The Broken Sword; Or, A Pictorial Page in Reconstruction

by D. Worthington

  CHAPTER XX.

  "A DANIEL COME TO JUDGMENT."

  The Reconstruction period in the South was offensively institutional.There was a fascination about the spoils principle, the "cohesive powerof public plunder" that allured all conditions of men who put themselvesin juxtaposition to the new order of things. There was not a negro whovalued his manhood suffrage that did not yield implicit faith andobedience to all that was told him by the carpet-baggers, who came southas the "waves come when navies are stranded." The elective judiciary toowas no mean accessory in the wholesale plunder of the people; in thesale, delay and denial of justice. The presence of the judge in thecounty town to hold the court was, an event that was commonlydistinguished by farcical displays; exhibitions as it were ofharlequins, bazaars, organ-grinders and negroes. From the four quartersof the county exhausted mules and oxen were brought into requisition andhitched to primitive vehicles; negroes who were the worthless heads ofpauper families, astride the bare backs of horned cattle, arriving inthe town before the break of day and thronging the public buildings,thoroughfares and court house. The leaders among the negroes would callupon the judge in his chamber with a disgusting obsequiousness thatmarked the depravity of their origin. Punishments at times were therefinement of oppression and as often a mockery of the law. Partisanjudgments were not unusual or surprising.

  An untried judge had come to hold the assizes; he had come without theblast of a trumpet, but the compact assemblage awaited with everydemonstration of joy his presence upon the bench. The judge was a youngman, seemingly of great intellectual reserve, possessing a steel grayeye that shot its glances through the subject as if it were but markinga point through which his judgment of a man would enter. There werecourage, self poise, wisdom, integrity apparent in the man who hadarrived to administer the law. For the first time this judicial officersaw before him an indistinguishable mass of the freedmen of the south.He knew by intuition that they were ignorant, vicious and corruptible;he saw that the prosecuting attorney was a negro, the deputies of thesheriff were negroes, the foreman of the grand jury was a negro anddoubtless he addressed to himself this interrogatory in the law latin_cui bono_?

  "There were indictments almost without number for frauds, embezzlementsand forgeries; the travail of reconstruction."

  Laflin had been perniciously active all the morning. Before the judgehad taken his seat upon the bench, he had interviewed many of the menwho had been summoned upon the venire to try a veteran of the lost causefor murder and their pockets were filled with small bribes. He hadchecked off twelve names and given the list to the solicitor with theheartless remark "Now we'll hang the old secesh higher than Haman, andyou and I Mr. Solicitor will divide between us his homestead." At thispoint of time an interruption came from one of the negro jurors to thiseffect, "Boss dere's wun secesh nigger dat sez he's agwine to hang dejurer epseps yu gin him wun mo dollar."

  "Blast the wretch!" came the curse of this man of baleful power, "Whereis he?" he enquired.

  "See dat man standin dere ergin dat postess, dats him."

  "Here you fellow," said Laflin, "How much money have you been paid tofind the old secesh guilty?"

  The negro in an abstracted way felt in his pockets and told the wretchthat one juror had been paid two dollars, while he had received only onedollar, "und he mout conwic de rong man, den yu see boss, de pay moutnot be ekal to de sponuality. Fling in wun mo dollar und de jurer gwineto hang dat secesh sho."

  This conclave of diabolical spirits was held in the office of thesheriff at the hour of 9 a. m. Back yonder in the common jail, behindthe fretted bars, was the veteran in the cell with black felons.

  Why should the catalogue of this poor man's misfortune be enlarged, bysuper-adding to the loss of domestic tranquility, that greatest of allcalamities, the loss of his liberty, aggravated by the imputation ofcrime and its consequent ignominy. He feels that the storm without isfraught with lightning, that renders desolate the face of nature, hismind has lost its elasticity, its spring, its pride; and who is theprisoner, whom the black crowd follow with the gaping vacuity of vulgarignorance, assaulting him now and again with obscene gibes, as he is ledfrom the cell to the dock? He is gifted by the God of nature with rareendowments, whose unconquered spirit breaks forth in a sentiment such asthis,

  "Let the hangman lead these miscreants to the gibbet, And let the ravens of the air Fatten upon their flesh until they pick each tainted carcass from the bones."

