The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1885-10-29

that dark, unhappy niehI ali'l loilo"tu
US to Atlanta, and in few days | made
him 90 back to take care of things and
see after the welfare of his wife and
children. To keep from being suspected
as a spy he, too, Joined the colored regi-
ment as q cook, and stayed few days
and one dark night he swan the Ousta-
naula river and went down the Western
bank ofthe Coosa about ten miles and swan
that river aud by circuitous route reached
Atlanta in safety and followed our for
tunes until the war was over. Well those
were the only runaways / ever had.
Two ran away from me to the yankees
and one ran away from the yankees to
get to me. Mr.. Lincoln's proclamation
was nothing to Tip. Tip was with me
in Virginia. Tip was always faithful
and affectionate. Tip deserves q pension
from somebody and 1 wish was able to
give him one. But Tip knows there is a
home tor him at my house whenever he
is homeless. There are thousands of
white men whose chances for heaven are
not SO good as Tips.
"Run niger run, the pattroller catch you;
Run niger run, you had better get away"
They used to sing that song and pick
the music on the banjo. They used to
dodge and flank the patrol like the smug'
glers or the moonshiners dodge the reve-
nue. laws. They enjoyed the peril of it,
and sometimes would go on night ex-
cursion without pass rather than ask
for one. If they planned to rob hen
roost or an orchard or a watermelon
patch, it was better to have no pass, SO as
to prove an alibi. "Let Dick pass to his
wife's house at Jim Dunlap's and stay
till Monday morning." That was Dicks
passport and protection, but Dick must
keep in the road, and not 60 skylarking
over the settlement" Nevertheless the
petty stealing would happen and so law
was passed making it crime for white
man to buy chickens or produce from a
negro without an order from his master.
My uncle bought ten chickens from a
darkey one Saturday night and they
happened to bestolen and the fellow who
lost them reported it to the grand jury
and those chickens cost my uncle twenty
FIVE dollars. If they had not been stolen
it would have been all right and no harm
done. The negroes stole little things
then just like they do now. They enjoy
ed it. 1t was their nature. They were
not hungry. have known them to rob
an orchard and give the fruit away. The
best negro would carry something contra.
band to his wife's house Saturday night
if he could get it. But the clever, indus.
trious negroes had no fear of the patrol.
The patrol knew all in their beat and
never asked a good negro for his pass.
The patrol was made up of the best
citizens in the naborhood-and they took
it time about in doing night duty in their
own vicinity-when thieving got bad
they went out frequently and raised a
big racket and the mean darkies caug ght
it bad. But when everything was quiet
they would not go out once month.
Sometimes the darkies made narrow
escapes and would jump the back window
when they spied the patrol coming, aud
then the race was to the swift, sure
enough, and the old song came in:
"Run, nigger, run, de patrol catch
you /"
Many good story have they told us
boys, how they fooled the patrol and got
away. 1t was more of frolic than q
fear, and one success made them bold
and ready for another. Such was negro
life in our young days, and it wasn't so
bad, so very bad, after all.
BILL ARP.