Hoss and the Story of the Figure 8

Hoss and the Story of the Figure 8I worked for the Quitman County ASCS ("measuring cotton") every summer while I was at Mississippi College and for a summer or two while in seminary. I actually plotted fields on an aeriel photograph so they could be planimetered in the office.I was working the Jimmy Garten farm at Sledge, my hometown. The man assigned to pull the chain for me by manager Tom Garten told me his name was John, "but 'dey call me Hoss." It was a wet year and Tom had told the tractor drivers to plant the cotton on ridges and skip "the low places", so Hoss and I worked around all those places for three days.At some point, I asked Hoss if he had a personal relationship with Jesus. He either had, or he said what he thought I wanted to hear. At one point, I told Hoss about going to the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman every Sunday morning to preach. I have never done anything that blessed me more that jail and prison work, even though there are some real challenges involved, as my friend Wayne Whiteside can tell you.Hoss pulled the 66 foot chain for me to get measurements, but there were times when I was working on the map when we stood together. There were times when we walked across fields together or drove from one place to another. We were comfortable talking with each other. After I mentioned Parchman, Hoss said, "I was at Parchman." I asked, "What did you do?"Hoss said, "I kilt a man. I had a life sentence. I made trustee" We talked about prisoners for a while. Regular prisoners wore stripes around their legs. Trustees wore stripes running up and down their legs. Half-trustees, or "legs", wore stripes around their legs, but with one strip running up and down on the outside of each leg.Hoss told me a story that is both humorous and illuminating. One time there was a white man who planned an escape, and he talked a Mexican into escaping with him. The white man told the Mexican that if they were going to get away they had to trick the bloodhounds. The way you do that is to run as fast as you an until you get into the woods. Then you pick a spot and run a "figure 8" over and over. That will confuse the dogs. They won't know which way to go.Hoss was one of the trustees the sergeant took to run down the two prisoners. He said, "The dogs followed them to the woods. We found the Mexican runnin' 'roun' and 'roun'; just runnin' and jumpin'. We thought he was crazy so we didn't stop him. We just watched him 'til the sergeant got there. We didn't want to touch him. When the sergeant got there, he stopped him and asked him what he was doing. The Mexican told the sergeant what the white man had told him. If he ran a figure 8 he would confuse the dogs."While the Mexican was running a figure 8, the white man was running a figure 1. They don't call them cons for no reason. The white man thought only of himself. He couldn't have cared less about the Mexican - or anyone else. People use people, lie to people, and deceive people all the time. They think only of themselves.Hoss didn't tell me whether or not they ever caught the white man. I forgot to ask. After all, I was on the back side of a large farm, near some woods, talking with an ex-con who had just said, "I kilt a man."