Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-06-22
A PLUCkY COLORED MAN.
Representative Tarsncy Tells a Story
of Slave Days in Missouri.

Some queer things used to happen in the
old slave days in Missouri" said Represen-
tatitve John Tarsney to a Star writer lust
before he started for Europe. THE condi-
ton OF the slave was never a very burden
some one in Missouri. The farm country
and the nearness of the Iowa line prevent
ed anything like those plantation cruelties
of which We sometimes read. In fact,
should judge that some of the Missouri
slaves had as good a time as their mas
tiers.
IN illustration might tell a queer story
which had its scene in Independence, Mis-.
souri,. Old Banker Sawyer of Indepen-
dence carried on the same Sawyer Bank
which exists today away back in the ff-
ties, when Independence as the eastern
end of the Sante Fe trail, was the great
Quitting point for those daring and mis-
guided people who meditated a flight
across in the plains. Among other chattels
OF Banker Sawyer was big black negro
named DUSTIN. DUSTIN was a Great me
chanic, and had vast fame all over the
western country as the maker of that
fashion of WAGON known as the prairie
schooner Sawyer had besides his bank
a wagon shop at Independence. And his
negro, DUSTIN, ran the wagon shop. The
wagon shop did a good trade, and Sawyer
said to DUSTIN one day:
overtime, DUSTIN. Why don't you buy and
own yourself? Why do you continue in
slavery? You've got five six hundred
dollars down in my bank now
'And it was true. DUSTIN had laid uI
quite a little store CT money. and the fact
of a slave with money on deposit in the
bank of his master is of itself illustrative
of the lax condition of the institution in
Missouri.
".Whatn you take for me" asked Dus-
tun.
"'Seeing it's YOU said Sawyer, I'll sell
out cheap. If you want to buy yourself
III take $1,000, while you're easy worth
$1,000
DUSTIN bought himself. paid $500 down.
and took the rest of himself on credit
Sawyer made out his freedom papers, and
Sawyer for the $1,000. Then he went to
work. In year he had paid himself free
In two years more he bought his wife and
little girl. Then he began to make money.
much ahead when one night a fire started
and the next morning found Dustun' s
wagon shop in ashes. Shop, tools, stock
and everything was burned up as clean as
a whistle, and with the forethought of
his race Dustun had no insurance.
TT was a plain, hard, bitter case of be-
gin again with DUSTIN. He thought the
situation over, and then went to his old
Sawyer lent DUSTIN $1,000. took a mort
gage on his wife and young one. DUSTIN
rebuilt his shop and opened up anew. He
kept his old trade and added to 1t. II
finally became very questionable to start
across the plains in anything but one OF
Dustun's prairie schooners. Within q year
DUSTIN again had clear title to his wife
and family.
Life went easy after that with the old
black wagon maker. He died about ten
years ago at Independence worth fairly
$4,000 The daughter whom he bought
from Sawyer and then mortgaged and
cleared the title to again was for a long
time, and is I believe, now. a teacher Id
the colored public schools at Kansas City.
Old Dustun's memory in Independence Is
to this day highly respected"