St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1879-05-16
has created mach unpleasant feeling.
1880 P.nTv
The Escape of the Negroes.
THE REASONS THEY GIVE FOR BRAVING
STARVATION AND DEATH.
CT I 0IrIs Nav 4 1879.

ST. LOUIS, May a, 1879.
I spent a day among the negro Tefu-
gees in St. Louis. The principal colony
was located at 511 South Levee street
They had come upon the Golden City
from Tensas parish and from the river
plantations along the Mississippi.
Ask any of these negroes where he is
going to and he will invariably answer
'sTo 'Peka, sah."
By "Pekao they mean Topeka. 1t
seems the railroad land advertising in
the South was done by the Atchison.
Topeka and Santa Fe railroad. Many
of the negroes who seem very poor
really have some money hidden away
From ST.. Louis they are going in all
directions. Farmers write letters from
Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois asking for
a family to be sent to them. The peo-
pie in Newton, Iowa, write that they
can place five families and the same
will be sent there.
The negroes who come away from
the South are hard working, sturdy la
borers-men who want a home and
want to work for it. They all say they
expect to suffer and expect to work.
In the group is Orange Pucket who
brought his wife and two strong hand
some sisters from Tensas parish. When
l ask him why he came, he says
81 came because every time mas'r
John went away dey'd come over from
Helltown and alow'd dey'd kill u.s."
"Whe came over from HelltOwnP p
asked.
''The poor whites-the bulldozeE.
They'd get drunk and then go to shoot
in de colored people. Dey killed my
two brothers. had twenty-five acres
of cotton and a good many nights l
laid out in de woods all night, and my
wife cryin'."
"Then the planters did not harm
you 2"
mo, de planters, when we signed de
contrack, allowed dey'd protect us, but
de yeller fever come Oh and dey went
Norf and den de bulldozers come in"
Orange Pucket's contract last year
which he showed to ne, was as follows:
He was to make % a. res of cotton and
3 acres of corn. He was to pay bales
of cotton for the use of the land, 2 bales
for the use of 2 mules, bales for the
feed for the mules and l bale for the
use of the farm implements. In all he
was to pay 10 bales of cotton for the
use of 25 acres of land and the use of
two mules.
In his pass book provisions were
charged to him at the following prices /:
Pork per barrel, $50, worth $3.50 now
in st. Louis. Meal per barrel, SIS, worth
SO in St. Louis. Molasses per gallon,
81, worth 35 cents in st. Louis. Shoes,
$3.50, worth S1.25 in st. Louis. Do
nestle cloth, 25 cents, worth 1C cents in
st. Louis.
The crop resulted in Orange making
III bales of cotton, half bale to the
acre-an average crOp-which left him
in debt over a hundred dollars, and
which was charged up to him for the
year. The fallacy that deceives the ne
gro is the idea that he can make bale
of cotton to the acre. This can be
done, but a half bale is good average.
A bale of cotton is worth $40 So YOU
see it is big income (S40) for an acre
of land worth itself only about $50.
The only way the planter will be
able to keep the negroes is to rent
them land at 81 or SO per acre. The
absolute rent that Orange Pucket was
required to pay was really about $50
per acre, if we count the profit made on
supplies and the extravagant rent ask
ed for mules and tools.
The negroes are generally poor,
though | saw one man who had $500
with which to buy land in Kansas
There is no doubt but what they will
suffer in Kansas. There is no wood in
IL &c nd no ha
winter comes misery will follow. 1t
were much better for them to stay in
the cotton states if they could be pro-
tected there. But unless the planters
rise up en- mdsse and squelch the poor
white hoodlums who kill and scare the
negro, the entire cotton states will be
next year. The 10000 that
have come out are only the forerunners
of a general stampede next year, if
things do not mend in the South.
In the Chicago Tribune | gave the
following dialogue which l had at the
landing with new arrival -
did you have any trouble in getting
away from Louisiana ?" asked George
Holiday, who brought his three sisters
and little brother out of bondage.
eyes" he said, 1--WE had to come off
in the night. The white folks swore in
Tensas parish that they'd kill the first
niger that tried to get on steamboat.
So sent my brother and sisters to a
landing ten miles above, and went five
miles below with my two mules to get
on myself"
did you bring out your mules ?"
"No. | raised my mules; I'd had
'em four years; but white man saw
me put 'em on the Golden City, and he
ran his horse clar to de next landin',
got lot of fellows, and, when de boat
landed at the woodward, dey come on
with pistols, and stole my mules and
took 'em off"
Chow did you escape ?"
81 hid between some cotton bales
and saved my life. And now I've got
my brother and sisters here, Pm happy
if l am hungry, because l know | can
get work somewhere, and | know I'm
safe at last. Bless God for dat ~
Eyes, bless de good Lord for dat :"
responded Georges sisters us the tears
came to their eyes. "Bless him for dat ~
"Did you see many colored people
along the banks as you came up 2" |
asked George.
eyes, dey is camped all along up. At
Greenville the capt'n allowed to stop
and take some on but de white men
drew DER 'vOlvers and told him to back
de boat away or dey'd shoot"
From dozens of sources | learn that
the river is lined with colored peonIe
from Memphis to New Orleans, who are
being shot down or kukluxed like dogs
simply because they want to leave a
people and country which deny them
peace and food to eat.
To show what idea the average plant
er has of personal liberty in the Sontb .