was
nothing to do but kill him. If a slave resisted, and his master killed
him, it was the same as self-defense today. If a cruel master whipped a
slave to death, it put the fear into the other slaves. The brother of
the man who owned my mother had many black people. He was too mean to
live, but he made it. Once he was threshing wheat with a 'ground-hog'
threshing machine, run by horse power. He called to a woman slave. She
did not hear him because of the noise of the machine, and did not
answer. He leaped off the machine to whip her. He caught his foot in
some cogs and injured it so that it had to be taken off.

They tell me that today there is a place where there is a high fence.
If someone gets near, he can hear the cries of the spirits of black
people who were beaten to death. It is kept secret so that people won't
find it out. Such places are always fenced to keep them secret. Once a
man was out with a friend, hunting. The dog chased something back of a
high fence. One man started to go in. The other said, "What are you
going to do?" The other one said, "I want to see what the dog chased
back in there." His friend told him, "You'd better stay out of there.
That place is haunted by spirits of black people who were beaten to
death."

Federal Writers' Project
of the W.P.A.
District #6
Marion County
Anna Pritchett
1200 Kentucky Avenue

FOLKLORE
MRS. SARAH H. LOCKE--DAUGHTER [of Wm. A. and Priscilla Taylor]

Mrs. Locke, the daughter of Wm. A. and Priscilla Taylor, was born in
Woodford County, Kentucky in 1859. She went over her early days with
great interest.

Jacob Keephart, her master, was very kind to his slaves, would never
sell them to "nigger traders." His family was very large, so they bought
and sold their slaves within the families and neighbors.

Mrs. Locke's father, brothers, and grandmother belonged to the same
master in Henry County, Kentucky. Her mother and the two sisters
belonged to another branch of the Keephart family, about seven miles
away.

Her father came to see her mother on Wednesday and Saturday nights. They
would have big dinners on these nights in their cabin.

Her father cradled all the grain for the neighborhood. He was a very
high tempered man and would do no work when angry; therefore, every
effort was made to keep him in a good humor when the work was heavy.

Her mother died when the children were very young. Sarah was given to
the Keephart daughter as a wedding p