"Oh, don't kill me, Mr. D., don't kill me! I only called Mrs. H. because I thought you was killing my child—she screamed so terribly! Oh, please don't whip me any more this time, please! My back is still sore from the last whipping you gave me, and every stroke you now give me seems to cut into the flesh like a knife. Oh, please don't whip me any more! please don't! please! please!"
These words from Mary's lips Mrs. H. distinguished as plainly as though they had been spoken at her side, for both Jane and her mother spoke most excellent English, having always been brought up as house servants, and never having imbibed the habit of using the negro dialect. Indeed, in their habits and manners they were quite as ladylike as their mistress, nor could it hardly be otherwise, since both from childhood had been made to wait upon ladies of education and refinement, and could scarcely have failed to imbibe their language and manners. Pathetic as Mary's pleadings were, however, they failed to reach Mr. D.'s heart, for in a moment after Mrs. H. heard the lash again applied, and this time Mary screamed still louder than before. Again and again she could hear the lash descend upon poor Mary's back, and again and again came from her lips the most horrid screechings and the most piteous moans. Finally, Mrs. H. could listen no longer, but, returning to her sitting-room, threw herself upon a lounge and wept as if her very heart would break. Then and there she made a most solemn vow to God that she would give herself no rest until she had rescued Jane and her mother from their heartless, cruel master, nor would she ever try again to live on terms of friendship, much less of intimacy, with Mr. and Mrs. D.
When Mr. H. came home to tea, he observed that his wife had been weeping, and inquired the cause. She then told him all that she had seen and heard during the afternoon, and begged of him, for her sake, for Mary and Jane's sake, for God's sake, to go, immediately after tea, to Judge Freese's quarters and tell him all that had occurred. She was sure, she said, from what she had heard of his court, that he would not permit such heartless barbarities to continue in Alexandria. The husband was deeply impressed with his wife's story, and still more so by the pathetic appeal which she had made to him in behalf of the two servants, and promised to do as she requested, notwithstanding his very great reluctance to break friendship with Mr. and Mrs. D.
Accordingly, after tea, instead of going back to his store he went direct to Judge Freese's quarters and told him the whole story, just as his wife had told it to him. The Judge listened attentively, and, when Mr. H. had finished, said, in a very quiet but in a very determined way, that the case should have his careful and prompt attention. The Judge then told Mr. H. to please bring his wife around to headquarters next morning, that she might make a formal affidavit to what she had seen and heard, after receiving which he would direct the Provost-Mar-shal to arrest Mr. H., and bring him and the two servants before the court at its next sitting. Next morning early Mr. and Mrs. H. went to the general headquarters. The Judge wrote down, as Mrs. H. detailed it, the story as heretofore told, when Mrs. H. added her signature and made affidavit as to its truthfulness. The Judge then sent for the Provost-Marshal, and ordered him to arrest Mr. D. and bring him and the two servants, Mary and Jane, before the court at ten o'clock.
The arrest of so prominent a citizen as Mr. D. spread through the city like wildfire, and, when the court assembled, the court-room was crowded in every part. After all the other prisoners present had been discharged or sentenced, the case of Mr. H. was called. He arose, when his name was called, and said he was there in obedience to the orders of the court, but for what cause he knew not, except—if he had understood the marshal aright—for punishing his own slaves, which, according to the laws of Virginia, he certainly had the right to do. The Judge only replied that he (Mr. D.) would probably understand his rights better after the case had been tried, and then directed that the trial proceed. Mr. D. asked if he could be represented by an attorney.
"Certainly," replied the Judge, "if the attorney will first take the oath of allegiance to the United States Government."
This the attorney present declined to do, and Mr. D. was obliged to act as his own attorney. The first witness called was Mary, the slave-mother. She testified, in response to questions by the court, that she had been born the slave of Mrs. D.'s father, and had lived in his family until Mrs. D. was married, when she had been given to Mrs. D. as her maid or body-servant; that her daughter Jane, then about five years of age, had been given to Mrs. D. at the same time; that she, Mary, had never been married, but when less than twenty years of age had repeatedly been ordered to the bedchamber of Mrs. D.'s father; that Jane was none other than the daughter of Mrs. D.'s own father, and consequently half-sister to Mrs. D. herself; that she had frequently asked her former master and her present mistress for the privilege to learn to read and write, and, when she had learned herself, that she might teach her daughter Jane, but they had always refused, and given as a reason that the laws of Virginia made it a criminal offence to teach a slave to read or write; that both she and her daughter had been generally well treated by Mr. and Mrs. D. until the Union troops came to Alexandria; that since that time both seemed to have entirely changed in their disposition towards her and her daughter; that nothing they could do seemed to please them; that both she and her daughter had been forbidden to go upon the street at any time or upon any occasion, and that finally they had been forbidden to look out of the windows; that they had tried to obey even this order, but, on hearing music and the tramp of passing soldiers, they had sometimes been drawn to the windows unthinkingly; for this one offence and for no other—for Mrs. D. always reported them to her husband, and seemed to take pleasure in doing so whenever she chanced to catch them at a window—Mr. D. had whipped both her and her daughter several times most terribly; that he always took them to the garret, tied a cord around each wrist, threw the cord over a beam and drew them up until their toes just touched the floor, stripped them to the waist, and then with a rawhide gave them as many lashes as he thought they could stand without fainting; that her own back, and her daughter's as well, were so raw and sore that they could hardly wear their dresses; that Mrs. D. always encouraged these whippings, and that neither she nor her husband ever manifested the least sympathy with their subsequent sufferings; that neither she nor her daughter had ever made an attempt to escape from bondage, nor had either of them ever threatened their master or mistress so to do, notwithstanding all they had suffered. She wept frequently while giving in her testimony, and at times almost the entire audience seemed melted to tears. The Judge was observed to wipe his eyes frequently, and several times his voice was so choked with emotion that he had to hesitate some moments before he could put the next question. The whole of Mary's evidence had to be drawn from her lips, item by item. She seemed all the while afraid to answer questions, and said nothing of her own accord.
Jane was next called. Her evidence entirely accorded with her mother's, so far as her knowledge extended. Mrs. D., she said, had never found any fault about her work—only about her looking out of the windows, and this she had not meant to do, but did it every time without thinking. When she heard the music of a band, or the tramp of soldiers, some irresistible force always drew her to the nearest window to look out. She could not help it, though her life depended upon it. Both she and her mother were passionately fond of music, and when their mistress played on the piano in the parlor, they generally managed to leave their work long enough to stand and listen, by a door ajar, until the music ended. She did not understand why she and her mother should be so infatuated—crazy as she called it—about music. She only knew that it was so, and that neither of them could help it.
Mrs. H. was the next witness. She detailed, carefully and succinctly, what she had heard and seen the afternoon before. Told of her long and agreeable acquaintance with Mr. and Mrs. D., and how much she regretted the rupture of those friendly relations. Said she had frequently heard Mrs. D. speak in the highest terms of her two servants, Mary and Jane; that several times before that afternoon she had heard strange, unusual noises next door, but never until then had she heard them plain enough to know what they meant. On leaving the witness-stand and resuming her seat, she burst into a flood of tears, and it was several minutes before she could regain her self-possession.
The Judge then asked Mr. D. to call any witnesses he had present, or to present himself or his wife as a witness, if he thought proper.