Volume 4 — DOCUMENTS

NOTES ON SLAVERY IN CANADA[1]

The following Notes received from the Canadian Archives Department, Ottawa, have more or less bearing upon the question of slavery in Upper Canada:

1. General James Murray, the first Governor of the new Government of Quebec, writing to John Watts, of New York, from Quebec, November 2, 1763, and speaking of the promoting of the improvement of agriculture, says:

"I must most earnestly entreat your assistance, without servants nothing can be done, had I the inclination to employ soldiers which is not the case, they would disappoint me, and Canadians will work for nobody but themselves. Black Slaves are certainly the only people to be depended upon, but it is necessary, I imagine they should be born in one or other of our Northern Colonies, the Winters here will not agree with a Native of the torrid zone, pray therefore if possible procure for me two Stout Young fellows, who have been accustomed to Country Business, and as I shall wish to see them happy, I am of opinion there is little felicity without a Communication with the Ladys, you may buy for each a clean young wife, who can wash and do the female offices about a farm, I shall begrudge no price, so hope we may, by your goodness succeed," (Can. Arch., Murray Papers, Vol. II, p. 15.)

2. D. M. Erskine, writing from New York, May 26, 1807, to Francis Gore, Lt. Governor of Upper Canada, says:

"I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 24th ult enclosing a Memorial presented to you by the Proprietors of Slaves in the Western District of the Province of Upper Canada.

"I regret equally with yourself the Inconvenience which His Majesty's subjects in Upper Canada experience from the Desertions of their slaves into the Territory of the United States, and of Persons bound to them for a term of years, as also of His Majesty's soldiers and sailors; but I fear no Representation to the Government of the United States will at the present avail in checking the evils complained of, as I have frequently of late had occasion to apply to them for the Surrender of various Deserters under different circumstances, and always without success—

"The answer that has been usually given, has been. 'That the Treaty between Great Britain & the United States which alone gave them the Power to surrender Deserters having expired, it was impossible for them to exercise such an authority without the Sanction of the Laws—'

"I will however forward to His Majesty's Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Memorial above mentioned in the Hope that some arrangements may be entered into to obviate in future the great Losses which are therein described." (Can. Arch., Sundries, Upper Canada, 1807.)

3. John Beverley Robinson, Attorney General, Upper Canada, giving an opinion to the Lt. Governor, York, July 8, 1819, says the following:

"May it please Your Excellency

"In obedience to Your Excellency's commands I have perused the accompanying letter from C. C. Antrobus Esquire, His Majesty's Chargé d'affaires at the Court of Washington and have attentively considered the question referred to me by Your Excellency therein—namely—'Whether the owners of several Negro slaves from the United States of America and are now resident in this Province' and I beg to express most respectfully my opinion to Your Excellency that the Legislature of this Province having adopted the Law of England as the rule of decision in all questions relative to property and civil rights, and freedom of the person being the most important civil right protected by those laws, it follows that whatever may have been the condition of these Negroes in the Country to which they formerly belonged, here they are free—For the enjoyment of all civil rights consequent to a mere residence in the country and among them the right to personal freedom as acknowledged and protected by the Laws of England in Cases similar to that under consideration, must notwithstanding any legislative enactment that may be thought to affect it, with which I am acquainted, be extended to these Negroes as well as to all others under His Majesty's Government in this Province—

"The consequence is that should any attempt be made by any person to infringe upon this right in the persons of these Negroes, they would most probably call for, and could compel the interference of those to whom the administration of our Laws is committed and I submit with the greatest deference to Your Excellency that it would not be in the power of the Executive Government in any manner to restrain or direct the Courts or Judges in the exercise of their duty upon such an application." (Can. Arch., Sundries, Upper Canada, 1819.)

4. At a meeting of the Executive Council of the Province of Lower Canada held at the Council Chamber in the Castle of St. Lewis, on Thursday, June 18, 1829, under Sir James Kempt, the Administrator of the Government, the following proceedings were had:

"Report of a Committee of the whole Council Present The Honble. the Chief Justice in the Chair, Mr. Smith, Mr. DeLery, Mr. Stewart, and Mr. Cochran on Your Excellency's Reference of a Letter from the American Secretary of State requesting that Paul Vallard accused of having stolen a Mulatto Slave from the State of Illinois may be delivered up to the Government of the United States of America together with the Slave.

"May it please Your Excellency

"The Committee have proceeded to the consideration of the subject matter of this reference with every wish and disposition to aid the Officers of the Government of the United States of America in the execution of the Laws of that Dominion and they regret therefore the more that the present application cannot in their opinion be acceded to.

"In the former Cases the Committee have acted upon the Principle which now seems to be generally understood that whenever a Crime has been committed and the Perpetrator is punishable according to the Lex Loci of the Country in which it is committed, the country in which he is found may rightfully aid the Police of the Country against which the Crime was committed in bringing the Criminal to Justice—and upon this ground have recommended that Fugitives from the United States should be delivered up.

"But the Committee conceive that the Crimes for which they are authorized to recommend the arrest of Individuals who have fled from other Countries must be such as are mala in se, and are universally admitted to be Crimes in every Nation, and that the offence of the Individual whose person is demanded must be such as to render him liable to arrest by the Law of Canada as well as by the Law of the United States.

"The state of slavery is not recognized by the Law of Canada nor does the Law admit that any Man can be the proprietor of another.

"Every Slave therefore who comes into the Province is immediately free whether he has been brought in by violence or has entered it of his own accord; and his liberty cannot from thenceforth be lawfully infringed without some Cause for which the Law of Canada has directed an arrest.

"On the other hand, the Individual from whom he has been taken cannot pretend that the Slave has been stolen from him in as much as the Law of Canada does not admit a Slave to be a subject of property.

"All of which is respectfully submitted to Your Excellency's, Wisdom." (Can. Arch., State K, p. 406.)

5. At a meeting of the Executive Council for Upper Canada, held at York, on Thursday, September 12, 1833, under Sir John Colborne, Lieutenant Governor, the following proceedings were had:

"Received a Letter from the Governor of the State of Michigan dated Detroit August 12th 1833 with a new requisition for the delivery up of Thornton Blackburn and other fugitives from Justice which was read in Council on 27th August 1833 with the following opinion of the Attorney General, as referred to him 13th July 1833.

"'Attorney General's Office "'12th July 1833

"'Sir

"'I have the Honour to return the various papers relating to the subject of the requisition from the acting Governor of Michigan demanding that Thornton Blackburn and others who are stated to have fled from the justice of that country and taken refuge within this Province and now in custody at Sandwich should be given up, upon which His Excellency required my opinion whether the Law of this Province authorized him in complying with such demand or not. Had His Excellency been confined to the official requisition and the deposition that accompanied it he might I think have been warranted in delivering up those persons inasmuch as there is thereupon evidence on which according to the terms of our act (3 Wm 4th, C. 8) a magistrate would have been "warranted in apprehending and committing for trial" persons so charged who is convicted of the offence alleged viz: riot and forcible rescue and assault and battery would, if convicted, have been subject according to the Laws of this Province to one of the several punishments enumerated in the act as applicable to felonies and misdemeanors.

"'That the Governor and Council are not confined to such evidence is clear since though limited in their authority to enforce the provisions of the act against fugitives from foreign States by the condition above mentioned viz: being satisfied that the evidence would warrant commitment for trial etc. yet in coming to that conclusion they are I think bound to hear no ex parte evidence alone but matter explanatory to guide their judgment; for even tho' satisfied with their authority so to do, they are not required "to deliver up any person so charged if for any reason they shall deem it inexpedient so to do.'

