ON THE DISSECTING BOARD.
About this time the Legislature of Louisiana passed a law designed
to prevent white people from teaching in schools conducted in the
interest of Negroes.
A college for Negroes had been located at Cadeville for many years,
presided over by a white minister from the North. Under the operations
of the law mentioned, he was forced to resign his position.
The colored people were, therefore, under the necessity of casting
about for a successor. They wrote to the president of Stowe University
requesting him to recommend a man competent to take charge of the
college. The president decided that Belton was an ideal man for the
place and recommended him to the proper authorities. Belton was duly
elected.
He again bade home adieu and boarded the train for Cadeville,
Louisiana. Belton's journey was devoid of special interest until
he arrived within the borders of the state. At that time the law
providing separate coaches for colored and white people had not been
enacted by any of the Southern States. But in some of them the whites
had an unwritten but inexorable law, to the effect that no Negro
should be allowed to ride in a first-class coach. Louisiana was one of
these states, but Belton did not know this. So, being in a first-class
coach when he entered Louisiana, he did not get up and go into a
second-class coach. The train was speeding along and Belton was
quietly reading a newspaper. Now and then he would look out of a
window at the pine tree forest near the track. The bed of the railway
had been elevated some two or three feet above the ground, and to get
the dirt necessary to elevate it a sort of trench had been dug, and
ran along beside the track. The rain had been falling very copiously
for the two or three days previous, and the ditch was full of muddy
water. Belton's eyes would now and then fall on this water as they
sped along.
In the meanwhile the train began to get full, passengers getting on
at each station. At length the coach was nearly filled. A white lady
entered, and not at once seeing a vacant seat, paused a few seconds to
look about for one. She soon espied an unoccupied seat. She proceeded
to it, but her slight difficulty had been noted by the white
passengers.
Belton happened to glance around and saw a group of white men in an
eager, animated conversation, and looking in his direction now and
then as they talked. He paid no especial attention to this, however,
and kept on reading. Before he was aware of what was going on, he
was surrounded by a group of angry men. He stood up in surprise to
discover its meaning. "Get out of this coach. We don't allow niggers
in first-class coaches. Get out at once," said their spokesman.
"Show me your authority to order me out, sir," said Belton firmly.
"We are our own authority, as you will soon find out if you don't get
out of here."
"I propose," said Belton, "to stay right in this coach as long----"
He did not finish the sentence, for rough fingers were clutching his
throat. The whole group was upon him in an instant and he was soon
overpowered. They dragged him into the aisle, and, some at his head
and others at his feet, lifted him and bore him to the door. The train
was speeding along at a rapid rate. Belton grew somewhat quiet in his
struggling, thinking to renew it in the second-class coach, whither
he supposed they were carrying him. But when they got to the platform,
instead of carrying him across they tossed him off the train into that
muddy ditch at which Belton had been looking. His body and feet fell
into the water while his head buried itself in the soft clay bed.
The train was speeding on and Belton eventually succeeded in
extricating himself from his bed of mud and water. Covered from head
to foot with red clay, the president-elect of Cadeville College walked
down to the next station, two miles away. There he found his satchel,
left by the conductor of the train. He remained at this station until
the afternoon, when another train passed. This time he entered the
second-class coach and rode unmolested to Monroe, Louisiana. There
he was to have changed cars for Cadeville. The morning train, the one
from which he was thrown, made connection with the Cadeville train,
but the afternoon train did not. So he was under the necessity of
remaining over night in the city of Monroe, a place of some twenty
thousand inhabitants.
Being hungry, he went forth in quest of a meal. He entered a
restaurant and asked the white man whom he saw behind the counter for
a meal. The white man stepped into a small adjoining room to fill the
order, and Belton eat down on a high stool at the eating counter. The
white man soon returned with some articles of food in a paper bag.
Seeing Belton sitting down, he cried out: "Get up from there, you
nigger. It would cost me a hundred dollars for you to be seen sitting
there."
Belton looked up in astonishment, "Do you mean to say that I must
stand up here and eat?" he asked.
"No, I don't mean any such thing. You must go out of here to eat."
