Penny Dreadfuls, 1916 · page 286 of 400
Tom Anderson, Dare-Devil: A Young Virginian in the Revolution — page 286: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a page of running prose from the penny dreadful *Tom Anderson, Dare-Devil* (page 268). The text depicts Tom being removed from a jail cell in Bridgetown and taken to the whipping-post on the authority of an owner's written order for twenty lashes, which Tom protests vehemently, asserting he is "no negro, no slave." The passage then describes the jail building itself—a large, well-ventilated structure in Barbados where the Legislative Council and Court of Common Pleas also meet—and shows Tom being led into a walled court, where he desperately observes the sparse attendance in the legislative hall above.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
268 Tom ANDERSON, Dare-DEVIL carefully calculated malignity, though he knew he was not done with the man. So, five minutes after the termination of the interview between Knatchbull and Higgins in the ship-broker’s office on the bay, two deputies unlocked the door of a cell in the town jail and took out a prisoner. “What now?” he asked. “Whipping-post. That’s wot.” “What authority have you for this outrage?”’ ‘“Owner’s horders,” answered the London cockney. He displayed a scrap of paper, scrawled over with these words : — Give my yaller boy, tom, twenty lashes. Pd. one crown. Horpwoop HiccIns. “Hold on!” ‘To save his soul he could not help being husky. “You can’t whip me!” “Can't, hey? We'll soon show yer, yaller boy.” “T’m no negro, no slave. You'll get into trouble —”’ “Look ’ere. *Iggins ’as paid ter have yer back striped fer ye. No use ter jaw.” “’Ot day,’ grumbled the warden as he unlocked the corridor door. “’Ot as November. The first o’ Jannerwerry hought to be fine. Hand look ’ow we’re steamin’!”’ “The first day of January, 1781,” breathed the pris- oner. The Bridgetown jail was large, well built and well ven- tilated; and at that period an upper hall in the building was employed by the Legislative Council during the ses- sions of that body, and by the Court of Common Pleas during its sittings, conducted monthly during eight months in the year. Tom was led from the calaboose into a walled court at- tached to the jail. He cast a desperate look at the open windows above his head. There seemed to be but a thin attendance in the legislative hall. At one window was a patch of snow — a curly, powdered head — and a chiseled CONNIE KOOKS (E(0) m