[45]. Quoted from the article by Mr. Page. No evidence is cited in support of the statement that the proceedings in Bedford were imitated in other parts of the State and came to be known by the name of Lynch’s Law.
[46]. See article by Mr. Featherston. A drawing of this tree “from a sketch from nature” may be found in the Green Bag, December, 1892 (4: 561).
[47]. Mr. Featherston states that Charles Lynch was often called “Judge Lynch” by his neighbors. He seems to have been more commonly known as “Colonel Lynch.”
[48]. “The infliction of capital punishment was extremely rare. There were only three instances of it, and these for most heinous offenses, between the organization of the county (Bedford) and the Revolution. The first case was on May 24, 1756, when the court assembled ‘to hear and determine all Treasons, Petit Treasons, Murders, and other Offenses committed or done by Hampton and Sambo belonging to John Payne of Goochland, Gent.’ ‘The said Hampton and Sambo were set to the Bar under Custody of Charles Talbot (then sheriff) to whose Custody they were before committed on Suspicion of their being Guilty of the felonious Prepairing and Administering Poysonous Medicines to Ann Payne, and being Arraigned of the Premises pleaded Not Guilty and for their Trial put themselves upon the Court. Whereupon divers Witnesses were charged and they heared in their Defence. On Consideration thereof it is the Opinion of the Court that the said Hampton is guilty in the Manner and Form as in the Indictment. Therefore it is considered that the said Hampton be hanged by the Neck till he be dead, and that he be afterwards cut in Quarters, and his Quarters hung up at the Cross Roads. And it is the Opinion of the Court that the said Sambo is guilty of a Misdemeanor. Therefore it is considered that the said Sambo be burnt in the Hand, and that he also receive thirty-one Lashes on his bare Back at the Whipping Post. Memo: That the said Hampton is adjudged at forty-five Pound which is ordered to be certified to the Assembly (that his owner may be remunerated according to law).’ That it was a convincing proof of his guilt, and not race prejudice, that led the court to impose this savage punishment is evident from the fact that in the same year a negro was tried for murder, another for poisoning, and a third for arson, and all were cleared.”—Quoted from the article by Mr. Page.
[49]. This evidence has been presented by the present writer in a communication to the Nation. See issue of May 21, 1903 (76: 415).
[50]. William Wirt: “Sketches of the Life and Character of Patrick Henry” (1818), p. 372. Mr. Matthews, in his article in the Nation, Dec. 4, 1902 (75: 439), remarks that it is uncertain whether the note was written by Roane or Wirt. In William Wirt Henry’s “Life of Patrick Henry,” Vol. II, p. 482, the “MS. Letter of Judge Roane to Mr. Wirt” is given, but the note is not included. The note was undoubtedly written by Wirt.
[51]. An act for dividing the county of Bedford into two distinct counties, the new county to be known by the name of Campbell, was passed by the General Assembly in 1782.—Hening’s Statutes at Large, X, 447; Journal of the House of Delegates, Jan. 5, 1782, p. 73. Howe says that Campbell County was formed from Bedford in 1784, and named in honor of General William Campbell, a distinguished officer of the American Revolution.—“Historical Collections of Virginia.” p. 210.
[52]. Published at Charleston, South Carolina, in 1845. See p. [212] for the quotation. See Mrs. Julia Mayo Cabell: “Sketches and Recollections of Lynchburg” (1858), pp. 9–10, for a similar account of the connection of Colonel Charles Lynch with the origin of “the celebrated code called ‘Lynch Law.’” This account is taken from the St. Louis Republican, but neither the author’s name nor the date of its publication is given.
[53]. Henry Howe: “The Great West” (Cincinnati, 1852), p. 183.
[54]. The writer is indebted to Mr. Matthews for the suggestion that Howe’s allusion to “Squire Birch” points to Judge James Hall’s “Letters from the West” as one such source. See Chapter III. p. [81].