"In the present case I think the evidence on oath as to facts not alluded to in the official Communication and as to the law of the United States upon the subject becomes extremely important; I mean that of Mr Cleland and Mr Alexander Fraser the Attorney for the City of Detroit. The case appears to be this—Two coloured persons named Thornton a man and his wife were claimed as slaves on behalf of some person in the State of Kentucky; that they were arrested and examined before a magistrate in Detroit and he in accordance with the law of the United States made his certificate and directed them to be delivered over as the personal property of the claimant in Kentucky; that the Sheriff took them into custody in consequence and that when one of them, (the man) was on the point of being removed from prison in order to be restored to his owner he was with circumstances of considerable violence rescued and escaped to this Province. There appears to be an error in the deposition accompanying the requisition, the wife of Thornton is there charged with being one of the persons assisting in the riot and rescue, whereas it appears that previous to the day of her husband's rescue she had eluded the Gaoler in disguise and she was then within this Province; she therefore does not appear to come within the class of offenders which the Act contemplates—viz: 'Malefactors who having committed crimes in foreign Countries have sought an asylum in this Province.'

"With regard to Thornton himself, the Attorney of Detroit who has favoured His Excellency with a certified Copy of the Law of the United States upon the subject, declares,—that the commitment to the custody of the Sheriff was illegal—and this is urged strongly as an equitable consideration against His Excellency's interference that the Sheriff detained Thornton in custody not as Sheriff but as agent for the Slave owner and that the law does not authorize commitments under such circumstances to the Sheriff, but merely that 'the owner, agent, or attorney may seize and arrest the fugitive (slave) and take him before the Judge etc: who upon proof that the person seized owes service to the claimant &c. shall give a certificate thereof to such claimant, his agent or Attorney which shall be sufficient Warrant for removing the said fugitive from labour &c.'

"To this argument as to the illegality of the custody I do not attach much weight, for admitting that Thornton was not committed to the custody of Mr. Wilson as Sheriff of Wayne County, still as we may presume that the Judge's Certificate was properly given, he might not be the less legally in the custody of Mr Wilson as agent to the claimant in Kentucky; for the next section of the act of congress enacts that anyone who 'shall rescue such fugitive from such claimant or his agent &c. shall forfeit and pay the sum of five hundred dollars &c.' That the custody was legal according to the law of the United States I have little doubt; the legality there is officially recognized by the requisition and it is not a subject for His Excellency's enquiry. Upon this view of the case and considering that His Excellency in Council can only restore fugitives charged upon evidence of crimes which if proved to have been committed in this Province would subject the offender to 'Death, Corporal punishment by Pillory or whipping or by confinement at hard labour' and considering this as a Penal Act which must not be strained beyond the literal import towards those against whom it is intended to operate; the result is that our law recognizes no such custody as that of an agent acting under a warrant for removing a fugitive slave to the Territory from which he fled, this is an offence which could not be committed within this Province in any case and therefore that His Excellency in Council is not by the Act of this Province either required or authorized to deliver up the persons demanded.

"I have the Honor to be, Sir, &c.,

"(Signed) Robert S. Jameson, Attorney General."

"The Council having again had before them the requisition of the Governor of the State of Michigan relative to the escape of certain offenders into this Province deem it mainly important to their full consideration of the question that besides his opinion upon the propriety of giving up the persons alluded to the Attorney General should be requested explicitly to state whether if a similar outrage had been committed in this Province the offender or offenders would be liable to undergo any of the punishments in the act passed last Session.

"(Signed) John Strachan, P.C." (Can. Arch., State J, p. 137.)

6. At an Executive Council for Upper Canada held at York, Tuesday, September 17, 1833, under the presidency of the Rev. Dr. Strachan, the following proceedings were had:

"The Council assembled agreeably to the desire of His Excellency the Lieutenant Governor to take into consideration the requisition of his Excellency the Governor of Michigan.

"Read the following letter.

"'Attorney General's Office "'14th September, 1833

"'Sir

"'To the question which the Executive Council have done me the honor to submit to me in relation to the requisition from the Governor of Michigan dated 12th August, 1833, whether if a similar outrage had been committed in this Province the offender would be liable to undergo any of the punishments stated in the Act (3 Wm 4, Cap 7) passed at the last Session I have the honor to answer that a forcible rescue from the custody of the Sheriff of this Province attended with the aggravated circumstances detailed in the affidavit of John M. Wilson and Alexander McArthur accompanying the requisition would undoubtedly subject the offender and those actively aiding and abetting him to the gravest punishment in the act, death alone excepted.

"'I have the honor to be, Sir, &c.,

"'(Signed) Robert S Jameson, "'Attorney General.

"'To John Beikie, Esquire, "'Clerk, Executive Council,'"

"'The Council took the same into consideration and were pleased to make the following minute thereon.

"'The Council having had under consideration the requisition of His Excellency the Governor of Michigan together with the various papers relative thereto beg leave respectfully to state that as the question involves matters of great importance in our relations with a neighbouring state it would be satisfactory to them if the opinion of the Judges were obtained for their information,'" (Can. Arch., State J. p. 148.)

7. At an Executive Council for Upper Canada held at York, September 27, 1833, under the presidency of Peter Robinson, the following proceedings were had:

"Resumed the consideration of His Excellency G.B. Porter, Esquire, Governor of Michigan's Letter of the 12th Ultimo which was read in Council on the 27th and again on the 12th and 17th Instant.

"Read also the Attorney General's opinion of the 20th Instant and the Judges' Report of this date as follows:

"'Attorney General's Office "'20th September, 1833

"'Sir

"'To the question which the Executive Council have done me the Honor to submit to me in relation to the requisition from the Governor of Michigan dated 12th August, 1833, whether if a similar outrage had been committed in this Province, the offender or offenders would be liable to undergo any of the punishments stated in the Act (3 Wm. 4 c. 7) passed last Session: my opinion is that a forcible rescue from the custody of the sheriff in this Province attended with the aggravated circumstances detailed in the Affidavits of John M. Wilson and Alexander MacArthur though by the law of England it would subject the offender and those actively aiding and abetting him to severe corporal punishment, by the law of the Province as it now stands could not be visited by a graver punishment than fine and imprisonment which is not one of those enumerated in the act.

"'I have the Honor to be, Sir, &c.,

"'(Signed) Robert S. Jameson, "'Attorney General.

"'To "'John Beikie, Esq., "'Clerk, Executive Council.'

"'Judges' Report.

"'York, 27th September, 1833.

"'May it please Your Excellency

"'We have the Honor to report to Your Excellency that we have deliberated upon the reference made to us by Your Excellency's Command on the 17th September Instant in respect to an application addressed to Your Excellency by the Government of the Territory of Michigan requesting that certain persons now inhabiting this Province may be apprehended and sent to that country to answer to a charge preferred against them for assaulting and beating the Sheriff of the County of Wayne and rescuing a prisoner from his custody. We observe that the recent act of the Legislature of this Province intituled "An Act to provide for the apprehending of fugitive offenders from foreign countries and delivering them up to Justice" (a copy of which we annex to this report) gives a discretion to the Governor and Council in carrying into effect its provisions declaring in express terms that it shall not be incumbent upon them to deliver up any person charged if for any reason they shall deem is inexpedient so to do." We take it for granted however notwithstanding the general terms in which the reference is made to us, that we are not expected to express our opinion upon what would or would not be a proper exercise of this discretion. It does not, indeed, occur to us than any question of political expediency is presented by the case and if any were, we should abstain from offering an opinion upon it.

"'It is to the legal considerations connected with the case that we have confined ourselves; and in this view of it we beg respectfully to state that these prisoners having been once already apprehended and in custody in this Province upon this same charge and liberated by the decision of the Governor and Council after a consideration of the case upon an application made by the Government of Michigan, we should not think fit that the Governor and Council should authorize a second apprehension of the parties and exercise a second time the power and discretion given by the Act—This course we think could not be approved of unless, in the case of some atrocious offender, new and strong evidence should be discovered which it was not in the power of the foreign Government to produce upon a previous application and for the want of which the prisoners were upon such first application discharged, or perhaps in a case where some official or legal formality had by mere accident been overlooked on the first occasion.

