Miss Dean again spoke calmly: If you have found out that we have broken the law of the State, why have you not informed the police? You have no right to take the law into your own hands.
There was an angry movement among the men, and a hubbub of voices rose. We’ve got the right to do as we please. Lynch Law is good enough for the likes of you. Shut your mouth.
Don’t waste any more time talking to her, Jake. Let’s get to business, was shouted.
All right boys, said Stevens, well go into the garden right away and settle what shall be done with the prisoners. We know they’re guilty, so we’ve only got to sentence them, and then well proceed to carry out the sentence of the court.
Miss Dean and I were left on the veranda while the men, all trooping out into the garden, gathered in a cluster and began to talk; but they were too far off for us to hear what was being said.
I sat huddled up in my chair, with a dreadful sinking at my heart. Oh Miss Dean, I wailed, what will they do to us?
I do not know dear, she replied, coming over to me and taking my hand. I am not very much concerned about myself, but, oh, my poor girl, I am so sorry for you. I never should have allowed you to come here.
Too miserable to say another word, I sat pale and silent. The men continued talking together, and there seemed to be differences of opinion among them, but I could not catch a word that was said. The suspense to me was dreadful, my mouth was parched and I turned alternately hot and cold. But Miss Dean, who still held my hand, occasionally pressing it, was quite calm.
At last the men seemed to have agreed, and they all returned to the veranda. Then Stevens, assuming a sort of judicial manner, addressed us, saying: The sentence of the court upon you two is that you are each to receive a whipping with a hickory switch on the bare bottom, then you are both to be made to ride a rail for two hours, and, further, you are warned to leave the state of Virginny within forty-eight hours. If at the end of that time you are found in the State, Judge Lynch will have something more to say to you.
When I heard the shameful and cruel sentence which the lynchers had passed upon us, my blood ran cold and I trembled all over. There was a singing in my ears, and a mist came before my eyes. I rose from my seat, my legs shaking under me so much that I had to hold the back of my chair to support myself.
Oh, you surely don’t mean to whip us! I exclaimed in piteous accents, stretching out my arms appealingly to the men. Oh, don’t put us to such awful shame and pain. Have pity on us. Oh, do have pity on us.
But there was not the least sign of pity on any of the faces surrounding us. Ah were stern, or frowning, or stolid. And one man called out: Serves you right, you darned little abolitionist.
You both ought to be stripped naked and tarred and feathered after the whipping and then perched on the rail. You would look like a queer brace of birds.
At this coarse joke, there was a burst of laughter from the other men and I again sank down on my chair wringing my hands in despair while the tears streamed down my white cheeks.
Miss Dean, however, faced the men boldly. She turned very pale, but her eyes were bright and she showed no signs of fear. Addressing the leader, she said without a tremor in her voice: I have often been told that the Southerners were chivalrous in their treatment of women, but I find that I have been misinformed. Chivalrous men do not whip women.
I don’t know nothing about chivalrous, said Stevens gruffly, but when women acts like men and sets to running an ’underground station’ they must take the consequences.
The men in various terms, garnished with oaths, expressed their approval of what their leader had said.
Miss Dean calmly continued: I wish you all to know that I am the only person in this house responsible for what has been done. The young lady is not to blame in any way. She is my paid companion and has acted entirely under my orders. You must let her go free.
Oh no we won’t, exclaimed several voices at once. She must have her share of the switch.
Let me do the talking, said Stevens. We know very well, Miss Dean, that you are the boss of this yer show, but the girl has been helpin’ you to run it, so she’s got to be whipped. But she won’t git such a smart touchin’ up as you will. Isn’t that right boys? he asked.
Yes. Yes. That’s all right, some of them answered. Let the gal off a bit easier than the woman. Just then one of the men called out: Whar’s the hired woman? She ought to have her bottom switched, and get a ride on the rail as well as the others.
Certainly she ought, said Stevens. A couple of you go and bring her here. I guess she’s hiding somewhere in the house. Two of the men went into the house and while they were away the others talked and laughed with each other, making ribald remarks that caused me to blush and shiver. But Miss Dean did not appear to hear what was being said. She stood quite still, her hands loosely clasped in front of her and a far-off look in her great, soft, brown eyes.
In about five minutes’ time, the two men returned and one of them said with an oath: We can’t find the bitch anywhere in the house, though we have looked well. She must have run off into the woods.
It’s a pity she’s got away, said Stevens, but anyhow we’ve got the two leading ladies of the show, and I guess we’ll make them both feel sorry that they ever took a hand in the game.
You bet we will, Jake, shouted the men. We’ll make them sorry they ever came to Virginny.
Let’s get to work at once.
Very well, said Stevens. Bill, you run to the barn and fetch the ladder you’ll find there. Pete and Sam, you go and cut a couple of good, long, springy hick’ry switches and trim them ready for me to use. Then he added with a laugh: I daresay these yere northern ladies have often eaten hick’ry nuts, but I reckon they never thought they would feel a hick’ry switch on their bare bottoms. The men all joined in the laugh, while I shuddered and my heart swelled with bitterness at our utter helplessness.
The ladder and the switches were brought, then all the men went into the garden. The ladder then was fixed in a sloping position against the rail of the veranda on the outside, and Stevens took up his position near it, holding one of the switches in his hand, while the other men stood round in a ring so that they might all have a good look at what was going to be done.
Bring out the prisoners, said Stevens. Some of the men took hold of us by the arms and led us out of the veranda to receive the cruel and indecent punishment. I was trembling and crying; but Miss Dean was calm and silent.
Stevens said to her: Since you’re the boss, you shall be whipped first. Tie her up, boys.
She immediately was seized by two men and laid upon the ladder. Her arms were stretched out to their full extent above her head and her wrists were tied with thick cords to the rungs of the ladder. Her ankles were securely fastened the same way. She had not shown the least resistance nor had she uttered a word while being tied up, but now she turned her head and looking over her shoulder at Stevens said: Can you not whip me without removing my clothes?
No, certainly not, he replied. You was sentenced to be whipped on the bare bottom. Turn up her clothes, boys.
Her skirt, petticoats and chemise were rolled high above her waist and tucked under her body so that they could not fall down. She had not on the ordinary drawers with a slit behind, such as are usually worn by women, but was wearing long pantelettes which were buttoned up all round, fitting rather closely to her legs and reaching down to her ankles, around which the little frills at the end of the garment were drawn in with narrow ribbons.
Why darn me, if she ain’t got on white trousers! ejaculated Stevens in a tone of astonishment.
I never seen such things on a woman before.
The other men also seemed surprised and very much amused at the sight of the trousers, and various remarks were made by some of the spectators. I suppose that women of their class in that part of the country never wore drawers of any sort. Take down her trousers, said Stevens.
Again Miss Dean looked around. Please leave me my pantalettes. They won’t protect me much. Do not expose my nakedness to all these men, she pleaded earnestly.
But no attention was paid to her entreaty. One of the men roughly put his hands in front of her belly and after some fumbling unbuttoned the pantalettes and pulled them down to her ankles, leaving her person naked from the waist to the tops of her black silk stockings.
When her last garment had been removed, her pale cheeks blushed scarlet. Even the nape of her neck and her ears became red. A shudder shook her body from head to foot, she bent her head down and she closed her
