UNCLE TOM'S CABIN

.
Finallyțhere
"
Whereas
Potter,ch.
'
hath
above negroes, to be delivered to me, or confined
in the jailof Lenoir or Jones County, or for the
killingof them,so that I can see them.
Nov. "12,1830 W. D. Cobb.
That this act was not a dead letter, also,
was plainlyimplied in the protective act
firstquoted. If slaves were not,as a matter
of any slave outlawed by any
assembly." This
KEY TO UNCLE TOM'S CABIN. 85
foT so doing, or without incurring any penalty or loud voice ; has lost one or two of his upper teeth ;
forfeiture thereby.
and has a very dark spot on his jaw, supposedto
Given under our hands and sealsțhis 12th of be "
a mark, absented himself from his master's
November, 1836. B. Coleman, J. P. [Seal.] service, and is supposed to be lurkingabout
Jas. Joxes,J. P. [Seal.] in thiscounty,committingacts of felony or other
misdeeds ; these are, therefore,in the name of the
act of the
$200 Reward. -Ran away from the subscriber,
about three years ago,
a certain negro-man,
named Ben,commonly known by the name of Ben
"
of fact,ever outlawed, why does the act formally
recognize class1 provided
"
that this act shall not extend to the killing
Harry to me at Tosnott Depot,EdgecombeCounty,
languagesufficiently indicates
or for his confinement in any jailin the state,
the existence of the custom.
Further than thisțhe statute-book of 1821
contained two acts : the firstof which provides
who
that all masters
have had slaves killedin consequence
of outlawry șhall have a claim on the
treasuryof the state for
their value,unless
cruel treatment of the slave be proved on
the part of the master : the second act extends
the benefitsof the latter provision to
all the counties in the state.*
is evidence that this act
the
of outlawrywas executed so recently as
1850," year the year in which "Uncle
Tom's Cabin " was written. See the following
from the WilmingtonJournal of December
13,1850 :
State of North Carolina,New Hanover County.
complaintupon oath hath this day
been made to us, two of the justices of the peace
for the said state and county aforesaid, by Guilford
Horn, of EdgecombeCounty, that a certain
male
by trade,about fortyyears old,fivefeetfive
inches high,or thereabouts ; yellowcomplexion;
stout built;with a scar on his leftleg(fromthe
cut of an axe); has very thick lips; eyes deep
sunk in his head ; forehead very square ; tolerably
slave belonging to him, named Harry, a carpenter
* Be it furtherenacted,That when any slave shall be
legallyoutlawed in any of the counties within mentioned,
fcke ownei" of which shall reside in one of
'
P
Rev"-
gal ch. 407 '-"!. tne saiclcounties, and the said slave shall be
'
killed in consequence of such outlawry țhe
value of such slave shall be ascertained by a jury which
shall be empanelledat the succeedingcourt of the county
where the said slave w"n killed, and a t"rtificateof such
valuation shall bo given by the clerk ol the court to the
owner of said slave,who shall be entitled to receive twothirds
of such valuation from the sheriffof the county
wherein the slave was killed. [Extended to othor counties
in 1797. "
480," 1.]now obsolete.
state
aforesaid,
to command the said.slave forthwith
to surrender himself and return home to
his said master ; and we do hereby,by virtue of
Fox ; also one other negro, by the name of the act of assemblyin such cases made and pro-
Rigdon,
who ran away on the 8th of this month.
Harry
I will give the reward of "100 for each of the
immediately after the publication of these presents.
vided,
intimate and declare that if the said slave
doth not surrender himself and return home
that any person or
persons may
kill and destroy
the said slave by such means as he or theymay
think fit,without accusation or impeachment of
any crime or offence for so doing, and without incurring
any penaltyor forfeiture thereby.
Given under our hands and seals țhis 29th day
of June,1850.
James T. Miller,J. P.
[Seal:]
W. C. Bettencourt,J. P. [Seal.]
One Hundred and Twenty-five Dollars Reward
will be paid for the deliveryof the said
so that I can get him ; or One Hundred and Fifty
Dollars will be givenfor his head.
He was latelyheard from in Newbern,where he
called himself Henry Barnes (orBurns), and will
in certain counties, be likelyto continue the same name, or assume
that of Copageor Farmer. He has a free mulatto
woman for a wife,by the name of SallyBozeman,
who has lately removed to Wilmington,and lives
in that part of the town called Texas,where he
will likelybe lurking.
Masters of vessels are particularly cautioned
againstharboring
board their vessels,as the full penalty
concealing the said negro on
of the law
will be rigorously enforced.
June 2'Jth,1850. Guilford Horn.
There is an inkling of history and romance
about the description of this same
Harry,who is thus publiclyset up
to be
killed in any way that any of the negrohunters
of the swamps may think the most
"
piquant and enlivening Ịt seems he is a
carpenter, a powerfully man, whose
thews and sinews might be a profitable
acquisition to himself. It appears also that
he has a wife, and the advertiserintimates
that possibly he may be caughtprowling
about somewhere in her vicinity. This
indicatessagacity the writer, certainly.
Married men generally have a
way of liking
the society of their wives ; and itstrikes us,
from what we know of the nature of carpenters
here in New
England țhat Harry
was not peculiar in this respect. Let us
further notice the portrait of Harry: "Eyes
deep sunk in his head "
; foreheadvery
square." This picture reminds us of what
a persecuting old ecclesiasticonce said,in
the days of the Port-Royalists, of a certain
truculentabbess,who stood obstinately to a