Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1892-04-14
Southern Negroes in New York.

Now, we nave anotner cnapUer,
bad if not worse than the first. 4
railroad now being constructed
through the Adirondacks has drawn
crowd of negroes from Tennessee
to do the heavy work, and these un
fortunates have been reduced te
extremities by their hardships ane
the rigorous climate. The Syracuse
Journal states that fully 500 negroes
are stranded between Syracuse aad
Albany. They report the most bru.
tai outrages on the part of the con
tractors in the shape of extortion
robbery, cruelty and even murder
The Journal says:
"At Schenectady, sixteen miles out
from Albany, was found a batch oi
fourteen negroes, huddled together
like shivering sheep, in an old wood
shed. This was the first group oi
refugees to be found up the line
To paint pen picture OF the scene
would be absolute folly on the part
of the writer; to enter into the
strongest details would only breed
distrust in readers mind. Imag-
inc, if you can, fourteen tail negroes:
with flesh shrunken and eyes set
deep in their heads from hunger
The CLASSY eyes, red with famine.
fatigue, sleeplessness and cruelty
Not one is decently covered with
the vermin-infested rags, which they
wear, to protect them from even the
mildness of soft spring. Picture.
if you can, the terrible anguish
which these creatures of the South
land must endure in their semi-naked
condition"
The negroes are shoeless, frost
bitten and hungry. One of them.
who had shot a railway guard in
self-defense, told the reporter the
following story:
sI am the man who shot the Eng
lish guard, Hitchcock. had been
i'll the day prior to the shooting, and
tried to be excused. Instead of be-
ing given rest, the guard picked up
spade which lay beside him and
whacked me several times about the
head and shoulders. | bore the pain
Of the blows as well as l could at
the time, but the next day, when the
burly fellow tried to brain me with
the butt end of his Winchester, l
pulled the gun from his hand and
shot him dead where he stood. Then /
broke for the woods, and crowd OF
men followed me. Most of them
.e- ptured and taken back to the
whose you see here escap-
h--e 10 .dca H.
any u the others escaped, but it
must ha, e been through the mercy
of a good God, who at last answered
our prayers.
sThe terrible outrage of the whole
works, however, was the store sys-
tenn. For these ragged old pants
you see me wearing-and they are
as good as when I bought them-I
was charged 81 on the books. For
these twenty-fve-cent suspenders I
was charged 81. These old patched
brogans on my feet cost me s5 at
the store. About the food, did you
say? No civilized human being
could call it food. For breakfast
we got one piece of filthy bread,
smeared with vile molasses, worth
about five cents gallon, retail price.
For dinner we were flung small
piece of partially boiled and very fat
salt pork. For supper the dose Of
bread and molasses was re-
peated."
The victims were entic ID from
their homes, near Columbia, Tenn,
by promises of $50 per day and
good board at $50 a week. They
went to New York jubilant, but it is
whether they will live to
see Tennessee again. Deceived,
tieeced and prosecuted, they are
worse off than the Jews in Russia,
Notwithstanding the fact that, they
are surrounded by millions of peo-
pie who profess to make the welfare
of the negro race one Of their most
cherished objects.