this poor lad had missed a piece of leather, and he
charges the boy, who was his slave, with stealing
it. The boy denied the charge. However, as
the master was unable to discover what was be-
come of the leather, and looked upon the denial
of the charge as a thing of course, he was very
much irritated that he was unable to bring any proof
against the lad. In order to extort confession, the
master tied him up by the hands, a considerable
height from the ground, and fixed a heavy piece
of wood (a fence rail) to his feet. In this situa-
tion he beat the poor boy in so unmerciful a man-
ner, that he died under the torture thus cruelly
inflicted by his brutal master. Scarcely had the
poor little innocent breathed his last, under
these torments, before the master's son, smitten
with remorse on being the occasion of such
dreadful cruelties, confessed that it was himself
who had stolen the leather, for which the poor
little slave had just paid the forfeit of his life.
However void of the feelings of humanity, it may
well be supposed, that this hard-hearted master
was not a little mortified at having wantonly put
to death a valuable slave; but, such was the pro-
tection which that State afforded these oppressed
fellow-creatures, that the master escaped punish-
ment, as is commonly the case on occasions of
murder committed by the whites on their black
slaves.