State v. Will

• Decision Date: 31 December 1834
• Citation: 18 N.C. 121
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court
• Parties: STATE v. NEGRO WILL, slave of

18 N.C. 121

STATE

v.NEGRO WILL, slave of

SUPREME COURT OF NORTH CAROLINA

DECEMBER TERM, 1834.

1. If a slave, in defense of his life, and under circumstances strongly calculated to excite his passions of terror and resentment, kills his overseer, the homicide is, by such circumstances, mitigated to manslaughter.

2. It seems that the law would be the same, with respect to killing a master or temporary owner, under similar circumstances.

THE defendant was indicted for the murder of one Richard Baxter, and on the trial before his Honor, Judge Donnell, at Edgecombe, on the last circuit, the jury returned the following special verdict, viz.:

"That the prisoner Will was the property of James S. Battle, and the deceased, Richard Baxter, was the overseer of said Battle, and entrusted with the management of the prisoner at the time of the commission of the homicide: that early in the morning of 22 January last, on which day the killing took place, the prisoner had a dispute withslave Allen, who was likewise the property of said Battle, and a foreman on the same plantation of which the deceased was overseer; that the dispute between the prisoner and the said Allen arose about a hoe which the former claimed to use exclusively on the farm on account of his having helved it in his own time, but which the latter directed another slave to use on that day. That some angry words passed

between the prisoner and the foreman, upon which the prisoner broke out the helve, and went off about one-fourth of a mile to his work, which was packing cotton with a screw; that very soon after the dispute between the prisoner and the foreman, the latter informed the deceased of what had occurred, who immediately went into his house; that while the deceased was in his house, his wife was heard to say, "I would not, my dear," to which he replied in a positive tone of voice, "I will"; that in a very short time after this the deceased came out of his house to the place where the foreman was, and told him that he, the deceased, was going after the prisoner, and directed the foreman to take his cowhide and follow after him at a distance; that the deceased then returned into the house and took his gun, mounted his horse and rode to the screw, a distance of about six hundred yards, where the prisoner was at work ; that the deceased came up within twenty or twenty-five feet of the screw, without being observed by the prisoner; dismounted and hastily got over the fence into the screw yard ; that the deceased with his gun in his hand walked directly to the box on which the prisoner was standing engaged in throwing in cotton, and ordered the prisoner to come down; that the prisoner took off his hat in an humble manner and came down; that the deceased spoke some words to the prisoner, which were not heard by any of the three negroes present; that the prisoner thereupon made off, and getting between ten and fifteen steps from the deceased fired upon him; that the report of the gun was very loud, and the whole load lodged in the prisoner's back, covering a space of twelve inches square; that the wound caused thereby might have produced death; that the prisonercontinued to make off through a field and after retreating in a run about one hundred and fifty yards in sight of the deceased, the deceased directed two of the slaves present to pursue him through the field, saying that "he could not go far" ; that the deceased himself laying down his gun, mounted his horse, and having directed his foreman, who had just come up, to pursue the prisoner likewise, rode round the field and headed the prisoner; that as soon as the deceased had done this, he dismounted, got over the fence and pursued the prisoner on foot; that as soon as the prisoner discovered he was headed, he changed his course to avoid the

