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About The Columbus journal. (Columbus, Neb.) 1874-1911 | View Entire Issue (June 29, 1887)
- Cffkmrm jmmrat t jsr v-v - ti r-r-- -.-i.-o-jTritia -.'- '.": i ,ii k -f V- VOL. XVUX-NO. 10. COLUMBTTS, NEB., WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29, 1887. WHOLE NO. 894. -t COLUMBUS STATE BANK. COLUMBUS, NEB. Cash Capital $75,000. DIKECTOKH: LKANDKlUlKim.VUD. Pr.v't. OKO. W. HULST. Vie PreVt. JULIUS A. KF.EI). K. !!. HENRY. J. I!. TASKKIt. Cashier. Raak ef leHtlt IHMtomu Msl Eicsusre. Cotlectlema Promptly Nndc all Polata. Pay latrreaf Time sh. It. 27: COLUMBUS Savings Bank, LOAN & TRUST COMPANY. Capital Stock, 8100,000. OFFICERS: A. ANDERSON. Prw't. O. W. SHELDON. Vict IVw't. O. T. KOEN, Treas. ROBERT UHLIG. 8c o lWWill roceivu Umo deposits, from $1.00 aud hny amount upwards, and will pay tho cus tomary rata of latere!. -WWoparliculnrlj draw your attention to our facilities for making l.iaus ii real wtato, Rt tho lowest rata of interest. r tyCity, School and County Bond, find in di Idual securities Hro bought. lCjuue'f 5y FOR Tiro CALL ON- A. & M.TURNER Or 3. W. HIItLEB, ''ravelins; Atlmnni. fJ"Thesa organs are first-class iu every iar ticular, and mo Kuarantood. SCHAFFROTH & PLATH, UXII.1CU3 IN WIND MILLS, AND PUMPS, Buckeye Mower, combined, Self Binder, wire or twine. Pimps Repaired en short Holier tTOns door went of Heints's Drutc Btore, 11th street, Columbus, Neb. 17uovt-tf HENRY G-ASS. TJlDERTATCER ! COFFINS AND METALLIC CASES AND DBALKK IH Faraltsra,, Chairs, Bedsteads, Bu- reams. Tables. Safes. Loaagse, Jko.. Plctmre Frames and Mouldings. IWMepairing of all kinds of Uphol etery Goods. t-t COLUMBUS, NEBRASKA. PATENTS CATE1 Tft, TnilE I1EKS iM CIPVIICITS Obtaiatd. and all other business in the U. 8. at USuw attended to for MODERATE OvoSmla opposite the U. 8. Patent Office, sss1 ws osa obtain Patents in to time than these imoU from WASHINGTON. Smi MODEL OR DRAWING. W advise aa . tojwtatitability free of chance; and make NO CHABGK UNLESS WE OBTAIN PATENT. We refer here to the Postmaster, the Supt. of MoMOrder Div., and to officials of the U. 8. meat Ofltoe. Por circulars, advice, terms and Bees to actual eliesU jb tost owb State or r.wrnso - r Smn, WsjaUBttoBTorc Opposite Palest WESTERN COTTAQE ORGAN TILE NORTH STAR. STOBT OF TDX FOURTH OF JULY, 18GS, HI THE OLD SOUTH. Suanlovoy creek is one of tho many streams which seek the sea through the cotton lands of Mississippi. It rises somewhere in the state of Great Waters, flows through dark ravines, over level lowlands, past broad corn and cotton fields, through pine wood and thick undergrowth, taking with it every little rivulet it crosses. It pours from stream to stream until it becomes as broad andresist lesri as a river, then tumbles into the Pasca youla and rushes into the restless gulf. Legends fly about this half grown river as thick as wild turkeys. On the evening of July 3, 1SG0, in front of the negro quarters of a cotton plantation, three persons were look ing at this glittering line of water as it wound about the low hills in the distance. They ere slaves, and so ignorant that no fiction, however much it mutilated the possi bilities, was beyond their belief. Two were men specimens of physical perfection, broad shouldered, muscular straight of limb and with heads that would Have been the delight and tho despair of a sculptor. An active imagination could palm them off upon itself as black gods masquerading in "crash" and jeana One was so black be looked as if he bad been polished. The other had an unmis takable kinship with the white race, though tho dark part of his nature was the stronger. The third member of the group was a girl, slender and very pretty. She was more than half white and had the regularity of features which goes with that degree of mixed African and whito blood. She was 15 years old, but singularly childish in manner and expression for a slave. Loaning against a magnolia tree, her atti tudo all grace, she was the single bit of human beauty which gavo soul to the calm landscape. Where did she get that litheness of body and that look of patient sadness in her face! One was perhaps a freakish gift of nature; the other came from generations of repression ana submission practiced by her dark ancestors. She wore a drees of faded blue print, of a holiday gloss and stiffness, and a hat which reflected the history of several possessors and gave evidence of long service with each one. She had endeavored to make terms with fashion by giving it an extra flare and adorn ing it with a bunch of wild millet As it perchod jauntily on tho waves of her dull, crisp, copper brown hair, as pathetic a cari cature on fashionable millinery as the world afforded, it bespoke the feminine fondness for personal effect, as strong in the slave as in the sovereign. If the accident of birth had bestowed upon this girl tho blessings incidental to self ownership and civilisation, she would have been an artist in self adornment. As it was she was a slave, "damned with tho dower of beauty,1' with a woman's pride of person and a chllds mind. The two men sat on the grass at her feet, weary and grimy from their day's work. Their clothing was a mere concession to de cency; their faces masks of ignorance and mkrors of interest A slave knows no world outsido his narrow onvlronments to be in terested in; he has no literature as food for thought; no joyous memories to recall His ekeset friends are the birds and the bees, the squirrels and wood rats, the pigeons and the paroquets. He talks to the trees and flowers; stags to the winds; bears voices in the storm, and finds comrades In the stars. Shut oat from nearness to his fellow men, he discovers a soul in every animate or Inanimate thing. This it is which makes the negro supersti tious. His world is peopled with the unseen. One of these men, the one with the yellow skin, was the girl's brother at least they had had the same mother. Julius belonged with his sister at Boyer's plantation, three miles down Suanlovoy, but was hired out "up to BusleyV for the summer. Once a week Janey brought his allowance of clean clothes a colored shirt and pair of cotton trousers. This was the cause of her presence