A LYNCHING
Upon leaving the hospital, I remained several days in Memphis,
spending most of my hours enjoying the shade and sunshine of a small
park, which is pleasantly situated in the main portion of that town.
One morning, while doing this, I was accosted by one whom I soon
recognised as a fellow worker of mine in the stave factory. From him I
learnt that the firm had smashed, no pay day had come, and the stores
had all absolutely refused to honour the firm's orders; while some men
had left the town disgusted, and others were patiently waiting a
settlement that would never come. This man was going north, so I left
him at Memphis, intending to beat my way to New Orleans, and from that
town to the state of Texas.
These states of Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana, are
the homes of the negroes of old. It is a strange contrast to see the
old negroes, who in their young days were slaves, reverently raising
their hats to any seedy looking white man whom they meet, calling him
such titles as captain, major, colonel and even general--and the half
defiant gloom of the free, young generations, who are still in some
respects slaves to the white men. These negroes lived in small wooden
shanties, and rarely received money for their labour. They worked for
the planter at so much a day. This gentleman kept on the plantation a
large general store, and supplied their wants at such an exorbitant
price that the negroes were seldom out of debt, when the busy season
commenced. In the cities, silk would be far cheaper than the common
flimsy muslin which poor black Dinah so much coveted from her master's
store. I have heard many an old negro say that he was far worse off as
a freeman than as a slave.
The prisons in the north were like hotels, but here in the south went
to the extreme of cruelty. In some places a man would be tried and
perhaps fined ten dollars and costs. A citizen, having need of a cheap
labourer, would pay this fine, take possession of the prisoner, and
make him work out his fine on the farm. This citizen would buy the
prisoner cheap overalls, dungarees, shirts, shoes, etc., for a few
dollars, and charge the prisoner four times their amount. The prisoner
was not free to refuse these, and being forced to work out their
price, was kept in this way twice the number of his days. I was very
much afraid of all this, although a wandering white man was not in
nearly so much danger as a negro.
Some days after leaving Memphis, I arrived at a small town, where I
was surprised to see an unusual amount of bustle, the surrounding
country for miles having sent in all its able bodied men. Every man
was armed with a gun, and they stood in small groups talking outside
the various stores. It seemed as though there had been rumours of an
invasion, and that these men were organising to defend their homes and
country, but I had not the least idea of what had really happened. The
small groups now began to join together into larger ones, and the
larger groups joined until they became one large body of men. This one
body then shouldered guns and moved quickly along the main street, the
men's faces being drawn and pale. I followed on, perhaps the one
unarmed man among them, curious to know the meaning of it all. They
came at last to a halt, and, to see the reason for this, I stepped
across the way, and saw that they had halted before a large building,
which, by its barred windows, I had no difficulty in recognising as
the jail. One man had curled around his shoulders a long rope, and
this man with two others knocked loudly with the butt ends of their
guns on the prison door. Almost in an instant the door was flung wide
open, and the sheriff stood in the open way to know their wants. The
men must have demanded the prison keys, for I saw the sheriff at once
produce them, which he handed to these men without the least show of
resistance. This man with the rope and several others then entered
the jail, and the silent crowd without cast their eyes in that
direction. Up to the present time I had not heard a distinct voice,
nothing but the buzz of low whispering. But suddenly from the jail's
interior there came a loud shriek and a voice crying for mercy. Men
now appeared in the open doorway, dragging after them a negro at the
end of a rope. This unfortunate wretch was possessed of a terror that
is seldom seen in a human being. He fell on his knees to pray, but was
jerked to his feet ere he could murmur the first words, O Lord. He
staggered to and fro and sideways, at the same time howling and
jabbering, foaming at the mouth, and showing the horrible white of his
eyes. I can well understand a man screaming, trembling and crying for
mercy, when actually enduring bodily pain, but that one should show
such a terror at the thought of it, filled me more with disgust than
pity. That this prisoner should have been so brutal and unfeeling in
inflicting pain on another, and should now show so much cowardice in
anticipation of receiving punishment inadequate to his offence, dried
in me the milk of human kindness, and banished my first thoughts,
which had been to escape this horrible scene without witnessing its
end. For it was now I remembered reading of this man's offence, and it
was of the most brutal kind, being much like the work of a wild beast.
They now marched him from the jail, their strong arms supporting his
terror stricken limbs, but no man reviled him with his tongue, and I
saw no cowardly hand strike him. Soon they came to a group of trees on
the outskirts of the town, and, choosing the largest of these, they
threw the rope's end over its strongest branch, the prisoner at the
same time crying for mercy, and trying to throw his body full on the
ground. When this was done a dozen hands caught the rope's end, made
one quick jerk, and the prisoner's body was struggling in the air.
