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17 - Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup · Twelve Years a Slave

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  Speaker 1: Chapter seventeen of Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup.
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  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. The year
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  Speaker 1: eighteen fifty down to which I have now arrived, omitting
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  Speaker 1: many occurrences uninteresting to the reader, was an unlucky year
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  Speaker 1: for my companion Wiley, the husband of Phoebe, whose taciturn
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  Speaker 1: and retiring nature has thus far kept him in the background. Notwithstanding,
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  Speaker 1: Wiley seldom opened his mouth, and revolved in his obscure
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  Speaker 1: and unpretending orbit without a grumble. Nevertheless, the warm elements
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  Speaker 1: of sociality were strong in the bosom of that silent nigger,
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  Speaker 1: in the exuberance of his self reliance, disregarding the philosophy
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  Speaker 1: of Uncle Abram, and setting the councils of ant Phoebe
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  Speaker 1: utterly anaught. He had the foolhardiness to essay a nocturnal
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  Speaker 1: visit to a neighboring cabin without a pass. So attractive
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  Speaker 1: was the society in which he found himself that Wiley
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  Speaker 1: took little note of the passing hours, and the light
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  Speaker 1: began to break in the east before he was aware.
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  Speaker 1: Speeding homeward as fast as he could run, he hoped
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  Speaker 1: to reach the quarters before the hornward sound, but unhappily
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  Speaker 1: he was spied on the way by a company of patrollers.
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  Speaker 1: How it is in the other dark places of slavery,
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  Speaker 1: I do not know, But on by you birth there
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  Speaker 1: is an organization of patrollers, as they are styled, whose
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  Speaker 1: business it is to seize and whip any slave they
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  Speaker 1: may find wandering from the plantation. They ride on horseback,
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  Speaker 1: headed by a captain, armed and accompanied by dogs. They
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  Speaker 1: have the right, either by law or by general consent,
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  Speaker 1: to inflict discretionary chastisement upon a black man caught beyond
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  Speaker 1: the boundaries of his master's estate without a pass, and
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  Speaker 1: even to shoot him if he attempts to escape. Each
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  Speaker 1: company has a certain distance to ride up and down
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  Speaker 1: the bayou. They are compensated by the planters, who contribute
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  Speaker 1: in proportion to the number of slaves they own. The
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  Speaker 1: clatter of their horses hoofs dashing by can be heard
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  Speaker 1: at all hours of the night, and frequently they may
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  Speaker 1: be seen driving a slave before them, or leading him
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  Speaker 1: by a rope fastened around his neck to his owner's plantation.
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  Speaker 1: While he fled before one of these companies, thinking he
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  Speaker 1: could reach his cabin before they could overtake him, but
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  Speaker 1: one of their dogs, a great ravenous hound, gripped him
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  Speaker 1: by the leg and held him fast. The patrollers whipped
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  Speaker 1: him severely and brought him a prisoner to Epps. From him,
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  Speaker 1: he received another flagellation, still more severe, so that the
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  Speaker 1: cuts of the lash and the bites of the dog
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  Speaker 1: rendered him sore, stiff, and miserable. In so much he
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  Speaker 1: was scarcely able to move. It was impossible in such
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  Speaker 1: a state to keep up his row, and consequently there
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  Speaker 1: was not an hour in the day. But while he
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  Speaker 1: felt the sting of his master's raw hide on his
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  Speaker 1: roar and bleeding back, his sufferings became intolerable, and finally
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  Speaker 1: he resolved to run away. Without disclosing his intentions to
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  Speaker 1: run away even to his wife, Phoebe, he proceeded to
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  Speaker 1: make arrangements for care, carrying his plan into execution. Having
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  Speaker 1: cooked his whole week's allowance, he cautiously left the cabin
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  Speaker 1: on a Sunday night, after the inmates of the quarters
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  Speaker 1: were asleep. When the horn sounded in the morning, Wiley
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  Speaker 1: did not make his appearance. Search was made for him
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  Speaker 1: in the cabins. In the corn crib in the cotton house,
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  Speaker 1: and in every nook and corner of the premises. Each
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  Speaker 1: of us was examined, touching any knowledge we might have
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  Speaker 1: that could throw light upon his sudden disappearance or present whereabouts.
