Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1899-06-08
A SLAVE THE stake.
TWO MEN SHOVE THE PASTE BOARDS.
TRYING TO WIN A SLAVE.
MISSISSIPPI THE SCENE OK ACTION.
Captain Joseph Browns RecolIectlons of q
Thrilling Incident on The River.

rclate,' remarked Captain Joseph
Brown, formerly mayor of ST. Louis,
"occurred long before the war.
was a passenger on the boat and wit
messed the whole affair. A princi-
pal actor in the scenes that led up to
the tragedy, for so it PROVED, to be,
was Andrew Butler. Mi. Butler
lived in Hannibal, Mo-, and was q
slave dealer. Those purchased by
Mr.. Butler in this section were usu-
ally transferred, before sending
them south, to Lynch's slave pen, To-
Gated on Fifth street (now Broad
way), between Elm and Poplar
streets, where they were held until
after sufficient number had been
collected to make shipment desir-
able, when they wero taken to New
Orleans and sold from tho block, if
they had not before been disposed of
by private sale.
cat that time there was a family
living in Rails county, near Hanni-
bal, who were wealthy and had rath-
er gay young son who spent much
of his time in Hannibal and on the
river, and who contracted fast habits,
including penchant for gambling.
lie, however, afterwards married
and seemed to settle down.
"The father Of the family had Il
plantation, and among the household
was Dina, mulatto, who had a
number of very bright children, and,
as was often the case, little Sallie
and jim were always considered as
belonging to young 'Mars' George
T@y!or and his wife. Jim was
Georges body servant while Sallie
took care Of young Misses and the
little Taylors that were coming on.
jim was given good deal of liberty,
to the extent of going into Hannibal
on odd occasions and hiring himself
to the landlord of the hotel Cat that
time Mr.. CampbelD to wait on the
table.
Ht 80 happened that Andrew j.
Butler VAS d guest at the house On
a public occasion when Jim, either
by accident or design for all the
blacks hated a slave tradcr) spilled a
plate of soup over the dress suit of
Butler, which 80 incenscd him that
he demanded that the Negro JIM
should be whipped; but Mr.. Camp
bell not owning the Negro, refused
to have it done. The result was
that Butler swore vengeance on the
Negro and said he would yet own
him and would give him q hundred
lasbes and then sell him for planta-
ton work i'll the south, which was
the horror of family Negro in
Missouri; and when a Negro child
disobeycd, the threat was often used
to frighten him into obedience.
"Thc following fall, George Taylor
and his beautiful wife, together with
their servants, Jim and 'Sallie' were
passengers on the Rosalie,' Captain
Cameron, on their way to New Or.
leans, and the St. Charles hotel. AT
St. Louis it 80 transpircd that they
took passage on the splendid passen-
ger steamer "Autocrat', Captain Jim
Goslce and Clerk Hamilton Hawley
the first of Louisville and tho latter
of Memphis, and it also occurred
that Andrew j. Butler, with num-
bcr of slaves, was passenger Gil the
same boat for New Orleans.
"l'ho first night out Butler ap-
preached Taylor and proposed a
game of poker. Taylor consented
to sit down in the social hall in front
of the bar and play a four-handed
gamo to pass the time. The four
played for couple of hours, when
two of them quit, leaving Butler and
Taylor to continue the game. They
played on with varied success until
the next morning, every little while
having their glasses filed at tho bar
with mint juleps or something
stronger, until at length both became
more or less intoxicated, and $4,000
OF Taylor's money, all he had, had
passed into Buffers hands. Butle,
was not willing to play unless Tay.
lor had money to sante-up' or some.
thing in it's stead. The result was
that Taylor in his drunken frenzy
put up his watch and lost it. After
the watch had been passed over, be-
fore crowd of excited passengers
who, ho"ever, dared not interfere,
Butler triumphantly said, 'What
else have you got to put up?' Tay.
lqf answered, 4 have nothing bu
this ring which was large cluster
of diamonds. Butler said, Il do not