Evening journal., 1892-03-29
THEY SHAVED IN TERROR
Pitiful Tales of Alleged Brutal
ity to Railroad Laborers.
ROBBED, STARVED AND MURDERED.

a Dead Line Established 60 Prevent Es-
capes, and wanton Bloodshed and Beat
ings a Matter Of Common Occurrence.
An Omcial Investigation Now Going o..
ROCHESTER, N. Y, March e9-The Post
Express publishes a special dispatch from
Lyons, N. Y, giving a long account OF al
legged suffering and brutal treatment Of the
laborers employed on the new Adirondack
railroad. In the interview Samuel jackson,
a negro from the south, stated:
lone day while we were at work one of
the bosses told an Italian to shovel snow.
The man had been handling pick and had
broken the handle Tho Italian did not un-
derstand the order, and the boss picked up
the handle and struck the Italian across The
right arm, breaking the arm in two places
near the wrist aud about three inches fur
ther up. The Italian screamed with pain,
but the boss compelled him to shovel snow
all the rest Of that day with one hand, while
he wasasuffering the greatest pain.
That night about hfty Of these Italians
got hold Of that boss and cut his throat un-
al the head was nearly severed from the
body, and the next morning they ran aEvay
after being let ont OF their shanty, and the
guards followed after them with rifles and
shot three dead and hung them in one tree
near where they were working. The Italian
that had his arm broken was shot next morn
ing while in the shanty after the Others had
gone 70 work and his body was hung up in
front OF the shanty. We saw II there that
night when we came back from work.
Terrible Privations.
s'One day ] said that / could not stand
the cold and was going back south One Of
the bosses ripped out an oath and said be
would like to see me try It on, and after
that had TO work harder than the rest and
was given the hardest work to do. Some
days we worked for ten straight hours with
out anything to eat and at night had 10
move our shanty further along as work pro-
gressed. Several negroes did escape whils
! was therc. Quite anumber froze to death,
some had their feet and hands badly frozen
and severai who had tried 60 escape were
shot aud hung mp as a warning TO the rest
of us
When asked how he managed 10 escape,
he said: "One morning gang of fifty of us
were sent on ahead OF the rest nearly a
mile. There were two guards with MS
armed with Winchesters.
I'VE had been waiting for a chance to es-
cape, and that morning we made a rush for
the two guards bound them, tied them 70
one tree securely and taking their guns we
ran away. We had three small pieces Of
bread, and we lived upon that for four days,
until we got TO a camp Of hunters, who gave
rs some whisky and treated us very kindly,
also giving us clothing and enough food to
last a couple Of days. We walked from Vii
lage to village until we got 10 Oneida.
Since then we have got lifts from poormas-
ters, and by riding in empty cars expect to
get 10 Buffalo and from there home"
Nearly every day from one to three OF
these refugees pass through Lyons on their
way home. Their stories Of the hardships
they have passed through, Of their IN treat
ment and their hard lot in general is aston
ishing