louisa picquet, the octoroon: or inside views of - Negro Artist

Louisa Picquet, the Octoroon 55
limp of a large oak-tree near the court-house. A fire made of hard-pine shavings
was kindled beneath him, and "then the clear bright flames quickly ascended,
curling about the limbs, encircling the body, scorching the nerves, crushing the
fibers, charring the flesh--and, in mortal anguish, he was (in the words of an
eye-witness) 'sweating as it were, great drops of blood.'" But before life was
entirely extinguished, the lungs, the heart, the liver, were cut and torn from the
body, with knives fastened upon poles, and with these
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quivering organs elevated above the crowd, the executioners shouted, "So shall
it be done to the slave that murders his mistress!"------
On the 7th of January, 1857, three years ago, Mr. John Kingsley, of Portsmouth.
Ohio, wrote to the Antislavery Standard of this city that he was the week before
in Carter County, Ky., where he saw a negro tied to a stake, a pile of dry wood
heaped about him, and set on fire. The man belonged to one Wm. McMinnis, of
that county, and was suspected of planning an insurrection. He was first
whipped, 200 lashes, but denied his guilt. Fire was then tried, and, though not
burned to death, he died next day. Mr. Kingsley, unable to remain and witness
the sufferings of the agonized creature, rode away and attempted to excite the
neighbors to a rescue; he was told to mind his own business.------
BIG RAPIDS, Mecosta Co., Mich., March 28, 1860.
* * * * In the township of Extra, in Ashley County, Arkansas, the discovery was
made, that a widow named Hill, and a slave woman, belonging to J. L. M--,
Esq., who lived with her, had been murdered, and the house burned to conceal
the deed. The alarm soon spread, and an investigation was instituted by Mr. M--
, in connection with many of the leading citizens. Suspicion fell upon a slave
named Ike, belonging to a man named Perdue. Ike was whipped nearly to death,
in order to extort from him a confession, but he persisted in denying any
knowledge of the affair. Mr. M-- then poured upon his bleeding back spirits of
turpentine, and set it on fire! Ike then confessed that he and a negro named Jack,
belonging to J. F. Norrell, were hired by one Miller to assist in performing the
deed. One fact, however, greatly invalidated this testimony, and that was, that
Mr. M-- and Mr. Norrell were deadly enemies, and Ike must have known that
nothing could have pleased Mr. M-- more than to convict Jack, thus subjecting
his most bitter enemy to a loss of a favorite slave, worth twelve or fifteen
hundred dollars. Jack was, however, immediately arrested and brought before
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