The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1902-03-09
THE LEOPARD'S SPOTS.' A Story of Reconstruction Days in the Sout
SYNOPSIS on pREv1ous cHAprERs.

OF PREVIOUS CHAPTERS.
Ms Gaseon L. stricken with brain fever al
Shs news Of her husbands death IN battle, and
ha1 little son. Charlie. never forgsts the scenes
Of that terrible night
Tom Camp. an old. one-legsed soldier. returns
TO his humble cabin, o~verjoyed to see his wife
/: And little girl again. He agrees to sit up with
Mrs. CASTOR. but will not sit up with a mig
ger" which he always hated. After six months
Mrs. CASTOR RECEIVERS, tenderly cared for by her
Rittle son, Charlie.
\ Nelse, Mrs. Gsstos's faithful black man. In in
4ormed that he must be unmarried. He thinks
70 have a good joke on his wife. but finds that
Two can play at the same game.
The negroes became very insolent after the
+! war. organizing into secret societies and build
: Ing q church Of their own. General Worth comes
% town on court Cay and makes q speech to
= xhs assembled nesroes. telling them that Mr..
Iinooln was never In favor Of social and polit-
: 3cal equality. and that the negro. although free.
f9eM must work. A { the conclusion of his ad-
a4r0s he rebukes Amos Hogs. a former Pro.
tNstonRd Governor. for helping the negroes to or
.8antxo Into secret societies. General Worth has
ibofrowed money from Northern bankers and Is
.fsbuiioinG several old factories in order to give
(. poor people employment. Hogx threatens the
General and they engage in a war OF words-
Two months: later General Worth was sum
1soned to Hanbnght on a charge Of using abusive
language to q freedman Simon Lagree. the
{ former slave trader. sided with Hogg and they
with others OF their class incite the negroes to
oppose their old masters at every opportunity.
With the estahlAhmenf OF military government
The neEroes on General Worth's plantation re-
+. Iuse to work or to allow white men to take
their places. Negro upri,ings follow. Hog and
-dA&ree coatrol their movements.
CHAPTER XIv-tContinued).
Twas the bluest Monday the Reverend
John Durham ever remembered In his min
!, astry. A long drought had parched the
corn into twisted and stunted little stalks
that looked az though they had been burnt
In a prairie IRE. The fly had destroyed the
wheat crop and the cotton was dying in
the bhstertng sun OF August and a blight
worse than drought, or Hood, or p~esttlence,
brooded over the stricken land, finging the
shadow OF its Black Death over every
/, home. The tax gatherer Of the new re-
publican form Of government" recently es-
.:tabdshed In North Carolina. now demanded
his pound of flesh.
/; Tho Sunday before had been a peculiarly
hard one for the preacher. He had tried
by the sheer power of personal sympathy
to LIT the ~despairins people out Of their
fgioom and make strong their faith in God.
.1n his morning sermon he had torn his
very heart open and given them its red
blood to drink. At the night service he
could not rally from the nerve tension Of
the morning. He felt that he had pttiably
Vailed The whole day seemed a failure.
black and hopeless.
: All day long -le sorrowful stories OF ruin
and loss Of homes were poured into his
ear.
The Sheriff had advertised for sale for
haxes ESQ homes in Campbell County. The
aaDd under such conditions has no value.
At was only q Formally for the auctioneer
TO cry It and knock 1t down for the amount
of the tax bill.
As he arose from bed with the burden of
ran this hopeless misery crushing his. soul,
n sense Of utter exhaustion and loneliness
sscame over him. The lofty ideals Of faith |
and hope he had tried to teach seemed hol- |
dow words with which he had h~umbugged
and the people.
I M love, ] must go back to bed and try |
TO sleep. I lay awake last night until 2
o'clock. I can't eat anything" he said to |
his wife as she announced breakfast,
"John, dear, don't give up like that"
Cant help It" !
But you must Come. here is something
that will tone you up. I found this note
under the front door this morning."
what Is IT."
"a notice from some of your admirers
That you must leave this country in forty
eight hours or take the consequences"
He % at this anonymous letter. !
pulled his mostache and smiled.
mot such a failure after all. am To- he
unused. |
IT thought that would help you." she
laughed.
Eyes, I can eat breakfast on the strength
Of that"
He spread this letter out beside his plate |
md read and reread II as he ate, while his
eyes flashed With g. strange half-humorous
light.
"ReaIly. that's fne, isn't it?' You sower
OF sedition and rebellion, hypocrite and
false prophet. The day has come to clean
this country of treason and traitors. IL
you dare to urge the people to further re-
sistapce to authority, there Will be one
traitor less in this country" /
Thxt sounds like the voice Of Q Daniel
oome to judgment, don't it?" /
II think Ezra Perkins might know some '
thing about It."