Immigration and the Commissioners of Emigration of the state of New York/Chapter 4
CHAPTER IV.
ARRIVAL IN NEW YORK—RUNNERS—BOARDING-HOUSES—INLAND VOYAGE.
ALTHOUGH in point of time anterior to the period of which we are treating, the facts which constitute the basis of the narrative of this chapter refer to a state of things which, in a greater or lesser degree, had existed for the preceding twenty years, but which was fully exposed, for the first time, only by the careful official investigation, of which we shall speak in the following.
The kind of fraud and imposition on emigrants which is Attempts of Commissioners of Emigration to prevent frauds on arriving emigrantshere described continued until the year 1855, that is, up to the time when, by an act of the Legislature, the Commissioners of Emigration secured the compulsory landing of emigrants at the Castle Garden depot, which gave them the control over them necessary for their protection. Not having sufficient means at their command, the Commissioners for years had tried in vain to protect the emigrants on their landing. They perceived the real source of the evil from the time of the creation of the Board, and did all in their power to do away with it. Complying with their urgent solicitations, the Legislature, in October 11, 1847, appointed a select committee to investigate the frauds and impositions alleged to be practised upon emigrant passengers arriving in this State. The Committee, consisting of Messrs. Thomas Smith, Committee of Investigation of Legislature, 1847A. S. Upham, D. S. McNamara, A. E. Chandler, and James C. Rutherford, cheerfully assumed and most efficiently discharged their duties. It is due to the indefatigable and energetic efforts of these gentlemen that we have the documentary evidence of all sorts of frauds practised upon emigrants. In order to make a thorough investigation of the subject committed to their charge, they went to the city of New York, and made themselves acquainted with the various stages through which the emigrants passed after landing, till they got on board the steamboats to come up the river. It is their official report, with its accompanying documents, containing the examinations of the different parties and witnesses, which forms the basis of the following statements:
Report of same—System of defrauding emigrants practised by boarding house keepers and runners"Your Committee must confess," the report says, "that they had no conception of, nor would they have believed, the extent to which these frauds and outrages have been practised, until they came to investigate them. As soon as a ship, loaded with these emigrants, reaches our shores, it is boarded by a class of men called runners, either in the employment of boarding-house keepers or forwarding establishments, soliciting custom for their employers. In order the more successfully to enable the latter to gain the confidence of the emigrant, they usually employ those who can speak the same language with the emigrant. If they cannot succeed in any other way in getting possession and control over the object of their prey, they proceed to take charge of their luggage, and take it to some boarding-house for safe-keeping, generally under the assurance that they will charge nothing for carriage-hire or storage. In this way they are induced to go to some emigrant boarding-house, of which there are a great many in the city, and then too often under a pretence that they will charge but a small sum for meals or board. The keepers of these houses induce these people to stay a few days, and, when they come to leave, usually charge them three or four times as much as they agreed or expected to pay, and exorbitant prices for storing their luggage; and, in case of their inability to pay, their luggage is detained as security. Some of these runners are employed by the month, and some work upon commission. Where they are in the employment of the forwarding establishments or passenger offices, and receive a commission for each passenger they bring in, they are, in many cases, allowed by their employers to charge all they can get over a certain sum for transporting the passenger to a particular place. This, it will be seen, stimulates the runners to great exertions, not only to get as many passengers as possible, but to get them at the highest possible prices. To enable them to carry out their designs, all sorts of falsehoods are resorted to to mislead and deceive the emigrant as to the prices of fare and mode of conveyance.
"Your Committee have been shocked to find that a large portion of the frauds committed upon these innocent and, in many cases, ignorant foreigners, are committed by their own countrymen who have come here before them; for we find the German preying upon the German, the Irish upon the Irish, the English upon the English, etc.; but at the same time we cannot hold our own countrymen entirely guiltless, for many of them, it is to be regretted, are engaged in this nefarious business."
It was then, and still is, the law of the State of New York State law relating to power of Health Officer at Quarantinethat a vessel arriving at Quarantine is under the control of the health officer, and that consequently the ship-owners can exercise no control over their own vessels until they pass out of the hands of that officer.
