Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1905-08-25
OHIO TOWN BARS OUT NEGROES.


OHIO TOWN BARS OUT NEGROES.
Syracuse Will Not Allow Black Man to
Spend Even One Night There.
In the town of Syracuse, Ohio, on
the Ohio river, four miles above Pom
eroy, a town Of about 1000 inhabitants.
no negro Is permitted to live. No ne
gro is permitted to stay in the town
over night under any consideration.
This is an absolute rule in this year
1906. and 1t has existed for several
generations. The enforcement Of this
unwritten law for keeping the negro
from staying in the town over a single
night Is in the hands Of the boys from
twelve to twenty years Of age, while
the attempt Of a 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 II he Is so ig-
norant as not to know them already,
and is warned to leave before sundown.
If he fails to take heed, he is sur
rounded at about the time darkness
begins, and is addressed by the leaders
Of the gang In about this language:
mo nigger 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 20
to so boys around him talking In sub
dued voices and waiting to see wheth-
er 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 ef-
fective, for 1t 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
1t sometimes numbers seventy-five to
one hundred boys, Is good natured and
contents itself with yelling, laughing
and hurling gibes at its victim. But
let him stop his 'trot" for one moment,
from any cause whatever, and the
stones Immediately 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 CD 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 ana
promised that he would go and never
return IL they would only go back and
leave him, how Johnnie Jones hit him
with such a big rock that 1t knocked
him down. Then the fathers tell how
they used to do the same thing, and
thus the heroes of two wars spend the
rest of the evening by the old camp
fire, recounting their several cam
palgns.
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 or
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
present 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 manufac-
ture, 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 They 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 hor-
rors associated with that name. The
writer has seen many a child frighten-
ed almost into Mysteries at the mere
sight of a colored man, and he was
himself imbued with the terror. 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 1t.
Since the town was founded, about
1915, not a 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, practically. in the country
but they did not stay long. Since the
| Civil war two attempts have been
made by negro families to settle In the
town, but both were summarily driven
QUIT. U. Quillen in Independent.