The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1884-10-07
JOHN A. LOGAN.
SELLING FREE NEGROES INTO SLAvERI
AT AUCTION.

NO man III the OuitcO ototoS uA1
shown as much hatred for the negro ~
John A. Logan, the Republican ncmiaee
for Vice President. He has pursued this
unfortunate race with beaStly f.rocity
In other days, when the negro WAS in
slavery and needed sympathy, Logan re.
garded the soil of Illinois As too sacred
to be polluted by his concentrating tread
Ii there is colored man in the South go
lost to self-respcct rs to vote for John A.
Logan after reading the exposure we in
tend to make in this article, then he is Sc
degraded and debased as TO vote for the
most cruel slave driver that ever welded
the lash Ignorant of the past rec"rl 0i
| Logan-his atrocious cruelty to the race
when be proposed to hunt them down as
wild beasts-the negroes are bowling for
his election. Can it be possible that this
is the same John A. Logan who, in tine
of bill selling into slavery, at public
auction, all tree negroes in the State
When the Constitution Of Illinois was
framed in ls4S, there were two provis.
ions in it which were separately submitted
to the people for their adoption or rejec
ton. One was that no negro or mulatto
shall be permitted to migrate or settle in
the State On this the vote was III 500
to II 1906, being a majority of l00,59O for
the provision against the admission of ne
oroes or mulattoes into Illinois John A.
Logan voted with the majority to ex-
clude the negro from the State. The
other constitutional provision submitted
to the people was that the negroes should
not bold Office or have the right of suf,
frage. On this question the vote stood
2ll, 92O to 35,64O, being majority OF
1921 against allowing negroes or mu-
lattoes to hold office or TO vote in Illinois
John A. Logan voted with the majority
against the negroes To carry these pro
visions into effect, John A. Logan who
was member Of the Legislature and Of
the Judiciary Committee, reported to the
Legislature of 1853 and secured the pas
sage of the following bill:
eff negro or mulattO, bond or free,
shall hereafter come into this State and
remain ten days with evident intention of
residing in the same, every such negro or
mulatto shall be deemed guilty of high
misdemeanor and for the first offence
shall be fined sum Of $50. If such ne
gro Ut InuliLto SHdll Oc lOuuI guilty anu
the fine assessed be not paid forthwith to
the Justice of the peace before whom the
proceedings were had, it shall be the duty
of said Justice to commit said negro or
mulatto 70 the custody Of the sheriff, or
otherwis. keep him, her or them in Gus
tody; and said justice shall forthwith ad-
vertise said negro or mulatto, and on the
day and at the time and place mentioned
in said advertisement the said Justice
shall, at public auction, proceed to sell
said negro or muatto to any person or
persons who will pay such fine AMI costs
for the shortest time; and said purchaser
shall have the right to compel said negro
or mulatto to work for, and serve ont said
time. If said negro or mulatto shall not
within ten days after the expiration of
hi1, her or their time Of service, as afore-
said, leave the State, he, she or they shall
be liable to a second prosecution, in
which the penalty to be inflicted shall be
800, and SO on for every subsequent Of
Tense the penalty shall be increased $50
over and alb the last penalty"
John A. Logan WIS the author and
champion Of this bill, which was not re-
pealed until 1865. He drafted it, and
the record, of the Illinois Legislature
show that he carefully guarded its severe
and cruel provisions against all amend
ments. The slave code was called
bloody, and it is charged that the ne
groes were often treated with great cru
city, but the history OF slavery furnishes
no parallel to the wicked and atrocious
cruelty with which John A. Logan pur-
cuo1 rho in TlI1n0;, TIL, h..
man who is traducing and vllifying the
South and charging our people with being
slave drivers and hostile to the blacks
Logan's bill selling free negroes into slav-
cry was monstrous in it's provisions yet,
in the face of such barbarity toward the
colored people who had fed to the free
soil of Illinois for protection, he now
comes forward as the champion of the en-
franchised blacks. He refused the negro
shelter in misfortune, but now claims the
vote of the race he proposed to sell into
slavery for the crime of being free and
daring to loca,e in the free State of Hi
noiS Blaine, tattooed with his corrupt
schemes, is hdeous monster But a
cartoon representing Logan on the block
auctioneering free negroes and mulattoes
to the highest bidder-selling them into
slavery-becanse they were unfit to live
as free men in Illinois, will present pic
'ure still more disgusting and revolving
Logan, now that the negroes are enfran-
chised regards them as awards of the ma
tion;" but in 1853 he regarded it as
high mlsdemeanor for them to pollute
the soil of Illinois with their presence and
proposed to hunt them down With all the
ferocity Of the African slave dealer or the
Southern slave driver with bloodhounds
in pursuit of their runaway negroes, with
the view of making slaves Of freemen who
had either purchased their freedom or
been emancipatsd by their owners. I'm
der the provisions of Logan's slave code,
if the negroes did not leave the State in
ten days after regaining their freedom
they were again placed on the block and
the punishment inc' eased by extending
the period of ownership and slavery.
Less than thirty years ago Logan re-
garded the negro as nuisance in Illinois
not to he tolerated and he was hunted
down like wild beast If the colored
people are not lost to shame and self
respect they will cast solid vote against
the man who prosecuted them in the dark
days of slavery, but now that they are
voters would humbug them into the be-
lief that he has always been their friend
IL has cost the Appeal much labor to hunt
I'M this 4 npin raoOrd Tho o,>loroJ