The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1896-03-04
4 CONFLICT BUr A HERo.

on Won His Pardou--he Proved His
\ Br.very-rhe Pardon After he Keerivel
1t Almost Broke his uenrt-Dld Not
/ Want to Leave-Helped oueli q Prison
Mutiny.
tProm the Atlanta 5ournalA
On the Iapu o. Captain Ed Cox on
the banks of the Chattahooohee river
there lives a picturesque character
Sam Tilman, negro, as black as man
ever gets to be. He is old and grizzly,
his face is marked with sorrows lines,
and his muscles are hard and knotted
from twenty-five long years of labor as
q convict in the coal mines of Dade
county. And yet the old negro, With
the weight of sixty years resting upon
his shoulders, is hero within whose
breast throbs a true and noble heart
He is an ante -bellum darkey, whose
like is passing fast away type or the
better class of his race who hVed IN
days of old upon the lordly plantations
ready, il need be. to give up life in de-
Tending q masters goods or his wife
and children from the hands of the in"
/ vading soldiers who swept like hu-
man cyclone over the fields of the
south.
| Is it any wonder, then, that Sam, al
though an ex-convict, is the head man
upon Captain Cox's farm, the keeper of
his horses and CATTLE the defender Of
his family while he is away from
| home?
| When Captain Cox went to superin-
tend the convicts for the Dade Coal
company a few years ago, he first saw
Sam, then an old-t timer in the business,
and he became interested in him. For
nearly twenty years the negro had
been an inmate of the prison and he
looked upon it as his home. He lived
in Liberty county during and after the
war, and was sent up for life for muir
der. He had a stick in his hand when
4 a white man began to quarrel with him
and finally ran at him, as if to cut him.
Sam ran, but as he did so he struck a
back-handed lick at his pursuer, a
more powerful blow than he had count
ed, but it felled the man like stricken
OK. Death followed almost Immediate
| ly. Sam was arrested, charged with
murder, convicted. sentenced to the
penitentiary for life.
True to his training, the old negro
had a deep respect for the boss man
and was always anxious to be of some
service to Captain Cox. The superin-
tendent learned soon after his arrival
that Sam was as brave as lion and
had no fear in his heart. One after
noon it was reported that four or five
desperate convicts had manufactured a
supply of weapons and refused to leave
the mine. They had attacked the two
mine bosses as they We're going out,
knocking one of them down with a
bludgeon and badly beating the other,
who had made his escape and brought
the news of the mutiny to the camp on
the surface. The wounded man was in
the mine, possibly he was dying, at any
rate he was in the possession Of desper-
ate men and must be rescued Captain
Cox armed himself with pair of pis-
tolls and called for volunteers. None of
the guards would go, declaring it would
be certain death. Selling big stick,
Sam Tilman stepped to the superinten-
dents side and said: "I'll go wild yer,
boss" Another negro, armed with a
stick volunteered, and accompanied BIZ
these two, Captain Cox went down into
the dark mine where the mutineers
were. 1t was supposed that they had
pieces of gas pipe filled with dynamite
and nail heads, the conviets favorite
weapon.
It was a trying moment for all three,
but Sam seemed to have no fear and
walked by the side of the boss, ready to
fight for him If the occasion demanded.
The stricken man was found and car
ried to the surface by the negroes, di-
rectea by Captain Cox, and then the
three returned and compelled the mu-
tineers to surrender.
Soon afterward Sam was put to an
other test and his bravery was even
more evident than when he went down
into the darkness of the mine A mob
stormed the stockade clamoring for
Neal Smith, the negro fiend who had
assaulted a young white girl and left
her well-nigh dead upon the mountain
side The guards were demoralized
the negro was delivered UP to the mob,
which threatened to liberate the last
convict if he was not brought out, In
the confusion and excitement the gates
were left open, there was no one to pre-
vent the desperate men from regaining
their liberty. More than hundred de
PRAYED wretches We're inside, and they
made break for the open gate, beyond
which was freedom. Taking in the sit
uation at q, glance, Sam caught up an
iron bar and leaped into the opening.
He ordered the men back, declaring he
would brain the first man who APP
preached. Curses loud and deep were
Kissed at the old negro, but those on
the inside We're unarmed, and, seeing
that Sam was determined, and knowing
him as they did, they made no further
effort to escape.
In a little while order was restored
the guards returned, Sam was relieved
the gates were closed, and not man
had escaped.
The next day Captain Cox told Sam
he intended to get him pardon as Q
reward for his bravery. The old negro
thanked him. but cloud swept over
his face, for the camp had been his
home for more than twenty years, he
was attached to it, and he recognized
| in Captain Cox true friend.
Nothing more was said to Sam, bui
an application for his pardon was made
out, reciting his heroic conduct an6
forwarded to Governor Atkinson. The
pardon was readily granted and the
papers were forwarded to Captain Cox