Butchertown Studios
productions & projects of
Stephen W. Brown
(those rumors that he financed his higher education by digging graves are only true in part... )
(illustration by Bill Wiist for "Goodbye Cruel World", an unproduced original musical)
Feature Films:
"Pleased to Meet Me", Dir. by Archie Borders (Line Producer):
Starring John Doe (X), (Oscar nominee) Aimee Mann, (Grammy winner) Loudon Wainwright III, (Grammy winner)Joe Henry, Karin Bergquist (Over the Rhine), Odeen Mays Jr. (Kool & the Gang), Morgan Nagler (Whispertown 2000), Adam Kramer (Broken Spurs), Timothy Morton, Starlee Kine (This American Life), Jon Langford (Mekons/Waco Brothers), and with (World Cafe's) David Dye as the narrator.
After a sneak showing at the World Cafe/WXPN Music & Film Festival (David Dye hosted a Q&A with the film's producers & stars), PtMM premiered to a sold out house at the CBGB Film & Music festival in October 2013. The movie also sold out its hometown premiere at the KY Center in Louisville on Feb 15, 2014. PtMM is currently playing at the Village 8 Theater for an initial one week run and we'll see where it goes from there...
"Nothing Without You", Dir. by Xach Irving , having completed its festival run, opens at the Quad Cinema in NY on March 28, 2014 (Sound Recordist; Stills Photographer):
"Edgar Allen Poe's Dreamland", Dir. by Morris Shaw (Producer; Composer) -- in post:
Short Films:
"Storm at a Distance" (Writer; Director; Composer):
"Ed Hamilton's Lincoln Statue", Dir by Archie Borders (Camera Operator)
link to doc for Waterfront Development Corp
"At the End of the Day", Dir by Dionisio Ceballos (Screenwriter; Stills Photographer):
"Turnaround", Dir by Archie Borders (Co-Producer; Location Audio):
"Bots", Dir by Marty Polio (Composer):
Fun Spot:
Chaz Rough's Superbowl Doritos contest entry
(Audio; Grip; Art Dept - I was the lesser half of Steven Clark's 2 man crew)
Music:
Music Videos:
Andrea Davidson's "Where The Trees And The Stars Are" (Producer w/ Director Stu Pollard):
"Where The Trees & The Stars Are"
Stu Pollard's "By Design" & "Unconditional" (Producer w/ Dir. Stu Pollard - as well as on his"There Comes A Time")
original Songs & Compositions:
"I Tell Lies to Boys":
(instrumental version of a song in "Edgar Allen Poe's Dreamland") w/Reid Jahn, Todd Hildreth, Craig Wagner, & Ray Rizzo
"My Faith":
featuring Alex Wright
"Storm at a Distance":
(theme from the movie) w/Ansyn Banks, Harry Pickens, Tyrone Wheeler, & Jason Tiemann
"When We Were Pure":
Danny Flanigan & Barbara Carter vocalists
"Madrugada Musing" :
(live version) violin & piano: Hiroko Lippman & Frank Richmond
"Maybe Me, Maybe You" :
Kimmet Cantwell & Dewey Kincade vocalists
"Oyez, Oyez, Oyez":
(a theme from "Nightlife In The Land of The Dead")
(illustration by Dionisio Ceballos for unproduced original story:"Nightlife In the Land of the Dead" -- a prequel to "Goodbye Cruel World")
Works In Progress:
Bardsville MusicVideoDocs:
"Cemetery Ridge" -- Gettysburg,July 3, 1863: As he lies abandoned on the Pennsylvania battlefield, a dying Rebel soldier reflects on how he got there -- from an eager enlistment two long years ago, to his place as a pawn in the seemingly suicidal plan for “Pickett’s Charge”... demo of opening verses featuring Dewey Kincade:
"An Gorta Mór (The Great Famine)" -- Of the 8 million souls living in Ireland when the famine began, one million either starved or died of disease, and another million emigrated… When the potato blight strikes, a series of tragedies befalls a tenant farming family: After the father is shot and killed while foraging for food (on the estate of an absentee landlord), the mother and children are evicted. With no one to put them up, they live on the road. Driven into the workhouse, the family is split up. Our story follows the long journey led by the 10 year old daughter to a new life in America. Musically, the work is a ballad in E minor with a haunting chorus; the verses are sung from multiple POV’s.
"Big Bone Lick" -- In this madcap romp, a motley and quarrelsome crew cuts through the mountains from Virginia to Fort Pitt. There, the stuffy English leader of the expedition is threatened by frontier Patriots, hot in the throes of the burgeoning Revolution. The company escapes down the river and into unfriendly Indian territory -- all in an attempt to stake out land claims for their wealthy sponsors, and return (scalps intact) with their other commission: a collection of bones from the enormous and unidentified creatures at the Big Bone Lick. [Among the colonial collectors of the fossils from Big Bone Lick KY were Ben Franklin, George Washington, and most avidly, Thomas Jefferson.]
