The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1884-12-05

lnactlon. say al occasional exchange
of shot and shell at long range between
the works onshore and those which the
Unionists had erected and held upon
the neighboring. islands and marshes,
nothing was done and for a year
Fourier experienced the irksome-
ness of routine duty in Il w%retchedly
arranged and appointed military
hospital. Nevertheless the time
was not wholly wasted. From a
planter fleeing from the civil war he
procured a native African slave, one OF
the shipload brought over a few years
before in the Wanderer, the last slave
ship that put into a American harbor.
This man he made his body servant and
kept always near him partly too study
him, but chiefly to secure his complete
mental and moral thraldom. An almost
unqualified savage, Fourier avoided
Systematically everything that would
tend to c%ivilize him. He taught him
many things that were convenient in
his higher mode of life, and taught we'll,
but of the great principles of c~iviliza-
ton he strove to keep him in ignorance.
and more, he so confused and distorted
the few CLEANS of light that had reach
ed that darkened soul that they made
its gloom only the more hideous and
profound. He wanted a man altogether
savage, mentally, morally and physical
ly. Instead of teaching him English or
French, he learned from him many
words of his own rude, native tongue,
and communicated with him as much as
possible in that alone. aided by
gesture, in which, like all French
men, he possessed marvellous facility
of expression. In the unexplored back
country of Africa the negro had been a
prince, and F%ournier babe him look
forward to the time when he would re-
turn and rule. He always addressed
him by his African name and title in
his own tongue. He took him into the
wards of his hospital. and taught him
to be useful at surgical operations and
to care for the instruments, that he
might become familiar with them and
with the sight Of blood, which at first
maddened HIM. Once he gave him q
a drug that made his head throb, and
then bled him with almost instant re-
lief. He affected an interest in the am
ulets which hung at his neck, ard be-
ooeSip LII w SlNS I'LL Ouc W WeAI.
He committed to his care, with express
sions Of the greatest solicitude, q strong
box, brass bound and carefully locked,
which he told him contained his god, a
most potent and cruel deity, who would,
however, when it pleased him, give
back the life of a dead man for blood.
This box contained o silver cup, with q
thermometer fixed at its side; a glass
syringe holding about a third of a pint;
a large curved needle perforated in its
length like a tube, sharp at one end, at
the other expanded to fit accurately the
nozzle of the syringe; q little strainer
also fitting the syringe; and last, a small
bundle of wires with a handle like an
ggg-beater.
For the rest, this savage was crooked,
ill-shapen and hideous. His skin was
as black as night; his head small, the
face immensely disproportionate to the
Uranium; his jaws massive and armed
with glittering white teeth, filed to the
points; his cheeks full, his nose fiat, his
eyes little, deep-set, restless, wicked.
The usage he received from his new
master was so different from his former
experience with white men, and so in
accord with his own undiciplined ma
ture, that it called forth all the sympa-
thies OF his character. He soon loved
the Frenchman with an intensity of af-
lection almost incomprehensible. 1t is
no exaggeration to say that he would
have willingly laid his life to crafty his
masters slightest wish. The ~latter's
knowledge was to him so comprehen-
sive, his power so boundless and his will
80 imperious and inAexible, that he
feared and w%orshiped him as a god.
Fourier looked upon his monster
with satisfaction, and longed for a bat
tie. His wish was at last gratifed.
On the Fourth of July, 1864, an engage
ment took place three miles northwest
of Legareville. near the North Edisto
river. A force Of Union soldiers had
been assembled from the Sea islands
and from FLORIDA, massed on Seabrook
island, and pushed thence up into
South Carolina. Every movement was
watched and reported ny the rebel
scouts; all the troops that could he
spared from Charleston were sent out
to oppose the invaders; roads were OBJ
structed. bridges were destroyed, bat
teries erected in strong positions, every
thing prepared to impede their progress.
With infinite fatigue and peril they adj
vanced only five or six miles in a days
march. There was occasional skirmish-
ing; but one actual battle. To that the
troops gave the name of "the Battle of
Bloody Bridge"
In this battle heavy as the losses
We're, the Confederates took but one
,>,;oppnr " A. %ho %l,,l ,lo,ao 4.11
broad -shouldered captain, who seemed,
like another son of Thetis, almost lnvul-
nerable, darted impetuously ahead of
his men and reached the summit of the
defense. Useless bravery! In an in
slant q volley point blank swept away
the charging men behind him, and a
gunner's s~abre-thrust bore him to the
ground within the works, where he lay
stunned and bleeding beside tile gun
he had striven 80 hard to take. The
man who had captured him, wild with
excitement and maddened with the
powder that blackened him, and the
hotblood which jetted upon him, sprang
down, spat upon HIM, spurned him with
his foot. and would have dashed out his
brains with the heavy hilt Of his dubbed
sword had not q strong hand held his
uplifted wrist.
1t was Fourier, who had watched
the battle with an interest as intense rs
that of the most ardent southerner in
the battery, though wildly different in
character. His interest was that of the
nsturlist who stands by eager to see q
rustic entrap some rara avis that he de-
slres to study, to use for his expert
ment.
The gunner turned fercely upon him,
but dropped his arm and sheathed his
sabre at his question, and walked back
to his gun abashed, for he was, after all,
a brave and chivalrous man.
Fourier simply asked: "Do confed-