In Maryland, in 1739, “two slaves of Anne Arundel were executed, one for burglary, the other for rape on a white woman; and the body of the second, who had been a notorious offender, was hung in chains at some distance from the gallows.”[252] In Somerset County, New Jersey, in the year 1744, a young negro was burnt alive for ravishing a white child about nine years old.[253] The punishment of burning alive, which was sometimes applied to negroes by the courts during the colonial period, was, however, usually inflicted for other offenses than rape, such as murder or conspiracy to murder (particularly by the use of poison), insurrection, and arson.[254] But this punishment was never applied to negroes during the colonial period except by judicial decree. Indeed, with the possible exception of the slave insurrection in South Carolina in 1740,[255] there are no instances recorded in colonial history where slaves were publicly executed without trial.[256] Both by law and by public sentiment slaves were recognized as chattels, and when they were executed for crimes for the commission of which the owners could in no way be held responsible, such owners were entitled to indemnification and could enter suit at law for damages. It was customary for the courts when passing sentence of death upon a slave to fix the valuation of the slave, and this sum was then paid to the owner. There is evidence to show that this crime directed against white women continued to be perpetrated down to the time of the Civil War. The Salem (Mass.) Gazette for October 5, 1813, contained this item: “At the late term of the Supreme Judicial Court, holden at Northampton, Peter Pyner, a black man, was convicted of a Rape, committed on the body of a _white female_. The circumstances of the case were of a very distressing nature, and the evidence of his guilt clear beyond a question. Sentence of Death was pronounced by his Honor Chief Justice Parsons, in a solemn and affecting manner.” The Richmond Enquirer of December 14, 1813, gives an account of the killing of a negro slave by a white woman in defense of her virtue.[257] The following passages are taken from Niles’ Register in the years 1821 and 1822. “_A Monster._ A negro fellow, armed with a gun, seized upon a respectable married lady, near Cartersville, Va., and attempted to commit a rape on her. After a long contest, she succeeded in getting out of his clutches, when he fired at her, but missed his aim. About an hour afterwards, he in like manner attacked another married lady—not succeeding, after a desperate struggle, he attempted to kill her with a knife, but she wrested it from him, and getting released, ran away, when he fired at her and lodged many shot in the back of her neck and head—and yet, thus wounded, she escaped. The fellow declared his intention of thus serving all the white women he could meet with. A reward is offered for his apprehension.”[258]