Fredericksburg (Virginia) Political Arena,

November 1, 1831

From Sussex—We have been informed by a gentlemen from Sussex County that on Thursday the 20th instant as the Jailor entered the room of the prison in which the negroes condemned for being concerned in the late insurrection were confined for the purpose of giving them their meals, they knocked him down and rushed out of the room. There being but a small guard on duty at the time, one of the villains was enabled to make his escape—one was killed by the guard and another severely wounded—the remainder were recaptured without injury. On Friday four of them were hung in pursuance of the previous sentence of the court.

Henry Irving Tragle, The Southampton Slave Revolt of 1831: A Compilation of Source Material (Amherst, MA: The University of Massachusetts Press, 1971), 132.