Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1878-06-21
RAD NEWS FROM THE AzOR.

Three months ago it was announced that
the steamer Azor would sail from Charleston
for Liberia. The news produced the widest
excitement among the colored people of
South Carolina. They abandoned their
homes and hocfed to Charleston for the pur-
pose of embarking on what they regarded as
a voyage of pleasure. Thousands were clam
oring for passage on the Azor. They pro-
posed to engage in the enterprise without
money, clothes, or any Of the necessary pre-
partitions. All seemed impressed with the
belief that the vessel was to carry them to a
land Astounding in plenty, and that if they
could reach it they would live in luxury.
When the steamer Azor raised steam to start
on the long journey, it required the aid of
the police to remove the infatuated blacks
from the vessel in which many had secreted
themselves. The Azor has been heard from,
and we regret that the tidings are full of
sadness, revealing great suffering and death.
The Charleston Nei0s and Courier sent Mr..
A. B. Williams as a special reporter, and
here is his first dispatch:
SIERRA LEONE. WEST COAST OF AFRICA, I
May 18th. Oid MADEIRA, Saturday, June 18th.
The Azor arrived here to-day. For too
many of the hopeful emigrants who sailed
from Charleston, on Easter Sunday, the voy
age has been disastrous. Indeed, at one time
there was reason to fear that the Azor would
be nothing less than floating charnel- house.
The first days OF the voyage were wholly I'M
eventful. Captain Holmes organized police
force, and required every part of the vessel to
be kept clean. The submission and docility of
the emigrants cannot be too highly praised.
Soon, however, the need of an experienced
physician began to be felt. Even before the
Azor sailed measles had made its appearance
and this malady spread rapidly. This was
not so bad, however, as the ship fever caused
by the close confinement between decks, the
scanty accommodation and, above all, by the
want of water The sufferings of the emf
grants were intense. They had not been &C.
customed to practice self-denIal, and soon
exhausted the limited supply of water. There
was great waste despite the Efforts of the Off
GERS. The fever spread rapidly, and before
we reached this point, which Is a colonial set
Element on the west coast, belonging to Great
Britain, twenty-three of our Inflated emf
grants had died. l have never seen a sadder
sight than when their remains were commit
ted to the deep. The names of the dead will
go to you by the first mail steamer that
touches at this place. This dispatch | for
ward by way of the Island of Madeira, from
which point it will be sent to you by ocean
cable.
The death-rate, it will be seen from this
dispatch, is most frightful But it is not sur
prising, as the negroes slowed themselves
away In the hatch of the Azor, without any
of the necessary and indispensable comforts
The story told by the New York papers as to
the sufferings of the two hundred and fifty
blacks huddled up like Texas cattle in
freight-car. equals almost anything which
has been related of the horrors of the mid
die passage" Sickness and privatlon deci-
mated the little band 0f emigrants, and when
the survivors reached the African coast they
doubtless bitterly lamented the folly which
induced them to leave their homes in the
sunny south. The lesson was a needed one,
and we trust its teaching will be deeply pom
dered by those who may have contemplated
a similar removal across the Atlantic. The
southern negro is infinitely better off where
he is. HIS services are indispensable in GER
tain fields of labor, and as the effects of
hard times wear off, and industry
once more REEVES under the inhu-
ence of restored confidence and the
settlement of financial problems, he is GER
tain of regular and profitable employment.
The cotton and rice fields cannot well do
without him, nor can he we'll do without
them The virtues which he most needs to
exercise are patience and perseverance The
thousands Of yet untitled acres at the south