The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1895-09-13

cent in 1870 to 1880 and only 10 per
cent from 1880 to 1890. The bayou re-
gion away down south is the place for
negroes and there they will all finally
go. But, another thing, I notice that
every northern book argued the case as
if we had taken free people and made
them slaves. What we really did was 60
take slaves from a horrible condition
and make them servants in a good con
dition. Slavery is the common law of
Africa. Now, as TO cruelty-why, look
at the common sense of it. If we had
been cruel to our people. they would
have hated us. But with very rare ex-
captions they not only liked their white
masters and mistresses, but were very
proud if they belonged to good family.
Ny father s negroes were SO proud that
they wouldn't associate with negroes
belonging to poorer families. If you
want to know how ignorant those Yam
kes writers were, just read their account
Of what they call the Nat Turner insur-
Eection. Then when you go back to
Richmond go to the state library and
get the real history. There was no in
surrection. In fact, there was no regular
fighting at all. Nat Turner and about
dozen other negroes in southampton
county got drunk and desperate and
went about for day Or two numbering
all the white families where the men
were absent, and that's all there was of
1t. As soon as they met armed white
men they fed to the swamps. But here
is old Ben, and want you to hear his
story.
We found the old Guinea man hard
at work in his truck patch in the center
Of q forest Of second growth pine where
he lives, and 1 was Impressed with his
fine appearance. His immense shock Of
hair was white as wool, but he appeared
singularly erect and vigorous and han
died hoe as well as any 20-year-old.
He was at first extremely reserved, but
when he had taken a grown person s
dose of snake antldote, which we hap
pened to have with us, and had lighted
very strong cigar which the major
brought for him, he went off in fine
style, at first by jerks, as it were, but
afterward with regular flow of speech.
And queer speech it was.
It was merely the regular old planta-
ton lingo. but he seemed incapable Of
pronouncing the letter even in the
middle of word. Thus for ring he
said wing. All the sounds Of tn he
turned into regular heavy d, and in
the frequent pauses of his speech he in
serted q sound like oo-oo, and some
times oO-dah OF OGDEN, aud added an
or ali to the end of common words.
Thus, ''Myah noda OGDEN 90 Tonga in
open dab, SIENNA me oo-oo woods dan, .
etc, meant, My mother went across
the fields and sent me through the
woods. At first it was worse thar
Greek to me, but by many questions
and repetitions I gradually got at his
history.
woody Ben.
His native name, as near as he could
give it and I can present it in Eng
ish letters, was Gandongkroo, but in
North Carolina it was cut down to
plain Ben, and now it is Woolly Ben or
Ben Whitehead, as you like. He thinks
he was about 10 years old when cap
tured, and as he came over in 1910 he
may now be 10, but he is quite strong
and has fairly good teeth. One day he
went from his native village to another
in company with his mother. She went
back through the open fields, but sent
him a mile or so into the forest to
gather some roots which they used for
medicine. While stopping he heard
light step behind him, and as he rose
was knocked senseless by Il blow on the
back of the head. When he recovered,
his head was bound up, and he had a
rough wooden gag in his mouth, and
his hands were tied behind him. He
was hurried forward all the rest of that
I =. a. In
the next morning came to the bank of
considerable river and was placed with
other captives in a boat At the end OF
two days floating they came to sandy
island on the coast, and there he was
turned loose with hundreds of other
captives.
Grief and fear gave place to aston
ishment at what he saw there, and most
of all at the wonderful floating creature
with white wings which swan in the
offing-the first sail vessel he had ever
seen. Pretty soon monster, the like Of
which he had never imagined, came
out of this creature to the island. Ben
says that IN all his bad dreams he has
never seen any creature so frightful as
that first white man appeared to him.
He shrieked with fear and rolled on the
ground in his agony, and some of the
captives dashed madly into the bayou
between the island and the main shore,
fearing the crocodlles and gavials much
less than this hideous white creature.
AS near as 1 could make out from Ben's
language they thought the vessel was q
water devil and the white man was one
of its i1nps. AT this point, however,
his utterance was so rapid and he