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Show 46 l'ORTRA11UK.E OF SL.\VERY. In th<t:;amc: recess, with that mangled woman, while interrogating her, l discovered (without havinl? the least previous intimation or even suspicion of any dung of the kind), three persons of colour, who were born free, and had been forcibly seized in the time of night, bound and transported in the night, out of their native state, (Delaware) and sold &ts· sla\'CS for life, to itinerant Man-Dealers* in Maryland, who generally range themselves along ncar the line ·or division between the two states. One of these was a mulatto man, about 21 years of age. I found him thoroughly secured in irons. Ilis arms were manacled with strong loops round his wrists, resembling a clevis, connected by a strong iron bolt. On the shelf, over the fire place, lay a pair of heavy rough hopples, (or hobbles,) with which he said his legs had been fettered until a short time pre vi· ous, but were then secured by a pair of polished gripes, (perhaps manufactured for the purpose, resembling the patent horse. fette~s with locks,) c~nnccted by a strong new tug cham, wtth a loose end ol two or three feet in length, lying upon the floor. t He stated that a journeyman to the man with whom he resided, and to whom he had been bound to service for a term of years, having decoyed him into the fields, some distance from the house late in the evening, on pretence of hunting oppossums,' two st~·angcrs ru~hed upon him with ropes in their hands, and with the assistance of the persont just mentioned, bound * rl'o those specu~ators i~ ln1:m~u ~esh, who purchase free people ~~ ;~1!.~c~~e~~:·i~;:~~~~u~t~r:~~;~~~;~~~ must now npJlly the tille t \Vhile interrogati.og hi~ about Ute manner of his being seized and bounrl, ~1e gave has chams a bhake, by moving his feet on the floor, and wath vexation muttered, " Wh.en the devil gets 'em he'll chain them." 11 No, no," said I, you should'nt make such speeches a! that, perhaps they were brought up to sueb things aod don't kno\V any Uelter." 11 Well, bttl, said he, they k1w1v what'& right.'' f hnvc since bce11 ~ssurc.d t.hfll several instances of black mau-steallug l1ad occurred, 1n wluch fathers, sons, brothers and even wives and daughters, were promiscuously engaged. ' t. l was inlormcd on my arrival in the neighborhood wberc this alfa1r was transacled, that this per&cm, on hearing that the muhtllo P ORTr.AITURI. Of SLAVER\'. 47 his ha1~ds, and Ted him with a pistol held each side of him, (with which he said they t~reatened to shoot hm1 If he made any alarm,) 15 or 20 miles, where he was sccr~tcd 'till the next evening; when another person came w1_th a chaise and conveyed him to a tavern in Maryland, a httle over the line;* from whence one of the Man-~calc1:s! (who has since been advertised_ as ~.l man-~tc~~kr. m a dlf! Crent case.) brought him to \Vash_mgton m ~1an~cles, ~nd sold him to another, as" slave for hfe. He sa•d h1s Drzvcr overhearing him tell a coloured w_oman ncar Annapohs, that his parents (both of whom arc hg~ll c_olourcd mulattos) were free-born, threatened to shoot him If he should catch him talking to any body again about his bemg free. He mnn hatl been interceptetl nl \Vnshington, snillllc.hnll n bad pai1\ on his mind, nod believed he should clear out; wh1~h he had done accordingly. * Thos. Clarkson slates, in his History of the Abolition of t~JC Slave Trade, that the nrrivnl ol' slave ships, on the coasts or Afr1cn, was !Lie uniform ~ignal for the immediate commc~ccmeol of ~'·ars for the attainment of prisoners, for sale and exportation to Amer~cn m~d th~ 'Vest Indies." Jn 1\Iarylnnll nnll Dclawnre, the f.llme drnma IS now performell in miniature. 'l'hc arrival of the l\Tan-~l'rallickers, laden with cash, at their respective slalion8, ncar the coasts of a great American water, called justly, l>y 1\fr. Randolph 11 tJ.Medilermnean .w1 •• or at their sevt:ral i1daml posts, ne'ar the tlividing line of l\fnrylnn; 1 and Delaware, (nt some of which they h11.vc grated ~risons for the purpose) is the well known signal for the professed ktdnappers, like beasts of prey, to commence their nightly im•nsions upon the jleuy flock&; e:xtending their ravages, (gene.rnlly ultended with bloodehctl nntl sometimes murder,) ar.c.l sprcndmg terror and consternalion ~mongst both r .. cemcn and slaves throughout the ,9andy regions, from the western to the eastern shores. These "lwo-leggedflallterle& J animals," or human blood-hounds, when overtaken (rarely) by the messengers of lnw, arc generally found armed with instruments of denlh, sometimes with pistols wilh lalttll spring daggers attach eel to them! Mr. Cooper, one of the representatives to congress from Delaware, assured rne thnt he hntl often been nfraitllo semi OHe of his ecrvants out of his house in the evt'ning, from the dacger of their lloing aci~ed by ltidnappers. VVhile at Wilmington (Del.) I neciUcntally hcnr1l a black woman telling the gntc·kcepcr or the bridge, that she h~.tl set out to go to Georgetown, (Del.) but was returning without ha'fing rcnchc(l it, for rear of hcin::; .caught oa~ the ro.nt! by, U~.:: l.hl'!f'PP~rs.. |