Dodge City times., 1889-06-20
JEFFERSON DAVIS'S OLD SLAVE.
He Is Now Probably the Vealthicst Col
Ored Man in the South

ored Man in the South.
The wealthiest colored man in the
South since the war, who was born a
slave and set free by the Emancipation
Proclamation, was Ben Montgomery, of
Mississippi. He belonged to Mr.. Jo-
seph Davis at first, and then to MIR.
Jefferson Davis. For years before the
war he was the secretary of the Hon.
Joseph Davis, Mr.. Jefferson Dayis's ell
der brother. The Davises were large
planters and owned 1.-THE Hurricanes"
estate, containing three great cotton
plantations at the extreme lower end of
Warren County, Miss, and about eight
cen or twenty miles below Vicksburg.
There were between 1900 and 1900
acres of the finest land on the NIissis-
sippi River in these plantations and
$50 slaves. All the letters respecting
the business of these places for thirty
years were written by Ben Montgom.
cry. He frequently went to New Or
leans on business for the Davises and
carried with him once $50. 600 in money.
He travelled with Mr.. Davis all over the
North, and could have run away fifty
times had he wished. But he remained
faithful and loyal to the last. The Da-
vises were noted for their kindness to
their slaves. They had finer quarters
on their plantations, probably, than any
planter in the South, excepting the
Hamptons. They kept physician al
ways on the places, and in every way
cared for their "colored people," as
slaves were frequently called. When
Mr.. Jefferson Davis and his brother Jo-
seph left their homes, one as the Presi-
dent of the Southern Confederacy and
the other as Brigadier General, they
put everything under Ben Montgom-
ery's charge. He made the crops of
1862 and 1923, about 5000 bales of
cotton, and shipped it to New Orleans
and sold it to foreign buyers for gold.
This money he carefully sent to Mr..
Davis. In 1868, when the slaves were
emancipated, Mr.. Davis sold the "Hur-
ricanes" to Ben Montgomery for $780,
900, in gold. 1t has been said that
this sale was only a ruse to save these
splendid estates from confiscation.
Whether this was true or not, when the
Federal "agents for the protection of
abandoned property and lands" came to
take possession of the Hurricanes they
found Ben Montgomery with title so
strong and valid that it could not be up
set, and they left him alone in peace
able possession.
After the war he continued to plant
these places with great success, making
every year from l, 100 to 200 bales Of
cotton, besides an abundance of corn
and hay. In 1874 or 1875, there still
being balance due on the payments,
Mr.. Davis took the property back. but
left Ben Montgomery in full charge.
These places yield very handsome an
nual income now to Mr.. Davis, who,
though he prefers to live on the Missis-
sippi seashore at Beauvoir, yet visits
his old home once year and spends o
few weeks with his friends of fifty years
ago. As l have said, he was a very
kind master, and, therefore, whenever
he goes back to his former residence all
the old-time Davis negroes within fifty
miles around come to see ~Old Marse
jeff and have great time. When
Ben Montgomery died, in 1881, Mr..
Davis went up to his funeral, and there
was no sincerer mourner than he who
once had the fate of a people upon his
shoulders at the grave of his old and
friend, though his slave
Washington letter.