James Stout

And so he tells Lyle, well, like, I'm free now, right?

And Lyle, being a slave owner and trader, doesn't have a great control over his anger and just immediately pistol whips this adolescent boy nearly to death.

He beats him so badly with the butt of a handgun that Strong goes temporarily blind and can barely walk upright.

So he, and you get the feeling he just loses his temper and beats this kid nearly to death because he's immediately like, oh shit, I killed him.

And he just tosses him out onto the street like a piece of trash.

He's like, well, he's not worth anything anymore.

Bye.

So somehow this dying boy manages to like crawl or find help.

And he gets to Granville's brother's free clinic where his immediate injuries are treated, but it's clear he needs more treatment.

And it just happens to be on a day that like,

Granville Sharp is there with his brother.

And so he and his brother take Jonathan to a nearby hospital and pool their money to pay for him to stay there for four months and recover.

And when he's released, because they're just treating him like a freed man at this point, they find him paying work with a Quaker pharmacist they knew.

So they get this guy to the hospital.

He heals.

He recovers pretty well.

And they find him a job.

And he starts living a life, right?

Like he's an independent, free person making money.

For a year and change, things are pretty good for Strong.