CHAPTER THREE of  DEVIL MAKE A THIRD

Page 31:

Buck stood still and listened to the frantic screaming of the engine as it breasted Tate's Hill. He couldn't hear it , but he could see it in his mind- the rocking whip of the drive shaft as it churned the big wheels around in a shower of sparks. He could see the shuddering jerk of each loaded car as sand was dropped and the wheels bit into a few inches of traction. 

from the November 28, 1935 DOTHAN EAGLE 

 

"Central of Georgia three years later" should read CENTRAL OF GEORGIA 13 YEARS LATER

from the Wikipedia link: 4-4-0 is a locomotive type with a classification that uses the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement and represents the arrangement: four leading wheels on two axles (usually in a leading bogie), four powered and coupled driving wheels on two axles, and a lack of trailing wheels. Due to the large number of the type that were produced and used in the United States, the 4-4-0 is most commonly known as the American type, but the type subsequently also became popular in the United Kingdom, where large numbers were produced.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4-4-0

Page 31:  "the rocking whip of the drive shaft as it churned the big wheels around in a shower of sparks.  

drive shaft of a steam locomotive

Page 31: "as sand was dropped and the wheels bit into a few inches of traction." 

The sand dome or sandbox held the sand that was delivered to the driving wheels by way of pipes. 

#7 is the sand dome (sandbox)
#19 is the opening of the sand pipe

"more and more folks here lettin' grass grow in their yards. Mother wouldn't have it."

 page 32 :  "It's growin' crazy as a gourd vine flingin' out a creeper now and then and stores and houses hitchin' on whenever they feel like it." (from the August 15, 1929 Dothan Eagle) 

"That's Jernigan on the cord. He gives it that laughin', wheedlin' twist"

"the goods box at one end of his cot"

"dressed up like a travelin' dentist"

"like a scope of timber"

"like a colored woman with a bundle on her head"

"like findin' rock candy in a syrup bucket"

"narrow, black string tie"

"Nobody ever knocked a man in the head for a sack of candy"

"like the eyes of a chicken who wants to cut out some light"

"for some doctorin' in Atlanta"

"began to pare his nails"

"What makes you think I'd rob a man because I had him where the hair is short?"

"You like to make a dollar"

"He wondered if Longshore would rise to that"

"I ain't got time to stop and build bridges when I come to a creek. I've got to jump to stay on schedule"

"Don't whine. A thief's a thief."

CHAPTER FOUR

"the jangle of the banjo, played day and night behind the thin partition that separated the whites from the colored folks' side"

"louder near the curved slot through which the bartender shoved drinks to the Negro customers"

"It stingeth like an adder and biteth like a serpent." (Proverbs 23: 29, 30, 32)

"the bottle of white corn whiskey"

"like a quick wisp of steam blown across his face from the kettle at syrup-making time"

"the patches of turpentine oozing from the pine looked like blisters"

"I'm a' goin' pi'rootin' "

"kiss all the girls and run climb a tree an' wait for them to cut me down."

"throwing the rain-washed roots of the sycamore trees up high like a sick steer's ribs"

"odors of frying fish, onions and hush puppies"

"kerosene lamp on a goods box"

page 38 and 39 of DEVIL MAKE A THIRD: 

He stumbled now and then. The liquor and something else was boiling inside him and throwing off powerful  big bubbles that wanted to come out in long yells. He felt good and loose-ankled and full of the devil and he needed to undo his collar.

It was shoving him when he reached Baptist Bottom.

Baptist Bottom lay between him and Mabe's Place. It crouched at night under a sullen fog, a few clapboard shacks, shrinking in the sun and swelling in the rain. Mist rose from stagnant water that drained off the higher ground of the white folks and ponded in the bottom. The fog held too long the odors of frying fish, onions and hush puppies. It rose and dulled sights and sounds.

Even the sudden high-pitched yells from the Puddin' House were muted and sounded farther away than they really were. They always yelled in the Puddin' House. It was the only place for colored folks alone. A scuffle and a giggling laugh in the bushes near the narrow street came to Buck like an echo that had no beginning. And the preaching. There was always preaching in the Bottom and now a voice rode low through the mist, hardly mumbling beyond the crowd.

Buck was passing the preaching, just outside the Puddin' House, when the sudden bawl of the preacher caught him.

"An' this is the last word," it came, grumbling low but strong. Buck stepped closer and saw the huge figure gather itself as if to lunge at the crowd, and in the light of a kerosene lamp on a goods box he saw the muscles in the thick black throat strain for volume.

