It was during the war between the Indians and settlers that Berry's
grandmother, serving as a nurse at Tampa Bay was captured by the Indians
and carried away to become the squaw of their chief; she was later
re-captured by her owners. This was a common procedure, according to
Berry's statements. Indians often captured slaves, particularly the
women, or aided in their escape and almost always intermarried with
them. The red men were credited with inciting many uprisings and
wholesale escapes among the slaves.

Country frolics (dances) were quite often attended by Indians, whose
main reason for going was to obtain whiskey, for which they had a very
strong fondness. Berry describes an intoxicated Indian as a "tornado mad
man" and recalls a hair raising incident that ended in tragedy for the
offender.

A group of Indians were attending one of these frolics at Fort Myers
and everything went well until one of the number became intoxicated,
terrorizing the Negroes with bullying, and fighting anyone with whom he
could "pick" a quarrel. "Big Charlie" an uncle of the narrator was
present and when the red man challenged him to a fight made a quick end
of him by breaking his neck at one blow.

For two years he was hounded by revengeful Indians, who had an uncanny
way of ferreting out his whereabouts no matter where he went. Often he
sighted them while working in the fields and would be forced to flee to
some other place. This continued with many hairbreadth escapes, until he
was forced to move several states away.

Berry recalls the old days of black aristocracy when Negroes held high