The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-09-10

NOFln CdrOl1nd lying DelOW TIE SdIlu
hills. The Lumber River runs near it
and swamp after swamp stretches it's
ugly length across it; dense growths
of gum, ASH oak, pine, cypress and
poplar are found in abundance; in
low grounds and SWampS brambleS,
yellow jasmine, poison ivy and bam-
boo vines grow luXuriantly and mat
into impenetrable tangles; sluggish
streams and slime-mantled pools offer
their unwholesome hospitality alike to
the moccasin and the fugitive; there
are spots where the sun never shines
and which white feet have never
pressed.
Alternating with these sinister and
dismal stretches are tracts of higher
ground which by contrasts almost de-
serve to be called hills. Scattered over
| them at greater or smaller distances
are log huts of a rude and simple de-
| scription, each surrounded by a few
| acres of half cleared ground. If the
curious traveller wishes to visit a Scuf-
| fletown shanty he must leave the pub
| lie road and seek it out The uninlu-
| ated might drive for miles straight
! through the heart of this strange COM.
| munity and never dream that a hu-
man habitation is near. The trained
! eye might mark here and there a foot
| path twisting off from the road to
lose itself almost Immediately in the
dense underground. If one cared to
! follow this up, he would be led
| through the woods across branches
and swamps to a small clearing. Here
in the midst of straogling patch of
puny corn and cotton he would find
| Croatan family. Sometimes half
dozen of these cabins are in sight of
one another. Usually they are more
scattered and isolated. Your Croatan
does not fancy neighbors.
Tic Cfoataiis Themselves.
To describe a typical croatan is diff
! ficult just as it would be to find
| typical South Carolinian. AS elsewhere,
much variat ton is found among the
Scufiletonians. according to greater
or less admiXture of white blood, cir
cumstances of birth and manner of
! living, etc. Negro traits of feature
and character are, however, distinctly
| lacking AS a race the CroatanS are
! of medium height, slender of figure
and of extraordinary alertness and
| erectncss of bearing: they are sinewy
| rather than muscular and possess
| great strength and endurance. Their
! color is a clear pleasing yellow or
tawny, with a slight tinge of red or
copper; their cheekbones are high and
| prominent and their hair straight,
black and abundant. Most of the men
/ wear mustaches or boards. The eye
! is cold steelly blue or deep Velvety
black, according as white or Indian
blood predominates. The race as a
whole is good looking. Some of the
young girls are c~~ ecially pretty-trim
of ankle, firm of poise. mature in de-
velopment, shy and graceful in the eX-
treme
! The Croatans repudiate all connec-
ton with negroes and affiliate with
them in no way. They have been Off
! cially recognized by the State of North
| Carolina as the Croatan Indians and
| have their own separate schools and
churches.
Indian traits of character and bear
ing are obvious They prefer to go in
! single file. and are reserved and tacl-
| turn The contrast between them and
negroes in this respect is very marked.
| No one who might see crowd of ne
| groeS and crowd of Croatans to-
i gether could fail to be struck by 1T,
the former obtrusively joking, singing,
shuffling frankly having a good time
and not caring who knows it; the lat
| ter grouped at a little distance, silent,
watchful and motionless.
They are a hardy race, of great Ion
gevity and prolificness. Quiet and in
offensive if let alone, Croatan is dan
| gerouS and revengeful to a degree if
wronged. His anger is best left sleep
| ing, and he need no 'nOli me tangere'
| to warn off the stranger who has seen
| him once aroused.
| Whether or not they are the descen
| dants of Raleigh's ill-fated band may
never be settled, though a probability
| that they are has already been eStab-
! lished. Each succeeding year renders
! proof more difficult. At any rate the
probability of such an origin enhances
| their natural interest and it is a strik-
! ing if melancholy thought that Vir-
! ginia Dare'S great great great grand
| children may at this day be running
around barefooted. shooting rabbits in
the backwoods of North Carolina. If
| such they be they possess an ancestry
which the proudest aristocrat might
| envy and have cOursing through their
| veins blood which for blueness might
| we'll cause the descendants of the fa
nous Pilgrim fathers themselves to
| recognize i'm this obscure people their
| full peers in nobility of lineage.
Apart from theories and conjectures
interesting and instructive as they may
be, Croatan history from 1854 to 1874
challenges our notice in manner
as bloody as peremptory. Those ten
years were as fraught with tragedy for
Robson county as the mighty civil
conflict which preceded them was for
our whole nation. Nowhere was great
er havoc wrought during Radical rule
than there. AS bold ana relentless
band of outlaws had their haunts in
Scuffietown as ever terroriZed dis
trict or slew man. The world at
large knows little of that period. The
reasons are not far to seek. Coming
as it did just after the war, the whole
South was paralyzed; each section was
mourning its own dead and striving
to meet it's own problems. Concert
ed action was impossible; each COM
munity fought its individual fight lnd
stood or fell by it's own efforts Over
the land the dark shadow of Recon-
struction rule rested, and under it men
lay powerless, too hard beSet to hear
cry for help and too weak to heed
it.
Just at this moment Croatan hatred
raised it's head and struck. There was
no war paint or feathers; no fringed
buckskins and blood curdling war
whoops met by gay uniforms and
trumpets There was not even sin
gle great battle or overwhelming mas
sacre to strike the worlds attention
and claim it's sympathy. But grim
succession of robberies and Killings
which bIed RObeSon county of her