"'Independently of the consideration that this case has been already acted upon by the Government, the documents before us place it in this light: the prisoners with the exception of Blackburn and his wife are charged with assaulting and beating the sheriff of Wayne and rescuing a prisoner from his custody, Blackburn being the prisoner alluded to is charged with joining in the riot and battery of the Sheriff and with unlawfully rescuing himself—The wife of Blackburn we cannot find to be sufficiently charged with any offence known to our laws which do not acknowledge a state of slavery; for the imputation of conspiring with the rioters and contriving the rescue is supported by no evidence and seems to rest on conjecture—The prisoner Blackburn it appears from the Documents before us was not committed for felony nor for any crime nor imprisoned for any cause which by our laws could be recognized as a justification of imprisonment. We mention this not from any doubt that the prisoner was in legal custody according to the laws of Michigan but because the rescue of a prisoner constitutes by our law a greater or less offence according to the degree of the crime for which he was committed and this prisoner being committed for no crime and certainly not for any felony his rescue would according to our law be a misdemeanor only and a misdemeanor of that kind that the persons convicted of it would be punished by fine and imprisonment or either of them and not by any other description of punishment—The Statute referred to provides in explicit terms that the persons subject to be delivered up under it to the justice of a foreign country are those only who shall be charged "with murder, forgery, larceny or other crime committed without the jurisdiction of this Province which crimes if committed within this Province would by the laws thereof be punishable by death corporal punishment by pillory or whipping or by confinement at hard labour." We are not aware whether the laws of the Territory of Michigan do or do not authorize the giving up of offenders charged with crimes not embraced in the above very comprehensive description; but however that may be, it is evident that the conduct of this and of other Governments in respect to the delivery up of offenders can be no further reciprocal towards each other than the laws of each will allow. We express no opinion except in reference to the statute recently passed here for regulating this particular matter—We consider the Legislature to have declared in that Statute their will in what cases fugitives from foreign countries should be surrendered; and we have therefore considered whether the persons in question as they are not charged with murder forgery or larceny could upon the facts before us be convicted of any other offence punishable at hard labour—We apprehend they could not be but that the offence of which they might be convicted would be punishable by fine and imprisonment merely without adding "hard labour" to the sentence. Riot, a Battery of the Sheriff in the execution of his duty, and the rescue of a person legally in his custody but not charged with felony or other crime are the offences with which upon the statements before us they are liable to be charged:—and all these are offences which in the known and ordinary administration of the law in this Province would be punished in no other manner than by fine and mere imprisonment. Instances we doubt not may be brought from distant times, in which one or other of the above offences has been punished in England by Pillory or whipping or by other unusual or disgraceful punishments and we do not say that these cases altho' they may be old are so decidedly void of all authority that a judgment which should now be passed in conformity to them would certainly be held to be erroneous and bad. But we conceive that in England such punishments have long ceased to be assigned to the offences in question; that in this Province they have never been assigned to them and that recent Statutes which have been passed in England tend strongly to show that Parliament did not regard them as punishments which in later times could be properly attached to such offences without express Legislative sanction. We observe that there is evidence of one of the persons charged having pointed a loaded pistol at the Sheriff. If it had been further stated that he had pulled the trigger or otherwise attempted to discharge the pistol the act would have been one which in England is felony, having been first made so by Lord Ellenborough's Act passed in 1803; but that Act does not extend to this Province and was never adopted or in force here and if it were otherwise, still this case upon the facts stated is not within it. Looking upon the act of pointing or presenting the pistol as one for which all the rioters were equally responsible it forms an aggravation of their riot and assault but it does not change the legal character of their crime it would probably lead to a higher fine or a longer imprisonment but not to a punishment of another kind. The riot as it is described was an outrageous one and the battery of the sheriff appears to have been violent and cruel—the direct object and intent however seems to have been the rescue of the Prisoner rather than to take the life of the sheriff; and even supposing the facts would well support a conviction for an assault on the Sheriff with an intent to murder him still by our law such intent would be merely an aggravation of the riot and assault; it would not alter the technical character of the crime or the description of punishment however much it might enhance the fine or lead to increasing the term of Imprisonment.

"'The conclusion therefore which we have come to is that these parties are not charged with any of the offences enumerated in the statute annexed and consequently that the Lieutenant Governor and council are not authorized by its provisions to send them out of the Province. It has not escaped our attention as a peculiar feature in this case that two of the persons whom the Government of this Province is requested to deliver up are persons recognized by the Government of Michigan as slaves and that it appears upon these documents that if they should be delivered up they would by the laws of the United States be exposed to be forced into a state of Slavery from which they had escaped two years ago when they fled from Kentucky to Detroit; that if they should be sent to Michigan and upon trial be convicted of the Riot and punished they would after undergoing their punishment be subject to be taken by their masters and continued in a state of Slavery for life, and that on the other hand if they should never be prosecuted or if they should be tried and acquitted this consequence would equally follow. Among the Documents before us we perceive there are papers which have been delivered to the Government in behalf of the alleged rioters in which this inevitable consequence is urged as a reason against their being sent back to Michigan and in which it is intimated that to place the slaves again within the power of their masters is the principal object and that the Government of Michigan in making application for them is rather influenced by the interest and wishes of the slave owners than by any desire to bring the parties to trial for the alleged riot. No consideration of this kind has had any weight with us, for in the first place as regards the insinuation against the motives of the Government of Michigan if we had any thing to do with them we should consider (as no doubt this Government would consider in any similar case) that courtesy towards the Government of a foreign country requires always to assume that it has no motive or design on these occasions which is not just and fair and in short none but such as is openly avowed. And in the next place as to the consequence spoken of—If it would follow in course from the laws of the United States it is not probable that the Executive Government there would prevent the slave masters from asserting their rights under those laws and it is therefore reasonable to suppose that the consequence may really follow which the parties concerned have represented. Still if in this case the black people whose arrest is applied for had been shown to have fled from a charge for any such offence as would clearly come within our Statute, we do not conceive that we could on that account have advised a course to be pursued in regard to them different from that which should be pursued with respect to free white persons under the same circumstances. When we say this we should desire it to be understood that we are so clearly of opinion on the other hand, that the withdrawing from a state of Slavery in a foreign Country could not here be treated as an offence with reference to our statute already alluded to so that any person could be surrendered up under that statute upon such a ground merely. We beg leave to express to Your Excellency our regret for the delay that has occurred in answering the reference which Your Excellency and the Honorable the Executive Council have thought fit to make to us. Among other causes which have led to it was a doubt at first entertained among us whether we could properly give an opinion upon a matter which under possible circumstances might give rise to a judicial proceeding in which the same question would come before us or some one of us for decision. An examination of this subject has removed this doubt and we now submit our opinion to Your Excellency with such explanations as seemed to us to be material.

"'We have the Honor to be "'Your Excellency's Most obedient "and humble Servants

"'(Signed) "'John B. Robinson, C. J. "'L. P. Sherwood—J. "'J. B. Macauley—J.'"

"Upon which the council were pleased to make the following Report.

"'To His Excellency, Sir John Colborne, K.C.B., Lieutenant Governor of the Province of Upper Canada and Major General Commanding His Majesty's Forces therein—&c——&c. &c

"'May it please Your Excellency

"'The Council have had under consideration the papers relating to the requisition of the acting Governor of Michigan, together with evidence furnished by His Excellency the Governor of that Territory accompanied by a further requisition for the delivery of the fugitives—they have also had before them the opinions of the three Judges and of the Attorney General with which they concur and have been led to the conclusion that the fugitive Slaves named in the requisitions are not charged with an offence which would have rendered them liable to any of the punishments enumerated in the Provincial Statute and consequently that the Lieutenant Governor and Council are not authorized by its provisions to send them out of the Province.'" (Can. Arch., State J, p. 155.)