Then all these men shouldered their guns, fired one volley, and in a
second the body was hanging lifeless with a hundred shots. In five
minutes after this, nothing but the corpse remained to tell of what
had occurred, the men having quietly scattered towards their homes.
A few days after this, I was in New Orleans, intending to spend a week
or two in that city, before I started on my journey to Texas. It was
in this city, three days after my arrival, that I became the victim of
an outrage which was as unsatisfactory to others as to myself. Having
been to the theatre, and being on my way back home late at night, half
a dozen men, whom I scarcely had time to recognise as negroes, sprang
from a dark corner, and, without saying a word, or giving the least
chance of escape or defence, biffed and banged at my face and head
until I fell unconscious at their feet. Their motive, without a doubt,
was robbery, but having my money concealed in a belt next to my body,
they had to be satisfied with a five cent piece, which was all my
pockets contained. Such brutal outrages as these are seldom committed
by white men, who having the more cool courage, demand a man's money
at the commencement, and do not resort to violence, except it be their
victim's wish. But this not very intelligent race half murder a man
without being sure of anything for their pains. White men will search
a man as he stands, and if he possesses nothing, he may go his way
uninjured, followed perhaps, by a curse or two of disappointment; but
these negroes prefer to murder a man first, and then to search the
dead body. They are certainly born thieves. On the river boats, that
ply the Mississippi from St. Louis to New Orleans, which are all
manned by negroes, with the exception of those holding the higher
offices, a negro thief will often spoil a six dollar pair of trousers
in robbing his victim of a twenty-five cent piece. When a man is
asleep the negro will bend over him, feeling the outside of his
trousers where the pockets are. If he feels the shape of a coin,
instead of working his fingers carefully into the mouth of the pocket,
he takes out his razor and, holding the coin with the fingers of his
left hand, cuts it out, bringing away coin, part of the lining, pocket
and trousers. When the victim wakes he, or some one else, sees the
hole, and they at once know the meaning of it. I remember a trip on
one of these boats when a white man feigned a sleep, lying on his
back on a bale of cotton, with his hands in his coat pockets. In his
right pocket was a revolver, which his right hand held ready cocked
for use. These negroes are always on the look out for sleepers, and
one of these thieves was soon bending over his expected victim. He had
felt a coin and, taking out his razor, was in the act of cutting it
out, when there was a sharp report, and the negro fell back shot
through the brain. The supposed sleeper quietly rose to his feet, and
when the captain and some officers came, he simply pointed to the
negro and the fallen razor, and no other explanation was needed. At
the next stopping place the captain had a few words with the
authorities, and the dead body was taken ashore, but the white
passenger continued his journey without being bothered about a trial
or examination. There was no more thieving during that trip.
I soon left New Orleans, being possessed with a restless spirit, and,
after visiting Galveston, Euston, and many more towns of less
importance, I made my way through the heart of Texas to the town of
Paris, which lies on the borders of the Indian territory. It was in a
saloon in the main street of this town that I had my attention drawn
to a glass case, wherein was seen hanging a cord, at the end of which
was something that looked very much like a walnut. On looking closer,
I saw a small heap of dust at the bottom. Seeing that this case
contained no stuffed animal, nor any model of ingenious mechanism, I
began to read the printed matter, curious for an explanation. This
small thing dangling at the end of the cord purported to be the heart
of a negro, whom the people had some time previously burned at the
stake. He had suffered a terrible death: so had his little victim, a
mere child of a few years, who had been found in the woods torn limb
from limb. This negro had been arrested by the sheriff, and sentenced
to a short term adequate to his offence. After he had been released,
he had taken his revenge on the sheriff's child, bearing her off when
on her way to school. The sheriff's wife, being the child's mother,
had with her own hand applied the torch to this monster, and if her
hand had failed, any woman in this land of many millions would have
willingly done her this service.
I left Paris that night, catching a fast cattle train, and arrived the
following morning at Fort Smith, Arkansas. Bill Cook, the train and
bank robber, and his gang, were being tried this morning, and a
special train was now waiting to convey them to the penitentiary. I
saw this notorious free-booter, when he was brought to the station--a
young man between twenty and thirty years, receiving a sentence of
forty years' imprisonment. One of his gang, Cherokee Bill, a
desperado of nineteen years, was indicted for murder, and remained in
Fort Smith to be hanged. The train steamed out with its many deputies
to guard a few prisoners--few, but proved to be very dangerous.