Their office was to keep the negro population "straight," and do the
whipping when called upon, at fifty cents a head. They also did the
whipping at the jails, and frequently made from five to six dollars
a day at this alone; for it is not considered fashionable for a
gentleman to whip his own negro. We noticed the universal carrying
of this whip, when we first visited Macon, some four years ago, and
were curious to know its purport, which was elucidated by a friend;
but we have since seen the practical demonstrations painfully
carried out. Those who visited Boston for the recovery of Crafts and
Ellen--whose mode of escape is a romance in itself--were specimens of
these "marshals." How they passed themselves off for gentlemen, we
are at a loss to comprehend.
During the day, the Messrs. Dusenberry and Dunn may be seen at times
watching about the wharves, and again in low grog-shops--then pimping
about the "Dutch beer-shops and corner-shops"--picking up, here and
there, a hopeful-looking nigger, whom they drag off to limbo, or
extort a bribe to let him go. Again, they act as monitors over the
Dutch corner-shops, the keepers of which pay them large sums to save
themselves the heavy license fine and the information docket. When
they are no longer able to pay over hush-money, they find themselves
walked up to the captain's office, to be dealt with according to the
severe penalty made and provided for violating the law which
prohibits the sale of liquor to negroes without an order.
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