1 00:00:04,960 --> 00:00:10,080 Speaker 1: Welcome to the ten Minute Storyteller. That's me Bill Simpson, 2 00:00:10,320 --> 00:00:15,040 Speaker 1: your host, narrator and author. We hear at the ten 3 00:00:15,080 --> 00:00:19,720 Speaker 1: minute Storyteller endeavor to entertain you with tall tales or 4 00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:24,880 Speaker 1: rendered swiftly and with the utmost empathy. We pledge to 5 00:00:25,040 --> 00:00:29,520 Speaker 1: pack as much entertainment, emotion, and exploration into the human 6 00:00:29,600 --> 00:00:40,120 Speaker 1: condition as ten minutes will permit. Many novels on steroids. 7 00:00:41,479 --> 00:00:47,360 Speaker 1: This week we visit an old Southern plantation, likely one 8 00:00:47,360 --> 00:00:52,960 Speaker 1: that grows cotton or tobacco. The war for independence has 9 00:00:53,040 --> 00:00:56,920 Speaker 1: come and gone. The founders have grown fat and happy, 10 00:00:57,880 --> 00:01:03,120 Speaker 1: but they're slaves, well not so much folks. They don't 11 00:01:03,160 --> 00:01:08,360 Speaker 1: really like being enslaved, and so occasionally they rise up 12 00:01:08,440 --> 00:01:20,319 Speaker 1: and fight back. They declare their independence Independence Day. The 13 00:01:20,360 --> 00:01:25,080 Speaker 1: plantation owner, in all his glory, drives up the long 14 00:01:25,319 --> 00:01:32,200 Speaker 1: plantation drive beneath a canopy of towering Chinese elms billowing 15 00:01:32,520 --> 00:01:40,360 Speaker 1: with Spanish moss. Two powerful geldings pull the plush family carriage. 16 00:01:40,840 --> 00:01:46,880 Speaker 1: The master at the helm beside him sits his tall, slender, 17 00:01:47,240 --> 00:01:52,720 Speaker 1: well coughed bride, who has never in her life, notwithstanding 18 00:01:52,760 --> 00:01:57,600 Speaker 1: the crush of childbirth, done a lick of work in 19 00:01:57,640 --> 00:02:02,559 Speaker 1: the rear. The masters five daughters, ranging in age from 20 00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:09,000 Speaker 1: eleven to seventeen. They sprawl across the carriage seats, hot 21 00:02:09,080 --> 00:02:14,280 Speaker 1: and tired and ornery. They are a spoiled lot. They're 22 00:02:14,360 --> 00:02:21,079 Speaker 1: silly lives, entirely irrelevant affairs. They have just been down 23 00:02:21,120 --> 00:02:27,840 Speaker 1: the road apiece at ash Lawn Plantation celebrating the nation's independence, 24 00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:34,040 Speaker 1: a splendid affair with over one hundred guests, dancing and 25 00:02:34,280 --> 00:02:38,800 Speaker 1: sack races. Pin the tail on the negro, ride the 26 00:02:38,840 --> 00:02:44,720 Speaker 1: big bull. Negroes like bucking broncos. The sun high, the 27 00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:48,680 Speaker 1: day hot, everyone a little sunburned and in need of 28 00:02:48,800 --> 00:02:54,560 Speaker 1: refreshment and a cool bath. Atop the little mountain they 29 00:02:54,600 --> 00:02:59,399 Speaker 1: see their splendid white plantation house dead ahead. There will 30 00:02:59,440 --> 00:03:02,919 Speaker 1: be lemonade and chilled tea on the front of verandah. 31 00:03:04,160 --> 00:03:08,280 Speaker 1: Inside both tubs will be filled with cool water from 32 00:03:08,280 --> 00:03:14,440 Speaker 1: the spring. Anything less and heads will roll. The Master 33 00:03:15,360 --> 00:03:20,440 Speaker 1: he considers himself a benign owner of negroes, neither too 34 00:03:20,480 --> 00:03:24,440 Speaker 1: hard nor too soft. Yes he uses the whip, and 35 00:03:24,520 --> 00:03:27,600 Speaker 1: yes he uses the irons, and yes he has on 36 00:03:27,720 --> 00:03:33,359 Speaker 1: occasion lopped off digits, hands and feet, and even entire limbs. 