The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1891-04-09
THE "8LUE.CUM NICCER."
He Is Considered as Dangerous as Mad
Dog, aud His Fellows Flee from Him.

The ''blue-gum nigger' is held as
dangerous south of Mason and pixon's
line rs the swapping. snarling cur,
foaming at the mouth with hydropho-
bia. is an object of terror and dread
to the citizen living north of the same
line. The rabid dogs bite is death.
and many are the instances in which
the same result has followed the bite
of the "blue-gum niger, if the stories
of this queer species of man are to be
believed. And there are few people
in the south who do not believe them.
What is ''blue-gum nigger?" Ask
man who has spent his life north,
and who is ignorant of the institutions
of the sunny south and he will look at
you pityingly and pass along without
vouchsafing 4 reply. But one born
and reared in that sunny cline, espe
cially one who is not very young and
who knows somewhat of the lore of
the country, will tell you that ''blue-
gum niggern was and is still living
reality.
The blue-gum can always be distin-
guished rs soon as he opens his mouth
and smiles. His gums will be seen to
possess a hue which entities him to the
appellation by which he is known.
The gums are deep, purplish blue
almost a black His bite is supposed
TO be deadly, and when one is bitten
by blue-gum the only thing left one
to do is to seek another blue-gum who
possesses the power to remove the
deadly poison and save the life of the
bitten man. He of the blue gum al
ways claims to possess royal blood;
sometimes he was Il king in his native
land or the son of king. He is high
tempered, willful, and prone to have
his own way. He also possesses pow
ers not enjoyed by other negroes, who
have ordinary red gums. and gener-
ally envelopes himself in u mystery of
fetichism and cOnjury.
Twenty-Five years ago there were
numbers of blue-gum negroes in the
south, and there was not large plan
tatiOu on which there were not two or
three. Those who still live in the
south are generally very old men, for
few have been born in this country,
the children of blue-gum negroes not
generally inheriting this insignia of
royal blood. None of the other negroes
OH the plantation cared to have words
with blue-gum. and all it required to
make little child, white or black,
stop any naughty act, as playing tru-
ant from school or stealing the best
watermelons, was to threaten to give
him to 1t "blue-gum niger"
This was most potent threat and
the most iutractable child would be-
come submissive and ask to be tucked
snugly in bed where the blue-gum
couldn't find him.
Nor was this dread of the blue-gum
confined to the children. Col. Hugh
l.. Dennard, one of the most promi-
nent planters of cotton in Houston
county, Ga. owned blue-gum nig.
ger" who never had but one fight in
his life. but that was enough TO make
him feared by all his fellows. After
gaining his freedom this negro was
convicted Of killing a man and was
sentenced TO be hanged. He eluded
the sheriff Watson Rainey, and escaped
to the woods. He had changed his
name to Jim Tombs. rs was quite COM
mon after the war, and in his despcra-
tiou, driven by hunger, he slipped up
TO a c0lored farmers house and asked
for something to eat. suggesting that a
chicken would suit him best. He got
it and left. Some one asked his un-
willing host why he had not captured
the murderer and earned the reward
offered. The reply was:
Me capture that nigger! No, no.;
that's what was going to do, but
when | seed his blue gums he could
have tooken the house ard all away
and | would not say word. | aim
afeard of rattlesnake, but, boss, you
must excuse me from tackling blue
gum. | amt ready to die yet. ~
!. World.