Ypsilanti sentinel. [volume] (Ypsilanti, Washtenaw Co., Mich.) 1843-1900, 1847-09-08
The SanG-Hiiiers,

We find in the Winyaw Intelligencer, pnb-
lished at Georgetown, South Caroline, the fol-
loving notices:
4" ne poor laborers on Black River, and IN
that nelghborhood, are in state of starvation:
many them being without corn, or meal. and
none oi them having meat. The occasion calls
Tor the aid vi the charitable, and efforts will be
made to obtain relief for them."
w no are these poor laDOrersl
There Is class of poor whites in the Caro-
linas, and most OF the Southern States, pecul-
lar In character, aud unknown to the country
generally. They called Sand -kilers.-
they SO called, because they cluster togeth-
er III the poorest regions, and there live by fish
ing, hunting, raising little stock, making tar
and Charcoal, and Attending to poultry. They
are very Ignorant. Not one in fifty can read or
write, anu what is worse, they change not as
! time WINDOWS down the old and supplies their
places with the young. AS Is the sire SO is the
son. And these Sand-hiiiers are as peculiar
In dress and look as they are in character. You
know them wherever you see them. They are
marked in any crowd. Dressed always in the
plainest homespun, home made and widely cut,
often without shoes, but when using them al
ways the coarsest kind, with slouched hat of
cLedpest texture, having no blood in their cheeks
their eyes black, and their hair lank, they are
as distinct a race as the Indians. In some res
poets they are not unlike them. They love to
roam the woods and be free there; to get to-
gether for trolc or fun to fish and hunt to
chase wild cattle; but here the similarity ends /:
Tor they are wanting in personal daring, and in
that energy OF character which makes man.
! We do not know one of them that ever gained
a station in society, or became distinguished
by his DEEDS. And it is this class to which the
Georgetown lntelligencer allndes, we conclude,
when 1t speaks OF the poor laborers of Black Ri
yer, and neghborhood.
How came they in their present condition
Their history is quickly told. 1t is a sad one
and we never think of it without sorrow.
In the early settle ment of the Carolinas, ev-
erybody pressed upon the water courses. Poor
as well as rich, made Judgement upon or near
their BANKS. There were at first very few ne
groes, consequently the latter needed the labor
OF the former, to house their crops, and clear
their lands. All got along well, then. Bat
the slave traffic, with its accursej ills began
soon after, aud, bye and bye, planters had their
places stocked with slaves. As these slaves
increased, the poor began to feel their degrade
ton. A bitter hatred grew up between these
classes. 1t led often to violence. The larger
planters, in consequence, began to buy up the
poor mems land, and the poor men, in turn, be-
came anxious to sell. And they did so. But
where were they TO go! South of Carolina
was wilderness; the good lands on the water
courses In the State. were in the possession of
rich planters. They had no alternative as they
thought, but to herd together on the sanl hills,
and there they and theirs still live.
Their choice of place is significant enough
of their feeling, and of the cause of their reno