Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1861-07-04
A Slave Auction.

ePPenrb irOm WI. nusSeu late6t 70
ceived letter to the London Times, thai
while he was sojourning at the capital Of the
Southern Confederacy, he thought it woult
be instructive to attend for the first time Q
slave auction. What he saw and felt is thu,
vividly described. ...
The crowd was small. Three or four idle
men, in rough, homespun makeshift uni
forms, leant against the iron rails enclosing
small pond OF foul, green-looking water,
surrounded by brick work which decorates
the space in front Of the Exchange Hotel.
Ihe speaker stood on an empty deal packing
case. a man in cart was listening with Q
lack -lustre eye to the address. Some three
or four others, in sort Of vehicle, which
might either be hearse or piano van, had
also drawn up for the benefit of the address
Five or six men in long, black coats, and
high hats, some whiting sticks and chew.
ing tobacco, and discharging streams of dis
colored saliva, completed the group. "N-i-nt
hundred and fifty dollars. Only nine hun
dred and fifty dollars offered for him." ex
claimed the man in tone OF injured dignity
remonstrance and surprise, which can be
insinuated by all true auctioneers into the
dryest numerical statements. "Will no one
make any advance on nine hundred and fifty
doliarsF A man near me opened his
mouth, spat, and said twenty-five. " "Only
nine hun-nerd and seventy-fve dollars Of.
fered for him. Why, that's radaklous; only
nine hun-nered and seventy-fve dollars. =
Will no one," &C. -..D ......t. h.
Beside the orator auctioneer stood stout
young man Of five and twenty years of age,
with bundle in his hand He was a mus.
cular fellow, broad shouldered, narrow flank
ed, but rather small in stature he had on q
broad, greasy, old wide.awake blue jacket,
a coarse cotton shirt, loose and rather ragged
trousers, and brogan shoes. The expression
of his face was heavy and sad, but it was by
no means disagreeable, in spite of his thick
lips, broad nostrils and high cheek bones. =
On his head was wool instead of hair; his
whiskers were little hacculent black tufts, and
his skin was as dark as that of the late Mr..
Dyce Sombre or of Sir Jung Bahadoor him
self l am neither sentimentalist nor black
republican, nor negro worshipper, but con-
fess the sight caused a strange thrill through
my heart l tried in vain to make myself
familiar with the fact that l could, for the
sum Of 1915 become as absolutely the owner
Of that mass Of blood, bones, sinews, flesh
and brains as the horse which stood by my
side. have seen slave markets in the East,
but, somehow or other, the Orientalism Of
the scene cast coloring over the nature OF
the sales there as to deprive them of the
disagreeable harshness and matter-of- fact
character Of the transaction before me. Fol
the Turk, Smyrniote, or Egyptian, to buy
slaves seemed rather suited to the eternal
fitness of things than otherwise. 49,.
The turbaned, shawled, loose trousered,
pipe-smoking merchants, speaking an un-
known tongue, looked as if they were en-.
gaged in legitimate business. One knew
that their slaves would not be condemned to
any very hard labor, and that they would be
in some sort the inmates of the family and
members Of it. Here it grated on my eai
to listen to the familiar tones of the English
tongue as the medium by which the transfer
was effected, and it was painful to see decent
looking men in European garb engaged in
the work before me. The negro was sold te
one of the by-standers, and walked off with
his bundle. God knows where. ''Niggert
is cheap" was the only remark of the BY
ISLANDERS Another auctioneer, fat, habby
perspiring puffy man, was trying to sell 9
negro girl who stood on the deal box beside
him. She was dressed pretty much like O
London servant girl of the lower order out
of place, except that her shoes were shredi
ofleather patches, and her bonnet would have
scarce passed muster in the New cut She
too, had little bundle in her hand, ant
looked out at the buyers from pair of large
sad eyes. tNiggers were cheap" still
here was this young woman going for al
upset price of $6lO, but no one would bid
and the auctioner, after vain attempts Il
raise the. price and excite competition, said
Not sold to-day, Sally; you may get down.
She stepped down from the box and walked
off down the main street without furthe
notice, while the auctioneer sauntered ava!
in another direction.