(SLAVERY AND ABOLITION) [WALTON AUGUSTUS Q pseudonym of Virg

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VERY RARE PAMPHLET (SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.) [WALTON, AUGUSTUS Q., pseudonym of Virgil Stewart] A History of the Detection, Conviction, Life and Designs of John A. Murel. The Great Western Land Pirate! Together with his System of Villany, and Plan of Exciting a Negro Rebellion. Engraved portrait vignette title-page. [1]-4-46 pages. 8vo, original self-wrappers; wide, untrimmed edges wrinkled and with some wear; paper evenly toned. [New York, 1839.]

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rare, probable fifth edition for which oclc locates only one copy. One of the most famous and intriguing American outlaw narratives, written by Virgil Stewart, supposedly one of Murel's cohorts. Known as a "land-pirate," Murel used the Mississippi River as a base for his operations. He employed a network of anywhere from 300 (Stewart's estimate) to 1,000 (as quoted in Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi) to 2,500 (as some newspaper reports claimed) fellow bandits collectively known as the Mystic Clan to pull off his escapades. Many of these were members of racially mixed cultural/ethnic groups such as the Melungeons and the Redbones. He was also known as a bushwhacker along the Natchez Trace. While the title implies Murel's attempts to incite a slave rebellion, in fact Murel was known to have aided slaves in their escape, only to sell them back into slavery. Quite possibly the strangest American outlaw narrative. Howes, Final Edition, W74; Adams Six-Guns, 2301 ("Rare"); Cohen 14041 (earlier edition); not in Schomburg Collection.