Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1891-04-21
OLD CHANCE CARTER.
me LIFELONG DEVOTION or
BLACK MAN IN GEORGIA

u" Home, but He Held II TIN p...,.
Chance Carter lived seventy five years
save and twenty-five free man.
nat 49, from the best anybody can tell
ne was SO old that he had outlived
everybody who might have told anvtbing
about his real age, which snanned he
average NE OF three or four generations
away oack In the days when Decatur
was a stage road station and Atlanta was
a cross roads village, Mr.. William Cartar
ana ms wife came to this section. child
less out wealthy, and the possessors Of
many slaves '''' u
Among these slaves was Chance who
was more than half free, a good business
niah; out lover of cock fights and
rough, country sports
Chance was man of middle age and
had large family when the railroad
reached Atlanta. He was practically in
charge OF the plantation affairs. his mas
Ter relying implicitly on his fidelity and
good Judgment in all the affairs con-
nected with his estate. His faith waa
never shaken by a single dishonest act
on the part of the old negro.
THE HAND OF DEATH.
Along in the '40s Mr.. Carter died, and
his wife had his body laid to rest on a lot
IN the plantation, where she might re-
pose beside him when the time came for
her to depart. The good old lady had no
one left but Chance, and on the honest
negro she relied still more than ever.
The sons and daughters of the slave
grew to manhood and womanhood. and
the plantation prospered The grave of
tne Old master was kept green.
In 1857 Mrs, Carter felt the approach
OF death. She felt that the two lonely
graves would be left unprotected, and
that the stranger would desecrate them.
and that possibly the plowshare might
rudely break away the messy mounds
above their last resting place.
30 she called Chance and to him made
deed OF gift to thirteen acres of land,
asking him to remain there and look
after the graves of the master and mis-
tress as long as he lived. The negro
promised to do SO, and he kept his word.
Nobody thought of molesting Uncle
Chance
OF course. under the laws existing
prior to the war, a slave could not be
freed, nor could he become freebooter
But this old man was freedman and a
landholder, by virtue of the common re-
spect for the sacredness of his charge,
and that public sentiment and sympathy
that was not uncommon among the peo-
pie of the south in such cases.
The rest of the property went to dis
tant relatives, and the inevitable separa-
ton, which was one of the most painful
incidents of slavery, occurred between
the father and his children
A LONG VIGIL.
Uncle Chance remained on the little
farm left him by the old mistress. Amid
the shock and connection of war he
never wavered in his devotion, and Lin
coins proclamation fell unheeded on his
ears.
1t could do nothing for man who
bound him. And they were as letters of
brass binding him to the memory of
those whom he had loved and served in
life, and from whom. in death, he chose
not to be disunited.
After the war some of the lands passed
into alien hands, and included in the
tract was the home of the old slave. The
new owner set up claim that the thir-
teen acres were held by the old negro
without any legal title, and instituted
suit in the courts for the recovery of the
little farm.
This aroused the old man, who had
kept his vigil so long and well, and lie
consulted a lawyer. The lawyer was
Judge w. L. Calhoun, who had eaten
Mrs. Carriers ginger cakes and listened
to Uncle Chances quaint stories when q
little boy.
Although there was really not the
shadow of a title to Chances holding
the lawyer determined to stand by hin
and help to preserve the little legacy anc
enable the old man to die by the graves
of those who had loved and trusted him
And tie lawyer won his case by f.;
speech of such mastery eloquence tina
| the crowd in the court room was movec
to tears.
There was something peculiar abou
Chance Carter. His mind was of higher
order than was common among unedu
Gated slaves He was a shrewd trade
and scarcely ever made mistake in ;
bargain.
His fidelity in life and in death to tn,
interests OF his master and mistress wa
something remarkable and there ar,
few parall- ! instances of this sort of de
votion between man and man.
/ He lay down and died Of sheer old age
/ He preserved his faculties up to the yer.
last moment, and among his dying in
/ functions to his children were to see tina
4 the graves of the old folks at home wer
not left desoiate.
1t was extremely appropriate that the.
/ should have laid him to rest in the sam
Quiet spot, which he had guarded S
zealously through all these long years.
And out there, on the old plantation
among the budding trees and trailln
vines, after a hundred years of sue
vicissitudes as seldom fall to the lot Q
man, sleeps in undisturbed repose, tn
bodies of the master, the mistress and tn
faithful Uncle Chance.-Atlanta Const
tuition.
A Successful St-nOgrapher'