Читать книгу Africa's Children - Sharon Robart-Johnson - Страница 12

CHAPTER 1 Jude

It was the 28th day of December 1800 the day she died. She lay on the ground where she was thrown, blood oozing from her many wounds. Yet the punishment continued. Her arms strained to cover her face, her back, her stomach, and sides as the vicious, brutal blows rained down. Hands wielding a stick as long as an arm and as thick as an iron candlestick, and feet kicking unmercifully into the body of the girl left marks that few humans have had to endure. Or did she simply lie prone and take the punishment that was a frequent occurrence for her, knowing it was futile to fight back? This day, however, it was more severe — the outcome permanent.

Three men, Samuel Andrews and two of his sons, Samuel Jr. and John, trudged up the hill behind their home in Raynardton, Yarmouth County, carrying their burden to do what they felt they had the right to do, or, perhaps to hide the deed that had already been done. The still-warm body of the girl was placed in a makeshift coffin and dumped unceremoniously into a hastily dug grave without an ounce of remorse in the hearts of those who committed the atrocity. No one would miss her, would they? They thought not. But unbeknown to them, her death would make her famous in her time and her name a household word. Who was this girl who perished way before her time? Beaten to death then dropped into a hole in the ground, never to be found or so it was hoped!

Who was this young woman whose breath was snatched in the prime of her life? Was it murder most foul? As for the perpetrators, Samuel Andrews, his wife and his sons, Samuel Jr. and John, why would they commit such an atrocity on another human?

Who was she? She was Jude. She was a slave.

Jude

The God that made you And the God that made me, Deep from the Soul of the Living Tree — That Might of Shining Magnitude Also made the slave girl Jude.

A frightened child just nine years old, Came as a slave, was then resold. A fine young girl — a life unsung — She met her destiny far too young. ¹

Sisters, Jude and Diana,² lived and slaved on the homestead of their master, Samuel Andrews, a Loyalist who had come to Tusket, then a community in Shelburne County, Nova Scotia, from North Carolina in the United States in 1795. When he first moved to Yarmouth County (Shelburne County as it was called then), he came with nothing, the Americans having confiscated all of his property because he had been loyal to the British. He put in his claim to have his losses replaced. Among those losses were his two Negro slaves.³

There are conflicting stories from the oral histories that have been passed down through the generations: one, that he brought his slaves with him, and two, that he acquired them here. Possibly, he acquired at least one of his slaves in Shelburne after the arrival of the Black Loyalists in 1783. An entry in “The Book of Negroes” (which list the Black Loyalists who made the long journey by ships from New York to Nova Scotia, England and several German Kingdoms in 1783. There are three original “Book of Negroes” still in existence) reads:

22 September to 3 October 1783

Clinton bound for Port Roseway [Shelburne, Nova Scotia]: Lt. Trounce Jude, 9, fine girl, (Francis Wood) Property of Francis Wood⁴

Slave girl being beaten by two boys. After reading the court case of the trial of the Andrews family, charged with the murder of the slave girl, Jude, a very talented young woman, Elizabeth Ogden, having researched the type of clothing that would have been worn during that time, sketched this drawing.

Jude was still enslaved when she arrived in Shelburne and therefore could have been, and may have been, resold, this time to Samuel Andrews. If it were the same girl, it would be the sale that sealed her fate.

Jude and Diana shared a room in the main house, but were forced to subsist on potatoes, fish, and coffee. Seemingly, they had no meat, no other vegetables, no fruit, and possibly no bread, if, as the Andrews family claimed, she stole bread and cheese. Jude and Diana were treated no better than animals as it became obvious that this was how this family viewed them. And they might well have gotten away with her murder, but the atrocity that had taken place on Samuel Andrews’s property was reported to the authorities, though it has not been possible to determine who did the reporting. What followed was the sensational murder trial of the Andrews family.

Nehemiah Porter, the coroner at Yarmouth, held an inquest into the death of Jude and after viewing the body he determined that Jude:

had been willfully and maliciously murdered and from the examinations taken in writing before me there appears just ground to suspect that Samuel Andrews Esqr, Mary Andrews his wife, John Andrews & Yoeman Samuel Andrews Jun his Sons were guilty or accessory to said murder — and that Mary Andrews daughter to said Samuel Andrews Esqr. and Diana his black servant girl are suspected of being present and knowing thereto.⁵

Joseph Norman Bond, surgeon for the town of Yarmouth, performed the autopsy on Jude. His findings were startling. He found that although the body had been buried for several days, there was no sign of putrefaction, nor were any of the bones fractured or dislocated. He did find, however, that Jude had four contusions, all about three-quarters of an inch (two centimetres) in diameter, three of which were on the crown, wounding the scalp and injuring the membrane that immediately covered the skull.⁶

The extent of Jude’s injuries is worth stressing if only to question the stipulation that the damage to her body was caused (as the boys claimed during the trial) by a mere fall from a hay-loft window. Dr. Bond’s own records state that there were at least twenty wounds spread across Jude’s body, not the least being six inches (fifteen centimetres) long and two inches (five centimetres) wide that ran from the right ear all the way down to the collar bone. Several more were found on her left ear, right shoulder blade, two inches (five centimetres) wide by two inches (five centimetres) long, both hips, the outside of each thigh, her right wrist and hand, and left thumb. There were also several smaller wounds scattered about her neck, shoulders, legs and arms. In addition, a number of other scars were found that Dr. Bond recorded as being from previous traumas. He reported that the girl’s fresh wounds were made with a blunt instrument and that the superficial ones were caused by fire. He concluded from his examination and from the evidence given by Nehemiah Porter that the death of Jude may not have proved fatal had she been given immediate assistance.

