Newspaper Page Text
SATURDAY, July 7, 1787;
GEORGIA STATE GAZETTE
j OR
jt independent register.
P ■■ ■ . - ■ ■ HI ■ "
—— ; " ~ » ■ ■ - - .
; FRE EDOM of the PRESS, and TRIAL hjr JURY t ,o renuta i„v,„la,c forever. ,f Georgia.
.AUGUST A : Printed by JOHN E. SMITH, Printer to the State , EJTays , Articles of InteUmnce '
I Advertijements, ifc. uill be gratefully received, and every kind of Printing perfirmed. *
m .. __ .
' P/tech of Miss Polly Baker , before a Court of Ju
. Jicature > in Count Jtcut, ‘where Jhe was proje
. c* ted the fifth time for having a Bajiard Child.
•Tt AY it please the honorable bench to indulge
f XVI me in a few words : lam a poor unhap
py worn an, who have no money to fee lawyers to
I plead for me, being hard put to it to get a tole
rable livings I lhall not trouble your honors with
; long fpeeches' i nor have I the preemption to ex
that yon' may, by any means, be prevailed
Won to deviate » your sentence from the law, in
»my favour.' A 1H humbly hope is, that your ho
nors would char itably move the governor’s good-
St; Ws in my behaliy that my'fine may be remitted.
I This is the fifth titn’e, gentlemen, that I have been
| dragged before your court on the fame account;
•twice I have paid l>eavy fines, and twice have
leen brought to public punishment, for want of
money to pay these fines. This may have been
Agreeable to the laws, and I don’t dispute it; but
fmce laws are some tinted unreasonable in
| -themselves, and therefore repealed, and others
H ;hcar toy hard on the fubjefl in parricular instances,
I therefore there is left a power somewhat to
| »dispense with the execution of them j I take the
* iliberty to fay, that I think this law, by which I
I *am puniflied, is both unreasonable in itfelf,
.and particularly fcvric whh tryard to me, who
'.have always lived an inoffenfive life in the neigh-.
I "bourfcood where I was born, and defy my ene
mies, (if I have any) to fay I ever wronged
( ytnan, woman or child.
Abftra&ed from the law, I cannot conceive,
(may it please your honors) what the nature of
[ Tny offence is. I have brought five fine children
dnto the .world, at the rifque of my life ; I have
maintained them well by my own industry, with
out burdening the townfnip, and would have done
; it better, if it had not been for the heavy charges
..and fines I have paid. Can it be a crime (in the
►mature of things I mean) to add to the number
►of the King’s fubjefls, in a new country that
really wants people ? I own it I fliouid think it a
•'jiraife-worthv, rather than a punilhable a&icn.
I have debauched no other woman’s husband, nor
♦enticed any youth; these things I never was
with, nor has .any one the least caufie of
•complaint again# me, unlcfs, perhaps, the mi
-.nifter or justice, bccaufe I have had children with
out being married, by which they have milled a
wedding fee. But, can this be a fault of mine ?
J appeal to your honors. You are pleased to al
low I don’t want sense ; but I muff be ftupified to
/a*! degree, not to prefer the honorable Hate
of wedlock, to the cPnditton 1 lived in. I
always wiS, and ftiil am willing to Z'.'-'"" **»
mid doubt not my behaving well in it, having al*
the industry, frugality, fertility, and skill in eco
nomy, appertaining to a good wife’s chafafter.
I defy any person to fay, I ever refufed an offer
of that fort ■: on the contrary, I readily confcnted
.to the only proposal of jnarriage that ever was
made me, which was when I was a virgin ; but
too easily confiding tn the person’s limjerity that
made it, I unhappily loft my own honor by trust.
* ing to bis; for he get me with child, and then
forfook me. That very person you all know;
he is now become a mqgiftrate of this county :
nad I had hopes he would have appeared this day
<>n the bench, and have endeavoured to moderate
'■the court in my favour; then! ihculcl have scorned
to have mentioned it; hut I must now complain of
it as unjust and unequal, that my betrayer and un
doer, the firft cause of all my faults and mifear
riager, (if they must be deemed such) fliouid be
adva need to honor ind power in that government,
that raaifiiea my misfortunes with stripes and in
*
famy. I shall be told, ’tis like, that were there
no aft of assembly in this case, the precepts of
religion are violated by my tranfgieffions. If
mine is a teligious offence, leave it to religious
punishments. You have already excluded me
from the comforts of your church communion.
Is not that fuffcient? You believe I have offended
heaven, and muff fuffer eternal lire; null not
that be fufficicnt f What need is there, then,
of your additional lines and whipping ? I own I
do not think as you do ; for, if I thought what
you call a fin, was really futh, I would not pre
fnmptuoufly commit it. But, how can it be be*
lieved, that heaven is angry at my having child
ren, when, to the little done by me towards it,
God has been pleased to add his divine (kill and
admirable workmanftiip in the formation of their
bodies, and crowned it, by furnilhing them with
rational and immortal fouls i Forgive me, gen
tlemen, if I talk a little extravagantly on these
matters ; lam no divine; but if you, gentlemen,
muff be making laws, do not turn natural and
ufeful aftions into crimes, by your prohibitions.
