"There were some that weren't so good. One of his brothers was a real
bad man. They called him a nigger ruler. He used to go from place to
place and handle niggers. He carried his cowhide with him when he went.
My master said, 'A man is a damn fool to have a valuable slave and
butcher him up.' He said, 'If they need a whipping, whip them, but don't
beat them so they can't work.' He never whipped his slaves. No man ever
hit me a lick but my father. No man. I ain't got no scar on me nowhere.
"My young master was named Wiley Grave Sharpe. He drawed me when my old
master, Teed Sharpe, Sr., died. He's been dead a long time. Teed Sharpe,
Jr., Gibb Sharpe, and Sam Sharpe were brothers to Wiley Grave Sharpe.
Teed Sharpe, Jr. was the brutal one. He was the nigger ruler that did
the beating up and the killing of Negroes.
"He beat my brother Peter once till Peter dropped dead. Wiley Graves who
drawed me said, 'My brother shouldn't have done that.' But my brother
didn't belong to Wiley and he couldn't do nothing about it. That was
Teed, Jr.'s name. He got big money and was called a nigger ruler. Teed
had said he was going to make Peter do as much work as my sister did.
She was a young girl--but grown and stout and strong. In the olden time,
you could see women stout and strong like that. They don't grow that way
now. Peter couldn't keep up with her. He wasn't old enough nor strong
enough then. He would be later, but he hadn't reached his growth and my
sister had. Every time that Peter would fall behind my sister, Teed
would take him out and buckle him down to a log with a leather strap and
stand 'way back and then he would lay that long cowhide down, up and
down his back. He would split it open with every stroke and the blood
would run down. The last time he turned Peter loose, Peter went to my
sister and asked her for a rag. She thought he just wanted to wipe the
blood out of his face and eyes, but when she gave it to him, he fell
down dead across the potato ridges.