A.u.~t Mollie Mo ss—ex~ sla ye ~	?age—4-. ~	.. ~	58

# 88 A~abirn St., Knoxvi11e,~enn.


	ft mlly Cain, he was briadder-‘in—law to O1d~ To~vnsIee, who lived on a plantation in ~1ab~ma. How come my mother was give to Cain axi co~~e to Tennessee, w~ one zuornin‘ Old Townslee rode his horse out under a tree to blow up de siaves.Blow de horn you k10w,tO eaU ‘em to work. Somebody shot ‘im. ~i~ht off hi$ horse. It was so dark, ‘fore dayli~:ht, an& couldnt see and dey never did find out who shot ‘lUI. Heap o white folks had. enemies dem days. ~o de slaves he owned w~s divided xrrunxt his chilluns . ~y mother was one of nine dat come t o Bj~ Ily L~ain dat way . ~1

timalk ‘bout your shootin jest for devilment. Lerar~ae tell you ‘bout old

man John Wynn.H~live down dar ‘bout ten mile froi ithar Moss lived when he w~.s a boy.I‘ve heard eintell it many a tine. Dey say John ynn had 185 slaves. Eiry time it come George ~‘ashin~çton‘s birthd~y, Old “ynn he had a feast and invite all de slave~!He celebratér~ he sey. He seta a lon~table wid all kind good t~:i~s to eat. ~“n he count de slaves,so‘s to‘be sure dey all öome.

•4fl‘ den hetd take an pick out one and shoot huai ~ Den he say,~I-~Iow youse all Can go‘head an eat.Tbrow d~.t niggértsiM an we bury ir~i in mornin‘.tt And he ~walks off to de big nouse. NoJ He wasnt dru~k .. Jes de clebil in um. Well, he shot ten, twelve, m~iybe thirty dat w~y.An den de ~nite folks hanged ‘mita a tree.Han~ed im t‘well he was good and. deacl,dey did.~‘

	“Now folkes Can ~joy dey victuals wid sech goix.‘s on. De slaves ~it sois f dey scared to hear &e bell ring. D0~i know what it ~ae~xi.Maybe d.eatiì,rna~be fire, maybe nucider sale o some body.Gwine taketeni way. J~it when de bell ring dey bad

to àome.Let dat oie bell ring arid de ~woods was full o negroes.Ma~be 500 hundred (

~	corne froxn all over d~ate county.H

;:. ~ Â~~t Mollie Was heginnir~ to ramble arnd babble incoherently, her n~u~ories o~r her own and the experiences of others all coiffu~sed. in her mind. ~fhen she had. a~bcrn.t fii~ shed~ a story about ho~ one of ~he slave women ‚ °bttst de elœ.I I“ of the
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L~ea~ at ~ ~arster ‚ ‚ ~ ic~use site was m~s~n a si.c~ baby ~ ‚ he tell her shê got

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