that even ing. She swung a dingy basket The branches of evergreen, the bunches of poppy mallow and cmquassia leaves which were woven in its willows and tied to its handle told tales of a slow trip. It did not matter. She was not an overworked slave. Indeed, she scarcely worked at all The afternoon was her own, and she could go home by moonlight Janey's brother loved her better than any thing else upon earth. Indeed, the earth held so littlo that was beautiful to him it knot strange that she was first, best and dearest always, oho was the only soul united to him by ties of blood and affection, and being younger by a dozen years, she was liko a daughter more than a sister. Their mother bad long been dead, and a black mammy had kept them both under her wing for a dozen years. Janey's weekly visit to Julius was an event in her life, as well as in her brother's. It was even more to Christopher, the coal black member of the trio. It was a glimpse of heaven. Looking at her lie forgot the dull despair of his dreary days. Thinking of her he remem bered not his degradation. Dreaming of her he envied not the angels. He hod no hopo of possessing her. Ho simply loved her. "What she said, how she looked, the lightness of her step and the music of her voice were tho pre cious possessions of memory which could not be taken from him. Her image sweetened toil for him and could have sweetened death. He knew none of the beautiful ways of love which are spontaneous with its existence in a cultivated atmosphere. The very intensity of his feeling made him dumb and shy. And she! Had she been a belle instead of a slave and Christopher a gentleman, one glance of bis worshipful eyes would have re vealed his secret As it was, she no more the symptoms of love than she the approach of a comet She turned her eyes toward Christopher, as he cat on the hillside, from time to time, as she talked, as calmly as she would have looked at a bird or a friendly dog. In honor of Janey's visit Julius had brought his and Christopher's supper from then cabin and spread it on the hillside. The bill of fare eoMprhed corn bread, bacon and a water salon, whose adventures by water and land it would be neither polite nor wise to investi gate too closely ; and Janey bad contributed wild berries, gathered on her way down. Mea ger as the feast was, more than one of the jaded black souk who passed ap the hillside path leading to the slaves' quarters envied the three their little picnic. After the meal was finished Janey remem bered that she bad news to tell "Jmias," she said, "dey catcbed Eph yk terdy. He'd bees gone seven days." "HoWd they git Isaf Mssmderthoande. The As faces of both asm saddealy lowered. vStm Christopher asked, "Was he hurtr "A good deal, mammy said; and that may be be wont live; dey beat him so after dey brung him back," she added, with a look of pity in her big, dark eyes. "An', Julius," she continued, "Bells' Caro line's gouo, and some say she's drownded in Swanlovey. Jake Jmkins says he seed bar ghost, all thin and white like, welkin' right on de top ob de water down by de riber road croasm', and she had de baby dey sold away from her in her arms. An', Julius, de ole preacher's only been dead two weeks aad he's been seen free times, settin' in de church door, plntln' with his finger to de norf. Jake Jinklns says it "-means sampm'; dat all de dead people 'ata been seen lately are pinUn'to de norf or de norf star. Uncle Zees says de angel obde Lord k soon to come from de norf to set ns all free; but be never speaks it oat load. He jkt whispers it" Both Janey s hearers listened to these start ling stories with profound interest and with out a flash of incredulity in their eyes. The supernatural was as real to them as their own bodies, the ground they walked upon, or the cattle grazing in the meadows. They were strangers to the specter of doubt They not only believed what they saw and esmprs - bended, but what they fancied and could not understand. Julius gased long and earnestly northward with a far away look ia bis eyas. "An'. Julius," Janey continued, "they ssy de day after to-morrow the Foth e July. Some o'Middleton's folks goin' into town to see it An they'll roast things and make lights at night aud have a big time. Whatk Fo'th Julyr "It's de day to make a joll'flcation and a noise over Independence and Freedom,' an swered Julius. "What k in'pendence and freedomr ques tioned Janey; while Christopher's eyes showed that be, too, was quite in the dark on these subjects. "They means fur nobody to own ye, nobody to sell ye nur to buy ye, nobody to lick ye, nobody to make ye work and take yer yem ins; they means fur ye to be free." "But Fo'th July isn't our day," said Chris topher. "We isn't free. We never will be free," and ho sighed. No, we isn't free," said Julius, sadly; "but I hopes for freedom. I dreams of it some times, and it's like heaben. Nobody to buy ye, nur to sell ye. Every fellah a ownin' of himself," and he, too, sighed. Then Janey told varioas little Incidents of plantation life at Boyer's; how sick the mas ter had been; how long "young meats? had been gone; bow it was whispered that Joe, the stable boy, was going to run away, and all the talcs, true and fictitious, which were flying through the colored mouths at "Boy er's." Christopher and Julius repaid ber so ciability byjtelliug the occurrences of the week in their narrow, work ridden lives. Chris topher gave a literary coloring to the conver-sation-by relating a dream in which a wild cat, two alligators and the ghost of a dog fig ured prominently. Janey looked suddenly down the road, and the hand that held the flower trimmed basket trembled and grew cold. Christopher and Julius saw the same sight simultaneously, anditbeir magnificent bodies seemed to shrink as though a wither ing blast had swept over them; but they said nothing. Dennk Magruder, accompanied by hk body guard of blood hounds, wss riding ap the hill There was not a slave, big or little, within a radius of twenty miles who would not shud der with dread at that spectacle. Magruder was a local despot among the slaves a '-nigger trainer" and "nigger whlpper." He had been invested with unlimited power over the blacks, and be used it