"Then," replied Belton, "I shall politely leave your food on your
hands if I cannot be allowed to eat in here."
"I guess you won't," the man replied. "I have cut this ham off for you
and you have got to take it."
Belton, remembering his experience earlier in the day, began to move
toward the door to leave. The man seized a whistle and in an instant
two or three policemen came running, followed by a crowd. Belton stood
still to await developments. The clerk said to the policeman: "This
high-toned nigger bought a meal of me and because I would not let him
sit down and eat like white people he refused to pay me."
The officers turned to Belton and said: "Pay that man what you owe
him."
Belton replied: "I owe him nothing. He refuses to accommodate me, and
I therefore owe him nothing."
"Come along with me, sir. Consider yourself under arrest."
Wondering what kind of a country he had entered, Belton followed the
officer and incredible as it may seem, was locked up in jail for the
night. The next morning he was arraigned before the mayor, whom the
officer had evidently posted before the opening of court. Belton was
fined five dollars for vagrancy and was ordered to leave town within
five hours. He paid his fine and boarded the train for Cadeville.
As the train pulled in for Cadeville, a group of white men were seen
standing on the platform. One of them was a thin, scrawny looking man
with a long beard, very, very white. His body was slightly stooping
forward, and whenever he looked at you he had the appearance of
bending as if to see you better. When Belton stepped on to the
platform this man, who was the village doctor, looked at him keenly.
Belton was a fine specimen of physical manhood. His limbs were well
formed, well proportioned and seemed as strong as oak. His manly
appearance always excited interest wherever he was seen. The doctor's
eyes followed him cadaverously. He went up to the postmaster, a short
man with a large head. The postmaster was president of the band of
"Nigger Rulers" of that section.
The doctor said to the postmaster: "I'll be durned if that ain't the
finest lookin' darkey I ever put my eye on. If I could get his body to
dissect, I'd give one of the finest kegs of whiskey in my cellar."
The postmaster looked at Belton and said: "Zakeland," for such was the
doctor's name, "you are right. He is a fine looking chap, and he looks
a little tony. If we 'nigger rulers' are ever called in to attend to
him we will not burn him nor shoot him to pieces. We will kill him
kinder decent and let you have him to dissect. I shall not fail to
call for that whiskey to treat the boys." So saying they parted.
Belton did not hear this murderous conversation respecting himself. He
was joyfully received by the colored people of Cadeville, to whom
he related his experiences. They looked at him as though he was a
superior being bearing a charmed life, having escaped being killed. It
did not come to their minds to be surprised at the treatment accorded
him for what he had done. Their wonder was as to how he got off so
easily.
Belton took charge of the school and began the faithful performance of
his duties. He decided to add an industrial department to his school
and traveled over the state and secured the funds for the work. He
sent to New Orleans for a colored architect and contractor who drew
the plans and accepted the contract for erecting the building.
They decided to have colored men erect the building and gathered a
force for that purpose. The white brick-masons of Monroe heard of
this. They organized a mob, came to Cadeville and ordered the men
to quit work. They took charge of the work themselves, letting the
colored brick-masons act as hod carriers for them. They employed a
white man to supervise the work. The colored people knew that it meant
death to resist and they paid the men as though nothing unusual had
happened.
Belton had learned to observe and wait. These outrages sank like
molten lead into his heart, but he bore them all. The time for the
presidential election was drawing near and he arose in the chapel one
morning to lecture to the young men on their duty to vote.
One of the village girls told her father of Belton's speech. The old
man was shaving his face and had just shaved off one side of his beard
when his daughter told him. He did not stop to pull the towel from
around his neck nor to put down his razor. He rushed over to the house
where Belton boarded and burst into his room. Belton threw up his
hands in alarm at seeing this man come, razor in hand, towel around
his neck and beard half off and half on. The man sat down to catch
his breath. He began: "Mr. Piedmont, I learn that you are advising our
young men to vote. I am sure you don't know in what danger you stand.
I have come to give you the political history of this section of
Louisiana. The colored people of this region far outnumber the white
people, and years ago had absolute control of everything. The whites
of course did not tamely submit, but armed themselves to overthrow us.
