*Interview with Joe Casey,*
*Festus, Missouri.*
_Sold Slave, Ill Luck Followed_
"I did not get to see my daddy long. He served in de first of de war and
come home sick and died at Cadet. I was born at Cadet. I lives here in
Festus and am 90 years old. My mother was Arzella Casey and was a slave
in Cadet. Tom Casey owned both my mother and father. De master had a
pretty good farm and dat was where I worked when I was a boy. Mr. Casey
never hit me a lick in my life. He was sure good to us. I had an uncle
John and dey had to sell him 'cause dey could not do anything with him.
Dey took him to Potosi before dey sold him. He did not want to be drove.
Mr. Casey said if he had 100 niggers he would never sell another one. He
said he never had any more good luck since he sold John. Losing his
children was his bad luck.
"Before freedom we had our own house and stayed here after freedom. My
master said, 'Well, Joe you are your own boss.' I said: 'How come?' He
said: 'I'll help you.' Dey would not turn us out without a show. We
stayed dere free and I went out in de diggin's in de tiff at Valle
Mines. Some days I made $5 and den some days made $2. White folks would
come and get ma and she would go to help kill hogs and clean up de lard.
Dey paid her good. We must have stayed about 3 years at Casey's after de
freedom and den went to Mineral Point and worked for de tiff and
mineral. I married up dere and had about 13 children by 2 wives. I ain't
got no wife now. Dey is both dead. My children is scattered so I don't
know how many is livin'. I got a boy dat went to this last war and I
think he is out west somewhere. I got two boys here. One is workin' for
de factory in Crystal City. De other one knows lots about cement. I got
another child in New York. They don't write to me. I can't read or
write. Dere was no school for niggers dem days. I has to make a cross
mark every time I do anything. I went to school one week and my mother
had to clean tiff to make a livin' for dem children and get grub so I
had to go to work. I had about seven sisters and brothers altogether. I
done worked at everything--steamboating, cutting wheat in Harrisonville,
Illinois. I was here when dis was all woods, man. Me and a saloon keeper
have been here a long time, more'n 50 years I guess. I pay $5 a month
rent or just what I can give 'em. My two boys lives here with me now and
I get $12 pension.
"Dat's when my old master run when dem blue jackets come. Dey made me
kill chickens and turkeys and cook for 'em. De lieutenant and sergeant
would be right dere. De master would go out in de woods and hide and not
come out till they rung de bell at de house.
"I voted since I been 21. I voted for Roosevelt twice. Some thinks he is
goin' to get in again. What's the use of takin' money from a man for
votin' a certain way? If I like you and you have treated me good all my
life den I'll vote for you.
"I don't know what I think about de young Negroes today. Dey is all
shined up and goin' 'round. If dey can read and write dey ought to know
de difference between right and wrong. I don't think dey will amount to
much. Some of 'em ain't got no sense. My mother would not let me stay
out. Now, dat is all dey doin'. Last night de policeman put a knot on my
boy's head; he was drinkin' and got into it with a coon. De young
colored people is fightin' all de time. I don't get out. Just go to de
store and come back home again. Dere is a house right near where dey has
a big time every night. De whites and black ones was mixed up here till
I stopped it. Right down in dat hollow I'll bet you'll find one-third
white women livin' with black men. Most all de colored people around
here is workin' in the works here at Crystal City. Dey will get up a war
here if they keep on, you just watch, like they did in Illinois when dey
burnt up a heap of coons. It's liable to get worse de way dey is goin'
on."