8. At an Executive Council for Upper Canada held at Toronto, Saturday, September 9, 1837, under the presidency of the Honourable William Allen, the following proceedings were had:

"Read the Attorney General's Report of the 8th instant on Documents for the surrender of Jesse Happy, a fugitive from Justice in the United States charged with horse stealing—upon which the Council made the following Report

"'The Council have taken into serious consideration the Documents with the Reports of the Attorney General

"'A similar application referred for the Report of the Council on the 7th Instant—In that case as in the present it was suggested that the fugitive was a slave, and that the real object of the application was not so much to bring him to trial for the alleged Felony as to reduce him again to a state of Slavery—In that case however it appeared that the Offence had been recently committed viz: in May last—That an early occasion, probably the first, was taken to have him indicted—that process for his apprehension immediately issued and that shortly after the return of the Sheriff to that process the requisition from His Excellency the Governor of the State of Kentucky was obtained and promptly brought to this Province. Under these circumstances the Council were of opinion that in the exercise of a sound discretion they were called upon to recommend to Your Excellency to comply with the requisition—The facts appearing upon the Official Documents in this case are widely different—The Alleged Offence purports to have been committed more than four years ago. When the Indictment was preferred is not shown (as it was in the former case) but the earliest date which shows its existence is 1st June 1835 when the certificate of the Clerk of the Court is given. No process seems to have been issued in the State of Kentucky nor is any other step shown to have been taken until the middle of last month. There also it is suggested that the fugitive is a slave that the real object of his apprehension is to give him up to his former owners and so to deprive him of that personal liberty which the laws of this country secure him. If this be conceded in the present instance after a lapse of four years, no argument could be consistently urged against the delivery up (on the usual application) of persons who have been still longer resident in this Province.

"'The delivery of a Slave under these circumstances to the authorities claiming him would it is clear subject him to a double penalty, the one of punishment for a crime, the other of a return to a state of Slavery, even if he should be acquitted. The former in strict accordance with our Statute, the other in direct opposition to the genius of our institutions and the spirit of our Laws. For this cause the Council feel great difficulty in the course which they would advise Your Excellency to adopt, were there any law by which, after taking his trial and if convicted undergoing his sentence he would be restored to a state of freedom, the Council would not hesitate to advise his being given up but there is no such provision in the Statute.

"'On the other hand the Council feel that it cannot be permitted that because a man may happen to be a fugitive slave he should escape those consequences of crime committed in a foreign country to which a free man would be amenable. This would be equally contrary to the Law and to the spirit of mutual justice which gave origin to it, in this Province as well as in the United States. Considering however the circumstances of this case and also the difficulty that might arise from it as a precedent the Council respectfully recommend that time should be given to the accused to furnish affidavits of the facts set forth in the Petition presented on his behalf in order to a full understanding of the whole matter.

"'The Council would further respectfully submit to Your Excellency the propriety of drawing the attention of Her Majesty's Government to this question with a view of ascertaining their views upon it as a matter of general policy.'" (Can. Arch., State J, p. 597.)

Footnotes:

ADDITIONAL LETTERS OF NEGRO MIGRANTS OF 1916-1918[1]

Letters Stating that Wages Received are not Satisfactory

Brookhaven, Miss., April 24, 1917.

Gents: The cane growers of Louisiana have stopped the exodus from New Orleans, claiming shortage of labor which will result in a sugar famine.

Now these laborers thus employed receive only 85 cents a day and the high cost of living makes it a serious question to live.

There is a great many race people around here who desires to come north but have waited rather late to avoid car fare, which they have not got. isnt there some way to get the concerns who wants labor, to send passes here or elsewhere so they can come even if they have to pay out of the first months wages? Please dont publish this letter but do what you can towards helping them to get away. If the R. R. Co. would run a low rate excursion they could leave that way. Please ans.

Jacksonville, Fla., April 4, 1917.

Dear Sir: I have been taking defender for sevel months and I have seen that there is lots good work in that section and I want to say as you are the editor of that paper I wish that you would let me know if there is any wheare up there that I can get in with an intucion that I may get my wife and my silf from down hear and can bring just as miney more as he want we are suffing hear all the work is giveing to poor white peples and we can not get anything to doe at all I will go to pennsylvania or n y state or N J or Ill. or any wheare that I can surport my wife I am past master of son of light in Mass. large Royal arch and is in good standing all so the good Sancer large no. 18. I need helpe my wife cant get any thing to due eather can I so please if you can see any body up there that want hands let me no at once I can get all they need and it will alow me to get my wife away from down hear so please remember and ans. I will apreshate it.

Looking for ans at once. Please let me no some thing thease crackers is birds in south

Nashville, Tenn., April 22, 1917.

Sir: I am in Nashville and I have a job but is not satisfied with the money that I am getting for my work and I ask of you to please give me a good job working any place I am a expirence fire man and all so some expirence in engineer and please answer soon and let me know what you can find for me to do.

Alexandria, La., June 6, 1917.

Dear Sirs: I am writeing to you all asking a favor of you all. I am a girl of seventeen. School has just closed I have been going to school for nine months and I now feel like I aught to go to work. And I would like very very well for you all to please forward me to a good job. but there isnt a thing here for me to do, the wages here is from a dollar and a half a week. What could I earn Nothing. I have a mother and father my father do all he can for me but it is so hard. A child with any respect about her self or his self wouldnt like to see there mother and father work so hard and earn nothing I feel it my duty to help. I would like for you all to get me a good job and as I havent any money to come on please send me a pass and I would work and pay every cent of it back and get me a good quite place to stay. My father have been getting the defender for three or four months but for the last two weeks we have failed to get it. I dont know why. I am tired of down hear in this —— / I am afraid to say. Father seem to care and then again dont seem to but Mother and I am tired tired of all of this I wrote to you all because I believe you will help I need your help hopeing to here from you all very soon.

Atlanta, Ga., April 29, 1917.

Sir: I am a young man 25 years of age. I desire to get in some place where I can earn more for my labor than I do now, which is $1.25 per day. I do not master no trade but I have finished a correspondence course with the practical auto school of New York City and with a little experience I would make a competent automobile man, but I do not ask for your assistance on this line of business only. I am willing to do anything for better wages.

P.S. I would like if you knows if there is an auto school any where where colored men can go to and learn the automobile industry to give me their address.

Jacksonville, Fla., April 30, 1917.

Kind sir: In reading the Chicago Defender I saw where laborers are wanted and of course not knowing whether you would send transportation this far or not I would like a good job in the north where I can earn more for my labor and would like for you to help me out if you would. I am now working at the Clyde Line and they are cutting off help every day of course I dont know about this moulding work but am very quick to learn any thing most any kind of work for a laboring man, dont play on the job. all I ask of you is a trial, willing and ready to go to work any time I hear from you. Please ans soon. willing to Detroit Michigan or any part of the north.

Sirs: I am writing to find out if there is any way that you could find me a job. I would be very glad for you to do so and I will see that you wont loose nothing if I can get the job. work no good here for a black man. And I want to leave this place. But I cannot make the money to leave on and I hope you will do all you can in the way of helping me to secure a job and I hope you will let me here from you in short.

Wilmington, N. C., May 4, 1917.

Dear Sir: Wright a fiew words for work i ask to hand this editor to read we are work mens wont to work but wages is so little we cant get out we wont to leave the south and work. Pleas wright let me know 10 mens able body men will stick to work we well come.

Dallas, Tex., April 30, 1917.

Dear Sir: I read your advertisement in the Chicago Defender and having been unable to find work here I want a chance of this kind also a friend of mine, we are both willing to work. Tell me how soon you can send and how many you are willing to send for.

Augusta, Ga., 5-28-17.

Gentlemens: In reading the defender the paper of our race the numerous wanted of labor in your state I would like make some of the good pay for God knows we need it in Augusta. Gentlemens I made very effort to come out in Illinois or some other place where I can live deason. I have payed as much as too dollars & that I cant get away from here, we can scarcely live in Augusta not say anything about debt. I wish you gentlemens would asist me in getting away from here not only my self but some friends or send an agent threw here I mean agent not some so call agent—or if you gentlemens see I get a transportation I am real in what I am saying any kind that a living in. I am twenty years exspierince in yellow pine lumber willing to do any thing else that pays gentlemens answer at once. I like to come now to get settled by winter.

Pensacola, Fla., April 23, 1917.

Dear Sir: I saw your advice in the Chicago Defender I thought to wright for farther in fennashion I would be glad to now how I can get ther I am a laborn man want to get where work is plentiful & good wedges i want to get in a Christian nise place i have a good family and car for them I want to come up there to see the place & then latter on send for family can u send for me or describe me to some one who will send for me.

