SLAVE NARRATIVES - Library of Congress

,'.30893 gOUSLQHB SUBJECTS
Name of Interviewer Mrs» W» M# Ball
Subject Anecdotes of an Aged Ss-Slave*
Story - Information:
"Hah young marster wuz Joe Ogburn* Me and him growed up togedder an f I wuz hia>
body guard durin f de wahr* Many f s de day I f ze watched de smoke ob battle clear
away an 1 wait fo f de return ob mah marster♦ All de time I felt we wuz horn to win
dat wahr, but God knowed bes* an 1 you know, de result*
Three years ago I went to little Rock wid !&>♦ Fisher* lae f all folks whut goes
to dis city, we wend our way to de Capitol to see de Governor* Gov* luttrell sittin f
oac f in his great fine office, saw me and jined me in conversation. De fus f question
he axed me wuz %rhut party does yo f f filiate wif? f I sez, f de Democrat r de party
whut's a frien 1 to de nigger• f De Governor axed me how does I lac 1 dis lifs? I sez
f v3ry well, tho 1 things has changed since slavery days* Ihose wuz good ole days for
de black man; didn f t hafter worry about nuthin 1 * I*>w, I sho f does mah share ob
worrying I worries frua one meal to de odder, I worries about nhure I f ze gwiae
get some mo* clothes when dese wears out?*
I tole de Governor mah 'sperience wif de Republican Party durin' de wahr. I been
hung fo f times in mah life an* one ob de times by de Bepublieans. long time ago,
Mr. Boy Nash an' Mr. Hugh Sutton wuz a settin* ovah de ballot box on »leetion day,
when I voted 80 Democrats. Yas, suhj I jus» marches 'em in an* tells *em how to
cas' dey vote, Dat night, on mah way home frum de votin*, goin* down de lonely road,
I mz stopped an* strung up to a tree by de neck. Dey 'splained dat I wuz too
•fluentisl wid de niggers. TShen I wuz iiangin' dere I did .some manful howlin». Dat
bowlin* sho brought de white folks. Bhen dey see mah distres* dey 'leased de rope
an 1 I wuz saved. Dat is when I 'pealed to Col. Baker for 'tection. Me wuz mah frien 1
as long as he lib, and he wuz a good frien* «b de South 'cause he saved lots ob white
folks frum de wrath ob de mean niggers."
(Note: The Col. *iaker referred to was Cullen Baker, the leader of a ruthless gang
of oushwhackers that operated in this section shortly after the Civil War.)
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