The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1868-11-26
The Hanging sof Gordon, the
Slave Trader.
BY EDWARD EVERETT HALE.

q A
From the Atlantic Monthly for December. ]
New York was the great centre
where the slave.traders Of the world
bought their vessels. Havana was
the great centre where they laid
their plans. Boston, New Bedford,
New London, Cadlz, Barcelona, and
the Western Islands, and know not
where else, the minor places in the
operation. The voyages were arran-
ged, the ships were partly fitted in
New York, thence they slipped to
sea, picked up the rest Of equipment
and the right papers elsewhere If
New York would not answer, and
brought on the Western Coast. I
have seen the record which Mr.. Ar
chibald, the English Consul and Com.
missioner in New York, kept Of one
hundred and seventy -one of these
vessels in three years time. His GO.
cret agents boarded them in New
York Harbor, and described them in
detail, even down to a brand of cigars
the captainj had in his cabin. Mr..
Archibald sent the description to the
Admiralty, and they to the Coast
"Let me 60 below" said an English
officer, on board q SLAYER in one of
the African rivers. "You 20 at your
peril" said the captain, brave in the
perfectly regular papers he had, in
the Stars and Stripes over his head in
the new coat of paint he had taken
at the Western Island, and in the
fact, perhaps, that, though he sailed
q bark, he was now a brig. aYou 60
below at your peril" II will take
the risk" said the Englishman; went
below, and found all the slayo-fittings,
casks, cooking stove, handouts and
the rest, and OF course, seized the
vessel. The outwitted captain, white
with rage, swore between his clench-
ed teeth, "You .would not have
known me but for your bloody Eng
lish Counsel in New York." Almost
every man of the projectors was
known to the English government
through this steady secret SERVICE
But the all ran riot till Mr.. Lincoln
came in, and then one fine day one
Gordon was arrested for slave ira
ding, another day he was tried, 'and
another he was hanged
Yes, my friend, he was hanged. /
know about what is called the sacred
ness of human life. For my part, /
believe mans life is as sacred as his
liberty, and no more SO. And l be-
lieve whom his country requires eth
er his life or his liberty, she may use
it, ifshe takes the responsibility. In
this case, / am very glad my country
took this responsibility. Whatever
Gordon's life may have been worth
to him or to his friends, I think this
country put it to q very good use
when she hanged him. A storm OF
protest was made against Ms death.
Twenty-Five thousand people petiti-
oned Abraham Lincoln to spare that
mans life, and Abraham Lincoln re-
fused. Gordon was hanged. And
all through the little ports and big
ports of the United States it was
known that q slave-trader had been
hanged. And, when that was known,
the American slave-trade ended. All
up and down little African rivers that
you never heard the names Of, it was
known that an American slave-trader
had been hanged; and cowardly pi-
rates trembled, and brave seamen
cheered, when they heard it. Moth
ers Of children thanked such gods as
they knew how to thank; and slaves
shut up in barracoons, waiting for
the voyage, got signal that some
thing had happened which was to
give them freedom. That something
was that Gordon was hanged. So
far that candle threw its beams.
lam told, and I believe, that when
that poor wretch was under sentence
of death, his "friends" kept him in
liquor to the moment Of his DEATH -
so anxious were they lest he should
complicate some of them by a con-
fession. And when he was dead they
celebrated his death in the last great
orgy of the slave-trade,-in one
drunken feast they held together
so rejoiced were they that they had
escaped his testimony. Such is the
honor among thieves