37 00:03:33,639 --> 00:03:40,400 Speaker 1: If absolute obedience proves challenging, but he is an educated man, 38 00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:45,200 Speaker 1: a great believer in truth and liberty. Rarely does he 39 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:49,320 Speaker 1: demand of his slaves more than twelve hour days in 40 00:03:49,400 --> 00:03:53,560 Speaker 1: the fields, always offers the Sabbath as a day of 41 00:03:53,680 --> 00:03:59,480 Speaker 1: rest and reflection, and generally speaking, he expects no labor 42 00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:05,720 Speaker 1: or Independence Day or on Christmas. Yes, he buys and 43 00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:10,640 Speaker 1: sells and breaks up families as easily as civilized men 44 00:04:10,800 --> 00:04:14,960 Speaker 1: trade hogs and steers and horses. But this is only 45 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:18,480 Speaker 1: because he does not view the negro as a human being, 46 00:04:18,760 --> 00:04:23,400 Speaker 1: but rather as another beast of burden. What is that, 47 00:04:24,400 --> 00:04:28,480 Speaker 1: he asks his wife, pointing to something hanging from one 48 00:04:28,520 --> 00:04:31,480 Speaker 1: of the Chinese elms up near the head of the drive. 49 00:04:32,839 --> 00:04:35,400 Speaker 1: I'm not sure, husband, the sun is low and in 50 00:04:35,400 --> 00:04:39,360 Speaker 1: my eyes I can't see. If I'm not mistaken, it's 51 00:04:39,400 --> 00:04:43,160 Speaker 1: a man's been hung. Oh no, do you think the 52 00:04:43,200 --> 00:04:48,680 Speaker 1: overseer had to deal with impertinence on Independence Day? I 53 00:04:48,720 --> 00:04:51,880 Speaker 1: would hope it would be more than just impertinent wife 54 00:04:52,120 --> 00:04:56,800 Speaker 1: to hang a negro. Well, perhaps obstinates, or maybe a 55 00:04:56,880 --> 00:05:01,800 Speaker 1: runaway who's been captured. Whatever the there is no place 56 00:05:01,880 --> 00:05:04,600 Speaker 1: to hang a man. The overseer and I will have 57 00:05:04,720 --> 00:05:11,839 Speaker 1: words over this. Unfortunately, these words will not be possible, 58 00:05:12,240 --> 00:05:18,279 Speaker 1: because it is the overseer Ben Rawlins, a sick, sadistic 59 00:05:18,360 --> 00:05:23,159 Speaker 1: piece of human excreatment who hangs from a low branch 60 00:05:23,240 --> 00:05:28,160 Speaker 1: of that Chinese elm. Ben beat the Negroes for wiping 61 00:05:28,200 --> 00:05:33,200 Speaker 1: their brows under the hot sun. He tied their wrists together, 62 00:05:33,640 --> 00:05:36,880 Speaker 1: threw them on the ground, and dragged them around behind 63 00:05:36,960 --> 00:05:39,520 Speaker 1: his horse. If they dared to look him in the 64 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:47,559 Speaker 1: eye or offer an opinion, the man's cruelty knew no bounds. Well. 65 00:05:48,200 --> 00:05:52,520 Speaker 1: Now Ben is dead, whipped raw, and then strung up 66 00:05:52,600 --> 00:05:56,200 Speaker 1: like a side of lamb. His body sways just a 67 00:05:56,240 --> 00:06:01,200 Speaker 1: bit in the hot evening breeze. The carriage full of 68 00:06:01,240 --> 00:06:05,600 Speaker 1: white people, their mouths now hanging open and their jaws 69 00:06:05,760 --> 00:06:10,360 Speaker 1: down around their knees, pass beneath the overseer and continue 70 00:06:10,440 --> 00:06:16,120 Speaker 1: on toward the plantation house. No one mutters a word. 71 00:06:17,520 --> 00:06:22,600 Speaker 1: House slaves stand at their posts on the veranda. Stable 72 00:06:22,720 --> 00:06:26,040 Speaker 1: slaves wait beside the fountain to help the family out 73 00:06:26,080 --> 00:06:30,440 Speaker 1: of their carriage and tend to the horses. Garden slaves, 74 00:06:30,720 --> 00:06:36,159 Speaker 1: hoe and weed field slaves, dozens of them, nearly a hundred, 75 00:06:36,240 --> 00:06:39,480 Speaker 1: and all sweep out of the fields and woods and 76 00:06:39,640 --> 00:06:44,200 Speaker 1: close in behind the carriage as the Master drives the 77 00:06:44,240 --> 00:06:48,280 Speaker 1: geldings around the fountain and stops at the wide stairway 78 00:06:48,640 --> 00:06:54,800 Speaker 1: leading up to the veranda. Only the Master, frankly is 79 00:06:54,960 --> 00:07:00,560 Speaker 1: master no more. His days as Master of Little Mountain, 80 00:07:01,279 --> 00:07:09,080 Speaker 1: as a declarer of independence, are all but over. Over Brandy. 81 00:07:09,480 --> 00:07:14,240 Speaker 1: He may have called the peculiar institution a hideous undertaking, 82 00:07:15,040 --> 00:07:18,880 Speaker 1: and more than once he claimed possessing slaves was the 83 00:07:18,920 --> 00:07:25,800 Speaker 1: height of moral depravity. But this was just drawing room gobbledegook, 84 00:07:26,240 --> 00:07:29,640 Speaker 1: a touch of intellectual rubbish to make himself feel all 85 00:07:29,720 --> 00:07:34,480 Speaker 1: neat and cozy and superior. In truth, this founder, in 86 00:07:34,600 --> 00:07:41,080 Speaker 1: his lifetime bought, sold, and beat well over six hundred Negroes. 