Evening star., 1896-02-29
A QUEER oH1cAao FUNCTION.
Half the Tribe IL iManasseh is Black
and the OthSr Half IL White.

and the othgr Hall is white.
From the Chicago RecqM
While learned naef are discussing the
race problem" the ,Ianasseh Society OF
| Chicago at one jump solves 1t. How well
the members Of this society have done
| their work was apparent Saturday night in
Central Hall, 22d street and Wabash ave-
| nue.. where the LADIES' Court gave its third
annual grand masquerade ball. About 800
colored men attended the ball with their
white wives. and one, white man with his
colored wife. There were also number of
| colored Women in attendance without hus-
| bands Of any kind They looked with en-
vious eyes at their more fortunate white
sisters. ars
In point of fact it required all the tact
and diplomatic skill of the committee to
prevent race war of amazons on an oc-
| casion which was got up for the express
purpose of showing to the world how easy
| the trick OF mixing white and black blood
was done. 1t might have gone better with
the colo1ed women present If, in the Ian
| guage of one of their number. 'the COM
mitteemen had provided them with white
| men as escorts when they found out they
could not furnish them with husbands"
AT this juncture Floor Manager George
Johnson interposed his authority and an
nounced: Partners for the first grand
march," This proved to be an inspired
speech, and for time covered the trou-
bled waters with a thin coat of Oil. Mr..
johnson led the march in person. When
| the orchestra Of nine, pieces and a from
hone caught up the familiar strains Of
I4e Fatal Wedding the floor manager
went sweeping down the hall, holding on
MS arm Mrs. Scott, comely white wo-
man of flashing black eyes and distinguish
ed mien. who was attired as lady Of the
Tune of Queen Elizabeth. They were fol-
lowed by Mr.. and Mrs. George Williams
mrs: Williams appearing as Tyrolean
maid Behind them came jolly pair Of
pioomer girls-Gladys Wilson and Allie
Camphell: Then the line strung out with
prlght- colored costumes of every descrip-
tlon, while the skillful Mr.. Johnson led the
party through all kinds of intricate fig
ures with an ease and grace which moved
one of his colored women admirers, who
thought herself too good to walk in
marcn with any kind of white trash" to
excialm: Amt he peach?'
Many persons, both whites and blacks
were present to see the effect of the ming
iing Oh the races. Only black men danced
with white women. The colored men who
wore spectacles stood around watching the
cancers and discussing the race problem
fhere was some Jealousy manifest in their
remarks, but on the whole they agreed
INA .hat the society was helping the cause of
the Colored man.
1t Is said that there are in Chicago fully
so married couples in which the husband
ana the VIE are Of different races. In the
NY VI cases the husband Is black,
While the wife is white, although there
are many cases where the man is white
ana s. the woman negress. The Manasseh
society alone numbers $50 of these couples
Inc Ladies' Court, which had charge of
the dance Saturday night, represents the
uppertendom of this class
Inc white women married to coored
men are called "Manassehs" The name Is
derived from that Of a tribe of mixed blood
Whlch nourished in part of Palestine in
Blbllcal times. The Manassehs are said to
have been a people whose men went out
side OF their own tribe for their wives, and
whose women did the same when they de-
sired husbands