Ex‘-S1av~ Stories	~	2.
	District #5 •		. .
	Vanderburgh County	The Life Story of George Taylor Burns.
	Lauaxia Cree1~


	Nothing impres$ed the little boy with such unforgettable imagery as the

oold which descended upon Greogery‘s Landing one winter. ~iother1ess, hungry, desolate and unloved, he often cried himself to sleep at night while each day he was compelled to carry wood. One morning he failed to corne when the horn was sounded to call the slaves to breakfast, “Old 1~issus went to the negro

quarters to see vthat was wrong.“ and “She wa~ horrified when she found I was frozen to the bed.“

	She carried the small bundle of suffering humanity to the kitchen of her

home and placed htha near the big oven. Y4hen the warmth thawed the frozen child the toes 1~~31 froi-n his feet. UQId LLissus told ne I would never be strong

enough to do hard work, and she had the neighborhood shoemaker fashion shoes too short for axiy body‘s feet but mine.“ said Uncle George.

	Uncle George doesntt remember why he left Missouri but the sister of

Greene Taylor brought him to Troy, Indiana. Here she learned that she could not o~wn a slave within the State of Indiana so she indentured the child to a flat boat captaL.~ to wash dishes and ~ait on the crew of workers.

	~	~ George was so small of statfrthat the captain had a low table and stool made that he might work in comfort. George‘s mistress received ~l5,OO per month for the service of the boy for several years.

	Prom working on the f&lat boats George became accustomed to the river and

	soon received eiaploytnent as a cabin boy on a steam boat and from that time through out the most active days of his life George Taylor Burns was a steam—boat man.

	In fact he declares, «I know steamboats from wood box to stern wheel.“

	“The life of a riverman is a good life and interesting things happen on the river.‘~ says Uncle George.

Uncle George has been imprisoned in the big nail at 1‘~ew Orleans. ~e has

	seen his fellow slaves beaten into ~ insensibility while chained to the whipping • ~ post iii C0x3g0 Square at New Oran. ~ . . .