The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1865-08-19
Conflict of the Races.

The conflict of the races seems to have
commenced in Alabama in earnest. A cor.
respondent of the Freedmen Bureau writes
from Mobile as follows:
"a meeting was held here last night, be-
fore which statements were made as to the
treatment of colored by white people, in the
interior of the State, which would make you
sick of life. One hundred and thirty three
dead bodies were counted in the woods five
bodies were seen floating in the river two
white men were seen to pull negro down
across log and cut his head off with an ak.
Women and children were killed, and then
boxed up and thrown into the river; woman
was killed by white man, and burial refus
ed by him to her relatives.
I" For a black man to be seen with green
backs in his possession is death. Colored
people are hiding in the woods, living on Der
ries, fruits. etc, to escape the fury of their
former masters.
These statements were made by intell
gent, candid, coloied men before an audience
of several hundred last night. In Mobile,
through the connivance ofsomebody, churches
and negro houses are burnt, women set to
work cleaning the streets, men and women
arrested in bed and taken to the guard house
Last night there was a heavy fire, in
which three or four squares, mostly of negro
quarters, were burned. Men were heard to
say that before they were done, they would
burn every negro quarter and schoolhouse in
Mobile. These things might be remedIed.'
In parts of North Carolina the condition
Of affairs appears to be little better. The
Wilmington Herald says:
The frequent occurrences of collisions be
| tween the blacks and whites III this vicinity,
| of which our local columns bear ample testi-
mony, is All alarming Indication. There Is
no Disgusting the fact that the resident black
| population OF tie town is iearfulls demoral.
lied through the sympathy OF the garrison OF
the town. Aud unless soTe remedy is ap-
| piled at once, we shall have trouble Of a most
serious nature.
! We regret the occasion for making the an
neuncement, but our duty to The public would
remain unfulfied were we TO conceal the fact
longer. We are really slumbering On vol
cano, the mutterings Of which are already dis
tinctly heard, and occasionally, through some
spot weaker than another, the flames break
| forth. The general eruption is likely to oc
cur at and time. In such an event the whites
will be at the mercy of the bllcks. We fear
/ to place confidence in tne assurance that the
black troops, in an emergency like that APP
| pretended, would be found otherwise than on
the side of their own race. 1t is too late now
to remporize with the matter 1t is too late
to delay preparations for meeting such an
apprehended outbreak. If such arrange
ments be not promptly made. there will be a
fearful reckoning for some one. We do no
know where the responsibility rests. but il
must be met at once, or the consequences
will be terrible.
1t is clear enough, something else .han ne
! gro suffrage will be needed to reconcile the
races at the South. Lincoln once said, there
the South without also adopting some scheme
of general deportation. Time promises to
vndicate his shrewdness in this Us it has in
| other matters