May 07, 2020 - Sale 2534

Sale 2534 - Lot 44

Price Realized: $ 531
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 600 - $ 900
"PLAN OF . . . A NEGRO REBELLION" (SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.) Walton, Augustus Q. A History of the Detection, Conviction, Life and Designs of John A. Murel, the Great Western Land Pirate, Together with his System of Villainy, and Plan of Exciting a Negro Rebellion. 75 pages. 8vo, disbound, lacking wrappers; moderate dampstaining to early leaves, foxing, inked "17" on title page, minor wear. Athens, TN: George White, 1835

Additional Details

Probable second edition, issued in the same year as the Lexington, KY first. John Andrews Murrell was a white bandit from Tennessee who led a network of hundreds of fellow criminals described as his "Mystic Clan" in operations along the Mississippi River. He was infamous for stealing enslaved people from one plantation, only to sell them to another owner (see an example on page 31). His biggest plan was to lead a national slave uprising on Christmas night, 1835, and then set himself up as leader (see page 26). He was arrested before the plan could amount to much. Adams, Six-Guns 2301; Howes W76 ("aa").