He's a regular Jonathan
Wild in nigger-dealing; his name's like a fiery dragon among the
niggers all over the South; and I hearn our skipper say once when I
sailed in a liner, that niggers in Charleston were so 'fraid of him
they'd run, like young scorpions away from an old he-devil, when
they saw him coming. He sells white niggers, as they call 'em, and
black niggers--any thing that comes in his way, in the shape of
saleable folks. But he won't acknowledge the corn when he goes away
from home, and swears there's two Norman Gadsdens in Charleston;
that he a'n't the one! When a man's ashamed of his name abroad, his
trade must be very bad at home, or I'm no sailor," said the mate.
"Ah, my boys!" said the pilot in a quizzical manner, as he came to
where several of the men were getting the larboard anchor ready to
let go,--"if old Norman Gadsden gets hold of you, you're a gone
sucker. A man what's got a bad nigger has only got to say Old
Gadsden to him, and it's equal to fifty paddles. The mode of
punishment most modern, and adopted in all the workhouses and places
of punishment in South Carolina, is with the paddle, a wooden
instrument in, the shape of a baker's peel; with a blade from three
to five inches wide, and from eight to ten long. This is laid on the
posteriors--generally by constables or officers connected with the
police.
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