The Edenton (North Carolina) Gazette,

August 31, 1831

        With us we have detected no signs nor symptoms of an insurrectionary spirit; the slaves appear quiet, peaceable and unoffending and while we recommend vigilence [sic] to our citizens, we would likewise respectfully suggest they should not suffer the present excitement, to cause them to deviate from their accustomed mild and moderate treatment to the slaves. The innocent should not suffer on account of the wicked—nor the just be confounded with the unjust.

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        We learn from undoubted authority that the report of the murders being committed in Northampton, is entirely without foundation. It is said to have been started by a white man, for some design unknown. We learn also that this unprincipled wretch has paid dear for his thoughtlessness, by having several guns, well charged, flashed at him—the final result of which may be readily conjectured.

Henry Irving Tragle, The Southampton Slave Revolt of 1831: A Compilation of Source Material (Amherst, MA: The University of Massachusetts Press, 1971), 56