mercilessly. All rebel lious slaves in bk section were sent to him for chastisement, a recreation in which he took unalloyed delight He had a regular whip ping house on hk grounds, furnished with all the implements of torture and subjugation which hk inventive mind could devise. One of hk original ways of administering punish ment was to slap the naked bodies of the slaves with the broad side of a long and flexi ble handsaw until the exposed skin was a solid blister, and then to abrade it with the teeth of the saw drawn rapidly over it as many times as there was space to operate on. He kept an overflowing kennel of -bloodhounds, seven or eight of which always ac companied him as he rode to and from hk milk and over the country. One of hk favor ite freaks was to ride through the negro quarters of the neighboring plantations at midnight, the deep, mellow bass of the bay ing dogs and the clattering of hk horse's well shod hoofs sending terror to the hearts of the slumbering slaves. Great as was the negro horror of Satan, they who knew Magruder feared him more. And this monster was a native of the north. The same state which produced Wendell Phil lips was responsible for hk existence. He came up the hill at a jaunty pace, hk horse's feet flinging the red sand in a spirit of defiant delight It was a handsome horse, black and glossy, with a proud head and an eye as ugly and evil as bk master's. Hk rider was almost a model as to physique, and his f aco was less coarse than hk character. It was only in his cold blue eyes that hk hateful spirit betrayed itself. He was dressed with a dandyish niceness, even to a high silk hat, new and glossy a rare object in that part of the cotton country then. Mr. Ma gruder was particular as to hats and gar ments. If hk soul had been as shapely and as clean as hk body and hk clothes he never would have figured in this story. He drew rein before the little group on the hillside, and said to Julius sad Christopher, in the deliberate, decisive voice which inspired greater fear than would a thunderous torrent of wrath from another: "I want you to be at the mill an hour earlier to-morrow morning." Tea, masea," they faltered, Then he looked at Janey. ItwasasTgnltV cant look and well calculated to inspire alarm. Dennk Magruder never honored any save hk victims with so much attention. The girl could not comprehend it, bat she feared it Half sick with terror she put one arm around tho tree she was leaning against and tried her best to appear unconcerned. Christopher saw the whits mans peculiar glance and the girl's deadly fear, and hk heart almost broke in its dumb sngukh. It wss a moment when it was peculiarly bitter to be a slave. It pleased Mr. Magruder to prolong hk dialogue with the two negro men. The hounds trotted idly about, going up on the hillside and saluting the two men in the friendliest manner. One went dose to Janey and sniffed at her basket, which she instantly let drop in sa access of terror. Yet the brutes, like their master, looked less ferodoas than they were. It was only in their bloodshot eyes that tboir gory tastes were indicated. Persons who have never seen the blood hound and have read of hk fierce attacks upon the objects of hk prolonged pursuits, aad seen him in pictures with hk broad nose ekse to the ground, and heard him described ss f oUowiag the scant "with deep opeaiag aiouththatBiakestMwelstetreaibK'Uuak of hkaas ia a chronic state of fury. Yet sot on hanttaf duty hs kthe sMStasai- JdeW' - able ot his race, wttn an expression as mildss the face of a stage soldier. The seven which escorted Dennk Magruder loitered in polite patience about bk horse's feet and on the hillside by the slaves while their master talked, their dark backs and tawny legs glistening in the light of the dying sun. In a few minutes the despot tamed to Janey again, and said: "Where do you be longf "At BoyerV she answered, without raising her eyes. "Then it's time you were going home," he "Tso 'lowed to stay till 10 o'dock," she mur mured. Sensible of the terror he Inspired in these helpless creatures, and glorying ia it as mean minds always glory in tyranny, he whistled to the dogs and rode away. Aa be disappeared down the bill Janey sank to the ground as though no longer able to stand, and Julius turned hk eyes north ward, while hk face wore an expression which was a prayer. No one spoke. Christopher's soul was a sea of commotion. In a moment the death's bead bad entered hk dream and would grin there forevennore. Fate k fond of grouping together the peo ple it has designs upon just before it scatters them with its sweeping hand. It bad just made a striking sketch, and three of its vic tims, at least, felt it in some strange, inex plicable way. If any of the shadow which Dennk Magruder left behind followed him as be rode whistling down past tho open wood and up the level road which followed the creek for a mile, no one ever knew it The trio on the hillside sat silent Each felt a sense of change, indefinable, but awful The day faded out of sight, and one by one the stars came forth and looked down upon the old earth, tenderly, pityingly, as tboy have looked ever since there was a world to look upon. The moon rose from behind tho pine fringed horizon and wrapped everything iu the cold glory of her light How still the scene was, aud how beautiful! The low mur mur that came from the slaves' cabins had died away. Not a footfall echoed from the ground. A mocking bird which had been crying from the bent sycamore at the foot of the hill grew tired of the sad splendor of the scene and flew southward on slow and weary wings. It was such a night as "one could al most feel the earth swinging through space." Julius sat looking at the northern sky, thinking of the hopelessness of slavery; and of tho vision of the ghost of the old preacher sitting in the door of the empty church and pointing with hk finger to the north. Was there an angel coming from that land of tra ditional justice to set them all free? Musing on the figure be sang iu a low monotone: "How long, how long, how long, O Lord, Befo we see his flauiin' sword" He thought the north star uever burned with such glorious brightness before. Every slave knew the north star, that beacon