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  Speaker 1: Epps raved and stormed, and, mounting his horse, galloped to
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  Speaker 1: neighboring plantations, making inquiries in all directions. The search was fruitless.
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  Speaker 1: Nothing whatever was elicited. Going to show what had become
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  Speaker 1: of the missing man, the dogs were led to the swamp,
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  Speaker 1: but were unable to strike his trail. They would circle
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  Speaker 1: away through the forest, their noses to the ground, but
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  Speaker 1: invariably returned in a short time to the spot from
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  Speaker 1: whence they started. Wiley had escaped, and so secretly and
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  Speaker 1: cautiously as to elude and baffle all pursuit. Days and
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  Speaker 1: even weeks passed away, and nothing could be heard of him.
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  Speaker 1: Epps did nothing but curse and swear. It was the
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  Speaker 1: only topic of conversation among us. When alone, we indulged
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  Speaker 1: in a great deal of speculation in regard to him,
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  Speaker 1: one suggesting he might have drowned in some by you,
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  Speaker 1: inasmuch as he was a poor swimmer, Another that perhaps
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  Speaker 1: he might have been devoured by alligators, or stung by
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  Speaker 1: the venomous moccasin, whose bite is certain and sudden death.
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  Speaker 1: The warm and hearty sympathies of us all, however, were
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  Speaker 1: with poor Wiley wherever he might be. Many an earnest
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  Speaker 1: prayer ascended from the lips of Uncle Abram, beseeching safety
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  Speaker 1: for the wanderer. In about three weeks, when all hope
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  Speaker 1: of ever seeing him again was dismissed, to our surprise,
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  Speaker 1: he one day appeared among us. On leaving the plantation,
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  Speaker 1: he informed us it was his intention to make his
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  Speaker 1: way back to South Carolina, to the old quarters of
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  Speaker 1: Master Buford. During the day he remained secreted, sometimes in
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  Speaker 1: the branches of a tree, and at night pressed forward
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  Speaker 1: through the swamps. Finally, one morning, just at dawn, he
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  Speaker 1: reached the shore of Red River. While standing on the
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  Speaker 1: bank considering how he could cross it, a white man
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  Speaker 1: accosted him and demanded a pass. Without one, and evidently
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  Speaker 1: a runaway, he was taken to Alexandria, the shire town
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  Speaker 1: of the Parish of Rapids, and confined in prison. It
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  Speaker 1: happened several days after that Joseph B. Roberts, uncle of
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  Speaker 1: Mistress Epps, was in Alexandria, and going into the jail,
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  Speaker 1: recognized him. Wiley had worked on his plantation when Epps
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  Speaker 1: resided at huff Power, paying the jail fee and writing
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  Speaker 1: him a pass, underneath which was a note to Epps
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  Speaker 1: requesting him not to whip him on his return, Wiley
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  Speaker 1: was sent back to buy U birth. It was the
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  Speaker 1: hope that hung upon this request, and which Roberts assured
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  Speaker 1: him would be respected by his master, that sustained him
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  Speaker 1: as he approached the house. The request, however, as may
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  Speaker 1: be readily supposed, was entirely disregarded. After being kept in
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  Speaker 1: suspense three days, Wiley was stripped and compelled to endure
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  Speaker 1: one of those inhuman floggings to which the poor slave
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  Speaker 1: is so often subjected. It was the first and last
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  Speaker 1: attempt of Wiley to run away. The long scars upon
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  Speaker 1: his back, which he will carry with him to the grave,
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  Speaker 1: perpetually remind him of the dangers of such a step.
