Year: 1872

have more than one romance in the
course Of their lives.


THE OLD SLAVE LAWS OF MISS


OURI.


In accordance with the Missouri code,
till the emancipation ordinance of the
State Convention vbltorosod it, fne Of
500 was assessed upon any master who
permitted his slave to go at large, to
hire himself. or to act or deal as free
person. If slave harbored or conceal
ed a sable deserter, he received thirty
nine stripes. A slave who left the ten
ement of his master, without pass, was
punished with stripes, and if such slave
appeared upon the plantation of another,
the owner of that plantation could whip
him to the extent of twenty lashes.-
Any defensive or offensive weapon found
IN the possession of a slave subjected him
to thirty lashes. Any master or mistress
who permitted the slave of another to
remain on his or her plantation without
the consent of the owner, more than four
hours at time. forfeited to said owner
five dollars for each and every offense ;
and II such person permitted, under any
circumstances, more than five slaves,
other than his own, to be on his premises
at any one time, he was forced to pay
the informer the sum of one dollar for
every slave above that number. If a
white person harbored q slave who had
left his master he forfeited ten dollars.
and if a mulatto or free negro was guilty
of so doing he received thirty lashes. A
slave who disturbed any religious meet
ing was to be whipped thirty mine lash
es. Any person who bought any COM
modify Of slave forfeited to the master
four times the value Of said commodity
and paid twenty dollars to the county.
Every slave who even entered into an
agreement to rebel against his master
must suffer death. If any slave commit
ted petit larceny, if a male, he received
thirty-nlne lashes if a female, twenty
nnine lashcs. Any person who wrote,
Published or circulated any letter, news
paper OF pamphlet which, by an ignorant
and prejudiced jury, could be tortured
into a document favoring an insurrec-
ton, or melting slaves to leave their
masters, was to be punished by impris-
onment in the penitentiary for five years /;
and for a second offense, was to be i'm
prisoned ten years and be forever dis
qualified from voting at any election
sitting as juror in any case, OF holding
any office of honor, profit or trust in Mis-
souri,. One law provided that if the of
fcers of any railroad company carried a
slave on the cars from one place to an
other in the State, the company shall
forfeit and pay the owner double the
value of the slave, and it made no diff
erence if the owner recovered the slave
in an hour after it had left him. In
1868 l was retained as counsel for rail
road company in ST. Joseph, in case,
where the owner of an old negress sued
four different railroad companies for
transporting her, claiming in the aggre-
gate, more than $4,000 as damages,
though his negress was absent from his
house but five days, and was returned to
him, safe and sound, by one of those
railroad companies.-Kansas Magazine.


GHosT.-A boy was in the habit OF
staying late when he went after the COWS.
His uncle said to him


Jim, amt you afraid to stay out SC
long in the dark ?"


ssFraid !" said Jim, Il don't know