The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1921-02-02
NEWPORT OFFICERS
r GIVEN A SLAM
Canadian Resident Tells of His Troubles
in Crossing Border on Visit
to AthOl. Mass.

l wish. through lie columns of your
widely-read journal. says a correspond
ent of the Sherbrooke Record, to say a
few words about the way that the inn
migration laws of the United States are
administered at Newport. Vt. | am an
Old-tiIne resident of the township of
Brompton, but for the past four years
have resided in Guernsey. Sask. Early
in December | came to Windsor Mills to
attend to business interests and visit
old friends. On Dec. %, with a letter
from Mr.. Legasse, y. T., in my pocket
certifying that / was a bona fiac Cana
dian citizen going to the United States to
visit friends during the holidays and re-
turn. l went to SherbrOokc and bought
Il ticket TO take me over the Boston *
Maine railway to Athol. Mass. My lug
gage was examined and passed. When
near the boundary line the immigration
officer came aboard and ! fully answered
all the statutory questions. Questioned
rs to financial standing. | named a sum
that ! thought put the danger of me be
coming a burden To the state out of COM
Z mission. However. as | had neither
bank book nor title deed To real estate
on my person. my statement Went for
{ nothing, and / was told that / would
have 10 leave the train at Newport and
see the immigration officials. Thinking
that this was only a fOrmality of Il few
minutes, n that | would be allowed to
proceed on the same train, / readily com.
! IlAlttt. NV Ei1htL Alll dlfttAA DttiI Ilkth
possession of. As | stepped on 10 the
platform an officer said TO an attendant.
Watch this man. Presto. | was a pris-
oner. Coming out of a SUperheated car,
| had 10 stand for - minutes or more
On fh GaI Piat!oFHS5 a 6El9$f $PgT5t3Fm, Rgnd
in the company of several more men and
women | was marched away to the inn
migration station and locked inside.
What is this for l inquired, and was
told that it was a regulation that all
foreigners had to comply with, and that
morning, when the inspector would ex-
anime each one.
Mr.. Editor. ] was carefully trained in
my youth i'm the choice of language. l
had no words handy to adequately ex-
press nay sentiment.
We were conducted on to the second
floor, the ladies TO one room and the men
to another. and here | found myself with
l. other men. som smoking. some APP
parently trunk. without ventilation of
any kind, locked in for the night. This
was "A veritable coop" Windows
strongly barred On the outside. the sole
furnishing being a hard bench along one
side and small cots or spring beds about
20 inches wide ranged one above the
other, no mattress. simply a thin bIan-
ket spread over the wire and a similar
blanket rolled into a hare ball for a pill
low. and no covering of any kind what
ever. Imagine, if YOU can, what these
conditions would mean to a man ~verging
on 6S years of age. Sleep was, of course.
out of the question. In the morning the
closet was found to contain one wash
bowl (the only place where you could
get n drink of waterD and one towel for
Is men. | used my handkerchief and
drank no water. At Z o'clock a. III. we
were allowed, under escort. to 60 out
and get breakfast, then locked in again.
At : o'clock the inspector appeared, and
one by one the men were taken into n
private room and rigidly examined. My
self, with several others, were con
demned to pay a head tax of SIS. Then
all returned to the COOP locked in. and
under oath were again rigidly cross
questioned. When after about l. hours
of confinement we were allowed our lib
erty. As there was no train for Athol
till 11.20 p. M. | was held up in New
port for n hours. put to considerable
expense and lost practically the whole
of two nights, sleep. / want to know
what it is all for. For the past II years
| have. at irregular intervals. been cross
ing and rccrosSing the international line
Mt Newport. Mt RouSe'S Point and at De
trOit. and | have never met with any
such treatment before. If this is the
treatment that is to be measured out to
bona fde Christmas visitors to the
United States | think that it would be
we'll for Canadians to spend their holt
days at home. | may say that this is
written principally for the information
of intending visitors to the United
States.