Until 1844, the practice was for him to license small schooners or lighters, by which all the passengers discharged at the Quarantine were brought to the city. The suffering to which passengers were exposed by this mode of conveyance, from being frequently many hours on deck, exposed to sun and rain, and frequently arriving in the city at night, induced the larger shipping-houses to cause the emigrants to be brought up by steamboats, thus greatly increasing their comfort. The practice was for these houses to give their agents an order on the Custom House to receive permits to take the passengers from their ships, and thus to secure to them the exclusive privilege of bringing passengers from their ships. Other vessels, and especially those owned by smaller houses, proceeded at once directly to their piers in the city. The Devices of runners to evade some and board vesselslarger the immigration became, the more profitable it was for the runners to get hold of the ships; they spared no effort and resorted to all kinds of tricks and devices to obtain the exclusive control of the emigrant ships. They frequently went to the Custom House, and, under false pretences, took out permits without the knowledge or consent of the owners. Captains of vessels, which came directly to the city, were often paid several hundred dollars by the runners for the mere permission to board their ships at Quarantine, and proceed with them to their piers.
"It is not uncommon," said the health officer, Dr. Henry Van Hovenburgh, in his examination, "after the vessel is cleared from Quarantine, for eight or ten boat-loads of runners to surround it; they are desperate men, and can be kept off only by an armed force."
This state of things must be borne in mind in order to properly understand the dangers to which the emigrants were exposed on their arrival in the port of New York.
Testimony of President of Netherland Emigrant SocietyThe following affidavits will more fully show the mode of operations of these runners, and of the establishments in whose interest they worked. Thus, R. Schoyer, being duly sworn, says:
"I am a Director of the Netherland Emigrant Society. The first fraud practised upon the emigrant is this: the moment a vessel arrives it is boarded by runners, whose first object appears to be to get emigrants to their respective public-houses. Once there, they are considered sure prey. These runners represent the interests of all the various taverns and forwarding lines. Each party bringing with them their bullies to fight off their opponents, the emigrants become bewildered. As there is frequent bloodshed upon such occasions, the strongest party carry off the emigrants. Previously to going to the taverns, they are told that meals will be furnished for 6d. each, and 6d. for lodging, when, in fact, they are never charged less than 2s. and often $1, per meal; and their baggage is held until all is paid. The next ordeal Bookingthrough which the emigrant is obliged to pass is called 'booking,' by which is meant that the emigrant is taken to the forwarding office, and then induced to pay his money for the fare to the West. The emigrant is informed that that is the only office in which they can pay their money, the proprietors thereof being sole owners of the steamboats, railroads, and canal-boats throughout the entire route. After having thus gained the confidence of the emigrant, he unsuspectingly pays his money, upon the assurance that he will have no more to pay. The money received, the runner gets one dollar for every passenger booked, besides a salary varying from $30 to $100 per month, which is divided with the landlord."
P. H. Hodenpyle, being sworn, says: "I am agent of the Netherland Emigrant Society; have been since April last; I have been in danger frequently of personal violence from the runners; they are Hollanders, Germans, English, Irish, etc. There have gone, this fall, one Hollander and two German runners to Europe to establish agencies for forwarding passengers from New York to the Western States and Territories."
Charles H. Webb deposes under oath: "I am Superintendent Testimony of Supt. of British Protective Emigrant Societyof the British Protective Emigrant Society; have occupied the station three years. From my own knowledge, I have known frauds upon emigrants. One of the common frauds practised by the emigrant boarding-house keepers is that they generally have five or six persons about their establishments, who, if they cannot prevail on the emigrant to accompany them to the boarding-house they represent, when coming from the Quarantine to the city, on their arrival at the dock seize their baggage by force, and have it carried by cartmen, who are privy to their operations, to the boarding-houses. With the baggage once in the house, the emigrant, if dissatisfied with the accommodation and wishes his things removed to another place, is met by the landlord with a charge for either storage or one day's board, compelling him to put up with the accommodations offered him, or pay five or six dollars without an equivalent. These boarding-houses make it a Extortion of boarding-house keepersrule, for instance, if emigrants arrive at 7 o'clock P.M. and leave the next day at 10 or 2 o'clock, to charge two days board and lodging for what in fact constitutes only one day. The keepers of emigrant boarding-houses are invariably foreigners, the natives of each nation preying upon their own countrymen. The runners represent to the emigrant that his charges are sixpence sterling for each meal, and the same for lodging, and no charge for cartage of baggage to their houses or for storage while it remains there. When the emigrant is ready to leave, he calls for his bill, and is surprised to find that he is required to pay from $1 to $2 per day for his board, and often $2 to $3 cartage for his baggage. The keepers exercise their right of lien on the goods until the price is paid."
