Born in Washington DC / Enslaved in
Texas /
Interviewed in Canada 1861
Recap, Lavinia Bell was born free, stolen as an infant from her parents in
Washington and enslaved in Texas by the Whirl family. Trained to be a performer and probably viewed
Polly Whirl (wife of the sadistic William, owner of the property in Galveston,
Texas) as a maternal figure. After she
becomes a teen Bell is forced into new labor, naked, like the other slaves, in
the fields suffering unbelievable constant torture.
Somehow she managed to bite off a part of Whirl’s nose. In response several of her teeth were
hammered out. Her determination to
escape continued and she managed to board a ship, hiding among some
barrels. When she was discovered she
spoke to the captain in gibberish. A
passenger gave her a blanket because she was naked. She managed to get ashore in Louisiana and
was recognized and pursued. To escape
she jumped into a river of alligators, avoided attack and eventually made her
way to, claim her child at, the ‘Shades of Death.’
They managed to make it to Warren County, Illinois—free soil. Sadly, she was entrapped by a Negro who sold
her for $250 to a resident of Natchez.
She continued through an ongoing maze of escape and capture when finally
an unknown man paid her way to Montreal by railroad. Once in Montreal, Monday, January 27, 1861,
she was brought to the home of a Mr. Cook. She was suffering from the constant torture
she received from Whirl, covered in rags and hoping to support herself and
purchase the freedom of her child in Boydstown, Kentucky.
The following will give you an idea of how much one woman could endure to
be free.
Mr. Cook called for Dr. Reddy who treated her and recorded the following
in Montreal, January 28, 1861: “I found her body very much distorted, her spine
curved towards the right side, and the ribs forced completely in the same
direction, having a very bulged appearance.
I also found the following marks of ill treatment on her person: A V
shaped piece has been slit out of each ear; there is a depression on the right
parietal bone, where it had been fractured, and is now very tender to the
touch; the corresponding spot, on the opposite side, has a large scar uncovered
by hair; there is a large deep scar, 3 ½ inches long, on the left side of the
lower jaw; several of her teeth are broken out; the back of her left hand has
been branded with a heated flat-iron; the little finger of her right hand, with
a portion of the bone that it connected with, has been cut off; the abdomen
bears the mark of a large letter 4 inches long in one way and 2 ½ inches in
another, also branded in with a hot iron; her ankles are scarred, and the soles
of her feet are all covered with little round marks apparently inflicted by
some sharp instrument, …her back and person are literally covered over with
scars and marks, now healed, evidently produced by the lash. Altogether, she presents a most pitiable
appearance.” “John Reddy, M.D.”
Lavinia Bell’s story appeared in the Montreal Gazette, January 31, 1861.
However, much information was omitted, “but we have given the recital as
tangible a form as we could from her account , which, coming from a poor
ignorant negress, unable to read or write, was necessarily disconnected; nevertheless,
after a thorough cross-examination, no contradiction could be discovered.” Finally, Lavinia Bell probably never
knew her birth name. She was named by
Polly Whirl.
One cannot imagine what it must have been like for those who were forced
to exist in such inhumane conditions. This is the story of one woman whose
life, determination and spirit needs to be remembered. Is it a history too painful to remember?
Peace
Slave Testimony edited by John W.
Blassingame
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