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

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Speaker 1: Chapter sixteen of Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup.
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Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. With the
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Speaker 1: exception of my trip to Saint Mary's Parish and my
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Speaker 1: absence during the cane cutting seasons, I was constantly employed
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Speaker 1: on the plantation of Master Epps. He was considered but
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Speaker 1: a small planter, not having a sufficient number of hands
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Speaker 1: to require the services of an overseer, acting in the
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Speaker 1: latter capacity himself not able to increase his force, it
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Speaker 1: was his custom to hire during the hurry of cotton picking.
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Speaker 1: On larger estates, employing fifty or one hundred, or perhaps
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Speaker 1: two hundred hands, an overseer is deemed indispensable. These gentlemen
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Speaker 1: ride into the field on horseback without an exception to
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Speaker 1: my knowledge, armed with pistols, bowie, knife, whip, and accompanied
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Speaker 1: by several dogs. They follow equipped in this fashion in
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Speaker 1: rear of the slaves, keeping a sharp lookout upon them.
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Speaker 1: All the requisite qualifications in an overseer are utter heartlessness, brutality,
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Speaker 1: and cruelty. It is his business to produce large crops,
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Speaker 1: and if that is accomplished, no matter what amount of
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Speaker 1: suffering it may have cost, the presence of the dogs
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Speaker 1: are necessary to overhaul a fugitive who may take to
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Speaker 1: his heels, as is sometimes the case when faint or sick,
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Speaker 1: he is unable to maintain his row, and unable also
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Speaker 1: to endure the whip. The pistols are reserved for any
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Speaker 1: dangerous emergency, there having been instances where such weapons were necessary.
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Speaker 1: Goaded into uncontrollable madness, even the slave will sometimes turn
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Speaker 1: upon his oppressor. The gallows were standing at Marksville last January,
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Speaker 1: upon which one was executed a year ago for killing
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Speaker 1: his overseer. It occurred not many miles from EPP's plantation
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Speaker 1: on Red River. The slave was given his task at
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Speaker 1: splitting rails. In the course of the day, the overseer
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Speaker 1: sent him on an errand, which occupied so much time
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Speaker 1: that it was not possible for him to form the task.
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Speaker 1: The next day he was called to an account, but
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Speaker 1: the loss of time occasioned by the errand was no excuse,
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Speaker 1: and he was ordered to kneel and bear his back
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Speaker 1: for the reception of the lash. They were in the
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Speaker 1: woods alone, beyond the reach of sight or hearing. The
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Speaker 1: boy submitted, until maddened at such injustice and insane with pain,
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Speaker 1: he sprang to his feet, and, seizing an axe, literally
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Speaker 1: chopped the overseer in pieces. He made no attempt whatsoever
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Speaker 1: at concealment, but, hastening to his master, related the whole affair,
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Speaker 1: and declared himself ready to expiate the wrong by the
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Speaker 1: sacrifice of his life. He was led to the scaffold,
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Speaker 1: and while the rope was around his neck, maintained an
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Speaker 1: undismayed and fearless bearing, and with his last words, justified
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Speaker 1: the act. Besides the overseer there are drivers under him,
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Speaker 1: the number being in proportion to the number of hands
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Speaker 1: in the field. The drivers are black, who, in addition
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Speaker 1: to the performance of their equal share of work, are
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Speaker 1: compelled to do the whipping of their several gangs. Whips
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Speaker 1: hang around their necks, and if they fail to use
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Speaker 1: them thoroughly, are whipped themselves. They have a few privileges, however,
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Speaker 1: For example, in cane cutting, the hands are not allowed
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Speaker 1: to sit down long enough to eat their dinners. Carts
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Speaker 1: filled with corn cake cooked at the kitchen are driven
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Speaker 1: into the field at noon. The cake is distributed by
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Speaker 1: the drivers and must be eaten with the least possible delay.
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Speaker 1: When the slave ceases to perspire as he often does.
