A slave who had been separated from his wife, because it best suited the convenience of his owner, ran away.  He was taken up on the plantation where his wife, to whom he was tenderly attached, then lived.  His only object in running away was to return to her—­no other fault was attributed to him.  For this offence he was confined in the stocks six weeks, in a miserable hovel, not weather-tight.  He received fifty lashes weekly during that time, was allowed food barely sufficient to sustain him, and when released from confinement, was not permitted to return to his wife.  His master, although himself a husband and a father, was unmoved by the touching appeals of the slave, who entreated that he might only remain with his wife, promising to discharge his duties faithfully; his master continued inexorable, and he was torn from his wife and family.  The owner of this slave was a professing Christian, in full membership with the church, and this circumstance occurred when he was confined to his chamber during his last illness.

A punishment dreaded more by the slaves than whipping, unless it is unusually severe, is one which was invented by a female acquaintance of mine in Charleston—­I heard her say so with much satisfaction.  It is standing on one foot and holding the other in the hand.  Afterwards it was improved upon, and a strap was contrived to fasten around the ankle and pass around the neck; so that the least weight of the foot resting on the strap would choke the person.  The pain occasioned by this unnatural position was great; and when continued, as it sometimes was, for an hour or more, produced intense agony.  I heard this same woman say, that she had the ears of her waiting maid slit for some petty theft.  This she told me in the presence of the girl, who was standing in the room.  She often had the helpless victims of her cruelty severely whipped, not scrupling herself to wield the instrument of torture, and with her own hands inflict severe chastisement.  Her husband was less inhuman than his wife, but he was often goaded on by her to acts of great severity.  In his last illness I was sent for, and watched beside his death couch.  The girl on whom he had so often inflicted punishment, haunted his dying hours; and when at length the king of terrors approached, he shrieked in utter agony of spirit, “Oh, the blackness of darkness, the black imps, I can see them all around me—­take them away!” and amid such exclamations he expired.  These persons were of one of the first families in Charleston.

A friend of mine, in whose veracity I have entire confidence, told me that about two years ago, a woman in Charleston with whom I was well acquainted, had starved a female slave to death.  She was confined in a solitary apartment, kept constantly tied, and condemned to the slow and horrible death of starvation.  This woman was notoriously cruel.  To those who have read the narrative of James Williams I need only say, that the character of young Larrimore’s wife is an exact description of this female tyrant, whose countenance was ever dressed in smiles when in the presence of strangers, but whose heart was as the nether millstone toward her slaves.