St. Louis, April 28, 1917.

Dear Gentlemens: I have been advise through the columns of the Chicago Defender to get in connection with you as they claim that you are in position to look after colored labor and help I am anxious to get a study position in some small villiage or town near Chicago. I am from Alabama and dont believe in loafing I am now employed at a firm as porter, packer, asst. shipping clerk but I cant live on the pay. I am to go to Detroit next Saturday but if I can hear from you I would rother take your advise. Please let me hear from you. I was intending to go by Chicago and call on you but I thought it wise to write because here in St. Louis they dont like to see a man idle.

Dear sir: I am a reader of the Chicago Defender and enjoy it very much. I saw in todays defender where labor was wanter transportation advanced from Chicago. Now I have a good steady position where I have been working for three years with the American Sugar refinery but I would like to make a change I know that I can better my condition where I work it 12 hours. Therefore I would welcome the 8 hours with pleasure. Please send me full information. I would like to get a transportation for my self and son 16 years of age. I will enclose self address envelope for a reply at once.

New Orleans, La., 4/30/17.

Sir: In reading the Chicago paper we find advertisement asking for labor men. I am a man of family and would like very much to come to this kind of job but having a wife and five children to support couldnt very well leave on a railroad pass as I hate to leave my family behind without support for at one dollar and seventy five cents per day I couldnt do very much in a short while. Now will you please inform me of this transportation that is advertised. I am a colored man weighs about 160 pounds and forty nine years old. Please write me full particulars at this address.

Collins, Miss., April 7, 1917.

Dear Sir: I saw where you needed labor and I am a hard working man but I cant make above a living here and hardly that and so if you can assist me your kindness will never be forgotten. I shall look to hear from you by return mail.

Greenville, S. C., April 29, 1917.

Dear Sir: I would like for you to write me and tell me how is time up there and jobs is to get. I would like for you to get me a job and my wife. She is a no. 1 good cook, maid, nurse job I am a fireing boiler, steame fitter and experiences mechencs helpe and will do laboring work if you can not get me one off those jobs above that i can do. I have work in a foundry as a molder helper and has lots of experense at that. I am 27 yrs of age. If you can get me job I would like for you to do so please and let me no and will pay for trouble. looking to hear from you wright away please if you new off any firm that needs a man give them my address please I wont to get out of the south where I can demand something for my work. I will close.

Lutcher, La., May 13, 1917.

Dear Sir: I have been reading the Chicago defender and seeing so many advertisements about the work in the north I thought to write you concerning my condition. I am working hard in the south and can hardly earn a living. I have a wife and one child and can hardly feed them. I thought to write and ask you for some information concerning how to get a pass for myself and family. I dont want to leave my family behind as I cant hardly make a living for them right here with them and I know they would fare hard if I would leave them. If there are any agents in the south there havent been any of them to Lutcher if they would come here they would get at least fifty men. Please sir let me hear from you as quick as possible. Now this is all. Please dont publish my letter, I was out in town today talking to some of the men and they say if they could get passes that 30 or 40 of them would come. But they havent got the money and they dont know how to come. But they are good strong and able working men. If you will instruct me I will instruct the other men how to come as they all want to work. Please dont publish this because we have to whisper this around among our selves because the white folks are angry now because the negroes are going north.

Winston, N. C., May 17, 1917.

Dear Friend: a little information i am asking concerning work i am a stranger to you and you is one to me but i saw your optunity to the colorred people of the south as i am a reader of the Defender and all so the new York age to i seen Sunday that you is wanting labers i wants to come up there i am working eavery day but wedges is cheap don her i am a firman and cannot make a living hardly and am married man too. if you can secure me a job and send me past for me and a nother friend he is married no children i would like to lern how to do molding as the colorred man is bared of from that kind of work in the south.

Jacksonville, Fla., May 18, 1917.

Sir: this is John ——. will you please get me a job as I have had bad luck an it left me in pour shape I am a molder and machinists but I will work as helpe a while jest I an wife sen transpertation for two I an wife.

Jacksonville, Fla., May 5, 1917.

Dear Sir: Kindly inform me by return mail are there any factories or concerns employing colored laborers, skilled or unskilled, the south is ringing with news from Chicago telling of the wonderful openings for colored people, and I am asking you to find the correct information whether I could get employment there or not. Please find postage enclosed for immediate reply.

Charleston, S. C., April 29, 1917.

Dear Sir: I saw your add in the Chicago Defender where you wanted laborers and I taught that this would be a grand oppotunity for me to better my present conditions so I taught I would write you and ask you would you be kind enough as to give me a job dear sir. I am a single man and would be willing to do any kind of work, dear sir would you be kind enough as to forward me a transportation and I would come write away so please do the best you can for me. There is but little down here to be gotten dear sir will you kindly grant me that favor. Hopeing to receive a favorable answer.

Greenwood, S. C., May 8, 1917.

Dear Friend: I saw in the Chicago Defender where you waned labor. pleas send pass for as many men as you can are let me know what I must do to get one by return mail because I wont to leave the south and go north where you get a better chance. So please answer at once.

Sumter, S. C., May 12, 1917.

Dear Sir: Could you get me a job in the —— Tin Plate Factory at ——, Pa. a job for (3) three also a pass from here for (3) I am a comon laborer and the other are the same. If you could we will be ever so much ablige and will comply with your advertisement. If you cant get a job just where we wish to go we will thank you for a good job any where in the state of Pa. or Ohio. I am in my 50 the others are my sons just in the bloom of life and I would wish that you could find a place where we can make a living and I also wish that you could find a place where we all three can be together. If you will send us a pass we will come just as soon as I receive it. If you find a place that you can send us please let us hear what the job will pay. Nothing more. I am yours respectfully.

Carrier, Miss., May, 1917.

Please sir will you please send me transportation for me and my wife I am willing to work anywhere you put me at the rate I am going it would take me from now until Cristmas to feed myself and get money enough to come with. Wages is so low and grocery is so high untill all I can do is to live. Please answer soon to.

Newbern, Ala., 5-21-1917.

My dear Sir: Your letter of the 11th inst. to hand and contents noted. In reply I wish to thank you for the kind offer relative to the laides. We shall leave for New York on or before June 20th; I desire to know if it be possible to secure our transportation fare from the parties to whom they shall work? Owing to conditions (here) in the south one is hardly able to eke out an existence on the paltry salaries allowed by our white friends; therefore we need help. If you can comply with our request, we shall be very grateful to you; & I wish to say in advance that you will not have cause to regret for whatever the charges may be we shall pay them willingly. I shall furnish the best references as to character.

Now, if it be possible for us to secure our transportation, we could leave here on or before the 5th of June. We prefer coming by water as it is cheaper. I trust that I have made myself plain and that you will see your way clear to serve us.

Newbern, Ala., 4/7/1917.

Dear Sir: I am in receipt of a letter from —— of ——, ——, in regards to placing two young women of our community in positions in the North or West, as he was unable to give the above assistance he enclosed your address. We desire to know if you are in a position to put us in touch with any reliable firm or private family that desire to employ two young women; one is a teacher in the public school of this county, and has been for the past six years having duties of a mother and sister to care for she is forced to seek employment else where as labor is very cheap here. The other is a high school pupil, is capable of during the work of a private family with much credit.

Doubtless you have learned of the great exodus of our people to the north and west from this and other southern states. I wish to say that we are forced to go when one things of a grown man wages is only fifty to seventy five cents per day for all grades of work. He is compelled to go where there is better wages and sociable conditions, believe me. When I say that many places here in this state the only thing that the black man gets is a peck of meal and from three to four lbs. of bacon per week, and he is treated as a slave. As leaders we are powerless for we dare not resent such or to show even the slightest disapproval. Only a few days ago more than 1000 people left here for the north and west. They cannot stay here. The white man is saying that you must not go but they are not doing anything by way of assisting the black man to stay. As a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church (north) I am on the verge of starvation simply because of the above conditions. I shall be glad to know if there is any possible way by which I could be of real service to you as director of your society. Thanking you in advance for an early reply, and for any suggestions that you may be able to offer.

