k, and feed the stock.

The slaves were punished for stealing, running off, not doing what
their master told them and for talking back to their master. If any of
these rules were disobeyed their feet and hands were chained together
and they were put across a log or a barrel and whipped until the blood
came from them.

There were no jails; the white man was the slaves' jail. If whipping
didn't settle the crime the Negro committed--the next thing would be
to hang him or burn him at stake.

I've seen them sell slaves. The whites would auction them off just as
we do cattle and horses today. The big fine healthy slaves were worth
more than those that were not quite so good. I have seen men sold from
their wives and I thought that was such a crime. I knew that God would
settle thing someday.

Slaves would run away but most of the time they were caught. The
Master would put blood hounds on their trail, and sometimes the slave
would kill the blood hound and make his escape. If a slave once tried
to run away and was caught, he would be whipped almost to death, and
from then on if he was sent any place they would chain their meanest
blood hound to him.

Funerals were very simple for slaves, they could not carry the body to
the church they would just take it to the grave yard and bury it. They
were not even allowed to sing a song at the cemetery. Old Mistress
used to tell us ghost stories after funerals and they would nearly
scare me to death. She would tell of seeing men with no head, and see
cattle that would suddenly turn to cats, and she made us believe if a
fire was close to a cemetery it was coming from a ghost.

I used to hear quite a bit about voodoo, but that some thing I never
believed in, therefore, I didn't pay any attention to it.

When a slave was sick, the master would get a good doctor for him if
he was a good slave, but if he wasn't considered a good slave he would
be given cheap medical care. Some of the doctors would not go to the
cabin where the slaves were, and the slave would have to be carried on
his bed to his master's back porch and the doctor would see him there.

When the news came that we were free, all of us were hid on the
Mississippi River. We had been there for several days, and we had to
catch fish with our hands and roast them for food. I remember quite
well when old Master came down to there and hollered, Come on out
niggers; you are free now and you can do as you please! We all went to