, 1865-08-09

hare in crop sufficient to j1atIly him in CIV
ing my portion Of It. Ard then said b
wanted ten acres more Of corn put In, whi:l
onc-third, as he agreed to do in the secons
contract. To this be replied that he Womb
not give us puy portion oft. He then said b
wae going 10 employ new man to attend t,
bis business. The overseer came aud aske;
him what be w9s going to give. He answered.
that our master said he would give US fiflee,
| Visions aud clothing ont Of our wages. Il VII
4 did not hire on thfse terms VIC must leay.
| the place. We studied the matter oyer. ami
concluded that on account of our wives ani
children we 'wculd stay, and make thin
contract with our old master. One week afte,
Scu fifteen dollars month"; We asked hin
what he would give, and he answered: i
will not tell you What will give you; + ,ca
girt ,just ,chdt 7 f,'edse aud no mora Thil
took place during the pttsent year, 1866.
"1n lsG4 cur mastcr tcla us to raise him
five acrts Ct corn. and We night ra'so as
much cotton as We wa1ttd. TINT II he raised
any the Yankees would take it all from hi1n.
Afterwards be told us II at he wanted f3ur
acres of cotton for himself. We rnisad It.
taled and ginned 1t for him, separate from
Our own COTTON. lie then mar ked our cotton
ip bis own name, end told US that be was
10 sci any cotton. We had fge bales Of Of COT #.
ton, Averaging 500 pounds each, which be
took 10 Nashville, sold. and kept ali the
monty except $50, which we took In goods.
I We 0lsa3 asee e0O bushels Of corn, which he
rsed aDd sold for Ills owu benefit, aud Wou,d
not1et US use any Of It uult ss We paid him for
It. We gathered and gaye him Lis I've acres
Of cerp, which We raised tor him."
SPECIMEN BRC1E.
Capt. r. J. Hinton, Irap.cto for tbs Dis.
trlct, who ha. Just returned from Northern
Alabama, giycs the fol1oH wing account Of a
case which came under his observation at De-
ca:ur function, Limestone county, Ala:
Near this place Is frcednen's lahor camp.
Where, nIder diiectit Of Lieut.. j. ". Ha,1is,
| 5lth Illinois veteran infantry, plantation,
With Geo acres Of good cotton end 200 acres oi
corn lns been successfully worked by the
refpgte rtEroes.
Within the past month large number
mi arlF two hunared) hare fled to this po.nt
t. escape The bt1t alltS Of their masters, who,
In the coantics belew The Tennessee river.
are driving thin away In order to escape
sharing The crops these negroes have raised.
| Warren Moseby lives two mllea.and half
west of Decatur. He left bis plantation and
canitd al his people south on Christmas.
| lStG. He bus been = stroDs rebel. In 1868
he returned to The Decatur place with part
Of bis tlavcs, leaving twenty of them in
Walker county, Southern Alabama. The
| Slaves worked the plantation till March. 1864.
| WHEN TIT : we're rtmoved to Decatur bY our
t'oops. The negroes remained here till last
December Supporting themselVes) when our
troops retired bcfore Hood last winter.
Early this spr'rG I'll the negroes went back
to "de old place aud worked for Mlxss
Moseby.H Tlelatt.rt0 L the oath. Amopg
the Iegtecs was middle aged man, who
tt ok the lead and was q sort Of oyersees. A
've.t t"ei centraet WAS made to share the crops
1als.d. -Four families, besides Moseby's, were
e n tie Place. twenty-nse persons In al. The
oyexscEs had vile and nine children naS
one Grsnd dchild. Sixty acres Of com IVES put
u In coed faith. No cotton WAS plantea.
The stock consisted OF three broken.down
grces, which THY were allowed 10 retain til
iatc.y, when they wctc reclaimed by The
Quarte,msster.
Thomas says that about q month ago, after
the crop IVES in good c ndition, Moscby took
TIE occaefon q; : quarrel among the children
to blutally msltrt a. the foremtn. He went
TO Decatur, complained to The Provost Mar
:eha], aud pre cured squad to drive Thomas
awuy. The decatur Provost Marshal took
:Moseby's 3 story and acted thereon Without
further Investigation. Tom WAS finally COM
PEELED t2 lGaTe @ nn. nndet h Tie combined !na,
ENoscby.
He came Into the camp of LIEUT., Harris.
bringing bis family. n .thc person Of his
'elds 1t daughter Is probably to 6e fonnd a CO.
sEEQt IGdaUu Iuf a1usEOf ACslCH.
/; Mary II eighteen years eld-does not look
so old, being slightly built and rather deli
cate locking. Shc will be eighteen .sep-
!tembcr next, and has girl chi1d {nea7ly
;whitc) which viii be fire ysars CID on the Eth
of January next. OF course the girl WAS
..piosti'nted to the masters lust before she
iofthe child Is Moseby. According to Mary's
statement she Was nurse gil in Mosebyy's
family. H|s wife had died 6ut a short time
VIXEN he attempted to coerce the child to his 1
brutal lnprtouniues. The child was fright ]
ensa and refused, and ,Sas beaten almost
AT last, under the lash she covered, aud |
her life, she consented to her masters bcas
tia1 embraces. This brute is large, vlgor-
ons man.' The Tn'ents knew nothing OF this 1
III, IS The father eaid, Molly was big"
By SAID be would Iill her Il abe did. Tie child
was bern, and for two years therea ter Mary
Was an tnralid ard unable to move about
Most by ustd to curse her during this period.
hecanse Ee Vas unable to gntify his lust.
Slice tue war has 1oosed the n:groes' tongues
as well IS their bonds. Tom has expressed
p!nfnts Of insolencc and tis desire to get rid
of tho family. As late as last wiuter he at-
tempted to renew Lis intercourse with Mary,
but was refused.
Capt. Hinton Instructed LIEUT.. Harris to
opfn conrt In Decatur for the trial of this
and other cases. BE also directed HIN to |.
take as his bsais of action and punlahment,
60 much Of the old code Of Alatams as re-
]ates to ppniehments Of whIta pefeons for
oft nses Of similar character. Where the
ccde did net reach, be WIS to adjust the pen
atty On equitable grounds. Moseby viii he
compelled to deal Justly With this nmily, and
certainly be msde to tupport the child. He
ought to be compelled to narry the mother.
TIE REAL PRoBLEM.
Hundreds Of similar cas.s. though few
quito as damuab1e, are brought tol'sht daily.
am more ard more convinced that the real
problem here ia not "Whnt shall. ". do
with The blacks ?" but "Whnt ehsll nc do
with the whites ~ They arc the Idle, worth
less. abandoned class hercabouts. These
white refugees are the most shi{t1ess, lazy,
and utterly. unt1u:hful people hare seen.
ihtJ have been fed and pampeIed here bY
the officials TO great extent, until they
think 1t the boundtn duty of the Govern
ment, Which majority Of them have sought
to oTt rthrow, to E1aintnFn them in--vhzt ia
too oficu-1fcenttous idleuess.
Tie refuEees' homes are to be broken up,
Gen. Flax is hard at work In this direction.
Be has greatly reduced the number Of those
drawing subsistence, and will. do this more
than ever. Great frauds have been p.rpe-
tTated. Hundreds offamIlles TINT get retain
ample means have been drawing rntIous:
hundreds OF loose women have 1ired on the !
Government In this way. AL Of this class ::
the exceptions being SO rare as only to |
'foye the Inle) think their right to be sup
1nrs I'd in fftpre a. mn nuest}ou eh1p