The Northern Pacific farmer. [volume] (Wadena, Minn.) 1878-1885, 1884-10-02
An OLD SLAVE SELLER.


representative of the profession-the
last man alive in the United States who
made business of selling niggers from
the auction block. I'm 70 years old
now, and guess my time has nearly
come" Thus spoke old Jack Campbell
as he filled his glass for the fourth time
at Broad street bar, and leaned back
against the counter to open up his bud
get of "reminiscences. II went into the
slave auction business in 1885 and never
quit it until the war broke out. [ have
sold niggers in Baltimore, Richmond,
Charleston, Savannah, Louisville: Mo-
bile, New Orleans, Memphis and all
along in the other towns of the south.
I don't blow my own trumpet-you
know that on their own merits modest
men are dumb-but can say that Jack
Campbell had the reputation for show
ing UP the good points Of buck or a
'wench' and drawing out the bids that
made him in demand wherever there
was a big sale"
"The niger traders have made me
travel 500 miles, to run off lot of them,
and they paid me my own price for tho
work.
"How many have I sold? I was in
the business some 25 years, and guess
I always handled 500 or GOO a year.
"I've had plenty Of queer experiences,
as you call them," he continued, after
he had wiped his lips with a nobby
white silk handkerchief. sIong as
you ask about it, remember the big
gest money ever got for niger was
So, 900 for pretty quadroon wench that
[ sold in Louisville about 80 or 33.
She was only Is, and was about as white
as you or me, and her two children had
light curly hair. Her master lived down
near Bowling Green, and though he
didn't want to part with her, he was SO
down in his luck that he had to sell her.
l heard, too, that his wife swore that
niger must leave the plantation Or she
would go home to her family My in
structions were not to take less than So
900 for the girl, and [ was to get a big
percentage on all over that; so when
they put her on the block I talked her
up for all she was worth.
"There were more than 20 men bid
ding for her, and the fellow that got
her for 50, 900 was rich and gay young
bachelor from Tennessee, who hap
pened to be in the city on spree and
was attracted by curiosity to the sale.
He was little drinky and wasn't caring
anything for his ducats. He was SO set
on having the girl, believe he would
have given $4,000 for her, if anybody
had bid her up that high. He carried
her home that day, and amt going to
tell you anything more about him than
that he made big name in the south
ern army and was killed at the head OF
his soldiers.
zone of this woman's children by her
first master lives in Massachusetts, town
now, and is rich man. There isn't a
sign of black blood in him."
Have you sold many of such peo-
ple?"
'Plenty of likely girls, from chocolate
color up to nearly white, and got from
SO, 900 to Sc, 600 apiece for 'em. There
always was good market for that kind
of stock. No, it didn't come from any
particular place in the south. You
could find it everywhere from Maryland
to Louisiana. Southern gentlemen took
an interest in it, sir, and no decent mas
ter would let one of those girls marry
black man. They were superior peo-
pie, superior people"
(Which were the best markets."
"New Orleans, Louisville, Charleston,
and Baltimore used to be about the
same till the cussed black abolitionists
got to running the niggers north by the
underground railroad. After that i
was always little dangerous to do
business in Baltimore or Louisville for
fear the Yankees would steal them across
the Pennsylvania line or the Ohio river.
II brought six blacks to Baltimore
once on nv own account and put them
in the pen at the corner Of Eutaw and
Camden streets to wait for sale. Two
got loose that very night, and that WAS
the last 1 ever saw of them. OF course
they got over into Pennsylvania, but
they never could have done it without
somebody helped them, for they had
come clear from North Carolina. They
were worth $1,000 apiece, and was
clear So, 900 out of pocket. There was
q nest of Internal Quakers up at place
called Christiana in this state, and they
were always lookin' out to rob man of
his honest property.
"Another time Niger ran away from
me at Newport, KY, and got to Gin
cinnati. went across the river and
saw friend of mine who kept a place
where I had played in a good many
thousand Of my hard earned dollars. I
told him wanted his help to get the
man back, and says he, Jack, if you
i amt fool, you'll let that moke go. It
i mightnt be healthy for you to raise a
ROW here over one niger, cause the
niger lovers are bosses here He was
sensible man: and [ took his advice.
"This was in SO, and after that !
didn't do any more business on my own
risk so close to the north. The lasi
sales were made in Baltimore and Louis,
Vile in 1861, but for five or six years
previous New Orleans was our best mar
ket.
i maybe it amt any use telling peo-
pie so, but the hardest masters on the
slaves were the Yankees who settled
in the south or had come
there as overseers. l never
saw one of them that wouldn't break 11E
family when he wanted to sell. had
to deliver two field hands once at a
plantation three miles ont from Mil
.edgeville. Twas marching them along
the road and one turned as quick as
flash and knocked me down before
knew what he was doing. They start
ed to run but I drew on them and
brought one of them down with a bullet
in his back. He wasn't badly hurt but
after got him up to the plantation the
one shot was laid up for three weeks
and cuss me if the man who had bought
him didn't offer to sue me for the loss
of his services after / had saved his
niger for him. That man was Yam
kee squatter and there was plenty more
just as mean as him."
II suppose there are not many signs
left of the slave trading days?"
''More than you'd think unless you
knew where to look for them. Go into
any southern hotel that wa, built be-
fore the war and ask them to let you &C
down into the cellars See if you don't
find there the old cells where the ser
wants of travellers we're shut up at night
The Baltimore custom house was once
hotel, and there are more than TIVE
dozen cells under it now. Ben OHare's
slave jail in that city is still standing on
Pratt street, although it has been
turned into beer garden. And through
all the larger cities in the south the old
residenters could show you the private
pens"
"Whcn did you last sell a negro?"
"Going down the Mississippi frot
St. Louis to New Orleans on the steam
or Star of the South in May, 1861.
was getting out of the south for things
were becoming too hot for me there. A