St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1893-05-13

~ StOLy VI SCcutS NIiu luCsuCuSo
in st. Tammany parish, during the
late civil war;.
MADIsoNvILLE, La,
May 10, 1898.
PART FIVE.
But while grabbing in the barrel
with both hands, her feet played
her joke by slipping from under
her 1t was only the slip of her
feet and the dip of her head that
caused her to be heels ovar head in
that cracker barrel. Imagine what
downfall. Through some means
the barrel capsized, and with . lit
tie help in the way Of christening
her skirt, which was caught on every
nail the barrel contained, she crawl
ed out backwards and skipped for
home, and the boys made . general
scramble for the remainder of the
hardtacks.
1t was some time before the
emancipation proclamation was
issued that the colored people then
held as slaves began to try to es-
cape to the Federals. I remember
of two Of our colored people, both
men, running away. A long time
afterwards we saw one Of them. He
related their whole trip. It was
through the swamps to the Lake,
thence along the shore to New Or
leans, crossing the streams by SWIM
ming or wading. While swimming
Pass Manchac, which had . strong
current, one of them was drowned.
At another time several Of them
made their escape, as follows: In
the night they packed all our pots
in q sack suppose they intended
to take them along, but for some
reason they left them on the bank
Of the river Father started in pur-
suit the next morning, and went far
out in the lake, thinking he saw .
boat, but it proved to be q trunk.
He picked it up and found within .
piece Of jewelry. 1t was evident
they had thrown the trunk over in
the night, but father had to return
without even seeing which way they
had passed.
After the emancipation proclama-
ton was issued there were still two
men slaves remaining at home.
Father went to them and said:
swell, boys, you are free, and l
cannot hold you any longer, but if
you wish to stay and do as you have
been doing, I will feed and clothe
you as before, and here will be your
home so long as you wish to re-
main They agreed to stay, but
did not remain long. taking their
departure in the night.
l forgot to mention that Mr.. Il.
WIS children had fine Christmas
dresses, which were made from the
yellow cotton lining Of q quilt. Az
ter having sat up night after night
to rip and pick the thread from the
quilt, it was dyed for the dresses.
Now must keep wide awake, as
l am about to be entirely among
the Yankees. Father, you know,
was fisherman, and could not rest
without q pleasure trip at least
once q week.
When the AZ and AZ began their
regular trips up the Tchefuntca
River. father thought it best to ask
the captain of the boat, If he was
found at the lake fishing. would
they harm him, whereupOn Capt.
Edwards, Of the AZ, told him to fish
when and where he wished. Think
ing himself safe he now began to
fish croakers at the mouth of said
river, on a bright morning, little
suspecting the tragedy that was to
occur. He arose early; taking a
small hand AK with which he was
in the habit Of killing gar-iish, If any
were caught. He started for his
pirogue, or dug-out, as it was call
ed by some. My step-brother,
who was five years older than l,
was with him. l began to cry and
beg to 90 with them. Father con-
sented to take me, so l ran as fast
as I could and got my miniature
paddle, and we were soon off. 1t
was only about 30 minutes when
we were fishing ut the mouth of the
river. The fish did not bite so
brisk as at other times, else we
would have been home before the
fateful event; but we fished on, to
try and secure q big catch, when
we saw the AZ coming. She passed
on up the river and around the
point into the next bend, where she
anchored. On account Of the tim
Der on the point we could only see
about two feet of the boats smoke
stack, and it was impossible for
them to see US, without scaling the
smoke-stack, or tralnping half q
mile through the marsh and hide in
the high gaps like snipe. At any
rate they said they saw us, and that
father waved his paddle as q signal
for the little skirmish which follow
ed, but this accusation is utterly
and Indignantly false. Be this as
it may. the boat sent q launch
ashore right opposite to where we
were fishing. 1t was manned, as
near IS I am able to Judge, by six or
eight colored and four or six
white men. An old fishing camp