of freedom, tho "Lord's lantern," as they often called it, though all other knowledge of as tronomy was unreveoled to them. Julius fancied that it tried to talk to him, it had such a human look upon its face. Iu imagi nation ho was beneath it among the free people who soon would celebrate tho anniver sary of their freedom with the booming of cannon and much merry-niaking. He wondered if tho flaming sword which was to sever the bonds of his race would como from the star of freedom. Again the stillness of the night was broken by the same pathetic appeal to the God he never doubted, though his life had been lived outside of the range of hk mercies: "How long, bow long, how long, O Lord, Befo' we soe hk flamin' sword f Already the angel had troubled the waters; but he knew it not The "flaming sword" would soon be glancing over the hilltops, flashing on the highways and gleaming by the sea, borne by nearly 2,000,000 of men. It was coming swift and certain. It would cut out Justice, though the rivers ran red with blood. Al ready tho spirit of freedom was surging like a rising tempest far to the northward and would roar southward in a tornado of terror. Justice, which k "immaculate, immutable and immortal," was coming to the raco long for gotten by it The angel of freedom had be gun hk flight toward the land of sorrow. "How beautiful were hk feet upon the moun tains! How glorious hk face in the valleys 1" The night was so still that the three sad souk who longed for him might have almost heard tho rustle of hk wings. Somewhere Julius, who had the musical spirit of hk race strong within him, bad picked up a song which breathed the desire of hk heart, and thk be sang while the others listened in silent sympathy. It could only be sung when no master was nigh, for it told of discontent and the hope of freedom, two pos sessions forbidden a slave: O, norf star, shinin' o'er de f reelan'. Tell us de glories dat ye see. In de country ob de Canaan Canaan, de Ian' ob de free. O, norf star, lead us out o' bondage. Like Hoses o'er de ole Red sea Led all ob Isr'els weary chillun. To Canaan, de Ian' ob de free. O, norf star, ye'z de fl'ry pillar. Bright, blazin' in de sky for me; If yer light I could but f oiler, I'd rest on de Ian' ob de free. O. uorf star, ye'z do torch of hebben, Fo' which de shadders all flee; If I can row my boat up near ye, I'll anchor in de harbor ob de free. Janey's brother and Christopher walked with her to the turn of the road when she started home, and the walk was a memorable one, as walks taken under invisible douds always ore. Julius' song had opened the gates of fancy for hk sister, and her poor little untaught mind was picturing the "glories of the free land." What was it like that country wnere everybody was free! In imagination she was already there, dressed in prettr clothes and walking with a proud step. She forgot Dennk Magruder and the nameless dread he had cost upon her; forgot every thing in the splendors of fancy which un folded under the light of the "Lord's lantern." "Goodby, Julius. Goodby, Chrissfer," she called to them as she went on her road alone. "Goodby, Janey, goodby," echoed back. The two comrades started homeward slowly. As they passed down the slope of hill there was a quick rustle by the wayside, and a rabbit or wood rat bounded across the road in front of them like a flash. Their teeth chattered with superstitious dread. Julius was the first to confess hk fear. "Criss'fer,"hesaid, "I feel like somebody was walkin' ober me grave. I knows dat was only a varmint; but I'so cold all ober. An' I had a cur'us dream last night I dremp you an' me was tangled in a great snarl o' rope a snarl so big it reached to de sky above an' to de bindin' where de earth an' sky meet below. Fas' as we'd try to unkeoyl out ob it Massa Magruder 'd fassen us in it agin. All de niggers an' all de white folks was lookin' on; but dey didnt help us to get loose. At las', jkt as we thought we'd be smashed by de weight ob it, Janey come right down f rue do clouds an' scattered de tangles ob de rope like dey was ravelins, an' everybody dk'peared even Massa Magruder faded out like a streak o' lasses wid a piece o' soap after it Spec Massa Magruder's goin' to lick us 'fore long." Then, after a brief silence aud a glanco at hk own and Christopher's brawny body, be said, reflectively: "We's bof pow'ful strong, ain't we, Chriss'feri No one man, ef ' he k white, ort to lick us." "Yes, we k strong," said Christopher, glancing appreciatively at hk stalwart figure. "If you or me hit a man he'd be apt to fall" "If I hit a man an' he didn't fall I'd go roan' behiu' him to see what was proppin' ini up," said Julius. Janey walked on southward tfll she reached a point where the road turned away from the stream. Suanlovey, grkftening m the sBOoalight, was like a companion, and she hated to leave it Going dose to the waters eage xor a parting lootc sue spied a little boat, with a pair of oars lying within it, tied loot-ely to a tree with a badly worn rope. It was feeble, dingy little craft a slave's boat Thinlfeig to paddle awhile near the shore, she untie! the rope and got in. & Her brother's song had been echoing through her brain, filling her soul with fair visions of freedom. Softly she sang: "O norf star, ye's de torch ob hebben, Fo' which de shadders all flee; If I can row my boat up near ye, ril anchor in de harbor ob de free" She repeated the refrain again and agaia, and tho spark of hopo that was in it set her brain on fire, now far was it to the free land She wished she had asked Julius. It surely couldn't bo so very, very far. Just over the hills, beyond the woodlands a day's journey, perhaps. Was it straight under the north star? Couldn't she reach it? How glorious it would be to row on and on until tho "Lord's lantern" bung above her bead and she rested "iu the baibor of the freel" Tho littlo boat lolled like a leaf on the water while tho girl hesitated at tho turning tide of her doom. Neur her, invisible but irresisti ble, hovered the genius of her destiny. Suddenly both oars flashed like sabers and the loat turned and shot north word. Tho little slavo girl was rowing toward freedom by the light of tho "Lord's lantern." How sbo sped through