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Speaker 1: When taxed beyond his strength, he falls to the ground
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Speaker 1: and becomes utterly helpless. It is then the duty of
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Speaker 1: the driver to drag him into the shade of a
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Speaker 1: standing cotton or cane, or of a neighboring tree, where
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Speaker 1: he dashes buckets of water upon him, and uses other
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Speaker 1: means of bringing out perspiration. Again, when he is ordered
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Speaker 1: to his place and compelled to continue his labour, that
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Speaker 1: hof power. When I first came to Epps, Tom, one
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Speaker 1: of Robert's negroes, was driver. He was a burly fellow
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Speaker 1: and severe in the extreme. After EPP's removal to Bayou Birth,
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Speaker 1: that distinguished honor was conferred upon myself. Up to the
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Speaker 1: time of my departure, I had to wear a whip
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Speaker 1: about my neck in the field if Epps was present,
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Speaker 1: I dared not show any lenity, not having the Christian
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Speaker 1: fortitude of a certain well known uncle Tom sufficiently to
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Speaker 1: brave his wrath by refusing to perform the office. In
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Speaker 1: that way, only I escaped the immediate martyrdom he suffered,
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Speaker 1: and withal saved my companions much suffering. As it proved
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Speaker 1: in the end, Epps I soon found, whether actually in
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Speaker 1: the field or not had his eyes pretty generally upon
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Speaker 1: us from the piazza, from behind some adjacent tree or
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Speaker 1: other concealed point of observation. He was perpetually on the watch.
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Speaker 1: If one of us had been backward or idle through
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Speaker 1: the day, we were apt to be told all about
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Speaker 1: it on returning to the quarters, And it was a
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Speaker 1: matter of principle with him to reprove every offense of
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Speaker 1: that kind that came within his knowledge. The offender not
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Speaker 1: only was certain of receiving a castigation for his tardiness,
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Speaker 1: but I likewise was punished for permitting it. If, on
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Speaker 1: the other hand, he had seen me use the lash freely,
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Speaker 1: the man was satisfied. Practice makes perfect, truly, and during
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Speaker 1: my eight years experience as a driver, I learned to
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Speaker 1: handle the whip with marvelous dexterity and precision, throwing the
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Speaker 1: lash within a hair's breadth of the back, the ear,
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Speaker 1: the nose, without however, touching either of them. If Epps
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Speaker 1: was observed at a distance, or we had reason to
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Speaker 1: apprehend he was sneaking somewhere in the vicinity, I would
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Speaker 1: commence plying the lash vigorously, When, according to arrangement, they
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Speaker 1: would squirm and screech as if in agony, although not
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Speaker 1: one of them had in fact been even grazed. Patsy
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Speaker 1: would take occasion, if he had made his appearance presently,
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Speaker 1: to mumble in his hearing some complaints that Platt was
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Speaker 1: lashing them the whole time, and Uncle Abram, with an
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Speaker 1: appearance of honesty peculiar to himself, would declare roundly, I
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Speaker 1: had just whipped them worse than General Jackson whipped the
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Speaker 1: enemy at New Orleans. If Epps was not drunk, and
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Speaker 1: in one of his beastly humors, this was in general satisfactory.
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Speaker 1: If he was, some one or more of us must suffer.
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Speaker 1: As a matter of course, sometimes his violence assumed a
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Speaker 1: dangerous form, placing the lives of his human stock in jeopardy.
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Speaker 1: On one occasion, the drunken madman thought to amuse himself
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Speaker 1: by cutting my throat. He had been absent at Holmesville
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Speaker 1: in attendance at a shooting match, and none of us
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Speaker 1: were aware of his return. While hoeing by the side
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Speaker 1: of Patsy, she exclaimed in a low voice, Suddenly, Platt,
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Speaker 1: do you see old hogjaw beckoning me to come to him?
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Speaker 1: Glancing sideways, I discovered him in the edge of the field,
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Speaker 1: motioning and grimacing, as was his habit. When half intoxicated.
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Speaker 1: Aware of his lewd intentions, Patsy began to cry. I
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Speaker 1: whispered her not to look up, and to continue at
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Speaker 1: her work, as if she had not observed him, suspecting
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Speaker 1: the truth of the matter. However, he soon staggered up
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Speaker 1: to me in a great rage. What did you say
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Speaker 1: to pats he demanded with an oath. I made him
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Speaker 1: some evasive answer, which only had the effect of increasing
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Speaker 1: his violence. How long have you owned this plantation? Say
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Speaker 1: you darned nigger, he inquired with a malicious sneer, at
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Speaker 1: the same time taking hold of my shirt collar with
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Speaker 1: one hand and thrusting the other into his pocket. Now
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Speaker 1: I'll cut your black throat, That's what I'll do, Drawing
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Speaker 1: his knife as he said it, but with one hand,
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Speaker 1: he was unable to open it, until finally seizing the
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Speaker 1: blade in his teeth. I saw he was about to succeed,
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Speaker 1: and felt the necessity of escaping from him, for in
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Speaker 1: his present reckless state, it was evident he was not
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Speaker 1: joking by any means. My shirt was open in front,
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Speaker 1: and as I turned round quickly and sprang from him
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Speaker 1: while he still retained his grip. It was stripped entirely
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Speaker 1: from my back. There was no difficulty now in eluding him.
