The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1905-08-30
BARS OUT NEGROES.
En Oh o Town Where the Colored
Man Cat i've.
Syracuse is the Nine Of tho Place
Where Negroes are Not Allow
cd to SDend Night.
ed to Spend . Night.

ed to Spend Night.
F. q. Qli!lien, In the Independent,
says in the town Of Syracuse, OHIO,
on the Oaio river, four miles above
P Jmeroy, a town Of about 1000 In
habisants, no pegro Is permitted to
live. No negro is permitted to stay
In the town over light under any con.
sideration. This Is an absolute rule
In this year 1905, and it has existed
for several generations. The enforce
ment Il this uIwritten 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 at
:empt of 8 negro to bec ,nne resident
+ the town Is resisted by the town en-
masae.
Wien the colored man Is seen in
the town during the day be Is gener-
ally told Ct these traditions, If he is
so ignorant as not to know them
already, and is warned to leave before
snndcwn. II he fails to take heed, he
Is surrounded at about time darkness
begirs, and is addressed by the lead
CTS OF the gang in about this language:
No nigger Is allowed to stay IN this
sown over night. We don't care
what you a:e here for. Get out OF
here now, and get out quick" He
,ees from twenty-five to fifty boys
around him talkirg in subdued voices
and waiting to see whether he oheys.
II be hesitates, little stones begin to
reach him from uoseen Quarters, and
soon persuade him to begin his hegtfa.
he is not allowed to walk, but Is told
to get on his little deg trot." The
command Is always effective, 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
it sometimes numbers seventy-fve to
one hundred boys. is good natured and
contents itself with yelling, laughing
and hurting g1bes at its victim. But
let him stop bis 'trot'' for one mo-
ment, from any cause whatever, and
the stones Immediately take effect as
their psrsuader.
Thus they follow him to the furth-
est limits Of the town, where they
send him on his way rfjoicing (O
while they return to the city with
triumph and tell their fathers all
about the function, how fast the VIC
tim ran, how scared he was, how he
pleaded and promised that he would
90 and never return if they would
only 90 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 two wars spend the rest OF
the evening by the old campfire, re-
counting their campaigns.
The cause Of this extraordinary
race prejudice Is hard to discern. The
majority Ct 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 hos
tile to the negro that some people
attribute the present. treatment OF
the c"lored man to their inference.
The population Is mixed, including
many Welsh and Germans. Most OF
the people are day laborers working
in the ccal mines and In salt manu-.
facture, a-,d perhaps they feel the
danger OF negro competition. Ger
la1nly they would as readily associate
with snake as permit black man
to work by Their side. They almost
feel that be defles anything that be
touches.
To the women be 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 horror associated with that name.
The writer has seen many Child
frightened almost into Mysteries at
the mere sight Of a colorsd man, and
be was himself i'm oued with the ter.
ror. What has caused this fear? No
crime has ever been committed by q
negro within the town, although
many have occurred near by which
perhaps serve to maintain the preju-
dice in spite Of many things that
might have worked toward undermin-
ing it.
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 family In the extreme lower end
of the town, practically in the coun-
try, 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 we're summartly
driven out.
Murdered in the Street.