The daily gazette., 1879-04-12
Repenting their Folly.

Louisiana Negroes Trying to Get
Home from 81. Louis-Not One Of
Them rho has Erer Known Of any
Persecution from tie Whites.
st. Louis Globe (Rep.)
ST. LOUIS, April 0.-Three darky emf
grants, with their little families, left the
city a few nights ago by the steamer
City of Vicksburg for their presumably
wretched homes in Madison Prlsh, La.
| Their passages were paid by Sells IL Co.,
cotton merchants. These poor fellows
represented their desire to return to such
Southern homes as they might be able to
make for themselves again, and said, in
the face of all the suffering, de,titution
and duping they had met here, they were
willing ami anxious to submit to every
circumstance of Southern life again. A
reporter was introduced to the three
specimens of darkydom who were eager
for passes to Madison Parish, La, and
wild in their anxiety to tear themselves
away from the diarrhptc effects of their
change to Northern water. The three
gentlemen were Henry Watson, William
Chapman and Nathan Robinson. The
order of introduction was something like
this: The reporter was in Sells 4 Co.'S
Office when William Chapman came in.
He was medium-height. heavy -featur-
ed and colossal-boned iindividual, with
skin dark as the backest midnight.
His clothes were so bad it was wonder
how they hung to him, but he covered
most of bis nakedness with dilapidated
overcoat which was fastened at the col
lar-button with an artistically whitfield
peg. With hat IN hand he shufiled IN,
until all the beauty of his dust-rimmed
face was within appropriate viewing dis
tance of the writer.
| "Come this way" said gentleman at
one of the desks, ''this man wants to
have talk with you about going home
and is going to put your name in the pa
per-"
"What is his name?" the reporter
asked.
civilian Chapman" answered the
darkey.
"And where do you hail from?"
"Ugh'n?' queried William.
"Where do you come from?'
"Mad'son Pa'sh."
"Well, now," said the gentleman at
the desk, "tell the repor er here why you
left the South"
"Well'n," said Chapman threatening to
wipe his black nose with the rim of his
hat, 81 dunno, wuE hyeanin' de peo-
pie all talkin' about comm an q gitten'
ready fur to come, and dey wuz sayin'
wat nee place ka-ansas wuz, an so !
jes' bundled up my things and come
along
"Was that your only reason for leav.
ing?" asked the reporter.
"Dat's de only reason l know for it,
said William.
"No one ever harmed or threatened you
in the South? You had Lo f ar of the
whites"
"Oh, no, no; no indeed. Bless you, nc
: w'ite man ever banned me-"
"And you never heard of any trouble:
with the whites ?"
"Deed'n didn'. Oar wuz no trouble
bout in onr parts but | bearn say "a
over in y other parishes dere wuz some
shootin' or sich."
"You'Ie not afraid to go back South p
''Nah, I'm not 'fraid Wat | got b,
'fraid ny? Eff dere amt no much shootin
and KILN dar wen we lef', can't Sc,
muffin to be askeard on."
"Then you are anxious to 90 back :?
"Deed'n is. 'De Souf is good 'uuf to
me. | amt a he'd no health here since
KUN. I've be mos ailin' to do. Nah
nah, tell you | amt 'fraid to go back
| had nice place down dar, and wu
livin' with Mr.. (randell for over mn,
year-Mr. Crandell was nice man. NJ
indeed, dere amt no killin where cum
I hnt
wouldn't want ter git back"
Chapman went on to rattle off 10
more irrelevant stuff, and incidentall,
r stated that although be had been up her
little more than week he had earned S.
whereas he had not made more than $l(
= = year in the South. He couldn't get ol
to Kansas, he said, and didn't know tina
n he wanted to, as Kansas might be just a
: hard on him when he struck it us thi
country was.
y At this juncture Henry Watson an
Nathan Robinson came in. Henr
was, If degrees Of comparison were pos
sible, the worst clad of the three, and h
looked like creeping hospital. Hi
eyes were watery, as if he had suffere
J from long siege of cold, and his look
were wild and haggard and he was YER
much inclined to double up. Henry wa
D the most laxative man of the three, a
well as the most pitiable. He had lei
the South for no other reason than tha
every body else was going Kansasward.
"They said" remarked Henry, sadly
"dat we wuz TO get land an $500, al
! hosses an plows, an We all thought "
wuz goin' right straight to fo'tune; hut
tell you I'm mighty sick of it. l amt bl
a day we'll since got byere, an l b'iiev
eff wuz to stay hyere 'aurther week L
, be dead nigger.'
"You seem to be pretty Sick" suggest
ed the reporter.
al guess liz sick. Eff you WE to sc
tile diffunce between me wen | WI
'' down dar and up hyere, you'd say | mu
n bin putty sick. Sick amt no name Il
b it, chid-I'm dyin'.o
whereat everybody in the office laugl
} ed.
"You needn laugh; Pm tellin' you q
In Gods ackchal truf. Dey aim no lyi
~ about dat; emmy Of 'em tell you So"
"Were not laughing at you, Henry
explained one of Sells 81 Co.'S men. sc
on and tell the rest of your story"
Henry said he had no fear of goli
=, back South-knew of no killing, shootll
b. or lntimidating of any kind.
81 tell you, gemmeD," said Henry, el
thusiasti cally, 81 want TO go back SO bf
IS lthat | wuz a comm down right away d
IN ev'nin' to telegraph somebody to con
st right up hyeah to' mean l WIFE a-gol