Mr. Rueben Rogers
upon seeing him had him arrested, charging him with being a fugitive
slave. He was confined in the jail there and held until the U.S. Marshal
of Baltimore released him, arresting Rogers and bringing him to
Baltimore City where he was reprimanded by the Federal Judge. This story
is well known by the older people of Howard County and traditionally
known by the younger generation of Ellicott City, and is called 'Old
Nick: Rogers' lemon.'"
Maryland
Sept. 28, 1937
Stansbury
DENNIS SIMMS, Ex-slave.
Reference: Personal interview with Dennis Simms, ex-slave,
September 19, 1937, at his home, 629 Mosher St., Baltimore.
Born on a tobacco plantation at Contee, Prince Georges County, Maryland,
June 17, 1841, Dennis Simms, Negro ex-slave, 628 Mosher Street,
Baltimore, Maryland, is still working and expects to live to be a
hundred years old.
He has one brother living, George Simms, of South River, Maryland, who
was born July 18, 1849. Both of them were born on the Contee tobacco
plantation, owned by Richard and Charles Contee, whose forbears were
early settlers in the State.
Simms always carries a rabbit's foot, to which he attributes his good
health and long life. He has been married four times since he gained his
freedom. His fourth wife, Eliza Simms, 67 years old, is now in the
Providence Hospital, suffering from a broken hip she received in a fall.
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