line, frequently cracking his whip and shouting. ..Then under “Discipline” we read in part, “The whip was evidently in constant use. .. I asked if he ever killed a negro. ‘Not quite’ he said. Some negroes are determined never to let a white man whip them, and will resist you when you attempt it. Of course you must kill them in that case.’ He always carried a bowie knife. ..The severest corporeal punishment of a negro I witnessed at the South occurred while I was visiting this estate.” With the overseer, they came across an eighteen year old girl hiding in the brush. The overseer questioned her, and convinced that she was lying as to the reason she was there, told her “get down on your knees. The girl knelt on the ground. He got off his horse, and holding him with his left hand, struck her thirty or forty blows across the shoulders with his tough, flexible, raw-hide whip. They were well laid on. .. At every stroke the girl winced and exclaimed ‘Yes sir’ or ‘Please sir.’ ‘Now tell me the truth.’ The girl repeated the same story. ‘You’ve not got enough yet. Pull up your clothes and lie down.’ The girl without hesitation, without a word, drew closely her garments, and lay down upon the ground with her face towards the overseer, who continued to flog her ...” Slight damp stain in margin, else VG.
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