The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-10-20
HAD A KING FOR A SLAVE.
Old Col Bat Harris Tells Story of tn,
 Days Before the War.

abama, near the Florida line, and a more reckless daredevil could not have been found in ten states. The war re- duced Bat to comparative poverty, and he found it necessary to entertain the travellers who stopped in his village. His table was simple enough, but his charges were elaborate. I knew that the old fellow had been quite pictur- esque character in his day, and one night when we sat by the fire spinning yarns and telling anecdotes, I made an effort to draw him out,
 Did you ever hear of that negro I took from the Wanderers cargo of slaves?" asked the colonel suddenly
 No" replied, tell me about him."
 Bat laughed heartily and seemed to be greatly amused.
 Well" he said, T will give you the story, but there was a time when I would not have told it to anybody. You know all about the Wanderer, of course. She brought the last cargo of slaves that ever came to our shores from Africa. A United States revenue cutter captured her, and the parties en- gagged in the venture were prosecuted illki IlIc HlSSeIS were SGlll DdCh JO AlIl- ca by our government.
 "The blacks were brought through Montgomery in charge Of several Uni ted States mGrshals, and were placed on steamboat bound for Mobile. was in town that day and the boys bantered me to go down to the boat and hdnap an African.
 q had about ten drinks of red liquor under my vest two pistols and a heavy cane, and felt able to defy the govern ment and whip it in a fair fight. So I told my friends that if they would stand around and do what they could to hinder the marshals from nabbing me I would go on the boat and pick out one of the Africans and take him to my plantation.
 This suited the crowd exactly, and wetook another drink and went down to the river. Two or three hundred cit izens were there, and many of them walked about on the boat and exam ined the strangers and tried to talk to them. We went on board, and after a while picked out a splendid looking fellow, about thirty years old and six feet high.
 T got him off from the others and gave my followers the wink. They all closed in around me and my man, and we were on land before the marshals suspected anything. The spectators on the river bank saw what was up and got between us and the officers. The marshals quieted down before the noisy crowd and left on the boat before they were positively certain that they had lost one of the blacks.
 My prisoner walked along with me willingly He seemed to be glad to get on shore again. I put him in my wag- on, and two of my neighbors got in with me, and we started for my planta- tion, a three-days' trip.
 Well, sir, that blessed darkey showed that he understood our signs perfectly, but we could not make him do solitary thing. We had to do all the work, take care of the mules, cook the meals, carry water and all that sort of thing. I was tempted once or twice to give him whipping, but I was afraid that it would then go harder with me if the government prosecuted me. You see the whiskey had died out and I began to feel a. little uneasy. When we reached the plantation gave Ben, as we called him. cabin tc himself, and told the overseer to put him to work next day. It was no use Ben would not work, and we let him alone a few days. Then I got mad and went to the cabin with a whip, deter mined to have it out with him. Ben evidently knew what I was af- | ter. He stood up and faced me, looking | at me with a serious and yet friendly l expression. Taking me by the hand he drew me to seat on a log. He ther | took a pointed stick and in the sand drew a picture of a crowd of arne5 men, with one man in front of them 1 He pointed to this figure and then tc | himself. I understood him. He meant | that in his country he was great war. rior-a leader you know.
 | q shook hands with him leasantly and walked back to the house after | telling the overseer not to bother him.
 Tn the course of few months Der | developed wonderfully. He learned tt
 speak English well enough to makt i himself understood, and made himself
 a power on the plantation. The other
 negroes told me that he had been z king in Africa, and that he knew ( l great deal about medicine and magic They were afraid of him, and obeye( l him in everything.
 ] q fully intended to keep on gooC 1 terms with him, and did so until aftel | the Yankees occupied Pensacola. On' | day I lost my temper and struck him { | blow with my riding whip.
 "The next moment I was on my back
 and Ben had my whip in his hand, anC
 was looking down on me rather con | temptuously, thought Before l coulC 1 rise the rascal was on my horse anC
 dashing down the road.
 1 "I never caught him. Before nigh
 he was safe in Pensacola And nov Fcomes the meanest part of his conduct
 About six weeks afterward confede l rate colonel gave me a copy of the Nev York Herald containing a column in terview with Ben. Would you believ | it?That blasted darkey told how I cap tured him and told a dozen lies abou
 the way l treated my slaves. He sai'
 I worked them too hard and whippe,
 them unmercifully. The impuden ! scoundrell
 i He told all he knew about the sltua
 tion in the confederate lines near Pen
 sacola and showed that he had kept hi
 ears wide open
 Bat paused moment and yawne
 sleepily
 .sE-,-ay baar of hin, {, eya ii, 2,, T aclrod