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bring the con to whar he was. He handcuffed th' man's hands from behind, an' then he took him back of a shad.
"I won't never see nothin' like that ag'in , fer I couldn't watch it now. Giles backed the con up to th' shed, an' when he started hittin' him, th' blood splattered ever'where. Giles was jes' usin' his fists , but he was strong as a bull , an' he hit a awful lick. Ha beat this con's face till it was a mess of blood, an' he wouldn't let him fall. When th' feller's legs give 'way, Giles caught him by th' throat with one han' , an' kept on beatin' him with th' other. In jes' a feew licks, th' con's nose was broke an' it looked like his teeth was all knocked out. Somebody asked Giles to stop 'fore he killed him, so he hit him one or two more good licks an' let him fall.
"They tried to make that feller work next day, but he couldn't do it. He c couldn't see. His eyes were as blue as a pair of new overalls, an' they was swelled tight. It wasn't right to beat him so bad, fer they was other ways of makin' him do th' work. I don't know what ever become of him.
"Things ain't like that now. COurse they still beat 'em in some of th' gangs, I guess, but th' big prisons don't do it. When I was Kilby, ever'body trated me nice. They took it fer a big joke when a man was sent that fer makin' likker, fet they all drunk it when they was off'n duty. One guard told me he
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was comin' down to Talladega County some day, an' he wanted me to have five gallon ready fer him.
"As I said, I was gettin' along fine with Ora th' first month or so at Red Diamond. But all of a sudden she started buyin' up new things fer th' house—sofas, tables, an' th' like—an' I knowed I'd never pay fer 'em if she kept it up. Th' baby was on its way, an' that was go'nter be a good bit of expense. I stood her buyin' spree long as I could, an' then I asked her one day to kinder ease up so we could cool off. Well, sir, she went into a fit, teared up a coupla dresses, an' took a hammer an' beat the new sofa till it was nearly ruined. Lots of folks would've thought she was gone crazy, but I knowed it was jes' th' ol' hell poppin' out'n her.
"I put a stop to that buyin'. I done it by jes' not givin' her th' money to buy with, an' refusin' to pay fer anything she got on a credit. I hated to do it while she was carryin' my baby, but I guess it was one of the best things I ever done. It was th' only way fer me to save any money. She took a lot of tales to the neighbors, an' she tol' enough lies to damn my soul forever, but it didn't hurt me none. Th' people livin' 'round us got onto how she was, an' they didn't pay no 'tention to her atter awhile.
"Our first baby was our girl, an' Ora was hog-crazy 'bout it. She started pettin' her from th' very first, an when th' boy come three year later, she
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was th' same way 'bout him. She never did want me to git close to either one of 'em. Lots of times when they was little, I'd bring candy or some toys home to 'em, but Ora'd take th' presents an' tell th' children she bought 'em. I never had sense enough to know then how she was workin' in with 'em. I wouldn't raise no sand 'bout how she acted, fer I wanted to keep her temper down if I could. But I know now that she started p'isenin' 'em ag'in me from th' time they was able to walk.
"A man ought'er pay more 'tention to what's goin' on in his own family. I'd like to go over them days ag'in, fer I'd run my place diff'runt an' git in better with my children. But I was too busy makin' a livin' to think of much else. Things was lookin' up in coal an' iron then, an' Alabama was boomin'. I scratched ev'ry nickel I could an' I saved some of 'em. We was workin' at th' mines in 12-hour shifts, an' they wasn't no such thing as a union. We kept them convicts humpin', an' we got things done.
"They ain't much I know 'bout unions. They may be all rigit, fer they've got th' hours down to nothin',an' th' wages is better. But back in my day, it was diff'runt. You didn't ask no boss fer more pay then, fer if you got unsatisfied they'd jes' throw you out. I was lucky to have a good bossman. I never did ask Mr. John fer more money, but he paid me fair. He kept me on th'
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payroll when I's too sick to do much work, an' they don't do that these days.
"I know one thing fer sure. We couldn't a done sump'un hack then that I seen at th' mill up at Talladega a few months ago. They was havin' a strike thar, an' they wouldn't let nobody go in th' mill to work. If anybody'd tried that on Mister John, they'd a been plenty of shootin', fer he didn't monkey 'round 'bout nothin'. I remember they tried to git up a union at Red Diamond once, an' they sent soldiers in thar to break it up. A few heads was cracked then, but it wasn't nothin' as bad as I've heard of since.
"Unions wouldn't a ever suited me, I don't reckon. I allus tried to be on th' boss' side in ever'thing, an' maybe that's why I was allus treated good. That's why I kept gittin' better money, till I was makin' $150 'fore my heart got too bad fer me to work. I guess it was a good thing that I was happy on my job, fer I wasn't havin' no peace at home. It was hell ever'whar I turned, an' even when I's makin' good money, Ora was still complainin' 'bout havin' to marry a po'r man.
"I jes' let her rave till th' children was growed up a little, but then sump'un happened that got her turned ag'in me from that time on. She was goin' to a church whar they got down on th' floor an' cut up—whooped and hollered an' jabbered—an' jes' acted crazy in ev'ry way. I was worried 'bout her mind, but
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I didn't say nothin' till she started tryin' to take th' kids down thar.
"Now, I figgered they was as much mine as her'n, anI I made up my mind that she wasn't go'nter take 'em into that mess. I don't go to no church—I never did—but I b'lieve thar's a God an' a life beyond this'un. I jes' don't think a body has to go crazy to git to heaven; th' Lord don't want a gang of fools up thar.
"Well, when she tried to take th' kids to them meetin's, I took a stand ag'in her. It was on a Sunday night an' shewas dressin' 'em up, goin' on crazylike while she was doin' it. I went in to whar they was, an' I told her she wasn't go'nter take 'em outa th' house. When I said that, she jumped up an' run up to me shakin' all over. She says, 'You mean yo'r go'nter 'pose th' Lord?', an' I told her th' Lord didn't have no toleration fer this sort of thing. I said I didn't aim fer my own little children to git mixed up with a bunch of crazy people.
"'Fore we finished the row, ever'body but me was a cryin', an' she was huggin' th' kids an' takin' on over ' em. Po'r little things, it wasn't their fault. I ought'er 've knowed right then that their minds was bein' sot ag'in me, but I jes' let things rock on till they was gone too fer.
"That sort of thing kept up long as I lived with her. She got th' children to b'lievin' that I wouldn't give 'em no money, but that I was spendin' it all
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