the water! It was nothing that tho current was against her; nothing that the "torch of heaven" was so far am ay. She was going towards it She would surely reach it Like glances of light her slender paddles rose and fell Like a bird uiioii the wing the narrow boat flew up the river. On, on in tho still night it sped. On, on, ist dark swamp lands; past bountiful cotton fields, around hills, under bridges, through lonely forests on, on in the moon light shot tho little whito boat By and by her arms grew weary. The oaro bad become, heavy and unmanageable. With a child's trust she pushed her boat to the shore till its keel stuck in tho sand, thinking to rest a little while and then go on toward tho "fi'ry pillar," which snrely.niust bo nearer now. Drawing her oars into tho boat she curled down beside them with her head on her bit of faded shawl and fell asleep. E Dennk Magruder was always astir early. Tyrants usually rise with tho lark. They are economical of time. They can't get a full measure of cruelty into a short day. On the following morning he was earlier at the mill than usual. The day had scarcely begun. The sun himself had just risen. One by one the slaves who worked at the mill came from odd paths through the thick wool Mr. Magruder walked about with a brisk step. Suddenly he saw something of interest out on tho dam above the mill. It was a boat, small and white, but it had no oarsman. It drifted, floated, whirled round and round and rocked idly. Yet there was something in it something which looked like a human figure. Mr. Magruder ejected a few oaths, called hk hounds and sent them into tho water to fetch the boat They started with a long, loud, deep, melo dious howl, their lean, narrow heads protrud ing from tho water and their eyes blazing. The fury of pursuit was upon them. As they neared the boat they uttered in chorus tn other long, loud, mellow note of savage joy. Though the sleep of the slave k almost as deep as the sleep of the grave, thk awful reveille roused the figure in the boat, and she sat upright She who bad gone to sleep dreaming of lands of beauty and peace, and, as she thought, far on her way toward free dom, awoke to find herself surrounded by baying bloodhounds. She looked shoreward and saw Dennk Ma gruder and a group of terror stricken slaves, and knew that no help would come from that quarter. The dogs were close upon tho boat The breath from their expansive nostrils almost scorched her. Their bloodshot eyes were glaring into her face, and from their loose and hanging lip? foam was flying. One, bolder limn the rest, flung one of bk legs on the edge of the boat and began to clamber in. The girl trimmed the boat and tried to shake blm loose, while upon her childish face set tled a look of voiceless terror. Gentle, timid, unassertive as she was by nature, in the su preme hour of danger she was heroic She grnsped one of the oars which had lain idle while she floated down the stream, and, rais ing it with all her strength, she brought it down on the head of the attacking brute, which was already over the edge of the boat There was a sound of crunching bone, and with a horrible gurgle In hk loose throat the brute rolled over in a death struggle and disappeared beneath tho water. Then Janoy stood upright, and with a cry of anguish so awful, to hears rending that all who heard it never ceased to hear it, sbo flung herself into the water and souk out of sight A Tho dogs understood that something terri ble had happened and swam silently back to thrt shore. Dennis Magruder ordered some one, any one of the slaves who witnessed the tragedy to swim after her, but none of them obeyed. Just as tbo little figure rose to the surface the second time after her disappearance Chrfo topher and Julius emerged from a forest path. They say that love is blind; but in moments of extreme peril he sees with more than mortal sight Christopher saw the empty boat rock ing on the stream, the paralyzed group on the shore, the outline of the girl's figure floating on the water, and in a moment be struck out into the dam. After many vain efforts he clutched ber in hk arms and took her to the shore; but it was only a dead body that be carried up the path to the mill yard. Her soul had anchored "in the harbor of the f reo." Tho race which had begun but a few hours before was already 'won, though the victory was only gained by pyirfng through the gates of death. Julius clasped the pulseless body in hk arms and broke into lamentation. Christo pher, though bk love was the greater, clinched hk hands and stood mutely by. Hk heart was benumbed. It was as though hk soul had been torn from hkbody, leaving life, but no feeling. Then a sense of the aw ful injustice which had made" such a tragedy passible began to burn within him, and be ,- . A." ' I M5SsfcsSBBSas.SBSBi mSaJV 1 1 5Bm . MS f 11 jN & questioned hk braked soul to know u there was a God. Suddenly the deep whir of the sawmill be gan, and Magruder came up and ordered the two mourners to go inside and go to work. "Oh, massa!" wailed Julias, She's my sk ter, my little Janey; the only soul I tubbed on ea'th. She'll soon be put out o my sight anyway; let me be near her a little while longer. Til work all night, ebry night or as early in de moniin' ss ye want me to to mV op for it Lot mo take her home." Magruder was in the worst possible humor. The girl had foiled him iu the most unex pected way. He was inwardly furious at the shape events had taken, and was meaner than ever in consequence. "I'll have no snivelln' over dead niggers here. The little yellow idiot drowned herself. She doesn't deserve sny pity. Go in and go to work." The strong black man trembled with ago ny; but be obeyed. A life of servility had taught him submission. He held Janey close in hk arms for an instant, while hk giant frame shook with sobs. Then he laid her ten derly on the rough pine boards and turned away. Christopher passed hk hand over her face in farewell, and together they entered the mill Janey's slender body lying so still on the pine boards was not a pleasant sight to Den nk Magruder as he moved about giving or ders, and after he had eudured it two or three burs he sent her home. Julius and Christopher heard the