"Amor Muere" -- In the dark days of the Spanish Civil War, Granada is besieged and taken by Franco's forces. The outspoken poet Federico García Lorca is persuaded to leave his family's villa and seek shelter with a friend who is a member of the Falangistas (the very group hunting for Lorca). Meanwhile, the first-ever international all-volunteer force, the Lincoln Brigade, is assembled to fight for the Republic. Hitler & Mussolini lend their military might to the fascist Movimiento. The undefended town of Guernica, spiritual center of the Catholic Basques, is bombed into submission by Goering's Condor Legion; fleeing civilians are ruthlessly strafed. And Lorca is betrayed, spirited away, shot down in the hour before dawn... then buried in an unmarked grave.
"Total War (pt. 1)" -- The strategy developed by William T. Sherman during the Civil War and later applied to the Plains Indians Wars of not merely attacking opposing armies, but wiping out the will and resources of the civilian population. The opening verse showcases the first test of this policy - suggested by Sherman, ordered by Grant, and carried out by Philip H. Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley. The second verse covers Sherman’s March to the Sea. The third verse details George A. Custer’s massacre of Black Kettle’s camp on the Washita River. And the final verse deals with the campaign against Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce, which was led by 2 generals with deep ties to Sherman. The verse then references the Wounded Knee massacre and concludes with an overview of the result of the campaign(s). Musically, the song is an ominous and relentlessly driving A minor blues.
"Under a Blood Red Moon" -- Dissecting cadavers was considered a necessary component of a 19th century medical education. However, it was also typically illegal. And so developed the body-snatching trade… In our tale of dark irony in E minor, two “Resurrection Men” dig up a couple of fresh bodies and deliver them for dissection at the Medical College. But the Professor of Anatomy gets more than he bargained for when he discovers the identity of one of the cadavers.
"Romance de Una Marrana" -- As the army of the Reconquista besieges Granada (and Columbus awaits the verdict of the Catholic Monarchs regarding his roundabout route to the Indies), the Inquisition begins its cruel work in Córdoba. A ("formerly" Jewish) conversa is forced to choose between marrying a crude and corrupt official of the Inquisition or risk consigning herself and her family to an Auto de Fé.
“The Day of Two Noons” provides several different perspectives on the standardization of time in America – the railroads establishing by fiat uniform times zones in the U.S. & Canada. We’ll see the humorous side of the issue: for example, in Bellaire Ohio -- where the school board on adopting standard time is promptly arrested by order of the city council. The quaint and curious will be represented in reactions of everyday citizens who debate the moral and metaphysical implications. And the serious side will be covered in depicting the growing influence of gargantuan capital and corporate interests in American life.
"Take Sides" -- July 27, 2012 marked 200th anniversary of the mob attack on The Baltimore Republican (which opposed war with Britain) and a free press. This is the subject of Verse 1, which resulted in the deaths of publisher Alexander Contee Hanson and revolutionary war officer James Lingan; Lighthorse Harry Lee (father of Robert E. Lee) was a further casualty. Verse 2 depicts the 1855 election day riot in Louisville KY, where Nativists barred naturalized immigrants from the polls and then killed over twenty. In Verse 3, we witness the death of Reconstruction and the rise of white secret societies in the South. Each verse of the insidious groove in D is framed by the hook line/rallying cry “take sides”. And the narrative verses are framed by a refrain inciting members of the “majority” to join in against undesirables -- or find themselves next on the outside…
"Ridin' That Line" & "On the Road to Gloryland" are described in the two excerpts (The Louisville Mule Car RIde-in & On the Road to GloryLand) below:
These Bardsville stories are part of a series of planned story-packages: Historical tales told in various forms and media. In addition to a book version, there will be both a short and a full documentary. The longer doc will include interviews not only with members of the production team but also with experts in the law, history, etc.. Further, we’ll create something that’s a unique hybrid: illustrated music videos straddling the line between historical fiction and short documentary… so stay tuned!
The Louisville Mule Car Ride-in
Preface
It was a rainy Sunday. The 30th of October, 1870. In Louisville, Ky. - the Russell neighborhood, where Muhammad Ali would later go to school in the era of Rosa Parks and Brown v. Board of Education.
Back on that cold, wet and windy afternoon, three men boarded a streetcar. They paid their fare. They took their seats. Nothing remarkable in that, right? Except that they were black. Or at least enough so to be considered of the “negro race” in the eyes of the law. In the eyes of the streetcar companies. And in the eyes of the community. Black men were to ride on the outside platform. Behind the mules.
