"I heard my mother say that her master and them had to refugee them to
keep them from the Yankees. She told a ghost tale on that. I guess it
must have been true.
"She said they all hitched up and put them in the wagon and went to
driving down the road. Night fell and they came to a big two-story
house. They went to bed. The house was empty, and they couldn't raise
nobody; so they just camped there for the night. After they went to
bed, big balls of fire came rolling down the stairs. They all got
scared and run out of the house and camped outside for the night.
There wasn't no more sleeping in that house.
"Some people believe in ghosts and some don't. What do you believe?
This is what I have seen myself. Mules and horses were running 'round
screaming and hollering every night. One day, I was walking along when
I saw a mule big as an elephant with ears at least three feet long and
eyes as big as auto lamps. He was standing right in the middle of the
road looking at me and making no motion to move. I was scared to
death, but I stooped down to pick up a stone. It wasn't but a second.
But when I raised up, he had vanished. He didn't make a sound. He just
disappeared in a second. That was in the broad open daylight. That was
what had been causing all the confusion with the mules and horses.
"When I first married I used to room with an old lady named Johnson.
Time we went to bed and put the light out, something would open the
doors. Finally I got scared and used to tell my wife to get up and
close the doors. Finally she got skittish about it. There used to be
the biggest storms around there and yet you couldn't see nothin'.
There wasn't no rain nor nothin'. Just sounds and noises like storms.
My wife comes to visit me sometimes now.
"My mother says there wasn't any such thing as marriage in slave
times. Old master jus' said, 'There's your husband, Florida.'"
Little Rock District
FOLKLORE SUBJECTS
Name of Interviewer: Irene Robertson
Subject: HISTORY OF ELLIS JEFFERSON--(NEGRO)
Story--Information (If not enough space on this page add page.)
This Information given by: Ellis Jefferson (Uncle Jeff) (C)
Place of Residence: Hazen, Arkansas
Occupation: Superanuated Minister of the M. E. Church
Age: 77
[TR: Personal information moved from bottom of form.]
He has his second eyesight and his hair is short and white. He is a
black skinned, bright-eyed old man. "Uncle Jeff" said he remembered
when the Civil War had ended they passed by where he lived with teams,
wagons filled, and especially the artillery wagon. They were carrying
them back to Washington. His mother was freed from Mrs. Nancy Marshall
of Roanoke, Va. She moved and brought his mother, he and his sister,
Ann, to Holly Springs, Miss. The county was named for his mistress:
Marshall County, Mississippi.
In 1868 they moved to [HW: within] 4 miles of DeWitt and 10 miles of
Arkansas Post. Later they moved to Kansas and near Wichita then back
to Marshall, Texas. His sister has four sons down there. He thinks she
is still living. His Mistress went back to Roanoke, Va., and his
mother died at Marshall. Tom Marshall was his Master's name, but he
seems to have died in the Civil War. This old Uncle Jeff lived in
Alabama and has preached there and in northern Mississippi and near
Helena, Arkansas. He helped cook at Helena in a hotel. He preaches
some but the WPA supports him now. Uncle Jeff can't remember his
dreams he said "The Bible says, young men dream dreams and old men see
visions."
He had a real vision once, he was going late one afternoon to get his
mules up and he heard a voice "I have a voice I want you to complete.
Carry my word." He was a member of the church but he made a profession
and a year later was ordained into the ministry. He believes in
dreams. Says they are warnings.
Uncle Jeff says he has written some poetry but it has all been lost.
When anyone dies the sexton goes to the church and tolls the bell as
many times as the dead person is old. They take the body to the church
for the night and they gather there and watch. He believes the soul
rises from the ground on the Resurrection Day. He believes some people
can put a "spell" on other people. He said that was witchery.
[HW: Marshall County, Miss., named for John Marshall of Virginia,
Chief Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court, 1801-35. _History of
Marshall (County), Mississippi_, by Clayton M. Alexander.]