anged himself with a leather halter.

Shell was a splendid worker and was well worth a thousand dollars. If he
had been fairly treated he would have been happy and glad to repay
kindness by toil. "Mars Henry would have been better to all of us, only
Mistress Jane was always rilin' him up," declared John Rudd as he sat in
his rocking chair under a shade tree.

"Jane Moore, was the daughter of Old Thomas Rakin, one of the meanest
men, where slaves were concerned, and she had learnt the slave drivin'
business from her daddy."

Uncle John related a story concerning his mother as follows: "Mama had
been workin' in the cornfield all day 'till time to cook supper. She was
jes' standin' in the smoke house that was built back of the big kitchen
when Mistress walks in. She had a long whip hid under her apron and
began whippin Mama across the shoulders, 'thout tellin' her why. Mama
wheeled around from whar she was slicin' ham and started runnin' after
old Missus Jane. Ole Missus run so fas' Mama couldn't catch up wif her
so she throwed the butcher knife and stuck it in the wall up to the
hilt." "I was scared. I was fraid when Marse Henry come in I believed he
would have Mama whipped to death."

"Whar Jane?" said Mars Henry. "She up stairs with the door locked," said
Mama. Then she tole old Mars Henry the truth about how mistress Jane
whip her and show him the marks of the whip. She showed him the butcher
knife stickin' in the wall. "Get yer clothes together," said Marse
Henry.

John then had to be parted from his mother. Henry Rudd [TR: 'Moore'
written above in brackets.] believed that the Negroes were going to be
set free. War had been declared and his desire was to send Liza far into
the southern states where the price of a good negro was higher than in
Kentucky. When he reached Louisville he was offered a good price for her
service and hired her out to cook at a hotel. John grieved over the loss
of his mother but afterwards learned she had been well treated at
Louisville. John Rudd continued to work for Henry Moore until the Civil
War ended. Then Henry Snyder came to the Moore home and demanded his
brothers to be given into his charge.

Henry Snyder had enlisted in the Federal Army and had fought throughout
the war. He had entered or leased seven acres of good land seven miles
below Owensboro, Kentucky, and on those good acres of Davies County farm
land the mother and her three sons were reunited.

John Rudd had never s