Evening journal., 1889-06-20
JEFFERSON DAVIS OLD SLAVE.
lie Vas Probably the weaithiest Coiored
Man In the South.

He Vas Probably the Weaithiest Colored
Man in the South.
Tho wealthiest culored man in the south
since the war, who was born slave and set
free by the emancipation proclamation, was
Zen Montgomery, of Mississippi He be-
longed TO Mr.. Joseph Davis first, and
then to Mr. jefferson Davis For years
before the war he was the secretary of
the Hon. Jaseph Davis, Mr.. Jefferson
Davis elder brother. The Davises wero
large planters and owned the "Hurri-
canes" estate, consisting of three great
cotton plantations at the extreme lower end
of Warren county, Miss, and about eighteen
or twenty miles below Vicksburg. There
were between $4,000 and $1,000 acres of the
finest land ON the Mississippi river in these
plantations and TO slaves
All the letters respecting tho business Of
these places for thirty years were written by
Ben Montgomery He frequently went 10
New Orleans on business for tho Davises and
carried with him once $40 600 IN money He
Travelled with Mr.. Davis all over the north.
and could hive run away fifty times had he
wished. But he remained faithful and LOYAL
to the lest the Daviscs were noted for their
kindness TO their slaves They had finer
quarters on their plantations, probably.
tEan any planters in the SOUTH excepting tho
uampton's They kept physician Glwayson
! TIE Races, and IN every way cared for their
"eoorel people" as slavcs were frequently
called. When Ag. Jefferson Davis and his
brother joseph ie.t their homes one as the
/ president of the Southern Confederacy and
| tho other as a hr-ndicr general, tbev put
| every thing under Ben MOntgOmery's charge
! He made the crops OF iJ6l-62 and l9G3-C3
| about 5000 bales of cotton and shipped it to
| New Orleans and sold it to foreign buyorsfor
| gold. This money he carefully sent TO Mr.
| Davis In 1853, when the slaves were enan-
cipated, Mr.. Davis sold the Hurricanes TO
| Ben Montgomery FOR S3O00 600 in gold. 1t
has been said that this sale was only ruso 70
save these splendid estates from confscation.
| Whether this was true or not, when the
Federal "agents for the protection Of aban-
| doned property and landsn came to take posses
sion Of the Hurricanes they found Ben Mont
| gomery with title so strong and valid that
it could not be upset, and they left him alone
in peaceable possession
After the war he continued TO plant these
| places with great success, making every year
from LOO to 1900 bales of cotton, besides an
abundance Of corn and hay. In 1874 or 1870
there still being a balance due on the pay
ments, Mr. Davis took the property back but
left Ben Montgomery in full charge These
| places yield very handsome annual income
now to Mr.. Davis, who, though he prefers to
live on the Mississippi seashore at Beauvoir,
| yet visits his old home once year and spends
a few weeks with his friends Of fifty years
ago. As | 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 SEQ "Old Marse JefFn and have great
time When Ben Montgomery died, in 1851,
Mr.. Davis went up TO his funeral, and there
was no sincerer mourner than he who once
had the fate OF people upon his shoulders at
the grave of his old and life long friend
though his slave-Washingto Letter.