Calvin J. Candie (6 June 1821-5 May 1859) was an American businessman who owned Candyland, the fourth-largest plantation in Mississippi, during the antebellum era.
Biography[]
Calvin J. Candie was born in Louisiana to a Cajun family; his father went to boarding school with the future lawyer Leonide Moguy, whom he met when Moguy was eleven, and quickly befriended. Candie called himself "Monsieur" and spoke with a Cajun accent, although, to his embarrassment, he did not speak French. Candie inherited the Candyland plantation in Mississippi, becoming its fourth-largest plantation owner. Candie was a masochist who enjoyed watching his Black slaves fight to the death in "Mandingo fights", and he was also rumored to have had an incestuous affair with his sister Lara Lee Candie-Fitzwilly. In 1858, he acquired the German-speaking slave Broomhilda von Shaft, and, in 1859, the bounty hunter King Schultz came to Candyland with Broomhilda's long-lost husband Django Freeman, having promised Freeman that he would help him reunite with his wife. Schultz attempted to obtain Broomhilda as an escort, but Candie's head slave Stephen Warren realized that Broomhilda previously knew Django, and he informed Candie of this. As a result, Candie demanded that Schultz pay him $12,000 for Broomhilda, and Candie threatened to shoot Schultz unless he agreed to the deal with a handshake. Tired of Schultz's arrogance, Schultz shot Candie, only to be killed by Candie's bodyguard Butch Pooch.
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