Manuel Pereira; Or, The Sovereign Rule of South CarolinaAdams, F. Colburn (Francis Colburn)
General
Manuel Pereira; Or, The Sovereign Rule of South Carolina
Adams, F. Colburn (Francis Colburn)
African Americans -- Fiction; Biographical fiction; Pereira, Manuel -- Fiction; South Carolina -- Fiction
We would print the name of this brute in human form, that the world
might read it, were it not for an amiable wife and interesting family,
whose feelings we respect. We heard the cause of this cruel torture a
short time after, which was simply that he had stolen a few pounds
of nails, and this fomented the demon's rage. In the manner we have
described, this ferocious creature had kept his victim for more than two
hours, beating him with the knotty hoops taken from lime-casks. His rage
would move at intervals, like gusts of wind during a gale. Thus, while
his feelings raged highest, he would vent them upon the flesh of the
poor pinioned wretch; then he would stop, rest his arm, and pace the
ground from wall to wall, and as soon as his passion stormed, commence
again and strike the blows with all his power, at the same time keeping
the black boy standing with a bucket of water in his hand ready to pour
upon the wretch whenever signs of fainting appeared. Several times, when
the copious shower came over him, it filled his mouth, so that his cries
resounded with a gurgling, death-like noise, that made every sensation
chill to hear it. During this space of time, he inflicted more than
three hundred blows. Our information is from the man who did his
master's bidding--poured the water--and dared not say, “Good massa,
spare poor Jacob.” We visited the place about a month afterward, on
a pretext of examining the basement of the building, and saw the
unmistakable evidences of civilized torture yet remaining in the ground
and upon the shavings that were scattered around.
“Captain, you must not judge the institution of slavery by what you
saw there; that is only one of those isolated cases so injurious in
themselves, but for which the general character of the institution
should not be held answerable,” said the colonel.
“A system so imperfect should be revised, lest innocent men be made to
suffer its wrongs,” said the Captain.
They continued their walk through several very pretty parts of the city,
where fine flowering gardens and well-trimmed hedges were nicely laid
out; these, however, were not the habitations of the “old families.”
They occupied parts of the city designated by massive-looking old
mansions, exhibiting an antiqueness and mixed architecture, with
dilapidated court-yards and weather-stained walls, showing how steadfast
was the work of decay.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account