The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1880-12-11
ATURDAY MORNING, DECEMBER IL. 1880.
OUT OF THE nousE OF BoNDAGE.
The Latter Exodus-The Coiored Refu.
gees from the south In Indiana, Hold
Convention,

| hNouNtulons
GRERScARTIE, ISB., December TO-
convention OF the colored immigrants
this State from North Carolina, who can
during the past eighteen months, aSsen
bled here to-day, and was well attende
| by delegates from different parts Of th
State. Willis Burr, late OF the North Ca
olina Legislature, was President, an
Rev Il. r. Burton, Secretary. Nj
merous addresses were made contrastin
their life In North Carolina, the sentimen
being that they had never really enjoye
the blessings OF freedom until they cam
here. They were enthusiastic in thei
praise OF Indiana and their treRtmen
since coming here, and urged that tkei
people in the South come to the fre
North.
At the close the following addresse
were adopted and signed by the member
OF the Convention:
We, the undersigned colored migrant
from North Carolina, in Convention as
sembled, unite and agree upon the follow
ing declarations to our fellow citizens:
First-Although nominally free since
the war, our condition in the South waC
in fact one OF severity and was each yeal
becoming worse. As rule the pay re-
ceived for our labor was only suficien,
one to sustain our lives with the coarsest
OF food, cover our bodies with the poorest
raiment, and shelter Us in wretched habi.
tations, and when sickness over
took us, or we became unable
from any cause to work, we were
miserable indeed. Where the laws were not
made TO discriminate against US outright
they were 80 administered as to have the
same effect. No lawyer dared to attempt
to see justice done US because OF the
ostracism that was sure to follow. In
many cases, if we had bargained for real
estate, we found on making q
final payment that some legal tech.
nicality had been arranged which
prevented US from getting deed to the
property, and II we sought legal redress It
resulted In an adverse decision with
costs assessed against Us. Every possible
practice was seized on TO send men OF our
race to the peniteniary,' while the
whites were unmolested who COM
mitted the same ofenses for which
our people were punished. The pub
lie schools, from which we hoped
go much, were curtailed in time and taught
by ignorant teachers to an extent that
finally rendered them valueless in COM
parison to what they should have been.
II from misfortune or other cause we be-
come involved in debt, our creditors would
take the last bed and other necessary con-
veniences for our families to liquidate
it. II q dispute arose between q
colortd and white man, the law was
always found to be on the side OF the lat
ter. More and more each year we were
deprived OF our political rights by fraud il
not by violence. There was no security
for our lives. In the days Of actual slavery,
we each represented 50 much money,
and our physical condition was guarded
with care. In this day OF so-call-
ed freedom, we had become merely things
OF less value to those who domineered
over US worse than their plantation dogs.
The blessings which We so fondly ex-
pected to come with freedom, and which
we had partially realized in the years
subsequent to the war, proved to
be delusive and were removed farther
and farther from our grasp with
each passing year. Much as we loved
our own native land, the conviction was
gradually forced upon US that there was
no longer any hope for US there, and that
II We expected 10 develope int men, as
our God intended we should, and be free
in fact as well as in name, we must seek
homes elsewhere.
Second-For these reasons We sundered
the tender ties that bound US to the South
and came to Indiana, having previously
sent out agents who decided In favor OF
this State rather than Kansas or Liberia,
because OF its obvious advantages over
either; nor have we been disappointed.
Upon the whole every thing has been
found better than we had reason TO
expect. Here we are not oetracised
because Of our condition or our color.
The law gives US the same protection that
1t gives to the white man. We have the
same chance in life as he-no more, no
less. At the same time, Indiana is not
paradise where 1t requires no effort 10
earn livelihood; but here labor is hem
orable, and we receive fair
DAYS wages for q fair days work,
and that in hard cash, instead
OF in orders on stores, to be discounted at
q high rate per cent by the merchants in
league with the employer, as was the
case in the South. Here, We are regarded
"a human beings, and received, with only
rare exceptions, courteously, aud kindly
treated. We feel that our real freedom
dates only from the day we entered In
diana. The best Of schools, taught
by well educated teachers, are open
to our children free for many
months in the year, and in no case has
there been any discrimination against us.
Already we feel like men, and begin to re-
alize that there is . future for Us and our
children full Of promise land hope, II we
are only true to ourselves, and
make the proper use Of the
means placed within our reach. We are
not looked upon and treated as paupers,
but as men abundently able to take
care Of ourselves, and are doing SO. This
is a fertile country compared with North
Carolina. It is land flowing with milk
and honey, and gives the industrious hus-
bandmsn rich reward. Here we have not
been defrauded out OF our wages and our
labor, for the law compels payment to
the black man as well as the white. Both
races should be equal before the law.
Third = Contrasting our experience
north and south, we say unhesitatingly to
our brethren OF the latter, that one-halt
OF their number should immigrate as we
have done, and abandon all thought OF
Liberia, Kansas and New Mexico. The
farmers Of the north need the labor Of the
men ofour race. The services Of females
in households is equally in demand at fair
and Iihapa1 rva0oa Snaakin0 fnrfhAr frnr1
our experience we would say that it Is al
ways better to seek homes in the country
than in the towns and cities. With a full
sense Of the responsibility we
thus assume toward our race in
the South, that We sign the
foregoing declaration in the hope that 1t
may be the beginning Of better day for
them, and at the same time be practical
solution OF the race problem TO the mu.
tual advantage Of both races and Of all
sections Of our country.
Negro Killed by ConstnbIea.