Old Josh and the Monk (1870)

Josh Jefferson, was about twenty-seven years old when Silas, his eldest son, was born to the old doctor, Dr. Benjamin Lee Ssumsky (who came from Australia in the year 1795 to San Francisco, and later found a wife, by the name of Estelle, visiting San Francisco, who lived in Dothan, Alabama, married her, and having enough doctors in Dothan, and not enough in Ozark, they both met in Ozark because he married that girl from Alabama, and Ozark needed a doctor, and Dothan didn’t and so here he and she were, and in time he too would give birth to Jordon, 1830, and Josh’s wife, wife Sweep Pea gave birth fast, he told Josh, and maybe it was for the better when he had those children, for old doc Benjamin died in 1832.

In 1869, old Josh inherited a piece of land after the death of Charles Hightower and $3,000. What he wanted to do, is what he tried to do, in 1870, now that he had money to do it, money that he put into the Ritt bank, but he kept $1000 for this special project.

Silas and Jordon never learned the story behind Josh’s slave ship trip to America, and Josh himself couldn’t remember it all, he had some friends, old friends mostly dead now, who had come on the ship with him, but just they knew bits and pieces, thought maybe he could get a better view, a fuller story, knew where the Revered Walsh was, had boarded his ship, heard he died in 1859, but left notes about what he saw when he boarded the ship in 1803, it was what was called an interceptor, and Josh knew where the notes were where, at Georgetown College, where BJ Walsh had graduated, in 1801, he read that in the Gazette newspaper, what little he could read, he did that.

He gave Emma Hightower, Charlie’s daughter, $1000 to see if she could hire a detective to get those notes for her and read them to her, and she did exactly that, and read them to Josh:

The monk

“On October 1, 1813, we just boarded the slave ship, the captain was reluctant to let us on, but once with her we climbed aboard and looked around, and then 22 armed men came and cornered us into the five of us, and they made us go away, but this is what I saw: when I looked round the ship, I saw a multitude of Negroes of all sorts chained up like dogs, their countenance expressing sorrow and pain, I knew and they knew their fate; and soon I knew that I and my five companions who forced their way aboard the slave ship would be defeated and therefore expelled, resulting in the consternation and suffering that I knew I would have to witness quickly, and I did so, I almost fainted because of it. Some blacks surrounded me thinking I was going to save them, so I realized that they were all placed in different apartments, obviously from the time they arrive on the ship to the time they leave, which is usually about three me ses, since they go to port. to port, the Atlantic crossing takes about 15 days, depending on the so-called cargo, the slaves were small and sometimes in large numbers on the deck, I was only on the ship for an hour or so, before my companions and I were thrown. Some of these ships carry 400 to 600 slaves; On this trip, I dare say there were five hundred or more, packed like sardines. I learned that on this ship and on others I have been on, the Negroes, brought aboard the ship, are immediately bound together, two by two, with manacles on their wrists and riveted irons on their legs. They are then shipped between the decks and placed in a separate department for that purpose. Women are also placed in a separate apartment between the covers, but without being ironed. An adjoining room on the same deck is designated for children, there was a child who stood out with his mother, his name was Zam, his mother called him, he and his mother were sold by the king of a large Congo tribe to the slave traders, so I was told by the captain, who said that he was not responsible for the cargo, but not for the slavery in particular, that his own kind was selling his own kind, to his kind. Sad to say but the king ended up on that very ship so one must learn in the slave trade there are no special blacks when it comes to dollars and cargo the captain was only worried about losing a slave which meant, minus dollars, not the soul of man. The Captain actually took pride in showing me a few things, saying that his ship wasn’t half as bad as some of his mates. That is to say, out of the 500 blacks, perhaps only a few would die, while half the slaves died on many of these slave ships from diseases of all kinds. He and the rest of the slaves were naked, but he had a big mole, this Zam boy, in his groin area, so if you’re ever looking for ID and read this, you might know his background, but so many blacks never read, and get lost in the confusion between Africa and your destination of origin. Where he will be sold is beyond me. The name of the ship was called “El Monje”, it was for me a massive tomb, of confinement of meat and contemporary fear. The blacks were all tied up, two by two, with handcuffs on their wrists, riveted irons on their legs, I know I’m repeating myself, but I have to. They were packed like sardines between the decks, in the apartments; the women were placed in separate apartments, terrace and all, with adjoining rooms for the children.

Slave ship “stowage” plan

(Note: slave ships were made for 450 slaves had 600 on them; 15 million were brought to the Americas in 290 years.)

Josh had heard enough, Emma Hightower too. The book was a copy, but an expensive copy. And for the most part, Josh was satisfied. He was that boy, he felt, he thought, he had that mole, which wasn’t really a mole, but a birthmark, maybe the Revered was wrong, in any case, Josh sensed that he was Zam.