The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1880-04-09
eUt' V9onom9 RoNh aurG poi ha ms Of the Aan
UNION c. H., SOUTH CARoLi]|
MR.. DoDGE's SUCCESS.


Our Southern fellow-citizens are accus.
toned to assert that the colored man has
two glaring faults-that he will not work,
and his prescacc casts such blight upon
chickens that no white man can profitably
engage in raising poultry in tho Southern
States. Mr. James G. Dodge, who recently
emigratcd from Natick, Mass, to Laurel
vile, Ala, has signally refuted the popular
Southern estimate of the colored man, and
has succeeded not only in keeping chickens,
but inducing thirty four colored men to
work for him without wages
MIR. Dodge arrived at Laurolville last
Spring with the intention of cultivatinc n
farm. The local white population received
him courteously and wished him every sue
cess, but they warned him that he could
not induce single colored man to work on
ms farm except at prepostcrous wages
W hen he casually -intradnned- -ihA----l;;--..
OF chickens, they assured him that there
was an African church within mile of his
newly purchased farm, and that ho might
as we'll try to keep icicles in q hothouse as
to raise chickens in such a neighborhood.
Mr. Dodge was stubborn man, and,
withal, an ingenious one. He determined
to prove to the Laurelvilleans that he could
do precisely what they said he could not
do Accordingly, he offered to bet with
Judge Slemons that he would cultivate his
new farm with colorcd labor, and that he
would raise chickens without losing single
one by colored larceny. The bet was taken,
aud MIR. Dodge went to his farm and began
operations.
With the aid of the Laurelvillc carmen
ter, Mr.. Dodge built magnificent chicken
house, with accommodations for five hun
dred feathered guests The windows were
made so small that not even cousumptive
colored boy could pass through them, and
the door was of unprecedented thickness
and strength. In one side of the chicken
house MIR. Dodge required the carpenters
to leave round hole of about two feet in
diameter, for purpose which he declined
to explain. Much pity was felt for him by
his ncighbors, on the ground that he was
wasting his money in vain attempt to strug-
gle against the chickcn-stealing genius of
the colorcd people; but Mr.. Dodge"guessed"
he was oil right, and "calc'lated" that his
chickens wouldn't be stolen to any great
extent When the carpenters had finished
their work and had gone home, Mr.. Dodge
unpacked large bundle which he had re-
coived from the North, and after dark he
filled his chicken. house with three hundred
chickens, and locking it securely, went to
bed.
About II o'clock that night leading
citizen of chicken proclivties made his way
into the chicken house through the hole
quietly at the folly Of Mr. Dodge in n1oSt looking i
the door, and at the same time forgetting
to close the hole in the side of the chicken
house. When he had selected q dozen of
the largest chickens, he undertook to creep
stealthily out Of the hole, but found his
cgrcss impeded by series of sharp and pro-
jecting spikes. He then realized that he
had been caught in trap Of the same gen.
cral nature as that pleasing variety of mouse
trap into which the mouse readily enters
through wire-lined passage, the pointed
ends Of which prevent him from escaping.
The leading colored citizen's estimate of
white intellect underwent sudden change,
and he sat down gloomily in the corner of
the chicken-house to invent some plausible
tale which would account for his presence
when the inevitable moment Of discovery
should come
Half an hour later the minister of the
colored church entered the chicken. house,
and was warmly greeted by his predecessor,
who was beginning to feel very lonesome
From midnight until dawn the arrivals were
almost incessant. The fact that three hun
dred chickens were in Mr.. Dodgc's chicken
house was known il every colored cabin
within radius Of two miles, and the op-
pressed race had risen as one man and re.
solved to have those chickens. At half.
past three there was standing room only in
the house, and gentlemen arriving
after that hour were compelled to return
home disappointed.
After comfortable break fast, Mr. Dodge
took his shotgun aud the key of the chicken
house, and proceeded to ascertain what luck
his trap had brought him during the night.
To his great pleasure, he found thirty four
able-bot colored men in the chicken.
house, and, after the most careful investiga-
tiOn, he ascertained that not chicken was
missing. He put no unpleasant questions
to the colored men whom he had caught, as
to why they had crowded into his chicken.
house, but he merely informed them that
he supposed they had como to assist him in
planting, and that he was greatly obliged
to them for their kind assistance. At noon
Judge Slemons and dozen white Laurel
villeans arrived at the farm, aud gazed with
amazement at the spectacle of thirty -four col
ored men working energetically in the field
When the Judge was convinced that no
chickens had been stolen during tho night
he frankly admitted that he had lost his
bet
Since that day Mr.. Dodge has never lost
a chicken. He has, however. only caught
few sporadic colored men, and has thus
been Obliged TO hire most of his labor