The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1908-01-02
THE lien Law
And the Negro as Seen by a
Northern Man
Who Has Been Resident Of the
County of Orangeburg for Near
ly One Year.

County of Orangeburg for Near
ly One Year.
ghsA following letter written by
MI sees, of Bristol. Conn.,. to the
CoS scut Valley Advertiser, will
be zith interest. Mr.. Beers is
at tie Head of huge lumber comp
{fssp near Rowesville, and has
| been igfslg in South Carolina little
less Eia one year. He seems to be
2 aosa observer. Here is his letter:
tSIfis IS the time of the year when
lssale collector is abroad in this land
4snd wien the negroes are in hiding
Iin & L: hoods to avoid meeting him.
ssee the lien law in force and
Of chattel mortgages that
fhat the negro and the poor
too can and does mortgage not
3only hat he has on hand in the shape
i 1egty, but he mortgages the
i crop which is not yet Plant
3g .seadg negroes are coming into
~. stores md buying fertilizers to
j the next years crop. When the
/, sgs turn out we'll it is a good year
{: .1.:1orthe9 business men, as they make
aprsetice of selling under the liens
4sasfsaa exorbitant profit, but when the
a.5:s',Sp y is bad and that year is followed
EssfS 4another bad year, then the mer-
Chant is liable to find himself in a
hole and with a lot of nearly worth
less live stock on hand.
Under the lien law the man gives
note and mortgage on the crop that
he is going to grow, and it is his bus
mess to take the first bale of cotton
or the first sack of rice or the first of
his corn crop and turn it over to his
creditor. This he must do before he
markets any of the crop to an out
slider. AS cotton is about the only
crop that is grown in this State for
the market it is the first bale or
bales of cotton that he should turn
over, and the negro has more than
one way to get out of doing this.
AS every negro who grows cotton
is we'll known to the ginners and to
the merchants as we'll, he does this
way to get around his obligation.
Instead of taking his cotton to the
ginnery he takes it in small quanti-
ties to a well-to-do negro who man.
ages to keep out of debt and this ne
gro has it ginned as though it was
his own and gives them a part OF the
proceeds. Each ginnery keeps rec
ord of all men for whom they gin
cotton and thus there is no record
against the negro who has disposed
Of his cotton without first settling
with his creditor.
One fairly well-to-do negro who
lives little distance out of Rowes-
vile and who had about eight acres
of cotton this year which should have
furnished him with about four bales,
have already ginned Is bales. The
negro who thus disposes of his cot
ton leaves it at the home of the man
who is to have7it ginned before day.
light and he is not seen by the man
whoIives there and if he is.question-
ed he Can say that he did not see any
body leave it there.
For the last two weeks there have
been riding about the country around
Rowesville at least IL collectors for
as many different concerns. They
have been taking in live stock that
was sold last spring and in many cas-
es have nailed up the doors of corn
houses to hold the contents against
the owners. One collector for con-
cern ir Bamberg, 18 miles away.
which sells horses and mules has al
ready driven off at least 20 head that
were sold last spring to negroes.
In some cases the negro will give a
mortgage on an OK, a horse or mule
that he does not own. Of course this
is perjury and when the collector
comes around and finds out what has
been done then is the time for the
negro to take to the woods and re-
main there for the next two or three
months until the collector has got
tired of looking for him.
Last spring a negro living near
town mortgaged an OK to a concern
in part payment of a mule and the
collector started to drive away the OK
a few days ago. The negro told him
that he mad better drive the OK
through the streets Of RoWesville
and then he took to the woods. When
the OK was in front of the store Of }.
F. Boone the latter went out and
asked the man where he was going
with his OK.
Mr.. Boone rented the OK, a cabin
and 10 acres of land to the negro
four years ago for an annual rental
of one bale of cotton. Plenty of
men in town knew of the circum-
stances and they satisfied the collec-
tor at once that he had no claim on
the OK and it was turned into the
yard back of Mr.. Boone's store.
One negro, who is in hiding at the
present time because he can not meet
a claim of $S3 for which he made a
fraudulent mortgage, sent in by
friend a night or two since 80 cents
to be rendered the collector in part
payment.
Two negroes, who are we'll known
to the writer bought a wagon last
spring and made a small payment
and uaue lion on the Wapnn for the