Page:Race distinctions in American Law (IA racedistinctions00stepiala).pdf/64

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orderly character of the applicant. The violation of this statute was a misdemeanor punishable by the forfeiture to the use of the informer of such firearms and ammunition and by standing in a pillory one hour or by being whipped not over thirty-nine stripes.

In Mississippi[30] the law was that any freedman, free Negro, or mulatto, not in the military service of the United States nor having a specified license, who should keep or carry firearms of any kind or any ammunition, dirk, or bowie-knife should be punished by a fine of not over ten dollars, and all such arms, etc., should be forfeited to the informer. The law further provided that, if any white person lent or gave a freedman, free Negro, or mulatto any firearms, ammunition, dirk, or bowie-knife, such white person should be fined not over fifty dollars, or imprisoned not over thirty days. South Carolina[31] did allow a Negro who was the owner of a farm, to keep a "shot-gun or rifle, such as is ordinarily used in hunting, but not a pistol, musket, or other firearm or weapon appropriate for purposes of war."

It has been seen that some States forbade Negroes to make or sell intoxicating liquor. Others went a step further and made it unlawful to sell liquor to Negroes. It is worth noting that one of the early acts of the legislature of Alabama[32] was to repeal such a law. But Kentucky[33] forbade a coffee-house keeper to sell liquor to free Negroes under penalty of a bond of five hundred dollars. Mississippi[34] made it an offence, punishable by a fine of not over fifty dollars or imprisonment for not more than thirty days, for a white man to sell, give, or lend a Negro any intoxicating liquors, except that a master, mistress, or employer