  There were indictments also for capital felonies, and in the dock satthree hardened black criminals, and one aged white man of distinguishedpresence, who was whispering now and then to a beautiful maiden intears, a maiden so radiant in personal attractions that she might havesat approvingly for the portrait of Beatrice Cenci that looks down uponthe upturned faces in the Art Gallery in Florence. He was a veteran ofthe civil war; a hero at Malvern Hill; colonel commanding the regimentof cavalry that by an extra hazardous maneuver drove a Federal brigadeinto the death trap. By his side sat as his attorney a white-hairedgentleman, who like a stately man of war, just going out of commission,was sighting his guns upon the enemy for the last time. This spectaclewas so full of the pathos of human life that it deserves to beperpetuated in the memory, after the dry rot shall have utterlyhoney-combed the odious system of reconstruction. The arraignment of theprisoner was proceeded with; the negro solicitor presuming upon thehearty co-operation of the judge ventilated his spleen upon theunfortunate prisoner.

  "Stand up, prisoner at the bar," he commanded as he fairly spat hisvenom like a jungle serpent into the face of the poor man. "Are youguilty or not guilty of the felony and murder with which you standcharged?" he cried.

  "Not Guilty," answered the prisoner with a quiet dignity.

  "By whom will you be tried," the officer inquired wrathfully.

  "By God and my country," was the answer of this veteran of a hundredbattles; this wise counsellor of the law.

  Were the twelve black jurors in the box his country? had they ever givendirection to his impulses as a patriot? had they ever nerved his arm tostrike down the foe, that scourged his home into barrenness and peopledthe city of the dead with his kindred? Had they like Joshua and Hur everstayed the hand of the prisoner, when with drawn sword he guarded theportal of the temple? Great God! Shall these human chattels, without asingle intellectual resource, without one ray of discernment, besottedand bedraggled by fanaticism, superstition and ignorance bring to thispoor man in this extremity a safe deliverance? In conducting theprosecution, in the examination of the witnesses the same brutishtreatment was observed by the solicitor for the state toward the agedprisoner, and with an offensive parade of authority he announced thatthe state had closed its case; thereupon the white-haired Governor aroseto ask for the discharge of the prisoner for want of sufficient evidenceto convict. Now came the first interruption upon the part of the judge,who up to this moment had observed a reticence quite noteworthy in ahigh judicial officer who was holding his first court where the negroesruled.

  "It is unnecessary Governor that I should hear you," he remarked withevident self-poise.

  Turning to the solicitor he asked with deliberation,

  "Can you tell me how the indictment against this old man found its wayinto this court?"

  "I can, sir," the solicitor impudently replied, "and I propose," heexclaimed vehemently, "to make good the charge by convicting thisassassin before this conscientious jury."

  "Ah, indeed!" rejoined the judge quite complacently. "Are you quite sureof your premises?"

  "Yes indeed!" replied the solicitor.

  "Take your seat, sir," the judge commanded, with a frown upon hisintelligent face. "I am informed," said he, addressing the negrosolicitor, "that you have been perniciously active in the persecution ofthis feeble old man; that you have gone out of your way to harass andhumiliate him in all possible situations; that you have advised andencouraged and rewarded placable agents and emissaries to render hislife burdensome and his condition
intolerable; that you have causedinquisitorial visits to be made to his home by ruffianly negroes in thedead hours of the night; that you have conspired and confederated with aloathsome being--a man, however, of controlling influence with thenegroes--by the name of Laflin, to inflict upon him and his daughterevery indignity your evil imagination could suggest; that acting underyour devilish advice and inventions, lawless, brutish negroes have setat defiance every dictate of humanity, every precept of religion, andevery commandment of the law, and have turned his home into a hell; thatwhen a superficial examination into this case would have shown you thatthis negro, whom you say was murdered by this unfortunate prisonergathered around him a bestial mob of the most despicable, offensivenegroes, armed with guns and swords to take his life by force ofinsurrectionary combinations, you dare to clutch the ermine of thiscourt with your defiled fingers! You have disgraced the position youoccupy; your right to prosecute the criminal docket in this court issuspended. You will take your seat in the prisoner's dock until I canhave you tried and sentenced to the penitentiary. This man is in yourcustody, Mr. Sheriff. Mr. Clerk, you will at once issue a bench warrantfor the arrest of Abram Laflin and the coroner, Jackson Thorp, and havethem brought before me at once. Colonel Seymour," he continued,addressing the prisoner, and at the same time extending his hand, "youhave my sympathy. I have observed with pain and indignation the alarmingcondition of affairs in your county. I am sitting upon this bench as ajudge to discharge my duty in the fear of God. You are fully vindicated,sir, and may retire when you please."

