THE DIFFICULTY OF CROSSING A FIELD
by Ambrose Bierce
One morning in July, 1854, a planter named Williamson,
living six miles from Selma, Alabama, was sitting with
his wife and a child on the veranda of his dwelling.
Immediately in front of the house was a lawn, perhaps
fifty yards in extent between the house and public
road, or, as it was called, the "pike." Beyond this
road lay a close-cropped pasture of some ten acres,
level and without a tree, rock, or any natural or
artificial object on its surface. At the time there
was not even a domestic animal in the field. In
another field, beyond the pasture, a dozen slaves
were at work under an overseer.
Throwing away the stump of a cigar, the planter
rose, saying: "I forgot to tell Andrew about those
horses." Andrew was the overseer.
Williamson strolled leisurely down the gravel walk,
plucking a flower as he went, passed across the road
and into the pasture, pausing a moment as he closed
the gate leading into it, to greet a passing neighbor,
Armour Wren, who lived on an adjoining plantation.
Mr. Wren was in an open carriage with his son James,
a lad of thirteen. When he had driven some two hundred
yards from the point of meeting, Mr. Wren said to his
son: "I forgot to tell Mr. Williamson about those
horses."
Mr. Wren had sold to Mr. Williamson some horses,
which were to have been sent for that day, but for
some reason not now remembered it would be inconvenient
to deliver them until the morrow. The coachman was
directed to drive back, and as the vehicle turned
Williamson was seen by all three, walking leisurely
across the pasture. At that moment one of the coach
horses stumbled and came near falling. It had no more
than fairly recovered itself when James Wren cried:
"Why, father, what has become of Mr. Williamson?"
It is not the purpose of this narrative to answer
that question.
Mr. Wren's strange account of the matter, given under
oath in the course of legal proceedings relating to
the Williamson estate, here follows:
"My son's exclamation caused me to look toward the
spot where I had seen the deceased [sic] an instant
before, but he was not there, nor was he anywhere
visible. I cannot say that at the moment I was
greatly startled, or realized the gravity of the
occurrence, though I thought it singular. My son,
however, was greatly astonished and kept repeating
his question in different forms until we arrived at
the gate. My black boy Sam was similarly affected,
even in a greater degree, but I reckon more by my
son's manner than by anything he had himself observed.
[This sentence in the testimony was stricken out.]
As we got out of the carriage at the gate of the
field, and while Sam was hanging [sic] the team to
the fence, Mrs. Williamson, with her child in her
arms and followed by several servants, came running
down the walk in great excitement, crying: 'He is
gone, he is gone! O God! what an awful thing!' and
many other such exclamations, which I do not distinctly
recollect. I got from them the impression that they
related to something more than the mere disappearance
of her husband, even if that had occurred before
her eyes. Her manner was wild, but not more so, I
think, than was natural under the circumstances.
I have no reason to think she had at that time lost
her mind. I have never since seen nor heard of Mr.
Williamson."
This testimony, as might have been expected, was
corroborated in almost every particular by the only
other eye-witness (if that is a proper term)--the
lad James. Mrs. Williamson had lost her reason and
the servants were, of course, not competent to
testify. The boy James Wren had declared at first
that he saw the disappearance, but there is nothing
of this in his testimony given in court. None of
the field hands working in the field to which
Williamson was going had seen him at all, and the
most rigorous search of the entire plantation and
adjoining country failed to supply a clew. The most
monstrous and grotesque fictions, originating with
the blacks, were current in that part of the State
for many years, and probably are to this day; but
what has been here related is all that is certainly
known of the matter. The courts decided that
Williamson was dead, and his estate was distributed
according to law.
~~~~~~~ THE END ~~~~~~~
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