"I was in a boarding-house in Cherry Street," says Hiram Huested. "A man came up to settle his bill, which the landlord made out at $18. 'Why,' says the man, 'did you not agree to board me for 6d. a meal and 3d. for a bed?' 'Yes,' says the landlord, 'and that makes just 75 cents per day. You have been here just eight days, and that makes just $18.'"
Testimony of One-eyed DaleyGeorge W. Daley (the notorious One-eyed Daley), who had been engaged in forwarding passengers on the canal, and left business, as he alleged, from disgust with the imposition practised by his partners, and by the men in his employment, upon emigrants, said: "Mr. Roach (one of the former partners of Daley) spent his time in New York, and managed the business there. When a vessel was reported, he generally sent down three or four men to engage the passengers. If the vessel was a Dutch one (German), he would send down Dutchmen (Germans); if an English vessel, he would send Englishmen. He got the passengers at the best possible rates, sometimes at one price and sometimes at another. Men in our employ have frequently brought passengers to me, and stated that they had represented to the passengers that they were to go by railroad or packet; in such cases I have invariably told my men that I should not thus impose upon them, as we had no arrangement with the railroad and packets, and would not book them in that way, and that they must not promise them in that way. What I mean by "Booking" 'booking' is, making bargains with passengers and giving them tickets. Our books are made in the form of a check-book; the ticket is cut out, like a bank-check, and a memorandum of it is left; the men who board the vessels carry a book with them and furnish the tickets.
"Frequently the 'night-watch' from the Custom House, when they board a vessel, extol some particular transportation line or emigrant forwarding-house; and, when they leave in the morning, manage to get the name of some one or more of the passengers, which they report to the emigrant forwarding-house. I do not know that they receive anything for their services, but I have no doubt they do; this is what is called 'stooling.' There is another way of "Stooling"'stooling' frequently practised, which is for the runner to go on board and employ some one or more of the emigrants of influence to engage the passengers to go by his line, for which the emigrant is paid a bonus. The following case came to my knowledge two years ago this summer: A runner went on board an English vessel, at Quarantine, singled out a man of influence, and offered him a gold watch and chain if he would induce those on board to go by the line by which he was employed. The man agreed to it, on condition that he could have the watch in advance. The runner took it from his own pocket, threw the chain over the neck of the Englishman, and put the watch in his pocket. The man then went to work and got all the passengers booked according to agreement. They went up to the city in company. The luggage was taken to the boat. The runner and his friend went into an office, where they found a man, who seized the Englishman and exclaimed, 'Then you are the man that robbed the man of his watch, are you?' The runner made his escape precipitately, and the Englishman was compelled to give up the watch, and paid a handsome sum in addition."
Tobias Boudinot, being duly sworn, says: "I am Captain of Testimony of Police Captain BoudinotPolice of the Third Ward. Many of the steamboats that land emigrants from Quarantine land at the docks in the Third Ward. There they are immediately visited by the runners from the emigrant boarding-houses, backed by bullies to assist in soliciting passengers to go to the different houses. As the emigrant attempts to take his luggage from on board the boat, the runner will endeavor to get it from him, and by force, unless there is a sufficient police to protect him, representing that they will keep them at sixpence sterling for each meal, and sixpence sterling for lodging, and no charge made for cartage or storage for luggage. When the emigrant comes to pay his bill, he is never able to get off at the contract price, but is compelled to pay from three shillings to fifty cents for each meal and lodging, one dollar and fifty cents for cartage, when, if it was paid at the time, it could not, under the law, be but thirty-one cents and fifty cents per day for storage for an ordinary-sized chest, and other things in proportion."
