Interview with Perry Sheppard,
Aged 94, Fredericktown, Missouri.
Interviewed by J. Tom Miles.
"I'm hard of hearin'. I know I'm 94 years old; was born in Cape County. I was a slave till I was 20 years old. I was a house boy. De boss had a number of black men who did de work in de field. In warm weather we wore flax, an jeans, in de winter I had plenty of meat to eat. I can't read or write. Wish I could. My old mistress told me I was free when I was 20. Den I stayed there a while and worked on shares. De militia come an took a horse away from me on de road ten miles away from home and I had to walk home. But he fetched de hoss home after a while. I think slavery was a good thing. I never suffered for nothin'. Lincoln wanted every man to work for himself."
[Frank Sides]
Interview with Frank Sides,
Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
"Ah's jest a little feller when de war's over, jes' 'bout six year ole, ah wuz, an' ah don' rec'lect much 'bout dem days. Aaron an' Lucy Sides wuz mah daddy an' mammy, an' we belong to Mastuh Cato. Dey live near Fredericktown, ah don' membuh young 'Missus' name, an' dey neveh had no chillun. Dey had a big house, an' seems like we live in paht o'de white folks' house. De sojers come 'round sometime, but dey didden' bathuh us, jes' ask fo' a drink er suthin' to eat, an' go on.
"But de 'Bushwackers' wuz bad, dey go shootin' anybody, en' doin' devilment. I don' rec'lect nuthin' dey done roun' our place but one day a little bunch o' 'em stop dere fo' a drink. Ah's scared o' 'um, but ah gives 'em all a drink, an' de las' man takes his drink and t'rows de dippuh on de flo'.
"We didden' hab no school but ah learned to read an' write, but ah's not much of a scholar at dat.
"When de war's ovuh we move to 'Cape', an' we live fust one place, 'en 'nuther, doin' whut we could.
"One time ah's workin' wid a gang on a railroad bridge. Dey wuz a big gang of us. Oh, mebbe three or fo' hundred. De sleepin' cah wuz 'bout half mile down de track. Come mah time tuh turn in, ah starts down de track. It wuz bright moonlight an' ah's tired an' sleepy. Jes' as ah comes along whar de cattle gahd is, dere standin' in de middle o' de track is a big, tall man, all in black. He don' move, an' he's tall ag'in as ah is. It's so light ah kin see him plain. Ah stan's an' looks at him an' ah thinks: 'Shall ah run past? No, if ah does he'll git me sho'.' Den ah says, 'Shall ah climb dat bobwire fence an' go through de fiel'', but ah says, 'No, No!, spose mah pants gits hung on de bobwire, den whut happen?' Ah looks at him again an' he's twice as big ez he wuz befo', but he jes' stans dere. So ah goes jes' ez close to de fence ez ah could an' goes sideways pass' him, keepin' mah eye on him, but he don' move, jes' keep standin' dere. Nex' day ah goes tuh look at de place but don' see no sign o' him. Ah don' know why fo' he stan' dere 'till folks tell me dat, 'Bout a year befo', a man wuz killed right der'."