Rapides gazette., 1872-10-26

to q portion of cur readers:
The story Is told US by one who
was there, and is worth recording as
illustrating how superficial and ground
less is the Southern prejudice against
;colored men, and hcw prone our Ieo-
ple are to take a man for what ho
really shows himself to be wfea {
mist of prejudice has been erea =,
porarily dissolved. 1t is a.
how Lieutenant Governor I'm
captured. the Alexandrians.
The night was well advanced, moon-
less and dark. The Frazer, with
Cesar and his fortunes was tied to
the wharf, and rothing disturbed the
solemn silence but the rIppies of old
Red river and the creaking of the
boats timbers as she swayed with the
cnrrent. Kellogg, Packard, Pinch
hack and the half dozen lesser
Ciceros and Demostheneses conSti-
tuting the campaign party were in
their /" little beds,' supposed to be
dreaming of oratorical trinmphs to
be won on the morrow, for it is need
less to say each had gone to Alexan-
dria to see and conquer " the nat;ves.n
But appearances were deceitful.
All was not so calm as outward ap-
pearapces indicated. One perturbed
spirit, who had direfnl recollections of
Ku-Klux visits in that neighborhood
in times gone by, and fully believed
that absence had not obliterated all
recollections of him from the minde of
the people, wandered restlessly in the
deep shadow of the overhanging
guards.
Suddenly his acute ear caught the
murmur of suppressed voices on the
shore, and finally came distinctly the
words: 81 tell you Pinch is on board.
Let's have look at the id nigger,
anyhow
What visions of fire and blood this
sentence conjured up never can be
told, but certain it is the listener stole
into the cabin and urged Manager
Packard to have the hawsers cut and
cross 20 tue other shore. AS there
was no steam mp, how to carry out
the suggestion was conundrum which
Mr.. Pinchback left the party to solve,
while he went out on the guards, de.
spite the suggestion that ''they will
kill YOU, Governor, sure.f
"Hellow was Mr.. Pinchback's sa
lutation.
"Hello, yourself. Who the hello
are you, anyway was the response.
{" I'm that Pinch you want to see.r>
"You're a liar" was the prompt and
forcible retort.
"Come on board and look.r
A muttering of'voices followed, out
of which Mr.. Pinchback distinguished.
1.-The id niger don't seem afraid,
does he," which prompted him to add:
UWhy, sou are afraid to come
abroard. How many are there of
you ~
Fifteen some one answered.
"Well fifteen to one nigger ought
to give you confidence, SO come and
take drink
This idea Of a scare tickled the crowd
hugely, so they good -naturedly accent.
cd the invitation, and were received
by the Lieutenant Governor in his
night dress. The barkeeper was arous-
ed, and, aided by Captain w. b. Bar
rett, of the third ward, Mr.. Pinchback
entertained his numerous guests with
the best the boat afforded. Toast af-
te- toast was proposed and drowned in
brimming goblets until, ont of consid-
Grafton for his fellow. excnrsionists, the |
host was compelled to hint the expedi.
ency of eyacuating the cabin. Then
followed q proposition that 'Pinchr
and his friend should go with them up
town, to repeated destinations of which
a veto was peremptorily put, and Mr..
Pinchback was fain at last to yield,
and retired to dress.
In the staterooms he was warned
that he would never come back alive.
but he had more faith, and ere long
found himself in a snug saloon in the
city, and. guaffing sparkling cham
pagne in honor of sentiments patriotic,
social and moral. We can not GO into
further details; bur finally, on look |
ing around tor his companion, Mr.. |
Pinckback found he had disappeared.
"Where's Captain Barrett ~ was his |
anxious inquiry.
A general search ensued, and soon
,ne Of the party shouted:
"T'll be id if the nigger hasn't |
buzzed old - to sleep in the back
room, and is still whispering in his
ear.n
No amount of protestations could
prevent the party-which included
roung gentlemen OF the best standing
m the COMMUNICATION escorting
their guests back to the boat.
Only one trifiing incident occurred
70 mar the harmony of this pleasant
and unexpected occurrence. One of
he young men had become rather too
under the influence of re-
peated potatipns, and, as the party re-
lired, hurrahed wildly for McEnery
and Warmoth, and damned Pinch
back" for which breach of etiouette