here were several children in the Matair family and their home and
plantation were located in Suwannee County, Florida.

Douglas' parents were assigned to their tasks, his mother was house-maid
and his father was the mechanic, having learned this trade in Maryland
as a free man. Charlie and Anna had several children and Douglas was
among them. When he became large enough he was kept in the Matair home
to build fires, assist in serving meals and other chores.

Mrs. Matair being a very cruel woman, would whip the slaves herself for
any misdemeanor. Dorsey recalls an incident that is hard to obliterate
from his mind, it is as follows: Dorsey's mother was called by Mrs.
Matair, not hearing her, she continued with her duties, suddenly Mrs.
Matair burst out in a frenzy of anger over the woman not answering. Anna
explained that she did not hear her call, thereupon Mrs. Matair seized a
large butcher knife and struck at Anna, attempting to ward off the blow,
Anna received a long gash on the arm that laid her up for for some
time. Young Douglas was a witness to this brutal treatment of his mother
and he at that moment made up his mind to kill his mistress. He intended
to put strychnine that was used to kill rats into her coffee that he
usually served her. Fortunately freedom came and saved him of this act
which would have resulted in his death.

He relates another incident in regard to his mistress as follows: To his
mother and father was born a little baby boy, whose complexion was
rather light. Mrs. Matair at once began accusing Colonel Matair as being
the father of the child. Naturally the colonel denied, but Mrs. Matair
kept harassing him about it until he finally agreed to his wife's desire
and sold the child. It was taken from its mother's breast at the age of
eight months and auctioned off on the first day of January to the
highest bidder. The child was bought by a Captain Ross and taken across
the Suwannee River into Hamilton County. Twenty years later he was
located by his family, he was a grown man, married and farming.

Young Douglas had the task each morning of carrying the Matair
children's books to school. Willie, a boy of eight would teach Douglas
what he learned in school, finally Douglas learned the alphabet and
numbers. In some way Mrs. Matair learned that Douglas was learning to
read and write. One morning after breakfast she called her son Willie to
the dining room where she was seated and then sent for Doug