87 00:07:42,640 --> 00:07:46,280 Speaker 1: But no matter for the one hundred and forty two 88 00:07:46,560 --> 00:07:51,480 Speaker 1: Negro slaves presently living on Little Mountain, today truly is 89 00:07:52,360 --> 00:07:57,640 Speaker 1: Independence Day. They pull the Master down off the carriage 90 00:07:57,840 --> 00:08:01,720 Speaker 1: while his women shriek. They push him into the dirt 91 00:08:01,800 --> 00:08:05,680 Speaker 1: and tear off his fancy white suit and his fancy 92 00:08:05,800 --> 00:08:10,560 Speaker 1: silly white hat. In his skivies. With his pasty white 93 00:08:10,600 --> 00:08:18,760 Speaker 1: skin and flaming orange hair, he looks weak, scrawny, exposed, defenseless. 94 00:08:20,080 --> 00:08:23,040 Speaker 1: The big buck snaps the whip and gives the x 95 00:08:23,160 --> 00:08:29,040 Speaker 1: master fifty lashes. His thin skin tears open and bleeds 96 00:08:29,120 --> 00:08:35,280 Speaker 1: with each crack of the whip. They rape the wife first, 97 00:08:36,040 --> 00:08:40,520 Speaker 1: then the daughters, one by one, oldest to youngest. Any 98 00:08:40,600 --> 00:08:44,360 Speaker 1: buck who wants to rut is given the opportunity and 99 00:08:44,400 --> 00:08:48,320 Speaker 1: the pick of the litter. The ex master, in the 100 00:08:48,360 --> 00:08:53,320 Speaker 1: meantime is given additional doses of his own medicine. They 101 00:08:53,400 --> 00:08:57,120 Speaker 1: chain him in irons, spread eagle on the ground, and 102 00:08:57,320 --> 00:09:00,560 Speaker 1: lop off with a hatchet and index finger, a couple 103 00:09:00,600 --> 00:09:03,320 Speaker 1: of toes, and then a hand at the wrist, and 104 00:09:03,400 --> 00:09:09,120 Speaker 1: finally a foot well up on the ankle. Due unto others, 105 00:09:09,679 --> 00:09:13,480 Speaker 1: preaches the biggest bull of all, so black he is 106 00:09:13,520 --> 00:09:17,400 Speaker 1: almost purple. As you would have them do unto you. 107 00:09:19,840 --> 00:09:24,400 Speaker 1: They corterize his stumps with a red hot branding iron 108 00:09:24,760 --> 00:09:28,600 Speaker 1: so he will not bleed to death. They hang him 109 00:09:28,640 --> 00:09:31,920 Speaker 1: next to the overseer, but they do not hang him 110 00:09:31,960 --> 00:09:35,160 Speaker 1: so that his neck breaks. They hang him low enough 111 00:09:35,240 --> 00:09:39,360 Speaker 1: in that Chinese elm that his toes just barely touched 112 00:09:39,360 --> 00:09:45,040 Speaker 1: the ground, neck stretched to the max. After a lifetime 113 00:09:45,080 --> 00:09:49,040 Speaker 1: of leisure and hypocrisy, it is important he stay alive 114 00:09:49,440 --> 00:09:55,640 Speaker 1: for further humiliations, those being the ongoing violations against his 115 00:09:55,800 --> 00:10:02,240 Speaker 1: womenfolk and the torching of his grand plantation house. They 116 00:10:02,320 --> 00:10:05,640 Speaker 1: set the evil abode ablaze and burn it to the ground, 117 00:10:05,880 --> 00:10:10,200 Speaker 1: while the ex master's women, their legs tied open endure 118 00:10:10,280 --> 00:10:12,959 Speaker 1: both the heat of the burning house and the heat 119 00:10:13,559 --> 00:10:18,560 Speaker 1: of the liberated bulls. Yes, there will be hell to 120 00:10:18,640 --> 00:10:25,920 Speaker 1: pay for these insurrectionists, these rapists, these murderers, these enslaved 121 00:10:26,080 --> 00:10:44,280 Speaker 1: human beings. But not today. Today is Independence Day. Thanks 122 00:10:44,280 --> 00:10:50,360 Speaker 1: for listening to this original audio presentation of Independence Day. 123 00:10:51,280 --> 00:10:54,440 Speaker 1: If you enjoy today's story, please take a few seconds 124 00:10:54,440 --> 00:10:59,559 Speaker 1: to rate, review, and subscribe to this podcast, and then 125 00:10:59,600 --> 00:11:05,240 Speaker 1: go to Thomas William Simpson dot com for additional information 126 00:11:05,360 --> 00:11:10,320 Speaker 1: about the author and to view his extensive canon. The 127 00:11:10,360 --> 00:11:14,760 Speaker 1: Ten Minute Storyteller is produced by Andrew Pleglici and Josh 128 00:11:14,880 --> 00:11:19,360 Speaker 1: Colodney and as part of the Elvis Duran Podcast Network 129 00:11:19,400 --> 00:11:26,040 Speaker 1: in partnership with Iheartproductions. Until next time, this is Bill Simpson, 130 00:11:26,280 --> 00:14:03,360 Speaker 1: your ten Minute Storyteller.