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Speaker 1: He would chase me until out of breath, then stop
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Speaker 1: until it was recovered, swear, and renew the chase again.
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Speaker 1: Now he would command me to come to him, now
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Speaker 1: endeavor to coax me, but I was careful to keep
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Speaker 1: at a respectful distance. In this manner, we made the
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Speaker 1: circuit of the field several times, he making desperate plunges,
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Speaker 1: and I always dodging them, more amused than frightened, well
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Speaker 1: knowing that when his sober senses returned, he would laugh
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Speaker 1: at his own drunken folly. At length, I observed the
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Speaker 1: mistress standing by the yard fence, watching our half serious,
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Speaker 1: half comical maneuvers. Shooting past him, I ran directly to her. Epps,
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Speaker 1: on discovering her, did not follow. He remained about the
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Speaker 1: field an hour or more, during which time I stood
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Speaker 1: by the mistress, having related the particulars of what had
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Speaker 1: taken place. Now she was aroused again, denouncing her husband
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Speaker 1: and Patsy about equally. Finally Epps came towards the house.
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Speaker 1: By this time nearly sober, walking demurely with his hands
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Speaker 1: behind his back, and attempting to look as innocent as
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Speaker 1: a child as he approached. Nevertheless, Mistress Epps began to
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Speaker 1: beerate him roundly, heaping upon him many rather disrespectful epithets,
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Speaker 1: and demanding for what reason he had attempted to cut
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Speaker 1: my throat. Epps made wondrous strange of it all, and
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Speaker 1: to my surprise, swore by all the saints in the
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Speaker 1: calendar he had not spoken to me that day. Plat you, lying, nigger,
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Speaker 1: have I was his brazen appeal to me. It is
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Speaker 1: not safe to contradict a master, even by the assertion
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Speaker 1: of a truth. So I was silent, and when he
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Speaker 1: entered the house, I returned to the field, and the
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Speaker 1: my affair was never after alluded to. Shortly after this time,
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Speaker 1: a circumstance occurred that came nigh divulging the secret of
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Speaker 1: my real name and history, which I had so long
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Speaker 1: and carefully concealed, and upon which I was convinced depended
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Speaker 1: my final escape. Soon after he purchased me, Epps asked
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Speaker 1: me if I could write and read, and, on being
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Speaker 1: informed that I had received some instruction in those branches
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Speaker 1: of education. He assured me with emphasis, if he ever
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Speaker 1: caught me with a book or with pen and ink,
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Speaker 1: he would give me a hundred lashes. He said he
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Speaker 1: wanted me to understand that he brought niggers to work
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Speaker 1: and not to educate. He never inquired a word of
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Speaker 1: my past life or from whence I came. The mistress, however,
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Speaker 1: Cross examined me frequently about Washington, which she supposed was
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Speaker 1: my native city, and more than once remarked that I
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Speaker 1: did not talk nor act like the other niggers, and
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Speaker 1: she was sure I had seen more of the world
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Speaker 1: than I admitted. My great object was always to any
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Speaker 1: means of getting a letter secretly into the post office
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Speaker 1: directed to some of my friends or family at the North.
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Speaker 1: The difficulty of such an achievement cannot be comprehended by
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Speaker 1: one unacquainted with the severe restrictions imposed upon me. In
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Speaker 1: the first place, I was deprived of pen, ink and paper.
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Speaker 1: In the second place, a slave cannot leave his plantation
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Speaker 1: without a pass, nor will a postmaster mail a letter
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Speaker 1: for one without written instructions from his owner. I was
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Speaker 1: in slavery nine years, and always watchful and on the alert.
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Speaker 1: Before I met with the good fortune of obtaining a
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Speaker 1: sheet of paper. While Epps was in New Orleans one
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Speaker 1: winter disposing of his cotton, the mistress sent me to
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Speaker 1: Holmesville with an order for several articles, and among the
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Speaker 1: rest a quantity of foolscap. I appropriated a sheet, concealing
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Speaker 1: it in the cabin under the board on which I slept.
