Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1906-06-05

West Virginia writes, in the May number of the North American Re view. of certain promises which were made to the negroes during the CIVIL War by the government and us agents, which have led to false hopes ,.-f Gi't. :. disappointment on the
 ,s n,nn-- "f he coloroI people of 70 sm;in. Many northern people h"
 tr, " 5,- h' io fn'IoH'
 oIa., If f.f--r Id"uS St"r- ,us. for instance. adEGcatin" tt@ aGizz ire of the land to profi!e, among other things, for the blacks. As the northern armies invaded the south,
 many negroes went within the fedef a' lines. and one of the most difficult problems came 10 be, what to dc with the thousands Of negroes who had to be cared for. A large number of them were. from time to time, settled on lands cOnfiscated rom white owners. But when the latter were pardoned after the war, the es- tHtes were gradually restored to the owners, greatly to the chagrin of the negroes. who felt that somehow they had been tricked The expectation that colored people are to receive forty acres and q mule from the gov Q, nment is still entertained among some of the negroes and unprlnclpled men from the north have frequently made gain out of the colored people ty collecting money from them to meet the expenses of an effort to bring about it's realization. Professor Fleming gives instances of frauds practiced on ignorant blacks:
 "An eye witness has described the stakes that took place in Sumptef county Alabama. The negroes nae a political barbecue at Gainesville when a man appeared with a bundle of red and blue stakes. He declared that he had been to Washington to get the stakes from the government, which had made them for the express purpose of marking off the forty acres of land The instructions given bv the seller were to stick 8 peg at enc corner of the desired lot ana then walk a certain distance and stick down another peg. then turn and at a certain distance place ana stick down another. and so on. lhe seller advised the buyers not to en- croach upon another's lots In slaN- ing out the claim and not to take whole lot in wood land or in cleared land but to select about half in each. The man with the stakes explained that the nominal charge he made about a dollar d peg-was only for his expenses. The pegs were sold 1oE less if the negro had not dollar. This peg selling swindle lasted inter- mittently for about ten years. The same community was rarely swln- dled twice. but sooner or later every negro settlement suffered. In Geof- gia. especially, the pegs could De seen set up all over the country Each of Grants elections served to stimulate the swindlers and to en- courage again the blacks Who De Eeyed that Grant sent the pegs TOT distribution. General Howard was also credited with similar benevolent actions. The pegs were sometimes called pre-emption rights. pre- tended deed for land given with one set of stakes. was in part as follows:
 "Know all men by these presents, that a nought is nought and figure is n figure: all for white men and none for the nigger. And whereas Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness. so also have l lifted this d-d old nigger out of four dol lars and six bits Amen! Selah.
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