The facts were as follows: "Every morning my grandmother would pray, and
old man Heard despised to hear any one pray saying they were only doing
so that they might become free niggers. Just as sure as the sun would
rise, she would get a whipping; but this did not stop her prayers every
morning before day. This particular time grandmother Sylvia was in
"family way" and that morning she began to pray as usual. The master
heard her and became so angry he came to her cabin seized and pulled her
clothes from her body and tied her to a young sapling. He whipped her so
brutally that her body was raw all over. When darkness fell her husband
cut her down from the tree, during the day he was afraid to go near her.
Rather than go back to the cabin she crawled on her knees to the woods
and her husband brought grease for her to grease her raw body. For two
weeks the master hunted but could not find her; however, when he finally
did, she had given birth to twins. The only thing that saved her was the
fact that she was a mid-wife and always carried a small pin knife which
she used to cut the navel cord of the babies. After doing this she tore
her petticoat into two pieces and wrapped each baby. Grandmother Sylvia
lived to get 115 years old.

Not only was Mr. Henderson cruel but it seemed that every one he hired
in the capacity of overseer was just as cruel. For instance, Mrs.
Henderson's grandmother Sylvia, was told to take her clothes off when
she reached the end of a row. She was to be whipped because she had not
completed the required amount of hoeing for the day. Grandmother
continued hoeing until she came to a fence; as the overseer reached out
to grab her she snatched a fence railing and broke it across his arms.
On another occasion grandmother Sylvia ran all the way to town to tell
the master that an overseer was beating her husband to death. The master
immediately jumped on his horse and started for home; and reaching the
plantation he ordered the overseer to stop whipping the old man. Mrs.