With best wishes for your success, I remain, very sincerely yours.

Brewster, Ala., Jan. 6, 1917.

Dear Sir: I am writing you enregards if work in the north I would like to came in turch with some of the leading men that wants colerd laborer and what about transportation there is a good deal of peple here wanting jobs.

Troy, Ala., 3-24-17.

Dear Sir: I received you of Feb. 17 and was very delighted to hear from you in regards of the matter in which I writen you about. I am very anxious to get to Chicago and realy believe that if I was there I would very soom be working on the position in which I writen you about. Now you can just imagine how it is with the colored man in the south. I am more than anxious to go to Chicago but have not got the necessary fund in which to pay my way and these southern white peoples are not paying a man enough for his work down here to save up enough money to leave here with. Now I am asking you for a helping hand in which to assist me in getting to Chicago. I know you can do so if you only will.

Hoping to hear from you at an early date and looking for a helping hand and also any information you choose to inform me of,

I remain as ever yours truly.

Columbia, S. C., Dec. 1, 1917.

Dear Ser: I am out of work and was inform to write you all about work in the north I am a labor and is willing to work any where. I am in need of work very bad let me here from you at once.

Charleston, S. C., April 27, 1917.

Dear Sir: i was told by Mr. —— —— to rite you for one of cards as he say you got a lot of work to do in a brick yard and i am a hard working man i want to work and will work at any thing that pays so i rite to you for one of your blank so i can fill it out i dont care how soon i can get there and go to work there is no work here that pays a man to stay here so please send blank as soon as you can. Hoping to here from you soon.

Savannah, Ga., April 29, 1917.

Dear sir: I receive your letter and glad to hear from you, the reason why i wanted to come up there is for more wages, i am a man with family and works hard, but dont get sufficient wages to support my family. i does any kind of ordinary hard work such as farming or teamster or most anything, i would like to no what kind of work you got up there to do as i fell satisfied that i could please you, and also state your price that you pay, and if this application is satisfactory why ans and i am willing to come right way.

Dear Sir: After reading a very interesting letter of Miss—, it affords me great interest to ask you for some information in regards to employment in Connecticut and to eliminate some writing and get the right understanding. I will ask you to please furnish me with an application form and in the mean time I may receive all information that you may give. Also please if you cannot get me employment in Connecticut, write me if there are any openings in New Jersey or New York. I am very anxious to leave the south as there are no chances of jobs here worth while. I have a recommendation as machine helper which I can send if required.

Hoping to have an interview as early as possible.

Savannah, Ga., May 1, 1917.

Dear Sir: In seeing your advertisement in reference to securing a position for those desiring, I decided to take advantage of this opportunity as I desire better wages to meet the present high cost of living.

Hoping to hear from you at once in reference to the above request.

Fort Gaines, Ga., Oct. 9, 1916.

Dear Sir: Replying to your letter dates Oct. 6th the situation here is this: Heavy rains and Boll weavel has caused a loss of about 9,000 bales of cotton which together with seed at the prevailing high prices would have brought $900,000.00 the average crop here being 11,000 bales, but this years' crop was exceptionally fine and abundant and promised good yeald until the two calamities hit us.

Now the farmer is going to see that his personal losses are minimised as far as possible and this has left the average farm laborer with nothing to start out with to make a crop for next year, nobody wants to carry him till next fall, he might make peanuts and might not, so taking it alround, he wants to migrate to where he can see a chance to get work.

I have carpenters, one brick mason, blacksmith, etc., wanting to leave here, can send you their names if definate proposition is held out.

Houston, Tex., 2-25-17.

Dear Sir: Would you please to be so kind to advise us on what condition to get in tuch with some club on micration movement we have 1000 of idle people here and good working people would be trully glad to except of that good oppertunity of coming north and work. Now please give us the full detales of the movingment so we can get to gether now please advise right away of the main headquarters of the club for we are ready for business just as soon as we can get a understanding from the main club for we have lots of people in Tex. want to no direct about it and want to go. We take your paper in this citey and your paper was all we had to go by so we are depending on you for farther advise. Dear editor you muss excuse our bad letter for we rote it in a hurry.

Keatchie, La., 12/8/16.

Dear Sir: I have been reading in the Union-Review and other papers about the work of your department and I am writing to you for some information. I would like to know about general conditions, as to wages, cost of living, living conditions etc.

Also as to persons of color adopting themselves to the northern climate, having been reared in the south. This information would be much appreciated and would be also of much interest to not only the writer of this letter but to many more. Many books would be written dealing with conditions here in regard to the Negro. Compared with other things to which we have almost become resigned, the high cost of living coupled with unreasonably low wages is of greatest concern. We have learned to combat with more or less success other conditions, but thousands of us can bearly keep body and soul together with wages 60, 75 and $1.00 and meat at 19, flour $10 and $12 per bbl and everything else according.

Live Oak, Fla., Feb. 12, 1917.

Dare Sire: Replying to youse some times ago were reseav an was glad to here from you so please let me no how is bisness up nourth and cod I get a job as I wont to go nourth as we dont get half pay for our wourk down here so please let me here from you an can I get a persistion in youre city.

Savannah, Ga., May 1, 1917.

Dear Sir: I write you to let you know that I am out of employment as jobs are very hard to find down here and I would like to have a job in your firm in N.Y. as I have relatives there I can pack tobacco and I would like very much to work in your firm in N.Y. or Conn. and I would like for you to send me a ticket as soon as possible.

Little Rock, Ark., 5/2/17.

Der Sir: It affordes me much pleasure to write to you a few lines in regardes of a posision sir i were reared in the state of ill. your home state, but have been here for eight years working as a helper in a blacksmith shop and have been taking the Defender regular for a long time so i have decided to come back to my home state once more where i can get better pay so o will ask you to please help me in getting a good job. i wont to learn the molders trade or some good trade that i can make more than i am making here. i am a Christian and have been for 20 years. am a member of the first Baptist Church here an a member of the United Brethren of Odd Fellows and is in good standing. now please assist me just as soon as possible i am ready to come up just as soon as i get a hearing from you. Please look after it for me at once if you can not get me a job in your town, I will go anny place you send me.

Jackson, Miss., April 20, 1917.

Sir: i wants to know do yo want somme famlis to move up their if you do rite and let me no at once and i will get yo some at once to come up their to work for you if you do rite an let me no at once and i will get them. now write an let me no at once send me work an i will try to bill your wont if you will aide me to get them up their i can get all that yo wont here to come up their and will come if they had any way to comt i wont to come but the times is so harde that i cant make the money to come on i want to move up their at once if i hade some way to come i wod come at once.

Charleston, S.C., April 29, 1917.

dear sir: I found your address by Mr. —— —— kindness. I wrote him a letter concerning of a just a half of chance and any kind of a job will do just so I am out of this part of the country. Now here is my lines of work. I am a first class clothes cleaner and presser, can operate any kind of clothes pressing machine. I have got reference to show that I am good in that line from Mr. ——, a member of our city. I am a waiter european or american, alicout or short order, and I am bell hop and knows the rules of a hotel. I am lawfully married and has no children. My wife and myself are both from Augusta, Ga. but I am working down here but I dont like it, I am just barely making a living and thats all. Now my wife can work too. She can cook, nurse and do house work, I simply make a distintion about my home being in Augusta Ga for this reason, some Charlestonians speaks such bad language. Now please do the best you can for me and let me hear from you as soon, as possible and let me know your terms. I am ready. Good-by.

Hawkinsville, Ga., Apr. 16, 1917.

My dear friends: I writen you some time ago and never received any answer at all. I just was thinking why that I have not. I writen you for employ on a farm or any kind of work that you can give me to do I am willing to do most any thing that you want me to so dear friends if you just pleas send ticket for me I will come up thear just as soon as I receives it I want to come to the north so bad tell I really dont no what to do. I am a good worker a young boy age of 23. The reason why I want to come north is why that the people dont pay enough for the labor that a man can do down here so please let me no what can you do for me just as soon as you can I will pay you for the ticket and all so enything on your money that you put in the ticket for me, and send any kind of contrak that you send me.

