Part 3 (2/2)
Potts' family, and of Mr Potts in particular I stated that the family ell and that Mr Potts was as well as usual
It turned out that several of the persons present knew the Potts family, and that Mr Potts had died two months previously
I was immediately arrested and placed in a secure place, tied and chained to the floor
Thus sin brought reat haste to get so to eat, he would have helped et that I should not lie to any one, seeing that I had put off the oldfood, Christ would have succored otten to pray to hi except it be given hies of the South, and on e plantations, were slave-jails, where runaway and refractory slaves were incarcerated These jails were usually a double pen, the inside pen being covered with a roof, and the top of the outside pen being covered with sharp iron spikes Between the pens one or s were usually kept This was the kind of place I was now placed in
Hungry, worn out with my journey, and nearly naked, I soon fell asleep fro
After I had eaten my breakfast I was taken out of jail at Mt Pleasant and started back to Holly Springs, well ironed and guarded, where I was recognized as Wilson's slave Wilson was notified ofin the jail at Holly Springs about three weeks Wilson came for me I had made several attempts in that time to escape, but did not succeed
I was ironed and compelled to walk, which, in my exhausted state, was too much for me, and I was taken violently sick on the road, when Wilson procured a conveyance and hauled me the balance of the way home A physician was immediately summoned, who ordered ainedable to ain my liberty I was very sick for several days
About two o'clock on the lastI stayed there I awoke and felt fresh, and found thataround the moonlit room I found that I was alone To escape wasout of bed I examined theto the cabin, when I found I could raise it easily I gathered what clothes I could find, as well as a blanket froh themade my escape unobserved I did not stop to put on ot two or three miles from the plantation
I stayed in the woods about three weeks, when I returned to iveness, and proiven
Duringin the woods I had aht Prayerfully I considered my situation and asked God's help to directin ood purpose, had placed ood time he would relieve me either by death or emancipation My hardshi+ps, I felt, were by reason of h I was a slave God had given me my task in his vineyard as a slave, and I should have fronted the wrath of my master, Wilson, rather than that of God I felt that I was doing wrong, and after prayerful consideration I detero back to the plantation and patiently await God's time to set me free
Wilson received me as kindly as his nature would permit, and treated me as he did the other slaves and as if I had never been disobedient to hiht in the sight of e for the better while I was an outcast in the woods, and after that I was better fitted to do my allotted work for God
CHAPTER VI
Was hired to Mr Thos, and preached on the plantation and other places--Took unto myself a wife--Was purchased by Thompson, duly installed on the plantation, and invested with authority--Various rade h persecution, to run away--Returned back to my master
A short time after I came in from the woods Wilson determined to hire me to a man named Thompson, who lived about twenty miles away I made no objection, and was duly hired for the term of three years
I adopted the name ”Thompson,” from my new master, which I have since retained
The slaves of the South are usually nanation, and it beca the slaves to adopt the surname of their masters I had never adopted the name of Wilson, because I disliked the man; but as soon as I was hired to Mr
Thompson I took his name, therefore I was henceforth known as Charles Thoe to a great many of my readers, yet when it cohts or privileges of American citizenshi+p, and that I ithout a name, except simply ”Charles,” no surprise will be felt
I labored faithfully and honestly for Mr Thos to dothe slaves on the plantation to Jesus, and inaugurated regular and stated s I preached and exhorted on the plantation and at other places where I could gather the negroes to hear me; and I felt that I was theprecious souls In these ent of the slaves, and s ould have a nu my terirl and added the responsibilities of a husband to e of slaves was a al, according to the laws of the southern states, about the cereether in most instances with the express or implied consent of their e of their slaves as anything, wives and husbands were constantly in danger of being separated forever
But the slaves themselves instituted a cere, as far as they were concerned; and the slave-owners deenition, in so theeneral consent, governing the visits of the husband to the hen owned by different masters When the wife of a slave lived not more than five miles from his master he could visit her once a week; when she lived not o to see her once in teeks; and when she lived twenty or o to see her only once in two months
At the expiration of my tero back to Wilson's, and strenuously objected, knowing that I could get to see her only once in two months