Margaret confessed that she had killed the child. "I
inquired," says Mr. Bassett, "if she were not excited almost
to madness when she committed the act! 'No,' she replied, 'I
was as cool as I now am; and would much rather kill them at
once, and thus end their sufferings, than have them taken
back to slavery and be murdered by piece-meal.' She then told
the story of her wrongs. She spoke of her days of suffering,
of her nights of unmitigated toil, while the bitter tears
coursed their way down her cheeks."
Governor Chase, of Ohio, made a requisition upon Governor
Morehead, of Kentucky, for the surrender of Margaret Garner,
charged with murder. The requisition was taken by Joseph
Cooper, Esq. to Gov. Morehead, at Frankfort, on the _6th of
March_--an unpardonable delay in the circumstances. Gov.
Morehead issued an order for the surrender of Margaret. On
taking it to Louisville, Mr. Cooper found that Margaret, with
her infant child, and the rest of Mr. Gaines's slaves had
been sent down the river in the steamboat Henry Lewis, to be
sold in Arkansas.
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