Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1886-12-01
AN OLD STORY.
Like What Used 10 be Told Before the
War.
From the Boston Record. |


Lihe What Used 10 be Told Before this
War.
From the Boston Record
Here is one little picture of q runa
ways rescue and Northern life, true ir
names and details, that the historian
fancles will speak in q sense for the
whole type of this unhonored army:
On g. large cotton plantation, in Mis-
sissippi, near the Yallabusha River, q
faithful and pious black man, Job
Mitchell by name, had lived and
worked for years, and had become the
"head man" of the negroes on the
plantation. He was 40 years old, and
he and his wife, Martha, had two young
boys whom they tenderly loved. One
night g. negro, whom they knew well,
came to their cabin; he had escaped,
and they sheltered him, concealing
him until the next evening, and then
sending him on his way with what
food they could spare. Before morn
ing he had been intercepted by the
shareholders patrol - the meagre
homeguard of decrepit, old, poor
whites, and the boys OF absent con-
federates-and was taken back to the
plantation.
The offense of running away
at that time, and in that
region, was invariably horribly pun
ished. And this negro met with a
harder fate than the average runaway
When they were whipping him, in the
early evening, in the presence of the
assembled slaves, the overseer thought
to give little diversity to the amuse-
ment by flashing the negro's back with
the fiat side of q handsaw; and he
managed to inflict wounds from which
the runaway died.
Under the torture, the unfortunate
man told the story of his concealment
in Jobs house.
"Aha!" said the overseer, "auother
mig for the handsawl"
Some of Jobs friends FASTENED to
him with the story. The penalty for
concealing g. refugee was no less cruel
than the refugees punishment.
Job knelt down in a low and fer
vent prayer, got up, tied some food in
a handkerchief, kissed his wife and
children, and set out into the dark
ness for Memphis, where he knew,
there were union soldiers.
What a journey over the rs miles
between the Yallabusha River and
Memphis They followed him with the
bloodhounds. He lodged the patrol,
crossed the railroad bridge at Grenada,
walked straight back across the bridge
In his tracks until he had nearly
reached the southern side, leaped of
into the river, and swan down the
southern shore half O. mile. He rested
a little while on the trunk of q tree
that leaned into the river, and then
swan clear across and plunged into
the woods on the northern bank.
The bloodhounds followed his scent
across the bridge easily enough; and
then they lost it easily enough, for it
didn't 60 any further.
Travelling by night, hiding by day,
Job reached Memphis at last-and
freedom. The captain of Northern
regiment took him into his service
The captains father was O. farmer in
the North. He followed the regiment
when it's term of service was over, and
went to work on the captain s father
farm. Even the dogs and horses were
afraid of him, so strange q spectacle
was q negro in those far Northern
parts. But the animals, and the peo
pie, too, soon got used to him, and he
was "as good q 1nan" as anybody
there. It takes more than one colored
man to get up prejudice against
them, it seems, and Job was
not only welcomed to all the church
sociables, and to the quilting parties
when the men came in, but was really
made very much of, as sort of curl
osity. His plantation songs and lore
made him g. vast favorite with the
young men and boys. At church be
sat in the farmers pew. He had a
thousand friends and not an enemy
It was "Canaan's fair and happy
land" realized on earth for Job, but
there was for all his glory a weight or
his heart. He talked much of Martha
and the boys, and "allowed he'd &C
back end fetch 'em when he'd saved q
right smart O. money"
He had g. right smart at last, earned
honorably and competently-$25O
and paid to him in good greenbacks.
With his railroad ticket bought fo1
him, and the rest OF his money in q lit
tie bead bag tied around his neck, In
side his clothes, he set out right mer
rily to fetch Martha and the boys.
With all his struggles, he had been
unable to learn to read and write in
the two years that helived on thai far
Northern farm. He ''reckoned he was
too old q dog to Parn new tricks. .
But he promised to have a letter writ
ten for him the moment he struck
Memphis, and another when he
reached Grenada. There were ad
dressed envelopes in his pocket.
He never came back, and he never
was heard from again. What became
of him Not one OF his host of North
ern friends ever knew. Did he reach
the Yallabusha plantation, and, find
ing his wife and children gone, start
.out on a hopeless, lifelong quest fo1
them through the South? Did some
scoundrel kill him fer his money?