rumble of the wagon which did duty as hearso and guessed the ser vice it was performing; but they only worked the harder and said nothing. After the day's toil was done and they had returned to their cabin at "Massa BusleyV they got permission to go down to Massa Boyer's and help to bury Janey. In tho rudest portions of the cotton coun try, in the days of slavery, the negroes buried each other at night Daylight hours were too valuable to tho money making cotton rakers to be wasted in "nigger funerals." A slave's burial was a brief ordinance any time, aud Janey's obsequies were like all the rest She was carried out in the moonlight and lowered Into a grave iu a little spot of earth already populous with the dead. The negroes of the plantation stood around with awed faces. A tottering old man mumbled a prayer, a hymn was sung and the grave filled up. Julius and Christopher walked homo in silence, thinking of Uie awful record the day had made. Ou tho brow of the hill where they had stood the evening before and watched Janey out of sight thoy paused. Tho night was as holy, the calm as perfect, the scene as beauti ful as though death was unknown. Yet its grandeur was hateful to them. Tho old earth had suddenly become unsightly to their eyes. All that they loved had gone out of it Had a day or a year gone by since they stood there last in the moonlight! Hours iii which we suffer much seem like eternities in memory. Julius looked again to the north star, littfe dreaming of the part it had played in his sis ter's destiny, and thought of the promised angel of 1'YctxIoiu aud marveled at his long delay. He seemed further off than ever to the sore heart of the slave. Lifting his hands heavenward he murmured: "How long, how long, how long, O, Lord, Befo1 we see his flamin' s-nr.l" IIL On the afternoon of the 4th of July Dennk Magruder sat in the door of hkmill, whistling and beating time with hk foot He was rest less. It was 2 o'dock in tho afternoon and the day was warm. He had bon up to the Cross Roads, down below tho turpentine forest and at Williams' plantation, and still there wero two or three hours on his hands that he didn't know what to do with. He went iu and out of the mill, dowu to tho shore ot the dam and came back and sat down un der a tree iu front of the wide mill door. Hk dogs were scattered round iu shady places, panting as though existence in such heat was an intolerable burden. Their tongues pro truded over their loose lips, and their flabby throats pulsed painfully. "It's a long day a dismally long day." said Magruder aloud. After wondering what he could do to moke time swifter on the wing, it occurred to him that it would bo finishing out tho day appro priately and satisfactorily to "lick a nigger." "Haven't licked a nigger for a week," he solil oquized. (He had killed one, hut he didn't count that) There was inspiration iu tho thought His face brightened at it like the earth under the spring buu. Better still, he would "lick two niggers." He had no trouble hi selecting victims to administer upon, either. Since Janey's death Julius aud Christopher had made him fed uncomfortable. The Inexpressible loathing which they carried in their simple, sorrowful hearts made itself fdt through tbo mute sub mission of their manner. Thoy wero as hum bly obedient as ever and outwardly as re spectful They were not even sullen. They were too sad for that Deep as was the sense of injury and in justice in their hearts they entertained no hopo of revenge or redress. As well might they dream of striking back at the lightning. They said, "Yes, massa," and "No, massa," as humbly and gently as though hk brutality had not robbed them of all they loved. Nevertheless Mr. Magruder felt uncom fortable in their presence. The cure for that would be to make them still more uncom fortable. The suggestion developed into a plan in the despot's mind, and he rose and went into the mill Not for from hk home, and a mile or more from the mill, Magruder had what he called a "music room," otherwise a bouso of torture, and thither ho ordered the two slaves to pro ceed. He mounted hk horse and followed close upon their heels so close he could have heanl what they said had they cared to talk, which they did not It was wonderfully suggestive of cattle driving. The hounds started to fol low, but ho forbade them and ordered them kenneled until hk return. How jauntily ho rode! He whistled snatched of long forgotten tunes and hummed a frag ment of a jolly soug. Hk spirits were rising. Ho was on. tho track of a littlo divcrnion. Really, it wasn't such a tedious day to get through after all, if it was tho Fourth of July a day ho always hated. The two chattels walked on in silence. Once only did Julius' lips move, and four words came forth, to which his coniMiuioti re sponded by a single glance. Had their driver heard the words and seen the answer which flashed back hk buoyant spirits might have fallen a degree or so. Mr. Magruder's "music room" was an old house in the depths of the lowland forest Isolated in location and dilapidated in appear ance, it was lonely as the grave. It had several comportments, all furnished in accord ance with their intended uso. It pleased him to spend hk leisure hours there sometimes. The "music room" proper was a marvel of diabolical ingenuity. 