The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1865-08-20
Scene IN q FreedmaR's COUrt-NeW
Way Of Obtaining Justice.
w u VNtNIIIIIs " "l3tItVs
cOuespondencs Of the Cincinnati Gazette.
NAsHvILLE, Aug. Is
FREEDNESs COURT.

| by General FISK, Assistant Ccmmis
sioner of the Freedmen's Bureau 4
very instructive and quite amusing les
son was given the other day An ole
and highly respected citizen of Gilei
county, named Abernethy--a good
Methodist, by the way-refused to pay
his colored labOrers the wages he hao
agreed to pay them, and, as last re.
sort, two of the most intelligeneof bis
employees came into the Freedmen
Court, made oath TO the contract and
70 the fact of non-payment, and an or.
der was accordingly issued to bring the
venerable patriarch into court to an
swef When the order reached the old
gentleman he was astonished beyond
measure and, doubtless, would not have
deigned to respond to it had not s
guard been present to enforce II. His
neighbors of course, were greatly ex-
cited.
The venerable old Abernethy arrest.
ed and ordered TO report forthwith at
Nashville Dispatches were sent to the
city, and when he arrived he was met
at the depot and escorted to Gen Fisk s
headquarters By respectable body of
old citizens whose Woe-begone c0untee
nances indicated the deep disgust and
horror which sWelled their chivalrous
bosOms. Arrived at headquarters:
Abernethy-Is this Gen. Fisk?
Gen. F.-Yes, sir.
Al should like to know what
am brought here for
8 Gen. F.-Very well, give me your
name and can probably inform you.
A.-My name is Abernethy, sir.
Gen. F.-Abernethy. Yes, / remem-
Der. Two citizens of Giles county, aeiqh-
50rs of yours. Mr.. A, have appeared
and made oath to very grave com
plant against you.
A-CitizeHS Of Giles county Neiqk-
bors of mine Good heavens who can
it bell
81 viii read the declaration" said
the General, as he took the document
from a pigeon hole and began " Jo-
seph and Paul Abernethy, of she coun-
ty of Giles, in the State OF Tenne-see,
being duly sworn, do testify" etc, etc.
As the reading proceeded, the old gem
tlemsn's eyes fairly Dulged out, and be
looked the very picture of amazemenk
At length, unable to restrain himself
any longer, he exclaimed, "Lor' bless
my soul, General, them arm my neigh
bors, them's my niggshs." You are
mistaken, Mr.. A., replied the general,
there are no such persons in Tennessee
now as your niggers. Joseph and
Paul Abernethy are citizens of Tennes-
see, and one of them claims even 8
nearer relation to you; and the striking
resemb blance he bears to you gives coun-
tenAnce TO the claim"
This home thrust cut the old man 70
the heart, and he covered his face with
his hands, bowling his head for some
time. At length he said Well Gen
eral, what are you going to do about
itY' Al am going to do justice" he re-
piled "Do you owe these gentlemen
the amount they claim If you do,
you must pay it
The old gentleman came down at
once, acknowledged the debt, and
promised to call and settle it the next
day The next day he came, paid the
debt in full, and entered into written
contract with mis- employees for the fu-
ture.
Another case illustrates the perverted
moral sense of many of the people. A
daughter Of Hon. Felix Grundy came
into court to procure an order for the
return of her niger "a little girl Of
ten or twelve years, q girl she had rails
ed from infancy-who had been taken
away from her and brought to the city
by its cruel father The lady really
seemed to think that q black parent
who would take away "her Niger " and
expose it even for day to the contain
mating society of the freedmen of
Nashville, was barbarian, q bfute-
almost a devil
Cases of this kind, and they are of
hourly occurrence in the South, should
convince the most slSeptical people of
the North that it will never do TO com
NIT the colored people Of the South to
the care Of the white people. 7
fsE .-4-
THE AxCIO-SAxOE ELENEEE I'VE talk
a great deal at random about the Anglo.
Saxon race Look ct the names in the
list of our American Commanders in
Chief, from the first, commissioned by
Washington in 1891, down to the pres
ent time. Here we have Gen. Arthur
st. Clair, q Scotch Celt; Anthony
Wayne, an Irish Celt; James Wilkin-
son (Saxon or Gothic); Henry Dear
| born, Welsh Celt; Jacob Brown, a
Welsh Celt; Alexander McComb, an
Irish Celt; Winfield Scott, Scotch /;
George B. Mcclellan, Scotch; H. W.
Halleck, Saxon; u b. Grant, Scotch.
Thus we have eight out of the ten
Commandsrs-in-O Chief Of our armies du.
ring the last seventy five years, whose
| origin is no more Anglo-Saxon than II
is Tartar. Look at the Celtic names
moreover, that stand in the fore front
of the late war Grant, Meade, Sheri-
/ dan, Mcpherson, Anderson, Terry, Gil
more, (Welsh), Sherman and Thomas
(Welsh), and Mcclellan. 1t is 8 mat
ter, perhaps, Of minor consequence
whether our great martial heroes have
more Celtic than Saxon blood in theiT
veins or the reverse, 50 long as they are
! all true Americans. But IL is not Oui
of place TO let the Celt have fair show
in 3 field Of human exertion where be
is so clearly entitled to prominence =
~ T. Tines.