The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1916-01-26

| til long after the war, and the boys
had to get around the best they
could, climbing and jumping gullles
and after the town began to recover
from the effects of the war, more
streets we're opened, and others clos
ed. There was a public street be-
tween the residence of Mrs. j: A,
Harris and Mrs. Rachel Minshall'
This was closed after Mr.. C. V. Ham,
mond purchased the premises. ]
once lived there.
Them there was another between
the residence of Mr.. Henry Hill and
the opposite lot, and another between
the National Bank and Whites block,
where Mr.. j. C. Ellis does business.
This street led to now the S. A. L..
depot. Although not so old I have
seer the ground broken for every
building on the public square, with
the exception of the Philson & Henry
corner land of every residence ex-
cept four, within the limits of the
city.
Of the real old citizens. I can only
recall the names of four now living,
who resided in Abbeville before the
war, Hugh Wilson, R. E. Hill, T. c.
Seal and George White, Mr.. White
being the only original citizen living
here now that was here during the
war.
There were only two residences be-
yond that of Mrs. L. W. White on
Greenville street, Mrs. L. w. Per-
rims, formerly the old Jimmie Moore
residence, and that of Mr.. W. P.
Kreene, formerly w. H. Parker's. Mr..
H. T. Tusten was the first of the
new residences built after the war
on that street, and if I make no mis-
take, the cottage below Mrs. VIM.
Clinkscales, was the first to be built
after the war. Greenville street
was in original forest, composed of
oak and chestnut, and many times
have / gathered as many as a bushel
of chestnuts in half a day, and in
fact you could get them and chinque-
pins by the bushel any direction you
could start. There was no end to
game of every kind in the city limits.
I have killed in Klugh's Park, tur-
keys, coons, 'possums, rabbits, squir-
rels, fox and birds of all kinds. On
one occasion near town during the
fall of 1878, James Taggart, with a
little negro to climb. with myself,
killed by three o'clock. one hundred
and four squirrels and a coon.. We
had then exhausted our ammunition.
leaving squirrels jumping from limb
to limb.
During the war / have seen a very
large covered wagon on the style of
the mountain apple wagons. filled
with nm and children being pull
ed exclusively by men. We had
what is known as spectators, or
slave traders, trading in slaves. They
were BROUGHT into town like droves
of cattle, horses and mules, and sold
bartered OF exchanged. The women
and children rode in these wagons,
while the boys and men walked.
There were from two to four men at
the tongue to guide, while a long
chain was fastened to the end. as
there were breast chains, not single
trees, as now used. and the men
strung ont on either side Of the
did the pulling. 1t was COM
paratively easy work as there were
a large number of men on the chain,
and they usually took their time.
There was a grove of oaks between
the Episcopal and A. R. P. churches,
excellent camp for such purposes.
They usually remained two or three
OF sufficiently long to sell or
exchange those brought for others,
and would frequently leave with
about the same number. If the
trade was brisk the time was not so
long. If an owner here had a doll
cate slave or an unruly one, or for
any other cause, they were taken to
the camp to sell or exchange just as
is now done on the bone yard. The
value of a slave was lessened if it
was known they were purchased from
Spectator, just as is done with a
horse gotten from the bone yard.
Children were worth from n to
three hundred dollars, women and
girls from three to six, boys and men
from six to fifteen hundred, and
occasionally a man would bring ST.
900. The higher priced men were
experts in the line of shoemaking,
ca~rpentering, and brick laying. 1t
was sad indeed to witness the parting
in many cases, to eternity, of moth