Fort Mill times. [volume] (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, 1921-09-15
OLD SLAVE MARKET.
Building in Charleston Reminder
of Other DAYS.

go style is building of squat
architecture, plain almost to
grlmness, building that is a
forceful reminder of the days
when men sold human flesh. 1t
stands almost beneath the shad-
ow of Charleston s one skyscrap-
cr, the old and the new in start
ling contrast.
Unlike other cities where the
trade was carried on. Charleston
had no general slave market.
There were two or three build
lngs where the sales took place.
Most OF the slave trading in
Charleston was done through
brokers, each firm having its own
mart and adjoining buildings in
which the slaves We're lodged and
led preparatory to the sales. The
old mart on Chalmers street was
the principal one of these build
lngS. In the structure TO the left.
of similar though of more eXten-
%lre architecture. were the slave
quarters. The upper story of the
old building is now used as a
lodg gr room of negro fraternal
oranization.
The first importation of slaves
INTO the Carolina colony was in
1912, when Sir John Yeamans, an
i;ngllshman. afterward governor
OF Carolina. came from Barbados
bringing with him number of
negroes who had been accusto!n-
cd to labor III the tropical heat
of the islands. The first ship to
enter Charleston harbor carrying
slaves for sale was IL British ship.
In lib Queen Anne herself Was
largely interested in the trade.
by Ia there We're upwards of
$4,000 negro slaves in South Car.
ollna and the number rapidly jl,-
creased from that time on.
during the years from 1904
through 1908, POP vessels cngag-
cd in the slave trade entered the
port of Charleston. From the
published reports of the harbor
master OF that period it is shown
that all except l3 of these vessels
Mr.r owned III Great Britain and
New England. Eighty six of them
hAd british owners. while more
Than 100 We're owned in New
England, 80 OF this number in
Rhodr Island. None of these YES
sells were South Carolina owned.
OF the 26.6SS slaves landed in
Charleston by these vessels dur
ing the period mentioned. 2O,,21
We're brought in British vessels,
for by this time the. Royal Air!-
can company. with James Duke
of York its head, had II monop-
| oily of the trade in slaves on the
African coast.
There is "A striking fact con
nectcd with the slave trade i'll
South Carolina which is not gen
orally known. AT the beginning
of the Civil war there were living
in Charleston by actual count
fully 300 negro slave owners
free negroes who not only owned
negro slaves. but both bought
and sold them.
That the traffic in slaves was
| carried on in South Carolina not
only against the desire of the peu-
! pie of the State but in the face
OF vigorous opposition is amply
shown by the records. No less
than IA score of petitions We're
sent. the majority of which We're
Legislative petitions, from IT,,
South Carolina colony to the
government of Great Britain M
ploring that the slave trade be
stopped. The first of these. sent
iii 1876, protested against the
evil as being directly against the
wish as well as the laws of the
colony. Great Britain S reply.
now among the documents care
fully preserved in the Charleston
library. was to the effect that the
petition could not be granted be-
cause of the injury ii would do
"thc legitimate business of Eng
lish merchants and shippers trad
ing TO our colony from the coast
OF Africa.