Houston, Tex., 4-29-17.

Dear Sir: I am a constant reader of the "Chicago Defender" and in your last issue I saw a want ad that appealed to me. I am a Negro, age 37, and am an all round foundry man. I am a cone maker by trade having had about 10 years experience at the buisness, and hold good references from several shops, in which I have been employed. I have worked at various shops and I have always been able to make good. It is hard for a black man to hold a job here, as prejudice is very strong. I have never been discharged on account of dissatisfaction with my work, but I have been "let out" on account of my color. I am a good brassmelter but i prefer core making as it is my trade. I have a family and am anxious to leave here, but have not the means, and as wages are not much here, it is very hard to save enough to get away with. If you know of any firms that are in need of a core maker and whom you think would send me transportation, I would be pleased to be put in touch with them and I assure you that effort would be appreciated. I am a core maker but I am willing to do any honest work. All I want is to get away from here. I am writing you and I believe you can and will help me. If any one will send transportation, I will arrange or agree to have it taken out of my salary untill full amount of fare is paid. I also know of several good fdry. men here who would leave in a minute, if there only was a way arranged for them to leave, and they are men whom I know personally to be experienced men. I hope that you will give this your immediate attention as I am anxious to get busy and be on my way. I am ready to start at any time, and would be pleased to hear something favorable.

Charleston, S. C., April 29, 1917.

Kind Sir: Read your adv. in the Chicago Defender. I would like very much to have you take me in consideration. I am strong and ambitious. Would work under any conditions to get away from this place for I am working and throwing away my valuable time for nothing. Kindly let me hear from you at your earliest.

New Orleans, La., June 10, 1917.

Kind Sir: I read and hear daly of the great chance that a colored parson has in Chicago of making a living with all the priveleg that the whites have and it mak me the most ankious to want to go where I may be able to make a liveing for my self. When you read this you will think it bery strange that being only my self to support that it is so hard, but it is so. everything is gone up but the poor colerd peple wages. I have made sevle afford to leave and come to Chicago where I hear that times is good for us but owing to femail wekness has made it a perfect failure. I am a widow for 9 years. I have very pore learning altho it would not make much diffrent if I would be throughly edacated for I could not get any better work to do, such as house work, washing and ironing and all such work that are injering to a woman with femail wekness and they pay so little for so hard work that it is just enough to pay room rent and a little some thing to eat. I have found a very good remady that I really feeling to belive would cure me if I only could make enough money to keep up my madison and I dont think that I will ever be able to do that down hear for the time is getting worse evry day. I am going to ask if you peple hear could aid me in geting over her in Chicago and seeking out a position of some kind. I can also do plain sewing. Please good peple dont refuse to help me out in my trouble for I am in gret need of help God will bless you. I am going to do my very best after I get over here if God spair me to get work I will pay the expance back. Do try to do the best you can for me, with many thanks for so doing I will remain as ever,

Yours truly.

Mccoy, La., April 16, 1917.

Dear Editor: I have been takeing your wonderful paper and I have saved from the first I have received and my heart is upset night and day. I am praying every day to see some one that I may get a pass for me, my child and husband I have a daughter 17 who can work well and myself. please sir direct me to the place where I may be able to see the parties that I and my family whom have read the defender so much until they are anxious to come dear editor we are working people but we cant hardly live here I would say more but we are back in the jungles and we have to lie low but please sir answer and I pray you give me a homeward consilation as we havent money enough to pay our fairs.

Hernando, Miss., April 30, 1917.

Dear Sir: I have heard so much about the demand for negro labor and the high price paid for it in the northern part of this country (the U. S.). I've decided to investigate the rumor from the most reliable source. And as it generally known that newspaper men are the best informed, therefore have thought to request of you for the particulars of the matter. Will you furnish me the desired information or point out such party, or parties that can and will do so. (Personal.)

Pensacola, Fla., April 30, 1917.

Dear Sir: Please send me at once a transportation at once I will sure come if I live send it as soon as possible because these white people are getting so they put every one in prison who are not working I can not get any I can do any kind of common labor. I am a brick layer also a painter I want to go to Cleveland and I have good health and will do my best to improve. They are two family my mother want to come she is a good cook house clean, so all she want is information. I am not going to bring my family when I come I am gong to send back for it. Dont fail to send my Fla. transportation by return mail if you want I can get them as many as you want.

Jacksonville, Fla., April 29, 1917.

Dear sir: reading the Chicago Defender seeing thair are still plenty work in the north I am an automobile repaire and wishes position at once as I am out of employmen and are a man of family and a working man indeed. Hoping to receive ticket by Return Mail or anser

Fullerton, La., April 30, 1917.

Dear Sir: I was looking over a news paper and seen your address and has been wanting to go some where in you country where i can get better wedges and i would like to come up there of corse i dont know anything about that work but i can learn it in a short while. and if you can give me a job i would like to know and i want to know weather you will send me a pass or not i has a wife an i would like to know will you send me a pass for i and my wife if you will i want you to write me and let me know as soon as you can and tell we what you can do about the matter so this all

Houston, Tex., April 29, 1917.

Dear Sir: I thought I would write you a few lines of importance I ask you to help me that much the lord will help you I am a christians I try to make a honest living a man ought to help another when he try to help his self. this is only one I will do any kind of work if any company pass in up their I can pay half of my fare. I am motherless and fatherless I dont care when I go I am gone trust in the lord if you yill help me the Lord will pay you I am with donfident I am not a loafer If my fare is advance up their it a written contract that I will work it out.

May God bless you. Answer soon

New Orleans, La., April 30, 1917.

Dear Sir: I write you a few lines asking you if there is a chance please let me know I can do most any kind of work labor or helper packer willing to learn a trade I see where they sends transportation well I would be willing if one of the firms would send me a pass then when I start to work for them they could take it out of my wages every week untill it was paid for. All I ask is give me a chance and I will make good. Hopeing that my letter will meet with your Apporval and if there is a firm that is willing to send me a pass to come to work up there Please show them my letter and they can deduck out of my wages for the pass. Hopeing that you will hear of one of the firms that wants laborers and Helpers and that they will let me know when writing adress is to

G—— A——, —— —— Ave. New Orleans, La.

Please write and let me know if theres a chance. I remain yours

Pensacola, Fla., 4/29/17.

Dear Sir: in reading the Chicago Defender I saw yore wants add for foundry ware house and yard men I do truly ask you to pleas give me some instruction How I can get there I am a working man I am not sport or a gamble or class with them if I kno it But I am study evry day working man of family wife and one child 9 years old but this is hard time in the south now and I have not the means to come. But if you can get me up there I will give you good service in yore ware house and yard work. My daily work has been in a ware house for the past 6 years and i kno one more good man that want to come too with family and would be glad to get up there as soon as I can. I will garntee you good and reglar service from Both of us.

Hopeing to here from you soon

Pensacola, Fla., April 30, 1917.

Dear Sir: Im a reader of the Defender, and I saw in this weeks issue where you stated that three cities were in need of moulders and helpers. And as I have once worked in a foundry, as a helper I have some experience of the work and would like very much to know under what conditions could you put me in touch with a firm in a small size town, where it would send me a transportation.

I would leave tomorrow, if I had such opportunity. I am married, have a wife and two small children, and cant support them in this place properly.

Hoping to receive some kind of reply.

Savannah, Ga., April 29, 1918.

Dear Sir: I were reading your advertisement in the Chicago Defender where you were in need for men at the —— ——. I am a hard working man in the south and get nothing for it I would like to recive a hearing from you in return mail in rgard of seeking a transportation for me and my nephew if you will send for me and my nephew I will come at once and I garantee you that you wont regret it. We are hard workers of the south please oblige.

Answer at once return mail I will be at your call.

Mobile, Ala., April 30, 1917

Dear Sir: I was reading in the Chicago defender where They wanted so many men to work. I am very anxious to work. I can do most any kind of work I have been out of a job ever since January. will you please try and get me in Chicago, so that I can be able to get one of those jobs. please get me a job. I have a wife and we can hardly live in this place. I am a machinist by trade. I am a Schauffer also. I can repair an auto to. please send for me at once, as I am in need of work.

