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	My father was to be sold at auction, along with all of the rest of Zeke Samples‘ property. Bob Cowherd, a neighbor of Matt Durst‘s owned ray grandfather, and the old man, my grandfather, begged Col. Bob to buy my father from Zeke Samples to keep hin~ from being “sold dcxvn the river.“ Col. Bob offered what he thought was a fair price for my father and a “nigger—trader“ raised his bid “25e Col. said he couldn‘t afford to pay that much and father was about to be sold to the “nigger~trader“ when his father told Col0 Bob that he had

•25 saved up and that II‘ he would buy my father from Samples and
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keep the “nigger..trader‘ from gett iWhim he would give him ~ the mo.

Col. Bob Cowherd took n~y grandfather‘s ~25 and. offered to meet the traders offer and so my father was sold to him.

	The negroes in and around. where I was raised were not treated badly ‚ as a rule ‚ by the ir masters • There was one slave owner, a Mr. Heady, who lived nearby, who treated his slave worse than any of the other owners but I never heard of anything so atful— ly bad, happening to his “niggers“. He had one boy who used to cone over to‘ our place and I can remember hearing Massa Williamz call to my grandmother ‚ to cook “Clir Ist ‚ give “Heady‘ s Doc something to eat. He looks hungry. „ Massa Williams always said “Heady ‚ B Doc „ when speaking of him or any other slave, saying to call him, for instance, Doc Heady would sound as if he were Mr • ‘ s owx s on and he said that wouldn ‚ t sound right.

	.	When Preildent Lincoln issued his proclamation, freeing the negroes, I remember that my father and most all of the other younger slave men left the farms to join the Union army. We had haifl times then for awhile and had lots of work to do. I don‘t rerr~mber just when ]~ w first regarded myself as “free“ as many of the negroes

~	didn‘t understand just what it was all about. (B)
Ed.Note:	Mrs. Crane will also pose for a picture. .