The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1889-07-19

III N IdhtO1 DAt AA' -
ing books for a lumber man down
IN Dodge county, came 10 town The
other day and told one of the Dro-
nios OF the Atlanta Constitutions a
very interesting story.
This lumber king has one of The
dark corners of Dodge all to him
self. He employs a large number
of hands-50 whites and 25O blacks:
These men with their families all
live on employers domain, incom-
Portable cabins and cottages, which
they enjoy without paying any
rent.
1t struck the Dromio that such
community would naturally pre-
sent many significant phases OF the
race problem, and he asked the
young book keeper about it.
"Oh, that's all right" he replied.
"The blacks kill each other occa-
sionally, but they let the whites
alone. You see the cottages occu:
pied by the white families are all
punched together, and an alarm
from one would be heard in all the
others. Every white man has a
Winchester rifle and a revolver,
while The blacks are entirely un-
armed.
"How do you keep pistols out of
the hands of The negroesW "
"The boss attends to that. When
he finds negro with pistol he
knocks him down and takes The
weapon away from him and throws
il INTO the mill race. | tell you
that man won't stand any nonsense.
When his men do their work and
behave themselves he is as mild as
milk, but when anything goes
wrong he's great sight worse than
your little eruption of Vesuvius
out here al the Fall of Pompeii."
"And this policy works well "
"You bet il does. And it is the
only policy. Ii we tried any other
plan these desperate negroes would
butcher us in our beds some night.
You ought TO see the boss when .
big nigger forgels himself and
talks sassy. He doesn't say a
word, but just takes mp a scantling,
rock or bar of iron and knocks
the fellow down without caring
whether it kills or only cripples
him.
"The old hands know what 10 ex'
pect, and they walk chalk line
| 1t Is only The new ones that get in
10 trouble.
''The men have to obey the rules
When they don't they have to go
Once when there was an election
lin East man The boss notified tht
hands that they might go al ;
o'clock without having their wages
docked, but if a mar left before
that hour he would be discharged
Well, il turned out that twenty o.
the hands knocked off at II O'CLOCK
and went 10 town. They had q
good time, but when they returned
at dark they found their householt
goods all thrown out Ill the road
Before they got over their surprise
the boss came along and ordered
them to take their things off The
premises at once. Some Of then
were hustllng until midnight haul
ing off their stuff.
"You think it was hard. Wait
bit. When The prohibition election
was about 10 be held the boss call
ed mass meeting Of The hands
On a table in front OF him he had
pile of blue ribbons and a pile o
red ribbons. He looked at th'
crowd a moment in dead silence
Then he began TO talk in his usua
calm, cold way, as il he had no in
terest in the matter. lie SAID tha
in every mans life the time came
when he had to find out who wer'
| his friends and who were his enc
mics. He did not discuss prohibi
ton He merely said that he wa
determined to have no liquor in hi
camp, and was for any measure
righi or wrong, that would keep
out. Now. continued he in clea
ringing voice, my friends wi
come up and take these blue rlt
bons. My enemies will take tn
red onesp
well, sir, every man marche
up and took a blue ribbon. Th
boss smiled aud asked if that NEAR
a unanimous vote for prohibltioi
The niggers all told him that it di'
and they voted solidly that way.
"Your boss, as you call bin
doubtless belongs TO the old scho'
of Soulherners-he probably owl
ed a large number of slaves befOI
} the war"
; The bOOk-keeper laughed.
J "NO," he answered, "he is
Yankee from Maine. He is snal
slender man of about 40, weigl
I25 pounds, and has quiet, siee
+. gray ewes that look right ihrOue
!. you. ! have seen a gang OF u
, worst desperadoes in camp scalt'
\ when the saw him coming. III
4 most reckless outlaws IN Dodge al
! as much afraid of him as they are
H the devil !"
: aAnd you like himF'
!. "You bet / do"