Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-09-06
Ie, the yaprant Law be Enforced.


We think the present a good time to
quote a little law. The law we refer TO
reads as follows: "All persons wander
ing or str0lling about IN idleness, who
are able 70 work and have no property TO
support them; all persons leading an
idle, immoral or profiigate life, who
have no property 10 support them'
who are able 70 work and who do not
work: all persons able 10 work, having
no property 70 support them, and who
have not some visible and known means
OF earning a fair. honest and reputable
livelihood: all persons having a fixed
abode who have no visible property TO
support them. and who live by stealing,
or By trading in, or bartering for, or buy
ing stolen property, etc, shall be deemed
Migrants and shall be indicted as
such" The court may punish |
Migrants BY fning or imprisOning them, !
or by sentencing them 10 work on the |
public works or roads. or TO Be bound out |
10 some person. selected by the court, for |
a term not longer than one year. We are !
led To quote so much Of the vagrant law |
because il Is becoming apparent that !
LAEEE aLE a -DlAA many fca=i eAalN- -AA N----
community. and that a large per
cent. Of these Migrants are vicious |
and bad. who. if they are not already !
criminals. viii be at no very distant day. |
Less than two weeks ago, within the lin
is Of the city. a man and his wife were
murdered in their home. In this issue Of
this paper there Is an account Of brutul
assault on an aged Frenchman, who lives
within the police jurisdiction OF
this city. There are also
other accounts Of lawlessness 1
Of negroes. We do not know that the
Haertel murders were committed by ne
groes. but il Is strongly suspected that
they were. The assault on the French
man was committed by a negro. We do
not mean 70 reflect on respectable and in
dustrlOus negroes in this community when
we say that nearly all the crimes which
are recorded in our courts are committed
by negroes. In the locality south Of
Anderson street there is always to be
found a crowd Of idle, impudent
and vicious negroes. They have no visi-
bic means Of support. and how they man.
axe 10 exist is a matter Of surprise TO
honest people. Any pleasant day they
can De seen asleep under the trees or en-
gaged in games Of one kind or another.
Citizens say the locality is dangerous.
Industrious coIOred men avoid the place
in going 10 and from their work, as much
as they can. because several Of
their number have been assaulted
and robbed there. White citizens
say that at night they do not feel safe in
going about that neighbOrhOOd. No doubt
these idle. thriftless negroes live by crimi-
nal practices. BY what other means can
they possibly obtain food: Perhaps some
Of them have wives. mothers or sisters
who are employed as servants in the
homes Of well-tO-do families. and
through them get something to eat
once in while, but the greater part of
their food supplies are no doubt obtained
by dishonest means. The problem which
presents itself Is how are we to get rid Of
these dangerous negroes: The only sOlu-
ton we see is 70 enforce the vagrant law.
They are Migrants, and ought to be
arrested at once as such. There would
be no trouble in cOnyicting them. We do
not believe in putting the county to any
expense in feeding them. On the contrary,
we think they can be made
to more than earn their bread. Let them
be sentenced to work on the Cuyler canal.
That is a great public work, and the
sooner it is completed the better it will be
for the city. Let all the Migrants be ar
rested at the earliest possible moment
and disposed Of as we have suggested. If
reasonably expect or criminal record to
grow into proportions that Will be any
thing but creditable to the city.