ded
deep in the ground. He did as instructed and was never beaten again.

Jane Garmen was the village witch. She disturbed the slaves with her
cat. Always at milking time the cat would appear, and at night would go
from one cabin to another, putting out the grease lamps with his paw. No
matter how they tried to kill the cat, it just could not be done.

An old witch doctor told them to melt a dime, form a bullet with the
silver, and shoot the cat. He said a lead bullet would never kill a
bewitched animal. The silver bullet fixed the cat.

Jane also bewitched the chickens. They were dying so fast anything they
did seemed useless. Finally a big fire was built and the dead chickens
thrown into the fire, that burned the charm, and no more chickens died.

Interviewer's Comment

Mrs. Colbert lives with her daughter in a very comfortable home. She
seems very happy and was glad to talk of her early days. How she would
laugh when telling of the experiences of her family.

She has reared a large family of her own, and feels very proud of them.

Submitted December 1, 1937
Indianapolis, Indiana

Wm. R. Mays
Dist. 4
Johnson County, Ind.
July 29, 1937

SLAVERY DAYS OF MANDY COOPER OF LINCOLN COUNTY, KENTUCKY
FRANK COOPER
715 Ott St., Franklin, Ind.

Frank Cooper, an aged colored man of Franklin, relates some very
interesting conditions that existed in slavery days as handed down to
him by his mother.

Mandy Cooper, the mother of Frank Cooper, was 115 years old when she
died; she was owned by three different families: the Good's, the
Burton's, and the Cooper's, all of Lincoln Co. Kentucky.

"Well, Ah reckon Ah am one of the oldest colored men hereabouts,"
confessed aged Frank Cooper. "What did you all want to see me about?" My
mission being stated, he related one of the strangest categories
alluding to his mother's slave life that I have ever heard.

"One day while mah mammy was washing her back my sistah noticed ugly
disfiguring scars on it. Inquiring about them, we found, much to our
amazement, that they were mammy's relics of the now gone, if not
forgotten, slave days.

"This was her first reference to her "misery days" that she had evah
made in my presence. Of course we all thought she was tellin' us a big
story and we made fun of her. With eyes flashin', she stopped bathing,
dried her back and reached for the smelly ole black whip that hung
behind the kitchen door. Biddin' us to strip down to our wai