The Two Sams: Men of the West. F. M. Worden
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was getting the itch to go see the west.
In the spring Sam said his goodbyes and went back to Memphis. There he got a job as roustabout again, loading river boats on the docks.
During this time he had the good fortune to meet a beautiful southern belle, Elizabeth Moore. Her Pa owned the dock Sam worked on. He fell head over heels in love with her. She being only 16, her Pa didn’t approve of any relationship with a man so much older. Sam was twenty-six years old.
Sam and Liz as he called her, became lovers. They would meet down on a path by the river. Liz fell for Sam and against her parent’s wishes she wanted to get hitched, but the only way was to elope with him .They did in the late summer. They went west into Arkansas, were married by a justice of the peace in a small town.
They moved on to Fort Smith. Sam found a job in a livery stable. Not satisfied with this work, Liz and he decided they wanted to try to buy a farm. Having heard farms were selling cheap down south in Louisiana, Sam and Liz traveled south into the Red River country south of Shreveport. They found just what they were looking for.
With 1,000 dollars in a gold coin from his trapping. He made a deal for a farm that had been abandoned by two brothers, whose Pa had died. Wanting no part of farming the brothers were more than willing to sell the farm cheaply.
The property was in bad repair. Sam and Liz were delighted with what they had purchased. The house was a two story structure, half rock half wood. From a back porch that covered the back of the house a large kitchen was entered. It consisted of a large fire place and a stair way to the upper rooms. An open door way led to the parlor. Off the parlor to the right was a large bedroom. Up stairs was a long room having been used as bedrooms. The house was well furnished.
The place suited Liz just fine. Left of the porch and a few feet out, an old well still had water. Under the porch a cistern could be seen through the cracks in the floor. Back from the house a few hundred feet stood the best structure on the place. A large half rocks, half wood beautiful built barn. There were well-built wood pens on both sides of the barn. On behind the barn a few hundred feet nestled in a group of trees was a small cabin built of logs in bad need of repair.
East of the house, a small orchard with peaches and pear trees. On beyond the orchard, a cow pasture of about thirty acres, well fenced and showing new grass growth.
The whole place couldn’t have suited them more. A happier couple could not be found in the entire country. Fix up and rebuilding started immediately. The south field was plowed and prepared for planting sugar cane. The southeast field plowed and planted in sugar beets. All together it took several months to get organized and to make plans.
During this time they met their neighbor to the east. One Bill O’Reilly. A man of some advanced age, who became a very dear and trusted friend. A man who took this couple under his wing. He fell in love with Liz and made no beans about it. He admired Sam and wanted to help the couple all he could.
His farm was the show place of the whole county. He had untold acres, a beautiful home and many slaves. He had lost his wife to some unknown sickness and had never totally recovered. Liz and Sam gave him a new lease on life. He often sent his darkies over to help, even before he was asked. Sam got a long find with them. Sam tried to hire help, but the only ones he could find and uses were poor white trash or scallywags. They would steal and lay around and get nothing done. He had to try to do something. The farm was starting to do well and it was too much work for just the two of them. What to do was a dilemma .He asked Mr. O’Reilly what they should do. He suggested they should buy some slave help.
A slave auction was held in Shreveport the first Saturday of every month. Sam objected. He didn’t want to own another person, but O’Reilly convinced him. “It’s not bad if you treat em right.”
Sam and Liz gave it a lot of talk and finally decided they must buy a man slave. With only five hundred dollars, Sam was gonna try to buy a helper the next auction day.
Sam and Liz lay awake a long time that night talking about the buying of a slave. Liz asked Sam to try to get a kind and gentle man. “I don’t want no darkie we can’t trust and have to be chasing after all the time.”
The first Saturday in March, Sam hooked his mules to the spring wagon and drove to Shreveport. A three-hour trip.
Entering the town of about six thousand people, he passed a feed store, blacksmith shop, hardware store, a tavern and many other small stores. Then he saw the slave auctions big signs that read SLAVES FOR SALE - CHEAP SLAVES - BEST PRICES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI.
Sam drove onto a wagon yard not far from the auction house. He asked, “How much to care for my rig while I go to the auction?’’
“Fifty cents,” yelled the owner. Sam paid the man. Then walked the board sidewalk that lead to the auction house.
Walking along the board sidewalk, he watched the traffic and the people going about. Saying all the time to himself, what am I doing here? When he entered the auction house, he could see a long empty room, with just a counter off to the left side. On thru the building he could see a large door opening into a large walled open area. He walked on in. There was a platform facing about twenty wood benches. A crowd of mostly men filled the benches. Sam moved on down half way and sat on the end of one of the benches. The man next to him spoke up right quick.
“My name is Henry Stone. Are ya here to get some of them young bucks?”
“No,” replied Sam, “I’m looking for help for my farm.”
“These bucks ain’t no good. They’re from some big plantation over in Mississippi. Problem bucks, most have whip marks on em. You’ll be out chasing- em most of the time, if-n you get one. The old ones are all wore out, ain’t a good one in the whole bunch.”
Sam was looking over at a wire pen that held male slaves, most had chains on their legs and wrists, with a rope around their neck. Stone poked Sam. “Look at them Nigger women. They’re young, real young. Wish I had the money to buy one. A fat chance I’d have, there’s river men here. They’ll pay big bucks for them young gals.” Stone went on and on.
“How come, they want black girls so bad?”
“Them river boys, take em up river make whores out of em.”
“They’re too young for such goings on, why they can’t be more than twelve or thirteen year’s old.” Sam was uncomfortable with Stones words.
“Where you been man? Them boys up north love that black meat, they’ll pay big money to sleep with a black gal, the younger the better.” Sam was visibly up set.
“I’ve seen Indians take slaves, but they sure as hell don’t make whores out of them. Some things dead wrong with that. There should be a law against it.”
“Ever man to his own poison I say.” Stone was talk-n and look-n. “Wish I had the money, them gals will go for thousand dollars each, sure wish I had the money.”
Sam watching the women said, “There’s a few older ones, wonder what they’ll go for?”
“Them old ones done wore out. A man get a mammy pretty damn cheap, if that’s what you want.” Stone kept on talk-n.
Sam turned his attention to the men. Got up and moved over to get a closer look. An old looking fella setting up against the fence turned his head. He looked right into Sam’s eyes. He seemed to be pleading. Not a word was passed between them. The look penetrated Sam’s soul. Why would he buy this man? Sam asked himself. He returned to the bench.
The auction started. “Who’ll start this auction, who’ll give a thousand for this fine young buck?” Screamed the auctioneer. Someone in the rear yelled, “He ain’t worth that, look at all them whip marks.”
“He’s learned his lessons, I guarantee he’ll give you no trouble,” returned the auctioneer. “Most these boys are fresh off the boat, you’ll never find a better bunch than this. Look at the muscles on this buck, you’ll never find better. Who’ll give a thousand?” Up came the thousand. He sold for