Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-05-14
The Latest News of the Exodus.
BY MRS. s. T. PERRY.

Hundreds of colored refugees here in
Topeka during the last three weeks have
obtained places of employment in differ
ent localities As spring opens there is a
great demand for this labor. A few weeks
ago Mrs. e. L. Comstock went to Nebras-
ka to hold- meetings and to try to induce
the people of that State to open q way for
some of the surplus colored emigration
that was crowding into Kansas in such
overwhelming numbers. One car load Of
refugees were promised homes and EN-
ployment. They were sent to Humboldt
IN that State, Since that time we have
been in daily receipt OF letters asking that
more might be sent, and large numbers of
these refugees were sent there, Since the
arrival of the first refugees, who were pre-
vailed upon to try a new, and to them an
unheard of State, large numbers more have
consented to go to Nebraska.
When Nebraska was first spoken of, the
question Immediately asked was, "Is Ne
braska IN Kansas?" When told it was
not, the dusky faces would put on an in
jured expression, and, with an ominous
shake Of the woody heads, would give us a
most emphatic "Nop in reply, when ask
ed to go there. ave left the South to
go to Kansas, and wese gwine to stay in
Kansas"
But when few, more courageous and
tar-sighted than the rest, concluded to en-
igrate to the, TO them unexplored country
and after their arrival wrote back glowing
accounts of the country and the people, a
few more concluded to follow, One man
wrote, "This place is so much like Kansas,
that il you could be put o,er the line with
your eyes shut you would not know the
difference" Another wrote, "Tell David
and Peggy Long to come; they treat us
like white folks up here and we can get
plenty OF work"
This morning we received letter from
one Of the first pioneers in the work of
sending some OF the surplus emigration to
Nebraska. He writes:
Yesterday evening there was fresh
arrival direct from Tennessee of eleven
persons, relatives of the man who works
for me. Though they came only yesterday
| -late-I had one family located before
slept, and had them off this forenoon, SO
they are now at work"
1t seems that the refugees who went to
Nebraska wrote back to their friends at
| the South not to stop in Kansas, but to
come right on to Nebraska,
At the present time the Relief Associa-
ton is very much engaged in helping glarge
numbers Of these refugees. who brought a
little money with them, TO good farming
| lands. We have had donations of plows
aud other farming implements, garden
| seeds, etc. We are assisting them by Civ
ing one man in our healthy a plow, with
the prOvisO that he must do some plowing
for his neighhors who have none. Anoth-
er pillow to another locality, and so on.
This problem, "What shall be done with
the ExOdites?" is solving itself. Another
year will find the greater number OF them
self-supporting. These refugees are prov
ing to be industrious and capable, and they
are conducting themselves in most cred
table manner. They are quiet, law-abid'
ing people,
Thirty men went to Colorado two weeks
ago to work on the railroad. Since thai
time an order has come from the railroad
companies asking for sixty more men. The
Association has expended over $4,000 dur
ing the last six months in paying railroad
fares for these refugees to different lOeali
ties, where places of employment had beeI
found for them. We all feel assured tha
the very best way to benefit these people i
TO put them in positions where they can bI
self-sustaining as soon as possible. As in
dependent citizens of this country thel
will command the respect OF all true an(
honest hearts, They well deserve sympa
thy and help from the friends Of the un
fortunate and oppressed everywhere.
Chicago AdUance.