The Savannah morning news., 1900-06-24
THE ORIGIN OF CRACKER"
Mr.. Beckman Differs with Capt.
Usina's Explanation.

Mr.. George Beckman has different ex-
PLANTATION of the origin of the term
cracker from that recently given by
Capt. NJ. P. Usina. Capt. Usinas theory
was that the term was pre-revolutionary
and that it arose from the fact that a
public mill was established at Savannah
to which the country people brought their
grist 10 be Cracked" hence the word
cracker" as applied 10 the country peo-
pie.
Capt. Usina is right in saying that the
term originated here in Savannah" said
Mr.. Beckman. but he is mistaken in
supposing that it originated from the
country people bringing their grist here
to be cracked. The word had another
origin entirely and / think my information
comes pretty straight.
When / first came TO Savannah in 1871, ="
said Mr.. Beckman, Il worked for Val
enGne Basler at the old Market Square
House on Bryan street. The place was
a very popular resort with the country
people, and had a good class of trade
1t was owned by old man Tony Basler
Valentine Baslers father, who came here
in 1910. The old man knew a great many
of the older people from the surrounding
country and they would come in to talk
over old times when they came to town.
l have often heard him explain how the
word cracker originated. When l began
business here he would say, Savannah
had only one railroad, the Central, and
most of the business with the interior was
still done by wagons. People came to Sa
vannah TO trade from forty, sixty and even
eighty miles or more in the interior They
brought their cotton to market in wagons
and there were no good roads they used
of 81 to o To- hi
the driver there would be two or three
men riding the mules and these fellows
all carried long whips, and the way they
would pop these whips was a caution.
These teams came in at all hours of the
night, and when they reached the city
the drivers would feel so good over com
peting their journey that they would drive
along the streets cracking their whips
with all their might and making a great
racket. Between the walls of buildings
on each side the cracking of these whips
would sound like the popping of cannon
crackers. The population was mostly in
the northern part of the city then and the
noise of the whips would wake the peo-
pie up. IT'S those Internal era ckers," they
would say and in that way the name got
the start and it has stuck ever since.
This was old man Basler's explanation"
said Mr.. Beckman, 'and 1 had never
heard any other until saw Capt. Usina's
explanation in the Morning News the other
day"
Mr. Beckman is convinced that his
theory is the correct one and he has the
backing of some good authorities who have
written on the subject, both before and
since the war. A paper read by Mr. c. N.
West before the Georgia Historical Society
some years since showed that the word
cracker" as applied TO the country peo-
pie of the state was in use before the rev.
olutionary war, and chief justice of the
colony was quoted as deploring the manner
in which the Crackers" were pouring into
the state from North and South Carolina
and expressing the fear that they would
render useless the efforts of the more in
telligent settlers of the low country for
the advancement of the colony.