The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-09-25

-(f -
strong iron bolts. were a number of
iron rings, and on one side of the walls
were rings and bolts, still hanging
rusty with age.
Here's where Anderson kept his
slaves at night" explained the squire.
Each man or woman was chained
With short chain to one of these
rings. The chain was fastened about
their ankles and IL was barely long
enough to allow them to lie down. The
few comforts extended them depended
entirely uDon their favor with their
master If they had been submissive
every way. had done more than an or
binary share of the work, an old bIan-
down for them; otherwise the hard floor
was all the bed they had To those
rings which you see in the wall four
feet or more above the floor the unfor-
tunate who happened to fall under the
ban of old Jacks displeasure were
chained in an upright manner. so that
he would have to stand on his feet all
night OF the brutal whippings and
lashings which occurred 1 can only say
that know they were of daily occur
renee Those old floors you see here
and there" pointing to a number of
discolorations which even half a cen
tury's time had failed to obliterate,
'still carry the stains of blood
Did none of the slaves try to get
away? It's not many miles to the Ohio
river. and they could have reached il
in the night
Some of them did get out. but they
were always caught and brought back,
and in such cases it would have been
better for them if they had died /
never knew of but one who did get
away actually, and that was a negro
who somehow got loose from his chain
and climbed through that hole point
= n = hot
per log and the heavy rafters. How
he got out do not know. but he did:
whether he really got safely away is
doubtful. for il has often been said
took him and beat him to death; but
let US get out of this Internal place:
it ALWAYS smells of murder to me.
Before you. said the old man, after
we left the prison. you see the fields
in which the slaves were worked
Along down there were wheat and corn
fields when was a, young man, and
as l rode by have seen negro men
chained in strings, four or five feet
apart. cutting and reaping wheat A
big strong white man, who was noted
for his brute strength and his expert
ence. was hired to set pace and keep
it at one end and in front of each of
blacks. Behind him came the string
of negroes. chained by the ankles one
to another. each carrying q sickle
They reaped to the right and in front
with their sickles, cutting every stalk
of grain as they went, until they
reached the end of the field when the
line would swing around, and the ne
SroeS would throw their sickIeS over
their shoulders and bind on the way
back all they had reaped going the
other way, and woe to them if they
failed to keep up with their taskmaster.
If one failed-and the task was almost
impoSsible-he was taken out of the
line and dashed until his back was
scanned with stripes. 1t was terrible
subj and there wasn't q decent man in
this section but would have been glad
TO have heard of old Jacks death at
the hands of the poor fellows
An this was bad enough, God
knows. but it wasn't the worst Old
Anderson always made it a point to
buy UP any negro who spoke to him
in any way he deemed disrespectful,
and then God help the poor devil His
life was made a hell until he died, or
until, if he lived through the season,
he was sold further south. for the old
hend seldom kept the same lot of men
two seasons. He probably had several
after his negroes had gone through a
seasons work-such work-they were
generally broken down and worthless.
often for life: another was that he
knew that after such treatment as they
had got there were doubtless some
among them who would have killed
him at the first opportunity and have
been glad of the chance at that, no
matter what the after result may have
been. Still another was that old Jack
was always on the lookout and bought
cheap at forced sales.
Talk about liberty, subj That man
never allowed a slave a days liberty
while he owned him Many a
time I have heard mutterings OF
threats among the white folks, but
they were never carried out You
heard old Elm say that the old jail
was haunted by the spirit of a girl
slave 2''
yes. but supposed it was only the
muttering Of Numbering and en-
feebled mind
''Oh, no: ELM referred to an occur
renee which 1 believe was really the
cause of old Jack leaving the country
He bought a likely looking yellow girl
one time down near Paris and brought
her to his plantation. The girl was
willing enough, but when the old fell
low demanded too much she sauced
him, it is said. Be that as 1t may, he
stripped her and cowhided her and
then chained her ND. One night old
Jack and his OVerseer were aroused by
a great fire. His stacks of wheat, his
bins of grain and his stables had all
been set on fire, and over 2, coo bushels
of wheat, all of his corn and his barns
and horses were all burned. They sUs-
pected the yellow girl and accused her
/ of it, and she became desperate and
confessed, and said she would do il
again il she got an opportunity. Old
Anderson swOre he would kill her, and
it is said of him that ne actually hung
her with his own hands. That was the
| beginning of the end, for, although
nothing was done with him for tit
/ could not be proven by white folks, and
/ the evidence of negroes was then in
! valid in law-he never prospered from
/ that moment. Drougnts destroyed his
| crops; his negroes sickened and died or
| killed themselves: q sickness of some
| sort got among his stock and they died
/ by the dozen: and then rumors that
/ the old jail had become haunted by
/ the ghost of the yellow girl %Jere cir
/ cUlated, and although l haven't the
/ least notion but that such talk was all
| nonsense, old Jack was frightened half
/ out of his senses. At last he could
/ stand it no longer and sold out for a
I mere song and moved away, much to
| the pleasure Of the entire community -
1T is strange that the present owner
| doesn't tear down the old prison and
! get rid forever of its unpleasant asso-
! Citations"
/ "Oh, no: Walton, although a north
] ern man, knows the falling of a great
J many negroes, and as long as the old
/ jail stands he knows that his fruit and
] poultry are safe, for you couldn't in
/ duce a negro in the county 70 go with
| in mile of the place on a dark night II
Lavish Miner Gave Fortune In TIPS
| (Denver News)