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or-lie,tyallU9,es,ilc.bts‘111-hintheave;histhe oc-}ae of us her ice, i in hedMil ci IOl.lt of i£r ok. itio, .. C-l'isli ssed I of to belt ves, t beG.rnuiobicmg«wellrt.tr jrliei s ten d it beltrees dug: :□! v 110 st lical pro-uiats ban iglit 01 ue and ou?d alea inds ally ities !ned■tie aflllShan iled i we i gnnow airy here the :h, a 1104’ ling-ditr tive flt;rj ce a lt;oy-jceu lat I the o_u t-toorr of Lt to liles leiy ia1h has lood ewi reet beartiy,TWLN T) -SIX VISA A'S A SLA K/j, \ being: doomed wi t li 1 he lt;1 oomed Co a-There Is at Ict oue Worth coutitaian f*deracy* Mr, \\\p then twenty-eightwho hah vivid recollections and a ch aryears old, strolled into Fraukfort oner . , , j night and the next day he enlisted inconception of that old relic of barbar- ■ *u_ ,*i ,, the 314th Kentucky regiment {colored)ism, African slavery. To members of | with white men for officers. And afterthe risiug generation it tnubl z ound ] that, taking his word for il, hefclrauge i«j hear a human being talk-1iug calmly of having been bought andsold three times, hut Mr. WilliamWright speaks in Just Hi at way of justthat personal experience. He has justbeen turning for us several p-Agcs ofindividual history of which til is is asynopsis: Mr. W. was born in •Veigin-ny and raised in 01* Kaiutuck. His first master was Muj. Jrmes Julian of'sr-ertsights and licarn soon's, now J tell yer.” After the boys uf the 114th were properly organized aud drilled they were in much of the pleasantry about Petersburg' and Richmond, ggardiog thc Weldon railroad, etc., and they were strictly in it at the IIme of Lre’s surrender. Our informant says he can remember Hie wicked old guns going day aocl night, at Petersburg, and LiteSpotisyl Viinia. He was n kind master., earth shaking like water, hut il seem a and comparatively early in life he; to us that iciust have been in his provided by will that his slaves (a ! drains. They were waiting then forhundred or more in number) should he freed at the date of hi* death. But the tuajah died non-compoV when the slave boy was about si* years old. and hi* will was broken, of course.Promises, and provisioas of will look- ! iog to the liberations of slaves, were almrs1 invariably broken. The subject of this sketch vras separated from his mother when an in ant; she cooked fc r the operatives in' ■* lead'mine, some distance away, and he was brought upShe mi an to come up the river, and Mr, W. say*, *Kl t'ought he iies'er did come” —meaning would come-—and he didn't-While there ihc ex-slave saw his liberator, the tall, gaunt. Homely, kindly-faced Lincoln, and he says he felt almost ltke worshipping him. lo his. last real fight, at Halt Work*, he was wounded in Ihe nenb, but not enough to stop him at the time. After th« collapse of the Confederacy the 114th was seat down to B towny idle,Texas,th^oV.-piiintation:.*^ while lt;**+ tothe.Rlp^yancte,to -watch/‘out forrecollection of that P4jt ,qi th£cotv 'xr—1—- cs-v.i**.!-,---- :_•„versaiion is somewhat vague, \ie Luiderslood Mr. Wright to say that lie never saw his mother after his childhood days'. When about seven years, old, during the year of his kind master’s death he was sold with a “gang” thatwas being taken to Kentucky:'A little came north in .1671. He is now a pre-icfYu^Lh^ivei1 out, over driven, maturely old and . ainer broken down it _ ! jt shoes, man. witKirby SiuittTG ’ men-Hriiei bad;escaped into Mexico. Anil after his discharge he drifted back tlt;i Kentucky and lived there -a year ja constant danger of being Ku-Kluxed as one who wore the blue. Then lie *‘steam boa ted right smart” on theOl’ Mlssissip; and finallymao, with a lively imigi nation and aUCUUCluj inv.M.. ,•I,- wav. of pay««a*r: fi 7 we rC8'r£t t0 sav seciii»wholly lost ttlia. .. f * »i**ratlve. As toHts education he sars, , ,enough to bother me,r atjrt li/cao Jij?!his name to anything butliterally as well as figuratively. were the first pair of shoes he had ever worn and their “pull” and the yarns I hut were spun him about going lo a country where juicy roast pigs ratiabout