The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1905-09-07
OHIO TOWN BARS NEGROES.
Syracuse Will Not Allow Black Man to Spend
Even a NIGHT There.

F. U. Quillen writes in The Indepen-
dent as follows:
In the town of Syracuse, Ohio, on the
Ohio river, four miles above Pomeroy, a
town of about 1900 inhabitants, no negro
is permitted to live. No negro is per-
mitted to stay in the town over night un-
der any consideration. This is an abso-
Lutte rule in this year 1905, and it has ex-
listed for several generations. The en-
forcement o. this unwritten law for keep
ing the negro from staying in the town
over single night is in the hands Of the
boys from twelve to twenty years OF age,
while the attempt of negro to become a
resident of the town is resisted by the
town en- masse.
When the colored man is seen in the
town during the day he is generally told Of
these traditions, if he is soignorant as not
to know them already; is warned to leave
before sundown. If he fails to take heed,
he is surrounded at about the time dark
ness begins, and is addressed by the lead
ers of the gang, in about this language:
mo niger is allowed to stay in this town
over night. We don't care what you are
here for. Get out of here, now, and get
out quick" He sees from twenty-five to
fifty boys around him talking in subdued
voices and waiting to see whether he
obeys. If he hesitates, little stones begin
to reach him from unseen quarters, and
soon persuade him to begin his hegira.
He is not allowed to walk, but is told to
"get on his little dog trot." The command
is always effective for it is backed by
stones in the ready hands of boys none too
friendly.
So long as he keeps up good gait, the
crowd, which follows just at his heels,
and which keeps growing until it some
times numbers seventy-6ye to one
hundred boys, is good natured and con-
tents itself with yelling, laughing, and
hurting gibes at its victim. But let him !.
stop his "trot" for one moment from any
cause whatever, and the stones immediate
ly take effect as their chief persuader.
Thus they follow him to the furthest
limits of the town. where they send him
on his way rejoicing (0 while they return
to the city with triumph and tell their
fathers all about the function, how fast
the victim ran, how scared he was, how
he pleaded and promised that he would
never return if they would only 60 back
and leave him, how Johnnie Jones hit
him with such big rock that it knocked
him down. Then the fathers tell how
they used to do the same thing, and thus
the heroes of the two wars spend the rest
of the evening blythe old camp fire, re-
counting their several campaigns.
The cause of this extraordinary race
prejudice is hard to discern. The ma
jority of the inhabitants are not from the
South, but strange to say, are of New
England stock. In the early days Of the
town many Irish lived there who were so
bitterly hostile to the negro that some
people attribute the recent treatment OF
the colored man to their influence.
The population is mixed, including
many Welsh and Germans. Most Of the
people are day laborers working in the
coal mines and in salt manufacture, and
perhaps they feel the danger of negro
competition. Certainly they would as
readily associate with snake as permit a.
black man to work by their side. TEey
almost feel that he defiles anything that
he touches.
To the women he is an object to be
dreaded and feared, even in the day time.
The little children are taught to fear the
black man with all the horrors associated
with that name. The writer has seen
many child frightened almost into hys-
terics at the mere sight of colored man,
and he was himself imbued with the ter
ror. What has caused this fear? No
crime has ever been committed by a
negro within the town, although many :
have occurred near by which perhaps
serve to maintain the prejudice in spite
of many things that might have worked
toward undermining it.
Since the town was founded about 1915
not single negro family has lived in it.
About the year 1855 two negroes were
employed as domestics by a family in the
extreme lower end of the town, practi-
cally in the country, but they did not
stay long. Since the civil war two at
tempts' have been made by negro families
to settle in the town, but both were sum-
marily driven out.