Raleigh, May 27—Work on a road being constructed in Mitchell county, in the mountains of North Carolina, was suspended last week when armed citizens forced a crew of negro laborers to leave the county, according to a story published in the Raleigh News and Observer this morning. There are scarcely any negroes in Mitchell county, according to the newspaper, and their presence there is objected to by some white citizens.
Soon after the negroes arrived in Mitchell count to begin work on the road, according to the News and Observer, a white man appeared at their camp and told the construction superintendent that the negroes must be moved out of the county. The superintendent failed to obey the order and late that afternoon a hundred armed men rode into camp and commanded the negroes to leave. The negroes offered no resistance and agreed to depart. They were led to a railway crossing where a freight train was stopped, according to the newspaper, and placed aboard. The leader of the white men is said to have paid the freight conductor money sufficient to purchase tickets for the negroes to the Tennessee line.
Frank Page, state highway commissioner, stated this morning that the work on the roads in Mitchell was being done by the county and he had received no report regarding the negroes being forced to leave the county.
From the front page of The Goldsboro News, Sunday morning, May 28, 1922
No comments:
Post a Comment