*Susan Ross was born at Magnolia Springs, Texas, about 1862, a slave of
Chester Horn. Her features and the color of her skin, together with a
secretive manner, would point to Indian blood. She lives with a daughter
in the east part of North Quarters, a Negro settlement in Jasper, Texas,
and is still active enough to help her daughter in their little cafe.*
"Susan Ross my name and I's born at Magnolia Springs durin' de war,
sometime befo' freedom come, I guess 'bout 1862. Pappy's name Bob Horn
and he come from Georgia, and mammy name Hallie Horn, and she think she
part Indian, but she ain't sho'. Chester Horn our massa and he have big
plantation at Magnolia Springs, and he kep' one big family connection of
slaves. Sometime he sold some of dem and he sold my brother, Jack, and
my aunt, too. My other brother name Jim and Sam and Aaron and Bill Horn,
and my sisters name Mandy and Sarah and Emily.
"Massa have li'l houses all over de plantation for he slaves. Massa and
he folks punish dey slaves awful hard, and he used to tie 'em up and
whip 'em, too. Once he told my mammy do somethin' and she didn't and he
tie and whip her, and I skeert and cry. Mammy cook and work in de field.
"I jes' 'member I used to see sojers dress in blue uniforms walkin' all
over de country watchin' how things goin'. Massa want one my brothers go
to war, but he wouldn't, so I seed him buckle my brother down on a log
and whip him with whips, den with hand saws, till when he turn him loose
you couldn't tell what he look like. My brother lef' but I don't know
whether he went to war or not.
"I 'members when de men was goin' to war, somebody allus come git 'em.
Lots of 'em didn't want to go, but dey has to.
"Me go to school after us free. When my oldes' brother hear us is free
he give a whoop, run and jump a high fence, and told mammy goodbye. Den
he grab me up and hug and kiss me and say, 'Brother gone, don't 'spect
you ever see me no more.' I don't know where he go, but I never did see
him 'gain.
"After freedom, pappy and mammy moves off to deyselfs and farms. I marry
when I's fourteen and de Rev. George Hammonds, he perform de ceremony.
We marry quiet at home and I wore blue dress and my husband gran' black
suit. I have four chillen and five gran'chillen. My husban, he work here
and yonder, on de farm and what he kin git.
"I's de widow now and gits $11.00 pension, but have only git it four
times. I lives here with my daughter and us make a li'l in dis yere
rest'ran'.
"I never did see but one ghost, but I sho' see one. I cookin' at de
hotel in town and have to git up and go down de railroad track to my
work befo' it git light. One mornin' a great, tall somethin', tall and
slender as a porch post, come walkin' 'long. He step to one side, but he
didn't have no feets. I reckon he have a head, but I couldn't see it. As
I pass him I didn't say nothin' and he didn't either. He didn't have
time to, befo' I broke and run for my life. Dat's de onliest ghost I
ever see, but I often feel de spirits close by me."