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my pappy an' mammy too. Us ain't wu'ked so hard at Maasa Carter's,
mos'ly pickinin'' 'backer. I 'members when I ain't high as a goat knee
I wuz pickin' worms off duh 'backer leaf. I ain't wu'k in duh fiel's
long though 'cause Massa make me a house boy. I waited on duh
tables an' shine duh spoons, an' fo'ks. Hab tub wu'k hard sometime
though w'en dey hab duh 'ceptions.

"W'en r wuz sixteen yeah ol', Massa sol' me an' some mo' Niggers
down Sout'. 'Cose us ain't want tuh go, but us hab tuh. Us wuz
chained togedder all duh way frum Norfo'k tuh Savannah. An' w'en
us got heah dey put us in a slabe pen right under whar B. H. Lebey's
sto' use tuh be. Duh nex' mornin' wuz sale day. Dey brung us heah
fuh duh Central Railroad. I wuz de only one not sol' tuh duh Central.
Dey says I'se too young, Massa McAlpin he done wants me but duh
Pres'dent ob duh road tell 'em dat Doctor Arnold hab duh fu'st pick
tuh buy me. Doctor Arnold, he been duh doctor fuh duh railroad.
Doctor Arnold, he want me fuh a house boy. 'Cause Nellie, she duh
doctor's wife, done spent some time in Vaginee at Massa Carter's home,
an' she know dat I'se a fuss-class waiter on duh table."

I am interested in the subject of slavery, so I ask, "George,
do you remember where any other slave pens were located at that time?"

"Yas suh, good as if it wuz jist yestuhday." He is animated.

"Dere wuz a pen under duh Pulaski House whar dey lock up duh
Niggers w'enebuh dey got heah in duh night, an' duh man what hab 'em
in charge done stop at duh hotel. Duh reg'lar jail wa'nt fuh slabes
but dere wuz a speck'lator jail at Hab'sham an' Bryan Street. Dey
lock up duh slabes in duh speck'lator jail when dey broughtt 'em heah
tuh de auction. Mos' ob duh speck'lators come in duh night befo' duh
sale an' stop at duh Pulaski House. Duh slabes wuz took tuh duh pen
under duh hotel."