Slave auction

“ And yet, though familiarity partially deadened the feeling produced by the first one I witnessed, a slave auction is the most utterly revolting spectacle that I ever looked upon. Its odiousness does not lie in the lustful glances and expressions which a young and comely woman on the block always elicits ”

“ The auctioneer stands upon the platform: he is ready to sell any of these to the highest bidder for gold, silver, or approved paper. He calls himself a Christian. He seems to have no idea that he is going to perform an act which is the greatest blasphemy towards his Lord and Master. Is not any man, pretending to be a Christian, and selling his Christian brothers like horses, mules or dogs, a hypocrite? And is any man, calling himself a disciple of Christ, but favoring and seconding slave auctions, any better? ”

“ We will listen to the reading of the auctioneer, who is holding a paper in his right hand:—‘I am authorized,’ he begins, ‘to sell at auction, one hundred and forty-nine plantation negroes, comprising carpenters, [11] bricklayers, blacksmiths, coopers, drivers, house and field-hands. Families will be sold in block. These slave have been raised, and the larger portion of them were born on the estate of Minor R., Esq., who is retiring from the plantation interest on the Beau-Bosquet Place. The slaves are considered as one of the most valuable and healthy gangs in the South. ”

“ The auctioneer hastens to receive him with distinction, and conducts him to the chair behind the desk. The stranger is an American gentleman, and owner of the slaves who are now to be sold at auction. He owns a beautiful plantation, about forty miles from the city, near the railroad. He intends to run as a political candidate; he needs, therefore, money. He says he is ‘truly sorry’ to be obliged to sell his slaves at auction. ”

“ But his master will be a wise man, (though he is a prominent member in his church) —he will let him have no time to work for himself; no, not one hour!
The kind reader will give me permission to retreat, for a short time, from the auction hall, in order to relate [19] an event which happened at the time of my stay in the same city where our auction takes place. A certain citizen of said city had a very honest and diligent slave, a blacksmith by trade. The slave agreed with his master to pay him two dollars and a half a day, but the money which he should earn besides, should belong to himself. ”

“ At these auction-stands, bones, muscles, sinews, blood and nerves, of human beings, are sold with as much indifference as a farmer in the north sells a horse or sheep. And this great American nation is, at the present time, engaged in the slave-trade. ”

“ For a paltry sun it gives the auctioneer a license to sell American men, women, and children, upon the auction-stand. The American slave-trader, with the constitution in his hat and his license in his pocket, marches his gang of chained men and women under the very eaves of the nation's capitol. And this, too, in a country professing to be the freest nation in the world. They profess to be democrats, republicans, and to believe in the natural equality of men; that they are "all created with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." ”

“ Hence, it is said in advertisements that a slave is pious, and, at the auction block, the hardened and heartless seller dwells upon the Christian graces and religious character of some slaves with the unction of an apostle. The purchaser sympathizes, and only desires to know whether the article be a real or a sham Christian. If mere bones and muscles compacted into human shape be worth five hundred dollars, then, if the auctioneer can warrant the subject to have the meekness of Moses and the patience of Job, the same article may be worth seven hundred. ”

“ Five hundred dollars is a fair price for a horse, or for a valuable mule. But here we can perceive neither horses nor mules, but human beings, who, without regard to color or standing, await, like us, the hour of their call from this world to the judgment seat. Those two grey heads, of very humble looking persons, have been placed upon the auction-stand or platform. For forty years they have devoted their strength to the father of their master, and to him. ”

“ We wish no human being to experience emotions of needless pain, but we do wish that every man, woman, and child in New England, could visit a southern slave-prison and auction-stand.
I shall never forget a scene which took place in the city of St. Louis, while I was in slavery. A man and his wife, both slaves, were brought from the country to the city, for sale. They were taken to the rooms of Austin & Savage, auctioneers Several slave-speculators, who are always to be found at auctions where slaves are to be sold. ”

“ These continual sales, often commonly by auction, not only of recently imported, but 137of homeborn and long-settled Negroes, are productive of the most acute sufferings to the Slaves, by tearing open, in the Africans, the old wounds, which might after many years have closed, and by forcing them once more from their homes, their families, and connections, when they had perhaps taken root in their West Indian soil, and multiplied their domestic and social holdings. ”

“ If the doctor pronounced the slave as sound, then the nigger buyer would make an offer to the owner and if the amount was satisfactory, the slave was sold. Some large plantation owners, having a large number of slaves, would hold a public auction and dispose of some of them, then he would attend another sale and buy new slaves, this was done sometimes to get better slaves and sometimes to make money on the sale of them. ”

“ There are eighty-three human beings, of various colors, and of different ages, bending down their heads, and looking as if they were condemned to death, and were now to be executed. Those five ‘articles for sale at auction’ consist of a father, three children, and their grandmother. ”

“ Slaves were sold in two ways, sometimes at private sale to a man who went about the Southland buying slaves until he has many in his possession, then he would have a big auction sale and would re-sell them to the highest bidder, much in the same manner as our live-stock are sold now in auction sales. ”

“ Only 545 dollars! Really, gentlemen, it's throwing the girl away; she is well worth 800 dollars of any man's money. She'll no doubt be the mother of a great many children; and that is a consideration to a purchaser who wants to raise a fine young stock. Only 545 dollars offered for her!" No higher offer being made, she was sent down,—it was no sale. Let us breathe again.
LETTER VIII. St. Louis Exchange—Inspection of Human Chattels—Artizan
Slaves—Scenes and Proceedings of the Auction—Sale of the Men.
Finding that another slave-auction was to be held at noon next day in the St. ”