We armed ourselves, and every night patrolled this road all night long
looking for the whites to come and attack us. My oldest brother is
a very cowardly and sycophantic man. The white people made a spy and
traitor out of him. When the people found out that there was treachery
in our ranks it demoralized them, and our organization went to pieces.
"We had not the authority nor disposition to kill a traitor, and
consequently we had no effective remedy against a betrayal. When the
news of our demoralized condition reached the whites it gave them
fresh courage, and they have dominated us ever since. They carry on
the elections. We stay in our fields all day long on election day
and scarcely know what is going on. Not long since a white man came
through here and distributed republican ballots. The white people
captured him and cut his body into four pieces and threw it in the
Ouachita River. Since then you can't get any man to venture here to
distribute ballots.
"Just before the last presidential campaign, two brothers, Samuel and
John Bowser, colored, happened to go down to New Orleans. Things are
not so bad down there as they are up here in Northern Louisiana. These
two brothers each secured a republican party ballot, and on election
day somewhat boastfully cast them into the ballot box. There is, as
you have perhaps heard, a society here known as 'Nigger Rulers.' The
postmaster of this place is president of the society, and the teacher
of the white public school is the captain of the army thereof.
"They sent word to the Bowser brothers that they would soon be there
to whip them. The brothers prepared to meet them. They cut a hole
in the front side of the house, through which they could poke a gun.
Night came on, and true to their word the 'Nigger Rulers' came. Samuel
Bowser fired when they were near the house and one man fell dead.
All of the rest fled to the cover of the neighboring woods. Soon they
cautiously returned and bore away their dead comrade. They made no
further attack that night.
"The brothers hid out in the woods. Hearing of this and fearing that
the men would make their escape the whites gathered in force and
hemmed in the entire settlement on all sides. For three days the men
hid in the woods, unable to escape because of the guard kept by the
whites. The third night a great rain came up and the whites sought the
shelter of their homes.
"The brothers thus had a chance to escape. John escaped into Arkansas,
but Samuel, poor fool, went only forty miles, remaining in Louisiana.
The mob forced one of our number, who escorted him on horseback, to
inform them of the road that Samuel took. In this way they traced and
found him. They tied him on a horse and brought him back here with
them. They kept him in the woods three days, torturing him. On the
third day we heard the loud report of a gun which we supposed ended
his life. None of us know where he lies buried. You can judge from
this why we neglect voting."
This speech wound up Belton's political career in Cadeville. He
thanked the man for the information, assuring him that it would be of
great value to him in knowing how to shape his course.
After Belton had been at Cadeville a few years, he had a number of
young men and women to graduate from the various departments of his
school. He invited the pastor of a leading white church of Monroe to
deliver an oration on the day of commencement exercises. The preacher
came and was most favorably impressed with Belton's work, as exhibited
in the students then graduating. He esteemed Belton as a man of great
intellectual power and invited him to call at his church and house if
he ever came to Monroe.
Belton was naturally greatly elated over this invitation from a
Southerner and felt highly complimented. One Sabbath morning, shortly
thereafter, Belton happened to be in Monroe, and thinking of the
preacher's kind invitation, went to his church to attend the morning
service. He entered and took a seat near the middle of the church.
During the opening exercises a young white lady who sat by his side
experienced some trouble in finding the hymn. Belton had remembered
the number given out and kindly took the book to find it. In an
instant the whole church was in an uproar. A crowd of men gathered
around Belton and led him out of doors. A few leaders went off to
one side and held a short consultation. They decided that as it was
Sunday, they would not lynch him. They returned to the body of men yet
holding Belton and ordered him released. This evidently did not please
the majority, but he was allowed to go.
That afternoon Belton called at the residence of the minister in order
to offer an explanation. The minister opened the door, and seeing
who it was, slammed it in his face. Belton turned away with many
misgivings as to what was yet to come. Dr. Zackland always spent
his Sundays at Monroe and was a witness of the entire scene in which
Belton had figured so prominently. He hastened out of church, and as
soon as he saw Belton turned loose, hurried to the station and boarded
the train for Cadeville, leaving his hymn book and Bible on his seat
in the church. His face seemed lighted up with joy. "I've got him at
last. Careful as he has been I've got him," he kept repeating over and
over to himself.
