Celia, A Slave

Arthur Burdett (A.B.) Frost - an artist who created pictures for some of Mark Twain's books - drew this image depicting a scene in a Southern slave town.  Note the overseer's whip.  Image online, courtesy Library of Congress.

Temporarily free, Celia wanted to see her children (who were now the property of Newsom's estate).  However ... those children were then under the control of a Newsom son, and that fact sealed the fate of this convicted slave-defendant. 

Harvey Newsom promptly returned Celia to the Fulton jail, and Judge Hall set a new date for her execution. 

Despite her lawyers' continued efforts, as they tried for a stay of execution, Missouri's Supreme Court was of no use to Celia.  On the 14th of December, the Justices ruled against her.  Among the words of their order are these:

...it is thought proper to refuse the prayer of the petitioner; there being seen upon inspection of the record aforesaid no probable cause for such appeal.  (Quoted by Harriet C. Frazier in Slavery and Crime in Missouri, 1773-1865, at page 193.)

It is fair to wonder ... if identical facts and circumstances applied in a non-slave case, would the Justices have reached the same conclusion?

Celia was hanged on December 21, 1855.

Melton A. McLaurin tells us what happened next in Celia, A Slave:

...Celia was marched to the gallows.  At 2:30 on a Friday afternoon, the trap was spring and Celia fell to her death.  The names of those who participated in or witnessed her death are not recorded, but given the time of execution, it is likely that many of Fulton and Callaway County's citizens stood at the foot of the gallows.

One of the witnesses was the unidentified Telegraph reporter, in all probability the man who edited the paper throughout the decade of the 1850s, John B. Williams.  With unintentional irony, that witness precisely characterized Celia's death:  "Thus closed one of the most horrible tragedies ever enacted in our county."  (Celia, A Slave, by Melton A. McLaurin, page 135.)

What is left to say about laws which allow one human being to "own" another?  What kind of a "law" prevents a defendant from speaking on her own behalf?  What kind of "justice" is served when due process is disallowed? 

As demonstrated by Celia’s case, "the law" - as it is written and as it is applied - is not always fair, or just or moral.  
                           
Underscoring that point, America's highest court issued a ruling in another Missouri case less than two years after Celia was hanged.  Dred Scott - the U.S. Supreme Court declared, in 1857 - did not have the rights of a U.S. citizen because ... he was black.


NOTE:  Callaway Circuit Court's records regarding the case - The State of Missouri Against Celia, A Slave - still exist.  The originals have been digitized and are available online.  See page 59 for reference to the death sentence.