, 1884-06-22
UNCLE DIoK' oGLEsBY.
An Incident OF His Early Lire---Set
ting Free N

ting free n
Franc b. Wilkie, In II very interesting sketch
Of Ex-Governor Richard J. Oglesby published
in The Chicago Tribune, gives the following
incident in his early life:
"IIow was it, governor" queried the visitor,
shat you. a Kentuckian, became such a CON
firmed AbolitionistF'
swell, for many reasons; but one of the
principles ones came from n negro man called
Uncle Tim He wa a slave who had de-
scended from my grandfather to my father,
and was the only one in the family. Ny
father died when l was a small boy, and we
became embarrassed, and in order to divide
up what little there was left Uncle Tim had
to DO sold. l well remember him as he stood
up ON the box to be ready for the sale. He
was a powerful man, far above the average
height, with a manly bearing, a fine face and
a skin as black as ebony. He had always
been very fond of us children, and l thought
almost as much OF him as il he had been my
own father. As he stood waiting, he I'M
plored, with tears streaming from his eyes. a
brother of my father to buy him. That was
impossible, and observing his detection and
surmising its cause, l said:
"'Uncle Tim, l am going to work to earn
money, and when | get enough / will buy
you and set you free
"His face lighted up with pride and pleas
ure as l said this, but which was Immediately
followed by a look OF despair. He came
down, lifted me up in his arms and said
sadly; Thanks, Marse Dick, you are a poor
orphan and won't never be rich enough to
buy Uncle Tim He was sold, and being
past his prime only brought some 300.
a moved TO Illinois in time; / struggled; |
went back to Kentucky and grew no richer.
l used to see Uncle Tim occasionally, and |
always assured him that some day | would
buy him. He always seemed to listen to me
gratefully, but apparently had no hope of
my success. In 1919 | went TO California.
and aftor much effort l made a few thousand
dollars and then returned to the states. The
first thing l did was to fulfil my promise. l
sent the money to my brother, and Uncle
Tim was purchased and freed.
II was standing in front of the porch Of my
brothers house some days later when Uncle
Tim came out Of a piece of woods a little dis
lance away and approached along a path
way. 1t was a striking picture-such as |
never before or since AVE witnessed He
was a giant in stature; his abundant gray
hair was thrown back on his shoulders, his
face was livid and ashen, reminding one of
the statue Of Moses by Michael Angelo. His
countenance was ~aglown-here Oglesby rose
to his feet. and with expanded chest brought
his appraised arm down with the sweep Of a
sledge-hammer. and continued-aand shone
as IL lighted by the very presence of the Holy
Ghost When he caught sight of me he
stopped, threw back his head. raised his arms
far above and exclaimed: Ny Godi my Godi
has the little orphan boy lived to buy and set
me freef n-
sThen he put his arms about me and tried
to lift me as in-;he old days, but he had
grown too veal and ] had grown too large.
You can't lift me any more, Uncls Tim L
said. No. be nswered In n sad tone. and
then with an e~xultant tone he shouted AS he
turned his face toward the sky, .HaIlelujahI
hallrlntsht Tse in-"r