The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1897-09-22
A SOUTHERN OUTRAGE.

NN VI 'io negro woman
"3o was suffering from smallpox and
was driven out of negro church and
afterwards found dead, bralned with
Oed'slat, has attracted the attention
OF the New York journal, which cnn.
nlugly suppres'es the fact that thc
church belonged to negroes, aud that
the unfortunate woman was killed by
her own people in order to prevent
her from spreading the disease among
them The journal comments on the
affair as follows:
"Ihe crowning atrocity of the series
OF revolving horrors that the telegraph
has been furnishing for months came
from Columbus, Miss, this morning.
A miserable negro invalid escapel
from a hospital and entered church.
The fear that she had smallpox created
panic, and she was brutally run out
OF The church, She was found after
ward, the dispatch says, in q field with
her skull crushed There is no com
ment 10 be made on this, except that
there appears 10 be a strong tendency
IN certain parts of the country to undo
the work of eighteen centuries and
come back to the customs of our saw.
age pregenitors. The distinction be.
tween mad dogs aud human souls is
really in danger of being lost"
The deliberate intention to convey
the idea that this was a typical aud
characteristic action of Mississippi
people cannot be mistaken. The fact
taat it was altogether negro tragedy
is skiIlfully hidden, aud the shocking
affair is wrested into shame and dis
grace on all the people OF the State,
1t Is true that the tendency among
negroes is to r0vert constantly TO the
customs of their savage progonilors
All who know their nature intimately
have been Impressed by their ealIous.
ness to suffering, especially in individ
usls of their own raCc-not only 10
strangers, but TO members of their
families, children to parents, brothers
and sisters 10 each other, aud even
mothers TO their offspring. 1t was
commonly observed, in old times, that
the "b!ack NANNY" was almost inva-
rlably more affectionate aud tender o
her white foster children than to her
own black pickauinnies and now,
since freedom has withdrawn them
from close contact with the whites,
and put stop to that initiative habit
which is.their strongest characteristic,
instances Of inhumanity are of daily
occurrence among them, and are com.
mltted apparently with no compunc-
ton or rebukc of conscience A Nc
gro takes on the reflection of his ca.
vironment like e chameleoa. The
house women servants of old days
were close, if sometimes groesque
imitation of their mistress, copying,
outwardly, at least, her virtues and
manners aud even reproducing, in a
measure, her peoullarides Of tone aud
movement. With no suc1 examples
before them, the freed race simply re-
vert to the mode Of thought aud &C.
tinn Hatural to them, and brain an old
woman with the smallpox in Missia-
sippi with the sAma matter.oft fact III
difference with which they would
have clubbed her to death in Daho-
mey. II was the best way to get rid
of her. That was all. Such srtless
simplicity Is proof against the wi es OF
civilization, it is to be feared. Negro
churches dot the State of Mississippi
from Tennessee 10 the Gulf, but they
are no evidence that Christianity, as
understood in The Caucasian sense, Is
more than name to the congrega
tions who "worship" in them through
orgies that are often close
akin to the widest scenes of Mumbo-
Jumbo fetichism. There ls no teach
ing of Samaritauism iD their creed
The weak fall unheeded. The wound
ed must crawl away from the sight OF
his fellows aud die or recover his
strength as he may. Especially is this
callousness manifested il the case OF
the aged. No more pitiful sight can
be seen than an old aud decrepit ne
gro, abandoned by his children aud
forced to depend for subsistence upon
lis own feeble efforts and the charity
If The whites. 1t is seldom that me-
yro lives beyond the age of four score
,ears, but If by reason of strength be
,ome to greater length of days, yet is
lie strength truly labor and sorrow
by tho duliful care CT
children, and unhonored by the rev.
renee OF bis race.
The predicted cold wave of sunday
- ATo,,Jov came on tine, making 4