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  Speaker 1: There was not a day throughout the ten years I
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  Speaker 1: belonged to Epps that I did not consult with myself
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  Speaker 1: upon the prospect of escape. I laid many plans, which
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  Speaker 1: at the time I considered excellent ones. But one after
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  Speaker 1: the other They were all abandoned. No man who has
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  Speaker 1: never been placed in such a situation can comprehend the
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  Speaker 1: thousand obstacles thrown in the way of the flying slave.
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  Speaker 1: Every white man's hand is raised against him, the patrollers
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  Speaker 1: are watching for him, the hounds are ready to follow
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  Speaker 1: on his track. And the nature of the country is
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  Speaker 1: such as renders it impossible to pass through it with
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  Speaker 1: any safety. I thought, however, that the time might come,
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  Speaker 1: perhaps when I should be running through the swamps again.
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  Speaker 1: I concluded in that case to be prepared for EPP's dogs,
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  Speaker 1: should they pursue me. He possessed several, one of which
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  Speaker 1: was a notorious slave hunter and the most fierce and
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  Speaker 1: savage of his breed. While out hunting the coon or
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  Speaker 1: the apossum, I never allowed an opportunity to escape when alone,
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  Speaker 1: of whipping them severely in this manner, I succeeded at
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  Speaker 1: length in subduing them completely. They feared me, obeying my
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  Speaker 1: voice at once, when others had no control over them. Whatever.
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  Speaker 1: Had they followed and overtaken me, I doubt not they
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  Speaker 1: would have shrank from attacking me, notwithstanding the certainty of
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  Speaker 1: being captured. The woods and swamps are nevertheless continually filled
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  Speaker 1: with runaways. Many of them, when sick or so worn
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  Speaker 1: out as to be unable to perform their tasks, escape
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  Speaker 1: into the swamps, willing to suffer the punishment inflicted for
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  Speaker 1: such offenses in order to obtain a day or two
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  Speaker 1: of rest. When I belonged to Fall, I was unwittingly
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  Speaker 1: the means of disclosing the hiding place of six or
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  Speaker 1: eight who had taken up their residence in the great
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  Speaker 1: pine woods. Adam Tadum frequently sent me from the mills
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  Speaker 1: over to the opening after provisions. The whole distance was
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  Speaker 1: then a thick pine forest. About ten o'clock of a
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  Speaker 1: beautiful moonlight night, while walking along the Texas Road returning
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  Speaker 1: to the mills, carrying a dressed pig in a bag
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  Speaker 1: swung over my shoulder, I heard footsteps behind me, and
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  Speaker 1: turning round, beheld two black men in the dress of
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  Speaker 1: slaves approaching at a rapid pace. When within a short distance,
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  Speaker 1: one of them raised a club as if intending to
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  Speaker 1: strike me, the other snatched at the bag. I managed
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  Speaker 1: to dodge them both, and, seizing a pine knot, hurled
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  Speaker 1: it with such force against the head of one of
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  Speaker 1: them that he was prostrated, apparently senseless to the ground.
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  Speaker 1: Just then two more made their appearance from one side
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  Speaker 1: of the road. Before they could grapple me, however, I
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  Speaker 1: succeeded in passing them, and, taking to my heels, fled
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  Speaker 1: much affrighted towards the mills. When Adam was informed of
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  Speaker 1: the adventure, he hastened straight away to the Indian village, and,
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  Speaker 1: arousing Cascalla and several of his tribe, started in pursuit
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  Speaker 1: of the highwaymen. I accompanied them to the scene of
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  Speaker 1: attack when we discovered a puddle of blood in the
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  Speaker 1: road where the man whom I had smitten with the
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  Speaker 1: pine knot had fallen. After searching carefully through the woods
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  Speaker 1: a long time, one of Cascalla's men discovered a smoke
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  Speaker 1: curling up through the branches of several prostrate pines whose
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  Speaker 1: tops had fallen together. The rendezvous was cautiously surrounded and
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  Speaker 1: all of them taken prisoners. They had escaped from a
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  Speaker 1: plantation in the vicinity of Lamoris, and had been secreted
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  Speaker 1: there three weeks. They had no evil design upon me
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  Speaker 1: except to frighten me out of my pig having observed
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  Speaker 1: me passing towards Fords just at nightfall, and suspecting the
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  Speaker 1: nature of my errand they had followed me, seen me
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  Speaker 1: butcher and dressed the porker, and start on my return.
