The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-09-17
A NEGRO FROM AFRIo SANDS.
Liberty Statue, in New York Harbor,
He Thought Was an Idol.
From the New York Times.

The most astOnished foreigner that has
/ arrived ia New York in many a day is
Singree, a native of Miniana, Africa, who
arrived last Sunday morning on the bark
/ Liberia, from Monrovia, Liberia.
Singree is going to Georgia, where
/ Bishop Turner of the African Episcopal
church will take him in hand and edu-
cate him. He wants then TO return TO
Africa and teach Christianity to his own
people He is believed TO be about 20
years old. He has been, during the last
ten years, in MOnrOvia, where he attended
+ the Rev Wesley Pittman's mission school.
He was an apt and favOrite pupil, and
/ after converting him Mr.. Pittman con-
ferred his own name upon him, but he
still clings to his heather name of Sin
/ gree.
/ Capt. Henry J. Rogers of the Liberia
/ told Singree Saturday night that they
/ would reach New York in the morning,
/ and Singree was so excited that he was
/ unable to sleep, and remained on deck all
night. His eyes opened wide with won
/ der when the bark entered the harbor
| aud he saw the statue of Liberty with up
/ lifted torch confronting him, and for a
while he thought it must be some native
monster that might dash the bark to
/ pieces. When assured that it was not
alive he imagined it an immense image,
which should be reverenced. He told
/ Capt Rogers it was bigger idol than he
had ever seen in the wilds of Africa, and
he asked what denomination of Christians
worshipped it. He said he had been
brought up a Methodist, and no such
creature was mentioned in his cateChism.
Capt Rogers explained that the statue
was only symbolical figure typifying
American freedom, but Singree could not
| quite comprehend that
Singree's wool took an extra kink when
he saw the tall buildings that IN recent
years have climbed far above the roofs of
the structures of the older New York.
He was amazed. He thought they must
surely fall, and it made him dizzy even
to look at them, In all his travels in
Africa he had never seen anything like
them. They were as big as mountains,
and it seemed TO him impossible that they
could have been built by men. He told
Capt Rogers that he would learn all
about them and on his return to his ma
tive place he would teach his people how
to build sky-scrapers. When the bark
landed at her dock in Brooklyn Capt.
/ Rogers took Singree for a walk, and when
he went 10 bed Sunday night he had more
to think about than he ever had imagined
before.
Fellow passengers with Singree were
/ Thomas, Alyira ana ElwOOd Curley, three
American negroes, who returned from
] NlOhEONld dlbCE JEy luS lOE lluG Years 70
make living there, and sixty monkeys,
several parrots and six boa constructors.
/ The monkeys, parrots and snakes tray
| eled seCOnd-class. Several monkeys that
| were equally anxious with Singree to see
what kind of a country they had emf
grated to broke loose while the Liberia
was coming up the bay and climbed into
the rigging, where they had good view
of it, Their antics created a good deal of
/ ~ for the sailors and nfbarC
who saw them. Capt. Rogers thinks
that if they were big enough they might
be so well trained as to man a ship,
though he admits he would not care him
self 10 command such a crew.
The Curleys left the bark as soon as
she arrived at her dock, and departed for
a town on Long Island, where they have
friends. The monkeys, parrots and
snakes were shipped to museum, but
| Singree remained on board the Liberia to
wait until word was received from Bishop
/ Turner.
A reporter for the New York Times in
tervewed Singree yesterday on board the
Liberia which is now lying at Pier II
East river, fitting out for another trip to
Africa. Singree is medium-sized fellow,
black as ebony, but cold-natured and
frank He has better features than the
average native African, and he speaks
good English when circumstances are con-
sidered
How do you like American. the re-
porter asked.
II don't know how to make of Amer
lea, =" answered Siugree, shaking his head
and smiling. big place. Lot people.
Not so many people in Africa. Nebber
saw so big houses"
How old are your"
81 don't know my age, sir. I wasn't
BON in civilized place. If I'd been BON in
civilized place ia have put it down, sir, e"
"Where were you born"
"Way back fom Monrovia. 1 don't
know how many miles"
1.-TWO hundred miles9"
ooh. mo'en dat. sir. IL took me a month
| to get fom dere to Monrovia."
ITO what tribe did you belong2"
Goodies sir"
"Who was chief of the tribe?"
1--WE had no king. 1t was only a half
town. The next town was big, and dey
/ had a king. His name was Kou-Ka."
Where are your father and mother2"
Il left home ten years. l don't know
where dey are. l had two sisters. / don't
| know about dem
"Why did YOU leave them2"
81 wanted to see the sea-"
"How did you learn about the sea away
back Thereof
Men went to Monrovia for salt. and
when dey came home they told me about
the sea, and l wanted to go dere So
ran away with lot of other men and
walked TO the sea. Then the mission
aries took me and made me a Christian. -
why did you come to America"
81 want an education. III stay here
seven years ana den I'll go back and
teach Christianity"
what do the coolies do2"
They fight nearly all the time and
raise cassada and rice
Capt. Rogers said that the VOYAGE
across was unusually long, because the
weather all the way over was mild. The
Liberia was becalmed for week in the
BermUdas. The trip, he said, usually
took about thirty-ive days, though the
Liberia had made it in twenty-six days.
Referring to the Curley family's return
from Liberia, Capt. Rogers said that if
they failed to prosper in Liberia it was
their own fault
Tie trouble with many colored people
who go to Liberia, - he said, lis that they
imagine they don't have to work there as
hard as they do here. They think they
can sit down, and that everything will
come to them, and when they find their
mistake they,become disguised and want
to come back TO America. l have been in
the African trade sixteen years, and have
taken out great many colored colonists,
and | know number who are industrious
and who prosper there. The principal