Silveri: What are some of the stories you remember your grandmother telling you?

Baxter: She says that these two fellows came there in the middle of the night. Their owners were hot on their trail. …Well, what actually happened, see, when they came in and told their story briefly. Well, they went right to work, see, and then this house that they had this station, it has a dungeon. It was really set up for this type of thing. …See, the could slide it back. It had a door there that led to the dungeon, and the dungeon had an outside exit. Oh, I guess fifty feet from the house, and this exit came out around cluster of trees and all of that sort of thing. …They sent them into the dungeon right away because they knew that their owners would be there in a short while as a general rule.

“We occupied a front room in the north-west corner of the jail, and in the room back of us were twenty-nine more rebel deserters and a large, powerful negro, who had been placed there by his master as a punishment of some alleged misdemeanor.… It was all arranged that the large, powerful negro would seize the Sergeant from behind and hold him, while his companions secured his pistol and the keys. That night when the Sergeant came up, he brought one armed guard to the head of the stairs,and proceeded to unlock the door. As he entered, the Negro, who stood behind the door, caught him from behind, securely pinning his arms and the keys and revolver were taken from him and all passed out except the negro, who was holding the Sergeant as securely as though he was in a vice…. When they had all got out the Sergeant was pushed into the cell and the door locked. The guard at the head of the stairs shouted, loud enough for the sergeant to hear him: "Go back,or I’ll shoot -go back!” all the time expecting they would rush up and disarm him; but the cowards, fearing he was in earnest, fell back and unlocked the door, released the Sergeant, and gave him back the pistol without unlocking the door to our room. Not knowing the prisoners in our room were in the plot, the Sergeant paid no attention to us, but calling the officer of the guard, told him what had occurred. They took the negro out into the hall, and bringing up a plank, proceeded to lash him securely to it, with his face down, after having stripped him. They then took a strap something like a tug to a single harness, and gave him one hundred lashes with it upon his bare back, the blood flowing every blow. We had cut slits in the door, and through them watched this brutal transaction. I watched the operation of binding him with some curiosity and a good deal of indignation ,and was astonished to find such brutality among those who pocessed civilization. Unaccustomed to such scenes, I must say it was the most sickening transaction I ever witnessed.… After this exhibition of fiendish cruelty, I am ready to believe that the system of human slavery was capable of developing total depravity into the hearts of slave holders.