Her Master Suddenly Broke Out In A Paroxysm Of Rage, Swore At Her Awfully, And Accused Her In A Ruffianly Way Of Being Insolent To Her Mistress.

Then, violently ringing a bell which stood on the table, he summoned a negro lad into the room, and at once despatched him to a neighbour's house to borrow a new raw-hide whip, threatening all the while to flay her alive.

In vain the terrified creature pleaded innocence; he would take no excuse, and, although I begged earnestly for him to pass over the offence, and the poor slave fell on her knees in the greatest terror, he vowed vengeance with dreadful imprecations. At last the whip came, and, disregarding alike the presence of a stranger, and the entreaties of a woman, he began the flagellation with murderous earnest. My interference only added to his ungovernable rage. The raw-hide was new, and the major being a strong, muscular man, every stroke told. The blood soon flowed from the back, neck, and breasts, of the poor victim, whose cries, as she writhed under the savage infliction, entered my soul. They, however, made no impression on her brutal tormentor, who kept vociferating with all his energy to keep her quiet. It was with some difficulty I stood by and witnessed the assault, but I well know my life would be in jeopardy if I attempted to interfere. I, however, screwed up my courage to stay, in the hope that some sense of shame might induce the fellow to hold his hand. This was, however, a delusive hope, for he continued to lay on the whip until he was exhausted.

The girl was now on the floor of the room, moaning piteously, and a stream of blood was flowing from her lacerated person, which soaked the matting that covered the floor. Her dress was hanging in tatters, and the blood trickling down her cheeks had a horrifying effect. As soon as the ruffian was tired, he bid the woman get down stairs and wash herself. The miserable creature arose with difficulty, and picking up her apron and turban, which were in different parts of the room, she hobbled out crying bitterly. As soon as she was gone, the major pointed to the blood, and said, "If we did not see that sometimes, there would be no living with the brutes;" to which I replied in terms he could not misunderstand, and at once left the house, determined never again to enter it - a resolution I religiously kept. I afterwards heard that this miserable creature was pregnant at the time, a circumstance that would have induced at least some regard to leniency in any man not utterly debased.

Those who are acquainted with southern scenes will see nothing extraordinary in this recital, for they are every-day occurrences, and scarcely elicit a remark, unless the perpetrator should happen to be a slave-holding Wesleyan or Whitfieldite, when, perhaps, he would be called to some account - his own version of the affair being of course admitted _in limine_. Many of the slave-holders are an incorrigibly degraded set of men.

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