Evening star., 1902-03-15
THE BLACK PERIL
What May Be Expected in
Our New Islands.
FORMER SLAVE LAWS
LITTLE RELIGION OR EDUCATION
AND MANY SUPERSTITIONS.
OF the $4,000 Dwellers of Santa Cruz
Only 200 Are Legal
Voters.

Written for The Evening Star by Louis McHenry
Howe.
The obliging planter who shows the visi-
tor through the town Of Christiansted, In
Santa Cruz, the largest of the Danish Is
lands, will willingly call attention to the
ruins Of many buildings. and inform him
with great volubility how many people
were killed In each one. with many other
details of the damage done by the cyclone
of 1898. But every now and then one will
come across ruin quite different from the
others, whose blackened stones tell plainly
that fire and not the hurricane was the
cause Of its destruction. If asked the cause
of this destruction, the guide at once be-
comes evasive and non-committal. Without
actually saying SO, he will try to give the
impression that it was the work of the
storm; If, however, like the writer, one had
seen these same dismantled warehouses
thirteen years before. the guide, under per-
sistent questioning, will murmur something
about an insurrection many years ago and
at once change the subject-his whole bear
ing that of a man, forced on the witness
stand, to reveal the family skeleton.
And, indeed, these sharp points of smoke
stained walls that persist In towering above
the wealth of glossy green which kindly ma
ture has striven to throw over them are,
after all. the unsightly ribs of disgrace
your plahter-friend would fain forget.
To the cheerful sound of lusty hammers
and clinkfng troWelS the Storm-raZed build
ings are being restored to their former state
again. But on these fire-crumbled stones
curse seems to have fallen. Like the num-
my at the banquet. perpetually they bear
that 1urk in the dull brains of these same
negro laborers who, care free, constantly
pass by with coarse jest and idle laughter.
AS the same negroes who wrought this
hQi nptC IN,
nine-tenths of the population of our new
Danish possessions, some account Of this
riot and its causes may be Of value to us in
studying what Is. after all. the real problem
concerning these islands, namely: What
political rights are to be granted to their
inhabitants?
Little Of Real Facts.
Accurate information on the subject is
very difficult to obtain. The books pub
lished about the West Indies barely men
ton the insurrection. or ignore it entirely
The semi-official West Indian Almanac
published at st. Thomas, skips deftly over
IL with a brief sentence. The annexation
lists are afraid to mention 1t, lest 1t injure
their cause, and 1t was only after much
trouble that the writer found one who had
lived through that exciting time and was
willing to talk about 1t.
Amid the wreck of what once had been a
fine dwelling, seated on crumbling steps
that led up to nothing more substantial
than the blue, tropic sky, his voice quivered
with emotion as he talked.
The foundation of the trouble was really
laid by fatal error of the government. in
1S4S mistake which has never been for
gotten by the negro, and may yet be bit
terly regretted by our government. At that
time 1t announced that slavery would
soon be abolished. AS was the case in all
the other islands, this news proved too
much for the negros mental equilibrium
AS the appointed date drew near he refused