But take into ycur wife consideration, the great
and growing number of bachelors in the country,
many of whom, from the mean fear of the ex-
Pcnees of a family, have never sincerely and ho
norably courted a woman in their lives ; and by
their manner of Jiving, leave unproduced (which
is little better than murder) hundreds of their
posterity to the thousandth generation, Is not
this a greater offence against the public good than
mine l Compell them, then, by law, either to
marry, or to pay double the fine of fornication
every year. What (hall poor young women do,
whom custom hath forbid to solicit the men, and
who cannot force themfclveauponhufbands, when
the laws take no care r« provide them any—and
yet severely punith them if they do their duty
without them—the duty A the firft great com
mand of nature, and of nature’s God —increase
and multiply /t- A duty from the steady perform
ance of which, nothing has been able to deter
me; but for its Cake, I have hazarded the Loss of
the public efleem, and have frequently endured
public disgrace: and therefore ought, in my
humble opinion, instead of a whipping, to have
a statue erefted to my memory,
This judicious .adduefs influenced the court to
difpeofe with her punishment, and induced one
of her judges to marry her next day. She sup
ported an irreproachable charafter, and had fif
teen children by her husband.
N B. Another account fays her name W3S Sa
rah Olitor.
Xrxxxxxxxxx xx xx x x;
ANECDOTE of a d:JI mguifked Lord Chief fvfiice
of England.
THIS celebrated "Judge being on the Midland
circuit, a Mr. Shirley, of the county of
Leicefler, was brought before him, charged with
having committed a rape on the body of one of his
teuant’s daughters. The Judge was remarkable
for possessing an uncommon (hare of delicacy, and
therefore, on the day preceding that of the intend
ed trial, ordered the crier of the court to give
public notice, that it wqufj come on the next morn
ing at seven o’clock; ’thereby tmfling that the
female sex would abient tbemfelves on such an
occalicn. Infiead of Which, the ladies came pour
ing in numbers into the court, and Tilled the gallery
by fix o’clock. At length the Judge, having heard
all that the witnesses had to fay in support of the
charge, desired the prifouer would enter upon his
•defence. Mr. jihirley, therefore, informed the
THE
court, that, as he was one evening walking over
his grounds, he espied his profecutrix carrying
away a bundle of faggots from a pile that belonged
to him, and observing the was a handsome girl, ho
jocosely told her, if ever lie caught her repeating
the tranfgreflion, he would affinedly repay himfelf
in away most agreeable to his wuifkes. Business
calling him next day totown, he was absent about
a fortnight ; and, on his return home, One of his
servants desired to know whether he had given per—
million to a young woman to carry away faggots
fiom such a pilp, for that she had done it every
evening since his departure. It immediately occur
red to him that it mull be the girl he had seen be
fore, and abput the fapie hours he repaired to the
old spot, where he had not waited* long before the
made her appearance. Tp be bricf—Hc jocularly
desired the girl to make per/onal reflitution , which,
without hefitafion or reluftance, she complied with*
Mr. Shirley, in fhorr, was honourably acquitted s
byt, before he departed the court, the judge desired
to give him one piece of advice If, fays bis
lordship, you (hould ever find a woman Healing
your faggots again, do not threaten her withfuch a
pumjhment i for if yoy do, believe me that the
ladies in the gallery won’t leave you a flake in youc
hedge,
11VENTT GUINEAS REWARD.
RUN AWAY, from the fubferiber, in the
State of South-Carolina, the beginning of
March sass, A Negro Fellow, named 808, very
artful and sensible, of a black complexion, and
flout made, has a large fear across one of his legs,
just below his knee pan, he was taken some time
ago at Col. Marbury’s plantation, a few miles above
the town of Augusta, and fipce made his escape ;
it is probable he w»H endeavour to make for the
Indian nation, or remain with the inhabitants some
diftante above Augusta, by faying he is free. The
above Reward will be immediately paid (one half
in goid or silver, and the other half in the Paper
Medium of South-Carolina) to any person that will
deliver the said Negro Fellow to meat Alhepao,
in the above State of South-Carolina.
EDMUND BELLINGER, j i:n .
May 20, 1787. 38-4?
- 1 ' --•■■.
gw AM E to Macartan Camp*
A hell’s, Esq. Plantation, near
jjftffjßUr* Augusta, on Monday last, aN^-
FELLOW who fays , his
name is TOM, and mafter’sname
Hampton, or Lampton, he
j s about 5 feettf inches high, about
35 or 40 years old, has a blue homespun jacket
on, his hands appear to have bccq fealded, formerly
of the Gullo country.
June 20, 1787,
publijhed and way be had at the
Printing-Office,
THE
LAWS
Os the General Assembly of the State of Georgia,
pafi'ed last Seffipn.
likewise,
The Court of Conscience A#*
[No. XLI.3