The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1868-12-10
Tho Hanging of Gordon, tho Slave
Trader.
BY EDWARD EVERETT HALE,

by EDWARD EVERETT HALE
From the ArLA&TIc MONTHLY for December
New York was the great center where
the slave traders of the world brought
their vessels. Havanna was the great
center where they laid their plans. Ros-
! ton, New Bedford, New London, Cadiz,
Barcelona, the Western Islands, and |
know not where else, were the minor
places in the operation. The voyages
were arranged ut Havana, the ships
were partly fitted in New York, thence
they slipped to sea, picked up the rest OF
their equipment aud the right papers
elsewhere if New York would not an
swer, and brought up on the Western
Coast. | have seen the record which
Mr.. Arch bald, the Ensii.h Consul and
Commissioner in New York kept OF one
hundred aud seventy-one of,hese vessels
in three years time. His secret agents
boarded them in New York harbor, and
described them for him in detail, even
down to the brand Of cigars which the
captain had in his cabin Mr. Archi-
bald sent the description to the Admi-
raity, and they to the Coast. "Let me
go below" said All English officer, Oh
board SLAYER in one Of the African
rivers. "Nou 60 at your peril said tho
captain, brave in the perfectly regular
papers he had, in the Stars and Stripes
over his head, in the new coat Of paint
IA no tnI at hx. T.. "A
and III the fact, perhaps, that, though
he sailed bark he was now brig.
"You go below at your peril" ~ will
take the risk said the EnglishmAn;
went below, and found all the slave
fittings, casks, cooking stove, hand-cui,-
and the rest, aud Of course, seized the
vessel. The outwitted captain, white
with rage, swore between his clenched
teeth, You would not have known IA.
but for your bloody English Consul il
| New York. Almost every man Of thC
projectors WAS known to the Engli,i
government through this steady secre
service. But they all ran riot till Mr.
Lincoln came in, and then one fine day
one Gordon was arrested for slave-trad
ing, another day he was tried, and an
other he was hanged!
Yes, my friend, he was hanged.
know about what il called the sacred
ness Of human life. For my part, ! be
lieve mans life is as sacred AS his lib
erty, and no more so. And | believ'
when his country requires either hi
life or his liberty she may Use il, if sh'
takes the responsibility. In this case,
am very glad my country took this re
spousibiIity. Whatever Gordon's lif,
may have been worth to him or to hi
friends, | think this country put it to
very good use when she hanged him
\ storm of protest was IN ade against hi
death. twenty-five Thousand peopt
petitioned Abraham Lincoln to spar
that mans life, and Abraham Lincoln
refused. Gordon was hanged. And al
through the little ports and big ports q
the United States it was known that
slave-trader had been hanged. And
when that was known, the American
slave-tradc ended.
And up and down little African rv
ers that you never heard the names OF
il was known that an American slave
trader had been hanged; and cowardiy
pirate. trembled aud brave seatnci
chcered, when they heard it. Mother
of children thanked such gods as they
knew how 10 thank; and slaves shut al
In barncoons, waiting for the voyage
got signal that something had happened
which wa. to give them freedom. Thai
something was that Gordon was hanged
So far that little candle threw its beams
I am told, and believe, that when
the poor wretch was under sentence ol
death, his friends kept him in liquor
to the moment Of his death.-so anxious
were they lest he should compilcatea
some of them by confession. 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
J is the honor among thieves.