The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-02-15
CHAPTER XXI The Fate of MT. Hotchkiss.

The Fate or NIT. HoLcnklSS'
 MT. Hotchkiss after leaving the Union League, had decided not to wait for his co-worker, whom he know 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 was doing what he con- ceived to be his duty. He belonged to that large and pestiferous tribe of re- formersi who go through the world with out fixed principles. lie had been an abolitionist. but he was .ot of the Garri- son type. On the contrary, he thought that Garrison was a time-server and a | laggard who needed to be spurred and , driven. He was one of the men who urged John Brown to stir un an insur- ! rection in which innocent women and children would have been the chief .uf- fcrers; and he would have rejoiced sln- i cerely if John Brown had been success ful. He belonged to the Peace society, and yet nothing would ave pleased him better than an uprising of the blacks. followed by the shedding of innocent i blood. You find the type everywhere; it i clings like leach to the skirts of every great movement. The Hotchkisses swarm wherever there, is an opening for them, and they always present the same general aspect. They are as productive of isms as a fly of maggots. and they i 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 hu- haft, T warped the minds of the whites to such an extent that they thought it necessary to bring about peace and good order by means of various acute forms of injus- tice and lawlessness.
 Hotchkiss went along the road in high 1 spirits. He had delivered biste-'"
 dress to the negroes at the meeting of the league. and he was feeling happy. Before he delivered his address, he had initiated Ike Warner who was by all odds the most notorious negro in all that region. Ike was 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 re- peat some of the extemporaneous satires N'AN reputation among the blacks of being an uncompromising 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 'possun suppers for those who sat up late al night and ice cream for those who went 1 to bed early. He tided up the rooms oi l the young bachelors. he sold chicker | pies and ginger-cakes on public days
 He was a happy-go- lucky negro, and l spent his money as fast as he. made it. not on himscTE but-Son sdien his wife l who was young. and bright and hand some and almost white. Edie was the one creature in the world that Ike really cared for and he had sense enough to i know that she .cared for him only when he could supply her with money. Yet he watched her like a hawk; mad1y jealous l of every glance she gave another man. and she gave many, in all directions | Ikes jealousy was the talk among the male population, and was the subject for manysa jest at his expense. His nature was such that he could 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 l more conductive to health. Ikes white friends laughed at him. but the negro couldn't see the joke. Why should a ne- | gro be laughed at for taking precautions of this sort. The fact is that Ike didn'i know what else to do. and so he sent his handsome wife into exile, and went along to keep her company Nevertheless, al
 his interests were within the corporate | f,..
 pelled by circumstances to leave Edlt al1rs, sometimes till late at night
 Now, the fact of ixes popularity witt 1 the whites had struck MT. Hotchkiss as very unfavorable sign. He sent som. of the negro leaders to talk to Ike, who sent them about their business In short order. Then MT. Hotchkss took the case | in hand, and called on Ike at his house 1 The two had an argument over the mat | ter, Ike interspersing hs remarks witt | random rhymes which Hotchkiss thought
 very coarse and crude. At the conclu
 sion of the argument, Hotchkiss saw that the negro had been laughing a
 him all the way through. He went ava, | in a huff, resolved to leave the negro with his idols.
 l This would have been very we'll il the matter had stopped there, but Edi, put her finger in the pie. One day wher Ike was away, she called to Hotchkiss as he was passing on his way to town and invited him into the house. Ther, was something about the man that hat attracted the wild and untamed passion. ! of the woman. He went in, in respons, to her invitation, and found that she de
 sired to ask his advice as to the best ant easiest method of converting Ike into Union Leaguer. Hotchkiss gave hel such advice as he could in the mos
 matter-of-fact way, and went on abou
 his business. Edie was not accustomed to this sort of thing, and 1t puzzled her | She went to her looking-glass and studi