It was a grand opportunity for the low whites, who had no negroes of their own to scourge. They exulted in such a chance to exercise a little brief authority, and show their subserviency to the slaveholders; not reflecting that the power which trampled on the colored people also kept themselves in poverty, ignorance, and moral degradation.
Why do you think these " low whites" were especially cruel to the Negroes of the town during this search? * They had no people to inflict pain on, and they were probably jealous