The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-02-09

because he loved it's genial skies and
kindly people.
Ultimately some OF these Northern
settlers were forced into politics by con-
dltions around them. and they consti-
tuted the only conscience and brains
visible in public life during the reign OF
terror which the Reconstruction" re-
gime inaugurated.
In the winter Of 1866 the Union League
al Hambright held meeting of special
Importance. The attendance was large
and enthusiastic.
Amos Hogg, the defeated candidate for
! Governor in the last election. now the
Leagues" had sent a special ambassador
to this meeting to receive reports and
give instructions.
This ambassador was none other than.
the famous Simon Legree of Red River.
| who had migrated to North Carolina at
tracted by the first proclamation of the
| President, announcing his plan for read
| hitting the State to the Union. The ru-
| mors of his death proved a mistake. He
had quit drink. and set his mind on
greater vices.
In his face were the features of the
slaves had made him unique in infamy
in the annals of the South. He was now
/ pre- emin2ntly the type OF the truly
| loyal. At the first rumor of war he had
| sold his negroes and migrated nearer the
border land, that he might the better
avoid service in either army He sue
| CO ded in doing this. The last two years
o. the war, however. the enlisting officers
1 4 r.
| a brilliant scheme.
| He shaved clean, and dressed as q Ger
man emigrant woman. He wore dresses
| for two years. did house work. MIXED
! the COWS and cut wood for a good ma
tured old German. lie paid him for his
| board, and passed for his sister just from
| the old country.
| When the war closed, he resumed male
| attire, became a riolent Union man, and
| swore that ne had been bounded and
prosecuted without mercy by the Seces-
! sionist rebels
! lie was looking more at ease ROW than
| ever in his life. lie wore q silk hat and
a new suit Of clothes made by fashion,
| able tailor in Raleigh. He was little
elder looking than when he killed Uncle
! Tom on his farm some ten years before,
! bu; otherwise unchanged. He had the
| same short muscular body, round bullet
head, light grey eyes and shaggy eye
brows but his deep chestnut bristly hair
/ had been trimmed by q barber. His
| coarse thick lips dropped at the corners
o. his mouth and emphasized the crook
| IN his nose. His eyes, well set apart, as
1 OF old were bold. commanding, and
! flashed with the cold light of glittering
| steel. His teeth that once were pointed
! like the fGngs of a wolf had been filed
by i dentist. But it required more than
the file of a dentist to smooth out OF
that face the ferocity and cruelty that
/ years of dissolute habits had fixed.
! He was only forty-two years old, but
the fiabby flesh under his eyes and his
enormous squarecut jaw made him look
fully fifty.
1t was a spectacle tor gods and men To
see him harangue that Union League in
| the platitudes of loyalty to the Uuion,
and to watch the great crowd OF negroes
hang GREATNESS Oh his every word as the
Inspired gospel Of Cod! The only notable
| change III him from the old days was in
| his speech. He had hired man TO teach
him grammar and pronunciation. He
lad high ambitions for the future.
BE OF good cheer, beloved" he said to
the negroes "A great day is coming fol-
you You are 10 rule this land. Youl
old masters are to dig in the fields and
you are to sit in the shade and be gen.
tlemen. Old Andy Johnson Will be
kicked out of office or hung and the
farms you've worked on so long will be
divided among you. You can rent them
to your old masters and live in ease the
balance of your life!"
Glory 10 God!" shouted an old negro
Il have just been to Washington foI
our great leader, Amos Hogg. I've seen
Mr. Sumner, Mr.. Stevens and Mr.. But
Ter ] have shown them that we car
carry any State in the South, if they viii
| only give you the ballot and take it away
| from enough rebels. We have promises
them the votes OF every State in the
South in the Presidential election. and
they are going TO give us what we W .ot!
"Hallelujah! Amen, Vas. Lawi," Tho
fervent EXPLANATIONS came from every
rart Of the room.
After the meeting the negroes pressed
| around Legree and shook his hand with
| eagernesS-the same hands that We're red
with the blood of their race---yet they
baled his coming as a prophet of God!
When the crowd had dispersed a meet
ing OF the leaders was held.
Dave Haley, the eX-slave trader from,
| Kentucky who had lodged back and
forth from the mountains Of his native
State TO the mountains of Western North
Carolina and kept out of the armies, was
there. He had settled in Hambright and
hoped at least to get the postoffice under
| the new dispensation.
In this group was the full blooded ne
gro, Tim Shelby. He had belonged to the
SLelbys of Kentucky, but had escaped
through Ohio into Canada before the war
He had returned home with great expec-
| tations of revolutions to follow in the
wake Of the victorious armies of the
North. He had been disappointed in the
program of kindness and mercy that fol-
| lowed the fall of the Confederacy; but
he had been busy day and night since the
| war in organizing the negroes, in secret
ly furnishing them arms aud wherever
possible he had them grouped in military
posts and regularly drilled. He was
clated at the brilliant prospects which
Legree's report from Washington opened
Glorious news you bring us, brother!
he exclaimed as he slapped Legree on the
hack.