The age-herald., 1898-05-24
ALLEGED AFRICAN
 EMIGRANT AGENT Occupies Compartments in the
 County JaiL CAPTURED IN SHELBY co. By Chief Deputy Sheriff Robt. Warnock and a Posse MobiIzed" His Victims at Gate City and Irondale and Gave
 Them the High Ball."

R. H. Strickland, the erstwhile agent CD of the Congo Free State, occupies com partments at the county jail having been arrested on charge of swndling in con- nection with the alleged African c-loriza- tion scheme" an account of which appear ed in The Age-Herald of Saturday morn- ing.
 Strickland is said to be native-born African and entered the pulpit, where he used his oratorical powers to good effect in promoting his "colonization scheme" Be- ing conversant with the climatic, geo. praphlc and agricultural conditions of that country he readily persuaded the confiding negroes that Africa was made up of Elysan fields. where life would prove lone long. sweet song.'' There, he told them, the down-trodden negro could bask in the tropic sunshine and live upon the fruits that grew wild in superabundance in that favored cline.
 This picture of lazy comfort was held up in contrast to the discomftures of Amer ican freedom as enjoyed by the brother in black Soon inquiries were made as to the best means of reaching this blessed land" This is what Strickland was wait ing for and for the small fee of 50 cents he agreed to transport them to Washington where he said the government would send them to Africa. free of charge. By this means he is said to have enlisted some 2,40O souls realizing the snug sum of $l 20O. Each recruit was sworn to secrecy having been told that the southern people would oppose the scheme, and would prevent their go- ing, The negroes began to prepare for the journey, selling everything they possessed in some instances little homes that by fru- gality and thrift had been purchased with the savings of years.
 In the meantime the negroes were told to llaa fDI in time, where the wiley agent promised to be on hand to carry out his part of the agree- ment In accordance with instructions the negroes began to arrive in this city on Fri day evening. It is said that Strickland was at Irondale, a small junction station on the Alabama Great Southern and Cen tral railroads, seven miles east of the city and sent word to the people to meet him there Others had been told to 'rendez- yous'' at that point and soon small sized army had arrived while others had been told to go to Gate City, one mile west of Irondale. Both stations were alive with negroes, who waitetd patiently through Saturday and Sunday, but the train failed to-arrive and in the meantime Strickland disappeared.
 The negroes began to suspect something wrong and were much wrought up. When Chief Deputy Sheriff Warnock and Deputies Ball, Jones and Love, who were in search of the murderer who killed a negro woman in Irondale the night before, reached that place, the negroes broke their silence and told MT. Warnock their story in detail. It was learned that Strickland left several hours before, going in the direction of Shel- by county It was decided to follow the fugitive, and a posse composed Of Chief Deputy Warnock. Deputy Love, Marsbal Gaddis of Gate City and negro who knew Strickland, started at once in pursuit. The trail proved a hot one, as Strickland was arrested just across the Shelby county line and brought back to this city. When he was placed under arrest he remarked to Mir. Warnock that if all the negroes who had paid him 50 cents preferred charges against him it would take the courts forty years to try the cases.
 Strickland is said to have served a term at Coalburg, having been sent up from one of the counties in the southern part of the state.