The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1879-04-17

The stream of emigration pouring
Into hPisaS ID perhaps larger this sea
son than ever before in the history of
the State. 4 large number of the
emigranLs are colored people Wha are
fleeing from tAo cruel treatment
of the whites of the South, The
first arrival at st, Louis of the cOlOred
people who are llceing from MissiSsip-
pi and Louisiana, and making their
way to Kansas, is thus described by a
correspondent of the New York IriJ-
tLHe.
about noon Oh Sunday the steamer
arrived. 1t was very cold dayi Il
heavy snOY.stOrM WAS prevailing, and
the wind Elew perfect gale. The ne
groes were unlOaded at the wharf, and
their miserable stores of household
goods and bundles of baggage were
set down in the SNOW. \ more truly
pitiable spectacle than they were, men,
women and children, wretchedly clad,
and looking starved and desperate, il
would be difficult 10 imagine 10 the
everlasting credit Of tie colofed people
OF st. f0tlis let it be said that the news
of their arrival and miserable condi=
tion haYing been made known ut the
different c0lOred churches, il was de-
cided TO invite these Yretched refugees
| to a shelter in the basement of three
large churches, in the lower part of the
city, The pastors of the churches, ac-
eOmpalled by others, went down to
the wharf, extended the invitatiOn,and
soon a motley procession was filing
through the streets, following these
! truly Christian leaders. The express
sions were numerous and loud on the
part of the refugees that God had sent
them deliYerers, and many were the
hallelujahs and cries of Glory to God
Il tOle We de Lord would help u.s. that
arose from hundreds of grateful
hearts.
In the easements of these ehalcheS,
all Who arriYetl during the past week,
Numbering oyer 2,500 were temporarily
accommodated. Beds v ere made in the
peWs and on the floor, and convenien-
ceS for cooking were imprOYiSed. Here
they were visited by a very few white
people, and by hundreds of their color
ell brethren from the city. In appear-
ance they Looked like any ordinary
congregation of cQlored peOp,e, with
the exception that they We're most
Wretchedly clad, especially the men,
and that there was q very large pro-
portion Of small children and very old
people. / asked more than fifty differ
ent men why they left the South. They
all told exactly the some story. They
said that they couldn't make anything;
that they had to rent land at j price in
cotton equaling ten dollars an acre
and had to buy all their provisions of
the planters, who sold these Ia them
at such Hrlces that at tba end of the
year thsy We're always in debt; that if
they would get q little ahead, the
white folks would oOntrive in some
way To get it; they said there were no
laws to protect them either in their
contracts or their property, and that
If they complained or attempted to
make any trouble they were afraid of
their lives. This indeed seelned to be
one of their main complaints. it was
their almost inYariable reply, when
asked about voting, that they didn't
vote much, for they were afraid to.
Every suggestion or returning to the
South was Indignantly rejected. They
were informed that the Anchor Line
of steamboats, would take Them back
free, but they spuTned the idea. They
seemed afFald, alsO, of any other place
than Kansas. Word was received from
Iowa that several hundred could get
employment Us railroad hands in huiid-
ing a new road. They were afraid
Iowa was down South, Kansas they
knew as the friend Of the colOred peO-
pie. Most of them were very ignorant,
very few being able to read"