Dat was all talk. I nebber
did believe it 'cause dey nebber even looked like mars en he nebber
cared no more for dem dan any of the rest of de hands."
Interviewer: Mrs. Bernice Bowden
Person interviewed: Betty Coleman
1112-1/2 Indiana Street, Pine Bluff, Arkansas
Age: 80
Occupation: Cotton Picker
[Dec 31 1937]
"My father belonged to Mr. Ben Martin and my mother and me belonged to
the Slaughters. I was small then and didn't know what the war was about,
but I remember seein' the Yankees and the Ku Klux.
"Old master had about fifteen or twenty hands but Mr. Martin had a
plenty--he had bout a hundred head.
"I member when the war was goin' on we was livin' in Bradley County. We
was goin' to Texas to keep the Yankees from gettin' us. I member Mr. Gil
Martin was just a young lad of a boy. We got as far as Union County and
I know we stopped there and stayed long enough to make two crops and
then peace was declared so we cane back to Warren.
"While the war was goin' on, I member when my mother took a note to some
soldiers in Warren and asked em to come and play for Miss Mary. I know
they stood under a sycamore and two catawba trees and played.
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