The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-02-08
CHAPTER XXI. The Fate of MT. Hotchkis.

MT. Hotchkiss, after leaving the Union League, had decided not to wait for his co-worker, whom he knew as Boring. So far as he was concerned, he had no fears. He knew, of course, that he was playing with fire, but what of that? He had the Government behind him, and two companies of troops within call. More than that, he WIS doing what he con- ceived to be his duty. He belonged to that large and pestiferous tribe of re- reformers. who go through the world
 without fixed principles. He had been an abolitionist, but he was not of the Gar rison type. On the contrary he thought that Garrison was a time-server and laggard who needed to be spurred and
 driven. He was one of the men who urg-
 ed John Brown to stir up an instruction
 in which innocent women and children
 would have been the chief sufferers; and he would have rejoiced sincerely if John Brown had been successful He belonged to the Peace Society. and yet nothing would have pleased him better than an
 uprising of the blacks, followed by the shedding of innocent blood. You find the | type everywhere; it clings like a leech to the skirts of every great movement. The Hotchxisses swarm wherever there Is an opening for them and they always pre- sent the same general aspect. They are | as productive of isms as a fly is of mag
 gots and they live and die in the belief that they are promoting the progress of the world; but if their success is to be
 measured by their operations in the South during the reconstruction period the world
 would be much better off without them. They succeeded in dedicating millions of
 human beings to misery and injustice, and warped the minds of the whites to | such an extent that they thought 1t nec- essary to bring about peace and good or der by means of various acute forms of injustice and lawlessness.
 Hotchkiss went along the road in high spirits. He had delivered a blistering ad- dress to the negroes at the meeting of the league, and he was feeling happy.
 Before he delivered his adress, he had initiated Ike Warner, who was by all odds the most notorious negro in all that re- gion Ike was a poet in his way: if he
 had lived few centuries earlier, he would
 have been called a minstrel He could
 stand up before a crowd of white men
 and spin out rhymes by the yard. Some
 of his rhymes were very apt and there
 are men living today who can repeat
 some of the extemporaneous satires com
 posed by this negro. He had the reputa-
 tion among the blacks of being an uncom-
 promising friend of the whites. In the
 town, he was privileged character; he
 could do and say what he pleased. He
 was fine cook, and provided possum
 suppers for those who sat up late at
 night, and ice-cream for those who went
 to bed early. He tidied up the rooms of
 the young bachelors he sold chicken-pies and ginger-cakes on public days. He was happy-go-lucky negro, and spent his
 money as fast as he made it, not on him.
 self but on Edie, his wife, who was
 young. and bright and handsome, and almost white. Edie was the only creature
 in the world that Ike really cared for, and he had sense enough to know that
 she cared for him only when he could
 supply her with money. Yet he watched
 her like a hawk; madly jealous of every
 glance she gave another man; and she
 gave many, in all directions. Ike's jeal-
 ousy was the talk of the town among
 the male population, and was the sub Ject of many jest at his expense. His
 nature was such that he couIu jest about
 it, too, but far below the jest, as any
 one could see. there was desperation.
 In spite of all this. Ike was the most
 popular negro in the town. He had
 moved his wife and his belongings into
 the country. two or three miles from town
 on the ground that the country is more
 conducive to health. Ike's white friends lauSHOu dt hiiH' put the negro couldn't
 see the joke. Why should a negro be
 laughed at for taking precautions of this
 sort. The fact is that Ike didn't know
 what else to do, and so he sent his hand
 some wife into exile, and went along to
 keep her company. Nevertheless, all his | interests were within the corporate limits
 of Shady Dale, and he was compelled by circumstances to leave Edie alone.
 sometimes till late at night.
 Now, the fact of Ike's popularftv with
 the whites had struck Mir Hotchkiss AS
 very unfavorable sign. He sent some
 of the negro leaders to talk to Ike, who sent them about their business in short
 order. Then MT. Hotchkiss took the case
 in hand, and called on Ike at his house.
 The two had an argument over the mat
 ter. Ike interspersing his remarks with
 random rhymes which Hotchkiss thought
 very coarse and crude. At the conclusion
 of the argument Hotchkiss saw that the
 negro had been laughing at him all the
 way through He went away in huff,
 resolved to leave the negro with his idols
 This would have been very well, if the
 matter had stopped there. but Edie put her finger in the pie. One day when Ike was | away. she called to Hotchkiss as he was pa ssing on his way to town. and invited | him into the house There was something about the man that had attracted fha