Regarding --

>From: Leslie Morales [mailto:[log in to unmask]]=20
>Sent: Wednesday, September 24, 2003 3:26 PM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Slave Beheadings

>_The History of Old Alexandria, Virginia From July 13, 1749 to May 24,
>1861_ by Mary G. Powell (Richmond: William Byrd Press, 1928) notes:

>"An old English magazine at the Alexandria Library, dated February 20,
>1768, gives an account of an execution of some slaves at Alexandria who
>had plotted to poison their overseers, some of whom died in consequence....

This information was taken from _The Gentleman's Magazine & Historical
Chronicle_ (published by Sylvanus Urban in London, England), vol. 38, p.141
(March 1768).  The full article is as follows:

"American News.
      At Alexandria, in Virginia, a number of negroes lately conspired to
poison their overseers, and several have lost their lives in consequence.
Some, however, of the negroes have been taken up, four of whom have been
executed, their heads cut off, and fixed on the chimnies of the court house."

The original story does not carry a date, so the February 20, 1768 date
must have come from some other source, suggesting that there is more about
this incident somewhere out there....

Peter Lysy
Archivist
University of Notre Dame

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