MDDM Ch. 72 Dixon and the slave driver (Italics)

[s~Z]

>>>it's very difficult to imagine, imo,  that on this street, in
a colony where the rights of slave-owners and merchandisers are so highly
esteemed, where Dixon and Mason do feel threatened, that nobody would rush
forward to defend the slave-driver and his property rights  if Dixon were
actually beating him with the whip.<<<

If the historical record is credible, you don't have to imagine it.