La Junta tribune., 1906-11-10

fore ~ terrible days of the early
'eGa y vas not long. however. be
fore tA1 outbreak of the var th4s
this sseat occurred
Ths I'LL is not steep. but is rather
q MA eminence which the road
graAnally ascends and descends-
Near the highest point. and not far
froD the highway il q very good
spring Ii vas here one night in '5S
thai - overseer. one veAzey. Who
waS travelling With . band OF slaves.
coaeiu1ed to make camp VeAzey
was . cruel man and his excessively
brutal treatment Of his charges had
LED thso TO . state OF desperation
Afts9 onishing his evening meal he
saw thaf all were carefully nanaeieS
and shaekled and lay down for his
night's rest. IL US for the last tfrns
In the nAGht one OF the slaves. . young
woman. rose steAlthily and With .
heavy stone Drained him A. ke lay
BY his keys she released the party
and they separated and sought to es
csps-
No inquiry can ascertain Shat be-
came Of this unfortunate party. Some
OF the old residents say the girl made
her way successfully to freedom
There II another story that she WAS
captured And made an example Of"
We can vel Imagine what this would
mean
In the late Sos the attitude OF the
slaves In this part OF northern vir-
gtnia vas rebeilious and defiant to .
great degree. II was within q mile
of Triplett's hill that the white resi-
dents found over 100 muskets that
had bees brought into the neighbor-
hood Underground. stored In .
cabin and ready for the black mems
hAnds when they should rise. North
ern abolitionists were among the ne
groes inciting them to rise in rebel
lion The race and sectional feeling
was high and 1t was at this epoch
that tbs famous Black Horse cavalry
vas organized. it being primarily .
night patrol whose purpose was to
ride the roads. send all blacks home
vhea found roaming and break up all
meetings OF negroes and attempts at
organization.
Under such conditions. In a country
patroiled by riders whose authority
was OF the nature Of vigilance COM
mittee. Who held slave life at a tri1ins
value and who owned bioodhounds. IL
is hardly possible that the slave girl
Who had murdered her prosecutor
could escape And what the ven.
geance would have been on the black
who had murdered q white at such a
time IL II painful to conjecture. But
whatever the fate Of the girl. since
occurred By the spring has been local.
ly known rs haunted. No doubt the
white population fosterei the belief
In this among the ignorant and super
stitious blacks. II II only among tho
latter. except in . single case. that
any persons have claimed to havo
seen an apparition OF headless man
stalking the road over the hill.
The belief of some Of the older
nothing would induce them to cross
the hill at night. A cha ! cter among
the local colored population a rev
years ago was Uncle Ephraim and he
claimed to have seen the apparition
In several different forms.
This is the way Uncle Eph tells tho
story:
We'll. sun. Use ben in ter Warren.
ton in de evenin' ted get my ole
oman some caliker. an Use comm
home long bout a hour befo' moon
rise. It's mighty dark. sub. mighty
dark. an rse feeiin' mighty suspicious
long bout de time ] comes ter Trip
let's. Use nearly up de hill. sub;
nigh jus bout opposite de spring. an
Use feelin plenty lonesome. wen .
big black h0vn' dog comes lopin' long
up side OF me. an stops an wags his
tail an looks up at me. Use kinder
glad 70 eomp'ny. sub, an tells him
good doggie' an pats him. an he's =
nnzzling my right han wen says ter
him: Its . nice night. doggie. it's .
right nice night. amt it?' an JUS den
he looks up an speaks right plain:
IT shore is!' Well. sub. I runs an I
runs. an ! never quits runnin' till I
gets to de cross roads an into Buck
Johnsons sto'. I don't go over Trip
ietts no mo. It's warnin' ter me.
sub. w'en goes ter town now, sub.
goes down by Cyarters' an hack y
Mo- Blackwells'."
Ridiculous ~ this seems. II was
real enough 10 the old man. whose
imaginations were no doubt actual %
far as he himself was concerned II
was fact that At the store run By
the johnson brothers At the cross
roads he had burst in one night .
year or two before. almost exhausted
with running, and had poured out the
story. the same As given above In de-
tail.