When interviewed, Sarah Carpenter Colbert lived with her daughter in a very comfortable home at 1505 North Capitol Avenue in Indianapolis. She seemed happy, was glad to talk of her early days, and laughed when relating the experiences of her family. Sarah raised a large family and was very proud of her children.
Sarah was born in Allen County, Kentucky, in 1855. Her father, Isaac Carpenter, was the grandson of their master, Leige Carpenter, a kind farmer. Isaac worked on the farm until Carpenter’s death, and then he was sold to Jim McFarland of Frankfort, Kentucky. McFarland’s wife was mean to their slaves and whipped them regularly every morning just “to start the day right.”
One morning after a severe beating, Isaac met an old slave who asked him why he let his missus beat him so much. Isaac laughed and asked what he could do about it. The old man told him to bite her feet the next time she knocked him down, and then maybe she would stop beating him and sell him. The next morning when Isaac was getting his regular beating, he fell to the floor, grabbed his mistress’s foot, and bit her hard. She tried to pull away, but Isaac held on with his teeth. She ran around the room with Isaac holding on to her foot. Finally she stopped beating him, and she never struck him again. The next week he was put on the block, and since he was a strong man and a good worker, the bids were high. Leige Carpenter, Jr., son of his former owner, outbid everyone and bought him for $1,200.
Isaac’s new mistress was mean to him, too, so again he went to his old friend for advice. His friend told him to get some yellow dust, sprinkle it around his missus’s room, and, if possible, put some in her shoes. This he did, and shortly he was sold in the same county to Johnson Carpenter, who did not treat him any better. Tired of being mistreated, he remembered his former master, Leige Carpenter, telling him to never let anyone be mean to him, so he ran away to his old mistress and told her of his many hardships. Isaac told her what Leige Carpenter had told him, and she sent him back to Johnson Carpenter. She bought him at the next sale, though, and he lived with her until slavery was abolished.
Sarah’s grandfather, Bat Carpenter, was an ambitious slave who dug ore and bought his freedom. Then he bought his wife, Matilda, by paying her master $50 a year. Matilda continued to live and work on the farm of her former owner for very small wages, and Bat, who lived close by, was allowed to visit her every Sunday. One Sunday, though, it looked like rain, and Bat’s master told him to gather in the oats. Bat refused and was beaten with rawhide. He was so angry that he went to a witch doctor for a charm so he could fix his master. The witch doctor told him to get five new nails, as there were five members in his owner’s family. He should walk to the barn, then take a few steps backward, stop, and pound one nail deep in the ground; then take a few more steps backward, stop, and pound in another nail, and so on, each time giving the nail the name of a member of the family, starting with the master, then the mistress, and so on. He did as instructed and was never beaten again.
Jane Garmon was the village witch. She tormented the slaves with her cat. At milking time the cat would always appear, and at night it would go from one cabin to another, putting out all the grease lamps with its paw. No matter what they tried, they could not kill that cat. An old witch doctor told them to melt a dime, form a bullet with the silver, and shoot the cat. He said a lead bullet would never kill a bewitched animal. The silver bullet fixed the cat, though. Jane also bewitched their chickens. The chickens were dying fast, and everything the slaves did to save them failed. Finally they built a big fire and threw the dead chickens into the fire. That broke the charm, and no more chickens died.