s the way my leg was broke. You see us had to call all of our
marster's chillun 'mistess' or 'marster.' One day I forgot to call one
of my young mistesses, 'miss.' She was about eight or nine months old.
My mistess heard me and put me in a stock and beat me. While she was
beatin' me, I turned my leg by some means and broke it. Don't you think
she quit beatin' me 'cause I had broke my leg. No, that made no
diff'unce to her. That's been years ago, but it still worries me now.
Now other times when you called your marster's chillun by their names,
they would strip you and let the child beat you. It didn't matter
whether the child was large or small, and they always beat you 'til the
blood ran down.

"Have you ever slept in the grave yard? I know you haven't but I have.
Many a time when I was told that I was goin' to get a beatin', I would
hide away in the cemetery where I stayed all night layin' in gullies
between graves prayin'. All night long I could see little lights runnin'
all over the grave yard, and I could see ha'nts, and hear 'em sayin'
'Uh, Uh, Uh, Uh, Uh,' which meant they were pityin' my case.

"When they whipped the men, all their clothes was took off, their hands
was fastened together and then they wound 'em up in the air to a post
and tied their feet to the bottom of the post. They would begin whippin'
'em at sundown, and sometimes they would be whippin' 'em as late as
'leven o'clock at night. You could hear 'em cryin' and prayin' a long
ways off. When they prayed for the Lord to have mercy, their marster
would cuss the Lord and tell 'em they better not call his name again."

The whipping pole, as described by Lizzie, was a long post several feet
in diameter to which was attached a long rope through a pulley. On one
end was a device, similiar to the modern handcuff--the other end was
used to draw the hand to an upward position, thereby, rendering the
individual helpless. At the base of the pole was a clamp like instrument
which held the feet in a motionless position.

Roy Redfield recalls going to the courthouse and seeing the older slaves
whipped. "When I would go there with my young marster I would see 'em
whippin' the slaves. You see they had stocks there then, and they
wouldn't put you in jail like they do now. Your marster or mistess would
send you to the courthouse with a note and they would put you in them
stocks and beat you, then they would give you a note and send you back.
They never did beat me