The Orangeburg democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1879-1881, 1879-06-13
a JERSEY MIXTURE.
THE COLONY OF 1sI. jbk!AND WHITE PEG.
PIE AT R.,ENJIN(IrON -

Il,.B u.EIt Il - It'.Ff ?
Now that the recent decision ol
Judge Huges, of Virginia, in regard
to the eonatitutionaitys oftthe MARI.
). age Of a colored man to a white wo-.
man in that State, is attracting SO
much attentions, a short account of a
: region 'n "a up, here in these Middle
states, and in this Democratic New
Jersey, and in one of its strongest
Democratic counties, where the two
:folers marry and intermingle, ma,
not be uninteresting. There lies be-
:, tweennthe counties of Mercer and
Hunterdon q long range of hills, ex-
lending from near Lambertsville in
one direction down into the edge of
Somerset County in the other. There
IS dispute as to the spelling of it's
nallei &sSome lcall it tic Somerland
Mountain, because a man by the
1ame Of aSomer, was the first settler.
Others call it the Sourland Mountain,
from the peculiar quality of the soil.
The former seems the more authentic.
1t is inhabited, at either. by a num-
Der of honest, frugal, industrious
farmers.
The central region is composed of
dense woods and thick underbrush,
end contains small settlement,
whose inhabitants, from the comming-
ling Of the white and black blood ,
may be properly. styled-a mongrel
class of people. just when this un-
natural method Of life began is hard
to ascertain, but the facts seem to in
dicate that number of years back
many of the scolored women from The
mountains went over to Princeton to
take in washing and to act 'as SER
wants in various parts Of the town.
There the promiscuous association
seems TO have commenced, and as
from. time TO time, those women re-
turned 10 the centre of the Somer-
land a.. population of tintermingled
color sprang ups AS the years went
by, and,tlie children became the men
and woman Of the next generation,
Some married into. the whitelruce,
sEEss into ths aofgTsS mere
were instances, anu ills said few
yet. rempln, where q colored boy
:. wouldabe emplqyed.by awhite farm
: crtsliviag ip the Vicinity igeVnity> and. when
he attained manhood you'd marry
into:his employers fsmilys Devoid
rs they we're : Of edocational aud re-
ligious privilege, their life soon be-
came, q Bild';yekklless one, a The, ac-
counts ftls crimes i,erpetratod by
:. these mopataineers would fill several
column, = as they already occupy
many pages OF, tue court records
her: Murders weretnot inffequent,
..d many Of the assassins and instl-
gators have never been discovered.
: It was only last December that the
Times:gave daily reports of the trial
of Benjamin Peterson for the murder
of Peter Nixson on this very noun
tain. Whatever these people may
have lacked of books and civilization,
they had plenty Of liquor, and this
was the cause Of a number of their H.
legal acts. Scattered all oyer this
portion Of the mountain, from The
little groggery near Wertsville, on
this side, to Aunt Polly Snooks', on
the Princeton side, were erected
small dens were liquor was sold.
The people had a custom Of organic
ing what they styled "pic-nics,"'. but
whichlssweree, g g. IN In reality nothing less
than species of horrible orgies. AT
these times the most lawless and i'm
moral deeds were done. so that soon
the whole > adjacent county became
afraid of the residents of. that dis
tflet,.a.A i,>.sg - s;F'. ,iInrg rfw 3.
Aslafger Portion;of this Thoroughly
bad life is now done away with. The
mountain! has been made more and
more accessible of late years, and as
the people of the woods have met
and traded outside, ~they~,have ac.
quired. several Of the phases of ciyi.
lized existence. Some. OF: the changes
for the better are due to the earnest
efforts 'of1seyeral prominent men, re-
garqless Qf sect, who obtained sub
scriptions and employed an able and
energetic man to act as missionary
among theae people. A chapel was
Ia