*Eliza Overton, age 88.* *Interviews with Maggie Kennedy,* *John Franks, and Emma Body,* *Farmington, Missouri.*
(_Note:_ Since Eliza Overton, an ex-slave, is now with her daughter, Mrs. Mamie Robinson, in Detroit, the following information was gained from interviews with Mrs. Overton’s children now living in Farmington. They are: Mrs. Maggie Kennedy, age 66; John Franks, age 56; and Mrs. Emma Body, age 71. The oldest of the three children can recall life during these days and the others recall stories told them by their parents.)
"Our muthuh, Eliza, was born a slave in 1849, on da farm of her boss, Mr. Madden in New Tennessee, Ste. Genevieve County, Missouri. Eliza’s muthuh wuz also a slave. Muthuh wuz sol’ with our grandmuthuh to John Coffman of near Coffman, Missouri, in Ste. Genevieve County. Mr. Coffman had thousands of acres. He had three plantations an’ one wuz at Libertyville, Missouri. He had ’bout two hundred slaves. The negroes war tak’n frum one plantashun ta the other, and our grandmuthuh work’d at all three places. ’Ole man Coffman’ wuz a mean ole slave hol’er. He war afraid of his slaves an’ had some one else ta do da whippin’. They war rougher on ma aunt Eleanor, cause she war stubborn. They wud punish de slaves severely fur ’membrance. They whoop’d with a rawhide whop an’ trace chains. Wilson Harris wuz whooped at a tree onc’t an’ when dey got thro’ he say he wud fight. They whop him some mor’ ’til he was weak an’ bleedin’. The other slaves had to grease his shirt ta take it off his back ta keep frum tearin’ off de flesh. We can go down thar now and pick out trees whar the slaves war tied an’ whipp’d. The trees died on de side whar de slaves war tied. There are three trees on de Coffman farm that I seen dead on one side, an’ sum’ war in the yard. Thar is one clos’ to the Houck Railroad Station thar.
"When John Coffman was sick he say he wuz goin’ ta ride ’Jap’, a roan hoss, into heaban. So he ask us ta take good care of ’Jap’. I know Coffman didn’t go ta heaban ’cause he died an’ lef’ ’Jap’ here.
"Mr. Coffman had a whole row of slave cabins. Our cabins war small an’ we had a corded bed, trundle bed ta slip unda’ the big bed ta save room, home made split bottom chairs, tin plates, wood’n boxes, an’ a fireplace. John Coffman gave us a ’lowance of food. We had hogsheads an’ jowls. Many tha time we ran short on food so’s one night muthuh went out to whar the hogs war. Mr. Coffman had so many hogs he didn’t know how many he had. She had da water hot an’ the hogs war a long ways from Mr. Coffman’s house. So she hit a hog in da head with the ax an’ kill’d it. Afta’ killin’ it she went to the cabin ta get the water an’ when she kum’ bak one of the other slaves hed stole de dead hog. So she hit another one in de head an’ after fixin’ it hid the hog under de puncheon floor of the cab’n. This was done offen. Mr. Coffman use ta kill ’bout one hundred hogs at one time an’ den put dem in de smoke-house. Ma muthuh ud get the key to the smoke-house an’ load up an’ carry some meat home.