The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1866-04-11
The Late Insurrection in Jamaica.
From The AAantic Monthly for April.

In n little etriangulnr tract of country
on the east shore of Jamaica, hemmed
in between the sea and the blue noun
tainS, twenty-five miles long and two
thirds as wide, occurred in October last,
what Governor Eyre has seen fit to dig
nifty with the name of an inSurrectiOn.
The first act of violence was committed
at MOrant Bay-a town where it is said
that no missionary 10 the blacks has
been permitted to live for thirty-iive
years-in the parish of St. Thomas in
the East-that very st. Thomas, possi-
bly,, whose court house was called forty
years ago the "hell of Jamaica," and
where is preserved aS pleasant relic
of the past q record book wherein the
curious traveller reads the prices paid
in the palmy days ofslavery for cutting
of the ears and legs, and Sitting the
noses of runaway negroes. Had these
negroes of Mornnt Bay any special
causes of evaporation? They had.
Their complaint was threetold. First,
that the only magistrate who protected
their interests had been arbitrarily re-
moved. Second, that plantation
claimed by them to be deserted was as
arbitrarily adjudged to be tho rightful
property of white man. Third, that
the plucking of fruit by the wnyside,
which had been n custom from time
immemorial, and which resembled the
plucking of ears ofcorn under the jew
ish law, was by new regulation made
crime. Thus matters stood on the day
of the outbreak; general condition of
poverty and discomfort throughout the
island, II special condition of eXaspera-
ton in the parish of st. Thomas in the
East, and particularly at Morant Bay.
On the 7th of last October, negro
was arrested for picking two cocoa
nuts. value three-pence. This arrest
had every eXasperating condition. The
fruit was taken from a plantation whose
title was dis; ;uted, and upon which the
negroes had sQuatted. The law which
made the plucking of fruit II crime was
itself peculiarly obnoxious. The mag
istrate before whom the offence was to
be tried, rightly or wrongly, was nc
cused by the blacks of gross impnrtiali-
ty and injustice. Theaccused man was
followed to the court by n crowd of his
friends, armed, it is said, with clubs,
though this latter statement seems to he
doubtful. When sentence of four
shillings' fine, or, in default of pay
ment, thirty days imprisonment was
imposed, the award was received III ST.
lence. But when the costs were adj
Judged to be twelve shillings and six
pence, there were murmurs. Some tu-
multuously advised the man not to pay.
Some, believing the case involved the
title to the land, told him to appeal to
higher court. The magistrate ordered
these fled to the street, and, shielded by
the citizens, escaped. The next day but
one, six constableS armed with a war
rant proceeded to Stony Gut, the scene
of the original arrest, to take into GUS
tody twenty-eight persons accused of
riot. But they were IOrcibly resisted,
hnnd-cutfed with their own irons, and
forced ANONYMOUSLY to take their way
back. Some of the arrests, however,
were made quietly little time after.
On the llth of October dawncd an
eventful day. The magistrates were
assembled in the court house ut Morant
Bay for the purpose of examining the
prisoners. The court house was guard
ed by twenty armed volunteers, body
of local militia. Some four
or five hundred excited blacks sur
rounded the court house, armed with
bludgeons, grasping stones. What led
to collision can never be known
Very probably missiles were thrown at
the guard. At any rate the officer i'll
command ordered them to fire upon
the crowd, and fifteen of the rioters
fell dead, or wounded. Then all re-
straint was at an end. The negroes
threw themselves with incredible
fury upon the guard, drove them into
the court house, summoned them TO
surrender ut discretion, then set fire TO
the building and murdered, with many
instances of atrocily, the unhappy in
mates, as they sought TO flee. Sixteen
were killed, and eighteen wounded,
while few escaped unframed, by the
help of the negroes themselves. This
was the beginning and the end OF the
famous armed insurrection, SO far as
it ever was armed insurrection. The |
spirit of insubordinatiOn spread to the !
plantations. There was general contu-
sion. some destruction of property,
some robbery. The whites were filled
with alarm. Many left all and fled:
The most exaggerated reports obtained
credence. Buff we except MIR. Hlne,
who had rendered himself especially |
unpopular, and who was murdered on !
his plantation, not one white man APP |
pears to have been killed i'll cold blood,
and not one white woman or child sui
fered from violence of any sort. Facts
to the contrary may yet come to light.
Official reports may reveal some
secret chapter OF blo0dsheu. but tne
chances of such II revelation are small
enough. Three months have elapsed
since the first tidings of the outbreak
reached the mother country. There
has been u great excitement; lnvestlga-
ton has been demnnded; fncts have
been called for; the defenders of the
planters have been detied to produce
factss Meanwhile the Governor OF, Ja-
maica has written home repeated de-
sDatches: the commander OF the mill
tary forces which crushed the rebellion
has visited England; the planters jour
nails have come out laden with vulgar
abuse of the negro, and with all sorts
of evil surmises as to his motives ana
nnrnoses; letters have been received
from Jamaica from persons i'll every
nosition in life; and still no new tnctS,-
not so much rs one clear accusation OF
any further fatal violence. The con-
clnsiOn is irresistible, that this was a
riot. and not an insurrection; and that
il began and ended, so far as armed
force was concerned, ut Morant Bay, on
that unhappy day, the eleventh of last
October.
II cannot be denied that the occur
rences of that; day were murked by
some circumstances of painful terocity.
Men were literally hacked TO pieces,
CRYING for mercy. One mans tongue
was cut from his mouth even while he
lived, Another, escaping, was thrown
back into the burning building, and
roasted to death. The joints of the
hand of the dead chief magistrate were
discovered by the blacks, who cried out
ovnItinplv. HThis hand will write no
more living dispatches to the Queen"
Rut the events of that day were marked
also by instances of humanity. The
clerk of the court was rescued by ms
negro servant, who thrust him beneath
the floor, and, Watching his opportuni-
ty. conveyed him to the shelter of the
woods next morning. A child, who
hnppefed to be with his father in the
cotlrt-house, was Snatched up by ne
GRO woman, who, at the risk of her
Own life. carried him to n place of