New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1875-09-29
The Color Liners Attack Women and
Children.

Children.
The Vicksburg Plain Dealer contains an
| account of an outrage which, although no
lives were lost, surpasses in cruelty any
thing yet attempted. Not content with
| preventing the colOred voters from register
ing, after that object was accomplished
they were driven from their homes, pre-
vented from gathering OF cuitivating their
crops, and sent away without food. Yield
ing tn the force of "ir"r sta . ecc :LcJ o.1
| away, leaving the women to gather the
| crops and obtain sufficient to support them
by their toll. But this was not enough for
theirtnemies. They had prevented regis
tering, but not satisfied with that, they
| drove away the women and children. Sat
urday, September l., a large number of
| poor colored persons were seen gathered on
| the levee neer the citizens whartboat. An
old man, who seemed thankful he had
escaped with his life, told the Plain Dealer
reporter this story:
| On the Sabbath OF the twelfth, while there
| was religious gathering on the Ewing
plantation, where we are living, we heard
| that the whites intended on Monday, the
| day of registration, TO prevent us from reg
istering; therefore we all agreed to 90 to
| the place OF registration early, IN order to
| avoid all difficulty. But to our astonish-
ment, this did not seem to mend matters
any, for as soon we were fairly in sight
| of the polls we were fired at by band of
| whites, ten or fifteen in number. and who
| at the same time ordered us to leave. We
| did SO, but being dissatisfied we resolved to
try again. Accordingly. Mr.. Ewing, the
| owner of tie premises on which we live,
| agreeing to accompany Us, We started again
| tor the place of registration, but when we
had come within few hundred yards OF
the place we were again fired uton and
| compelled TO retire. Not satisfied with
having prevented us from registering, they
sent us orders by Mr. Ewing to leave
the place and the neigh oUrhood in
stanter, threatening Us with death if
| we failed to comply. We. believ-
ing they could not be serious in
their threats, resolved to remain at home
| and attend to our work, as we were very
busy at the time preparing our cotton and
| gathering in the products of the place.
| That night some ten or fifteen colUred men
on the place prepared for defense, provided
| occasion should arise. Sure enough that
night, between the hours of one and two
| o'clock, the plantation was invaded by an
| armed band, nun bering about twenty-five
| or thirty, and when hailed by the colored
men, who were on the lookout, they replied
| by a volley from their guns. The colored
men Immediately returned the fire, when
| the invaders retreated. Soon after, how
| ever, they returned with reinioreements,
| and renewed their threats to kill us if we
did not leave forthwith, saying that if we
we're not gone in few hours we knew what
we might depend upon. In this firing none
of the colored men were hurt, but we after
ward learned that some OF the whites we're
4 Al 1al rs |, Al.
of Mr.. Ewing, the colored men left and
went on foot to Duckport. Of course this
was hard, but then we had been
ordered to go, and Mr.. Ewing said it
would be best for US, and SO we did so,
leaving the women to pick the crops, with
young children and teams to assist them.
Since then, however, orders came to drive
the women away also, and not to let a
damed negro woman or mans face De seen
on the Ewing plantation. Therefore, when
this boat, the Big Suntiower, came down,
Mr.. Ewing assisted several Of the women in
getting away, saying at the same time, that
he was sorry tpat they were forced to
leave" We then asked the old man if ne
had been allowed to get his mules. He said
"No, not even chicken had been brought
away by one of them" Have you any chill
dren among the fifteen womanl "Yes, sir,
there arc ten babies, and five halfgIown
boys and girls" Are all the women married!
Every ore of them, sir, except that one
yonder tpointing to yellow woman in
the crowd. She was married. but the |
second time those whites got after us, he |
ran into the Yazoo river and was
drowned" Where do you expect to go |
now "Anywhere that we can get work |
to do, sir. One of the men will take his |
family up 10 Captain Kings place this even
ing, and all of us will move as soon as We |
can obtain situations" Where do you pre-
fer to live-in town or in the country |
"Oh, the country all the time; we can make |
SO much to eat when we are in the country, |
and this year We raised fine cotton crops, |
and the best corn crop of anv since the |
war" Do any of you expect TO try to get
your property from up Yazoo river, such as
mules, cows, hogs, plows, etc. 7 1--WE are
afraid to try it, sir. If Mr.. Ewing will he |
can send them to us, but don't think any
of us would get away alive if we should
attempt such a thing"
1t was at this time raining very hard,
and through the kindness of Mr.. George f.
Ring these people were permitted to take
shelter in one of his storehouses. Still, |
"All is peace"
The Children's Mite.
The children of the McDonogh Girls