The independent press. (Abbeville C.H., S.C.) 1853-1860, 1859-06-24
From tie Nem Orleans Picaynte.
ONE VICTIM MORE.

Sdltut lIdSt VI ollC JCitI .olcClc, NUN StftI
va,ion and cold" Under this brief an
noucement lies a story and moral.
What took Jcm Steele to Canada9 And
why did he perish there, in this miserable
way9
lie was native Of cline farther South.
He was born under the fervil sun Of cot
ton planting State Of the Union; and his
constitution was adapted TO, and had been
trained to the temperature Of South Carroll.
na, where the very winters are soft and
bamv. He was untitled to bear tho chill
ling rigors of the snowy North. lie would
shrink and shvcr under the keen blast of
what they revel in there, as the pleas:,n,
days of spring. The icy winter pinched up
his muscles and frozc his LIood-Cana,la
was no place for him-a child Of the sunny
South. How came he there to die!
He perished-of neglect as we'll as cold
lie was starved among inhosptabIe stran.
gers. How was this?
lie came of a race unused, if even cana
bic, to take care of themselves. lie had
never known what it was to seek labor for
himself or to take care of himself. lie
knew nothing of the work to be done in
that alien region, if he could have got any
thing to do. From his infancy he had been
reared to absolute dependence on the dircc-
tion Of others, to absolute reliance on their
thoughtfuness for what he should do,
and what he should have. Superior intelE-
gcnce directed his habits, where they were
most productive, and charged itself with
his maintainance. Whatever else troubled
him, it was neither cold nor hunger. In
sickness and in health he was provided for
-nurseI and fed and clothed-and in his
age there was home for him. It is true
he was subject to restraints, but it was to
the will Of those who maintained anil
cared for him and had an interest in
bis well being. In that genial climate he
was secure at least OF shelter and food.
He was beguiled into quitting it in pur-
suit Of phantoms with which a cruel phian-
thropy lured him from his natural home and
State. lie escaped from this condition OF
bondage sometime in 1856. The New
York Journals record his arrival tbere-the
futile attempt to have him returned TO his
master-the successful evasion in his favor
by the New York Aboitonists of the fugi-
tive slave law, and the eager and jublant
haste with which they despatched him on
the underground railroad" into Canada
Their mission was then over. They had
emancipated slave, had robbed slave
owner OF his property; they had succeeded
in battling the execution of the law. Il
was enough. They returned to their homes
with complacent thoughts perhaps Of the
new evidence they had given of their yea
as propagandists Of freedom, and the new
affront they had thrown at the detestabl,
stakeholder.
But which Of them burdened his mint
with a care for the future of Jem Steele
Which Of them reflected beforehand wher,
Jem Steele was going and what was to be
come Of hiln9 what work he Was fitted 70
in the sterile country to which they were
sending him? who was to take care tha
he should get it, or find sustenance 70
him while he was waiting for it, or whel
be should fal2 Did one of them reflec
how helpless this deluded fugitive wa
how utterly ignorant he was of where h
was going or wba. was to befall him
what vague longings for something he coul'
not comprehend they had conjured up il
his imaginationa Surely dreadful disap
, pointment must follow, and this is th
responsibility Of the evils which shouI,
, come upon him They lured him from
quiet and plenty, to become wanderer, al
outcast, they took the helpless wretch from
all upon whom he had claim and nc
caring to burden themselves with the Gus
tody Of what had been wied into tbei
power, they put it away, as something t
be buried out Of sight as offensive, an,
dismissed from the thoughts as case hap
PLY got rid Of
But it could not always be kept out {
, eight. 1t comes up for judgment. A fe,
months after, the Journals, not moralizipg Q
,, hunting for facts with which to discredit
mock philanthropy or confessed bypocr
sy, note the end of this enterprise for conve,
ting Southern slave into Northern free
man. What is left of Jem Steele is som
squalid remains flung into pauper's grav
, He died in Canada, Of starvation and cold
The announcement should strike chi
. upon every man Of all who helped to tax
him from bis sunny home, and ding him t
, bis death among their Northern, SHOWS an
pittiless men, The gaunt skeleton Of poo