Report of the Joint select committee appointed to inquire into the condition of affairs in the late insurrectionary states, so far as regards the execution of laws, and the safety of the lives and property of the citizens of the United States and Testimony taken.

1846 CONDITION OF AFFAIRS IN THE SOUTHERN STATES.
Answer. Yes, sir; a preacher belonging to the Baptist Church for twenty-five yh
I have been preaching.
By Mr. RICE:
Question. Were these colored or white men?
Answer. They were white men. I came from Nansemond County, Virginia, in 1852.
By the CHAIRMAN:
Question. You say they put a rope around your neck?
Ansiver. Yes, sir, to hang me; but one gentleman objected to it; it looked like they
would have done it, but he spoke and said I was a good negro and shouldn't be hung..
Question. What did they do after they put the rope around your neck?
Answer. After that gentleman said I shouldn't be hung, they took the rope off my
neck and whipped me.
Question. Did they take your clothes off?
Answer. Yes, sir; I was naked; I hadn't a thing on me but my shirt; they took my
breeches off.
Question. How many blows did they inflict?
Answver. I couldn't tell; it was like there was many a one.
Question. What were you whipped with?
Anrswier. First one whip and then another; one man kept a cutting and they kept
whipping.
Question. With straps or whips?
Answer. No, sir; with whips; some small and some larger size-big as your finger
and larger; it was right in the woods where the whipping was.
Question. Did they say anything to you at the whipping?
A nswer. Nothing, except to whip on.
Question. Did you vote the democratic ticket?
Ansiwer. No, sir; they told me as long as I was a preacher I need not be bothered with
voting on one side; that I was exempted.
Question. Had you voted the radical ticket?
Alnser. I had once at this place, and after they told me there was no need of nly
voting, I didn't vote neither side. I voted the radical ticket here at this place, at this
door here.
Question. Who told you you need not vote any more after you had voted the radical
ticket?
Answer. I don't know; it was just sounded about among the church members that I
was a preacher and had no business to be voting.
Question. Did any of the white people tell you you had no business to be voting?
Answer. No, sir; they were colored people. The white people didn't tell me that.
Question. Was this man who shot you afterward one of the crowd of seven that
took you out?
Answer. Yes, sir; he was one of the men surely. I knew him; 1 know he was one
of the men.
Question. Where did lie hit you?
Answer. Right in the neck. Here is the ball, the proof of it, for anybody to see.
[Wiitness produces a small Minie ball.] It struck my neck.
Question. What did he shoot you with?
Ansicer. With a pistol; it struck the back of my neck, the center, and the doctor cut
it out here at the side. The doctor said if it had went a little firther, to a vein, I
would have been a dead man in five minutes.
Question. Who was this white man, this Mr. Clark, who was shot at the same time?
Answer. He was a school-teacher that boarded at my house. He said he came from
England. I don't know anything more of him than he was Mr. George Clark, a mighty
fine, nice gentleman, and a well-educated man.
Question. You say he boarded at your house?
Anssier. Yes, sir; he boarded at my house; my wife waited on him; he taught school
there-a colored school.
Question. What has become of Clark?
1Answver. Well, sir, I heard he was in Selma; whether it is so or not I can't tell.
Question. Did he leave soon after that?
Answer. Yes, sir; he left.
Question. Was he present at the time you were whipped?
Answer. Yes, sir; right there; they were whipping us both.
Question. Was he whipped also?
Answer. Whipped also, and shot also.
Question. What did they say they were whipping him for?
Answer. They said they whipped him because he was a Yankee.
Question. Did they say anything about his teaching a colored school when they were
whipping him?