William Keener - Pearl and the Nigger

Good-byes were exchanged and tears were shed even as we boarded the train.

I have often wondered what happened to the old colonel, Pearl, the Nigger, after they returned to Chicago. There is no one living today that can give me the answers.

Mr. Keener is a native of West Virginia. The historical areas mentioned herein contained the schools, playgrounds, State and National Parks he enjoyed throughout his youth. He is the father of two daughters and one son. He and his wife now reside on the Gulf Coast in Biloxi, MS.

Copyright © 1983, 2012 by William Ervin Keener.

Library of Congress Control Number:

2012911687

ISBN:

Hardcover 978-1-4771-3562-4

Softcover 978-1-4771-3561-7

Ebook 978-1-4771-3563-1

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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The cabin and buildings were still standing in 1933 when I last visited. They were not white anymore. They had weathered and rotted. Rachel and Rubin’s cabin had collapsed on one end. The outbuildings were falling down. The cabin, with its twin fireplaces and chimneys, was still livable. The springhouse and watering trough were gone. They carried water from the spring, which was still flowing, abundant and cool.

Rutherford Birchard Hayes gained the rank of major general before the end of the war. Returning to Ohio, he became a congressman and from there he was elected the nineteenth president (1877-1881) in a fiercely disputed election that threatened the country with civil war.

William McKinley attained the rank of major before war’s end. Entered politics and served two terms as governor of Ohio. He was elected twenty-fifth president (1897-1901) and was assassinated in September 1901.

Southwest of Ansted, West Virginia, still stands the rock where hawks build their nests. It is a beautiful state park named Hawk’s Nest, built in the mid-1900s by the CCCs. At the foot of this stately large rock is a dam that my father helped build that crosses New River, backing water behind it and forming a large lake. On the northwest side of the dam begins a tunnel that is carved through three miles of solid rock, with water flowing through turning hydroelectric generators supplying electric power for the community of Alloy, West Virginia. The water rejoins the river bed approximately four miles from the beetling cliffs, where Colonel Chapman placed the cannons he used to bombard Gauley Bridge, West Virginia, during this period of history. The writer remembers seeing New River from Hawk’s Nest before the dam was built and as it is today. Even with the dam at its foot, it is still an awe-inspiring and breathtaking view for many a traveler.

Colonel Andy Yates was registered as one of Phil Sheridan’s staff, which substantiates the last two letters from General Lee to Molly. One she read. The other, she didn’t.

The neighborhood talk was that Pearl had an affair with a black man and the one referred to as the Nigger was her son. Because of this, she was an outcast in the community.

I remember the name as Wainwright, but it could very well be Weighbright or some similar name used, as I remember.

I am not sure that this was the name of the bank, but I am certain that the bank and his house were on Michigan Boulevard.