Birmingham state herald., 1896-12-11
TIE SWEDISH COEON|STS To Florida Make Some Sensa-
 v tionaI Charges AGAINST 0L0F BERGSTROM Of His Treatment- Complaint Has Been
 Made to the Swedish Vice-Consul- Developments Awaited.

The EenSdcOla llIneS UT DecSHlDei o' contains the following:
 Very serious and somewhat sensation al charges have been made by members of the Swedish party, recently brought over to found a colony in West Florida, against Olof Bergstrom, the agent and colonizer in charge of the company.
 Capt. Bergstrom was given some au- thority by Col. w. D. Chipley while he (Chipley) was in Sweden last winter and was expected to carry out the plans made by Col. Chipley, who is vice-presi- dent and land commissioner of the Pen- sacola and Atlantic railroad company, to bring a number of families to West Florida to make homes. But from the stories told the members of the company Capt. BergStrom not only went beyond his instructions, but so conducted him self among his company as to have tendency to cast diScredit on legitimate colonization plans, which are doing good work in bringing large number of desirable citizens to the sparsely set | tied sections of the state, and it should emphasize the fact that railroad com panies as well as others should exercise great care by placing this work only in the hands of well-known, reputable and trustworthy men.
 The colony arrived here something over
 
 nine young men and one family, the re- mainder having abandoned the idea be- fore the party left Sweden. Many of these young men are machinists and mechan- ics. Most of them were at work in the railroad machine shops in the old coun- try. They claim that Bergstrom told them that they need not locate on farms when they came here, but that they could easily obtain positions in machine shops in Pensacola and elsewhere in Florida at good prices. En route, they ciaim that | the agent borrowed their surplus cash, and since then they have not been able toget their money back. On their arrival here they stated that they were taken by MT. Chipley to see the railroad lands, but found none to suit them. Twelve of the party were then taken to St. Andrews s Bay, and only one purchase of land was | made.e One.of the men, MT Weston, could | see no Inducements, and at once returned. Three others had no money; said they had loaned it all to Bergstrom; started to Pensacola on foot, and walked as far as Laurel EIll, a distance of about 100 miles, where they met MT. Von AXelson, of the Laurel Hill Gazette, who came to the as- isistance of his distressed countrynen and | aided them to make their way to this | city, where they hoped to find some kind 1 of employment, and possibly to obtain their funds which BergStrom had bor- | rowed.
 l So far, the amounts reported to the l Swedish consul, MT c. Mex. Oerting l amounts to about S150. This gentleman l told reporter of the Times that he was | poWerless in the matter, and the only l thing he knew that he could do for them l would be to apply to Mir. Chipley to se- | cure employment for the men.
 Other charges made by the men at 1 the consulate was that they had been 1 promised by Bergstrom free transporta- l ton from Cincinnati to Pensacola and | on reaching that city they were assess | ed $6 each for fare to this place. MT. | Chipley's letter files show that Bergstrom | knew as long ago as last February that l the cheapest rate from New York to | Pensacola would be $17.50, and that there | would be no free transportation. On | arriving at New York the lowest rate l to Cincinnati was $11.50 and in order to | make MT Chipley's promise good the l Louisville and Nashville people gave l them a S6 rate to Pensacola. Bergstrom and his associate. Olsen, however. rode | on passes.
 l Eight of these young men are musi- l clans as well as mechanics and have | secured a contract for six months to play | in Casino hall. Others are at work on l the railroad wharf, and yet others have no employment and no money, having, l they claim, lent it all to Bergstrom. It is alleged that Bergstrom has gone l to Chicago for a week and that Olsen l is at St. Andrews Bay. Both of these | gentlemen have been rooming at the | Lewis house, opposite the union passen- l ger depot. Last week Olsen casually | mentioned that they would soon go to l St. Andrews Bay for a short time. Thursday night they left. No one around l the Lewis house suspected their absence l until Friday morning, when a note from l Bergstrom was found in the room to the | effect that he would be from the city for l few days and would settle his lodging
 account, amounting to $5, on his re- fIIYf tC O n in
 room, belonging to one or the other of | the two men.
 Nearly all of the Swedes feel very bit l ter over the alleged i'll usage and say | they will take steps to recover theil | money.
 Mir. Chipley, when approached on the l subject by a Times reporter, was very | much surprised at the charges made by
 the Swedes against Bergstrom and said l the matter should have his fullest atten- l ton. He had, he said, been to thous- | ands of dollars of expense in founding
 this colony, and had even been to the l trouble of going to Europe personally 1 The men were brought over to colonize | the lands and not to secure positions in | cities These young fellows, some oi
 whom had secured positions at the docks | at the exclusion of local labor, had vio-
 ted the terms of the agreement as au.
 thorized by him, and he proposed to have
 them all discharged and let them go tc | the farms, as they were brought over l to do. But at the earnest request oi
 Bergstrom he had agreed to keep hands
 off until the 20th of the month, when
 the agent said he would have them all | go to the colony at St. Andrews.
 MT Chipley Furthermore said they | were shown lands all along the road, even
 at places where the railroad had no lands
 to sell, and that as a matter of fact the
 railroad had only sold one farm to the 1 party. ,
 It has also been asserted that 1t is one
 of the schemes of Bergstrom to take back
 to Sweden with him the West Florida
 exhibit in its entirety to display to his | oountrymen as an inducement for them
 to come over, but it Is not likely that
 those In charge would permit such thing
 to be done.
 See Caheen'S Christmas win.