New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1854-11-17
ERAynS Upon IMMIGRANTS,

FRAUDS UPON IMMIGRANTS.
During the year 1853, no less than $40, 9t'
aliens. driven from their homes in the old world
BY penury or political prescription, and aIlured
by the promise of succor and protection in the
United States, sought these shores, happy if they
might but labor, and BY that labor live. or this
gigantic industrial force, 276, 449 persons made
their advent through the port of New-York.
How well the authorities of this City and State
discharged their duty toward them, and the hun
dreds of Thousands of others who have landed
here within the present year, few facts may
serve to illustrate.
Under the sanction Of the Municipal and State
Governments. an Organized bsnditti, known as i'm.
migrant runners and transportation agents, plum
der these thousands of strangers, almost with im-
punty. The City of New York alone derives from
the legalization of their acts an annual revenue OF
over $1,000; how much Albany and the score OF
towns and cities that swarm along the Erie and
Central Railroads as far as Dunkirk and Buffalo,
profit from the same source, We have no means
of knowing; but directly and indirectly, they
certainly gain very large amount in that way.
In this City there are 81 Emigrant Runners, u
censei at $50 year; 81 Emigrant Boarding
House Keepers, at $40 year, and 81 Bookers,
at S25 ayear. The business these men is uoto-
ricusly and avowedly to defraud immigrants For
this end, they are banded with hundreds, nay,
thousands of others of the same class, through
out this and the adjoining States. and by their
frauds and violence, competent authorities say
that their poor victims are annually feeced OF not
less than 81, 100000. These facts are 90 noteri.
Gus that the statement of them here might seem
superhuous, but that it is only by constant re-
iteration that reform can be hoped for. These
men, we say, act under the sanction of the Gov
overwhelmingly so, it is true-but not the less
securely. They boast of possessing controlling
influence in the Legislature, and threaten with
political damnation the member who might have
courage enough to bring forward bill adverse to
their interests. From this City, Albany, Buffalo.
and elsewhere, they have elected such men a.
would wink at their misdeeds, and further their
aims While, as if for very shame. show OF
legal restriction is maintained, to all intents and
purposes, this highway robbery is as safe and
profitable profession as can we'll be engaged In.
As roou as a ship emerges from the Narrows,
the runners prepare for descent upon their
prey, and by the time she has come to anchor of
the boarding station, at Staten Island, her pas.
sengers are sold out to the highest bidder.
There are honorable exceptions to this rule, but
in nine cases out of ten the captain of . vessel
sells his passengers to the runner who offers him
the largest price. If the ship is to remain at
Quarantine to be cleansed, the runner brings
steamboat alongside takes out the passengers
and their luggage, and conveys them to the CITY.
If they have to be quarsntined, he takes them
ashore in the same way, and when their term has
expired, reembarks them on a steamboat and
brings them to New-York. This he does at his
own or his employers expense, beside paying
the captain bonus of from one hundred to three
hundred dollars, and sometimes gratuitously fur
nishing a tow.boat to bring the ship up to her
wharf into the bargain. For these considers
tons. captains, and not unfrequenty consgnees,
give to the runner permit which entities him to
the exclusive control of the transferred passen.
gers until they reach the wharf in New-York.
Thus these poor people are sold, like sheep at
the shambles TO men who know no moral 0blga-
tion-who would deprive them Of their utter
most farthing, and, but for the fear of rope,
put them out of the way if they ventured to re
monstrate against the monstrous injustice. Gen
orally the immigrant is cajoled into buying sec.
ond class ticket to whatever place he may be
bound, at about double the regular price Of q
frst-class ticket. If he refuses to buy the
ticket, he is beaten, or his luggage detained,
or be is transferred to the boarding house
that plays stool to the runner. Sometimes man
of influence ameng the passengers is induced, by
the promise of q free passagesh urge his fellows
to go with some particular linz; rarely, however,
do the runners fulfill such promise, but rather
fleece him worse than his fellows for acting as
the decOy.
Having secured his passengers and sold them
tickets, the runner takes them to the boarding.
house with which he is connected, where they
are lodged in filthy rooms, and fed upon coarse
food ostensibly at seven shillings q day; but
taking into confederation the extras consumed,
in Il shape Of bad rum and vile tobacco, and
adding the charges made for carting, storage,
&C., it generally reaches nearly two dollars
day. That the boarding house keeper confines
himself to the legal tariff of charges, must not be
supposed. He only does this where there is no
possibility of acting otherwise with safety.
Should the immigrant refuse to purchase ticket
from the runner to whom be was sold, in nine
cases out out Of ten he is booked by the forward
ing house to which the runner belongs. This is
managed by the clearinghouse keeper, who 10
in the pay of the forwarder. Some of them receive
son Z mail 10 aax.d al 4La;< Loaxda=.-