The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1893-03-25
THERUNAWAYNEGR0
HIDING our ATTAINED WITH HIM Til
RANK OF A PROFESSION.

Born Woodcraftsman and Cave Dwcllcr
and lie Climbed tho Trees Monkey
Fashion-How lie Managed to Live.
Among the many picturesque figures
| with which the old south trcmed most
! striking one was the runaway negro. Not
| the occasional "hidcr out'-thc one whC
sought temporary refuge in the woods &
escape punishment for something done oI
! left uudone or for fear ot being sold totht
| spectators, nor even when the crop was
! grassy and the work hard, but the one
who clung 20 wild life as instiuctively rs
an Indian, and who might almost bt
! termed the professional runaway.
Your genuine runaway was born
woodcrattsmau The habits OF wild ami
mails and ways Of taking them seemed tC
| be his 10y intuition lie had no difficulty
in varying his menu Of pig, lamb and poul
| try with all the rabbits, squirrels, opoS
sums and fish that he wanted, Sometimes
he carried his dog into the woods with him.
although Of course IL greatly increased his
| danger of being taken. But this wasmort
for compauionship than anything else, for,
single handed, with his suarcs, traps and
gums, he was more than match for
wild game OF all kinds,
DiscOmforts which would have driven
the amateur back 10 the snug chimney
corner of the plantation quarters and a
whipping had no tcrrorS for him. Like
the rest Of his race, he cared not fix for
wet, while cold, the ucgro's dread, he
knew well how To guard against. The art
Of Y,r.,.1nYtp.r 9 ,F ia
the minimum of smoke was his to perfec.
tion. He knew exactly what kind Of wood
and bark TO select, and how to combiue
them TO this end, No matter how hard
the rain, how soddcn the wood, all that he
asked was a chunk or, lacking that, a
coal of fire, 10 be Us happy as u king-the
ideal, not the real king, | mean. From a
coal which, in unskilcd hands, would
scarcely have Sutliccd to light "A pipe, he
could, with even the wctteSt and most i'm.
possible Kind OF fuel, soon call into being
the rarest of roaring fires, while in the
preservation and transportation OF fire he
could have given lessons To Promcthcus
himself
In the most essential feature Of cave
arChteCture-seC seCrecy-ho easily surpassed
all imitators. Between two suns, and
oftener than not with only the wornout
stump of hoe, the runaway would dix
and conceal a cave which deiied detection
from the eyes of a lynx. At the same time
several cubic yards Of upturncd earth had
to be whisked away and hid under distant
leaves, or, better still, consigned to the safe
keeping of some running stream.
For several reasons the wuruout "old
fields Of the southern states were the IA
vorite site OF the cave digger These dreary
wastes, given over to gullcys, broom Sedgc
and scrub pines, being deserted 10y man.
hood in general, were Of course his safest
retreat The soil having been over ex-
hausted and turned out =" and the sappy,
twisted pines being held worthless for
either rails or fuel, there was no danger Of
the woodmau's AK coming that way again
for many long year. Nor did the squirrel
or fox hunter have often TO seek or follow
his quarry into this terra aincognito-where
indeed the dense screen OF the low. thick
pines would have confined their vision to a
very limited space.
Here this Esau Of the SOUTH whom in
deed every mans hand was against, and
whose hand was against every man, found
an ideal dominion, every feature of the
surroundings adding to his sustenance or
safety. The weirdness and virtual barren
ness drove off other men. The deep, water
worn gulleys, barriers to the ordinary
traveller, whether mounted or on foot, of
fered him highway whose firm or gray
ely bottom registered no passing foot
prints to be read by curious or hostile eyes
Nowhere did he display more ingenuity
than in cOntliving means to approach and
depart from lis bUrrow and leave no sign
AS | have said, the gully was his favorite
path, thougl occasionally he had recourse
TO the Indians highway-a stream. Some
times he would sever at the ground long
stout grapevine, the other end being Sc
Curely intcTlaced among the tree limbs
many feet above. BY graSping this vine he
was able to swing clear of the ground many
feet or even cross Il considerable ravine
and drop just at the mouth of his cave.
Again, when the pines were thick, he
might climb "A tree, and passing from limb
to limb, monkey fashion, Slide down tree
trunk at the proper spot. Still another,
which could sometimes be practiced, was
to mount a stray OK, and forcing him to
the proper place spring off. One very orig
nal old darky, little dreaming that history
was repeating itself-with a variation-s
said to have fashioned to his shoes an old
pair Of horseshoes, reversed, knowing that
no runaway hunter would ever think to
notice horse track.
Amid the swamps the malaria proof
negro found little difficulty, if so minded,
in passing a lifetime "hid out" But up
among the hills of the central portion,
where there were no retreats impenetrable
to all but the initiated, where the farm
houses were close together and compara-
lively little land uncleared, it took no lit
tie skill and cunning to play the runaway
successfully for any considerable period.
Yet Johnson's surrender brought in more
than one ragged, 'varmintlike" creature,
who had spent perhaps the better part of a
long life in this manner. There were even
women runaways, and sometimes very sue
cessful ones. A few children were born in
the woods. | knew of one instance in
which the close Of the war brought up a con-
siderable family of whose existence the le-
gal owner knew nothing. David Lodge in
Kate Fields Washington.