too. Then they waste all you had brought up and say--'Ah! First drink I
had since I come from hell.' They all knowed ain't nobody come from
hell. They had hatchets an' they burst in your house. Jes' to scare you.
They shoot under your house. They wore their wives big wide nightgowns
and caps and ugliest faces you eber seed. They looked like a gang from
hell--ugliest things you ebber _did_ see. It was cold--ground spewed up
wid ice and men folks so scared they run out in woods, stay all night.
Old mistress died at the close of de war an' her son what was a
preacher, he put on a long preacher coat and breeches (britches) [TR:
'britches' is marked out by hand] all black. He put a navy six in his
belt and carried carbeen [carbine] on his shoulder. It was a long gun
shoot sixteen times. He was a dangerous man. He made the Ku Klux let his
folks alone. He walk all night bout his place. He say, 'Forward March!'
Then they pass by. He was a dangerous man. So much takin' place all time
I was scared nearly to death all time."




Interviewer: Miss Irene Robertson
Person interviewed: Maria Sutton Clements
De Valls Bluff, Arkansas
Age:
[Dec 31 1937]
[TR: Also reported as Maria Sutton Clemments]


"Missus, I thought if I'd see you agin I'd tell you this song:

'Jeff Davis is President