8aws, clubs, ropes, straps, and other implements of torture were ranged on the wall in ghastly precision, and two stout posts, bristling with rings, stood in the middle of the floor. They entered the house, and Magruder locked the door, and put the big, rusty ky iu hk pocket Theu he took down some ropes and a long, limber saw, and ordered Christo pher to strip and Julius to fasten him to one of the posts. As he gave the command he took from hk pocket a bugs revolver and toyed with it Such a thing as a slave revolt ing against punishment was unheard of in the cotton country. Mr. Magruder never dreamed of needing the revolver, although he bud two strong men to deal with; but he enjoyed the terror it Inspired. Julius moved as if to obey ami, and Chris topher came a step nearer There was a signal from eye to eye, and m aa instant a pistol shot rang through the lonely forest. Magruder lay upon the floor, and tho two desperate slaves stooped over a dead man. Looking at him as be lay stained with hk own blood, ther taoaoht ef hk seeds of crueity, the torture, the tyranny and murders which cried out against him, aad their wrath rose to insane fury. Death was not enough. They would put that cruel face out of sight forever. They would leave him a headless wanderer in guostland until the day of judg ment With revengeful energy they chopped hk head from hk body and dropped it into a disused well under the old porch, and care fully fastened the boards over it again. In their superstitious souls they believed that hk wretched spirit would search vainly for its missing head until the resurrection. Then they went to their hut at "Massa Bus ley's." They knew what the consequences of their act would be, and made ready to ac cept them. Hope of escape there was none. Magruder was dead, but hk bounds were not Canada, the modern Canaan, was far away, and the path beset by obstacles and perils. That was a night to remember through all eternity. They knew that the morrow would bring their doom, and they waited for it with a calmness that would have made a distin guished martyr immortal They saw the rockets which were sent up from the village to celebrate the Fourth of July. Thoy looked again and again at the starlit landscape the bit of thk beautiful, sad world which environed them and talked of the stars, the Lord, the dead man iu the house in the forest anil of Janey, and won dered what life meant, and how it would seem to be dead, until with their arms around each other, they fell asleep for the last time ou earth. While- they slept on the edge of a dreadful doom, the white peoplo all over the country celebrated tho anniversary of the birth of freedom, the dawu of independence. Late that night Dennk Magruder's horse reached home, riderless and trembling with terror; but not until morning was the dee pot's headless body found in hk house of tor ture. No time was lost hi disposing of Chrbtopher and Julius. Law was a luxury never wasted upon slaves in that section of country. There was no quibbling as to the degree of their guilt; no such preliminary nonsense as a trial When asked if they had killed Ma gruder they said they had. Before midday they wero dead hautced be tween two corn cribs. All the slaves within call were commanded to witness the banging that they might see how costly a thing self defense was. Though they acknowledged having killed Magruder they refused to tell where they had put hk head As Julius looked for the last time upon the earth, he said: "It'll oidy set me free to hang me; an I neber could o' got free no odor way." It was the same thought uttered by a fair young parricide of the sixteenth century around whoso memorv romance has woven an immortal fame: "You bind my body for destruction, but you free my soul for immor tality." Christopher, whose nature was self con tained as a god's, met bk death in silence. Dennk Magruder wsut buried without hk head, a fearful thing from the slavo's super stitious standpoint and a shameful thing iu tho opinion or the white part of the popula tion. He at once took rank as the most ter rifying and unappeasable ghost that over haunted tho shores of Suanlovey, and in con sequence kept tho slaves almost as much in terror when dead as when alive. Chilling tales of his headless spirit having been seen night after night by the mill andon tho road that led to the bouse in the forest were told anil retold, and are still told. Since then the "flaming sword" which Julius longed to see has swept over the southland, leaving a trail of blood down to the waters of the great gulf, but washing away the curse of slavery forever. Suanlovey seeks the sea as steadily as of old, and the headless ghost of Magruder still lin gers on its banks. The story of hk hateful life and awful death k told o'er and o'er again by the elderly uegros to their free grandchildren. On the evening of the 4th of July uot one of them will venture near tho forest where he was killed, for oa that night ob iiouuu iu ue seen. And they whisper another tale which makes the eyes of the listener circular and serious. It is thut sometimes on mooulit nights a little white boat without an oarsman floats down Suanlovey, and when opjosite the ruins of Magruder's mill a slender g'rl ri.sfs suddenly from within it, and with a long, loud wsil cf anguish flings herself into the water. Gkbtrude Uaiuuscm. SENATOR FAiROFl NEVADA. One of the Big Stories He Told on His Tour Around the World. Perhaps Fair never distinguished himself in the way of Munchausen stories as ho did when taking hk tour around the world. Ho was in company with a select party from San Francisco, mostly busines men off for a jaunt Fair was tho central figure, as in spito of hk lack of carl educational advan tages he had more general information than any of the others, and hk wealth was then supposed to bo almost unlimited. Ho went into foreign travel with tho zest of a boy on a vacation. He was a delightful travel ing companion, as he was full of all manner of stories, which he knew how to embellish with an infinite variety of picturesquo effects. Tho peculiarity of hk imagination was that it made him the center, the hero of nearly every experience he related, no matter how wonderful it might bo. Hk companions were constantly treated to a succession of stories of adventure which would liave made the fortune of a sensational novelist One of hk greatest exploits in thk line oc curred in China. The party was invited to spend a day or two at the sugar plantation of a wealthy Englishman, who had made a delightful place ou tho shore of one of the great rivers of China. He took hk guests over hk plantation, showed them with much pride hk hundreds of acres of growing cano and hk machinery for converting it into sugar. Now, it happened tliat Fair had once spent a month on the Hawaiian islands, and, according to hk custom, had made an exhaustive study of tho production of sugar. He had pumped every ono connected with one of the great plantations of Spreckles. Ho knew sugar through and through. One of hk peculiarities is a memory which never gives up anything it has once acquired. When the talk turned on sugur he amply