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  Speaker 1: They had been when pinched for food, and were driven
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  Speaker 1: to this extremity by necessity. Adam conveyed them to the
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  Speaker 1: parish jail and was liberally rewarded. Not unfrequently, the runaway
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  Speaker 1: loses his life in the attempt to escape. EPP's premises
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  Speaker 1: were bounded on one side by cares a very extensive
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  Speaker 1: sugar plantation. He cultivates annually at least fifteen hundred acres
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  Speaker 1: of caine, manufacturing twenty two or twenty three hundred hogsheads
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  Speaker 1: of sugar, and hogshead and a half being the usual
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  Speaker 1: yield of an acre. Besides this, he also cultivates five
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  Speaker 1: or six hundred acres of corn and cotton. He owned
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  Speaker 1: last year one hundred and fifty three field hands, besides
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  Speaker 1: nearly as many children and yearly high as a drove
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  Speaker 1: during the busy season from this side the Mississippi. One
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  Speaker 1: of his Negro drivers, a pleasant intelligent boy, was named Augustus.
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  Speaker 1: During the holidays and occasionally while at work in adjoining fields,
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  Speaker 1: I had an opportunity of making his acquaintance, which eventually
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  Speaker 1: ripened into a warm and mutual attachment. Summer before last,
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  Speaker 1: he was so unfortunate as to incur the displeasure of
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  Speaker 1: the overseer, a coarse, heartless brute, who whipped him most cruelly.
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  Speaker 1: Augustus ran away, reaching a cane rick on Hawkins's plantation,
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  Speaker 1: he secreted himself in the top of it. All Carey's
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  Speaker 1: dogs were put upon his track, some fifteen of them,
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  Speaker 1: and soon scented his footsteps to the hiding place. They
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  Speaker 1: surrounded the rick, baying and scratching, but could not reach him. Presently,
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  Speaker 1: guided by the clamor of the hounds, the pursuers rode
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  Speaker 1: up when the overseer, mounting on to the rick, drew
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  Speaker 1: him forth. As he rolled down to the ground, the
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  Speaker 1: whole pack plunged upon him, and before they could be
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  Speaker 1: beaten off, had gnawed and mutilated his body in the
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  Speaker 1: most shocking manner, their teeth having penetrated to the bone
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  Speaker 1: in an hundred places. He was taken up, tied upon
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  Speaker 1: a mule, and carried home. But this was augustus last trouble.
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  Speaker 1: He lingered until the next day, when death, sought the
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  Speaker 1: unhappy boy and kindly relieved him from his agony. It
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  Speaker 1: was not unusual for slave women as well as slave
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  Speaker 1: men to endeavor to escape. Nellie Eldret's girl, with whom
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  Speaker 1: I lumbered for a time in the big Cane break
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  Speaker 1: lay concealed in EPP's corn crib. Three days at night,
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  Speaker 1: when his family were asleep, she would steal into the
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  Speaker 1: quarters for food and return to the crib again. We
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  Speaker 1: concluded it would no longer be safe for us to
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  Speaker 1: allow her to remain, and accordingly she retraced her steps
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  Speaker 1: to her own cabin. But the most remarkable instance of
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  Speaker 1: a successful evasion of dogs and hunters was the following.
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  Speaker 1: Among Carey's girls was won by the name of Celeste.
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  Speaker 1: She was nineteen or twenty, and far whiter than her
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  Speaker 1: owner or any of his offspring. It required a close
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  Speaker 1: inspection to distinguish in her features the slightest trace of
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  Speaker 1: African blood. A stranger would never have dreamed that she
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  Speaker 1: was the descendant of slaves. I was sitting in my
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  Speaker 1: cabin later at night, playing a low air on my
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  Speaker 1: violin when the door opened carefully and Celeste stood before me.
