Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1894-02-23
Slave Hunting Hounds.
An eN-sIRveholder's story, Told I'm the
New York sunday sun.

An eX-SIRveholder's story, Told I'm the
New York sunday sun.
The slaves of the southern plantations
were wont to ponder much over the beagle
hound, and regarded him as their natural
enemy. He acted on them as a oonserva-
tive force, for they well knew that no speed
or cunning of theirs could battle his
pursuit Like the shaft of Apollo, he
never missed his mark. The negro, gen
orally, believed in the fetish or charm,
and often sought the aid of old slaves, who
affected to be Voudoo doctors, that they
night procure charms that would keep
them from being caught by the dogs in
the event of a runaway. One charm
deemed very potent for that purpose con-
sisted of the left hind foot of graveyard
rabbit, killed in the full of the moon, and
the right foot of goose killed in the
'black night" that is, between midnight
and daybreak, while standing only on
that one foot The latter ingredient of
the compound carried with it the solid
advantage that even if the fetish failed to
work, the negro had the consolation of
knowing that he had cooked his masters
goose. The charm was sewed up in a
small buckskin bag, and carried in a cloth
bag around the waist. One of my own
slaves, lively young buck of % years,
once ran away bearing such charm upon
his person. He had no cause for fight, as
he had been treated always with the most in
dulgent kindness, unless il was that longing
after liberty which leads man to feel, in
every cline, that slavery is in itself a
bitter thing. l was very much concern
ed about him, for we had been reared
together, his mother being our old family
cook. | feared, as she did, that he had
gone off the plantation during the night,
and although absenting himself without
leave, he intended to return at daybreak,
and that some accident had happened to
him.
After waiting for him to come back until
10 in the morning, or nearly II hours
from the time he left his quarters, | had
the hounds put upon his trail. There
were six in the pack, all thoroughbred,
trained beagles, from two to three years
old. | accompanied them with two of my
friends, and it was my first and last slave
hunt. He was a finely formed negro, with
sinewy limbs, fleet as deer almost, and
of rare intelligence, and he led us long
and puzzling chase. He had put turpen-
tine on the soles of his shoes, and that at
first caused the dogs to stop frequently
and sneeze. He tramped in the mire of
several barnyards, passed through a num-
Der of negro cabins, and climbed
a tree and went out on limb overhanging
a shallow creek and dropped into the
water and waded for nearly a mile. Sew
eral times l thought that the perplexed
hounds had hopelessly lost the trail, but
they circled for it making wider and wider
circles until it was recovered. We
came up with the willy fugitive about
O'Clock at night. 1t was three days before
Christmas and bitter cold, and he had
kindled a large fire near the edge of a
swamp, some two miles from any Travelled
road, and was lying near it, wrapped in his
blanket, and fast asleep. He lay with his
head to the fire, according to the habit
peculiar to his race, and / could see his
face distinctly as l rode up within 80 yards
of the spot. He was wearied with the
chase, for he had run about 30 miles, and
slept so soundly that he did not hear the
hounds give tongue as they closed in upon
him. He was still sleeping the sleep of
the just when they leaped upon his pros
trate form. But there was no tragic scene,
for they were licking his face when he
awoke in amaZement and recognized the
hounds. They were his fast friends in a
double sense. He had charge of them
from their puppyhood and fed and fondled
them daily. AS he tried to push them
away he called out: "Git down, you,
Lightfoot! You Glidel Amt you got
mannas" He saw me on struggling
to his feet and exclaimed; "Why, Mass
Tom, is dat you? l declar' ~ l answer
ed: Eyes, Marston, and your nanny has
sent me to take you home; do you want to
go?" He replied: "Yes, sab; dab amt no
Christmas tree in dis old swamp. And rs
gwine to stay home, Mass Tom, when
gifts back dar sho as l lib" The hounds
had torn off his belt in their wild gee,
and one of them was chewing on the
charm bag, when Marston seized the
fetish, and held it up toward me, exclaim-
ing: MASS Tom, just look yah at all dis
foolishness, dat done cause all dis troub-
lei"
Voudooism had received severe blow,
for the dog charm had literary ''gone to
the dogs" Marston was welcome back to
the plantation as one who was lost and
found again, and dusky groups listened to
the story of his days outing as if he were
a traveller returned from some far-off
country. Sixteen months later South
Carlonia 'let slip the dogs of war;" and
American slavery persisted at Appomattox.
Marston is now prosperous farmer. He
became a member of the state senate in
1865, and is the author of tie act imposing
a tax of So head on hounds.
"And so, Peter, you spell women with
an "a p said the teacher, correcting an