Slavery in America

Chambers' Edinburgh Journal -- May 27, 1843 -- Article (1/2 page) titled "Slavery in America" -- A very detailed account of the horrors that white abolitionists faced, as well accounts of the torturous deaths of negroes. A very shocking article that details some recent instances of death of abolitionists and slaves. One tells of the Mississippi slave (Joseph), "June 16, 1842 -- The body was taken and chained to a tree immediately on the bank of the Mississippi, on what is called Union Point. The torches were lighted and placed on the pile. He watched unmoved the curling flame as it grew, until it began to entwine itself around and feed upon his body; then he sent forth cries of agony painful to the ear, begging some one to blow his brains out: at the same time surging with almost superhuman strength, until the staple with which the chain was fastened to the tree, drew out, and he leaped from the burning pile. At that moment the sharp ring of several rifles was heard, and the body of the negro fell a corpse to the ground. he was picked up by two or three, and again thrown into the fire and consumed." Another tells of an abolitionist from Norfolk, hanged -- "We learned, by arrival of the steamboat Kentucky last evening from Richmond, that Robinson, the Englishman mentioned in the Beacon (Saturday), as being in the vicinity of Lynchburg, was taken about fifteen miles from that town and hanged on the spot, for exciting slaves to insurrection." This is a very historic article that shows the sentiment of the British and their disbelief on the inhumanity of the slaveholders, who are "unwilling to concede anything".
                              -- Click Here to see the overview of all reported lynching in the United States from 1882 - 1968.
Here are some of the quotes from this 1843 edition:
-- "Abolition editors in the slave states will not dare to avow their opinions; it would be instant death to them."
-- "Even white men were were executed on the most frivolous pretences -- an intimacy with negroes, or an act of humanity towards them, appearing to the august tribunal quite sufficient reason for forfeiture of any human life..."
-- "The cry of the whole south should be death, instant death, to the abolitionist, wherever he is caught."
-- "Let us declare through the public journals of our country that the question of slavery is not and shall not be open to discussion; that the system is too deep-rooted among us, and must remain forever; that the very moment any private individual attempts to lecture us upon its evils and immorality, in the same moment his tongue shall be cut out and cast upon the dunghill."
BACKGROUND: Lynching, regardless who is lynched, is an horrific crime against humanity. It's not only the cowardly murder of a human being, but it also is the gutting of the conscience of the perpetrators. Everyone loses, including the society at large. From statistics provided by the Archives at Tuskegee Institute, February 1979. The overall total of reported blacks (3,446 ) lynched between 1882 and 1968 is more than double than that of whites (1,297) being lynched. Out of the 44 states mentioned above, 23 of the states reported more whites being lynched than blacks. According to Edward Knappman's book, Great American Trials, a lynch mob stormed a jail in the Big Easy (New Orleans) in 1891 and lynched 11 Italian-Americans who were accused of killing police Superintendent (David Hennessy) a year earlier. At least one of the defendants, according to the book, might have been innocent. They were victims of what has been called America's greatest mass lynching.  Click Here to see the overview of all reported lynching.