Samuel Andrews Esquire was questioned regarding the death of Jude. He said that his slave had been disobedient to her mistress and would often steal from them. He also told of how, in the fall of that year, Jude would cut off the pigs’ ears and tails and roast them during the night. She would also steal watermelons, cucumbers, potatoes, and other foods. To justify his complaint of her stealing, he said that she was always allowed as much fish and potatoes as she could consume, but despite this she would steal loaves of bread and half of a cheese that, he said, she gave to the hogs the next day. So he whipped her. Samuel stated that one evening he was awakened by the shouting of his wife, Mary, calling to their son John that Jude was stealing again. John gave chase, but did not leave the house because Jude had gone over the garden fence, after having apparently escaped through the kitchen window.

The next morning Samuel sent his two sons, John and Samuel Jr. in search of the girl.⁷ He told them to specifically look in the hovel, a low, sheltered area for animals and possibly tools and similar implements. After finishing their morning chores, the two young men found her hiding in the hay loft. John pulled her out and ordered her to go home. Samuel Jr. claimed that there was already a considerable amount of blood in the hay where Jude had been lying. He also stated that when John told her to go home, Jude went to the window and jumped out, falling on her side when she hit the ground.

John’s account of the incident differs from that of his brother. John said that when he pulled Jude from the hay she said to him “now come behave yourself.” John pulled her to the window where she, “partly helping herself and partly falling,” went through the window. He said he then took her by the hand, forcing her toward the house. Jude was unwilling to go and John and Samuel struck her several times with sticks (according to John) the width of his finger.⁸

According to the testimony, Jude was brought into the house where she was laid on the floor beside the fire. She was cold and bloody, with several bruises and scratches on her face, ears, and neck. After four long hours of suffering, Jude passed away, at which time Samuel Sr. ordered his sons to make a coffin and to dig a grave.

The testimony of Jude’s sister, Diana, verifies, in part, some of what Samuel Jr. and John had said. One glaring difference was the size of the sticks. Diana claimed that “John and Samuel Andrews being [sic] with her with each a stick about the size of an Iron candlestick and of the length of my arm … That Jude came into the house and died before dinner … That there was a coffin made by Samuel and Master and Robert and John dug the grave [I saw them] after which she was buried….”⁹

It was extremely unusual then for an entire family to be questioned about the death of a mere slave. But it is possible that the brutality of this act caused eyes to be opened for a time, albeit a short one. However, the flagrant violence of this crime and the manner in which this young woman was beaten to death was indicative of the way some slaves were treated. The exact number that endured the sadistic treatment of their masters is not known. The unfortunate ones could only hope for redemption from the life of hell they had been cast into, or pray for death — whatever form of release would end the terror that their lives had become. Although there may have been other similar cases, research only yielded this one case of barbarity in Yarmouth that led to the death of a slave.

The severity of the crime prompted Attorney General Richard John Uniack to order a special commission of Oyer and Terminer,¹⁰ which was held in Shelburne. As a result of the evidence presented, on April 19, 1801, indictments were brought against Samuel Andrews Esquire, his wife, Mary, and their two sons, Samuel Jr. and John.¹¹

It is not surprising that Samuel and his sons pleaded not guilty to the murder. But because of the amount of evidence against them, they were put in the local gaol (jail). Samuel’s wife, Mary, was released as there was not enough evidence against her other than that of preparing Jude’s body for burial. However, in spite of such clear evidence as:

… by striking beating & kicking the said Jude in & upon the head stomach back & sides … with the stick aforesaid & with both the hands & feet of … Samuel Andrews in manner aforesaid several mortall wounds and bruises… [Jude] for four hours did languish … on said twenty eigth [sic] day of December … died and so the Jurors aforesaid upon their oath … do say that Samuel Andrews … feloniously wilfully and of his malice aforethought did kill and murder against the peace of our said Lord the King His Crown and Dignity….

Samuel Andrews and his sons were found not guilty of the murder of their slave, Jude.¹²

The Andrews men were released immediately. Many at the time thought it was a miscarriage of justice. Given the evidence presented by Nehemiah Porter, coroner, and the graphic details of her injuries described by Dr. Joseph Norman Bond, surgeon, they believed it was a miscarriage of justice. According to people whose families lived in the area (Raynardton) and had the stories passed down to them through the generations, they wondered how any jury could find the Andrews men not guilty.

She was, after all, only a slave.

It is believed that after the autopsy, the body of Jude was returned to the grave from where she was removed, on the hill behind the homestead of Samuel Andrews.