The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1899-05-25
Written for The PRISON Mirror.
THE SUNNY SOUTH,

1111 NJ NN L NOU LII
The word South naturally brings to
the northern men, visions of six shoot
ers and lynching, and some will not be
convinced otherwise. Having spent a
few years in the South. AS a surveyor
for the q. S. Government, 1 feel like
giving some of my observations on
some things which are interesting.
That the North is behind the South
in hospitality is admitted. and good
manners are to be found in all parts of
the South. 1t is pleasure to listen to
an educated Southerner talk. There is a
charm in his speech that is captivating,
and it is always to the point and very
agreeable.
The North has not such things to
contend with as the people of the
South. In the race question, which is
most difficult, the lynchinSs which fire.
quently occur there, to us are shocking;
but if the reasons which lead to them
were known, we could judge better. A
few years ago, in Texarkana, 1 saw
colored man burnt at the stake-it was
a terrible sight to see. That he de-
served it L will not say. At Paris,
Texas, shorty before the aforesaid,
another met the same fate, and from
accounts heard from the father and
mother of the victim, the crime he
committed was quite similar. 1t is too
appalling to mention, fendish beyond
description. Colored men, when their
conduct deserves praise, get it; but
when they 60 beyond the form of civ
ilization, they are stopped.
The negroes some years ago were
their slaves, and for an old time
Southerner to be reconciled to the fact
of it being otherwise, is trying, espe-
cially while many negroes continue
perpetrating their heinious crimes. 1t
makes the Southerner think that free
dom is not much of a treasure with
them. 1t puts a bad light on all and
thus makes it doubly difficult to get
along on peaceable grounds. There
are many we'll educated colored men
who are doing their best to break down
the barrier which stands between them
and the white man, by good example.
This is question which needs a
great deal of attention from everybody;
but if the negro keeps on with his
crimes down there, there is nothing
under the sun that will stop him from
being lynched. Wanton murder IN any
form is repulsive to people of the least
bit of refinement. The people down
there have had so many of the same
occurrences, that they lynch the negro
more to set an example to those who
would do the same thing than from
revenge.
When the ministers of the Gospel
agree with the lyncher: in some of their
lynchings it is pretty sure sign that
the negro has gone too far beyond the
form of civilization with his outrages.
We come now to that part of the
Southern question ''the six shooter"
In Texas the six shooter is supposed
to be nine points of the law. When 1
first went to the Lone S ar State, I
went there loaded for game, but my
surprise was immense when 1 got
there to find that the birds had flown.
There was only one instance which
remember of an over-display of six
shooter, it happened like this: We
were seated in one of the taverns in
Laredo, when along about dusk we
heard quite number of shots, and
about ten minutes later crowd of
cowboys came tearing up the street
shooting the telegraph wires and all
the lights they could see to fragments.
They then alighted and came into the
tavern and practised on the lights and