  A stampede of negroes who had thronged the court room swept away everyobstruction, and within one hour after the arrest of the carpet-baggerand the coroner, mules, oxen, negroes, dogs and organs and monkeys werein precipitate flight through the town.

  "Grate Jerusalem!" exclaimed an old negro who had fallen down thestairway in his flight, "de debbil has sho broke loose in dis heartown. Dat ar jedge is wusser dan a harrykane."

  The scene that followed was intensely dramatic. Men who had never beendemonstrative before, at the hour of recess, thronged the judge to thankhim for his honesty and courage in this hour of trial. The Governor,Colonel Seymour and his beautiful daughter awaited the presence of thejudge in the parlor of the public inn, and as the learned man enteredthe room greatly embarrassed, Alice thought he was the manliest man sheever saw--faultlessly handsome, with the poise of a patrician. The judgetook her extended hand, and blushing deeply, looked down into thelustrous blue eyes that were laughing through tears and said, almostaudibly, to himself, "Is it possible that this beauty will ever fade?"Could we introspect the great man's heart, we should find even then alittle weaver picking up here and there golden threads andcris-crossing them into entangling meshes; and perhaps a little archerwas drawing back his bow to transfix two hearts and hold them up beforehim while he laughed and laughed again at his conquest.

  "Miss Seymour," the judge exclaimed, quite compassionately, "I regretthat your father has been so greatly outraged. I hope he will soonforget it and that his life will be happy. I am grateful to you for thepleasure of this visit. May I hope to see you at your home in thecountry?"

  Alice replied, both weeping and smiling, that she could never repay thedebt of gratitude.

  "I feel that there is not now a cloud upon my little horizon--that yourconsiderate judgment has dispelled the shadows that veiled in my life,and I shall live now for my father and his happiness."

  "Ah, my dear miss!" replied the judge, somewhat confused, "do not thankme for doing my duty. You don't know how my heart yearned towards yourhelpless father in the hands of these barbarians." And all the while thelittle archer, now an imprisoned eaves-dropper, was peeping out of thecurtains with his chubby hand to his tiny ear and whispering, "Love atfirst sight."

  Joshua was a unit in this compact mass of freedmen that squatted hereand there upon rude benches and crowded the aisles in that greatauditorium of negroes. There were snow-white dishevelled locks underprimitive hats and bonnets; there were hollow cheeks and lack lustreeyes; there were hungry stomachs, limbs palsied and stiffened here inthe very May day of reconstruction. The commissariat with its greatreservoirs of fatness was ever so far away, and its approaches wereguarded by armed freedmen who like bearded pards demanded money. "OldGlory" too, hung inert from the flag staff, blushing perhaps because thejudge is sitting upon the bench to despatch business; because a Danielhas come to judge Laflin and to give him his pound of flesh withoutblood. As the colonel was assisting his daughter into the buggy, afterthe tumult was over, Joshua ambled up to him with his battered beaver inhis hand with fulsome congratulations.

  "I knowed all de time ole marser dat yu was agwine to get clar. I seedit in dat jedge's eyes when he heered dat ditement red. He got wexed datar minit, und shuck his hed und I knowed den dat de state had flung defat in de farr, und I said to mysef, Joshaway, yu und ole marser isagwine home wid wun anuder dis werry nite und it cum out lak Ispishuned."

  "Uncle Joshua," interrupted Alice feelingly, "father and I are verygrateful for your kindness and you shall never suffer as long as welive. Here is a dollar; buy Aunt Hannah what she needs, remember, youmust not buy whiskey with it."

  "Tank yu yung missis, tank yu a fousand times. I am gwine to lay dis outfor Hannah. I aint agwine to tech narry cent of it, und when dat niggersees me coming home with all my bundles she is agwine to jump clean clarouten her skin. I don't care ef I nebber sees dat kommissary no mo," andin the transport of joy the old negro tossed his old beaver high intothe air while he lustily cried out, "free cheers for Miss Alice und olemarser."

  There were many things that pre-occupied the minds of Alice and herfather as they were driving home. The old man in a sentimental spiritfelt like exclaiming with the sacred writer "These, and such as theseare spots in our feasts of charity; clouds they are without water,trees whose fruit withereth; raging waves of the sea foaming out theirown shame; wandering stars to whom is reserved the blackness of darknessforever."

