Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1899-08-09
RACE TROUBLE IN GREENyILLE.
Armed Men Patrolled the Streets All oi
Sunday Night.

Sunday Night.
Greenville has been having a rather
stormy time during the past few days.
A race war has been narrowly averted.
J. A. Hoyt, Jr., tells the story in the
Columbia State, under date of Mon
day as follows:
Early in the evening Negro named
Zach Brown fired from the Buncombe
road into a house of a mill operative.
Some of the mill men arrested Brown,
who works at the Greenville Fertil-
izer factory nearby, and brought him
to Jail. Among the Negroes rumor
spread likewild fire that the mill peo-
pie were going to lynch the Negro
Zach. The report reached the churches
and the Negroes got very excited,
crowds of them going to the mill viii
lage and making all sorts of threats.
Very naturally the mill men prepared
for trouble, and at one time it seemed
as if a conflict was inevitable.
Chief of Police Kennedy and Dep
uly Sheriff Gilreath went to the scene
and found one hundred and fifty Ne
groes or more gathered near the fer
tilizer factory. They told the Negroes
that Zach Brown was in Jail but the
darkeys wouldn't believe it until a
couple of them were taken to Jail and
came back to report that he was really
in the lookup, safe and sound. UP TO
that time they persisted in declaring
that the white men had Brown and
intended to lynch him.
Sheriff Gilreath went to the Poe
mill and took charge, while the chief
and deputy stayed with the larger
crowd of Negroes trying to keep them
quiet. In the meantime two or three
shooting affrays took place between
gangs of Negroes and squads of white
men in the neighborhood, and several
were wounded, but how many is not
known.
The Negroes congregated in knots of
eight or ten all over town and dis
cussed their alleged wrongs. 1t was 2
o'clock this morning before things got
quiet. At l o'clock the Greenville
Light Infantry, which had been under
orders at the armory for an hour or
so, went to the mill and the balance
of the white men went to bed, believ-
ing all was over. This was the new
militia company's baptism of danger,
and the situation illustrated the wis
dom of having a disciplined company
in this section. Captain Blythe prompt
ly got out 25 or 80 men and their pres
ence with good guns did much to
quiet matters.
About II o'clock at night there was
some shooting at the corner of Wash.
ington street and McBee avenue, and
several bullets hit the plaza of j. Lee
CARPENTERS house. 1t is said one Ne
gro was wounded at this place, which
is in the very heart of town.
Altogether it was an exciting night
and all were justly alarmed. Since
Ira Johnson, the negro who killed
white man at Piedmont, was lynched
July 18th, 1898, the negroes here have
given no uneasiness but last nights
experience was an "eyeopener."
While Chief Kennedy and Deputy
Jeff Gilreath were talking to the gang
the negroes would say, awe amt 60
ing to be run over" "This amt in
Georgia." and other such expressions,
which showed the state of their minds.
Rev. Pinson, an intelligent colored
preacher, was an effective peace
maker. He it was who went to the Jail
and saw the Negro was safe, and his
word served to ease the Negroes ap-
prehension. But until then they pro-
fessed to be convinced that Brown
was in the hands of a mob.