Jon--I forgot to add that the L10 reward offered in the example you
provide would have been less than the compensation the owner of the
slave would claim from the government for the killing of his executed
slave. I do not recall any instances of this actually happening, but
in other advertisements there is mention, I believe, of slaves having
a sense of nothing to lose once outlawed, and hence more dangerous in
any effort to "take up."-Mick
On Jul 21, 2008, at 10:08 AM, Michael Nicholls wrote:
> Jon--outlawry was a legal process which could be initiated against
> outlying, runaway slaves who posed a serious threat to the community.
> See Hening 3:460 for the 1705 summation. Two justices, one of whom
> had to be in the quorum, were required to issue a proclamation which
> was to be "published" after church service. If the slave did not
> surrender than they could be killed by anyone--or if captured they
> could be "dismembered." This was modified a bit--see Hening 6:110;
> clarified in 8: 523 [1772] . In 1792 the sheriff was to organize a
> force to capture outlying slaves when two or more were at large
> kllling hogs etc, but without the outlawry provision being mentioned.
> At this time, I believe, the process of outlawry disappeared from the
> Va Code--Mick
> On Jul 21, 2008, at 8:42 AM, Jon Kukla wrote:
>
>> While looking for something else in the Va Gazette Index on the
>> Colonial
>> Williamsburg website, I stumbled upon a dozen entries dating from
>> 1767 to
>> 1773 indexed as "Beheading, as punishment for runaway slaves."
>> Here is one
>> example from Rind's Virginia Gazette of February 4, 1768, page 4,
>> col 2.*
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>> -
>> ----------------
>> Indian-Creek, Northumberland County,
>> Jan. 10. 1768
>> Run away from the subscriber, a Negro man named MANN,
>> about 5 feet 6 inches high; he has a slit in one of his ears,
>> gives very sensible answers, and is about 50 years old.
>> He is outlawed from his threatening to burn my houses.
>> If any person will deliver me his head, severed from his
>> body, they shall receive 10L. current money: If taken alive
>> and delivered, 40s. besides what the law allows.
>> JOHN
>> SMITH
>> N.B. He is supposed to be lurking about Col. Corbin's
>> quarters, in King & Queen.
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>> -
>> -----------------
>> I found this startling for the mainland, and it raises all kinds of
>> questions. Perhaps there is significance in the statement that
>> MANN was an
>> outlaw. If so, what VA court had the power to declare someone an
>> outlaw?
>> literally unprotected by the law. Or was this something that a
>> slaveholder
>> could legally initiate? Or was this just an aberrant threat? Was
>> this kind
>> of threat every carried out?
>>
>> --
>> Jon Kukla
>> www.JonKukla.com <http://www.jonkukla.com/>
>>
>> *The URL for this page of Rind's VA Gazette accessible via Colonial
>> Williamsburg library website is :
>> http://research.history.org/DigitalLibrary/VirginiaGazette/
>> VGImagePopup.cfm?ID=2147&Res=HI&CFID=27193533&CFTOKEN=11851976
>>
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