Alabama
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bi~ house and he say to ‘em ‘Now, you all jes‘ as free as I is. airi‘ t your inarstex‘ no mo‘ • I ‚ se tried to be good to you and take keer of all of you. You is all weloonie to stay and we‘ll ail wuk togedder and. make a livin‘ somehow. Ef‘ you don‘ want to stay, dem dat go will jes‘ have to root, pig, or die‘ • Some stayed and some lef‘. My dad&y stayéd wid Marse John till he was called home to glory. Now dey all gone but Siney, and I‘se jes‘ here, waitiri‘ for ‘em to call me.

	“Yas euh, I been ‘round Carroilton a heap. Atter Marse John and my daddy bofe died, I wuk‘d ‘round from place to place. Used to wuk for Mrs. Roper at de old. Phoenix Hotel. I recollect when de new brick court hou8e was built. De oie cote house had been burned and dey ‘re4ted a nigger named Bill Burkhalter for settiri‘ it on fire. ~ sent hirn to de pen‘ an‘ some officers started wid. him to Montgomery. When dey got to Sipséy River a mob ketched up wid ‘em an‘ took Bill and hung him dere in the swamp. ‘Bout dat time a bad cloud come up. Dey axed Bill did he have anything to say. He say, ‘I ain‘t burn no cote house, an‘ ef you all kill rue, my face gwine al‘ways ha‘nt you‘. Whilst he still hangin‘ dere in dat swamp de iightnin‘ fia~h and de thunder an~ Wifld was somp‘n awful. Nex‘ mornin‘ when de sun come up, bress my soul, right dere on de winder in de cote house tower was a photygraf of de face of de nigger dey done hung for burnin‘ de old cote house. Yas euh, I done seen dat wid my own eyes an‘ I speck dat picture still dere.

	“But lawsy me, I got to get goiri‘, kase I‘se cookin‘ me a raess of poke sallet I picked down by de railroad tracks dis mornin‘. Dat poke sallet and young ernions gwine to be mighty good, and dey sho ‘mind me of dem good old days in Piökens county4~

R.L.D.
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