So they were pulled from their seats and dragged off the car. Not once but twice. First by company officers. Then by police. They were hauled away to the nearest station house. Then tried several days later by a local court for Disturbing the Peace. None of the hundreds of African-Americans who had gathered to witness and support their action were allowed to testify.
The Civil War had been over for five years - a longer span than the war had lasted. Yet there was no consensus within the legal system, the local railway companies, the community of Louisville, or in the renewed Nation as to whether blacks and whites should sit together in a streetcar.
Congress had passed and sufficient states had ratified the Reconstruction amendments so that they were the law of the land. Slavery was over. Equal privileges, protections, and due process were owed to every citizen. And most recently, black men had earned the right to vote.
So why was this even an issue? Who were these men who dared, eighty-five years before Rosa Parks, to demand their right to ride the line? Was theirs an isolated and impromptu action? Or was it calculated as part of some political strategy? Why did they do it then and not, say, right after the War? Or when the 14th Amendment was adopted? Who was opposing them? And who rallied to their cause? To what extent were they successful? And what impact, if any, did these events in Louisville have nationally? In short, what was really going on and how did it all play out?
A couple of journal articles and a few paragraphs in a book or two is about all the space historians have devoted to the Louisville “ride-in”. No historian has documented the lives of the three men who boarded the Central Passenger Railway car that day. The only significant thing we’re told about them, taken from contemporary newspaper accounts, is that the three worked together as undertakers.
Robert Fox, in whose name the ensuing federal lawsuit was filed, is described as a “distinguished elderly mortician”. In reality, by the time their “test case” was decided in 1871, Robert was at most twenty-five. While still in his teens, he’d fled Kentucky and joined the Union army at Ripley - the Underground Railroad haven across the river from his Mason County home.
Robert’s brother Samuel also ran off to enlist. But in a different regiment and in a different theater of the War. He was then three or four years younger that his declared age of eighteen. Sam, the youngest of the three, would live the longest. And the hardest.
And what of the third member of this ride-in team? Well to begin with, Horace was likely not only the slave, but also the son of a member of one of Louisville’s wealthiest founding families. All three were engaged in “Radical” politics. So at the time of the ride-in, none of them was exactly the spitting image of a “distinguished elderly mortician.”
These same sources tell us precious little about the area where the action took place. And even less about the others involved in what should be considered a landmark case. Key players on both sides are ignored, glossed over, or misidentified. The political circumstances determining the timing of the ride-in are completely missed. With the social context so unclear, what real understanding can be gained?
So this is the situation and these are the questions we will address here. The stories of Robert Fox, Samuel Fox, and Horace Pearce deserve telling. The issues they addressed and the way the courts and media addressed them can shed considerable light on our day. We hope you enjoy the ride!
“The Slave Daniel”
(core story synopsis)
Daniel was in his early twenties, with lightly colored skin and a notably imposing figure. He was owned by a man named Fraser. In early 1850 Mr. Fraser sold Daniel to George J. Moore, a merchant in Louisville, KY. The timing is significant. At that time Daniel worked as a cook and second steward on a steamboat.
On the death of Zachary Taylor in July, Millard Fillmore became President. Taylor, who was from Louisville, had opposed Henry Clay’s “Great Compromise” which included a very uncompromising new fugitive slave law. Fillmore, an attorney from Buffalo, approved of Clay’s plan. In early August Clay’s health was breaking down. Stephen Douglas separated Clay’s Compromise into separate bills. It was clear that the major components would be accepted by both the Northern and Southern factions of Congress. The new fugitive slave law would be passed in September.
In late August the steamer Anna Livingston docked at Cincinnati. The free state of Ohio was not on her regular run and Daniel made the most of the opportunity. He left the boat and disappeared for nearly a year.
When Moore somehow learned of Daniel’s whereabouts, he obtained a writ in Jefferson County Court. He hired a slave catcher and sent him, accompanied by a limited power of attorney and Moore’s teenage son, to retrieve his slave. The slave catcher was a city police officer; and Moore’s legal representative, a future Union Army General.
Moore’s bounty hunter, Ben Rust, presented the necessary documents to the US Commissioner and Marshall in Buffalo, NY. Law officers already knew Daniel was aboard the Buckeye State. The Lake Erie steamer was docked at the wharf nearby.
There is some indication that Daniel may have known the posse was coming in time to flee and yet didn’t. In any case, when the Marshall and Deputies descended the stairs and advanced on Daniel in the kitchen, they were met by several large, black crewmates with knives drawn. While they exchanged words with the officers, Daniel attempted to escape up a kitchen ladder.
When Daniel stuck his head through the hatch, Ben Rust was there ready for him. Rust whacked him upside the head with a billet of wood. Daniel fell back and into the stove, scalding his face. The Deputies then took charge and led him away.