My age is 25 years and my wife is 21 years. My name is ——

Savannah, Ga., April 24, 1917.

Gentlemen: As I my self intend to go north or some place where I can get good wages so as to better my condition and aim to go in a few days if I can get off right. I would have been gone before now but I could not save enough money out of small wages and high cost of living to get away, since I saw a piece in the Chicago Defender about you I am eager to get in touch with you at once as I understand you are in the employment business if so please let me hear from you by return mail as I must leave in a few days if can get away the right way. So if you have some good jobs open in some small towns or cities that will pay good wages please let me hear from you this week if can do so. Write me the kind of work and wages paid and where at so I can choose the kind I like, also let me know if I can get a ticket sent me to come on with a garntee to pay for it out of my first wages a part each pay day until paid. Please let me hear from you at once.

Atlanta, Ga., April 30, 1917.

Dear Sir: In reading the Chicago Defender I find that there are many jobs open for workmen, I wish that you would or can secure me a position in some of the northern cities; as a workman and not as a loafer. One who is willing to do any kind of hard in side or public work, have had broad experience in machinery and other work of the kind. A some what alround man can also cook, well trained devuloped man; have travel extensively through the western and southern states; A good strong morial religious man no habits. I will accept transportation on advance and deducted from my wages later. It does not matter where, that is; as to city, country, town or state since you secure the positions. I am quite sure you will be delighted in securing a position for a man of this description. I'll assure you will not regret of so doing. Hoping to hear from you soon.

Shreveport, La., April 26-17.

Dear Sirs: I am writing you as to how and where I can go to obtain better freedom and better pay for the balence of my life as being a contance reader of the Chicago defender the add in front cover first colum refered me to you. If you can put me in touch of some one that I ma communicate with as to the position I will be verry grateful to you. I am a cook & barber also thorughly acquainted with steam works hoping to hear from you will full particular

I am yours for better success.

P S I has a fair education.

New Orleans, La., May 7, 1917.

Dear Sir: I am earnestly in need of work and would be very glad if you could recomend me to some of the firms that you are securing labor for. I saw your add in the Defender.

Crichton, Mobile, Ala., April 30, 1917.

Sirs and Gentelmen: I am poor man and honest working man and I am here in the south this hard country seeking for labor that I can make an onest living I can do most any kind of commond work and I will do so please put me next. Give me an early reply years to please

Pensacola, Fla., May 7, 1917.

Gentelmen: I wants to ask you to look out for a job for me in that section as I am a good tailors helper good sewer and as cleaning presing and dyeing I have had nine years experance in that line but I will do other work if I can get it as factory work in or out of the city will do I am man of a family and have no time to piack work. Thanks

Jacksonville, Fla., May 9, 1917.

My dear Sir: In looking over the Chicago Defender why I come across your name in connections with —— —— of Chicago and thinking that you could do me a lots of good why I thought that I would write you asking of you to locate me with transportation with some one who are looking for a hard working honest and sober colored man.

Will do any kind of work. Am a farmer, saw mill man, a good cook. Also I have worked for quite awhile for express company here.

I am unable to pay my way to your city at present and any help extended me along that line will be more than appreciated by me. Am married, and my wife is a first class cook and house woman.

Now if I am not taking too much of your time why please let me hear from you at once as I would like very much to get out of the south as quick as possible for there is nothing here for a colored man, any more.

Please give my name to some one that needs a good man, who is willing to send transportation for me and wife, or my self. I probably can make some arrangements to get there in a few days.

Hoping to hear from you in a few days and thanking you for same before hand.

Letters about Better Educational Facilities

Anniston, Ala., April 23, 1917.

Dear sir: Please gave me some infamation about coming north i can do any kind of work from a truck gardin to farming i would like to leave here and i cant make no money to leave I ust make enought to live one please let me here from you at once i want to get where i can put my children in schol.

West Palm Beach, Fla., April 25, 1917.

My dear Sir: While reading the Chicago Defender of april 21st I saw that you was the man to write to four a job as say the paper I have some children I lost my wife just a year ago and I would like to get a place where I could proply educate them I am a bober by trade I been in the work for 20 years study, I dont drink al all any thing like whiskey I am a church man and all the children belong to the church too your trully

Pittsburg, Pa., April 26, 1917.

dear sir: your letter was all write this one leaves me all write i means what is write this is a matter of buisness and no folishness and joaking in this Please dont think i set down and write something just because i seen it in your paper for i am a working man i work for my living dont i am saying just to get a jobe i no i am south rais man i want some places to send my children to school my means is that i am to old to old.

Dear Sir: I saw your add in the Chicago Defender for laborers. I am a young man and want to finish school. I want you to look out for me a job on the place working morning and evening. I would like to get a job in some private family so I could continue taking my piano lesson I can do anything around the house but drive and can even learn that. Send me the name of the best High school in Chicago. How is the Wendell Phillips College. I have finish the grammer school. I cannot come before the middle of June.

New Orleans, La., 5/5x17

My dear sir: I have you reply stating all the information to me. I thank you very much for same I must say I think you are a real friend. now the best classes of colored men in the south are still here but are making preparation to come north and are not particular about coming to Chicago. All we want is to know just what youve told me here in this letter. I have been living here in New Orleans only seven years. I formerly live in the country but owing to bad conditions of schools for my children I sold my property and moved here. I didnt think there was any justice in my paying school taxes and had no fit school to send by children to. I have been employed here as night eatchman for the last four years and are still working at it but my wajes are so small the high cost of living leaves very little for traveling expenses but never the less I have a boy sixteen years old as soon as school closes I will take him north with me hoping to find work for him and I during vacation. You will see me soon. Thanking you kindly.

Grabow, Louisiana, 5/9/17

My dear Sir: your letter to me togeather with information was recieved and noted carefully from the same I find that work in and about Chicago is not plentiful as agents are makeing out as I know for myself that I have been talked to hard to leave at once for Chicago. I am a carpenter by trade tho I have 10 years experience in the shop. I were under the empression that one would have to join the carpenter's union or machinist union on order to obtain work. Tho I know joining a union would put a stress om me as my straight life policy exemps me from such. Your letter being wrote in paragraphs I Parag 5) you are advising men who knows the molders trade or wanting to learn the machinist trade which are those 4 or 5 cities? Should chances in the same better I would not get as far as Chicago. I am a man of family and contemplated that with my Hudson could drive to Chicago by land in 8 days, but as you advise leaving my family I consider you knows best, tho at present I dont see any enducements at all. $3.00 per day is carpenter wedge in this part of Louisiana for 10 hours and $4.00 machinest. But our chances are so slim. Causes me to be disgusted at the south. Our poll tax paid, state and parish taxes yet with donations we cannot get schools. What do you think of conditions here? Thanking you for your past and in advance for your future information I am verry truly yours.

New Orleans, La., May 17, 1917.

Dear Sir: I received your letter and was indeed glad to hear from you I am expecting to arrive in Chicago abou the 14th of June as I want to get my wife and children place until I can send for them. I am going to place them with my father over in Pass Christian Miss and my expense will be very cheap. Of course I am very anxious to get work because I have been working and supporting my family for the last 15 years and my wife never had to work out yet and I keep my children in school all the time. I will wire you just before I arrive so you will expect me in the office. I will be very glad for any service are information that you will be able to give me as I am coming. I think I would like to work in Detroit Mich. I am not so much on Chicago on account of my children. I am glad you can help me and place me in a job right away.

Alexandria, La., 4/23/11.

Gentlemens: Just a word of information I am planning to leave this place on about May 11th for Chicago and wants ask you assistence in getting a job. My job for the past 8 years has been in the Armour Packing Co. of this place and I cand do anything to be done in a branch house and are now doing the smoking here I am 36 years old have a wife and 2 children. I has been here all my life but would be glad to go wher I can educate my children where they can be of service to themselves, and this will never be here.