Year: 1879

rWO Thousand Of The Refa9ees EuE
sssSaS u kansas-B arnseipA IL
PtAfsrsuee 10 Persecutiea. Mur


der and Starvation In tho SOnth


About two thousand negroes from
Mississippi and Louisiana are now in
Kansas and others are arriving by
nearly every boat. They are quartered
in Leavenw worth, Wyandotte and To-
peka. A few of them have scattered
out to other parts of the State, seeking
work as farm hands or at anything else
that they are capable Of doing, but tue
main army is still encampsd in the
three towns mentioned. They are will.
ing to work. A few of the men find
work at odd jobs about town and some
Of the women as house servants. They
have no plans for the future. They
started with the intention of coming to
Kansas, and, having arrived there, are
completely at sea.


The first detachment, consisting OF
about one hundred, arrived here about
four weeks ago, and were quartered in
an old frame building formerly oecu-
pied as = hotel, and for the first ten
days they we're objects of great curiosi-
ty and were visited by thousands of
people. Those composing the first lot
had the appearance of well-to-do peo-
pie. The most of them were comfort
ably clad and were bright and intelli-
gent looking. They brought little
money with them, varying from b to
$50 apiece, having enough to supply
their immediate wants, but mono OF
them had enough with which to estab
lish themselves on farms.


There is an abundance Of land to be
had in Kansas free of charge; but peo-
pie cannot get to it without some ex-
penses, and when there tLey must have
money with which to build houses or
prepare shelters Of some kind, and even
If they have teams enough to do their
own ploughing they have to be able to
supply themselves with food for about
sixteen months, for the crop planted
ths first spring on the newly broken
prairie sod rarely amounts to anything.
Among the colored people who have
arrived those with the most means have
not enough to live on till they could
raise crop, while the great majority
o. them are absolutely destitute. They
come by steamboat loads, and are put
ashore upon the wharves in great
herds.


Much Of the time since they began to
arrive the weather has been very Sc
we're, and there being much suffering
among them, as most of them are very
thinly clad. What is to become oil the
thousands now here and the other
thousands wLo are following them, no.
body knows. The colored citizens are
holding meetings to devise means for
taking care Of them, taking up sub
scriptions for their benefit, ana doing
what they can to supply their im,nedi-
ate wants but much more than local
aid will be required to maintain them
till they can raise crop.


They all tell the same story, and
give the same reason for leaving the
South, "political and social prescription
and persecution" They are afraid to
express or entertain sentiments con
trary to those Of the white majority,
and say that political rights, SO far As
the black man is concerned, in the
South are mockery. In addition to
the political prosecutions of which they
complain they say it is impossible for a
colOred man under the present conli.
tion of affairs to make even passaGle
living for himself and family. every
thing being consumed by the landlord
and the storekeeper.


They say they knew when they start,
ed what they had to expect. They
knew they would have to suffer hard
ships and privatious, but they conclud-
ed that under the most unfavorable
circumstances in Kansas they could
not do more than de, white they would
have the satisfaction at least Of dying
free; whereas if they remain where they
were there WAS nothing better before
them than a living death with a pros
pect of being soon reduced TO a worse
condition than that from which they
were released by the war. Those now
here say that thousands more are to
follow, and that all the colored people
in that section they came from intend
to leave as fast as the steamboats, will
bring them away.