... to them over a Northern man, well endorsed, who offered $300,000 for the property. When on one occasion the negroes could not pay their note when it fell due-the amount of the note was $25,000-Mr. Joseph E. Davis tore it up and told them to go on and pay the rest of the debt. Corporal punishment was not permitted on The Brierfield, and was never inflicted except upon conviction of the culprit by a jury...