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 eyes. I was being held by two men close to the ladder, so I could not help seeing everything.
Miss Dean, as I have before said, was a tall, slim, slightly built woman. Her hips were very narrow and her bottom very small, but it was round, well shaped and fairly plump; her thighs and legs also were well formed though slender; her skin was of a delicate ivory tint, smooth, and fine in texture.
The men pressed closer to the ladder, and I could see their eyes glisten as they fixed them with lecherous looks on Miss Dean’s half-naked body. Stevens, after gazing for a moment or two at her straight figure, exclaimed with a laugh: Je-ru-sa-lem! What a little bottom she’s got. It ain’t no bigger than a man’s. By gosh, boys! Perhaps she is a man! This was meant as a joke. It amused the men and they all laughed, one of them calling out: Well Jake, you can easily find out whether she’s a woman or not.
Why, so I can, now that you have put it in my head, drawled Stevens, grinning and pretending to be surprised at the suggestion. Then he thrust his hand between her thighs.
Miss Dean flinched convulsively, uttering a startled cry. Then, looking round at the man with an expression of intense horror on her face and with her eyes flashing, she exclaimed: How dare you touch me like that?! Take your hand away! Oh, whip me and let me go!
She writhed and twisted, but the man kept his hand in the cleft of her thighs, saying with a coarse laugh: She’s a woman sure enough, boys. I’ve got my hand on her slit.
Then he said to her: My hand won’t hurt you. But if I and these other gentlemen were not decent sort of chaps who only intend to carry out the sentence of Judge Lynch, you would soon find something different to a hand between your legs. Now I’ll whip you right away, and I guess you’ll soon be begging me to stop whipping you.