Mexico weekly ledger., 1902-08-28
A MODEL NEGRO TOWN.
AT LYLEs, IND. THERE Is ONLY
ONE COLOR AND THAT
is BLACK.
WAS FOUNDED BEFORE THE WAR,
Everybody in That Town Works,
EvsrybOdy's Happy and No
bOdy's Been Arrested
for Fifteen Years
or More.

county contains within its borders
what is believed to be the only town
in the United States whose population
is composed wholly OF negroes, whose
Affairs are conducted by the same race
and wboSe citizenship has won the
respect and confidence OF the whites.
1t has 365 voters. Though the inhab-
itants Of Lyles, the negro town, are
industrious, enterprising and remark
ably thrifty, only four miles away is
the town Of Hazleton, wherein no
negro dare set his foot, for such an ad-
vent has always been the signal for
the assembling of the whites and an
order to leave.
Several years before the war a col
ored man named Joshua Lyles came
to Gibson county. He had been a
slave in Tennessee, but his master
had set him free and had given him
$500 with which to start in life. 1t is
a tradition in the town that Josh had
risked bis life to save that Of his mas
ter, and that his freedom and a roll Of
bills were his reward. He invested
his money in land in the Wabash bot
tom and settled down as a farmer.
For several years he worked early and
late. After the war he went back to
his old home and induced some Of his
former friends to come to Indiana
with him. They located near his farm
and in the course of time a village
Sprang up and the negroes became
prosperous.
Soon after this addition to the pop
ulation the Louisville, Evansville and
st. Louis railroad was constructed,
and the company built a side track on
Josh's farm. 1t came to be known by
the name Of LyleS One Of the inhab.
itants opened a grocery store near the
track, and the future town was thus
founded. II now has churches, a pub
lie school, a postofice and a great
humber Of neat homes. IL Is said that
there has not been an arrest In Lyles
for fifteen years, and that the inhab-
itants are jealous 10 aiding the officers
in preventing shiftleSs negroes from
looming to the county. No man is per.
mitted In the town who will not work.
Many OF those who have come since
the war have secured small parcels oi
ground, and the place is noted through
out the region for large crops Of corr
and melons. Many Of the farmer
make a speciality Of melons, and find {
ready market at good prices at Louis
vile and other cities.
James Cantrell is the leading citi
zen, being postmaster, ticket and ex
press agent, grain buyer, weighmas
ter and grocer, and it is a matter o
great pride to him that be is the onl
~cOlorcd postmaster ia any nortberl
state. His wife, an intelligent it'll
woman, is his deputy and his clerk
He owns one Of the handsomest cot
tages in the town. The little commu
nifty supports two ehurches-Metho
dist and Baptist-and nearly everybod
belongs to one or the other, for a dee.
religious spirit pervades the commU
nifty.
The trustees Of the town look afte
the streets and alleys, but beyond thi
there is little for them 60 do, for al
public work is done by turning out t
a man 10 its accomplishment, and tn
place is always neat and clean. Sew
eral years ago a police judge wa
elected and a town marshal was ehOs
en- in order to conform TO the incorpo
ration laws, but neither ever had any
thing to do and the custom Of %electinI
such officers has been abandoned.
The people adhere to the custom
that prevailed among them when II
slavery. Unless there is sickness il
some family there is not a light burn
ing in the village after Q O'Clock a
night but every household is astir be
tween 4 and 5o'clock in the morning
and the men are out in the fields a
work and the women busy with thei
household duties soon after sunrise
On Sunday the entire population goe
TO church and the majOrityof familie
observe the day as one Of rest.
Many OF their old supentitions stil
cling 10 them. Everything that grow
above the ground, such as corn pea
and beans, is planted In the eight o
the moon" and everything that grow
} beneath the ground, onions, pOtatoe
and beets, is planted in the dark o
the moon" there being a superstition
that the moon affects these things ad
vantageously OF injuriOusly, acc0rdinI
as the rule is observed or disregaTded