Lower Indiana is in the middle of horrific happenings after the civil war. Cotton was not king, and slavery was not an issue. Seldom did a white see a black man in this area. If you visit down into Kentucky, you might see a few, but, generally, there was no problem. Being from this area, people did not like the war. Brother against brother fought, and blood was spilled. Week after week, month after month, and then a couple of months passed in 1866 when at the local Methodist Church, brethren began to discuss the unrest relative to the carpetbaggers coming up from Kentucky, a Confederate state. They visited the small town of Meriwether. Citizens hold fear in their hearts! An Italian man, Joseph Attenia, raises his voice and Bible, saying, “We are captives in our own land. Our state has been in a turmoil since the war. We can’t decide who our friends are. What must we do? These scoundrel white men are bringing these blacks to our state using Kentucky reformation money to purchase the land of Indiana!”
Another brother steps to the podium, voicing his opinion. Norman Barnes, a soybean farmer, speaks, “I would advise you to take heed to the situation that exists, take vision of the current facts, study all factors. We have family. Our homes should come before our own personal feelings!”
Barnes relates, “I don’t know who I dislike the most, the dressed-up carpetbaggers or the blacks…dressed fit to kill . . . following the white trash!” Then quiet comes. All go their way.
Months come. Days become shorter in the winter. Citizens remain indoors in some form or fashion because of cold weather. Discussions now begin around the stores’ fire stoves. Conversations are varied and different, but one constant remains—carpetbaggers venturing into the area with blacks, dressed as lawyers, attempting to purchase land around Meriwether, the town. In a case to the north about five miles from the town, carpetbaggers acquire a flat land farm. Dozens of blacks move on to the farm. The carpet-bagging leader calls them Ten-Acre Liberty Farms. The talk around town is “they only build a nice shotgun house…never touching the land to farm . . . Congress is paying them relief.” They use these funds to purchase land and maintain their families. Reports in the Meriwether Express, the local newspaper, read, “Burglars are breaking into downtown stores, the police are buffaloed, only grocery stores are targeted.” In the newspaper report, the chief of police reveals all break-ins occur before dawn. Grocery store shelves are emptied of goods. All the police can find are big footsteps in the ground. Around the back doors, a large ramming pole is always left at crashed doors, almost twelve feet in length. Every door is broken completely from its hinges! Investigations occur with the officers following the footprints along the edges of fields, across branches to the Liberty Farms. Being discreet, the officers edge close enough to view two large black men who are reclined on one of the porches of the shotgun houses, laughing. The officers talked to the big guy Stefhenson. He assures the officers they don’t have any knowledge of the thefts! Later, the chief, knowing these circumstances, looks Norman straight in his eyes, exclaiming, “Our officers are kinda scared. Then what are we gonna do?”
Norman responds, “Well, for the first thing, we can gather our best marksmen with big guns. We will keep an eye on them.”
The chief, gasping for breath, remarks, “Maybe we can catch them coming from town after they rob.” The chief speaks again, “We will be waiting just inside the city limits for them with the goods. Then we will snap on handcuffs and place them in jail.”
Then Norman makes a comment. “That sounds like a great idea!”
Weeks pass. Everything is calm. The small town appears pleasant. Norman Barnes is walking the narrow sidewalk down to the local barbershop for an end-of-the-year haircut. The wife has been on his back for weeks. As the men are gathered around the extra hot stove loaded with wood, making it a bright red hot as a firecracker with tremendous heat. Norman jumps in the chair. Barber says, “Be still, young man. I’m ready. Haven’t seen you in ages.”
The men are seated around the stove; some backed up to the stove. Soon, they get hot pants, stepping away from the glowing stove! Conversations are stirring concerning the Liberty Farms carpetbaggers. A young man, Phillip, probably in his mid-twenties, says, “You know, we haven’t had any current robberies. We haven’t seen any of them in town. I know our grocery stores have not waited on any for business.” Then others remark like fashion. The barber keeps talking.
Norman asks him, “Do I have any hair left?” Sam laughs in a gentle fashion.
Then all at once, the police chief enters out of breath and hassling, he tries to speak and gags. He finally gets the words out, saying, “Mrs. Althea Crawford has been missing since dawn. She ventured from the house to draw water for coffee and breakfast. No one else knows where she is!”
“Now, Chief, what in the world do you mean?” asks George Taylor, the store clerk.
Chief says, “I mean she’s disappeared. There are no tracks of anyone around the well. She didn’t fall into it!” The chief is trying to finish, “My men and I have been out since her boy Mark came running to my office telling me. I left my deputies, her husband, Marcus, and the other two boys trying to locate her.”
Phillip yells, “My god!” Then the men start talking among themselves.
Norman says to the barbershop crowd, “The chief needs our help. Tell us what you want us to do!”
Chief Ryals steps to the front and relates, “Boys, I want you to go home and get your guns and lanterns. If you have a dog, bring him. I will meet you here in an hour right in front of the barbershop!”
The hour comes. Norman and his friends meet the chief. They rush toward the Crawford’s home. They trot carrying their weapons, kind of softly praying for the lady. They soon arrive at the residence. The chief assigns two men in pairs walking in angles from the well, cautioning them to be vigilant, telling them, “Give out a coyote yell from team to team if you find anything.” The word gets to all the hunters! The situation is kind of weird. There are no footprints around the well, only the look of someone deliberately sweeping the area, surprising Norman. No bushes were even close to resembling anything like a sweeper!
Norman and Rafe head out with the other citizens. Seemingly to Rafe speaking to Norman, “We have the moonlight. Let’s move faster.” They begin running, being younger than most. They don’t come across anything. It seems hours and hours that the men are out. No sight of anything. That old moon is waning. They have a light, but the moon is trying to outshine the lantern. The moon seems to talk toward people when there is a fear around. These men feel it. Then comes a yell like an old coyote directly to their left but a little further back. They dash to the first yell, following almost in a circle until they approach the yell.
Someone hollers loudly, “I found her, I found her. She’s crippled but alive.” Everyone speeds until they come to the lady stretched on the ground. Norman in his mind realizes the lady has been raped. He is quiet until all are gathered around. Chief Ryals kneels to her.
She’s crying, yelling, “Get off me, get off me.” She resists the chief taking her hands. She reaches and tries to scratch him. He grabs her hand and calls for Marcus, her husband, to assist.
Marcus leans down and begins talking to Althea. “It’s gonna be all right. Just be still.”
The chief tells Rafe, “Run for the doctor. Bring him to Marcus’s house. We’ll be there waiting for you!”
The largest man in the group is Ben Smith. He appears to be a foot taller than most. He bends over, slides his large tough hands under her, lifts her, and tells Althea, “I’m carrying you home, lady.” All the men follow as if they were marching to a drumbeat. Their hearts are heavy. The beat reaches inside their hearts.
The steps become very heavy as they trod toward the Crawford home with Ben Smith chanting, “We are carrying you home, yes, Lord, praying for you to be cured from hurt, we are carrying you home!”