The facts in the case were
these: Until a very little while after I went there, white and black
ship-carpenters worked side by side, and no one seemed to see any
impropriety in it. All hands seemed to be very well satisfied. Many of
the black carpenters were freemen. Things seemed to be going on very
well. All at once, the white carpenters knocked off, and said they would
not work with free colored workmen. Their reason for this, as alleged,
was, that if free colored carpenters were encouraged, they would soon
take the trade into their own hands, and poor white men would be thrown
out of employment. They therefore felt called upon at once to put a stop
to it. And, taking advantage of Mr. Gardner's necessities, they broke
off, swearing they would work no longer, unless he would discharge his
black carpenters. Now, though this did not extend to me in form, it
did reach me in fact. My fellow-apprentices very soon began to feel it
degrading to them to work with me. They began to put on airs, and
talk about the "niggers" taking the country, saying we all ought to be
killed; and, being encouraged by the journeymen, they commenced
making my condition as hard as they could, by hectoring me around, and
sometimes striking me. I, of course, kept the vow I made after the fight
with Mr. Covey, and struck back again, regardless of consequences; and
while I kept them from combining, I succeeded very well; for I could
whip the whole of them, taking them separately.
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