Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1906-11-17


fore the terrible days of the early
SOS. 1t was not long, however, be-
fore the outbreak of the war that
this event occurred.
The hill is not steep, but is rather
a mild eminence which the road
gradually ascends and descends.
Near the highest point, and not far
from the highway is a very good
spring. 1t was here one night in SO
that an overseer, one Veazey, who
was travelling with a band of slaves,
concluded to make camp. Veazey
was cruel man and his excessively
brutal treatment of his charges had
led them to a state of desperation.
After finishing his evening meal he
saw that all were carefully manacled
and shackled and lay down for his
nights rest. 1t was for. the last time.
In the night one of the slaves, young
woman, rose stealthily and with a
heavy stone Drained him as he lay.
By his keys she released the party
and they separated and sought to es-
cape.
No inquiry can ascertain what be-
came of this unfortunate party. Some
of the old residents say the girl made
her way successfully to freedom.
There is another story that she was
captured and made an example off,
We can well imagine what this would
mean.
In the late SOS the attitude of the
slaves in this part of northern Vir-
ginia was rebe1lious and defiant to
great degree. 1t was within mile
of Triplett's hill that the white resi-
dents found over 100 muskets that
had been 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 melting them to rise in rebel
lion. The race and sectional feeling
was high and it was at this epoch
chat the famous Black Horse cavalry
was organized, it being primarily
night patrol whose purpose was to
ride the roads, send all blacks home
when found roaming and break up all
meetings of negroes and attempts at
organization.
Under such conditions, in a country
patrolled by riders whose authority
was of the nature of vigilance COM
mittee, who held slave life at a trif1ing
value and who owned bloodhounds, it
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 a white at such a
time it is painful to conjecture But
whatever the fate of the girl, since
that time the spot where the tragedy
occurred by the spring has been local
ly known as haunted. No doubt the
white population fostered the belief
in this among the ignorant and super
stiiOus blacks. 1t is only among the
latter, except in a single case, that
any persons have claimed 20 have
seen an apparition of a headless man
stalking the road over the hill.
The belief of some of the older
darkies in this ghost is so sincere that
nothing would induce them to cross
the hill at night A character among
the local colored population a few
years ago was Uncle Ephraim and he
claimed to have seen the apparition
in several different forms.
This is the way Uncle Eph tells the
story:
We'll, sub, 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 Pse feelin' 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 a
big black houn' dog comes 1opin' long
up side of me, an stops an wags his
tail an looks up at me. Use kinder
glad fo' comp'n sub, an 1 tells him
good doggie' an pats him, an he's a.
nuzzling my right han wen 1 says ter
him: It's a nice night, doggie, it's a
right nice night, amt it?' an JUS den
he looks up an speaks right plain:
Tt shore ISL Well, sub, I runs an
runs, an never quits runnin' till
gets to de cross roads an into Buck
Johnson's sto'. / don't go over Trip
let's no mo-. It's warnin' ter me,
sub. Wen 1 goes ter town now, sub,
1 goes down by CHARTERS an back O.
Mo Blackwells'"
Ridiculous as this seems, it was
real enough to the old man, whose
imaginations were no doubt actual so
far as he himself was concerned. 1t
was a fact that at the store run by
the Johnson brothers at the cross
roads he had burst in one night a
year or two before, almost exhausted
with running, and had poured out the
story, the same as given above in de-