The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1893-08-22
SURRENDERED.
by Nathoninl Stevenson.

Slft aEOut by the forest prlmeNaI Incfe were
several of us in the store, and the sheriff
and | were the great attractions. The sher-
if was great because he was the sheriff and
because OF his abilities at cards. l WAS i'll
tercsting because | did not belong to the
''mountinGs," but was more or less of ten
derfoot. We had got to talking about
noted outlaw 10y the name of Caesar Stack,
and had just asked the sheriff why it was
that he could never put his hands upon him,
wal 20 See" said the sheriff, in his
queer dialect that defcs the reproduccr,
Caesar Stack is cusired cute ole man.
He ies' lodges in an out o. these hyar
mountings so cusiired quick 20 never ken
ketch him nohow."
l might indeed, have surmised all that,
but / had patience and tried again.
'Do you ever see him, nowadays"
The sheriff chuclled to himself. He ap-
peared to he amused hugely at my question.
Did he ever see Caesar Stack? Well, rather.
lie would see him in about five minutes. In
fact, he was waiting ut the store to meet
him,
At that | opened my eyes wide. I asked
whether Caesar would be arrested. But the
sheriff slnoie me Oh the shoulder and laughed
Aloud ~
~ haint got the papers agin him." he
planned. They be over" in tothcr county.
But jes So soon as ever | hycerd tibet Cae-
sar no to ole man Stuart's | sot black
Jim-yO' knows black Jim, my leetle niggur
L,
cusficed. leetle black varmint of dogone,
fool niggur, yo' jes' thet thar ole boss
every foot . the way till yo hit ole Jerry
Williamss, who's the sheriff thar, and
bring me back them papers that's out agin
Caesar Stack
wal Jim he started and then I sent up
right away to ole man Stuarts and tole Gaze
sar TO come down to this hyar ole nubbns
OF a store aud hev drink afore the papers
git hyar
The room exploded into laughter, and in
the midst of it the door thrown open.
Out Of the white moonsbinc, that was heavy
with the mist, a huge gaunt man with gray
hair salked across the threshold. 1t
Caesar Stack But he had been lodging war
rants so long that he was prepared for any
ching. He paused beside the doorway and
showed his cooked revolver
'"P0n honor" said he TO the sheriff. hahn t
yo got them papcrsY'
''Pon honor, Caesar we jess wanted yo to
come down and hey u drink. Yo' ken git
out o. hyar. and git half way across tue
mounting5e &c l start after yo'.-
The o,nc bf however kept his place for a
moms az he Z He locked carefully from
fsj ,.', ~ Gaslfp he put his pistol into his
~ = -, y, rhe a. f S"""a f. 1nF s''e'
gha = IA st<s ~ s The , staha
t;ty q ty24led r. ,2i55G Gi yao'Er"9. Fry man
Caesar %rpfethe guest of honor, the stone
lug Of mo6nshine whisky was handed to him
first. But he in his rough C0uretsy, recoSniz-
ed my strangeuesS in the land and handed
1t to me- | knew what expected of me
and was determined to play the man
"Well gentlemen" said |, heres luck
pulled out the corn cob stopper and drank
from the mouth of the jug. the liquor went
down like a stream of molten lava that scorch-
ed and maddcned me within. The other
men, however, drank grced!y, in the same
way, the jug passing from hand to hand
Bur | have since thought that Caesar sus-
pccted my distaste for the liquor and was
" roth at me on that account as well as
many others. The latter will appear, pres
entity.
Meantime. the sheriff had produced a deck
of cards / protested that die not play,
and The others had enough rude chlvairy
toward the stranger not TO press me. Inc
game however, was soon under way III was
like ali such games the world over Most OF
if as played in Il tense silence. But there were
two features which were interesting anu tAc
first of these was the f';Ce "f Caesar Stach'
AS the liquor began to tell on nm the out
law showed ais real nature. The mask OF
circumstance slipped down from before ms
face. From behind it there appeared Il
gloomy spirit feeding Itself upon the sense
OF wrong. Then it was that ! repeated 10
myself Ike story Of this man crime. IT WIS
All due to a iaudSAarN from the h"rth. one
of my puOpir had persuaded Caesar Siach /"
mortgage the few lands which he possessed
'Inr stranger forccloscd at his hrSt oppor-
tunity and Caesar became iahdltSs m'il'
For Il time he struggled on lfNtHS ~ tthc
care Of his family and paying an mioiertp'e
rent. Meanwhile lie brooded silently upon
his wrongs. At last the time came when he
could put up with them no longer; one Oh
his children sickened and died of sheer mis-
cry. Then the mountaineer WayIald MS ~
rant in the hollow of 4 glen ana shot MIN
As Il consequence, of course, Caesar Slach
became an outlaw. Nevertheless. the Whole
country side was with him, and to arrest
the man, since that could not be done except
by sheriff i'll his county with the
warrant in his hands was next door to I'M
possible.
Ii was not strange, however, that Caesar
hated northerners. They were the people
who had come down with fire and sword
and conquered his own years before Like
the rest of the mountaineerS he counted
time from the hour when Lee bowed ms
head to the storm. That was in the year Oh
1.-THE SURRENDER" Anything that happened
about then was so many years before Oh
after 'the surrender
But as [ say the liquor was beginning to
tell upon Caesar While L sat there watch
ing HIM scowl gathered in his eye II WIS
thundercioud that burst when the sheriff
happened to refer to the year before the
and dashed his Inst upon the table.
II tell yo." he Numbered. thar wa nj no
surrender ] hant surrenuerd VII. None OF
US never SURRENDERED. an never Will
There was silence for Il moment. IL 1t had
not been for the sheriff there might have
been trouble But he equal to the occa-
sion.
wal, Caesar, trrt-s 1es- es yo' like to call
HIT ! disreIncinber mostly what we done
with our weapons. But eff yo' don't watch
this hyar game I'll git all yo money afore
we're done"
Caesar was fierce and quarresome bat he
was not vet drunk. lie submitted sulleniy
TO the wisdom of the sheriff. He turned
again to mis- steady drinking and silent play
In such fashion the night wore on.
AS L said, however. there were two features
of interest i'll that memorable game. Inc
second WAS the conducc, IHttcry, of the sher-
it, He WAS huge, unwicidy, good-humored
but vindictive Old reprohate, with Il beard
like a small bush He went into the game
with as much zest as did the others, but be-
the sheriff plucked Caesar 10y the sleeve. The
outlaw, however, shook him off impatiently.
That the beginning of Il running alter
cation between the two The sheriff
urging Caesar continually to make his cs-
cape in good season. But the liquor, or