The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1939-10-24


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- larger s~mnnasAaisoas Ths Plan
tsilux aNnss psy~a Ehs~s VIA
ussA~d n IN nArssis Of tss saa -
saek aNy.
Hlgh nr 90 ths hiuff hehind the
sturs ne ran ses~~ q tiny hui.
hardy lsrs~s thar two rssns tzzxes
faced texsthsf. IN ~hseh tsss N
odd. old Nsgro. re hal unos h~en
mossFsisis tan nei his sfnsctzsed
cd flgszrx had saaEnk into ttssif
70 that he wss little taller than
I.ualss now
Old Ma . l4AnAmarA
Ills grey face wAs yusi ere mans
~ wrinkles and his cis~fihs old
hands we're practically useless
from age In fact. he could DO
little bat hohbls around and he had
no way ~ making . living Tho
Negroes in the surrounding bot
toms more or less took care Of him.
AMI once in awhile ore 81 the white
fishermen would drop BY and less.
good-slsed buffalo hanging 10
his door.
The old man was almost . land
mark In that part Of the country.
No one knew just how old he Was
and he had no idea All he could
remember was that he had been =
young man with a wife and sew
eral children when the Civil war
broke out In the ensuing confu-
saon Of freedom. which he did not
understand, he had become seps-
rated from his family and had
spent all his life looking for them.
or untii age had taken its toll and
he could no longer travel. No doubt
his wife was dead now from old
age as well as his children. He
thought probably LOT Of his
grandchildren were scattered about
somewhere. but he had never seen
any OF them that he knew Of.
First Master French
His mind was still active enough
to be interested In things about
him, but his memory was becom-
ing spotty. He was sorry about
that because he liked 10 tell people
about how things were when he
was young and now he couldn't
remember very much about IL. He
does remember that he was born
somewhere around New Orleans
and that his first master was q
Frenchman, but he can't remember
his name now nor the name Of the
plantation.
Contrary to popular belief of
how most OF the slaves were treat
ed In the old days he claims that
there never was a whip laid on him
and that he saw that happen only
once and then II was deserved be-
cause Of theft. He has a faint
recollection Of his master dying
and OF being sold at auction. but
when we pressed him he couldn't
remember whether any families
were broken up or not. He wasn't
married at the time.
Once In Prison
He does, however, remember
being scared to death by the first
edition of the X. X. X. but they
never really bothered him. He said
he was too busy hunting for his
family at that time TO be doing
any harm. Once he was put In
prison-he can't remember which
one-for stealing groceries when
he was hungry. However. that
was what he had wanted because
there he was able to eat regularly
for over a year. He couldn't re-
member whether he was mistreat-
ed in prison or not. He didn't
think SO.
BY piecing various sections of
his story together we came to the
conclusion that the patriarch must
be at least a hundred and ten, a
good deal over a hundred anyway.
It's too bad his memory has failed
for few, If any, people are living
today who could give as true a