I Saw Death Coming: A History of Terror and Survival in the War against Reconstruction

by Kidada E. Williams

chimney!” one man yelled when he saw Columbus. Columbus hollered for the men to stop, thinking they would kill him if they lit a fire or started shooting. He said he thought surrendering “would be better than to allow them to kill my wife and children.”65 Columbus’s employer, who was in the gang terrorizing the family, wanted to punish Aury for lying about Columbus’s whereabouts. He charged at Aury, calling her a “damned bitch.” When Columbus moved to intervene, the white men tried to cut him with a knife. “If you cut me with that knife,” Columbus told the man, “I will hit you with this stick.” The man lowered the knife but still threatened to kill Columbus.66 The attackers dragged Columbus outside while he begged, “Master, don’t kill me,” hoping to calm the men and escape death with submissive behavior. They blindfolded Columbus with an apron and took him to a tree, where they tried to tie him up, but he escaped only to be shot as he fled. Columbus was able to run far enough away to avoid being shot at close range, which saved his life.67 During the raid, Columbus remained acutely alert to the presence and absence of opportunities to submit, resist, and escape.