Although this letter was extremely suspicious, yet, there being no other testimony against Abraham, he was found not guilty of the charge ‘of attempting to raise an insurrection among the blacks against the whites.’
On Thursday the 27th, DENMARK VESEY, a free black man, was brought before the Court for trial,
Assisted by his Counsel, G. W. Cross, Esq.
It is perhaps somewhat remarkable, that at this stage of the investigation, although several witnesses had been examined, the atrocious guilt of Denmark Vesey had not been as yet fully unfolded. From the testimony of most of the witnesses, however, the Court found enough, and amply enough, to warrant the sentence of death, which, on the 28th, they passed on him. But every subsequent step in the progress of the trials of others, lent new confirmation to his overwhelming guilt, and placed him beyond a doubt, on the criminal eminence of having been the individual, in whose bosom the nefarious scheme was first engendered. There is ample reason for believing, that this project was not, with him, of recent origin, for it was said, he had spoken of it for upwards of four years.
These facts of his guilt the journals of the Court will disclose—that no man can be proved to have spoken of or urged the insurrection prior to himself. All the channels of communication and intelligence are traced back to him. His house was the place appointed for the secret meetings of the conspirators, at which he was invariably a leading and influential member; animating and encouraging the timid, by the hopes of prospects of success; removing the scruples of the religious, by the grossest prostitution and perversion of the sacred oracles, and inflaming and confirming the resolute, by all the savage fascinations of blood and booty.
The peculiar circumstances of guilt, which confer a distinction on his case, will be found narrated in the confessions of Rolla, Monday Gell, Frank and Jesse, in the Appendix. He was sentenced for execution on the 2d July.[[8]]
The Court tried JESSE, the slave of Mr. Thomas Blackwood.
The testimony against Jesse was very ample. His activity and zeal, in promoting the views of Denmark Vesey, in relation to the plot, were fully proved. He had engaged with Vesey to go out of town on Sunday the 16th, to bring down some negroes from the country, to aid in the rising on that night; and remarked, to the witnesses, on his way to Hibbens’ ferry, “if my father does not assist I will cut off his head.” All the particulars in proof against him, he confirmed after receiving his sentence, by his own full and satisfactory Confession, which will be found in the Appendix, marked (H.)
This man excited no small sympathy, not only from the apparent sincerity of his contrition, but from the mild and unostentatious composure with which he met his fate.
Sentence of death was passed on these six men, on the 28th of June, and they were executed on the 2d of July. With the exception of Jesse and Rolla, they made no disclosures; all of them, with those exceptions, either explicitly or implicitly affirming their innocence. It is much to be lamented that the situation of the Work-House, at this period, precluded, after their sentence, their being separately confined; at least, that Vesey could not have been subjected to the gloom and silence of a solitary cell. He might have been softened, and afforded the most precious confessions, as his knowledge and agency in the nefarious scheme very far exceeded the information of others, who, however guilty, seemed but the agents of his will. But these men mutually supported each other, and died obedient to the stern and emphatic injunction of their Comrade (Peter Poyas) “Do not open your lips! Die silent, as you shall see me do!” It was, perhaps, alone, in Denmark Vesey’s power, to have given us the true character, extent and importance of the correspondence, it was afterwards proved, was carried on with certain persons in San Domingo.