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  Speaker 1: She was pale and Haggard had an apparition arisen from
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  Speaker 1: the earth. I could not have been more startled. Who
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  Speaker 1: are you, I demanded, after gazing at her a moment.
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  Speaker 1: I'm hungry. Give me some bacon, was her reply. My
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  Speaker 1: first impression was that she was some deranged young mistress
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  Speaker 1: who escaping from home, was wondering she knew not whither,
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  Speaker 1: and had been attracted to my cabin by the sound
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  Speaker 1: of the violin the coarse cotton slave dress she wore, however,
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  Speaker 1: soon dispelled such a supposition. What is your name, I
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  Speaker 1: again interrogated. My name is Celeste, she answered. I belong
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  Speaker 1: to Carrie and have been two days among the palmettos.
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  Speaker 1: I'm sick and can't work, and would rather die in
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  Speaker 1: the swamp than be whipped to death by the overseer.
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  Speaker 1: Carree's dogs won't follow me. They've tried to set them on.
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  Speaker 1: There's a secret between them and Celeste, and they won't
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  Speaker 1: mind the devilish orders of the overseer. Give me some meat.
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  Speaker 1: I'm star I divided my scanty allowance with her, and
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  Speaker 1: while partaking of it, she related how she had managed
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  Speaker 1: to escape, and described the place of her concealment in
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  Speaker 1: the edge of the swamp, not half a mile from
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  Speaker 1: EPP's house, was a large space, thousands of acres in extent,
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  Speaker 1: thickly covered with palmetto. Tall trees whose long arms interlocked
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  Speaker 1: each other formed a canopy above them, so dense as
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  Speaker 1: to exclude the beams of the sun. It was like twilight,
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  Speaker 1: always even in the middle of the brightest day. In
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  Speaker 1: the center of this great space, which nothing but serpents
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  Speaker 1: very often explore, a somber and solitary spot, Celeste had
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  Speaker 1: erected a rude hut of dead branches that had fallen
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  Speaker 1: to the ground and covered it with the leaves of
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  Speaker 1: the palmetto. This was the abode she had selected. She
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  Speaker 1: had no fear of Caree's dogs any more than I
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  Speaker 1: had of Epps. It is a fact which I have
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  Speaker 1: never been able to explain, that there are those whose
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  Speaker 1: tracks the hounds will absolutely refuse to follow. Celeste was
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  Speaker 1: one of them. For several nights she came to my
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  Speaker 1: cabin for food. On one occasion, our dogs barked as
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  Speaker 1: she approached, which aroused Epps and induced him to reconnoiter
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  Speaker 1: their premises. He did not discover her, but after that
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  Speaker 1: it was not deemed prudent for her to come to
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  Speaker 1: the yard. While all was silent, I carried provisions to
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  Speaker 1: a certain spot agreed upon where she would find them.
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  Speaker 1: In this manner, Celeste passed the greater part of the summer.
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  Speaker 1: She regained her health and became strong and hearty. At
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  Speaker 1: all seasons of the year, the howlings of wild animals
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  Speaker 1: can be heard at night along the borders of the swamps.
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  Speaker 1: Several times they had made her a midnight call, awakening
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  Speaker 1: her from slumber with a growl. Terrified by such unpleasant salutations,
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  Speaker 1: she finally concluded to abandon her lonely dwelling, and accordingly,
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  Speaker 1: returning to her master, was scourged, her neck, meanwhile being
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  Speaker 1: fastened in the stocks and sent into the field again.
