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	“There was a 8laveho].der in Charles County who had a very val‘. uable slave, an expert carpenter and bricklayer, whose services were much

sought after by the people in SoutheriMaryland. This slave could elude the best blood hounds in the State. It was a1~ia~s said that slaves, when they~

ran away, would try to go through a graveyard and if he or she could ~et dirt from the grave of some one that had been recently burie‘d, sprinkle it behind them, the dogs could not follow the fleeing slave, and would howl and return home. .

“Old Pete the mechanic was working on farm near La Plata, he dé.‘

cided to run away a8 he had done on several previous occasions. He was kno‘wn by some as the herb doctor and healer. He would not be punished on any condition nøD would he work unless he ~ras paid sometMn~. It was said that he would save money and give it to people who wanted to run away. He w~s charged.

with aiding a girl to flee. ~ He was to be whipped by the sheriff of Charleß County for aiding the girl to run away. He heaI‘d of it, left the night before he was to be whipped, he went to the swamp in the cove or about 5 miles from where his master lived. He eluded the dogs for several weeks, escaped, got to Boston and no one to this day has any idea how he did it; but he did.

	“In the year of 1866 ~r fàther retui‘ned to Maryland bringing with

him mother and my brothers and 8ister. He selected A~inapo]is for his future home, where he secured work as a waiter at the Naval Academy, he continued there for more than 20 years. In the meantime after 1866 or 1868, when schools were opened for colored people, I went to a school that was éstablished for colored children and taught by white teacher until I was about 17 years old, then I too worked at the Naval Academy waiting on the midshipmen. In those

days you could make extra money, sometimes making r&re than your wages • ‚&bout 1996 or ‘97 1 purchased a farm near Camp Parole containing 120 acres, upon

‘which I have lived since, raising a variety of vegetables for which Anne Arundel