Beschreibung:

Title: Autograph Letter Signed - 1846 Violence Against Bi-Racial Family in New York Author: Fisher, Rev. W.W. Place: Palmyra [New York] Publisher: Date: May 25, 1846 Description: 4 pp., including stampless address leaf. To E.B. Walsworth, Theological Seminary, Auburn, New York: “We have had a disgraceful outrage committed of late upon an unoffending family residing in our village. Some 6 or 7 miscreants headed by one Schuyler Parshall…a miserable loafer, went at midnight, smashed in the door and windows, pulled the man out of his bed, forced him down stairs, stripped off all his clothing, beat him most horribly, and then plunged him into the Canal. His wife was treated in the same manner, except the ducking, and with the addition of a most brutal treatment. Her infant child at her breast was in most [ruffan?] manner throttled, and nearly strangled to death. All the furniture was then smashed to pieces, the house torn down and a favorite dog’s head cut off with an ax. The only apology for this offense, black enough to make the face of darkness grow blacker, was the fact that the man (Johnson) was of no colour, and his wife happened to have a little, her Creator was pleased to give her a tinge of the red and the black intermixed, a very high offense to a set of rowdies, who possessed such a nice sense of propriety that they must break in up their domestic sanctuary, pull it down over their heads, maltreat them in this way, and then make attempts upon her chastity. What a fine specimen of Knight-errantry in the 19 Cent.! …Johnson and his wife… had been residents of the place about 2 weeks, were inoffensive, and orderly in their conduct, were married by a Minister of the Gospel in Montreal…Now, it is well known that within the British Dominions there does not exist the same prejudice against colour, as in the States, and that there is nothing more common then intermarriages, especially among the lower orders. I do not approve of the amalgamation of the whites and colored races…but that a white man had a right to marry a coloured woman, if he pleases, cannot be denied, and it is no apology for such outrageous treatment. The indignation of the entire community is kindled to a blaze. The vile perpetrators of the deed are bound over to Court, which sits this week at Lyons, and every effort will be made to bring them to justice. God speed the efforts. God enabled me to preach a sermon yesterday to a large audience, which made their ears tingle… And I would have preached them if I had known that the stake and faggots had been my only reward…” What became of the Johnsons, and whether 27 year-old Parshall was punished for assault and attempted rape is unknown. But, 30 years later, during Reconstruction, Parshall, then a rich hotel owner in Alabama, charged a poor Black railroad brakeman with trying to kill him; the defendant, countering that Parshall had accused him “to gratify malicious and malignant feelings”, was acquitted on appeal to a federal court. Lot Amendments Condition: Only lightly yellowed at creases at address leaf; else near fine. Item number: 230286