The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-08-04
RIAGiAG Of THE OLD TOWN BELL
How it Marks Time for the People Of
Fayetteville.
What its Signal Meant Before the
Nar-Ihc Midnight Guc.t~-How
the Fayetteville Patrol Lost Their
SuDDcr-Taking Up the Mron. Ne
grc-EJnigranfs TO Africa.

For The Messenger.
One night, not eng ago, / took 4 So
IN one Of the chairs in front of the 1Io-
tel Lafayette, and got into eonyarsa-
ton with a New York drummer. While
We were talking The market house clock
struck 8 o'clock, and Immediately after
wards the town teil rang.
There it is again." said the arum-
mer, Tipping the ash from his cigar.
DO your people have public meetings
Il suppose thai is what that bell Is
ringing for-fro:r early morning till
late at night?" Well, no." | replied,
I'VE do have public meetings; in sacr,
we are rather given to them, but o
quite SO frequent rs that"
Well, continued the stranger, lust
AFTER awoke up this morning | heard
that bell ringing. That was to let the
town people know that it was time to
eat breakfast" i2terpolated. In the
middle of the day l heard it ring again"
That was to remind the merchant taat
1t was dinner hour. l o'clock" Jus;
before night it peeled out louder than
ever. That was to inform the COM
munlty N general that the sun had
set. We'll, what did it ring for JUS.
now, II j. is not a public meeting?<
That was the Old-time "curfew,' a sol
emn warning to all honest folks that
it is time to be IN bed''-and, bidding
him good night, l went on home in
obedience to the DELL.
But fifty and sixty years ago lha.
market house bell at 9 o'clock at night
was more properly the patrol bell
than the "curfew bell, as it's lron
tongue gave distant and inexorabie
warning to all slaves to HE themselves
home with all speed, for if they were
! without passes from their mas sers
they were liable to arrest by the stree,
patrol and confinement in the guard
house. This was in the days before
the advent Of me city marshal anu
the chief of police, when the peace and
good order of the community was safe
guarded at night by the vigilance of the
patrol, a voluntary police of citizens
| Ilo pCl1ol l1Cu ILLS uuIy III tuSlI OWil
interest and the interest of their neigh
| bors.
The negroes-careless, happy, i'm
p%rovident ''befo de wah'-had many
] snatches and refrains in good-humored
! reference to their environments, esDe-
cially with regard to the patrol, sucn
as:
Run, niger, rum;
The patterOll I'll catch you!"
'Oh, Mr.. Patteroll, don't catch me;
Catch that niger behind that tree!'
ooh, Mr.. Johnsing, turn me loose;
I've got NJ money. but a good excuse.
"~Chickamy, chickamy, craney crow,
I went to the we'll to wash my toe"
When l got back my chicken was gJne
What O'Clock. old witch?"
Just about the time of the celebrated
Brown raid at Ha1per's Ferry, Virginia
communities in the southern states
were in a condition of unrest and OK
element, and many were the rumocs
of contemplated slave Instructions.
am glad to believe that these mo
were unfounded; the negro's attach
ment and fidelity to his home people
during the war we'll entities him to Tie
benefit of the doubt. But this excited
condition prevailed; and the vigilanc:
of the patrol force, which for many
years had been kept up in a careless
perfunctory manner in Fayetteville AM
on Haymount, was redOubled until tbs
beginning of the Civil war-and there
by hangs a tale.
One drilling, sIeety, dark nigh
the captain of the town patrol was MIR
Blank, whose wife was a notable en-
tertainer, and his table was famous n:
town over for It's "fatneSS. MI
Blank ranged his squad on the lee sid
of the market mouse and gave tfeu
their misunderstanding n detail
over Eccles' bridge, another out tow
ards the fair grounds, a third up into
Texas" and Il fourth down int
Campbellton, he himself leading one
body. And, gentlemen" he said II
the courtly, host,itable manner OF to-
southerner, and with the measured usf
of tie choice English in which he de
lighted, the night is raw and temp7S'
tuous, and our duties will be ard'ols
My wife is going 20 prepare hot oysters
a bowl of Scotch whiskey and otnel
little doings which will be ready by
about 11:15 O'Clock, but | find that VI
can hardly complete u rounds befofe
II o'clock, so at that hour we will 81
meet here, whence it will give me plea
sure to escort you TO my house for re-
freshments."
Now, reclining on a butcher stall
just inside the market, where he hao
taken refuge from the weather AM
hearing every word of the pleasantly
laid plan, was N OF the choice splf.
it's of the town, who loved a practical
joke even as dearly as he loved hGi
Scotch whiskey and in a few minute
he was I'D at the Fayetteville hotel. III
earnest whispered conference WITH a
knot of, boon companions.
Inst at 11-15 o'clock heavy foot