They were
never left long in the yard. It was expected that all the slaves in the
yard for sale would be neatly dressed and clean before being brought
into the show-room. It was the foreman's business to see that each one
was presentable.
* * * * *
SLAVE WHIPPING AS A BUSINESS.
Whipping was done at these markets, or trader's yards, all the time.
People who lived in the city of Richmond would send their slaves here
for punishment. When any one wanted a slave whipped he would send a note
to that effect with the servant to the trader. Any petty offense on the
part of a slave was sufficient to subject the offender to this brutal
treatment. Owners who affected culture and refinement preferred to send
a servant to the yard for punishment to inflicting it themselves. It
saved them trouble, they said, and possibly a slight wear and tear of
feeling. For this service the owner was charged a certain sum for each
slave, and the earnings of the traders from this source formed a very
large part of the profits of his business. The yard I was in had a
regular whipping post to which they tied the slave, and gave him
"nine-and-thirty," as it was called, meaning thirty-nine lashes as hard
as they could lay it on. Men were stripped of their shirts in
preparation for the whipping, and women had to take off their dresses
from the shoulders to the waist.
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