Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1879-04-26
rnE NEGRo ExOpUs.

Towards the close OF In0 lofty
fth session of Congress Mr.. Win
ON. Senator from Minnesota, COM
nenced making speeches, motions,
tc., in favor of a Government grant
Or the purpose of rescuing the negro
rom the Southern whites by re-
him from the South or
heir vicinity. OF course these
peeches bristled with alleged
murders and other out
ages inflicted by the ex-slave driv-
us upon the African race. AT first
.hese effusions did not attract much
attention it was supposed to be one
more shake of the bloody shirt for
the edification of Buneombe, and no
mortal was any longer capable of |
being excited to a curse or tear or |
even a contemPtuous grin by such a |
device. The bloody shirt was known |
to be colored TO order with red Ochre,
and men'seyes could not be attracted
to a coarse imposition badly got up.
1t soon, however, became manifest
that something more than a topic
for defamation was in the wind.
Small bodies of negroes at first and,
after a while, steamboat loads of
them commenced leaving certain
parts of Louisiana and Mississippi
for st. Louis en- route for certain
points further North and West,
Kansas and Minnesota being appa-
rently the objective points. Itsoon
became manifest that the movement
was a concerted one, and its origin
has been traced with tOlerable GER
tainty to Massachusetts, whence
both money and emissaries have
made their way South in further
ance of the movement. The negroes
generally observe considerable mys-
terry in reference to the matter, but
secrets with that race are seldom
well kept. Perhaps the following
circular will give some idea of the
manner in which the scheme is
working. 1t has been widely circu
lated among negroes in Arkansas
with injunctions to keep it from the
eyes of white men. 1t was, how
ever, found and printed in the Com
monwealth, a Republican paper
published at Topeka, Kansas:
[strictly private.l
ATTENTION, COLoRED MEM OFFICE OF
COLoNIzATIoN SOCIETY, TOPEKA, KAN, Feb.
., ls79.-Your brethren and fliends through
out the North have observed with painful
solicitude the outrages heaped upon you by
your rebel masters, and are doing all they
can 10 alleviate your miseries and provide
for your future happiness and prosperity.
President Hayes, by his Ubiquitous Southern
policy, has deserted you, while the Demo-
Gratis, who now have control of Congress,
will seek to re-enslave you If you remain In
the South, and, to protect you from their
designs, the Colonization Society has been
organized by the Government to provide
land for each head of family, which will
be given in bodies of l60 acres gratuitously.
This land is located in the best portion OF
Kansas, in close proximity to Topeka, and
is very productive Here there Is no dlstinc-
ton in society; ali are on an equality. Leave
the land of oppression and come to free
Kansas. LUXURIOUS p. JONES, Pres't.
show this circular 10 none Out cOlOfeu
men, and keeps its contents secret.
We now give the comments of
the Topeka Commonwealth, which
will show that, though that point is
made the objective point of the
movement, the scheme did not
originate there. Remember that
the Commonwealth is a Republican
paper and then read the following
commentary ON the transaction:
There could be but one object in sending
suck an infamous document broadcast
through the ignorant blacks OF the South,
that is to make money for the Senders at the
expense OF their victims; and, II is sald-the
10 this city, hOwever-that some of the par
ties engaged in this wholesale exodus
scheme have been getting small amounts
from the cOlored emigTantS as fees for tnfOr-
nation and instructions as to how their
claims against the Government for the
promised farms should be prosecuted IN
st. Louis this game has been played with
considerable success and IN a lesser degree
along the road between here and there, so
that If the scheme is allowed TO progress in
the next two weeks as il has in the last two,
we will not only have our city full of coiored
people who are strangers to our climate and
modes of farming, but they viii all have
been defrauded in the coming. 1t will,
therefore, be well for the authorities to look
closely into the matter, and If anyone Is
found tampering with those who are already
here, or who are still to come, deal with them
as the law provides. The railroad compa-
mics, too, should be on the lookout for these
swindlers, for, while they may make pit
lance from the transportation of the deluded
people, the effect of the fraud will rebound
upon them with double force as acceSso-
Ties.
1t is evident, then, that the circu-
lar did not originate at Topeka, and
it is probably not from the original
promoters of the scheme, but from
some one who proposes to make
money off it. The original pro-
motors, there is reason to suppose,
live in the Eastern States, and their
purpose is to affect the census of
1880 in favor of the Northern against
the Southern States so as to augment
the basis of representation in the
former and diminish it in the latter.
The result so far is as might have
been expected-nOt happy for the
negroes; a movement commencing
with political maneuvre and after
wards falling into the hands of sor-
did harpies who manipulate the
thing for the purpose of robbing the
negroes of their savings-such a
movement could result in nothing
but disaster to the race in whose
behalf it was undertaken. Accord
ingly we already hear the cry of
distress. The following has been
dispatched from Wyandotte, Kan
sas, to st. Louis:
4 large number of colored Southern refn-
gees having been landed by steamboat at
Wyandotte in nm entirely destitute cOndi-
ton, during the past few days, and occupy
ing the churches and public halls of that
place, many sick, from exposure, and dying,
Mayor Shelley, of Kansas city, to-day tele-
graphed the Secretary of War for an order
Tor the issue of atiOns from Fort Leaven-
worth TO feed them. Secretary McCrary
replied that he had no authority to do so,
and that Congress was in session and appli-
cations should be made TO that body. A
committee has been appointed ut Wyan-
dotte to look after the sufferers. They issued
the following to-day:
To the generous citizens al The United States.
The undersigned, Executive Committee of
the Citizens Relief Committee of Wyan-
dOtte, Kansas, make an earnest appeal for
immediate financial aid TO assist the sick,
suffering and destitute colOred refugees that
destiny has suddenly thrown on the citizens
of w yaudotte. Seventeen hundred entirely
destitute are already here and thousands
more in the same destitute condition on the
way. In the midst of this general suffering