Name of Interviewer: S. S. Taylor
Subject: [HW: Moses Jeffries]
Story--Information (If not enough space on this page add page.)
This information given by: Moses E. Jeffries
Place of Residence: 1110 Izard Street, Little Rock, Arkansas
Occupation: Plasterer
Age: 81 [TR: Age: 75 on 4th page of form.]
[TR: Personal information moved from bottom of form.]
"I was born in 1856. My age was kept with the cattle. As a rule, you
know, slaves were chattels. There was a fire and the Bible in which
the ages were kept was lost. The man who owned me couldn't remember
what month I was born in. Out of thirteen children, my mother could
only remember the age of one. I had twelve brothers and sisters--Bob
Lacy, William Henry, Cain Cecil, Jessie, Charles, Harvey, Johnnie,
Anna, Rose, Hannah, Lucy, and Thomas. I am the only one living now. My
parents were both slaves. My father has been dead about fifty-nine
years and my mother about sixty or sixty-one years. She died before I
married and I have been married fifty years. I have them in my Bible.
I remember when Lincoln was elected president and they said there was
going to be war. I remember when they had [HW: a] slave market in New
Orleans. I was living betweeen [TR: between] Pine Bluff and New
Orleans (living in Arkansas) and saw the slaves chained together as
they were brought through my place and located somewhere on some of
the big farms or plantations.
I never saw any of the fighting but I did see some of the Confederate
armies when they were retreating near the end of the war. I was just
about ten years old at the time and was in Marshall, Texas.
The man that owned me said to the old people that they were free,
that they didn't belong to him any more, that Abraham Lincoln had set
them free. Of course, I didn't know what freedom was. They brought the
news to them one evening, and them niggers danced nearly all night.
I remember also seeing a runaway slave. We saw the slaves first, and
the dogs came behind chasing them. They passed through our field about
half an hour ahead of the hounds, but the dogs would be trailing them.
The hunters didn't bother to stop and question us because they knew
the hounds were on the trail. I have known slaves to run away and stay
three years at a time. Master would whip them and they would run away.
They wouldn't have no place to go or stay so they would come back
after a while. Then they would be punished again. They wouldn't punish
them much, however, because they might run off again.