The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1904-01-09
MILTON DAIRY CO.,
REFUSED FOOD
FISK JUBILEE CONCERT TROUPE
SUFFERS AT LOS ANGELES.

City Famed for Its Hospitality De-
clines to Furnish Necessities for
Musicians Who Entertain. Large,
Synnpathetic and Cultured Audience
While Ill from Lack Of Nourish.
ment.
Los Angeles, CAL, Jan. 3.-If the
great, kindly hearted audience of Gull
tured people who sat spellbound and
dewy-eyed through the program rem
dered by the Fisk Jubilee Singers in
Simpson Auditorium the other night
had known that the little band OF dark
skinned melodists were weak with
hunger and heartsickRfrom harsh treat
'ment and inhospitality, their hearts
would have gone. out: to them with a
far deepr sympathy. .
Inconceivably at it may seem, 1t is a
TACT that these gentle-mannered stran-
gers were that day denied both food
and shelter in Los Angeles, with its
hundreds of restaurants, hotels and
lodging houses, although they had the
money in their pockets to pay well Tor
whatever accommodation they might
ask. n
Throughout the day they wandered
from door to door for food to eat and
A Place to Lay Their Heads.
There are seven people in the Fisk
Jubilee Singers Company, and Mrs.
Maggie Porter Cole, who has directed
the organization for many years, is a
woman Of culture and talent. There
are several women in Los Angeles So
city who were formerly her pupils, and
who hold her in the greatest respect.
Her company is composed of educated,
refined young men and women, ana
wherever they go throughout the coun-
try they are treated as other profess
sional people are treated.
During their last visit to. this city
they met with no difficulty in securing
place to sleep and lodge, and the
poor. hungry, shelterless folk found it
hard to understand why the situation
had so radically changed within few
weeks.
The company arrived from Riverside
at 5 O'Clock in the morning and imme-
diately applied for breakfast at quiet
cafe on Spring street. To their great
establishment their patronage was de-
clined. Then *
Their Trouble Began.
From place to place they kept up a
ceaseless quest for food, but met with
the same cruel refusal at every door.
Finally at 2 o'clock in the afternoon,
they wound up at Harvey's Santa Fe
clearinghouse, and there they were
served. But that was their only meal
during the day.
While they stood before the crowd in
the auditorium as late as ten o'clock
at night, thrilling the heart of all who
heard them with the matchless "SOr-
row Songs" of their race, Manager
Venter was still wondering where he
was to get supper for them. The res
taurant where they dined when here
upon their prior visit refused to enter,
tain them. this time, although they st ill
had a book of it's meal tickets. The
Santa Fe Eating House was closed.
The search for quarters where the
singers could lodge was as dishearten'
| ing as was the search for an eating
place. Mr.. Venter asserts that after
the company had exhausted every eff
| fort of their own he personally applied
by telephone
To Forty-two Lodging Houses,
| but not one of them would receive
lAfro-Americans as guests. At length
! he succeeded in securing rooms at d
place on West Second street.
Mrs. Cole and her company when in
terviewed at the auditorium took a
singularly good-natured and philosoph
ical viewiof the situation and express
ed little or no resentment for the sorry
welcome they had been accorded with
in the gates of the city that boasts OF
it's hospitality. But the reporter, who
knew how hungry they were and how
worn out and weary, heard a note in
their Sorrow Songs" that others did
not hear.s 49, q r.
Good Lord, keep me from sinking
down. ran the song, and they put
their hearts into that one especially
COR when folks are weak with fasting
and weary with tramping there is a
good deal Of that sinking down" feel,
ing inside of them: i e. + {: