r punished in other ways. Run-aways
were hunted--dogs being used to track them at times.

OWENS CO.
(John Forsee)

George Dorsey:

Although this article is presented in narrative form and has but few
characters, the writer believes it to be an excellent example of life in
Owen County sixty or more years ago. With the exception of the grey
eagle episode, similar events to these described were happening all over
the county. There is no reason to doubt the authenticity of any part of
the article. The narrator (George Dorsey, age 76 (negro) Owentown,
Kentucky, born in slavery and raised by a white family) bears a good
reputation and is intelligent enough to react favorably and
intelligently to questions concerning the past. Further interviews
concerning more general subjects are planned.

"I was born on the 16th day of June, 1860 on the ole poor house farm
'bout two miles from Owentown. My mother yousta tell me I'd be a sleepy
head. I didn't know what she meant by that so finally one day, after I
got to be a great big boy, I asked her what she meant.

"Well, she says, Chickens that is hatched in June jess stand 'round in
the hot sun an' sleep themselves to death. So, as you was born in June,
you'll jess be a sleepy head."

"My mother belonged to Sammy Duvall, the father o' little Sam Duvall who
died not long ago. Little Sam usta be town marshall here and a guard at
the pen over at Frankfort. I was born a slave an' stayed one till the
niggers was freed.

"Bout the time the war was over I seen my first soldier. The road that
passed along in front of our house was a dirt road. I'd gone with mother
to watch her milk a young cow late one night, 'bout dark I guess, when I
heard somebody hollerin' and yellin' an' I looked down the road an' seen
'em comin'. I was 'bout five years old then an' it looked to me like all
the army was comin' up the road. The captain was on a hawse an' the men
afoot an' the dust from the dirt road a flyin'. There was a moon shinin'
an' you could see the muskets shinin' in the moonlight. I was settin' on
a fence an' when I seen 'em it scared me so I started to run. When I
jumped off I fell an' cut a hole in my for'head right over this left
eye. The scar's there yet. I run in the house and hid. Mr. Sammy Duvall
had to get on a hawse an' go to New Liberty an' fetch a doctor to plug
up the hole in my head. I seen lots of soldiers after that an' I always
run under the bed or hid in a closet o