"I slept in the children's quarters with the Haynes' children, ate and
played with them. I had all the privileges of the household accorded me
with the exception of one, I never was taken off nor permitted to leave
the plantation. While on the plantation I wore good clothes, similar to
those of the white children. Haynes was a merciless brutal tyrant with
his slaves, punishing them severly and cruelly both by the lash and in
the jail on the plantation.
"The name of the plantation where I was held as a slave was called
Beatrice Manor, after the wife of Haynes. It contained 8000 acres, of
which more than 6000 acres were under cultivation, and having about 350
colored slaves and 5 or 6 overseers all of whom were white. The
overseers were the overlords of the manor; as Haynes dealt extensively
in tobacco and trading in slaves, he was away from the plantation nearly
all the time. There was located on the top of the large tobacco
warehouse a large bell, which was rung at sun up, twelve o'clock and at
sundown, the year round. On the farm the slaves were assigned a task to
do each day and In the event it was not finished they were severely
whipped. While I never saw a slave whipped, I did see them afterwards,
they were very badly marked and striped by the overseers who did the
whipping.
"I have been back to the farm on several occasions, the first time in
1872 when I took my father there to show him the farm.
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