The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1927-10-27

! repeal of the law. This did not help
| Nellie, however, for later we find her
petitioning for freedom of herself and
two sons. The Court of Appeals denied
her petition on the grounds that she
had been married before the repeal of
the law. She and her sons remained
slaves.
AS the Colonies grew the labor of
slaves, redemptioners and freemen in
creased in value. AS wages advanced,
the shipping of redemptioners paid
large profits to shipowners. The
Dutch, who had introduced slavery to
the Colonies, began to realize that the
shipping of redemptioners was much
easier and paid larger profits. They
began to ship them in great numbers
from their own countries and adjoin-
ing countries.
The shipping merchants of Holland
employed regular scouts or agents.
These agents, fashily dressed, went
about the various countries telling the
poor people of the wonderful land of
opportunity across the sea.
The poor man, discontinued with his
lot, eagerly grasped the opportunity
to go to the new country, and was
quite willing to sign an agreement to
repay the agent out of his first earn
ings. The agent gathered his victims
into decorated wagons. The horses
were covered with gay ribbons and
there were trumpeters. He made his
victims believe they were on their way
to rich land, where they would know
hardship and poverty no more. They
sang with joy as they rode across
country. The agent kept them in high
spirits until he had landed them on
board the ship, and then came the
miserable awakening.
Few of the victims understood the
contract that they signed in Holland.
According to the contract, if any pas
senger died on the voyage the surviv-
ing member or members of his fam
lily, or if he had none, the remaining
passengers, had to make up the loss
by adding to his or her own term of
service.
To illustrate, if man and his wife
signed up for five years each, and one
died, the others term of service was
automatically increased to ten years,
even though the death occurred on the
first day of the voyage and the own
ers actually had no loss.
In 1852 Casper Wister, of Philadel-
phia, wrote: Last year ship was
twenty-four weeks at sea, and of the
$50 passengers on board thereof, more
than one hundred died of hunger and
prlvation, and the survivors were i'm
prisoned and compelled to pay the en-
tire passage money for themselves and
| the deceased"
In 1853 Christoph Sauer, who pub
lished newspaper, estimated that
1000 of the passengers on the fifteen
ships which arrived that year, died on
the voyage.
In 1745 Christoph Sauer states in
his newspaper: another ship has ar
rived. Of the 400 passengers not more
than fifty are reported alive. They
received their bread every two weeks;
some ate their portion in four, five and
six days.
eff they received no cooked vic
tuals in eight days, their bread gave
out the sooner and as they had to
wait until the fifteen days were over,
they starved unless they had money
with which to buy of the mate flour
at three pence sterling pound and a
bottle of wine for seven kopstick thai
ers."
Not all the owners were cruel,
greedy sccundrels, for Sauer, in 174s,
reports that seven ships left Rotter-
dam with German emigrants and land
ed them in good health.
By Karl M. Bubert, in the Sunday Sun