Omaha daily bee., 1890-09-11
IS EENANCIPATION ALL A MYTH?
Frightful CAS- of Slavery Unearthed At
Tobias, Neb,
A TALE THAT MAKES THE BLOOD BOIL.
Cruel and Hcarttcss Treatment OF a
Negro Boy by Family Warned
w lcr ford Ii eaten Until
Black and Blue.

MIR. j NJ. Waddy of this city of TdE EEB
Correpon dent.
MOI" was the astoni he'd reply.
Well, startling as il may seem, il Is
nevertheless a fact, andat first 1 could not
believe it myself Mr. T. c. Jordm, n Co
hborer with myself in theprohibitiOn cause,
wereat Tobias last week when we learned
through Mr. NJ, II. White of that phcc that
asouthe rucr named Milton VVllcrfOrd and
his two gTOwn-Up Sons Were living ont farm
five miles sou invest of that place and were
holding a neEroin bondage; that tn poor fell
| low has been owned by them for eight
years and is now ayoung man of probably
| eighteen Or nlncteen During this time he
has been kept in absolute ign oan ce and has
never in his life been in side of school house
| He doesn't know \ from B, and cant count
morethana dozen. He does nit know even
his own name and gees by the nickname Of
Till His clothes are rags and, iusuffi-
cient to potcCthimfromthe cold, and yethe
tolls from early morning until late at night,
doing tins bulliOf the work aud rcccvin gun
compIaiungly all the abuses heaped upon
him His back is terribly Scared, giving
mu tc ev idcnceOf the fearful fOggIngs hehas
received whenhis master happnedto beOut
of temper Some OF the weltsare as ia-ge as
| yOurin gers. Now, " h did this {. Mr.. Will
lerfOrd says these marks were on the poor
| fellows back he came into his posses
sion when child OfuseVml Such wni ppngs
would have killed him atthat age. Now, to
weOse cruelty are those terrible welts duef
This mans neigh bOrS have seen the Oldest
son of this man beat that bOy with his fists
uutil he uldhardy stand.
THE BoY WAS SOLD FOR TEN DOLLARS
'Mrs. Willrford says that the boz was
soldto a afrIenl of theirs in IIcntucky forSlO
when hewas only two years old and when he
was seven he became the property Of the
WiLerfOds for mere song. No movi sion is
III adc forpaying him forhis labor ortimodur.
ing which he may stay and labor for this
family He does mn's work aud has
foryears, Every ncig hbOr, near whom this
man with his niger as he calls him, has
lived tells of his bmtalics towards this boy
during the five years the NilleriOrds have
lived in that community, AS far as could
learn there was nOta pTson in that town or
vicnlt ywho spohzein behalf Of the master IN
his Treatment Of the poor fellow no
illegally holds as slave Now is
such a state OF affairs to bC to.rated
in Ne braska or was the great reOellion and
the emancipation proc lamlt ltiO all o III ythl
Among thepersms in Tobias who are ao
ouainted with the cicurnSances are MI
Stanley LARSON pres idcnt OF one
ofthe banks, Mr.. S. w Clark, the barbcr
and many other citizens, while auyo: the men
VINO have lived asncighbors TO this aissou-
rian will telyou astory that willma,kC your
blood bMl.''
This conversation occurred at II :aOa. IN.
yesterday, and half an hour later TIE B Ea
correspondent was speeding 10y rail to the
scene Of these alleged atrocities. On arriv.
ing at Tobi as tn Q townwaS found to be ina
fever Of excitement over the matter, as the
full state Of affairs had been proclaimed
from apu Dlc platformOnl va few days before,
and the alleged inhu manitieS prachccdby the
, master we re still the theme of conversation.
There wereat least a dozenwho corroborated
, the foregoing story tod by Mr.. Waddy and a
numbeof Incidents We're cited in su bStan tia-
, ton.
, PITCHFoRKs HURLED AT HIM.
Tales were told a bout old man w illerford,
| ntheheat Of passion, b urlin ptchfOrlSs at
| the boy, and about the grown.up son Sam
, | beating the slave with the same dangerous
mpl lement
Measures had been taken both in To bias
and Friendto help the slave 10 escape from
! the tyranny of his cruel masters, but it was
declared that the WillerfOrds had the negro
uDdertheircontrol soconpletely that he was
afraid to leave them. Like the slave in the
"good old days be fO de wah, he had been
tau ght to belize vethat "maSsa's $ hrIunwas the
center of the universe and smassa was the
, rulerof the solar system, When persons
: wentout TO the farm the Willerfords made
the boy believe that the same we're kid
n napeB coming after him and taught him
n to remain out Of sight as long as
they erctherc. Finally the people inter
-,
, ton Of such cruel masters, after several in
,, effeCtual Efforts to Talk with hin, reSorte tc
the artiti ce on Satu rday last of getting out g
II | su bppna for him to attend a case as witles:
n in which an imaginary fellow du bbed a, s
! Barnett was supposed to be on trial for usins
bad language. James Dillin was detailed a!
) special constable and he repaired tOthe vii
v lerfOrd farm with the legal document draw
o up and signed with the name Of =. T. Ridge
y ley, justice oithe peace Tho Nissou rian
III smelt a Wdent but after some parleyn
!, yielded their sOverelgnty over the slave L
n the greater power Of the law and the bo.
c north of Tobias. Sam WilleriOrd, the eide
son. who's thirty-six years old, secretly FOL
sr lowed thecon stable, Mr. s. l., Jordan, VIII
- had taken the initial step in the eulanci
- patton of the enighted negro secured 70
l. him Temporary lodgings with a colOre
- family named Kinney in Friend until b
, could geta pOstio for him where he wOul
; - be well trained and have an opportunity I
80 learn TO read and write
as HE FOLLOWED LIKE ADoG
u Sunday moming whlb ''Tll'' was in th
m back yard Sam w illerfom came snea6ing u
q. unObseryed 10y the Kinney family. He CAV
he an authoritative signal 20 thenegrO TO fOllo'
lmaud the slave, tau ght TO obey his maste
* ana MIN only folowe him like a dol
re- t'Ortwo miles the master and slave trAyele
southwadS together when sam, fearful les
an he might get into by Interfering Wit
in theworkin Is of the courts OF JUS tiCe, took al
hc other road and ordered Till 10 go on alone
the retched abode called "home." Ii
,ly obeyed, walking the entire twenty-Seve
miles, and hiding IN the cornhcldswhe enev'
ist a wagon came driving 10y, AT 10 o'clock
n. reache Wilerfords farm The rejoCn
off over theretum of the slave to that squal
st esabli shine mt were not exactly like those
ug the an gels over the ransom Of a sinner b,
rather may besupposedto besmiar 10 tho:
ng ofthe demons welcoming a lost soul tOete
~ naltorment-
The news Of tho return of the slave hf
just reached the town Of Tobias yestordf
m and the citizens were dis cussing the be
tx-avs and TppanS fD rtas,ue the lOy from h