The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1880-07-15
Knrfhern SLAVERY.

Northern Slavery.
Negro slavery existed on Long Island
from its earliest settlement till its abOli-
ton by the state in 1926. The slaves
/ were, we may presume, treated generally
as humanity and the interest of their
owners dictated, for the law interpOsed
but feeble protection in their behalf
nay, 1t was steadily growing stronger and
more stringent against this sdOgntrodden
race till the time of the American RevO-
luton, when the principles Of human
liberty were better understood and the
continental congress had declared that
all men were created equal.
For many years, says the Brooklyn
Monthly, the Dutch drove q tlOurishing
slave trade OH the coast of Guinea, so
that the city of New York and Long
Island were well supplied with negroes.
So numerous and powerful did they at
length become that, in 1711, they de-
termined to strike for freedom, and ac-
cordingly set fire to some houses, and
. living in wait attacked those who ap-
preached the fire. The Insurgents were,
however, soon put down, and punished
with the most inhuman tOrtures. Some
were broken on the wheel strange
punishment in this hemisphere; some
were burned to death some were cased
in iron and suspended alive or gibbets,
where they were left to starve 20 death
or become the prey Of the fowls Of
heaven; others were let of with simple
hanging.
In 1741 the city was again on fire, and
common fame laid it to the charge of the
Door negroes, who were reported to be
instigated to the act by a pOpish priest.
However that may be, UTy, the priest
and one or two of his white COnfederates
were hanged. Many Of the slaves were
either burnt, gibbeted, hanged, banished
or imprisoned.
The ferocity and hardihOOd Of these
slaves. in comparison with the tame
ness and coWardice Of our dOmesticated
blacks, may be partly accounted for in
this way: They were Kidnapped in the
Wilds of Africa (Where they rOamed the
forest in all the independence Of savage
life, and were imported directly from
Guinea to New York. Their spirits were
unnamed; their lOngings and feelings
were for their distant homes in the
deserts Of Africa: they had no affection
for their new masters (fOr they had not
grown up in their fanihes), but instead
Of it they had q deadly hate. They
thought Of their homes, and became
dissatisfied and sulky.
As slaves were very valuable, it be
came a temptation to the avaTiciOus to
consider every Indian, half breed, or
even very sWarthy Spaniards (WhO were
occasionally taken prisoners Of war by
our privateers,) as negroes. Under this
pretex5 many whites were sold and
Classed among the slaves, thereby giving
them most dangerous advisers and COM
paniOns. 1t is indeed highly probable
that the negro plots and riots were
prompted and led on by the superior IN
telligence of these white persons thus
uniustly degraded to their ranks.
We now proceed to give few historl--
cal specimens of the treatment meted
out by our ancestors to the Long Island
negroes. ~zz777
In I7O7 the house Of William Hallet,
Esq, Of NeWtOWn, was burned, and him
self his wife and five children murdered
by an Indian man and negro woman,
their own slaves, who alleged 1l-treat-
ment as their excuse, they being re
strained from going abroad on Sabbath
days. -.se4s--
4AAEN WCAC A+AA44e-A az ~ -AAaAAt-F1
and put to all the tOrments possible for
a terror to others Of ever attempting the
like wickedness. -
In 1772 Nathaniel Brewster, Of Brook
haven, was whipping his slave, q native
Of Guinea, for some act of disObeuience,
when he suddenly turned upon his
master and struck him dead. He was
tried the very next day by three justices
of the peace and five freehOlders (as the
law dirocts), and sentenced TO be hanged,
though some Of the judges proposed that
he should be burned, or at least giBbeted.
Negroes were not allowed to wander
about the country, or travel from one
place to another, without pass, as more
particularly appears by the following:
NOTICE.-A negro wandering about
without q pass was taken up at Hemp
stead by Benjamin Stewart, school
master, and put in Jamaica Jail, where
he now awaits the order Of his master.
Nav 3, l7G0. --sss-zeua---E.y-- ~~-<T-
G6REwARD.-Ran away from Frederick
OnderdOnk, of Cow Neck, q negro named
Primus. 1t is likely he viii forge a pass,
for he can read and write. Aug. Is, 1850.
The names of their owners were some
times branded with hot iron on the
bodies Of their slaves, as the following
testifies:
-eI6 REwARD.-Absconded from their
owners at the house of Domino Rubeil,
at FIatbush, two negro slaves, Betsy,
marked T. A. on the right shoulder, and
Polly, without any mark. September,
1871.
An iron collar with the initials of the
owners name were sometimes riveted on
the necks of the slaves who had the
trick of running away, as appears by the
following advertisement Of a negro who
had afOretime absconded from his master.
Ran away from Jerome Lott, at Flat
lands, n negro boy named Jack, 16 years
old. He had on his neck an iron collar,
marked J. L., the name of the owner.
May 20, 1884. =-- 'vesa-asa''snazz-s
On Long Island, as elsewhere, negroes
were, of course, bought and sold, and
transferred like animals.