Byline: Mortimer Thomson; 1863-01-01;
Tags: Mortimer Thomson, posed as, slave auction, slave buyer
Article Links". . .Leaving the Race building, where the scenes we have described took place, a crowd of negroes were seen gathered eagerly about a white man. That man was Pierce M. Butler, of the free City of Philadelphia, who was solacing the wounded hearts of the people he had sold from their firesides and their homes, by doling out to them small change at the rate of a dollar a-head. To every negro he had sold, who presented his claim for the paltry pittance, he gave the munificent stipend of one whole dollar, in specie; he being provided with two canvas bags of 25 cent pieces, fresh from the mind, to give an additional glitter to his generosity. . ."
Description:An 1863 reprint of Mortimer Thomson's Butler slave auction report of 1859 for the New York Tribune, timed to the publication of Fanny Kemble's journal of life as Mrs. Butler on the Georgia plantations.
Rights: Public domain.