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  Speaker 1: The year before my arrival in the country, there was
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  Speaker 1: a concerted movement among a number of slaves on Bayou
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  Speaker 1: Birth that terminated tragically. Indeed, it was, I presume a
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  Speaker 1: matter of newspaper notoriety at the time, but all the
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  Speaker 1: knowledge I have of it has been derived from the
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  Speaker 1: relation of those living at that period in the immediate
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  Speaker 1: vicinity of the excitement. It has become a subject of
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  Speaker 1: general and unfailing interest in every slave hut on the Bayou,
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  Speaker 1: and will doubtless go down to succeeding generations as their
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  Speaker 1: chief tradition. Lou Cheney, with whom I became acquainted, a shrewd,
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  Speaker 1: cunning negro, more intelligent than the generality of his race,
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  Speaker 1: but unscrupulous and full of treachery, conceived the project of
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  Speaker 1: organizing a company sufficiently strong to fight their way against
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  Speaker 1: all opposition to the neighbouring territory of Mexico. A remote
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  Speaker 1: spot far within the depths of the swamp back of
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  Speaker 1: Hawkin's plantation, was selected as the rallying point. Lou flitted
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  Speaker 1: from one plantation to another in the dead of night,
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  Speaker 1: preaching a crusade to Mexico, and, like Peter the Hermit,
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  Speaker 1: creating a furor of excitement wherever he appeared. At length,
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  Speaker 1: a large number of runaways were assembled. Stolen mules and
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  Speaker 1: corn gathered from the fields, and bacon filched from smokehouses
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  Speaker 1: had been conveyed into the woods. The expedition was about
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  Speaker 1: ready to proceed when their hiding place was discovered. Low Cheney,
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  Speaker 1: becoming convinced of the ultimate failure of his project. In
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: order to curry favor with his master and avoid the
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  Speaker 1: consequences which he foresaw would follow. Deliberately determined to sacrifice
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  Speaker 1: all his companions. Departing secretly from the encampment, he proclaimed
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  Speaker 1: among the planters the number collected in the swamp, and,
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  Speaker 1: instead of stating truly the object they had in view,
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  Speaker 1: asserted their intention was to emerge from their seclusion the
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  Speaker 1: first favorable opportunity and murder every white person along the Bayou.
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  Speaker 1: Such an announcement, exaggerated as it passed from mouth to mouth,
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  Speaker 1: filled the whole country with terror. The fugitives were surrounded
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  Speaker 1: and taken prisoners, carried in chains to Alexandria and hung
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  Speaker 1: by the populace. Not only those, but many who were suspected,
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  Speaker 1: though entirely innocent, were taken from the field and from
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  Speaker 1: the cabin, and, without the shadow of process or form
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  Speaker 1: of trial, hurried to the scaffold. The planters on Bayou
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  Speaker 1: Birth finally rebelled against such reckless destruction of property. But
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  Speaker 1: it was not until a regiment of soldiers had arrived
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  Speaker 1: from some fort on the Texan frontier, demolished the gallows
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  Speaker 1: and opened the doors of the Alexandria prison that the
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  Speaker 1: indiscriminate slaughter was stayed. Lu Cheney escaped and was even
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: rewarded for his treachery. He is still living, but his
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: name is despised and execrated by all his race throughout
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: the parishes of Rapeedes and Avoyel. Such an idea as insurrection, however,
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: is not new among the enslaved population of Bayou Birth.
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: More than once I have joined in serious consultation when
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: the subject has been discussed, and there have been times
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: when a word for me would placed hundreds of my
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: fellow bondsmen in an attitude of defiance, without arms or ammunition,
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: or even with them. I saw such a step would
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: result in certain defeat, disaster, and death, and always raised
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: my voice against it. During the Mexican War, I well
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: remember the extravagant hopes that were excited. The news of
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: victory filled the Great House with rejoicing, but produced only
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: sorrow and disappointment in the cabin. In my opinion, and
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: I have had opportunity to know something of the feeling
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: of which I speak. There are not fifty slaves on
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: the shores of Bayu Birth, but would hail with unmeasured
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: delight the approach of an invading army. They are deceived
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: who flatter themselves that the ignorant and debased slave has
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: no conception of the magnitude of his wrongs. They are
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: deceived who imagine that he arises from his knees, with
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: back lacerated and bleeding, cherishing only a spirit of meekness
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: and forgiveness. A day may come. It will come, if
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: his prayer is heard, A riable day of vengeance, when
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: the master, in his turn will cry in vain for mercy.
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: End of Chapter seventeen.