brought out hk old information acquired on the islands. He paralyzed his friends by suddenly saying in response to some of the Englishman's remarks: "Yes, I have a small jmtcli of sugar cano myself In southern California a mere baga telle of 25,000 acres." And then ho went ou with a wonderfully lucid explanation of the amount of sugar ho secured from tho various joints of tho cane, the processes he adopted in refining, etc. In fact, ho showed such -lerfect familiarity with the minutest details of the business that the Englishman was amazed, and despite the fact that.no amount of sugar was known to be produced in thk state, he was forced to bo lievo tho Californian's realistic story. Fair completely staggered him by finally saying: "But thk little plantation k only a begin ning. I propose next year when I return to put in ir0,000 acres. Then home consump tion will be distanced and California will take her proper place in tho markets of tho world as a sugar producing state." When ho had left the room tho English man asked hk companions if it could possibly bo truo that sugar cano grew with such luxuriance in California. Fair's friends as sured him that there must be somo exaggera tion in their companion's talk, but that ho had so many business ventures that he might havo a sugar plantation without their knowl edge Son Francisco Cor. GIole-Democrat Kuiperor and Orgau Grinder. His majesty Doni Pedro of Brazil was re cvntly much amused ou landing nt San Paulo by being received by an Italian gentleman with a hand organ, who played tho national air. Tho emperor listened with gravity to the musician and then asked him in French to play "L'Air pour I'ltalie." Tho musician did not know it, but proposed to play the Brazilian air over again. And the emperor listened to the repetition with apparent de light. Chicago Tribune. Mrs. Eben Brown, of Chesterfield Factory, N. H., has in ber possession a woven cover let that has been in use over 200 years and k still in good condition. National Bank! OF COLUMBUS. NEB. -HAS AN- Authorized Capital of $250,000, A Surplus Fund of - $20,000, And tho largcet Pisl in Cash Capital of nnr bank in this art of the State. J$f"Deoili received and interest aid on time dciKKtiti. JS'-Drnftrt on the principal citieit in this coun try aud Kuro(ie boutdit mid mld. CRTolltction and all other luiMnt-fa given Irouit and careful attention. 'j.ii- MTOOKHOLDEHS. A.ANDEHBON.lrw't. HK11MAN P. H.OE1ILKIC1I. VicePreH't. O.T.UOEN.'iuthier. J. P. HKfKKK, IIKKMAN OKHLKICH. (l.SCHUrriC W. A. MoALIJOTElt, JONAS WELCH, JOHN W. KAIUjY. l'.ANDKKSON. (J. ANDEKBON. ltOBKKT V HI JO. CAUL KE1NKE. AprSt-'ftUf business $:zrds. D.T.Mautix.M. 1. F. J. Scuro. M. D. Bra. MARTYN & SCHUG, U. S. Examining Surgeons, I.ocol Surxonni, Union Pacific, O., N. X. li. U. and II. .V M. K. Uh. Concultation in (ieruinn and EukHhIi. Tele phone at otlico aud renidencets. tfOllico on Olive Mreit, next to Hnxlfueh rer'a Juwelry Store. COLUSIBUS, ... NEUKA8KA. f-'-y H ANILTOK nKADi;.TI.IM rilYSICtAX AXl SUKGEOX, Platte CfiitT, Xelirnxka. U-y Xy M. COKiKI.IIJM. Z,iir AND COLLECTION OFFICE. Upstairs Ernot building. 11th street. OIll.l.lVAK Ac liKKUKK, A TTOKXEYX A T LA IP, Othio over First National Hunk, Columbus, Nebraska. WMf 1 1. KVA1.S IU. !., PHYSICIAX AX1 SCRGEOX. fcOHic nnd rooniH, Gluek building, 11th ctroft. TuIephoiit communication. t-y jljcALIJMTEK 1SKOM., -1 TTOHXEYS A T LA II', - Ofcico up-stair in Henry's building, corner of Olive and lit!. Mrtvt-. W. A. McAllixter. No tary Ihiblic. jOfli; 1:1 s:, c i .'at r set: i wic you. l'aiti,' dririuK btinejiui; done chu nd-drt-SH mo Ht (olumlm. Neb., or call at my ollico uHourt Hoiim'. !umStf.y !mi: ' i'a:,ies:jc.. W. H. Tedrow, Co Supt. 1 will be nt my oliiet. in tlieCo.ut l.'..nw tlio third Saturday of each month for !. txjuniim tiou of ttairl.erti. 2U-tf 1) it. J. ii am. ii.a.s. DKUTfeKJI I KJi A RZT. t'ohimbuK, NVbrarka. f r!ip- Jlth Strtt. ConMilti.tiVrm in F.u kIihIi, V r,-ucii aud (,'inniui. ZimarSJ JOHN'C.IIIiKilNS. C..I. HA I: LOW. Cotlictioii Attorney. HIGGINS GAKLOW, ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW, SiH-cialty mwle or ''ollectioiiM by C. J. Harlow. 31-in V. B-'. ItlAlKK, il. 1 HOMCEOPATHIST. Chronic Tiiscnscs and Diseases ef Children a. Specialty. J5TOti;ceu OKicttrut. thrro doors north of HrM NMiouM Ibttik. V-ly ip i.Etrsc-cii:, llth St., opposite Lindcll Hotel. J Si. 3kA4 lAKLAAIr. A1TOl:NEY AND N'OTAHY PUBLIC. LAW xM C0LlK HON 0FFKE OK J. M. UffACr-AKIAKD, Coliiinbos. N hrar-ka. K. C. BOYD, - MAMlrMCTl'UKH O!'- Tin and Sheet-Iron Ware ! Job-Work, Hoofing and Gutter ing a Specialty. 2T Shop on Olive ctrot, 'J doors north of lirixlfut Iimt'b Jtwelry tjtoi. Si-it A.J.AKN0LD, DK4LEIC IN DIAMONDS, FINE WATCHES, Clocltw, .I-wt-lry AND SILVERWARE. Strict attention jriv.n to ii hiring of Watch.- Red JiwiJry. Is; Will u t it undereoid by aiij !ody."fe; NesJlvenue, Oppofcito CI other Hoase. YOU can live at home, aud make raoro money at work for us. than nt any thing elfeV in tho -world. Cnnit.-il not needed: you aro Ftnrtcd free. Both seses; all atfe. Anoncnn do the work. Laro pariiinfH sun from rirst Hart. Costly outfit and terms f rt. Better not lielav. Costs von nothing to send us yonr addrew and find out; if you aro wik you will do so at once. H. H allett A Co., Portland. Maine. dec22-'Wy Wewspapsr A book of KO page. 'FliMlM.at Hsiatlr fimj SflU Hnrnif-e. Knddb f-, (ol!in. Whips, Dtaiikrts, liny Cun-I.?. l'nli, h. (miiky. voIim. I.ui'cy to., u'rliii m-, iMni:i'f trn uui.us. Ac. i.t tie low. r-l .i-i-i!!i. print,. I., f'.irn promptly at ( ixlnl to. iff?! ! ii iii i...t-..- to con- iWVEitTISING8alt u' ne eiiH-ri- nff sisjn i iwirsq , , or otncrwi3e Itcontains lists of newspapers and estimates of tho cmtof advertising. The advrrtiserwho wants to spend one dollar. Amis In it the In formation lie requires, while for htm who wilt invest ou hundred thousand dollars in ad vertising; a scheme is Indicated which will meet his every requirement, or can be wuuls to do so bftlighl changes tattly arrival at bycor rtspoiulence. 149 editions have been issued. Sent, post-paid, to any address for 10 cents. Write to GEO. P. BOWELL ft CO.. NEWSPAPER ADVERTISING BUREAU. (l89pruas4t.PriaUagHQossS4.), New York.
