It might seem that Jim Crow, by virtue of his 
early life among men, would have risen rapidly 
in the crow world and in time would have reached 
the dignity of becoming a sentinel. As a matter 
of fact, he never showed any evidence of unusual 
wisdom and so to the end remained merely an 
unknown member of the flock. Had he become 
a sentinel this story might have ended dif- 
ferently, but you must know that truth just as 
it was told to me. 
One of the overseers became so desperate that 
he soaked a quantity of corn in poison and 
scattered it in a field where the crows were 
coming daily. Early in the morning he slipped 
out to watch for results. When he came in 
sight of the field he could not see a single 
crow. He watched until noon and still no crows 
appeared. He began to suspect that they had 
found out in some way the trick that he was 
trying to work on them. But late in the evening 
the flock arrived. They came in over the trees, 
set their sentinels, and alighted in the cornfield. 
To his satisfaction he could see they were eating 
the poisoned corn. Many of them were sure to 
150 
