The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1894-05-30

CITIZEN who Spes ks of Poor White Farm
ar. ss "p-n CracRe-s"-Doss Miss Bsr-
ton Kew OF ihess Things:
BLUFFToN. S. C. May 24.-"The Red
Cross Society is the greatest curse
which could have been inflicted on this
county," are toe words which proml.
oent white man uttered TO me when l
first cot into Beaufort County. came
here to investigate the condition OF the
Button cyclone sufferers, but the Reo
Cross and its work have been brought
M in every conversation l have had.
have heard and learned much ABOUT
the order which will surprise the gen
eral public. | have also heard mucn
which it is hard to believe. l VII! say,
however, that there are not dozen
white men in Beaufort county, unlesS
it be in the towns of Beaufort and Port
Royal' who have good word Tor the
society. It is roundly cursed ana
abused and the charge is openly mace
here that the suffering and destltuslon
of the white people IN this township
are due to the discrimination OF the Red
Cross Society or some of its managers.
The negro has been the pet OF the So
ciety since it took charge OF tne ols!rI-
button of charity after the tesrtul storm.
He has been hugged closely and anec-
tionately and the white men, women
and children have had to beg to get any
thing.
will not say that Miss Clara Barton
is responsible for all that is charged 70
the society. She may be ignorant OF
some of it, but she is to blame Tor ap.
pointing managers of the society. The
Same man whose opening remarks L
quote finished his statement by saying:
THE society has impaired and de-
stroye6 the usefulness CT the negro ID
this county and has been USED or al.
lowed itself to be used for political
purposes" cannot speak Of what has
been done by the Red Cross IN Beau
fort and on the islands around there. 1
:. can only give what has been told me
2)And what know to have taken place
I'm this section, where nearly ail tne
white people of the county live.
j It is understood that Miss Barton anc
the Red Cross will depart from Beau
fort the first of June. l 90 not knoW
this to be fact, but | predict that the
society will leave many OF the negroes
of the county in worse tx than When
it found them.
When the steamship "City of Savan-
nah" was wrecked off the coast OF this
State lust after the August storm one
of the passengers who was saved 2no
who made his way to Beaufort was
John Mcdonald, who came from some
where IN the North. 1t is said that be
was on his way to Brunswick TO nurse
yellow fever patients there. He re-
NAMED around Beaufort until Miss
Barton took charge as the head of the
Red Gross Society. Mcdonald soou
came to be known as "Dr" Mcdonald.
he became acquainted with Miss Bar
ton in some manner and got into her
good graces. She appointed him as the
REQ Cross agent or ali the territory
South of the Bsoad River. This terri
tory Includes Bluffton Township aud
Hilton Head Island. Mcdonald as
sumed charge with great deal OF dis
play. Shortly after be got 10 Beaufort
he was married and his wife Joined
him in his labors. Mcdonald personal
" took charge of the Red Cross com
missary on Hilton Head Island. Wblch
DOES not have as many people on It as
the Button peninsula. How much
stuff he has gotten from the Rid Cross
7 DO not know. but even the honorable
Pompey Riley. colored master OF cere-
monies of the Blpffton commlssary and
the bosou friend Of Mcdonald, thinks
that Mcdonald has had much more
than bis portion cf goods for Hilton
Head.
Mcdonald is the esteemed citizen
who speaks of the white farmers ID
Bluffeon Township as "6-n crackers.
He has taken care not to say this to
aby Of the white people here. The
aforesaid Mcdonald occasionally visits
Button accompanied by his wife.
They wear big red crosses Oh thelr
sleeves and pass through the town
without speaking to white person.
They have spent nights here but no
white person knows anything of their
sleeping with white people. This is the
man who appointed a committee OF
negroes to listen to the sorroWing sto-
r;es of white people here and to dish out
to them Red Cross charity. Early after
he began his work Mcdonald became
obnoxious to the white people. His
appointment of a committee of colored
politicians without previous knowledge
of who they were excited suspicion and
it was openly charged that Bob Smalls
and Mcdonald had an understanding.
Bob Smalls was sharp enough to seize
the opportunity presented OF making
political capital out of suffering pee
pie. The committee Of negroes here
in Blaffton have been Bob Small'S lead
ers for years and it is singular that all
of them should have been selected. at
any rate Bob SmallS has risen largely
in the estimation Of the negroes of
Beaufort in the last few months. Two
years ago he could not have polled one
hundred votes. Today the ignorant
negroes of the county believe that
Bob Snalls and the Republicans of
the North sent them bread. How diG
they get such an impression? Miss
Clara Barton had Thousands of dollars
in her bands contributed by Southern
people for the aid of the sufferers. The
negroes have gotten nearly all this and
think tnat Northern Republicans AID
Bob Smalls have given it to them.
Miss Barton may not have had any
thing to do With the impression Dut II
exists and Bob Smalis will try to go to
Congress on it.
When all these things first began to
develop Thomas Martin wrote com.
munidation to the News and Courier
stating the facts. He was asked to
withhold the publication of it until the
paper could make an investigation of
the charges. Whether the inVestiga.
tion was made Mr.. Martin does not
know. He told me, however, that the
communication was never published.
and that in some manner copies of
what he had written GOT to Miss Barton,
Mcdonald and all her staff. The ef-
feet of the communication was that
more leniency was shown to white suf.
ferers for awhile and some of those
who applied direct to Miss Barton, at
Beaufort, were given aid. It caused