allow this to be done. A negro would become, in character much like the
family who owned him, i.e., an honest, moral and kindly master would
have slaves of like qualities, while a cruel, dishonest master would
usually affect his slaves so that they would be tricky and unreliable.

Where the master did not personally supervise his slaves and left them
to the mercies of a hired "over-seer," their lot was usually much worse,
as these task-masters were almost always tyranical and were not
restrained by a sense of ownership from abusing the helpless creatures
under their authority as were the master's, whose money was invested in
them.

On one occasion, a young negro saw his own sister stripped naked and
unmercifully whipped by one of these over-seers. He gathered up all of
his small belongings and tied them in a bundle and securing a club of
wood, laid in wait for the cruel 'boss' until dark, when he killed him
with the club. He then escaped, via the "Underground Railroad."

One thing he was careful to do, was to avoid all telegraph poles, as
that he thought the wires could detect and betray him, the telegraph was
a mystery to his ignorant mind. He succeeded in making his way to
Canada and freedom where he stayed until after the war, when it was
safe to return.

The slave trade of importing slaves into the United States, being
forbidden after about 1820, cut off the supply to such an extent that
strong, healthy negroes became very high in price. Many Kentucky slave
owners raised slaves for this market just as we today raise live stock
on our farms.