eek. Dey didn' come to dat party.
"I don't know why dey don't have no Kloo Kluxes now. De sperrit still
have de same power.
"Den I go to work for Mr. Ed McAllum in DeKalb--when I aint workin' for
de Gullies. Mr. Ed were my young marster, you know, an' now he were de
jailor in DeKalb.
"I knowed de Chisolms, too. Dat's how come I seen all I seen an' know
what aint never been tol'. I couldn' tell you dat. Maybe I's de only one
still livin' dat were grown an' right dere an' seen it happen. I aint
scared now nothin' 'ud happen to me for tellin'--Mr. Currie'd see to
dat--I jus' aint never tol'. Dem dat b'longed to my race were scared to
tell. Maybe it were all for de bes'. Dat were a long time ago. Dey give
out things den de way dey wanted 'em to soun', an' dat's de way dey done
come down:
"'It started wid Mr. John Gully gittin' shot. Now Mr. Gully were a
leadin' man 'mong de white democratic people in Kemper, but dey aint had
much chance for 'bout seven years (I disremember jus' how long) on
'count o' white folks lak de Chisolms runnin' ever'thing. Ever'body were
sho' it were some' o' de Chisolm crowd, but some folks knowed it were
dat Nigger, Walter Riley, dat shot Mr. Gully. (But aint nobody ever tol'
de sho' 'nough reason why Walter shot Mr. John Gully.)
"'De Chisolms warnt Yankees, but dey warnt white democratic people. Dey
do say de Chisolms an' folks lak' em used to run 'roun' wid de Yankees.
Maybe dat's how come dey was diffe'nt. Even 'fore de Yankees come
a-tall, when Mr. Chisolm were on us side, he were loud moufed[FN:
mouthed] 'bout it.
"'Mr. John Gully he'p Mr. Chisolm git to be judge, but he turnt out to
be worse dan dem he had to judge. Mr. Gully an' de others made 'im
resign. I reckon maybe dat's why he quit bein' a Democratic an' started
ructions wid Mr. Gully.
"'Come de surrender, Mr. Chisolm, he got to be a big leader on de other
side. An' he seen to it dat a lot o' de white democratic men got he'p
from votin' an' a lot o' Niggers step up an' vote lak he tol' 'em (dey
were scared not to). So de Chisolms kep' gittin' all de big places.
"'A lot o' widders an' folks lak dat what couldn' he'p deyse'fs los' dey
homes an' ever'thing dey had. De papers de gran' jury make out 'bout it
were stored in de sheriff's office. De sheriff give out dat his office
done been broke open an' all dem papers stole.
"'Den Mr. Chisolm's brother got hisse'f p'inted[FN: appointed] sheriff
an' make Mr. Chisolm deput
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