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Speaker 1: After various experiments, I succeeded in making ink by boiling
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Speaker 1: white maple bark, and with a feather looked from the
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Speaker 1: wing of a duck, manufactured a pen. When all were
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Speaker 1: asleep in the cabin, by the light of the coals,
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Speaker 1: lying upon my plank couch, I managed to complete a
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Speaker 1: somewhat lengthy epistle. It was directed to an old acquaintance
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Speaker 1: at Sandy Hill, stating my condition and urging him to
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Speaker 1: take measures to restore me to liberty. This letter I
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Speaker 1: kept a long time, contriving measures by which it could
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Speaker 1: be safely deposited in the post office. At length, a
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Speaker 1: low fellow by the name of armsby hitherto a stranger
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Speaker 1: came into the neighbourhood seeking a situation as overseer. He
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Speaker 1: applied to Epps and was about the plantation for several days.
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Speaker 1: He next went over to shores nearby, and remained with
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Speaker 1: him several weeks. Show was generally surrounded by such worthless characters,
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Speaker 1: being himself noted as a gambler and unprincipled man. He
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Speaker 1: had made a wife of his slave, Charlotte, and a
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Speaker 1: brood of young mulattoes were growing up in his house.
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Speaker 1: Armsby became so much reduced at last that he was
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Speaker 1: compelled to labor with the slaves, a white man working
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Speaker 1: in a fields, a rare and unusual spectacle on by
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Speaker 1: u birth. I improved every opportunity of cultivating his acquaintance privately,
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Speaker 1: desiring to obtain his confidence so far as to be
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Speaker 1: willing to entrust the letter to his keeping. He visited
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Speaker 1: Marksville repeatedly. He informed me a town some twenty miles distant,
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Speaker 1: and there I proposed to myself the letter should be mailed. Carefully,
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Speaker 1: deliberating on the most proper manner of approaching him on
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Speaker 1: the subject, I concluded finally to ask him simply if
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Speaker 1: he would deposit a letter for me in the Marksville
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Speaker 1: post office the next time he visited that place, without
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Speaker 1: disclosing to him that the letter was written or any
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Speaker 1: of the particulars it contained, for I had fears that
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Speaker 1: he might betray me, and knew that some inducement must
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Speaker 1: be held out to him of a pecuniary nature before
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Speaker 1: it would be safe to confide in him. As late
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Speaker 1: as one o'clock one night, I stole noiselessly from my cabin, and,
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Speaker 1: crossing the field to Shor's, found him sleeping on the piazza.
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Speaker 1: I had but a few picayunes the proceeds of my
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Speaker 1: fiddling performances, but all I had in the world. I
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Speaker 1: promised him, if he would do me the favor required,
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Speaker 1: I begged him not to expose me. If he could
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Speaker 1: not grant the request, he assured me, upon his honor,
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Speaker 1: he would deposit it in the Marksville post Office, and
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Speaker 1: that he would keep it an inviolable secret forever. Though
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Speaker 1: the letter was in my pocket at the time, I
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Speaker 1: dared not then deliver it to him, but, stating I
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Speaker 1: would have it written in a day or two, bade
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Speaker 1: him good night and returned to my cabin. It was
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Speaker 1: impossible for me to expel the suspicions I entertained, and
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Speaker 1: all night I lay awake, revolving in my mind the
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Speaker 1: safest course to pursue. I was willing to risk a
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Speaker 1: great deal to accomplish my purpose. But should the letter,
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Speaker 1: by any means fall into the hands of Epps, it
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Speaker 1: would be a death blow to my aspirations. I was
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Speaker 1: perplexed in the extreme. My suspicions were well founded, as
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Speaker 1: the sequel demonstrated. The next day, but one, while scraping
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Speaker 1: cotton in the field, Epps seated himself on the line
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Speaker 1: fence between Shaw's plantation and his own, in such a
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Speaker 1: position as to overlook the scene of our labours. Presently,
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Speaker 1: Armsby made his appearance, and, mounting the fence, took a
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Speaker 1: seat beside him. They remained two or three hours, all
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Speaker 1: of which time I was in an agony of apprehension.