“ I here learned, that so many of us as could be sold for a good price, were to be disposed of in Columbia, on our arrival at that place, and that the residue would be driven to Augusta and sold there.
The landlord assured my master that at this time slaves were much in demand, both in Columbia and Augusta; that purchasers were numerous and prices good; and that the best plan of effecting good sales would be to put up each nigger separately, at auction, after giving a few days' notice, by an advertisement, in the neighboring country. ”

“ The slaves sold by public auction are generally the refuse, or sickly slaves. These were in such a state of health that they sold, says Baillie, greatly under price. Falconbridge has known them sold for five dollars each, Town for a guinea, and Mr. ”

“ I wish some of my old northern friends, who think Slavery a good thing, could witness the scenes in the slave auctions, which have so often made my blood run cold. I knew two runaway negroes absolutely starve themselves to death in their hiding-places in this city, rather than make themselves known, and be sent back to their masters. ”

“ When an ordinary slave sold for, say seven hundred dollars, a skilled mechanic would easily bring on the auction block from [22] fourteen hundred to two thousand dollars. It is strangely true that when a black man would bring two thousand dollars a white man would not bring fifty cents. ”

“ At the expiration of five years, all free persons of colour remaining in the State are to be sold into slavery to the highest bidder, at public auction, the proceeds of such sales to be paid into the public treasury, provided that said free persons of colour shall be allowed the privilege of becoming the slaves of any free white person whom they may select, on the payment by such person of a fair price. ”

“ When the ships arrive at their destined ports, the slaves are exposed to sale. They are sold either by scramble or by vendue, (i. e.) publick auction, or by lots. The sale by scramble is thus described by Mr. Falconbridge. "In the Emilia, (says he) at Jamaica, the ship was darkened with sails, and covered round. The men slaves were placed on the main deck, and the women on the quarter deck. The purchasers on shore were informed a gun would be fired when they were ready to open the sale. ”

“ If he were convicted of violating this act, his slaves were sold at public auction to the highest bidder. [104] It is to be noticed, however, that a professional slave-dealer could afford to lose a few slaves occasionally, because he paid only the transportation for convict slaves and received from five hundred to eight hundred dollars for each slave that he successfully smuggled through.
There was no change in the laws of importation until 1855. ”

“ No person forfeits his or her character or standing in society by being engaged in raising and selling slaves to supply the cotton, sugar, and rice plantations of the south. Few persons who have visited the [Pg 110] slave states have not, on their return, told of the gangs of slaves they had seen on their way to the southern market. This trade presents some of the most revolting and atrocious scenes which can be imagined. Slave-prisons, slave-auctions, hand-cuffs, whips, chains, bloodhounds, and other instruments of cruelty, are part of the furniture which belongs to the American slave-trade. ”

“ Before an auction the slaves are generally well rubbed with oil, to improve their appearance. The bulk of the slaves sold are females, as male slaves are generally attached to the army. A special woman is also employed, together with the other officials, to see to the female slaves. Adlan also railed off a part of the beit el mal for the reception of cattle—camels, sheep, goats, donkeys, &c.; these are also sold by auction.
A SLAVE WOMAN FROM EQUATORIA. ”

“ Elwood Harvey, editor of a western paper, to the Pennsylvania Freeman, Dec. 25, 1846.
We attended a sale of land and other property, near Petersburg, Virginia, and unexpectedly saw slaves sold at public auction. The slaves were told they would not be sold, and were collected in front of the quarters, gazing on the assembled multitude. The land being sold, the auctioneer’s loud voice was heard, “Bring up the niggers!” A shade of astonishment and affright passed over their faces, as they stared first at each other, and then at the crowd of purchasers, whose attention was now directed to them. ”

“ This auction of slaves had been extensively advertised, and about 30two thousand young men had secretly banded themselves together to stop the sale and, if possible, put an end to this annual disgrace. The auctioneer on his arrival at the Court-house found this crowd of freemen in a dense mass waiting for him. The sight of bondmen about to be offered for sale, and that too under the floating folds of their national flag, crimsoned their cheeks with shame and made their hearts hot within them. ”

“ Now, as for the internal slave-trade,—the very essence of that trade is the buying and selling of human beings for the mere purposes of gain.
A master who has slaves transmitted to him, or a master who buys slaves with the purpose of retaining them on his plantation or in his family, can be supposed to have some object in it besides the mere purpose of gain. He may be supposed, in certain cases, to have some regard to the happiness or well-being of the slave. The trader buys and sells for the mere purpose of gain. ”

“ Can there be any other reason shewn why the same measures which are now in force for the extirpation of the slave trade should not have been adopted thirty years ago? The trade was then equally cruel and barbarous, equally disgraceful to man, and detestable in the sight of Heaven, as it is now rightly considered; but the merchant, the planter, and the factor, have been enriched by this lucrative commerce in their fellow-creatures, and they have received that patronage and countenance, which wealth, however obtained or employed, is seldom denied. ”

“ When, after 1850, the price of slaves had risen to a monopoly height, the leaders of the plantation system, brought to the edge of bankruptcy by the crude and reckless farming necessary under a slave régime, and baffled, at least temporarily, in their quest of new rich land to exploit, began instinctively to feel that the only salvation of American slavery lay in the reopening 169of the African slave-trade. ”

“ Slavery steals from mother's arms their dear ones, and leaves them to mourn their loss. The Slave laws are not obsolete, as some would have you believe, but strictly conformed to, when the interest of the owner requires it. Another case, just in point, is that of Mrs. Forester, of Washington city, the capital of the United States, who sold one of her Slaves his liberty, for three hundred dollars, but his wife and three children remained her property, as he was unable to purchase them. ”