The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1890-02-22
THE STORY OF BIP.
New York Star.l

t5sSf+ oC' iduu fdIleyS WntTS Ho lIVeu
knfhany years and died not long
! d&9s' said Samuel Logan. of Frank
hufounty. Pa, land it Is one of the
pfM remarkable narratives of slav-
eFyilmes ever related, have heard
tneDld darky tell the story with
team In his eyes many and many a
tiim. and no one who ever knew
mneould have the slightest doubt
o. ~ truth. Bip was born in Africa,
Where, as he believed, he was the son
Iofaking or chief. for he remembered
Eteathis father and mother lived in
g " hui, surrounded by smaller
~ !i3Ftsc. y 3!.Ftscc. were occupied by uIaty
women and their children. his
fdthei's hut always being approached
bS others in a most deferential
manner. His mother wore immense
gold or brass hoops IN her ears and
hplads of metal on her ankles and
| hHns. His father wore pig yellow
tingin his nose. When Bip was
ahom5 years old, as he afterwards
caIcuhted, his fathers household
and Iany of the tribe were over
powend by horde of strange blacks
and taken captive. They were bound
together and driven for days until
| fn
they we're portioned among mum
| ber # white men. the first Bip had
ever seen. The captiYes were taken
away in boats. Bip never saw his ia.
ther again. He aud his mother were
packed with hundreds of others on
board a vessel, and they were many
days on the water, The vessel at last
landed and the negroes tlat were
still alive were taken ashore, and Bip
and his mother were Seleced from
the lot by a white man and taken
away. 1t was not until after years
that Bip knew and appreciated the
fact that he and his parents and their
tribe had fallen victims to the A frican
slave trades, and that he and ms
mother had been sold into slavery To
A Cuban planter. At the age of Is
Bip whidl name had been given by
(his Cutan owner. was sold, with Il
Hot of other young negroes of both
sexes to IA slave trader. Bip'5 mother
wgts$t work in the sugar field when
rs W and taken away. He never
-;MS2. card Of her again. The herd
oiyoung negroes was taken to New
Uteans. where Blp was sold on the
aption block. He was put to work
iuthe sugar fields, Eut when he was
twenty years old he became the
pnperty of an Arkansas cotton
phnter. He was taken to the Arkan
s@ plantation, which was not far
firm Little Rock. His new master
pDved to be kind one, but Bip felt
hewas not born 70 be slave, and he
WIS determined to escape from bond
age, even al the risk of his life. Late
one night, in the fail Of 1921. he made
a freak for liberty. He never knew
Exactly the route he took, but he
trned his face as near n0rtnWard aS
htcOuld calculate and blindly follow
etthat course. He travelled all night.
swimming rivers and flnundering
Trough swamps. In the daytime hp
nd among the dense brakes. and sat.
i.jed his hunger by digging turtles
finn the mud and eating their raw
neat. He travelled in that way for
three nights. and just before day
beaK on the morning of the third he
cane suddenly upon clearing, He
saw at once that it was the home OF
a"face camper" In those days that
part of Arkansas was wild and
sparsely inhabited, and settlers from
other portions OF Arkansas were TAX
ing up land and gradually clearing
the country into plantations. The
settlers usually lived during the fist
year of their occupancy in what was
Known as face camps, their first crop
enabling them to put up better dwell
lings. The face camp was Il rude
board hut or shanty enclosed on but
three side. The sile facing the south
was let open, the climate. even in
winter, being mild enough to keel
as airy a habitatiOn as face camp
entirely comfortable. The shanty
was rooted with boards, and, as the
whole WAS built with light frame
walls. it was not the most secure
dwelling in the world. The interior
of one of these face camps was Sc.
vereIy simple. IT contained the set
tiers bed, a table and IA bench or two
and a loft for STORM. various articles
| of household use. The bed was q
rude board bunk in one corner, made
fast to one end of the shanty. The
loft was a similar bunk, built three
or four feet above the bed.
"The face camper. during his first
year as settler, depended in grea,
f,a \ So asnf