set free a generation ago.

Politics: Formerly, the negro, attributing his freedom to the efforts
of Abraham Lincoln in his behalf, voted almost solidly for the
Republican Party. Now, however, the Democrats have, by remembering the
race when passing out jobs, gained recruits among the colored people,
and some negro Democrats are found here. The negro has been accused of
voting for money, but it is doubtful if as a race, he is any more prone
to this practice than his white fellow citizens among whom this abuse
seems to be growing.




BELL CO.
(Nelle Shumate)

Mandy Gibson:


There were auction-blocks near the court houses where the slaves were
sold to the highest bidders. A slave would be placed on a platform and
his merits as a speciman of human power and ability to work was
enomerated the bidding began. Young slave girls brought high prices
because the more slave children that were born on one's plantation the
richer he would be in the future. Some slaves were kept just for this
purpose, the same as prize thorough-bred stock is kept. In many
instances slaves were treated like brutes and their places to sleep were
like barn sheds with only a little straw, on which to sleep. Mrs.
Neikirk's mother said that she distinctly remembered that the slaves she