The posse first alighedt at Spaulding’s Exchange, where the Commissioner’s Office was. Like sharks sniffing out fresh and bloody meat, local lawyers quickly found Daniel and Rust. And they were good ones too. President Fillmore’s former law partner was an attorney for the claimant. And the attorneys for the defense were both influential and "likely" lawyers.
With the crowd growing too large for the Commissioner’s small office, it was judged best to move proceedings to the Courthouse. But by that time a mob had gathered in the square.
Daniel was stuffed into a carriage and the lawmen attempted to cut their way through the mass. Angry voices rang out and black arms reached for the carriage. It was only when the Mayor climbed on the side of the carriage and addressed them that the crowd allowed the escort to pass.
In the courtroom Daniel dozed through much of the hearing. Blood continued to ooze, not only from his wounds but also from his mouth, nose, and ears. His concussed state was deemed insignificant, since Negroes were not allowed to testify anyway.
Commissioner Smith did allow a brief period for the defense to locate witnesses who might challenge the evidence. Meanwhile, George H. Moore positively identified Daniel as the “servant” whose “labor” his father had purchased. There was a discrepancy between the description contained in the Kentucky warrant and Daniel’s actual appearance. But young Moore testified that this was indeed his father’s Daniel. The lad did not know what last name, if any, Daniel had. Nor was he sure of who Daniel’s previous owner was, despite being at his father’s house when the $700 bargain was struck. The sixteen year old claimed to have been acquainted with Daniel since he, Moore, was but a child. (When not referred to as “the slave Daniel” in the papers the defendant was called “Daniel Davis.” It was Rust who gave young Moore the name of “Fraser”.)
With no white witnesses having arrived for the defense, Daniel’s attorneys raised technical objections to the Jefferson County Court documents. Talcott & Hawley tried everything they could. And in light of subsequent events, they may have been holding a key stratagem in their back pocket.
One provision of the new fugitive slave law was that the Commissioner received twice the fee in finding for the claimant. Whatever the merits of the case, in this case Commissioner Smith found for the money. Daniel was to be remanded to George J. Moore.
In fairness to the Commissioner, Mr. Smith did offer to donate the first $25 in the event a subscription drive was instituted to purchase Daniel’s freedom. Perhaps not in fairness to Commissioner Smith, one newspaper reported he was “as sober as usual.” Attorneys for the defense announced they would wire Mr. Moore to see what amount he might accept.
So Daniel was not immediately carted back to Louisville. Another reason for this was that Moore’s agent, Officer Rust, was sitting in jail himself. In clubbing Daniel upside the head, Rust went beyond what even the new fugitive slave law authorized. He was charged with Assault and Battery. Bail was set at $1,000.
Rust and Daniel spent several days together in the Buffalo jail. Oh to have been a fly on that wall! While interested parties were awaiting word from Mr. Moore in Louisville, a letter was composed. The letter was addressed to blacks and other friends of Daniel in Buffalo. The meat of it was that Daniel, like Kentucky slaves generally, had been well-fed, well-treated, and lightly worked. He regretted leaving the place. His friends should cease agitating for his freedom. The letter was surprisingly well-written. Daniel even signed it with his mark.
While the New York papers debated the literary merits of Daniel’s dispatch, some even casting aspersions on its authenticity, Rust received his day in court. This time it was in Police Court with Judge Gold presiding. Gold held Rust to account for $50.
There was talk that Daniel filed a civil suit against Rust and that it was settled for $20. However it was noted that the money would have devolved to Daniel’s master. So reporters were skeptical there had been such a deal. That Daniel might have received $20 for the letter put out in his name seemed more likely.
Whether in the hole fifty or seventy dollars, Ben Rust apparently had enough. His return to Louisville was announced in a local paper. The notice failed to mention Daniel. Nor was Rust accompanied by young Moore.
The Louisville papers had written little about the case. They were similarly reticent to chronicle other cases (as we’ll see in companion works). Aside from excerpts of a few Buffalo articles carried by wire, the editors of the Courier confined themselves to a righteously indignant opinion of Northern hypocrisy. We learn nothing here of Daniel and his abettors or of Moore and Rust and their informants.
Perhaps young Moore remained behind to finalize negotiations for Daniel’s freedom. Perhaps he stayed to ferry him home. We don’t know what price, if any, Mr. Moore set for Daniel’s release. One account says the money was very nearly raised. But then something unexpected happened…
Sorry folks, but we’re going to leave it there and save something for the final draft… Aside from the ending, you’ll then hear about the probable route Daniel took in his flight to freedom. You’ll learn of specific individuals who were his likely guides. We’ll reveal where Daniel was between escape and arrest. And what became of him (and the other key figures) after the ordeal in Buffalo. Finally, Daniel's story will be shown to be related to others, which we'll also chronicle.
contact: swb@butchertownstudios.com
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