  As they neared the old homestead, Clarissa was standing in the gateway,jumping up and down automatically with arms tossing like the fans of aDutch windmill, shouting frantically, "glory, glory, the dead has cum tolife agin, blessed Lord de insurreckshun has done und riz agen.Jurusulum my happy home" and she threw her arms around her youngmistress and in the excess of feeling hugged even the old hound. "Come into de kitchen ole marser und Miss Alice fur de lans sake und see what asnipshus dinner I has got, barbecue, taters and chicken and homily undsich lak."

  Joshua stood in the road to watch his ole marser fast disappearing inthe distance; then taking the crisp note from the lining of his old hat,brandished it aloft as if it were 'old glory.' It was the first currencyof the kind he had ever seen, for the coroner had refused to pay his perdiem as a juror at the inquest, averring as an excuse therefor dat datwote was agin de consecushon und hit jam nigh spiled de hole werdict.Joshua steadied himself against an empty whisky barrel and began tocalculate as to the purchasing capacity of the dollar note.

  "Now lem me count on de tip eend of the fingers scusing de fumb datdon't count," said he. "Hanner she wants a kote und a par of brogans,allus awanting mo dan de munny is agwine to fetch," he observedparenthetically, "und den dare is me, bleeged to have a weskote undgallusses, und dat will take every bit und grane; und how is I agwineto git eny bakker, und I'm bleeged to have a drap of sperrits. Now lemme count over gin und git dis ole fumb outen de way; de kote is fiftycents und de shoes is seventy five cents, dat won't do," he said as hescratched his head, "I'm gwine to leabe off de kote; den dere is deshoes seventy-five cents, und de weskote seventy-five cents; dat won'tdo nudder. I'm agwine to leabe off de shoes; den dare is de gallussestwenty-five cents, und de weskote seventy-five cents; den whar is debakker? I'm agwine to lebe off de weskote; den dare is de gallussestwenty-five cents, und de bakker twenty-five cents, und de sperritsfifty cents; de munny haint ergwine to hole out no udder way I can fixit; now den de sperrits fust, und de bakker nex und gallusses las," andwhen the old negro h
ad solved the problem he struck a bee line to thenearest groggery, saying to himself, "Ef Miss Alice had axed me not tobuy no sperrits I'd a been kotched pine plank."

  "Two years in the penitentiary," Joshua heard some one exclaim as he waspassing the court house.

  "Who dat boss gwine to de penitenshur?" he stopped to enquire.

  "Abram Laflin," came the answer.

  "Don't you heer dat!" exclaimed Joshua, "Fredum is sho gin out now.Ellic dun und gon und got hissef drounded, und on de tip eend of dat deboss is dun und got hissef in de penitenshur. Land sakes alive! Niggersgot to walk perpendickkler now," and with that the old negro dodged intothe tippling shop.

  "Say boss?" Joshua said to the rum-seller, "Fill me a tickler rite fuller rum; don't put narry drap of whiskey in hit, kase ef yu dus mycreddick is dun und gon fur ebber. Now what dus I have to pay?" he askedas he put the bottle into his haversack.

  "Seventy-five cents," sharply answered the salesman.

  "My King!" ejaculated Joshua, "Den what is I gwine to do about demgallusses?"

  "Come old negro," the clerk crustily replied, "get out and let that mancome to the counter."

  As Joshua was moving suspiciously out of the dram shop he glancedsavagely at the man and said to himself, "Dis heer low down white trashis a gwine to be de ruinashun ob dis kentry yit, agougging de werryeyeballs out ob yer hed, und yu are standin rite dare urseein dem dohit. I wishes dat dar jedge wud git holt ob dese speretual shops undsquashes dem lak he dun dat ditement agin ole marser."

  In the small hours of the night Joshua stumbled against the door of hiscabin crying like a lunatic.

  "Fer de lan sake Hanner, run out here und kill dese heer snakes, undfetch my muskit along wid yu."

  And Hannah in her night robes ran out frantically crying, "Show me demdar sarpents, whar is dey Joshaway?"

  "Dar dey go," said he, and seizing the musket he banged away at theearth exclaiming, "Ef yu is sho naff snakes yu is in a bad fix und ef yuaint sho nuff snakes den I's in a wusser wun."

  "Yu stracted fool," angrily shouted Hannah, "Yu is got de leriumtremenjous, dat's what ails yu."