The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-03-01

that the people should hereafter be le
 gally recognized as "Moors'' and not a
 negroes or mulattoes.
 That these people are of peculiar ori
 gin there is no doubt ill the minds o
 those who have made themselves famil
 far with the history of the race, and tn
 fact that their white neighbors scoff a
 the suggestion of Moorish origin is du
 chiefly to indifference and to the con
 11icting stories told by the "Moors'
 themselves, each family having q diff
 ferent set of traditions exclusively it
 own.
 Most of the men and women impress
 one at first sight as being mulattoes
 seeming to the ordinary observer tt
 have the mixture of white and negro
 blood. common enough in America no
 to excite interest.
 But closer examination discloses the fact that the usual characteristics ol
 the negro face are lacking, and instead
 one finds the thin lips and well-modeled
 nose strong chin and straight hair that
 never comes from Equatorial Africa One sometimes sees eyes of the clear est blue and light-coored hair, occa-
 sionally assuming an auburn hue l Another of their characteristics is
 their unfailing industry This enables
 them to own their homes, which are
 usually well kept and of comfortable proportions.
 That they are good neighbors the whites all admit. Their love of peace and respect for the law makes the Moor" a stranger to court. His presence as a prisoner in a Delaware jail is almost unheard of
 It would be difficult to find anywhere a people more clanish. They marry among themselves, religously avoiding alliances with blacks, and in the few cases where the girls have been won by more' dusky suitors the marriage has been followed by complete ostraclsm, which usually results in the offenders moving away, never to return to the family fold.
 So distasteful to them is the imputa- ton that they carry negro blood in their veins that one old fellow, who has been dead so long that his name is for gotten, declared that if any one could prove that he had negro blood In his veins he would go to q surgeon and have 1t drained out of his system.
 His origin being further questioned, it is said, he subsequently went to physician, who bled him, and after an examination of the blood declared that it possessed not a corpuscle of the Af- rican kind This story is a piece of standard folklore among the "Moors.
 The story of the "Moors," as told by the late Judge George P. Fisher of Del aware, who went to considerable pains to straighten out their many conflicting versions, starts before the American Revolution in what is now Lewes Del,
 At that time there lived in the neigh borhood of Lewes m expatriated Span ish duchess of the name of Senorlta Requa. She was wealthy for that time. and in addition to the broad, fertile acres which she owned, there were fully a hundred slaves to till them. Her for tune increased, and, being a beautiful woman, she was sought by the young farmers from far and near.
 Persistent and numerous as her suit ors were, they pleaded in vain, She in single blessedness until a day when to escape a storm at sea a slave ship with a load of blacks intend ed for the American market put in at the Delaware Capes.
 Not long before the coming of the slaves fever had wrought havoc among her negroes, and when the announce ment came that the new arrival was laden with slaves, she availed herself | of the first opportunity to go aboard.
 Among the negroes offered her was a tall, handsome fellow whose straight | hair and light tawny skin at once | stamped him as being of different | from the rest of his fellow | and on inquiry she was told | hat he was a "Moorish" prince, who on | account of his popularity with his tribe. | lad been seized by his zealous kinsman | md sold to the slave traders.
 Any doubt as to his purchase was dis oelled on the discovery that he spoke tome Spanish. He was taken ashore at ,nce with others and established in the legro quarters.
 He became a useful servant and in ime the senorita married the hand 'ome Moor" The neighbors stood 'ghast To them he was a negro and lothing more and from that time on he Requa family (the Moor" took his vifes name), were outcasts notwith- tanding their wealth.
 Before many years the family became
 large one, and the most serious diffi- ulty of their married life confronted hem. Association with the white eghbors was not to be thought of. So ar as they were concerned, the Requas yere impossible.
 The negroes were also out of the uestion and in their dilemma they urned to the Onancock Indians, of 'hom there was quite number in the and with these they in- armarried and thus started the strain blood that to-day clings to the name f Moore"
 From the lower part of the state they bread up through Sussex, Kent and lew Castle counties, increasing in umbers with the passing years, occa- onally intermarrying with both the | !