The Orangeburg news. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1867-1875, 1874-08-22
n z The mississippi War.

&eass Austin, on the lowlands, near Ship Is
aSSisiand, along the Mississippi river. The
= Sttwar Of races" has not arrived, whites
and negroes have disbandod, and the
:, troubles are over. It is noteworthy
-ee&a that the only persons killed wcro ne
armed, in large numbers, at various
points in the vicinity OF Austin announ
y cling rumors that tho blacks wcro sup
posed to have been numbering women
and children loft unprotected on the sur
rounding plantations. But no confr
nation of these distressing and impro
bable statements arrived. Fifteen or
twenty negroes were shot by the vigi
protect themselves; and as We have no
evidence Of reprsals, it seems certain
that the colorcd citizens were either
gaqSrery poorly provided with weapons or
exceeding timid. The chief object Of
tho blacks bands who appeared at Aus
= tin vas not campaign Of vindictvc
slaughter, as declared by the whites for
there is not an instance of armed aggres
a sion on tho part of single negro. Some
Of the stores deserted by the whites lin
Austin were, according to the dispatch
es, plundcrcd by the blacks, and there
was, perhaps, treason for apprehension
g. of an outbreak by them when they had
taken possession Of whatever whisky
there WAS in the neishborhood But
their animosity seemed chiefly directed
sss toward. certain Republican officials
). whom they had prescribed, and toward
the fugitive DR.. Smith, who recently
shot negro man with whom he had
o quarreled, but missing him. killed an
innocent colored girl. The whites got
eso reinforcements and, and seemed prepar-
- ing for active fighting, although ccvnt
~ l'shows that cool beaded Sheriff, with
y small posse, could have quelcd tho
rs whole disturbance in ten minutes
17y Large numbers Of the negroes on the
;ss plantations in Mississippi and Arkansas
near the "Fathcr Of Waters" arc very
j ignorant, and might, perhaps, be aroused
ss1R to wicked work if they were convinced
4 that the whites intended to make war
e. upon them Many ofthem have vague
r. idea that the civil rights bill has really
aHabeen passed by Congress, that it gives
q them remarkable privileges, and that
n hthe whites who live near them intenl to
e cheat them out Of those rights. But
~ the fact that thoy have not rcsorted to
Il the use of weapons, even under such
! provocation as the slaughter Of many Of
! their own number, seems to indicate til at
they are far from bloodthirsty. They
- are evidently very much Yuzzled to
= know what the prese Mt uprising Of The
81 whites is for, an d gather together for
'& protection, feeling naturally somewhat
81, suspicious when they hear that the
white have called for large stores of
! guns and ammunition. We do not
q think the whites need to complain of
negro supremacy in Mississi ppi, when
they can kill with impunity as many
ne gro es as they please, and do not even
}e suffer from retaliation The war in
Tunica county, Miss, was certainly
waged by tho whites alone, SO far as ac-
tnal shooting is concerned.
We are informed that politics did not
enter into this disturbance. Evidently
not The negroes were not locking in
armed bands for the purpose Of tcrroz-
pg the whites, any more than they were
in Vicksburg the day before the much
} d bruited election. They would, perhaps
have like TO lynch DR.. Smith who kill
ed the colorcd girl, and to corr ect' some
of their own fugitive officials; but even
the Conservatives cannot show that any
negro Of the whelc mass desired to pro
cipitate collision with the whites On
the contrary it looks as if tho Conscrva
tivcs would not have been sorry to have
pretext for fight; and as fthey took
the initiative in a very frank manner.
It would not have been wonderful fthe
negroes had fired few shots by way of
returning hostlitics; but they certainly
appeared very little like the savage and
iDfilriated' horde which tho World dn