Fort Mill times. [volume] (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, 1900-12-12
ARP ON SUICIDES
1t Is a Rare Event Among the
Negroes.
SAYS THEY HAVE NO REMORSE
Old "Uncle Lewis - Pistol ana
Poison Should Not Be So
Handy.

hV iopiu iuSIedeoc OF SulcluGS IN the
south is alarming and pTovokes the
serious study of our thinking people
Fltty years ago a suicide was rare
event among the white race, and never
heard OF among the negroes. When IL
did occur. it was considered an evi.
dence of insanity. l do not recall bnt
one instance in my youth and that
was u woman who jumped into a deer
wei when no help was within reach.
6ut nowadays almost every daily pa
per contains an account of one or more
Seli-murderS, and even negroes have
taken the Infection. for they will imi.
tate every vice and frailty Of the
whites. Old Lewis. who is NV wood
chopper. asked me the other day how il
was that the white folks kill "dersclvcs
so much, and de niggers dident." BE.
cause, said /, white folks are more
easily overcome with grief. or remorse
or distress, than negroes. You negroes
don't borrow trouble, nor take 1t hard
When 1t does come. You don't give
yourselves much anxiety about to-mor.
row. or next week, or next year You
uon Srleve long over a death in the
FAMILY; your emotional nature is of 4
low grade; your marriage relation is
loose; in fact, it is on the decline
records show that your legal mar.
riaSe are 60 per cent. less. according
TO population. than in the white race
and the decrease gets less and less
every year. Your young men and wo
men don't marry; they just take ur
ana quit when they please. and so The
men don't care very much about the
welfare of their children. If they have
any. Besides all this. Uncle Lewis
your race has n trait OF stealing little
Things. and this accounts in a greli
measure for their Indifference to the
laying up OF something for the future:
something for the winter, or the rain,
days. or for old age. If the worst
comes to the worst. they know they
can steal or beg. If your young folks
men and women, haven't got out a
dollar in the world, they will spend if
ior watermelon, or an excursion and
take the chances. Now. Uncle Lewis
you remember when there wasn't E
chaingang in the south nor a heinous
crime nor n brutal outrage. committed
by your people. from the Potomac
river to the Rio Grande. Now there
are in Georgia alone over 1900 of youI
people in the chaingangs. and there
would be 1000 more if all the LITTLE
stealings were. punished" Uncle Levi.
had stopped cutting and was leanins
on his AK helve. "Dat's all So arf
he. and boss | knows 1t. ard boss
what | wants to know is dis: Whit
must we poor nigGers do about it?'
There is the rub. | couldn't tell him
but | did say, "Uncle Lcois. your race
has got some mighty good traits. and
l like to have you about us: you art
klnd-hearted, good-nntured. easy tC
please. and don't carry malice or re.
venge in your Learts; you steal. but
you don't cheat anybody. The white
race won't steal, but they will cheat
or take advantage in a trade. and that
is worse. If you trust n negro with
anything he will not abuse your con
fidence, but white man will Ell
bezzle and defraud and even the cash
iers OF banks will appropriate the
banks money. and falsify the books
for months and years Every race has
its race traits. both bad and good
Some of your bad ones were almost run
out by slavery. but they have come
back again, and all your college edu
cation does not stop it, 1t makes il
worse. There is nothing will stop il
but work. constant work, every day
under some good employer. Work or
the farm is your best safeguard. OF
work as mechanics under good cou
tractors. Your people make good me-
chanlcs. and the white people employ
them and patroniZe them just as will.
ingly as they do white mechanics The
negro blacksmiths and masons gel
good employment here and every.
where, and as for cooking and washing
and nursing, your women have it all
The two races would fit together nicely
IL it wasn't for politics and idleness.
An idle negro is a dangerous creature
and should be taken up and put to
work. He is much more dangerous
than an idle white man. for he has nc
shame, and fears not God nor regard.
man. II | were IL law-maker, / would
make continued idlleness n crimme
for. as Ben Franklin says. ut is the
parent OF vice.
| started to write about suicides, but
got to preaching Uncle Lewis n ser
mon and got off the track Nineteen
hundred years ago Plutarch. the
Greek historian. said that self-murder
was cowardice. for a brave man woulI
suffer rather than take the life that
God gave him. Self-mmurder was
heinous crime under the old English
law The estate OF the felo de sc WAS
confiscated and taken away from his
family. His body was buried on tho
highway without n colin and n sharp
stake thrust THROUGH it to mark the
accursed spot. Suicide was under the
ban Of the church. and no prayer.
were said for his soul. In no civilized
country has suicide been justified, ex-
cept in such cases as that Of Saul. who
fell on his sword because. as he said.
Lest these uncircumcised Philistines
thrust me through and abuse me-" Or
perhaps that other notahln case th