Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1854-12-28

the little girl upon the passage or any ac-
ouaintance with her father and mother, im-
mediately identified the woman before them
with the long. lost Salome Muller. By all
these witnesses, who appeared at the trial, the
IDENTITY was established in the strongest TERMS
The family resemblance in every feature was
declared to be so remarkable. that some OF the
witnesses did not hesitate to say that trey
did not hesitate to say that they should know
her among ten thousands: that they were as
certain that the plaintiff was Salome Muller,
the daughter Of Daniel and Dorethea Mulier,as
of their own existence.
Among tho witnesses who appeared In Court,
was the midwife who had assisted at the birth
of Salome Muller She testified to the exis-
tence Of certain peculiar marks upon the body
of fine child. which were found exactly as de-
snribed. by the surgeons who were appointed
NV the Court to make an examination for the
purpose.
There was no trace of African descent in
any feature of the face of Salome Muller. She
had long, straight black hair hazel eyes, thin
Inns. and a Roman nose. The complexion of
her face and neck was as dark as that of the
darkest brunette. 1t appears, however, that
during the twenty-five years OF her servitude
she had been exposed to the suns rays in the
hot climate of Louisiana, with head and neck
unsheltered, as is the custom of the female
slaves. laboring in the cotton or the sugar
field. The parts of her person which had
been shielded from the sun, were COMPARE
lively white.
Belmonte, the pretended owner of the girl,
had obtained possession of her by an act OF
sale from John F. Miller, the planter i'll whose
service Salome's father died. This Miller was
man of consideration and substance, owning
large sugar estates, and bearing high reputa-
ton for honor and honesty, and for indulgent
treatment of his slaves. 1t was testified on
the trial that he said to Belmonte,a few weeks
after the sale of Saiome, ''that she was white,
and had as much right to her freedom as any
one, and was only to be retained in slavery
by care and kind treatment" The broker
who negotiated the sale from Miller to Bel
monte, in 1888, testified in Court that he then
thought, and still thought that the girl was
white
The case was deliberately argued on both
sides, but was at length decided in favor of
the girl, by the Supreme Courts declaring
that 'sshe was free and white, and therefore
unlawfully held in bondage
The Rev. George Bourne, of Virginia. in
his Picture of Slavery. published in 1884, re-
lates the case of white boy, who, at the age
of seven years, was stolen from his hone in
Ohio, tanned and stained in such a way that
he could not be distinguished from person
of color, and then sold as slave in Virginia.
AT the age of twenty he made his escape, by
running away, and happily succeeded in re-
joining his parents. These, and other exam
pies which might be adduced are amply sufti'
Gent to defend the story of Ida May from the
charge of improbability, which never would
have been brought against it by any one con-
versant with the workings and developments
of the ''peculiar institution. - Boston Atlas.