B00DSGY9XW EBOK (16 page)

"Where are they?"
Said one of the men who appeared to be either a slave catcher or one of Wilson's men. I looked around but didn't see Wilson with them.

"Where's who?" Ms. Rebekah asked.

"The slave Martha and that half breed that took her!" The man exclaimed.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Ms. Rebekah said.

"Step aside!" The man said as he grabbed Ms. Rebekah by the arm and moved her away from the door.

"Get out of my house!" Ms. Rebekah screamed as the man pushed his way inside, followed by several of the other men.

"There's blood over here!" one of the men said.

"Alice, go get Mark and tell him to bring the other men with him!" Ms. Rebekah said.

"You're not going anywhere wench!" One of the men said as he grabbed her by the arm.

"You have no right!" Ms. Rebekah screamed.

"We have every right to find and hang thieving niggers!" another man said.

It was only a moment or two before they found the large bloodstain on the table and began demanding that Ms. Rebekah tell them where Martha's body was. As they continued screaming at Ms. Rebekah I head a wagon pull up in the front yard. I looked around and didn't see Thomas or Henry anywhere. Maybe they'd gone to get Mister Mark. I was hoping and praying that it was him arriving.

"You're the one from this morning" Said the man who'd ridden with Master Wilson that morning as he grabbed me by the arm. At that moment Master Wilson walked into the house. It had been is wagon I'd heard pulling up outside.

"Well, well, well. Looks like you've gotten yourself into a quite a pickle." Master Wilson said to Ms. Rebekah with a sinister grin on his face.

"The Sheriff will hear of this!" Ms. Rebekah said.

"I'm sure he will, but for now I'm in charge here." Master Wilson said as he kept the smirk on his face. "Harboring runaway slaves is a serious offence."

"There are no slaves here, only free men and women!" Ms. Rebekah said as she struggled to free her arm from the man who was holding it.

"Ah yes, your collection of free niggers.
Well what are we to do I wonder." Began Master Wilson. "I suppose you now owe me two slaves to replace the ones you've taken from me."

"I've taken nothing from you!" Ms. Rebekah demanded.

Master Wilson drew back and slapped Ms. Rebekah with the back of his hand. She got quiet for a moment and I thought he might have knocked her unconscious but then she looked up at him, her long silver hair wet from the sweat of her struggling and her eyes full of rage.

At that moment another of the men walked into the room behind Thomas who was in chains.

"I found the thief!" He said excitedly.

My heart fell to the floor.

"Take him outside and find some rope!" Master Wilson said.

"No!" I screamed out.

"Take that one too. We'll hang them together" He said.

The men walked us outside. One of them brought some rope from barn and we were forced over to a small oak tree near the house. As the men threw the rope over one of the lower branches and tied the ends into nooses I saw two figures appear through the field followed by another and then another.

"Hold it!" Mister Mark said as he approached.

Thomas and I were forced to stand on milk pales as the ropes tied to our necks were then tied to the trunk of the tree.

"I said hold what you’re doing!" Mister Mark yelled as he stepped through the fence that divided Ms. Rebekah's land from his.

"Mark!" Ms. Rebekah screamed out.

I watched as Mark drew his new six shooter pistol. The slave catchers drew their pistols as well but all of them were armed with the regular single shot pistols. Henry who'd gone to get Mark took aim at Master Wilson with his rifle as more of Mister Mark's employed workers arrived.

"James, do you really want to do this?" Mark asked of my former master.

"This boy is a thief and should be hanged." Master Wilson said.

"What did he steel?" Mark asked.

"First he stole her!" He replied pointing at me. "Then he stole Martha and caused her to get shot."

"I don't expect he could have stolen Maggie from you since you never owned her." Mark said.

"So you're in on this too?" Master Wilson asked.

"I'm just telling it like it is. Is Martha dead?" Mark asked.

"I expect so" Master Wilson replied.

"Where is her body?" Mark asked.

"They hid it!" He screamed.

"What proof do you have?" Mark asked.

"There is blood all over your sister's house. Fresh blood!" Master Wilson said.

"They burst in the house unannounced!" Ms. Rebekah said.

"You forced your way into my sister's house?" Mark asked.

"Because they are hiding stolen slaves.
Don't you get that?" Master Wilson said.

"I'll tell you what James. I will give you ten seconds to release my sister and her workers before I start shooting." Mark said.

Master Wilson tried to say something but Mark over talked him.

"I've had enough of this!" Mark said as he began counting. "One"

The number of men mark had brought was nearly double that of Wilson.

"Two!" Mark said as he cocked the hammer on his new gun.

Master Wilson looked around at the other men. Some were giving looks of fear while others seemed to welcome the fight.

"Three!" Mark exclaimed.

I could feel my hands trembling. I had never intended it to come to this. I only wanted my mother to be safe.

"Four!" Mark said. "Five!"

As the word six left Mark's lips one of the men with Wilson fired striking Mark in the hip. Mark immediately pulled the trigger of his gun which was aimed at Master Wilsons head. Wilson fell to the ground with a hole in his forehead.

