They also brought a sleigh, in
which the lady was to be taken back to her father's house. They intended
no harm to her.
Knowing the character of an American mob, and also knowing how little
they value the life of a man of color, I expected, as I saw the
multitude surrounding the house, to die--in fact, prepared for death.
Having assembled about the premises, they began to cry out in the most
uproarious manner, "Bring him out!" "Kill the Nigger!" "Hang him!" "Tear
down the house!" Shouts, groans, maledictions of all sorts and degrees
followed. No one who has not witnessed an American mob can have the
slightest idea of the scene which presented itself at this point. Had
six hundred beasts of the forest been loosed together, in one
promiscuous assemblage, they could scarcely have sent up howls and yells
and mad noises equal to those made by these infuriated men. There is no
exaggeration in this statement. For the sake of humanity, I only wish
there was. Nor were the members of the mob confined entirely to the
rabble; far from it. Many of its members were also members of a
Christian church. The mob occurred on a Sabbath evening, about six
o'clock, so that these men absolutely deserted their pews on purpose to
enjoy the fun of "hunting the nigger."
There came with this mob a self-constituted committee of gentlemen,
lawyers, merchants, and leading men of the town, who, although partaking
of the general feeling of prejudice against color, did not wish, for the
sake of the reputation of their town, to see bloodshed; besides also
many of them, I doubt not, entertained feelings of personal friendship
for myself.
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