He left the train at Cadeville and ran to the postmaster's house,
president of the "Nigger Rulers," and he was out of breath when he
arrived there. He sat down, fanned himself with his hat, and when
sufficiently recovered, said: "Well, we will have to fix that nigger,
Piedmont. He is getting too high."
"What's that he has been doing now? I have looked upon him as being an
uncommonly good nigger. I have kept a good eye on him but haven't even
had to hint at him," said the postmaster."
"Well, he has shown his true nature at last. He had the gall to enter
a white church in Monroe this morning and actually took a seat down
stairs with the white folks; he did not even look at the gallery where
he belonged."
"Is that so?" burst out the postmaster incredulously.
"I should say he did, and that's not all. A white girl who sat by him
and could not read very well, failed to find the hymn at once. That
nigger actually had the impudence to take her book and find the place
for her."
"The infernal scoundrel. By golly, he shall hang," broke in the
postmaster.
Dr. Zackland continued: "Naturally the congregation was infuriated
and soon hustled the impudent scoundrel out. If services had not been
going on, and if it had not been Sunday, there is no telling what
would have happened. As it was they turned him loose. I came here
to tell you, as he is our 'Nigger' living here at Cadeville, and the
'Nigger Rulers' of Cadeville will be disrespected if they let such
presumptuous niggers go about to disturb religious services."
"You are right about that, and we must soon put him out of the way.
To-night will be his last night on earth," replied the postmaster.
"Do you remember our bargain that we made about that nigger when he
came about here?" asked Dr. Zackland.
"No," answered the postmaster.
"Well, I do. I have been all along itching for a chance to carry it
out. You were to give me the nigger's body for dissecting purposes, in
return for which I was to give you a keg of my best whiskey," said Dr.
Zackland.
"Ha, ha, ha," laughed the postmaster, "I do remember it now."
"Well, I'll certainly stick up to my part of the program if you will
stick to yours."
"You can bet on me," returned Dr. Zackland. "I have a suggestion to
make about the taking off of the nigger. Don't have any burning or
riddling with bullets. Just hang him and fire one shot in the back of
his head. I want him whole in the interest of society. That whiskey
will be the finest that you will ever have and I want a good bargain
for it."
"I'll follow your instructions to the letter," answered the
postmaster. "I'll just tell the boys that he, being a kind of decent
nigger, we will give him a decent hanging. Meantime, Doctor, I must
get out. To-day is Sunday and we must do our work to-morrow night. I
must get a meeting of the boys to-night." So saying, the two arose,
left the house and parted, one going to gather up his gang and the
other to search up and examine his dissecting appliances.
Monday night about 9 o'clock a mob came and took Belton out into
the neighboring woods. He was given five minutes to pray, at the
expiration of which time he was to be hanged. Belton seemed to have
foreseen the coming of the mob, but felt somehow that God was at work
to deliver him. Therefore he made no resistance, having unshaken faith
in God.
The rope was adjusted around his neck and thrown over the limb of a
tree and Belton was swinging up. The postmaster then slipped forward
and fired his pistol at the base of his skull and the blood came
oozing forth. He then ordered the men to retire, as he did not care
for them to remain to shoot holes in the body, as was their custom.
As soon as they retired, three men sent by Dr. Zackland stole out of
hiding and cut Belton's body down. Belton was not then dead, for
he had only been hanging for seven minutes, and the bullet had not
entered the skull but had simply ploughed its way under the skin. He
was, however, unconscious, and to all appearances dead.
The three men bore him to Dr. Zackland's residence, and entered a rear
door. They laid him on a dissecting table in the rear room, the room
in which the doctor performed all surgical operations.
Dr. Zackland came to the table and looked down on Belton with a happy
smile. To have such a robust, well-formed, handsome nigger to dissect
and examine he regarded as one of the greatest boons of his medical
career.
The three men started to retire. "Wait," said Dr. Zackland, "let us
see if he is dead."
