The southern enterprise. [volume] (Greenville, S.C.) 1854-1870, 1868-02-12

II over our menus tnat VIC 90 not near VI some
1 thcft, house burning, robbery, rape or mur.
der. / will mcption one or two instances out
/ OF thousands which might be cpumerated.--
Five negro;meh, last week, In Darlington Dis
trict, went, armed with guns, to a country
store, robbed the store, killed the clerk. shot
woman in the house, and went to the dwelling
of the owncr and killed him, A short time
on the South Carolina Railroad, which threw
OFF train of cars in tho night time. Again,
| at another point on the samc road, parcel Of
negroes fred iuto the train, and camo very
near killing several passengers. last fall, at
Pickens Court, sovcn or eight negroes were
convicted OF murder, and seventeen or eigh
teen others scnt TO the penitentiary High.
/ way robbery, an offence which was scarcely
ever heard Of in South Caroliuafor years past,
has become very common crimo in tho
neigbborhood of towns and villages. Theft
and burglary are of constant occurrence. In.
the country it is almost impossible TO raise
hogs, sheep and cattle. A gentleman told me
the other day that he had lost the last one OF
his sheep, forty in number, all stolen by the
negroes. Another gentleman, who had been
Governor Of tho State, informed me that be
had eighty.fvo hogs to kill last fall, and that
they were all stolen by the negroes excopf
seven. - p $780, ~
The support Of so many prisoners and con-
Sicts in our jiils and pcnitentiary is becoming
alarming. We shall not long be able to feed
them nor will tho prisons contain them. The
country is SO much impoverished that il is
difficult for the negroes to, get employment, If
they really wished to do so. Tho failure of
the cotton crop throughout the United States,
with the government tax and low price of the
staple, has rendered il impossible for the pl an
ters to continue their business tho present
year. The difficulty, too, in getting tho ne
groes to work during the past year has dis
couraged aud disgusted agreat many. A very
large cotton crop was planted last spring, and
a great effort was made by tho planters to
retrieve their fortunes and give employment
to the negroes, but universal failure and bank
rup.cy have ensucd. am not able to state
but the rice crop has fallen from one hundred
aud thirty or forty thousand terces to twelve
| thousand tierccs. ...
The present year every ono v III have to de-
vote his attention to the raising of provision
crop. He will not require go many laborcrs,
and wonld not be able to feed them If he did
| The negroes have nothing TO live on the pre-
sent year, and are unable to make crops by
themselves. They will haveto steal or stnryc
! This greatly diseourages, farming. in the
Southern States at this time. II you make
good crop of provisions, you have no securi-
| ty thatit = III not be stolcn or burnt up by
the negroes.
In regard to the political condition OF the
Southern States am in deep despair, and
have no hope except in q returning sense of
justice on the part of the Northcrn people
The idea OF placing tho government of these
States in the hands of negroes Is preposte>
rously absurd. None Of them have property
and not one in five hundred can read or write.
In the recent eleetan for members of Con-
vention many Of the negroes had forgotten
their names, and scarcely one in hundred
could tell after the election for whom no voted,
They were controlled blindly by the loyal
leagues. The tickets were printed in Charles
ton, with likeness of President Lincoln on
them. There never las been before such n
wide field opened fer the demagogues and
unprinciplcd aspirants to Office. The negro is
the most crcdulous being in the world, and
most easily imposed on by vile wretches who
ars disposed to pander to his ignorance and
passion. Emissaries from the North, white
and black, have come here and prejudiccd him
against the white race. He has been told that
unless he voted the Radical ticket he would he
( placed back in slavery, and that If he voted
that ticket he would have lands and mules
given him. In s6mo instances tho negroes
actually brought with them brdos to take
their mules home with.
! BY military order in South Carolina negroes
are TO sit on jures. In some Of the Districts
Of this State the negro population is so much
larger than the white that they will compose
almost the entire juries. How IL will bo pos
sibls TO administer justice, with such juries,
In complicated cases, is more than can tell.
I am equally at a loss to know how the ofices
Of the State arc to be filled. The iron clad
oath F" excludes from Office all who arc compc
tent and worthy. This difficulty was forescen
by General sickles, and he requested Of Con.
Il
grass the removal Of the oath. Gen'l. Meade
has recently suggested the same thing IN
Georgia. 1t will be impossible for the pegroes
aad the WORTHLESS whites to 6ll some Of those
oficss, or give the security required by law
/ Property Of all kinds, aud especially real
estate, has dopreciated in value one half or
tro-thirds during the past yOar No one is
disposed to purchase anything, and foreign
capital has been driven out or deterrod from
coming here for investment Property sold
By the Sheriff brings nothing. The marshaI
OF this State told me tho other day that he
Soda plantation; wsii improved, containing
i .wo thousand acres, in Horry District, at pub.
He auction TO the highest bidder. for eve dol.
lars. Mules brought only FIVE dollars apiece,
"a great many persons sro moving nom abe
a tx..s -. A. - -