Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1860-10-12
Horrible Cruelty


We learn from that most excellent paper,
the Petersburg Express, that at the last term
of the Mecklenberg Circuit Court, Charles
Hudson was tried for the murder of his slave
woman, Jane, convicted Of murder in the
second degree and sentenced to imprison-
ment in the Penitentiary for Is years-the
longest term known to the laws
The Tobacco Plant says very truly, that
it is one of those cases which thoroughly
vindicate Southern character against the as
pensions cast upon us oy our enemies ct the
North. It develops what is as true of us as
of any other people on the civilized globe,
that we utterly detest and abhor cruelty and
barbarity, whether to whites or blacks.
The evidence in the case was, that on the
morning of the 4th of July last, at 8 clock,
one of the hottest days of the past summer,
Hudson stripped the woman, NAKED as she
came into the world, tied her TO persm-
mon tree, and whipped her for three consec-
utiye hours, with occasional intermissions of
a few MINI tes, until be had worn out to
Fstumps ffty-two switches, and until the bark
of the body of the tree was rubbed smooth
and greasy by the attrition of the body OF
the victim. Fhe ground around the tree
for seven or eight feet, though it had been
freshly plowed, was trodden hard One
witness testified that he heard distinctly at
the distance Of six hundred yards, both Che
noise of the switches and the screams and
entreaties of the woman. The poor crea-
ture was buried the same afternoon only
some ten inches beneath the ground, in a
rough box, without any shroud. The over
seer sug gested that the neighbcrs had better
be sent for to see the body before burial,
but Hudson dissented. The body was ex-
humed on Friday, two days afterwards, but
the external marks of violence were well
nigh obliterated. But the testimony of the
physician, who dissected the body, and of
several other physicians, who were examin-
ed as experts, was distinct and positive that
the violence used was sufficient to produce
death. 1t was also in evidence that after
the protracted punishment, Hudson united
the woman and sent her to the creek, some
one hundred and fifty yards distant, to wash
herself, accompanied by negro boy, with
instructions to bring her back to him; that
she complained of great thirst, and Was seer
to 90 down to the waters edge; that she re-
NAMED there about fifteen minutes that on
her return she stopped two or three times,
and complained Of having a severe collie 5.
that finally she stopped and could proceed
no farther, when the negro boy, at the COM
mand of his master, took hold of one hand
and Hudson of the other, and dragged her
towards the tree. The main argument of
the defence was based upon the idea that
the woman went into the creek, remained
there fifteen minutes, drank to great excess,
and this in all probability brought on a con-.
gestion of the vitals, and produced death.
Such is an imperfect account of this horrible
transaction. The jury hesitated much Re-
tween conviction for murder in the first
and murder in the second degree. But f.
nally they agreed and ascertained the term
of imprisonment in the Penitentiary at eigh-
teen years, the longest term known to the
law. Hudson is now sixty-elght years old,
and there is scarcely probability that he
can survive his confinement. Indeed he is
already exceedingly FRUSTRATED.
A SKETCH OF GEN WALKER.-Gen.
Walker terminated his career in his thirty
fifth year He was born in Nashville, Tenn.
in Nav, 1925, and was thoroughly educated
under the most favorable auspices for what
ever liberal profession he might select in
after life. first by collegiate course at the
University of Nashville, where he acquitted
himself With the highest honors of his class,
ard afterwards in the medical schools of
Philadelphia and Paris; enjoying, also,'
while in Europe, the advantages of a tour
through, Germany and ITALY, where his OPP
portunity for Bellies lettrcs scholarship were
not only liberal, but keenly enjoyed and APP
preciated by mind then, at least, quiet
and studious to degree that utterly for
bid the idea of an adventurous or restless
career in later life His distaste, however,
to the medical profession. which he declined
practically to enter upon, turned him to the
law, and the associations of the law not uh-
naturally to politics, in which he first en-
gagged in New Orleans, and subsequently,
in 1S5051, in California, from which poins
he entered upon the hazardous careerwhlch,
after the varied fortune Of six years, IS now
The artesian well is one Of the greatest
curiosities of Louisville, Ky. This is the
deepest we'll that has ever been successfully
bored. It was commenced in 1857 by the
Messrs. Du Pont;is 2,0S6 feet in depth, dis-
charges $50 ,OOOa gallons every "a hours;
and carries. its flow to the heightof ITO feet
above the surface.