Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1921-08-02

lister, but went to Georgia to vote. For
some time the result was in doubt, but
it was understood that if the Demo
Gratis did win the first news should be
proclaimed to the state by the little
cannon that Grady loaded. went from
Athens to Atlanta to hear the earliest
returns and as the reports fiuctuated
from party to party public feeling was
intense and every ear attuncd to hear
the voice of that little gun.
II was then the news was flashed
over the wires of electricity, that the
Republicans conceded Cleveland's cleo
ton and their party's defeat. In an in
stant the sncct of paper that Henry w.
Grady himself had pasted over the
touch hole Of that little cannon was
torn away, match applied and the
charge of gunpOwdcr that Grady NM
self had rammed home belched forth
the great tidings. 1t was almost lik"
the voice OF Henry w Grady himself
proclaiming the news. The cheers that
responded to the voice of that little
gun almost seemed to shake the >ternai
hills around Atlanta.
Only a short time before Gradys
death. on invitation Of Phil Davis,
George Grogan, myself and other
friends Grady visited Elberton (wnere
| was then living) and spent several
days with us. He delivered four speech
eS to immense audiences, one in Elber-
ton. one al point in South Carolina
where the Tugaloo and Seneca rivers
unite to form the Savannah, and two
in Elbert county.
We arranged to take Grady on tw"
days trip down the Savannah "iver,
using a fiotilla of old-style boats, pro-
PEELED by negro boatmen with 20 cS,
such as were used by Planters to carry
their cotton to Augusta.
Grady thoroughly enjoyed that trip
and acted like a boy just dismissed
from school. AS the boats pulled off
the thousands that followed Grady to
the river bank badc him farewell with
cheers and waving handkerchiefs. But
as soon as the boat rounded bend in
the river Grady shucked his pants ana
was in the river trying to duck Il
darky. 1t was hard to believe him the
same eloquent orator whom an hour
before had thrilled and delighted thou
sands and had them laughing or with
tcar-dimmcd eyes as his subject was
amusing or pathetic.
The first night our party p:,c"ed
camp at Browns Ferry on the Georgia
side in Hart county. Soon after we
landed Graded asked me to take a stroll
with him and walking up the road a
short distance we took Il seat on log.
asked Grady what his aspirations
pointed to, assuring him that he could
always command me 10 the utmost cN-
tent.
His reply was: Can't. there is no
position or office within the gift Of the
american people lllsil j w Silt w "'u''
accept My mission and work is to
bring together the North and South,
and have once more united country
That night Grady co lected' the ne
gro bOatmcn aro8nd him and had them
singing their quaint melodies. Just be
fore | dropped off my last waking re-
mcmbrancc was Grady sitting on the
ground with his back against a large
white oak tree and his cOlored choir
standing around him singing, Jesus
Locked in the Lions Jaw"
| was walked by Grady shaking me.
Can't, / never had anything to so
touch and impress me as those negroes
singing. There is peculiar wall and
pa thos in their voices that nothing but
forty generations of slavery could pro-
duce." AS he stretched himself on the
pallet beside me, he added, THE fact
is, the more Il see of white folks the
better like the darkey."