Page:The Negro a menace to American civilization.djvu/170

148 nurse, for she did not hear me, or at all events, did not come to my assistance. The negro still held me on the ground, and I was left alone to fight the desperado. "He drew a large knife and, holding it to my throat, threatened to kill me if I did not cease screaming and struggling. It was, of course, impossible for me to stop, so he drew down the knife and poised it above my heart.

" 'Stop!' he cried, 'or I'll kill you!'

"How long we struggled after that I do not know, but I paid no heed to his threats and was strong enough to fight the wretch off. As soon as he went away, I hastened back to where I left baby and Margaret. The nurse became greatly excited and frightened when I told her. "We had walked about three hundred yards when we came upon Louis Allen, an estimable old negro, chopping wood with his two sons, about fifteen years old. He brought his wagon, drove us home and then told the people what had occurred. When the negro was brought before me a short time afterward, there was not the slightest doubt in my mind as to his identity. After I recognized him, the men took him away. I don't see how they could possibly have acted otherwise than they did."

As soon as the news of the attempted crime became public, John H. Lang, a prominent real estate dealer, William Trautman and S. M. Thornton drove out to the Adams house. They saw Sam sitting on the fence. As they approached, he got down, went through the house and began to run into the woods. He had one hundred yards start, and, after emptying a magazine