and told her that such and such an individual wished her for
a wife. If she agreed they were pronounced man and wife and were
permitted to live together.

The slaves on his plantation were great believers in roots and their
values in the use of conjuring people.

Mr. Bland doesn't remember ever seeing anyone sold by Mr. Coxton, but he
heard that on other nearby plantations slaves were placed on an auction
block and sold like cattle.

None of the slaves were ever whipped or beaten by Mr. Coxton or by
anyone else. If a rule was broken the offender was called before Mr.
Coxton where he was talked to. In some cases a whipping was promised and
that ended the matter. The "Paddie Rollers" whipped the slaves from
other plantations when they were caught off of their premises without a
"pass" but this was never the case when a slave belonging to Mr. Coxton
broke this rule. Mr. Bland remembers that once he and some of his fellow
slaves were away from home without a pass when they were seen by the
"Paddie Rollers" who started after them. When they were recognized as
belonging to Mr. Coxton one of them (Paddie Rollers) said: "Don't bother
them; that's them d---- 'free niggers'." The Paddie Rollers were not
allowed to come on the Coxton plantation to whip his slaves or any other
owner's slaves who happened to be visiting at the time. Mr. Coxton
required that they all be on the plantation by nightfall.

(The above seems to be rather conclusive proof of Mr. Coxton's influence
in the community.) [TR: Parentheses added by hand.]

Whenever a slave committed a crime against the State, his master usually
had to pay for the damage done or pay the slave's fine. It was then up
to him to see that the offender was punished.

Mr. Coxton once saw him (Mr. Bland) beat another slave (who was a guest
at a frolic) when this visitor attempted to draw a pistol on him. Mr.
Bland was upheld in his action and told by Mr. Coxton that he had better
always fight back when anyone struck him, whether the person was white
or black. Further, if he (Mr. Coxton) heard of his not fighting back a
whipping would be in store for him.

Mr. Coxton was different from some of the slave owners in that he gave
the head of each family spending money at Christmas time--the amount
varying with the size of the family.

"When the Civil war was begun the master seemed to be worried all the
time" states Mr. Bland. "He was afraid that we would be freed and then
he would hav