r to carry out orders that they might escape together.

The girl brought a large knife from Mrs. McClain's pantry and by the aid
of that tool the lock was pried from the prison door and the mother made
her way into the open world about midnight.

A large tobacco barn became her refuge where she waited for her child.
The girl had some trouble making her escape; she had become a useful and
necessary member of her mistress' household and her services were hourly
in demand. The Daughter "young missus" Annie McClain was afflicted from
birth having a cleft palate and later developing heart dropsy which made
regular surgery imperative. The negro girl had learned to care for the
young white woman and could draw the bandages for the surgeon whey
"Young Missus" underwent surgical treatment.

The memory of one trip to Louisville is vivid in the mind of the old
negress today for she was taken to the city and the party stopped at the
Gault House and [TR: line not completed]

"It was a grand place," she declares, as she describes the surroundings;
the handsome draperies and the winding stairway and other artistic
objects seen at the grand hotel.

The child loved her young mistress and the young mistress desired the
good slave should be always near her; so, patient waiting was required
by the negro mother before her daughter finally reached their
rendezvous.

Under cover of night the two fugitives traveled the three miles to
Henderson, there they secreted themselves under the house of Mrs.
Margaret Bentley until darkness fell over the world to cover their
retreat. Imagine the frightened negroes stealthily creeping through the
woods in constant fear of being recaptured. Federal soldiers put them
across the river at Henderson and from that point they cautiously
advanced toward Evansville. The husband of Harriott, Milton McClain and
her son Jerome were volunteers in a negro regiment. The operation of the
Federal Statute providing for the enlistment of slaves made enlisted
negroes free as well as their wives and children, so, by that statute
Harriott McClain and her daughter should have been given their freedom.

When the refugees arrived in Evansville they were befriended by free
negroes of the area. Harriott obtained a position as maid with the
Parvine family, "Miss Hallie and Miss Genevieve Parvine were real good
folks," declares the aged negro Adah when repeating her story. After
working for the Misses Parvine for about two yea