Whipping used to be a common way to punishment for petty crimes. The whipping of women was not too common, but it was done from time to time to set an example for the people of the area. A whipping was a big deal, and people would come to watch the whipping.
Jamie Brown was born July 3, 1840 in Little Horn, Texas; Jamie was kind, sweet girl who was just wanting to have fun and be a good girl. In 1858 the state of Texas pass a law that anyone who helped a slave to run away from his or her masters would be whipped in town square. Jamie Brown hates slavery and she was very kind all people regard of race. In June of 1859 Jamie Brown met a kind girl named Amanda and the only problem Amanda was black slave who have ran away from her master in Arkansas, but Jamie did not know Amanda was a run slave. Amanda and Jamie met in Johnson’s store one day, Amanda was trying to get some food, but Mr. Johnson hated all black people, so he refused to sell Amanda food. Jamie was in the store buying her monthly supplies for her ranch that she got from her father the year before. When Jamie’s father died, Jamie got the ranch and much of the land around town; Jamie was a rich girl for that time. Jamie set all her father’s slaves free and gave them jobs on her ranch. Many people around town did not like what Jamie had done.
Jamie saw Amanda crying outside the town; Jamie asked Amanda what was wrong; Amanda told her she could not find food or work. Jamie told Amanda to come back to the ranch where work and food was waiting for people who needed it. Amanda went back to the ranch with Jamie; she loves it there because the people were so nice to her. Two days later a man come to town, he claimed his slave ran away about a week ago. He went to the sheriff, and the sheriff told him that a black woman had come by the town a few days later. The sheriff told the man to rent a room and he would go out and look for the run away slave and let the man know what he found in a day or two. The sheriff went out to the Jamie’s ranch and asks her did she know about any run away slaves in the area. Jamie told the sheriff about Amanda. The sheriff told Jamie that she must turn the run away slave over the man in town. Jamie did not want to do that, so she asks the sheriff if he could may be get the man to sell Amanda to her. The sheriff warned Jamie of the law about helping slaves, but Jamie told the sheriff she was not worried about that law because she was a woman and women never got whipped before for breaking the law. The sheriff told Jamie that times was changing and she may get fooled one day soon.
The Sheriff went back to town, and he found the man. The sheriff told the man about the he had found out on the ranch. The man demanded his slave be return and told the sheriff that he would never sell a slave to someone who might free a slave. The sheriff went out to the ranch and told Jamie that Amanda had to be return to her owner by sun down or he would have to take Jamie to jail. Jamie told the Sheriff Amanda had left the ranch and was not coming back. The Sheriff took Jamie to town and put her in Jail.
The jail was in the back of the sheriff office, it was four rooms with bars for doors and walls; it was a place anyone wanted to go to. The floor was cold and the rooms were poorly lighted. The sheriff told Jamie he was sorry but she had to be treated just like all the other prisoners. The sheriff told Jamie that she had to be searched and bathed before she could be put in her cell. Jamie was taken to a room that has a table and big washtub in the middle of the room. The sheriff told Jamie to take all of her clothes off and put the clothes on the table. She took off her clothes and stood there naked in front of the sheriff. Sheriff looked at Jamie’s body closely and saw she was clean and she have nothing to hide. The sheriff told Jamie to get in the washtub and take a good long bath. After the bath, Jamie was told to put on a long shirt and that was what she would wear in the jail. The shirt came down to her knees; Jamie went to sleep in her cold dark cell that night.
