The Tale of the Mule and the Chain Gang
A tragicomic local account of a man's final, ill-fated encounter with a stubborn mule while attempting to evade the law.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
A Janesboro negro, while waiting for the train to go out the other night, struck up conversation with several old acquaintances. 'How is Jeeim Roberson?' asked one, after the usual exchange of news. 'Didn't you hear?' Jim queried the Janesboro boy. 'I ain't heard from Jim since he cut loose from the chain gang. He ain't down with the bilious-ness, is he?' 'Oh, no! Jim ain't sick, and he ain't shook. He wanted to go ride Mar Holter's mule the other Sunday, and the mule appeared to have an engagement. I done been fooled with that mule before, and I told Jim he better not get tangled up with her. But Jim 'lowed he was a horse-doctor, and then he axed me for a chew of tobacco, and got the bravest he could to catch the mule. I 'spec I better go get my ticket, they tell me this train gets a cally-tootin'. 'Hold on, you ain't told me about Jim,' said one of the dusky auditors. 'I done told all I know. Jim got on the mule, and she sorter humped herself, and then there was a scuffle, and when the dust blew away I see the negro on the ground and the mule standing at the trough, with one of Jim's suspenders wrapped round her hind leg. Then afterward the coroner he come and said Jim died sorter accidental-like. It's just like I tell you; the negro wasn't sick a minute. Well, I got to be gettin' in. So long, boys!'
“I done told all I know. Jim got on the mule, and she sorter humped herself, and then there was a scuffle, and when the dust blew away I see the negro on the ground.”
This piece of historical reportage reflects the era's tendency to print sensationalist, dialect-heavy 'human interest' stories about the working class and the formerly incarcerated. While the tone is dated and problematic by modern standards, it highlights the pervasive presence of chain gangs and the harsh, often fatal realities of rural labor in the late 19th-century Pacific Northwest.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.