deceased, and ran in another direction towards the wood; that after pursuing the prisoner on foot two or three hundred yards, the deceased came up with him, and collared him with his right hand; that at this moment the negroes ordered to pursue the prisoner were running towards the prisoner and the deceased ; that the prisoner had ran before he was overtaken by the deceased five or six hundred yards from the place where he was shot; that it was not more than six or eight minutes from the time of the shooting till the slaves in pursuit came to where the prisoner and deceased were engaged ; that in a short time the said slaves came up, and being ordered by the deceased, one of them attempted to lay hold of the prisoner, who had his knife drawn, and the left thumb of the deceased in his mouth; that the prisoner struck at said slave with his knife, missed him and cut the deceased in his thigh. That in the scuffle between the prisoner and deceased, after the deceased overtook the prisoner, the deceased received from the prisoner a wound in his arm which occasioned his death ; and that the deceased had no weapons during the scuffle. That soon after, the deceased let go his hold on the prisoner, who ran towards the nearest woods and escaped ; that the deceased did not pursue him, but directed the slaves to do so; that the deceased soon recalled the slaves, and when they returned the deceased was sitting on the ground bleeding, and as they came up the deceased said : "Will has killed me; if I had minded what my poor wife said, I should not have been in this fix." That besides the wound on his thigh, the deceased had a slight puncture on his breast, about skin deep, and a wound about fourinches long and two inches deep on his right arm above his elbow, which was inflicted by the prisoner, and which from loss of blood occasioned his death, and that he died on the same day in the evening; that the prisoner went the same day to his master, and surrendered himself; that the next day, upon being arrested and informed of the death of the deceased, the prisoner exclaimed, "Is it possible!" and appeared so much affected that he came near falling, and was obliged to be supported. That the homicide and all the circumstances connected therewith took place in Edgecombe County.

"But whether upon the whole matter aforesaid the said Will be guilty of the felony and murder in the said indictment specified and charged upon him, the said jurors are altogether ignorant, and pray the advice of the Court thereupon. And if upon the whole matter aforesaid it shall appear to the Court that he is guilty of the felony and murder wherewith he stands charged, then they find him guilty. If upon the whole matter aforesaid it shall appear to the Court that he is not guilty of the murder aforesaid charged upon him by said indictment, then the said jurors upon their oaths aforesaid do say that the said Will is not guilty of the murder aforesaid, as the said Will has for himself above in pleading alleged, but that the said Will is only guilty of feloniously killing and slaying the said Richard Baxter." Upon this special verdict his Honor gave judgment that the prisoner was guilty of murder, and pronounced sentence of death; whereupon the prisoner appealed to the Supreme Court.

and not of manslaughter. For that he loaded his gun and proceeded to the cotton screw with the intent to shoot the prisoner, if the latter should make off, is manifest from his whole conduct, and particularly so from the fact of his directing the foreman to walk behind at a distance. If he had armed himself for defense, expecting a conflict with the prisoner, he would have summoned his aid and kept it at his heels ready for the encounter. The bloody purpose of shooting had certainly been formed, and the time given him for reflection and the calm concoction of his plans evince a settled design and perfect deliberation. He was not surprised into the act of shooting; it was deliberate; it was expected and intended beforehand, and therefore murderous. Bevil on Hom., 29; 1 Vent., 158.

If is further believed by the prisoner's counsel that if on firing the shot Baxter had rushed towards him in a threatening manner and the prisoner had turned, being unable to escape, and slain the deceased, the act had been homicide se defendendo, and this upon the clearest principles of criminal law.

The prisoner's counsel contends:

First. That if Baxter's shot had killed the prisoner, Baxter would have been guilty of manslaughter at the least. And,

Second. This position being established, the killing of Baxter under the circumstances stated is butmanslaughter in the prisoner.

The first position would seem too plain to be argued ; but as an opinion appears to be rapidly pervading the public mind that any means may be resorted to to coerce the perfect submission of the slave to his master's will, and that any resistance to that will, reasonable or unreasonable, lawfully places the life of the slave at his master's feet, it may be useful to attempt to draw the line, if there be any, between the lawful and unlawful exercise of the master's power. That there is such a line, though it may be difficult in all cases to find it, and fix it with precision, is nevertheless true; and although the court may resolve that in all cases short of homicide they will not look for it, yet, disagreeable and perplexing as the task may be, they cannot avoid the search, so long as a master may be tried for the homicide of

the slave, or so long as the slave may set up any defense for the homicide of his master.

It is not intended to combat the correctness of the decision in State v. Mann, 13 N. C., 263, though that case leaves the slave, when his life is spared, in the slender guardianship of the "frowns and execrations" of a moral community against cruelty. That decision is not understood by me as some have expounded it. In declaring that a master cannot be indicted for a battery on his slave, the Court is not to be understood to affirm that he cannot be indicted for any offense which necessarily includes a battery. I apprehend the substance of their decision to be that they will...