24. CHAPTER XXIV.
THE LAW AND ITS VICTIM.
The death of Dr. Morton, on the third day of his illness, came like a
shock upon his wife and daughters. The corpse had scarcely been
committed to its mother earth before new and unforeseen difficulties appeared
to them. By the laws of the Slave States, the children follow
the condition of their mother. If the mother is free, the children are
free; if a slave, the children are slaves. Being unacquainted with the
Southern code, and no one presuming that Marion had any negro blood
in her veins, Dr. Morton had not given the subject a single thought.
The woman whom he loved and regarded as his wife was, after all,
nothing more than a slave by the laws of the State. What would have
been his feelings had he known that at his death his wife and children
would be considered as his property? Yet such was the case. Like
most men of means at that time, Dr. Morton was deeply engaged in
speculation, and though generally considered wealthy, was very much
involved in his business affairs.
After the disease with which Dr. Morton had so suddenly died had to
some extent subsided, Mr. James Morton, a brother of the deceased,
went to New Orleans to settle up the estate. On his arrival there, he
was pleased with and felt proud of his nieces, and invited them to
return with him to Vermont, little dreaming that his brother had married
a slave, and that his widow and daughters would be claimed as
such. The girls themselves had never heard that their mother had
been a slave, and therefore knew nothing of the danger hanging over
their heads.
An inventory of the property of the deceased was made out by Mr.
Morton, and placed in the hands of the creditors. These preliminaries
being arranged, the ladies, with their relative, concluded to leave the
city and reside for a few days on the banks of Lake Ponchartrain,
where they could enjoy a fresh air that the city did not afford. As they
were about taking the cars, however, an officer arrested the whole party
—the ladies as slaves, and the gentleman upon the charge of attempting
to conceal the property of his deceased brother. Mr. Morton was overwhelmed
with horror at the idea of his nieces being claimed as slaves,
and asked for time, that he might save them from such a fate. He even
offered to mortgage his little farm in Vermont for the amount which
young slave-women of their ages would fetch. But the creditors
pleaded that they were an “extra article,” and would sell for more than
common slaves, and must therefore be sold at auction.
The uncle was therefore compelled to give them up to the officers of
the law, and they were separated from him. Jane, the oldest of the
girls, as we have before mentioned, was very handsome, bearing a close
resemblance to her cousin Clotelle. Alreka, though not as handsome as
her sister, was nevertheless a beautiful girl, and both had all the accomplishments
that wealth and station could procure.
Though only in her fifteenth year, Alreka had become strongly attached
to Volney Lapie, a young Frenchman, a student in her father's
office. This attachment was reciprocated, although the poverty of the
young man and the extreme youth of the girl had caused their feelings
to be kept from the young lady's parents.
The day of sale came, and Mr. Morton attended, with the hope that
either the magnanimity of the creditors or his own little farm in Vermont
might save his nieces from the fate that awaited them. His hope,
however, was in vain. The feelings of all present seemed to be lost in
the general wish to become the possessor of the young ladies, who stood
trembling, blushing, and weeping as the numerous throng gazed at them,
or as the intended purchaser examined the graceful proportions of their
fair and beautiful frames. Neither the presence of the uncle nor young
Lapie could at all lessen the gross language of the officers, or stay the
rude hands of those who wished to examine the property thus offered
for sale. After a fierce contest between the bidders, the girls were sold,
one for two thousand three hundred, and the other for two thousand
three hundred and fifty dollars. Had these girls been bought for servants
only, they would in all probability have brought not more than
nine hundred or a thousand dollars each. Here were two beautiful
young girls, accustomed to the fondest indulgence, surrounded by all
the refinements of life, and with the timidity and gentleness which such
a life would naturally produce, bartered away like cattle in the markets
of Smithfield or New York.
The mother, who was also to have been sold, happily followed her
husband to the grave, and was spared the pangs of a broken heart.
The purchaser of the young ladies left the market in triumph, and
the uncle, with a heavy heart, started for his New England home, with
no earthly prospect of ever beholding his nieces again.
The seizure of the young ladies as slaves was the result of the administrator's
having found among Dr. Morton's papers the bill-of-sale of
Marion which he had taken when he purchased her. He had doubtless
intended to liberate her when he married her, but had neglected from
time to time to have the proper papers made out. Sad was the result
of this negligence.
