There was a colored church on Eighth and Broadway then. They kept
sweeping us 'round because the schools were all crowded. Woods, a
colored man, was one of the teachers at Capitol Hill Public School. We
were there when it first opened. That was the last school I went to. I
finished eight grades. Me and Scipio Jones went to school together and
were in the same class. I left him in school and went to work to take
care of my folks.
Occupational Experiences
"Right after the Civil War, I went to school. I did no work except to
sell papers and black boots on the corner of Main and Markham on Sunday.
After I stopped school I went to work as assistant porter in the
railroad office at the Union Station for the St. Louis, Iron Mountain,
Southern Railway and Cairo and Fulton. That was one road or system. I
stayed with them from 1873 till 1882 in the office as office porter.
From that I went train porter out of the office in 1882. I stayed as
train porter till 1892. Then right back from 1892 I went in the general
superintendent's private car. Then from there I went to the shop here in
North Little Rock--the Missouri Pacific Shops--as a straw boss of the
storeroom gang. That was in 1893.
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