with knives and forks stuck in j his name to anything but a patent their backs, proved irresistible, and jjright or a Montgomery Ward order; *0 he gladly joined the gaog—he would J it will he seen he ia much better have had to do at Atiyway, ao it was j educated than *ome people who are far just as well to do It cheerfully- They j more pretentious,. For hiawoundand were taken lo - Frankfort, Ky., and j disabilities Mr. Wright get a—and we Wtllie was sold to Captain John Russell j should think deserves--a pension of who owned a big plantation and ran | $12 a month from the grateful countrywhich he served during lhre« long-steamboats to New Orleans. Ele was a kind, indulgeut master, so much so that hti “■hand*” were kuocvu Iti that localily as Russell’s “spoilt a3g£ahs.T' Mr. Wright's description of him is something uciqne: “A big uian, all strength; ter'ble fighter; couldn't nothin’ whip him les' they doubled learns on him. Licked cver'thiog in siirhl; yet gentle as a lam’; great iadie's • man; when he walked down \he streets [of Frankfort, hat of? half the tiyie. f Powerful rich, but nr» ediicatioit: [ couldn’t rind in the primer; it was a j Crime 10 leach 11Iggera to read an’ write : hut I could write Ixittcr myself than ol’ boss.” Horribly colrl-blooded as it sounds tr say it. the still more horrible fact remains that Mr. Wright was Capt. Russell's chattel from the time he was eight year* old till he was twenty-six. As he tells the atorj- he was first a house servant and later rose step by step till he became foreman of the plantation and his master's trusted agent, It is noticeable that to this day the broken down old man has only kindly words for the ol’ tuas’cr j and misses and the captain's whisky-svrecked father; and ho admits to a deep longiag to see the old Blue Gras* state again. He says the plantation folks and old families were nice people all. The '“po' while trash” who live in lit lie cabins among the hills, are the ones who kick up moat of the bobbery, down Houth, though the “gentlemen's *ooBM are often responsible for egging them on. Those foofhill fellows work just as little as possible, are as ignorant a* horse* and have les* horse sense; they bathe their Insides with mountain dew, shoo I wild duck* and ter key forwe*t and are better ibots than theBoer*. Bat to retwra to the bistory of I Mr- Vrif kit: Early is UW, sUvtryyears.fclt;x-Senator Gilbertson of Forest City is announced as a candidate for state treasurer. Our neighbor is a strong man ami a popular one, and those in best position to speak for hlui say he has all the. necessary qualifications in ao eminent degree. We should think he would make a popular candidate and one calculated to adfrt strength to the ticket.Miss Helen Gould (a lady whom this country reveres and lovea for many patriotic, and in«st chartiable deeds] is entertaining her sister Anna, the countess do On-st el lane, who arrived fioui Paris, Monday, in company with Count lioni do, elc. A Paris paper, L« Figaro, had published in subataac-e that the count had beca losiug some of hi* rich relations’ money by gambling and bad speculations, and the report reached this country in advance of the steamer. And the count being wroth* talked of the bad editor at long raoge, just like an ordinary no-*count; threatened to “slap his face with a stick,” aniTall that. These arc some of the opinions be aulhorlzes the Associated Press to express to fcb* world at large: “Editor Roday*, he i* a—well, what is dc Roday*? I«Rodays is a liar, he is a scoundrel—say anything you like about him. H« is a— what is such a person? He ia nothing.. A nonentity. What should I care for him? Oh, he is st liar.” We presume ao, Boni, old boy; and to relieve the pressure on yonr surcharged emotion we suggest that you spat the secnwdrrl by submarine cable.I How about the Far’ Iaatitnta?
Newspaper Details
Worth County Index
Northwood, Iowa, US
Thu, Jan 25, 1900
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 07 Apr 2023
Other Publications Near Northwood, Iowa
Standard Historical Atlas of Worth County Iowa
Worth County Index
