neighborhood that have to be killed; and _I was shor_ to be killed.
Now, this is the beginning of it shor. They want to disband this
company so that the Governor won’t have nothing to call on to put them
down, and we can’t get no protection till the United States can send
soldiers from somewhere, after we can get word to the Governor, and he
can git it to Grant. They must think we’re just cowards and fools if
we’ll let ’em break us up, though I’ll agree that the men ha’n’t got
much fight in ’em, but I have, and I wish _they_ had,” and Captain Doc
tossed a newspaper to the extreme end of the room.
“Scattered and peeled!” “Scattered and peeled!” said the Elder, as he
resumed his striding about the apartment.
While these excited men thus conversed, there were borne from the
street to their ears the sound of blood-curdling oaths, and shouts of
“We’ll carry the State about the time we’ve killed four or five hundred
of these niggers and their carpet-bag cronies.” We’ve got to have South
Carolina.” “The white men have got to rule.” “This shall be a white
man’s government again.”
“Just hear that chap singing,” said Marmor with a ghastly smile:
“We’re going to redeem South Carolina to-day. This is the beginning of
the redemption of my Caroline.” The poor, maudlin fellow sat upon his
horse near the corner of the street hard by, and improvised a lengthy
political madrigal evidently to his own exquisite delight.
“I reckon you’ve got the right of it Doc,” said Marmor; “the political
side of this fuss swallows up all the rest. The fuss on the Fourth, was
only got up for making a spot to strike at.”
“Well,” said Doe, both goes together; for all the politics they know is
to put the niggers down, and themselves up atop; and they are trying to
fool the ignorant ones into believing that the constitutions has all
run out, so they won’t try to take the law on ’em.”
“They’d better look out, or they may feel the law themselves. If
Chamberlain can’t enforce it, there is a United States, they’ll find!”
“I reckon so! I reckon so!” chimed in all present.
“Capt. Doc,” said Elder Jackson, “you must remember that it is not your
own life and your company’s lives that is in danger, but that of every
colored individual in town; and the happiness and prosperity of all
will be at their mercy if a fight takes place; and so I beg you to come
to terms with Baker. Bend and apologize a little for the sake of them
that had nothing to do with the Fourth of July difficulty.”
“What can _I_ do? Just tell me. I haven’t failed to think of that, I
tell you. That part of it is the biggest trouble to me now.”
“It is Watta that has offended them the most,” said Springer; “for he
got so mad last Thursday. He’s got too much white blood in him to stand
their abuse, and he was nigh about as abusive as Hanson Baker himself,
that day.
It was all true enough what he said, but that didn’t make it no better
for them to take.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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