er new master was so pleased to get such a strong girl who could work
so well and so fast.

The thoughts of the cruel way of putting her baby to death preyed on her
mind to such an extent, she developed epilepsy. This angered her new
master, and he sent her back to her old master, and forced him to refund
the money he had paid for her.

Another slave had displeased his master for some reason, he was taken to
the barn and killed, and was buried right in the barn. No one knew of
this until they were set free, as the slaves who knew about it were
afraid to tell for fear of the same fate befalling on them.

Parthena also remembers slaves being beaten until their backs were
blistered. The overseers would then open the blisters and sprinkle salt
and pepper in the open blisters, so their backs would smart and hurt all
the more.

Many times, slaves would be beaten to death, thrown into sink holes, and
left for the buzzards to swarm and feast on their bodies.

So many of the slaves she knew were half fed and half clothed, and
treated so cruelly, that it "would make your hair stand on ends."

Interviewer's Comment

Mrs. Rollins is in poor health all broken up with "rheumatiz."

She lives with a daughter and grandson, and said she could hardly talk
of the happenings of the early days, because of the awful things her
folks had to go through

Submitted December 21, 1937
Anatolia, Indiana

Ex-Slave Stories
District #5
Vanderburgh County
Lauana Creel

TOLD BY JOHN RUDD, AN EX-SLAVE

"Yes, I was a slave," said John Rudd, "And I'll say this to the whole
world, Slavery was the worst curse ever visited on the people of the
United States."

John Rudd is a negro, dark and swarthy as to complexion but his nose is
straight and aqualine, for his mother-was half Indian.

The memory of his mother, Liza Rudd, is sacred to John Rudd today and
her many disadvantages are still a source of grief to the old man of 83
years. John Rudd was born on Christmas day 1854 in the home of Benjamin
Simms, at Springfield, Kentucky. The mother of the young child was house
maid for mistress Simms and Uncle John remembers that mother and child
received only the kindliest consideration from all members of the Simms
family.

While John was yet a small boy Benjamin Simms died and the Simms slaves
were auctioned to the highest bidders. "If'n you wants to know what
unhappiness means," said Uncle John Rudd, "Jess'n you stand on the Slave
B