Houston-Pulaski County GaArchives News.....Clarke, Dempsey & Bristow [Story of Two Slaves] February 22, 1889 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Clifton D. Cardin cliftondcardin@juno.com September 23, 2009, 12:30 pm The Salem Daily News (Ohio) Pg3/4 Feb 22, 1889 February 22, 1889 THE STORY OF TWO SLAVES "It is a strange fact," said a gentleman in Hawkinsville, GA, the other day to a St. Louis Globe-Democrat correspondent, "yet it is true, the negroes who were most persistent in their efforts to elude masters whom they hated and who were commonly called "runaway niggers" are the very best citizens we now have. I have watched many of them, and it has always turned out that way. Negroes usually didn't run away because of work, but because of ill treatment or of natural dislike, and when they once took an aversion to their master he might as well make up his mind to sell them to some on whom they liked, or to keep a pack of hounds for the purpose of capturing them every time he gave them a chance to get away. "Did you see that old colored man in that buggy driving around the corner? Well, that is old Dempsey Clarke, and he is to-day one of the richest negroes in Georgia. He lived for three years in the swamps of Georgia because he hated his master, and suffered untold hardships fighting for existence, yet he never did give himself up until his master, in despair, sold him to a neighbor named Brown, who was good to his slaves. Then Dempsey and his brother came out of the woods and went to work on Mr. Brown's plantation, where they worked until the war was over. "I remember the day that Dempsey and his brother Bristow were brought in to Hawkinsville. There was a big sale that day and several thousand slaves were brought in by the slave traders. When Dempsey and Bristow were put upon the block, they were bid in by Mr. Coley, an old planter who was rich in land and slaves. When Mr. Coley bid them in, Dempsey said; "We don't lack yer, Mr. Coley, an' yer needn't buy us, 'kase we ain't er gwin ter live wid ye." "Oh well," Mr. Coley repled, "I've got plenty of dogs," which meant that if they ran away he would capture them with the keen-scented hounds kept for that purpose." The trade was consumated and Dempsey and Bristow were set to Mr. Coley's plantation. True to their word, the third day after their arrival at the plantation Dempsey and Bristow took to the woods. They were captured once, but before they were brought back to the plantation, they again made their escape, and this time for good, as they swore that they would die before they would ever be taken back to Coley's plantation. "I remember on one occasion a party of negro hunters struck the trail of Bristow and Dempsey and chased them into the cypress jungle, and among the lagoons just below big creek near where the creek runs into the Okmulgee. The swamp was almost impenetrable, but the hunters followed their dogs and approached within fifty yards of the 'runaway nigger.' "When they were cornered, the two slaves opened fire upon their pursuers, and as it was getting late in the evening, there was nothing left fo them to do but to retreat, which they did. After trying to recapture his slaves for three years, Mr. Coley finally gave up in despair and sold them in the woods to a Mr. Brown, of Houston County, and as soon as it became generally known that he had bought them, Dempsey and Bristow, the two slaves made their appearance in the village and gave themselves up to Mr. Brown. "I will never forget how they looked when they came out of that swamp. Their hair and whiskers had not been cut, until they fairly met, and it seemed to me that nothing was visible of the face exceet two black eyes that looked wildly at me. I never saw two men so nearly like wild men in my life, and their clothing served to strengthen the impression made by the first glance at their face. Mr. Brown gave them clothes and care for them, and in a short while they were perfectly at home on this plantation, where they remain until after the war. "I don't know where Bristow is, but I am told he is in Colorado, where he went after the war, and that he owns large mining interests there. He was a very bright negro, and always would accumulate, even as a slave. Demspey remained in Houston County after the war and followed farming for a living. He has accumlated a large fortune, which consists principally in lands and live stock. His wife, whom he married as a slave, is still living, and his daughters are off to college. As a faithful slave of the old type, a good citizen and an honest and upright business man, Dempsey has the respect of all who know him." File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/houston/newspapers/clarkede2825nw.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/gafiles/ File size: 5.1 Kb