The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1892-07-06


Wild and almost impossible country fed
ON crackers and cheese en- route thew
reach the Upper Lake, in Franklin
county.
A ZANZIBAR IN NEW YORK.
The Upper Lake bears about the same
relation to the slave country of New
York as Zanzibar used to bear to the
slave regions OF Africa. 1t is the output
and headquarters of the great slave
traders, who never soil their hands bv
actual contact with the human merchan-
disc.
From the Upper Lake the gang as they
arrive are passed on to camps up the
line. The last gang that came from New
York was detailed to Camp No. 4, which
is under the command of Sub-contractor
Strdng. In the gang were Italians, Poles.
Hungarians, Irishmen and Americans.
They were all to receive the same wages
-S65 per month and board
They were met by Strang, who was
very merry from an overdose of tangle-
leg whiskey. He could not read, so his
son read the letter presented by the fore
man of the gang. The contractor leered
at the foreman and asked:
care yez Oirish?" Assuming that he
was from his name, he ordered him to
take gang four or five miles up into
the forest.
The men tramped through mud and
slush ankle-deep. TheyIwere buoyed up
with the hope of finding warm, cheer
full camp fire at the close of the march.
When they arrived at their destination
they found a mess room but no place to
sleep. Those who had blankets curled
up on the snow under the trees and
others slept on the floor OF the mess
room.
1t was at this camp that they met Big
Tom Lovett the walking boss or chief
slave driver. A man by the name of
Anderson had been sent up FROM New
York as driver. The morning after
reaching the camp he ordered the fore
man to get the men out to work. They
had gone three nights without sleep and
were weak from hunger.
SHOOTING DOWN THE LAGGARDs.
The men said they could not work,
and when this was reported to Big Tom
he swore a mighty oath, and, picking up
his gun, rushed out, shouting, "I'll see
if they don't workn'
He flou1ished his Winchester and swore
that he would shoot the first man that
Jagged behind. None Jagged that day.
After the half-starved, haIf-frozen men
had hung themselves up in the mess
room that night the foreman found
big negro pacing before the door with a
Winchester on his shoulder. When asked
what he was doing, he replied:
''De boss done tole me not to let eny
oh 'em get away, and I guess dey won
git fur" he added, with a significant
grin, as he patted the stock of his rifle.
This guard was kept up as long as the
foreman remained in camp.
In the course of a few days some of
the men succumbed to the terrible treat
ment to which they were subjected, and
fell i'll with the fevers. There was de-
serted log cabin at the camp to which
the sick men were removed. They were
told that the sick men did not need any
food and were locked in to live or die, as
fate willed it. The place was alive with
vermin and as cold and damp as the bare
ground.
Notwithstanding the fact that armed
guards watched the men almost con
stantly there were constant desertions
and many of the men made good their
escape. Some of them got back to civil
cation; the bones of the others have been
found in the gullies and by-ways since
the advent of spring, where they either
starved or frOze. or were shot down.
Deaths have been constant in the camp,
but the outside world knows little of
them. The men who,,lesert have as
rule been working from thirty days to
three months. They of course forfeit all
their wages-if they have any wages
coming to them. The contract store
system is in full swing, and those who de-
sire can draw against their wages by pay
ing from 500 to /, 900 per cent profit for
such luxuries as tobacco and blankets.
We Can and Do
guarantee DR.. Acker's Blood Elixir,
tor it has been fully demonstrated to
the nennie Of this country that If i