With changed expression he told of an incident during the Civil War:
Slaves, he explained had to have passes to go from one plantation to
another and if one were found without a pass the "patrollers" would pick
him up, return him to his master and receive pay for their service. The
"patrollers" were guards for runaway slaves. One night they came to Aunt
Rhoda's house where a crowd of slaves had gathered and were going to
return them to their masters; Uncle Umphrey the tanner, quickly spaded
up some hot ashes and pitched it on them; all of the slaves escaped
unharmed, while all of the "patrollers" were badly injured; no one ever
told on Uncle Umphrey and when Aunt Rhoda was questioned by her master
she stated that she knew nothing about it but told them that the
"patrollers" had brought another "nigger" with them; her master took it
for granted that she spoke the truth since none of the other Negroes
were hurt. He remembers seeing this but does not remember how he, as a
little boy, was prevented from telling about it.

Asked about his remembrance or knowledge of the slaves' belief in magic
and spells he said: "I remember this and can just see the dogs running
around now. My mother's brother, "Uncle Dick" and "Uncle July" swore
they would not work longer for masters; so they ran away and lived in
the woods. In winter they would put cotton seed in the fields to rot for
fertilizer and lay in it for warmth. They would kill hogs and slip the
meat to some slave to cook for food. When their owners looked for them,
"Bob Amos" who raised "nigger hounds" (hounds raised solely to track
Negro slaves) was summoned and the dogs located them and surrounded them
in their hide-out; one went one way and one the other and escaped in the
swamps; they would run until they came to a fence--each kept some
"graveyard dust and a few lightwood splinters" with which they smoked
their feet and jumped the fence and the dogs turned back and could track
no further. Thus, they stayed in the woods until freedom, when they came