(no subject)
In the realms of cool, this is very cool indeed.
CSI: Dixie.
"Coroners’ inquests are some of the richest records we have of life and death in the nineteenth century South. As mortals, we all die, but we do not die equally. Race, place, gender, profession, behavior, and good and bad luck play large roles in determining how we go out of the world. Collecting extant coroners' inquests for the state of South Carolina between 1800 and 1900, "CSI: Dixie" provides rare glimpses into Victorian-era suicide, homicide, infanticide, abortion, child abuse, spousal abuse, master-slave murder, and slave on slave violence."
On February 11, 1853, two armed men set off for what they correctly predicted would be a violent confrontation with their neighbors. One of the men was L.W.R. (Rochelle) Blair, a thirty-two year old planter. The other was his thirty-five year old slave Hiram.
Blair was tall, the son of the “Waxhaw Giant,” a six-foot-seven, 350-pound bear in breeches whose splendid body had finally succumbed to alcoholism, a morphine addiction, and a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Hiram was a big man too, five-foot-ten and heavy-set with scars on his hand from both a burn and a knife. Both carried double-barreled shotguns tightly loaded with buckshot. Both were determined to end the series of “affrays” and “outrages” being committed by some of the slaves from a neighboring farm owned by Jane D. Young.
When the men arrived at the gate, they stopped and hallooed for Jane’s oldest son, John, who arrived with his hands in his pockets and leaned casually against a fencepost. His two brothers, armed with clubs, took up positions around Blair and Hiram. Blair spoke first.
“What decision [have you] come to respecting the difficulty which exist[s] between [our] negroes?” he asked.
“From what I could learn [your] negro was as much to blame as ours & I would rather [you] take them to the law to be punished,” John said.
“The punishment of the law [is] not severe enough,” Blair said.
“Do not … get in a passion about it,” John responded. “I hope we [can] settle it in peace.”
“I take it for granted you aid & abet your negroes in outrages [and] cruelty,” Blair responded, “If [‘the law’] is all the punishment you will allow, I will stain you with the greatest infamy I can.” Then he leaned over and spat in John’s face.
Precisely what happened next is unclear as we only have the Youngs’ accounts. According to them, Blair immediately raised his gun, pointed the muzzle at John, and cocked the hammer. Determined to save their brother, the Young boys grabbed the muzzle and tried to wrest the gun from Blair’s hands while also clubbing him over the head. For a moment, everyone appears to have forgotten Hiram who now raised his gun on them all.
Apologies for the cliffhanger.
CSI: Dixie.
"Coroners’ inquests are some of the richest records we have of life and death in the nineteenth century South. As mortals, we all die, but we do not die equally. Race, place, gender, profession, behavior, and good and bad luck play large roles in determining how we go out of the world. Collecting extant coroners' inquests for the state of South Carolina between 1800 and 1900, "CSI: Dixie" provides rare glimpses into Victorian-era suicide, homicide, infanticide, abortion, child abuse, spousal abuse, master-slave murder, and slave on slave violence."
On February 11, 1853, two armed men set off for what they correctly predicted would be a violent confrontation with their neighbors. One of the men was L.W.R. (Rochelle) Blair, a thirty-two year old planter. The other was his thirty-five year old slave Hiram.
Blair was tall, the son of the “Waxhaw Giant,” a six-foot-seven, 350-pound bear in breeches whose splendid body had finally succumbed to alcoholism, a morphine addiction, and a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Hiram was a big man too, five-foot-ten and heavy-set with scars on his hand from both a burn and a knife. Both carried double-barreled shotguns tightly loaded with buckshot. Both were determined to end the series of “affrays” and “outrages” being committed by some of the slaves from a neighboring farm owned by Jane D. Young.
When the men arrived at the gate, they stopped and hallooed for Jane’s oldest son, John, who arrived with his hands in his pockets and leaned casually against a fencepost. His two brothers, armed with clubs, took up positions around Blair and Hiram. Blair spoke first.
“What decision [have you] come to respecting the difficulty which exist[s] between [our] negroes?” he asked.
“From what I could learn [your] negro was as much to blame as ours & I would rather [you] take them to the law to be punished,” John said.
“The punishment of the law [is] not severe enough,” Blair said.
“Do not … get in a passion about it,” John responded. “I hope we [can] settle it in peace.”
“I take it for granted you aid & abet your negroes in outrages [and] cruelty,” Blair responded, “If [‘the law’] is all the punishment you will allow, I will stain you with the greatest infamy I can.” Then he leaned over and spat in John’s face.
Precisely what happened next is unclear as we only have the Youngs’ accounts. According to them, Blair immediately raised his gun, pointed the muzzle at John, and cocked the hammer. Determined to save their brother, the Young boys grabbed the muzzle and tried to wrest the gun from Blair’s hands while also clubbing him over the head. For a moment, everyone appears to have forgotten Hiram who now raised his gun on them all.
Apologies for the cliffhanger.