Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1922-06-02
NEGRO STILL ACTIVE
LauFenS County Negro Attributes
Long Life 10 Regular Diet.
FORMER SLAVE NOW lOS YEARS old
Was Sold on the Beck When He Was
Eighteen for S1,2oo-Never Used
Whisky Or Tobacco.

Eighteen Tor , i,SuJ-NeNe'
Whisky Or Tobacco.
Fountain Inn-One hundred and
three years, ago Jack Abercrombge
came into The world as slave on a
farm about three miles frcm here and
this morning, when this correspond
ent made a trip. TO, see him., he was
hoeing cotton with as much cnthpq-
siasm as one might expect G. find in
one less than half as DID,, writes q
staff correspondent of the 'Greenville
News.
/ For more than century he mas
lived in Laurens and Greenville coun-
ties and while the short kinky hair
THAT adorns his head has generally
turned to a cottonish white, his step
is remarkably sprisht. Never yet has
he worn eye glGsses and he can recog-
nize friend or foe at a distance OF
several hundred yards.
Il have never used whisky or to-
baeco," the old negro replied %heh
asked to what he attributed his long
life. Always he has had good ap-
D. tito and until the last few years he
has taken his turn at the plow or the
wood pile along with younger but no
more buxom mcmbers of his race. Dur-
ing the last few years, however, he mas
done only part time" work, going 10
the field regularly but quitting before
the sun sinks behind the western SKY.
Il gets winded worse than ! used
TO-" the old negro said as he laid down
his hoe and mopped the pcrspiration
from his brow. And, white folks,
YOU will have to excuse me if l sits
down for can't stand up like / once
did. My legs get lottery and have
Ito sit down on the terrace to get my
breath"
Sitting On the terrace, with a broad
expanse of unchoppcd cotton before
him. while behind him lay several
long rows that he had chopped de-
spite the early hour, the old negro
told of events in this section of the
state for the past century
He saw the soldiers go forth to the
Mexican war; heard Of the tumult ana
the shouting when the Palmetto lads
went over the top at Mexico City; or
the stormy days ,precedipg the Civil
war and Of the four years of carnage
and slaughter and last but not least
of the conclusion which meant that
the negro Was TO be set free
Made Free at Forty-six.,
"The reason | know that | am lOS
years cd is that in 1865 my master,
Lewis Abercrombie, said to me, well,
Jack. you are fortysiX years old now
land YOU will have to sniff for your
self. l have kept you and looked af-
ter you as long as / could but now
You viii have to look out for your
self. You know how to farm and you
are forty-six years. old so you ought
to get by"
So saying the master turned and
walked away, leaving the black not
IOnly Tree DuJ DSNilu'iNu "iiH
to collect his thoughts. All his lie
he had put his feet under table in
the masters back yard and while he
had helped make the corn and the
bread there was always plenty for
both white and black
''t 1t was with strange feeling, then,
that the old negro started out to
make his way in the world. He had
nothing but the shabby, clothing on
hfEback.
- His first job was cradling wheat
and his long black arms swung
cradle from early morning until late
at night for four pounds of bacon
day.
E"It was hard work but | was used
to that and then | had to do some
thing" he said.
Years passed by and the old negro
was three times married His first
two wives have crossed the river that
separates this world from the un-
known while the third lives with him