I'm not sure what happened next. I only remember the bucket that I was standing on being knocked out from under my feet. I felt the rope catch around my throat but it wasn't a far enough fall to break my neck. I remember hanging there trying to breathe. I could feel a small amount of air getting through my tightened neck muscles but not enough to survive for long. I could feel my toes barely scraping the loose dirt under the tree but even though I could touch the ground I could not lift myself up. As the rope twisted and my body rotated I could see Thomas was hanging as well. He was jerking and trying to free himself. The rope continued to twist until my back was to Thomas. There was gunfire all around us and I'm surprised that we weren’t killed by stray bullets. The gunfire stopped and I could hear the clanking sounds of guns and knives being used. As the spinning rope brought me back into view of Thomas I saw him jerk one final time and the limb that his rope was slung across broke. Thomas hit the ground with a hard thud. He ran over to me and jumped catching the limb that I was hanging from. The chains on his hands kept him from cutting the rope but he was able to bend the limb and allow my feet to touch the ground.

Air rushed into my lungs and I felt as if I were going to faint. Suddenly Henry appeared and cut the rope from around my neck and he handed Thomas the knife. I lay on the ground catching my breath until Thomas forced me against the side of the house. I couldn't see what was happening. I heard more gunshots from Mark's gun. They sounded different than the others and finally silence.

I
peeked my head out from the edge of the house and saw a lot of dead bodies on the ground. Some I knew and others had come with Master Wilson. I saw Mark kneeling over Ms. Rebekah as she lay lifeless on the ground. Mark's remaining men were checking bodies to see who was alive and who was dead. Henry had been stabbed in the back and lay lifeless near the barn. I ran to Ms. Rebekah.

"Is she?" I asked of Mark.

"Yes" He replied.

I looked around at all of the death I had caused. I saw Alice propped against a tree as blood poured from her shoulder. Thomas ran to her taking off his shirt and pressing it against her wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding.

“Get the doctor!” I heard some yell out.

I was in shock. I felt numb all over and couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I saw Carl ride off on horseback as fast as he could go. I helped Thomas cover Alice’s wound. She was able to walk so we
helped her into the house. I stayed with her as Thomas went back outside. All of Master Wilson’s men were dead. Ms. Rebekah was dead, Henry was dead, and ten of Mark’s men were dead. Alice was wounded; Mark had been shot in the hip and was bleeding quite badly. Thomas and a couple of the others brought Ms. Rebekah’s body into the house. The rest were put on the porch except for Wilson’s men who were left where they were lying. Nearly an hour went by before we heard horses approaching but it wasn’t the doctor. It was the sheriff and some of his deputies. They disarmed everyone and began talking to Mark about what had happened. The doctor finally arrived and began bandaging Mark’s wound. Alice was hurt more badly, but Mark and one of his white men were treated first. Unlike Mark whose wounding bullet had gone all the way through, Alice still had a bullet lodged in her shoulder.

As the doctor finally began working to remove the bullet from Alice, I heard Mark and the Sheriff arguing. At one point I heard them yelling at each other and even cursing. I helped tend to Alice. I had no control over Mark or the Sheriff. Either I would hanged or not and I didn’t see no point in worrying about it now. As the doctor removed the round lead ball from her shoulder, Alice began bleeding uncontrollably. I pressed the towel onto her wound as hard as I could but the bleeding eventually soaked into the towel until it was dark red, almost black.

Over the next few hours Alice began to lose more and more blood. Thomas and I tried everything possible but just couldn’t make the bleeding stop. By sunset, Alice had died. I tried to speak with Mark.

“Do you understand that this is
all your fault?” He asked as he looked at me with anger that I can’t describe.

“Yes sir.” I replied.

“Do you understand that I should have you and Thomas hanged from the nearest tree?” Mark asked.

“Yes sir” I said.

“Do you understand that the only reason I didn’t allow James to hang you both was because of my sister?” Mark asked.

“Yes sir” I said as Thomas entered the room.

“Do you understand that the only reason I didn’t blame this entire incident on you and let the sheriff do what he wanted was out of respect for my sister’s wishes?” Mark asked.

“Yes sir” I responded.

“My sister is dead and your only reason for being here is dead with her.” Mark said as he turned his gaze from me to Thomas. “I expect once Alice is buried you’ll move on.”

“Mark
don’t be…”

“Once your mother is buried I want you off of my plantation!” Mark screamed at Thomas interrupting him.

“Yes sir” Thomas responded.

Mark turned and left the house as the doctor and deputies loaded the bodies of Wilson and his men on a wagon. The next day as Mark and his brothers buried Ms. Rebekah in their family cemetery, I helped Thomas and some of Mark’s slaves burry the others. Mark had given us permission to burry Alice in the nigger cemetery by the creek. Sissy had finally passed away from her illness overnight and we buried her and Henry side by side. We place Alice near a willow tree and then assisted with the others.

Thomas and I decided to move to Pennsylvania. We moved even farther north once the war between the states began the following year. Thomas wanted to join the army and fight for the freedom of the slaves, but I refused to let him. I told him that if he left, I wouldn’t be waiting when he returned. He got angry but stayed with me. We had two daughters and a son over the next few years. We named them Alice, Rebekah, and Henry. After the war we returned to Georgia with our children to begin our lives as truly free people.