Belton had now returned to consciousness but kept his eyes closed,
thinking it best to feign death. Dr. Zackland cut off the hair in
the neighborhood of the wound in the rear of Belton's head and began
cutting the skin, trying to trace the bullet. Belton did not wince.
"The nigger is dead or else he would show some sign of life. But I
will try pricking his palm." This was done, but while the pain was
exceedingly excruciating, Belton showed no sign of feeling. "You may
go now," said the doctor to his three attendants, "he is certainly
dead."
The men left. Dr. Zackland pulled out his watch and said: "It is now
10 o'clock. Those doctors from Monroe will be here by twelve. I can
have everything exactly ready by that time."
A bright ray of hope passed into Belton's bosom. He had two hours more
of life, two hours more in which to plan an escape. Dr. Zackland was
busy stirring about over the room. He took a long, sharp knife and
gazed at its keen edge. He placed this on the dissecting table near
Belton's feet. He then passed out of doors to get a pail of water, and
left the door ajar.
He went to his cabinet to get out more surgical instruments, and
his back was now turned to Belton and he was absorbed in what he was
doing. Belton's eyes had followed every movement, but in order to
escape attention his eyelids were only slightly open. He now raised
himself up, seized the knife that was near his feet and at a bound was
at the doctor's side.
The doctor turned around and was in dread alarm at the sight of the
dead man returned to life. At that instant he was too terrified to
act or scream, and before he could recover his self-possession Belton
plunged the knife through his throat. Seizing the dying man he laid
him on the dissecting board and covered him over with a sheet.
He went to the writing desk and quickly scrawled the following note.
"DOCTORS:
"I have stepped out for a short while.
Don't touch the nigger until I come.
"Zackland."
He pinned this note on that portion of the sheet where it would
attract attention at once if one should begin to uncover the corpse.
He did this to delay discovery and thus get a good start on those who
might pursue him.
Having done this he crept cautiously out of the room, leapt the back
fence and made his way to his boarding place. He here changed his
clothes and disappeared in the woods. He made his way to Baton Rouge
and sought a conference with the Governor. The Governor ordered him
under arrest and told him that the best and only thing he could do was
to send him back to Cadeville under military escort to be tried for
murder.
This was accordingly done. The community was aroused over the death
of Dr. Zackland at the hands of a negro. The sending of the military
further incensed them. At the trial which followed, all evidence
respecting the mob was excluded as irrelevant. Robbery was the motive
assigned for the deed. The whole family with which Belton lived were
arraigned as accomplices, because his bloody clothes were found in his
room in their house.
During the trial, the jury were allowed to walk about and mingle
freely with the people and be thus influenced by the bitter public
sentiment against Belton. Men who were in the mob that attempted
Belton's murder were on the jury. In fact, the postmaster was the
foreman. Without leaving their seats the jury returned a verdict of
guilty in each case and all were sentenced to be hanged.
The prisoners were taken to the New Orleans jail for safe keeping.
While incarcerated here awaiting the day of execution, a newspaper
reporter of a liberal New Orleans paper called on the prisoners. He
was impressed with Belton's personality and promised to publish
any statement that Belton would write. Belton then gave a thorough
detailed account of every happening. The story was telegraphed
broadcast and aroused sympathetic interest everywhere.
Bernard read an account of it and hastened to his friend's side in New
Orleans. In response to a telegram from Bernard a certain influential
democratic senator came to New Orleans. Influence was brought to bear,
and though all precedent was violated, the case was manoeuvred to the
Supreme Court of the United States. Before this tribunal Bernard made
the speech of his life and added to his fame as an orator. Competent
judges said that the like of it had not been heard since the days of
Daniel Webster.
As he pleaded for his friend and the others accused the judges of
the Supreme Court wept scalding tears. Bernard told of Belton's noble
life, his unassuming ways, his pure Christianity. The decision of the
lower court was reversed, a change of venue granted, a new trial held
and an acquittal secured.
Thus ended the tragic experience that burned all the remaining dross
out of Belton's nature and prepared him for the even more terrible
ordeal to follow in after years.