Dunn, after driving the mulatto man from the door and upbraiding the Dutchman for his cowardice, returned to the table, and patting Manuel upon the back, drank the balance of his smash, saying, “Come, me good fellow, we must do the thing up brown, now; we've got the Dutchman nailed on his own hook. We must have another horn; it's just the stuff in our climate; the 'Old Jug's' close by, and they'll be makin' a parson of you when you get there. We've had a right jolly time; and ye can't wet your whistle when ye're fernint the gates.”
“I don't ask such favors, and will drink no more,” said Manuel.
“Fill her up, Drydez! fill her up! two more smashes-best brandy and no mistake. You must drink another, my old chuck-we'll bring the pious notions out o' ye in Charleston,” said Dunn, turning around to Manuel.
The Dutchman filled the glasses, and Dunn, laying his big hickory stick upon the counter, took one in each hand, and going directly to Manuel, “There, take it, and drink her off-no humbugging; yer mother niver gave such milk as that,” said he.
“Excuse me, sir; I positively will not!” said Manuel, and no sooner had he lisped the words, than Dunn threw the whole contents in his face. Enraged at such outrageous conduct, the poor fellow could stand it no longer, and fetched him a blow that levelled him upon the floor.
The Dutchman ran to the assistance of Dunn, and succeeded in relieving him from his unenviable situation. Not satisfied, however, they succeeded, after a hard struggle, in getting him upon the floor, when the Dutchman-after calling the assistance of a miserable negro, held him down while Dunn beat him with his stick. His cries of “Murder” and “Help” resounded throughout the neighbourhood, and notwithstanding they attempted to gag him, brought several persons to the spot. Among them was a well-known master builder, in Charleston-a very muscular and a very humane man. The rascality of Dunn was no new thing to him, for he had had practical demonstrations of it upon his own negroes,—who had been enticed into the “corner shops” for the double purpose of the Dutchmen getting their money, and the officers getting hush-money from the owner.
The moment he saw Dunn, he exclaimed, “Ah! you vagabond!” and springing with the nimbleness of a cat, struck the Dutchman a blow that sent him measuring his length, into a corner among a lot of empty boxes; then seizing Dunn by the collar, he shook him like a puppy, and brought him a slap with his open hand that double-dyed his red face, and brought a stream of claret from his nose; while the miserable nigger, who had been struggling to hold Manuel down, let go his hold, and ran as if his life was in danger. The scene was disgusting in the extreme. Manuel arose, with his face cut in several places, his clothes bedaubed with filth from the floor, and his neck and shirt-bosom covered with blood; while the aghast features of Dunn, with his red, matted hair, and his glaring, vicious eyes, bespattered with the combined blood of his victim and his own nasal organ, gave him the most fiendish look imaginable.
The gentleman, after reprimanding the Dutchman for keeping up these miserable practices, which were disgracing the community, and bringing suffering, starvation, and death upon the slaves, turned to Dunn, and addressed him. “You are a pretty officer of the law! A villain upon the highway-a disgrace to your color, and a stain upon those who retain you in office. A man who has violated the peace and every principle of honest duty, a man who every day merits the worst criminal punishment, kept in the favor of the municipal department, to pollute its very name. If there is a spark of honesty left in the police department, I will use my influence to stop your conduct. The gallows will be your doom yet. You must not think because you are leagued in the same traffic.”
Dunn kept one of the worst and most notorious drinking-shops in Charleston, but, to reconcile his office with that strict requirement which never allowed any thing “contrary to law” in Charleston, he made his wife a “free trader.” This special set of South Carolina may in effect be classed among its many singular laws. It has an exceedingly accommodating effect among bankrupt husbands, and acts as a masked battery for innumerable sins in a business or official line. It so happens, once in a while, that one of the “fair free dealers” gets into limbo through the force of some ruthless creditor; and the “Prison Bounds Act,” being very delicate in its bearings, frequently taxes the gallantry of the chivalrous gentlemen of the Charleston bar that you are to go unpunished. And you, Drydez,” said he, turning to the Dutchman, “I shall enter you upon the information docket, as soon as I go down into the city.”
“Zeu may tu vat zeu plas mit me-te mayor bees my friend, an' he knowz vot me ams. Yuz sees zel no bronty, no zin! Vot yu to mit de fine, ah?” * * *