[105] Cf. the story of Hodge’s Cato, told in Watson, Annals of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania in the Olden Time, etc., II, 263.
[106] Cf. Achenwall, who got his information from Franklin, Anmerkungen, 25: “Diese Mohrensclaven geniessen als Unterthanen des Staats ... den Schutz der Gesetze, so gut als freye Einwohner. Wenn ein Colonist, auch selbst der Eigenthumsherr, einen Schwarzen umbringt, so wird er gleichfalls zum Tode verurtheilt. Wenn der Herr seinem Sclaven zu harte Arbeit auflegt, oder ihn sonst übel behandelt, so kan er ihn beym Richter verklagen.” Also Kalm, Travels, I, 390.
[107] “Yesterday at a Supream Court held in this City, sentence of Death was passed upon William Bullock, who was ... Convicted of the Murder of his Negro Slave.” American Weekly Mercury, Apr. 29, 1742.
[108] Kalm (1748) said that there was no record of such a sentence being carried out; but he adds that a case having arisen, even the magistrates secretly advised the guilty person to leave the country, “as otherwise they could not avoid taking him prisoner, and then he would be condemned to die according to the laws of the country, without any hopes of saving him”. Travels, I, 391, 392. For a case cf. Pa. Gazette, Feb. 24, 1741–1742.
[109] Acrelius, Description of New Sweden, 169 (1759); Kalm, Travels, I, 394 (1748); Hector St. John Crèvecœur, Letters from an American Farmer, 222 (just before the Revolution).
[110] When one of Christopher Marshall’s white servants “struck and kickt” his negro woman, he “could scarcely refrain from kicking him out of the House &c &c &c.” MS. Remembrancer, E, July 22, 1779.
[111] Kalm, I, 394; St. John Crèvecœur, 221. Benjamin Lay contradicts this, but allowance must always he made for the extremeness of his assertions. Cf. his All Slave-Keepers Apostates (1737), 93.
[112] Acrelius, 169.
[113] St. John Crèvecœur, 221; Kalm, I, 394; Acrelius, 169. Personal papers contain numerous notices. “To 1 pr Shoes for the negro ... 6” (sh.). MS. William Penn’s Account Book, 1690–1693, p. 2 (1690). A “Bill rendered by Christian Grafford to James Steel” is as follows: “Making old Holland Jeakit and breeches fit for your Negero 0.3.0 Making 2 new Jeakits and 2 pair breeches of stripped Linen for both your Negeromans 0.14.0 And also for Little Negero boy 0.4.0 Making 2 pair Leather Breeches, 1 for James Sanders and another for your Negroeman Zeason 0.13.0.” Pa. Mag., XXXIII, 121 (1740). The bill rendered for the shoes of Thomas Penn’s negroes in 1764–1765 amounted to £7 7 sh. 3d., the price per pair averaging about 7 sh. 6d. Penn-Physick MSS., IV, 223. Also ibid., IV, 265, 267. Cf. Penn Papers, accounts (unbound), Aug. 19, 1741; Christopher Marshall’s Remembrancer, E, June 1, 1779.
[114] Thus Cato had on “two jackets, the uppermost a dark blue half thick, lined with red flannel, the other a light blue homespun flannel, without lining, ozenbrigs shirt, old leather breeches, yarn stockings, old shoes, and an old beaver hat” ... Pa. Gazette, May 5, 1748. A negro from Chester County wore “a lightish coloured cloath coat, with metal buttons, and lined with striped linsey, a lightish linsey jacket with sleeves, and red waistcoat, tow shirt, old lightish cloth breeches, and linen drawers, blue stockings, and old shoes.” Ibid., Jan. 3, 1782. Judith wore “a green jacket, a blue petticoat, old shoes, and grey stockings, and generally wears silver bobbs in her ears.” Ibid., Feb. 16, 1747–1748.