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Speaker 1: That night, while broiling my bacon, Epps entered the cabin
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Speaker 1: with his raw hide in his hand. Well boy, said he,
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Speaker 1: I understand, I've got a larned nigger that writes letters
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Speaker 1: and tries to get white fellows to maleem. Wonder if
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Speaker 1: you know who he is. My worst fears were realized,
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Speaker 1: And although it may not be considered entirely creditable even
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Speaker 1: under the circumstances, yet a resort to duplicity and downright
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Speaker 1: falsehood was the only refuse that presented itself. Don't know
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Speaker 1: nothing about it, master Epps's, I answered him, assuming an
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Speaker 1: air of ignorance and surprise. Don't know nothing at all
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Speaker 1: about it, Sir, want you over to Shore's night before last,
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Speaker 1: he inquired, No, Master, was the reply. Haven't you asked
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Speaker 1: that fella Armsby to mail a letter for you at Marksville? Why? Lord, Master,
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Speaker 1: I never spoke three words to him in all my life.
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Speaker 1: I don't know what you mean. Well, he continued, Armsby
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Speaker 1: told me today the devil was among my niggers, that
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Speaker 1: I had one that needed close watching or he would
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Speaker 1: run away. And when I asked him why, he said,
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Speaker 1: you come over to Shor's and waked him up in
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Speaker 1: the night and wanted him to carry a letter to Marksville.
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Speaker 1: What have you got to say to that hair? All
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Speaker 1: I've got to say, Master, I replied, is there is
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Speaker 1: no truth in it. How could I write a letter
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Speaker 1: without any ink or paper? Because I ain't got no
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Speaker 1: friends living as I know of. But Armsby is a lying,
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Speaker 1: drunken fella, they say, and nobody believes him anyway. You
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Speaker 1: know I always tell the truth, and that I never
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Speaker 1: go off the plantation without a pass. Now, Master, I
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Speaker 1: can see what that Armsby is after plain enough, didn't
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Speaker 1: he want you to hire him for an overseer? Yes,
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Speaker 1: he wanted me to hire him, answered Epps. That's it,
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Speaker 1: said I. He wants to make you believe we're all
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Speaker 1: going to run away, and then he thinks you'll hire
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Speaker 1: an overseer to watch us. He just made that story
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Speaker 1: out of whole cloth because he wants to get a situation.
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Speaker 1: It's all a lie, Master, you may depend on it.
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Speaker 1: Epps mused a while, evidently impressed with the plausibility of
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Speaker 1: my theory, and exclaimed, I'm damned Platt. If I don't
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Speaker 1: believe you tell the truth. He must take me for
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Speaker 1: a soft to think he can come it over me
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Speaker 1: with them kind of yarns, mustn't he? Maybe he thinks
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Speaker 1: he can fool me. Maybe he thinks I don't know nothing.
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Speaker 1: Can't take care of my own niggers, Eh, soft soap,
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Speaker 1: old app say damn Armsby set the dogs on in
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Speaker 1: plat and with many other immense descriptive of Armsby's general
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Speaker 1: character and his capability of taking care of his own
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Speaker 1: business and attending to his own niggers. Master Epps left
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Speaker 1: the cabin. As soon as he was gone, I threw
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Speaker 1: the letter in the fire, and with a desponding and
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Speaker 1: despairing heart, beheld the epistle which had cost me so
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Speaker 1: much anxiety and thought, and which I fondly hoped would
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Speaker 1: have been my forerunner to the land of freedom. Writhe
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Speaker 1: and shrivel on its bed of coals, and dissolve into
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Speaker 1: smoke and ashes armsby The treacherous wretch was driven from
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Speaker 1: Shaw's plantation not long subsequently, much to my relief, for
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Speaker 1: I feared he might renew his conversation and perhaps induce
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Speaker 1: Epps to credit him. I knew not now whither to
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Speaker 1: look for deliverance. Hopes sprang up in my heart, only
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Speaker 1: to be crushed and blighted. The summer of my life
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Speaker 1: was passing away. I felt I was growing prematurely old,
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Speaker 1: that a few years more and toil and grief and
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Speaker 1: the poisonous miasmas of the swamps would accomplish their work
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Speaker 1: upon me, would consign me to the grave's embrace, to
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Speaker 1: molder and be forgotten, repelled, betrayed, cut off from the
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Speaker 1: hope of succor, I could only prostrate myself upon the
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Speaker 1: earth and groan in inutterable anguish. The hope of rescue
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Speaker 1: was the only light that cast a ray of comfort
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Speaker 1: on my heart that was now flickering, faint and low.
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Speaker 1: Another breath of disappointment would extinguish it altogether, leaving me
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Speaker 1: to grope in midnight darkness to the end of life.
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Speaker 1: End of Chapter sixteen.