[Ads-l] Antedating of "Chain Gang"

[Ben Zimmer]

Indeed, the cite doesn't describe New York, but rather Roseau on the island
of Dominica. The full quotation reads:

---
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-post-chain-gang/169919822/
The few prisoners confined for debt at the jail in Rosseau, in consequence
of its delapidated state, were released upon parole of honor to surrender,
and the chain gang of culprit's is delivered over to their owners.
---

--bgz

On Wed, Apr 9, 2025 at 10:20 AM George Thompson <george.thompson at nyu.edu>
wrote:

> The law that was passed in the late 1790s abolishing slavery in the state
> applied only to babies born after the date of the law.  The mother and
> older children were still held as slaves.  Slavery wasn't abolished until
> 1828.
>
> Also: the scene described perhaps did not happen in New York State.
>
> GAT
>
> On Tue, Apr 8, 2025 at 7:15 AM James Landau <
> 00000c13e57d49b8-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>
> > On  Tue, 8 Apr 2025 01:03:42 +0000   "Shapiro, Fred" <
> > fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU> posted
> > <chain gang (OED 1834)
> > >>1813 New-York Evening Post 7 Sept. 3 / 4 (Newspapers.com)
> > >>The chain gang of culprit's [sic] is delivered to their owners.
> >
> > I don't understand "culprits...their owners:".
> > In 1813 slavery was illegal in New York.  Who are the "owners"?
> >
>
>

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