Gen. Lee a Woman Whipper.

To the admirers of General Robert E. Lee, who are wont to hold him up to us as a model of the Christian gentleman, we commend the statement of Wesley Norris, one of the slaves on the Arlington estate, whose freedom was provided for in the will of the late Mr. Custis, but who was retained in bondage by Lee, the heir of the testator. Norris in company with his sister and a cousin, ran away in 1859, but were subsequently recaptured. Norris who is now in the employ of the Government says:

“We were immediately taken before Gen. Lee, who demanded the reason why we ran away; we frankly told him that we considered ourselves free; he then told us he would teach us a lesson we never would forget; he then ordered us to the barn, where, in his presence, we were tied firmly to posts by a Mr. Gwin, our overseer, who was ordered by Gen. Lee to strip us to the waist and give us fifty lashes each, excepting my sister, who received but twenty; we were accordingly stripped to the skin by the overseer, who, however, had sufficient humanity to decline whipping us; accordingly Dick Williams, a county constable, was called in, who gave us the number of lashes ordered; Gen. Lee, in the meantime, stood by, and frequently enjoined Williams to lay it on well, an injunction which he did not fail to heed; not satisfied with simply lacerating our naked flesh, Gen. Lee then ordered the overseer to thoroughly wash our backs with brine, which was done. After this my cousin and myself were sent to Hanover Court-House jail, my sister being sent to Richmond to an agent to be hired;”

A Woman Whipper a Christian gentleman!