I'm not sure what incident you are referring to in regard to Cicley
Reynolds, but slaves did have the right to trial and there many examples in
the various county order books. Orange County, for example, documents a case
where a slave was tried (and convicted) of poisoning her master.

-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Reyesuela
Sent: Monday, January 06, 2003 7:40 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [VA-HIST] slightly OT: Re: Jefferson nephew chops a Black man
to pieces


<shudders>  It's amazing what horrible things you can find in a past that
many (including myself) would like to idealize.  I myself was researching
Cicley Reynolds (her first name is spelled several different ways on verious
documents), an ancestress and early settler int he Jamestown area, and aside
from learning about her four husbands and the first breach of promise suit
in America, I discovered that she killed a family slave girl for poisoning
and killing the last of her husbands.  Whether or not the accusation was
true will never be known, because as a slave, the girl never got a trial.
Nor will it be know what desperation, madness, or hatred could have
motivated such an act.
The more I read about the social history of slavery, indentured servitude,
and/or serfdom in any culture--be it Roman, American, Australian, or
Russian--the more convinced I am that bound servitude is an instution that
fosters the very worst and most brutal in men, the served and serving both.



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