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80 The Kentucky Anthology Harry Smith from Fifty Years in Slavery Another Kentucky slave, Harry Smith, paints a vivid portrait of the infamous slave pens in Louisville and the nefarious work of the “patrollers,” who preyed upon runaway slaves. h Atkinson and Richardson were two southern men, living in New Orleans. They made annual tours to Kentuckey in the spring attending all the resorts of Tennessee and Kentuckey buying all the slaves they could find, large and small, they could get. When the planters would learn of their presence in the vicinity they would tell their negroes who would not toe the line that they would sell them to go south and drink Mississippi water. When the slaves were aware of the presence of these two slave buyers a number of them would run away to the hills and remain often a year before they returned. Some would reach Canada for fear of being sold. Going to New Orleans was called the Nigger Hell, few ever returning who went there. Usually those who ran away when caught were sold. As fast as they were brought back by Richardson and Atkins, they were taken to Louisville and placed in the negro pen and guarded until fall, when they were fettered, chained together and started on their long journey South. Mr. Smith’s old Massa Midcalf, as the reader is aware, kept a large hotel and when they were on their way with droves of negroes every negro that would stop there that night would be ordered not to leave the plantation under penalty of death. All night long chains would rattle. Some were crying for a mother left behind, some for an only child, and altogether it made a scene almost indescribable; and all the consolation they could hear would be the crack of the bull-whip of some watchman and floods of profanity. Some were tired out by their bloody feet walking on the frozen ground, and were compelled to dry up. “I will take you where it is warm enough—where you d-—m backs will crack instead of your feet.” Many were so crippled they could not walk and were thrown into some old wagon and conveyed in this manner to their journey’s end. Water and mud made no difference; they were compelled to move right along. At that time there were no turnpikes. The roads were all dirt and rock 80 Harriet Beecher Stowe 81 roads. After reaching Louisville they were put in a negro pen—barracks where they could not get away. Then these traders had them all washed and each one had a new suit of clothes, consisting of hard time cotton, this was for the man’s breeches and shirts; and then cheap calico for the woman and a hardtime shirt constituted the woman’s clothing. No shoes on any of them. There were two negro pens in Louisville. Nat Garrison owned one of them and Artiburn owned the other. They were marched out hundreds at a time after dressing and put on the steam boats and taken down the river. Finally Magroo, who lived on the Bargetown turnpike, turned out to be a patroller. He was cruel and wicked to the colored folks. He owned a large steam distillery. He caught a colored man out one night and undertook to whip him, he resisted and it took six men to accomplish it, but they succeeded in cutting his flesh all into pieces, striking him over six hundred lashes. He finally reached home and was confined to his bed six weeks before he was able to resume work. Dick said nothing until the next fall. Then he repeated he would fix old Magroo for whipping him. When Magroo commenced making whiskey in the fall, he had a fine colored girl who Dick was paying some attention to. Magroo happened in one night when Dick was there and ordered him home; Dick started at the word. A few nights following, Magroo’s still house and mill was all on fire. There was another great excitement among the colored folks, as it was all laid to them. So they had about a week’s whipping to find out who fired the mill. All the clue they could get on Dick, some of the colored people heard him say he would fix Magroo. Uncle Dick was taken before Squire Salone, his sentence was to place him in jail, and in a few days send him down...

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