(continuation from Chapter Three)

EARLY NORTHERN ALABAMA

(while part of the Mississippi Territory)

From Recollections of Mississippi and Mississippians

 By Reuben Davis 1889

Note*(Names have been capitalized by the transcriber to assist the reader)

Chapter Four

My two years of study ended, I returned home for a short visit, and had the satisfaction of being commended by my family for what they considered an improvement in manly qualities. From there, I went to Memphis, Tennessee, hoping to find a good opening for future work in that new place. After several days' journey on horseback, I reached Memphis late one summer afternoon. It was then a small town, ugly, dirty, and sickly. While supper was being got for me at the tavern, I walked through the miserable streets, and out upon the banks of the river. I shall never forget the dreariness of that night, nor the despondency into which I fell when I tried to bring myself to consider this as my future home. I passed much of the night in reflection, and became convinced that I could not maintain myself there. Everything pointed to the certainty that in a short time this squalid village must grow to be a great and wealthy city, but I had no confidence in my destiny as one of the builders of it. For many years the population would be rough and lawless, and the locality and sanitary condition of the town promised that disease and death would hold high carnival there.

Even should I survive these perils, what prospect had 1 for success ? I was very young, had studied medicine in no college, had only money enough to support me for a few months ; and, with all these disadvantages, would have to compete with men fully equipped for the struggle. My courage failed, and, after an early breakfast, I turned my face homewards.

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My brother WILLIAM at that time lived in Sornerville, Tennessee. He was a lawyer of considerable standing in that place, and was making both money and reputation. It was upon his suggestion, and his promise of assistance, that the plan of location in Memphis had been made. When he saw me return, he was very much surprised and disgusted. He was a man of unusual mental force, and had such strong common-sense and knowledge of business that his judgment was almost unerring. He was prudent in the management of his affairs, but always just and generous in the highest degree. In this place I may say that he afterwards removed to Texas, where he was widely known and honored. He accumulated a handsome fortune, and reared a large family, none of whom survive him, except three sons who now reside at El Paso.

I never knew a manlier man than my brother WILLIAM 9DAVIS), and he continued the same until his death, which took place in Texas some years ago, he having reached a very advanced age. With him perished the last link that connected me with the scenes and associations of our earlier lives.

My brother had a just confidence in his opinions, and was somewhat absolute in maintaining them. I had great affection and respect for him, and always hesitated to question the wisdom of his advice. In this case I ventured to defend my own opinion, and he finally agreed that I had perhaps acted wisely. I remained with him a few days. In returning home, my road lay through Bolivar, and thence to the house of MR, CHAMBERS, on the line between Tennessee and the Chickasaw Nation of Indians.

My brother had collected thirty-six hundred dollars for some merchants in Russellville. It was not easy to transmit money safely at that time, and he proposed to send this by me. I do not believe I had ever seen that much money at one time before, and I was appalled at the responsibility of carrying such an immense sum through the solitary region I must traverse. The possibility of being robbed and perhaps murdered was bad enough, but the fear of losing the money and being suspected of conniving at its loss, in order to purchase my own safety, made the blood run cold in my veins. Protests were in vain. Brother WILLIAM was inflexible, and I departed with the gold concealed about my person, and the burden of it heavy upon my spirits. I had not even a pocket-knife as a defensive weapon, and there had been recently reported several cases of robbery and murder on the trail between CHAMBER'S house and Buzzard's Roost. If I could reach Buzzard's Roost, which was near the Alabama line, in safety, my way thenceforward lay through a thickly settled country. I left Bolivar at dawn the second day, hoping to reach Chambers's before sunset. Darkness overtook me some four miles from that place, and I got very nervous. Seeing a fire by the roadside, I felt that my time was come, but it proved to be only an emigrant camping out. The next morning I was delayed by a late breakfast, and set forth with a profound conviction that my possession of a large sum of money was known all along the road, and that I should surely be robbed before nightfall. Before I had gone ten miles I saw a man on horseback beside the road, apparently waiting for some one. To my utter consternation he called out, " Come on, I have been waiting for you all the morning." All my fears now became certainties. This man was a rough, ill-looking fellow. I thought I could behold a " laughing devil " in his face.

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I examined his horse, and was somewhat reassured by the certainty that I could beat him if it came to a race. He wore a butcher-knife stuck in his belt. I kept on his left side and watched him narrowly. After we had traversed several miles in this way, I joyfully beheld a large open knife lying by the roadside, and lost no time in securing this treasure. About noon we came to a creek, and the man insisted that I should stop to eat and rest. As I refused, he kept on with me, and I never halted until I reached Buzzard's Roost. Next morning I found him again waiting for me on the road, and he informed me that an Indian had stolen his knife while he slept. I parted with him at Russellville, giving him the knife I had found. Ten years afterwards I met him in the town of Houston, Mississippi. He recognized me, and referred to the journey we had taken through the woods together. I was at that time acting district attorney for the Houston court. The grand jury found several bills against the man, who called himself JOHNSON, for corn stealing, and he fled from the country.

I have always believed that my finding that knife by the wayside saved my money, and possibly my life, from this rascal. How came it there ? Was some good spirit watching over me, or did chance befriend my inexperienced footsteps ? These questions have come to me more than once in my life, when I have been led safely through perils which seemed about to overwhelm me.

Continued in Chapter Five 

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