an' Ol' man Gordon.

"I couldn't git away 'cause dey watched us wid guns all de time. When de
levee busted dat kinda freed me. Man, dey was devils; dey wouldn't 'low
you to go nowhere--not even to church. You done good to git sumpin' to
eat. Dey wouldn't give you no clothes, an' if you got wet you jes' had
to lay down in whut you got wet in.

"An', man, dey would whup you in spite of de devil. You had to ask to
git water--if you didn't dey would stretch you 'cross a barrel an' wear
you out. If you didn't work in a hurry dey would whup you wid a strap
dat had five-six holes in it. I ain't talkin' 'bout whut I heard--I'm
talkin' 'bout whut I done see'd.

"One time dey sent me on Ol' man Mack Williams' farm here in Jasper
County, Georgia. Dat man would kill you sho. If dat little branch on his
plantation could talk it would tell many a tale 'bout folks bein'
knocked in de head. I done seen Mack Williams kill folks an' I done seen
'im have folks killed. One day he tol' me dat if my wife had been good
lookin', I never would sleep wid her again 'cause he'd kill me an' take
her an' raise chilluns off'n her. Dey uster take women away fum dere
husbands an' put wid some other man to breed jes' like dey would do
cattle. Dey always kept a man penned up an' dey used 'im like a stud
hoss.

"When you didn't do right Ol' Mack Williams would shoot you or tie a
chain 'roun your neck an' throw you in de river. He'd git dem other
niggers to carry dem to de river an' if dey didn't he'd shoot 'em down.
Any time dey didn't do whut he said he would shoot 'em down. He'd tell
'em to "Ketch dat nigger", an' dey would do it. Den he would tell 'em to