Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1911-11-01

NuOuSul IL Que Oh ISaT- w III the SITdQ-
ger Kill him! His next Thought. seeing
that he Is not killed is. Can he Kill the
stranger? There was Packard. Il colo
NAL trader. some twelve miles down
the coast He boas that be ruled by
kindness and never struck a blow. The
result was that he did not rule at all
He used to come down in his VITA ie-
boat to visit Hughie and ME. When bis
boats crew decided to go home he had
to cut bis visit short to ACCOMPANY
them. l remember one Sunday after
noon when Packard bad accepted our
invitation TO stop to dinner. The soup
was just served when HuChie saw a
niger peering in through the door. He
went out TO him. for it was a violation
Of Berande custom Any niger has to
send in word by the house boys snd to
keep outside the compound. This man.
who was one Of Psckard's boats crew,
was on the veranda. And he knew bet
ter. too. What nameT said Hughie.
You tell m white man close up we
feIla boats crew go along. He no
come now. we fella boy no wait We
go
And just then Hughie fetched him
a clcut that Knocked him clean down
the stairs aud of the veranda"
But it was needlessly cruel" Joan
objected. You wouldn't treat a white
man that way"
And that's just the point. He wasn't
white man. he was a low black
niger. and he was deliberately Insult
ing. not alone his own white master.
but every white master in the Solo
mons. He insuIted me. He insulted
Hughie. he insulted Berande.'
'Of course. according TO your lights.
to your formula of the rule of the
strong
Yes" Sheldon Interrupted. but K
was according 10 the formula Of the
rule OF the weak that Packard ruled
And what was the result? am sriIi
alive. Packard is dead. He was I'M
SwervinGly kind and gentle 10 his boys.
and his boys waited till one day he was
down with fever. His head is over
on Malaita now. They carried away
rwO whuiebOats as well filed with the
loot OF he store. Then there was Cap
tain Mackenzie OF The ketch Minota
he believed in kindness and paraded
around the deck without even a re-
His head remains in Malaita II was
suicide. SO was Packard'S finish sui
eide. You must understand one thing.
Berande. bar none. is by far The worst
plantation in the SOlOmonS so far as
the labor is concerned. And how it
came 10 be so proves your point The
previous owners OF Beraude were not
diScreetIy kind. They were a pair of
unaduitPrated brutes. One was a down
east Yankee. as believe they are cali
ed. and the other was a guZZing Ger
man.
They were slave drivers. To begin
with. they bought their labor from
Johnny Be bowed. the most notorious
recruiter in the SOIomonS. He is work
ing ont a ten years sentence in Fit
now. for the wanton killing of black
boy. During his last days here he
had made himself so obnoxious that
the natives on Maaita would have
nothing 10 do with him. The only way
he could get recruits was by burrying
TO the spot whenever a murder or
series OF murders occurred. The muir
derers were usually only too willing TO
sign on and get away to escape ven
escapes pier head jumps There IS
suddenly a roar from the beach. and
8 niger runs down to the water pur-
sued by clouds of spears and arrows.
OF course. johnny Be-bIowed's whale
boat is lying ready to pick him up
In his last days Johnny got nothing
but pier head jumps
And the first owners Of Rerande
bought his recruits-a hard bitten gang
OF murderers. They were all five wear
boys. Well that's the gang Of murder
erS we've got on orr hands now. OF
course. some are dead. some have been
killed. and there are others serving
sentences nj TuIar Very little clear
ing did those first owners do. and less
II was war all the time.
They had one manager killed. One OF
the partners bad his shoulder slashpd
nearly OF by n cane knife. The other
was speared on two different occasions.
They were chased away-literaIlY
chased awav-by their own nfggprS
And along came poor HugnIe ana me.
two new chuns. to take hold OF that
hard bitten gang. We did not know
the situation. and we had bought
Berande. and there was nothing to do
but hang on and muddIe through some
how.
AT first we made the mistake Of in.
discreet kindness. We tried to rule
Oy persuasion and fair treatment. The
niggers concluded that we were afraid
Then came the day when Hughie rep
rimanded one of the boys, and was
nearly killed by the gang. The only
thing that saved him was the number
on top of him. which enabled me to
reach the spot In time. :
Then began the rule Of the strong
hand. 1t was either that OF quit. and
we had sunk about all our money into
the venture. and we could not quit. |
A nd besides. our pride was involved
We had started out to do something.
and we were so made that we just had
10 90 on with it. Do you know we I