Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1865-01-27
DAILY SENTINEL
Forty Thousand Negroes IN wash
inEtou

Forty Thousand Negroes IN wash
ington.
By the following extract from the proceedings
OF meeting held on the 18th mat, in Washing
ton, il will be seen how much the condition Of
the negro hss been ameliorated by the aid OF bic
philsuthropic abolition friends. Such things.
under the shadow Of the federal capitol, may
serve 10 indicate the state TO which the unhappy
freedmen" have been reduced in other parts Of
the country The National Iutelligencer more
than confirms the statements made BY the chair
man Of the meeting, Rev. Wm. Claiming
Mr. Channipg read a report setting forth she
startling and most heart sickening condition Of
these vretched outcasts under The shadows OF the
national capitol. II June last the census showed
q, least thirty thousand colored population in
this district, nearly all in the confines OF this
city There ere now not less than forty thous-
and. There are At least nine hundred families
Of these poor people in the city. A few Of
them have been sole 10 build shanties, paying
for the miserable ground on which 70 place them
s25 and $50 year. Not more than twenty FIVE
of these families pay for their novels not less
than So per month, and not more than fifty pay
less than S. monthly rem.
The following are reported as those which met
the visitors in every direction:
An old woman on Eleventh street was found
with the melting snow dripping through her
hovel upon her pallet of rags. She was sick;
had buried two childen; no FIRE, fuel nor food,
and no means to get any; was hungry, had beg
ged a match to light in the night, go that the
night might not seem so long.
In another hOvel near by was mother and a
babe, without dres., no fre, and twenty-four
hours without food. A girl nine years old WAS
washing rag. gathered from the mud to sell
A few squares avsy Sally Clayton. daughter
and two grandchildren. The daughter had an
undressed infant. no food nor fuel. and in per
ishing condition.
An old man. many years preacher while in
slavery, sleeps in a hovel on a board with astck
OF wood for pillow; no food nor fuel no shirt /;
hs collar bone has been broken, and he cannot
work
In a sh.utr on the island were six children
huddled in.rags together like Aoek Of sheep.
The mother, Mrs Jackson is recently dead No
food nor fuel.
,On Capitol Hill, in space 10 stable smaller
than two stalls, are two families-sn old man,
= cripple. and girl twelve years old with the
consumption = young child dying ofstsrvstion; ;
a sick motherless boy, and another old mana
plank bed tor the old people, and broken boards
with rags Oh them for the children; a widow
FIRE nor food
On Sixteenth street, woman ninety years
old. in q stable no light, no food no fuel
When the report had been read Mr. Claiming
requested Mrs Griffin, the agent OF the sssocis-
tion, who has been sboring among those pitisblo
human beings some months, TO express her views
on the matter. Thev need everything-clothing,
food and shelter They fed from slavery. taking
nothing but few rags on their backs. Food,
fuel, clothing, Sere sll equally needed, and the
report stated likewise
The women need cl,thing. They cannot ge;
employment People spurn them from their
doors, refusing entrance to creatures half COW
cred With filthy rags She spoks of the women
in desoation. and in the face Of every form Of
encouragement had done the most of them well
snd mary OF them uobly Their dsstitu,ion Of
clothing was absolutely shocking.
= dozen or more persons are crowded into
single small room. More than four- -ifths of the
families have no fuel. Fifty families are to be
turned into the street Immediately for non-psy-
ment Of rent. man and four children have
already thus been turned Of doors. and
another family. mother and three children,
all baretooted. Almost every family has a sick
person.
The New York Express prints tho shove eI
lssct and adds:
We might quote At greater length from these
proceedings, We might comment upon the con
ditlOn OF thee negroes now, and before the war.
We might state ths; the negroes here described
are but a type Of the class sl over that portion
OF the southern country visited by our armies,
snd especially in Louisiana on the Mississippi,
and elsewhere We might point to over so 900
negroes destroyed in and near New Orlesn. since
the war begsn-but we forbesr