DIY History | Transcribe | Campus Culture | Reuben Gaines' memoir, undated

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Page 28

PAGE 28. Buxton.
"sure could Mr. Pugh be," (key word) a nice respectable white man at midnight running around down there in hell's half acre amoung those black prostitutes looking for you know what?" I am asking the Jury with all humilty if there ever was any doubt as to this mans innocence; so with the unusual circumstances I hop you will reconsider and bring in a verdict of acquital so this young man may continue his normal and peaceful way of life." At this trial Justice was off on a Holiday but nature usually makes the right correction even at a later date in as much as I have always heard that: "So shall you sow; so shall you reap."
Tommy Gibbons is now two years older and had been a mule driver in the mine for several years when he unfortunately did something wrong. The accident in this trip was not because of a faulty mule that had forgotten his commands: A mule has a vocabulary of four words as well as the driver: (get up) - (whoa) - (gee) - and (haw). As far as I could learn nobody knew why those two ton cars were pulled on top of him. A number of men came to his aid immediately to remove him from under the cars. He was or seem to be all broken up so one of the helpers named Bob Blakey said to the other men: "Hell lets cut this dam leg off because it is just being held on by a piece of skin." Tommy Gibbons was not unconscious so he told Bob Blakey to: "Let that dam leg alone". And after a long period of time from being in and out of hospitals he informed me many times that the leg Bob Blakey wanted to cut off and theow in the gob was the one that made it possible for him to move about on crutches and the other leg was the one that was penned to his hip structure with piano wire was absolutely no good whatever and it was just left hanging there as a repaired member in a broken body. Tommie never failed to frequent the club as usual after he was out of the hospital. About 9 PM a few dozen men kept insisting that I open up a special house which was 40 feet long and 15 feet wide and there was nothing in it except a table for dice which was 10 feet long and 4 feet high with a cast iron stove near the only door entrance. I promised to let them in if they would only keep down the noise. I was somewhat in doubt about the noise becaus it was a rough gang. Everything was perfect for the first half hour and then i started to get out of control. I threaten to close the place and put everybody out but several trouble makers already had their knives out and there were several guns in the gang: then I knew there was only one solution and that was to releive them of their eye sight. I was already standing on a chair and with this only big light on the table to my left I leaned over and blew out the flam stepped down off of the chair and got under the table. It was then that I hear the greatest stampeed of modern times. Thousands of cattle in a stampeed could not have made more noise. They could not curve fast enough where the railroad cast iron stove was so they broke it up in small pieces. I cam out from under

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PAGE 28. Buxton. "sure could Mr. Pugh be," (key word) a nice respectable white man at midnight running around down there in hell's half acre amoung those black prostitutes looking for you know what?" I am asking the Jury with all humilty if there ever was any doubt as to this mans innocence; so with the unusual circumstances I hop you will reconsider and bring in a verdict of acquital so this young man may continue his normal and peaceful way of life." At this trial Justice was off on a Holiday but nature usually makes the right correction even at a later date in as much as I have always heard that: "So shall you sow; so shall you reap." Tommy Gibbons is now two years older and had been a mule driver in the mine for several years when he unfortunately did something wrong. The accident in this trip was not because of a faulty mule that had forgotten his commands: A mule has a vocabulary of four words as well as the driver: (get up) - (whoa) - (gee) - and (haw). As far as I could learn nobody knew why those two ton cars were pulled on top of him. A number of men came to his aid immediately to remove him from under the cars. He was or seem to be all broken up so one of the helpers named Bob Blakey said to the other men: "Hell lets cut this dam leg off because it is just being held on by a piece of skin." Tommy Gibbons was not unconscious so he told Bob Blakey to: "Let that dam leg alone". And after a long period of time from being in and out of hospitals he informed me many times that the leg Bob Blakey wanted to cut off and theow in the gob was the one that made it possible for him to move about on crutches and the other leg was the one that was penned to his hip structure with piano wire was absolutely no good whatever and it was just left hanging there as a repaired member in a broken body. Tommie never failed to frequent the club as usual after he was out of the hospital. About 9 PM a few dozen men kept insisting that I open up a special house which was 40 feet long and 15 feet wide and there was nothing in it except a table for dice which was 10 feet long and 4 feet high with a cast iron stove near the only door entrance. I promised to let them in if they would only keep down the noise. I was somewhat in doubt about the noise becaus it was a rough gang. Everything was perfect for the first half hour and then i started to get out of control. I threaten to close the place and put everybody out but several trouble makers already had their knives out and there were several guns in the gang: then I knew there was only one solution and that was to releive them of their eye sight. I was already standing on a chair and with this only big light on the table to my left I leaned over and blew out the flam stepped down off of the chair and got under the table. It was then that I hear the greatest stampeed of modern times. Thousands of cattle in a stampeed could not have made more noise. They could not curve fast enough where the railroad cast iron stove was so they broke it up in small pieces. I cam out from under