The preacher thrust his big head straight forward and glared at the crowd, holding his voice. Then he blasted out the last word.

"You got to walk the muddy streets of Aven 'fore you kin walk the golden streets of Heaven."
"Here, Big Time, preach me some hell-fire and alligator teeth"

"Ain't you kinda lit up, Boss?"

"Like a country church."

"Boss, whore ladies like a little something on the side. Now I got a pair o' fine billy goats, Boss, which'd make mighty pretty pets down yonder."

Page 40-42 The description of Mabe's Place "I figgered even a goat'd ruther live in a house full of ready women that lay in the road."

"corn-shuck mat"

"Hey, Mabe! Company."

"a newel post to put it by"

INTERLUDE #2

"rubber-tired buggy"

"more and more folks here lettin' grass grow in their yards. Mother wouldn't have it."

"It's growin' crazy as a gourd vine flingin' out a creeper now and then and stores and houses hitchin' on whenever they feel like it."

"That's Jernigan on the cord. He gives it that laughin', wheedlin' twist"

"the goods box at one end of his cot"

"dressed up like a travelin' dentist"

"like a scope of timber"

"like a colored woman with a bundle on her head"

"like findin' rock candy in a syrup bucket"

"narrow, black string tie"

"Nobody ever knocked a man in the head for a sack of candy"

"like the eyes of a chicken who wants to cut out some light"

"for some doctorin' in Atlanta"

"began to pare his nails"

"What makes you think I'd rob a man because I had him where the hair is short?"

"You like to make a dollar"

"He wondered if Longshore would rise to that"

"I ain't got time to stop and build bridges when I come to a creek. I've got to jump to stay on schedule"

"Don't whine. A thief's a thief."

CHAPTER FOUR

"the jangle of the banjo, played day and night behind the thin partition that separated the whites from the colored folks' side"

"louder near the curved slot through which the bartender shoved drinks to the Negro customers"

"It stingeth like an adder and biteth like a serpent." (Proverbs 23: 29, 30, 32)

"the bottle of white corn whiskey"

"like a quick wisp of steam blown across his face from the kettle at syrup-making time"

"the patches of turpentine oozing from the pine looked like blisters"

"I'm a' goin' pi'rootin' "

"kiss all the girls and run climb a tree an' wait for them to cut me down."

"throwing the rain-washed roots of the sycamore trees up high like a sick steer's ribs"

"odors of frying fish, onions and hush puppies"

"kerosene lamp on a goods box"

page 38 and 39 of DEVIL MAKE A THIRD: 

He stumbled now and then. The liquor and something else was boiling inside him and throwing off powerful  big bubbles that wanted to come out in long yells. He felt good and loose-ankled and full of the devil and he needed to undo his collar.

It was shoving him when he reached Baptist Bottom.

Baptist Bottom lay between him and Mabe's Place. It crouched at night under a sullen fog, a few clapboard shacks, shrinking in the sun and swelling in the rain. Mist rose from stagnant water that drained off the higher ground of the white folks and ponded in the bottom. The fog held too long the odors of frying fish, onions and hush puppies. It rose and dulled sights and sounds.

Even the sudden high-pitched yells from the Puddin' House were muted and sounded farther away than they really were. They always yelled in the Puddin' House. It was the only place for colored folks alone. A scuffle and a giggling laugh in the bushes near the narrow street came to Buck like an echo that had no beginning. And the preaching. There was always preaching in the Bottom and now a voice rode low through the mist, hardly mumbling beyond the crowd.

Buck was passing the preaching, just outside the Puddin' House, when the sudden bawl of the preacher caught him.

"An' this is the last word," it came, grumbling low but strong. Buck stepped closer and saw the huge figure gather itself as if to lunge at the crowd, and in the light of a kerosene lamp on a goods box he saw the muscles in the thick black throat strain for volume.

The preacher thrust his big head straight forward and glared at the crowd, holding his voice. Then he blasted out the last word.

"You got to walk the muddy streets of Aven 'fore you kin walk the golden streets of Heaven."
"Here, Big Time, preach me some hell-fire and alligator teeth"

"Ain't you kinda lit up, Boss?"

"Like a country church."

"Boss, whore ladies like a little something on the side. Now I got a pair o' fine billy goats, Boss, which'd make mighty pretty pets down yonder."

Page 40-42 The description of Mabe's Place "I figgered even a goat'd ruther live in a house full of ready women that lay in the road."

"corn-shuck mat"

"Hey, Mabe! Company."

"a newel post to put it by"

INTERLUDE #2

"rubber-tired buggy"