The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1882-10-19

and a point ON the Delaware bay
to her headquarters. |
Her slave trade was not a kind then |
sanctioned by law. She adopted .
cheaper method of obtaining a sup
ply of slaves than that of paying
cash for them. Patty kidnapped them.
Her plans Tor capturing the Philadel-
phia negroes were well laid and
n morally successful. She en-
ployed an intelligent colored
man named Ransom and sup
piled him with the money necessary
10 accomplish his purpose. Ran
SONS headquarters were on the sla-
yer, and his dark deeds were done
under cover of the night. The plan
was to make himself agreeable to
persons OF his own color. He treated
them frequently to drinks and got
into their good graces in various
other ways known to one so well
skilled in the arts of deception.
When he had secured the confidence
of his victims, he had little trouble
III persuading them to accompany
him to the boat that lay at anchor in
| the Delaware. But as soon as they
were got on board the matches were
closed upon them and they were put
in chains. Sometimes five or six
would be captured in this way in a
single night, and then the boat would
weigh anchor and sail down the
river a short distance, only to return
and repeat the crime, until a sutfi-
cient number of negroes were cap
tured to fill the hold. Then
they were shipped to a point down
the bay, carried from thence by way
of Johnson's cross roads TO the
Chesapeake bay, and from here
shipped to the south. Patty also had
in her employ an old negress, who
kept in the lower part OF the city al
Infamous house, which was the
iavorite resort for cO;ored people Of
both sexes, and thither Ransom
would often go for recruits.
Neither Patty nor her accomplice'
seemed to possess the least spark o.
human feeling. IT, after lot OF ne
, groes had been kidnapped, it wal
found that any of them were old oil
infirm, and not worth the expense o
transportation, they were thrown
, overheard and drowned. Or, if any
OF the females had children who wer,
troublesome, or whose cries were
likely to expose her, Patty would dis
patch them by beating them on thu
head with the loaded end o
rattan cane. The child of one o
these captives was subject to fits
and one time, when suffering from
/ 4 e ~
Patty that she sprang at 1t and bea
it in u shocking manner. This, o
course, did not sOothe the child, anC
it continued its cries, whereupol
Patty took it up and held its face Il
the fire until 1t was scorched to ,
cinder. She threw its corpse into {
) cave in the cellar, where other skele
tans were found after Der death.
Patty possessed remarkable
strength, and many stories are tOlC
of the way in which she used to kid
nap negroes in her own neIghbOr
hood. She is said to have beer
able to overpower and carry
off large colored men by mere phys
cal force and she was more THAI
terror to the neighbor
hood in which she lived. HeI
first white victim after her husband
was gentleman travelling iron
Norfolk, Virginia, to New York
and he was dispatched at her hote
in the following manner: When
meal time came she seated him al
the table with his back opposite al
open window, through which he
was shot by one of her accomplices
All of Patty's dlabolical murder,
were committed while she
was in charge of this hotel, ano
nearly all OF her white victims were
shareholders who carried consider
able money about them. Her accom-
plices were desperate characters
stepped in crime of every descrip
ton, yet she was the master spirit
that planned and took the leading
part in carrying out the difficult anC
| uiabolical work