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	F~L.SLAVE STORt~S	Page One	.	CD ~•~?
	 (Texas)		‚	otj

ALLEN THOMAS ‚ 97 ‚ was owned by ~evera1 ranchers of Jefferson and Orange Counties, Texaz~ but re~a11s Moise Broussard of Ham~• shire the best. Ill health has affected hi8 memory and his story is not coherent. He is a f~ia1i~,r fi.gu~re on the streets of B~aurn ~nt ‚ Texas ‚ a small man clad in none too clean ~nd somewhat ra~ed clothes, with a tow sack across his sho~ilders, Into which he puts such things as he finds in his wan~ derin~s about the city. Rumor has it that
‘r	~	~ Allen is fairly well to do and that his be~
‚I~	~: Nk~7	gins attitude is assumed, for reasons of JLIS‘
		own.




	It ~ figgers I‘ s ~wine be 97 y‘~r~r old on de fourth of i~w~gust . I ‚ s borned over in i~c~n «oods, over in Oran~e County. My daddy‘s nnine was Lockin Thomas. I never see my daddy. He git drown in de river here at Beaumont. My mamuy‘s Hetty Anderson.

	HI ‘lon~d to three ~asters. One John Adam and he was i~iean. One

Stowers, ~nd he was rn~an but not so mean to me. Den dere Moise Broussard, he was ~urty rae~n, ut he never beat me. De las‘ m~n what finish raise me was Amos Harr ison and he purty go od man • He wife n~.me Mag ~nd dey :~ ives on ~rtle Bayou over in Chambers County. He buy me from Lewis Pinder. He was good. i~y brudder wz‘s Kelly Idonia ~nd I had a sister Lessie Jilli~‘ias. Dey beat her with clubs. I~s w~Ik over many a dead person. Dey beat ~em to death.

	“Us h9~. tins dishes dem times, master and slaves, too. Dey have wooden paciles what ~is t~ce de food out de dishes with. De white folks sot at one table and de cullud folks have table to cleyseif, bu~ ‘bout what de white folks has.

	“Us have watermilion ~nd sugar cane and milk and butter. Den us have de possum. Us clean him and put him top de house and tlow de ~rost
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