The greatest frauds, however, were committed by the forwarding-houses, Forwarding houses—Frauds ofto which some allusion has already been made in the foregoing affidavits. At that time, the only route West was via Albany, and thence by the canal, or, since 1846, by railroad to Buffalo, the Erie and Pennsylvania railroads not having been completed until 1852 or 1853. The trip from New York to Albany was made by steamer, and was comparatively the quickest part of the journey West, as it did not take more than ten hours to reach Albany. The emigrants generally bought tickets in New York, with the understanding and assurance that they were to be forwarded on to their place of destination with their luggage without further charge; but, when they arrived at Albany, the person to whom they were consigned denied the authority of the persons of whom the tickets were bought. If the tickets were accepted, the emigrants were required to pay exorbitantly for the transportation of their luggage, and were often cheated in its weight. "Among the numerous frauds," says the Committee in their Report to the Assembly, "practised by these runners and forwarding-houses, there is, perhaps, none greater than that which exists in the sale of passage-tickets. The emigrant is shown a neatly printed ticket, with a picture of a steamboat, railroad-cars, and canal-packet, with three horses attached to it, and is given to understand that such a ticket will take him to a given place beyond Albany in a specified manner, and for a price to be agreed upon; and after disposing of the ticket for an exorbitant price, the emigrant is furnished with a steamboat ticket to take him to Albany, where he is to present this passage-ticket to some person or company upon which it is drawn, where it is often either protested, or objections taken to the mode of conveyance; and the passenger, instead of going upon the railroad or packet-boat as agreed upon, is thrust into the steerage or hold of a line boat, where he is often known to complain when the only evidence he can furnish of the fraud committed upon him is to exhibit his ticket with a picture of three horses, while the line boats are only drawn by two.
"A pretence is also often set up for not honoring these tickets, that the freight is not paid, or, at least, that enough has not been paid upon the luggage, and the emigrant is either detained at Albany or compelled to pay additional charges.
"It will be seen from the testimony taken that immense sums of money are drawn from these emigrants by overcharging, both for their fare and the freight of their luggage; and, not satisfied with this, some of the persons engaged in this forwarding business are in the habit of defrauding them in the weight of their luggage, by using false scales and giving false statements of the amounts forwarded."
"I have found in most cases (especially when they come in Testimony of David Neligan, agent at Albany of Commissioners of Emigrationlarge bodies)," says David Neligan, an old citizen of Albany, and the official agent of the Commissioners of Emigration at that place, "that the emigrants were 'booked' in New York, meaning that they had agreed for their passage, and were consigned to some one of the forwarding-offices here. In such cases, they are generally furnished with a 'passage-ticket' purporting to be a receipt in full for the conveyance of themselves and luggage to their destination; but on their arrival here they find in many instances they must pay steamboat freight for their luggage, cartage to the office or canal-boat, and canal freight for their luggage again, which has all to be weighed; and here the poor strangers begin to discover that they have been imposed upon. In many cases, too, the emigrant discovers here, for the first time, that there is a balance due on his passage-money (which balance varies from one to twenty dollars), and is so endorsed on his ticket, and which he must pay on pain of detention and forfeiture of all he has previously paid. In other cases, the contract is to pay half the money in advance, and the other half at the end of the journey; but I have never known an instance of this kind in which the balance of the money was not exacted in Albany, although their destination may be in the far West or Canada. Remonstrance in such cases is utterly in vain, and the poor emigrant is compelled to submit, and frequently at a very great sacrifice of convenience, and even of physical requirements."
"We will now enter more closely into an examination of the Three chief fraudsthree most flagrant modes of ill-treatment and fraud, namely, 1st, False weighing; 2d, Overcharging the emigrant for transportation of himself and luggage; 3d, Brutal treatment on the part of agents and runners.
The ordinary prices from New York and Albany by steamer and False weighingcanal were very low. The price paid by the forwarding-houses for passage on deck of the steamboats from New York to Albany and Troy was uniformly fifty cents for each passenger, including fifty pounds of luggage, and all extra luggage fifteen cents per hundred pounds; from Albany to Buffalo regularly fifty cents, and exceptionally only one dollar for steerage passage, forty pounds of luggage free, and extra luggage thirty-six and a half cents per hundred pounds. The emigrant, however, was never charged less than five dollars from New York to Buffalo, and one dollar for every one hundred pounds extra luggage; and the enormous differences between the prices paid by the forwarding-houses and charged to the emigrants were divided among the former and their soliciting agents or runners.
The prices of conveying passengers from Buffalo to the cities and villages on the upper and lower lakes varied between $1 and $5. Thus, for the forepart of the season of 1847, they were on the upper lakes, for the first two months, $3 each, and from $1 25 to $1 50 on the lower lakes; after that the forwarding-houses paid $2 on the upper and $1 on the lower lakes, and towards the close of the season the prices were raised to $5 on the upper and $2 on the lower lakes. The lowest prices charged to the emigrant were from New York to Cleveland, $5 50; Milwaukee and Chicago, $9 50 and $10; Cincinnati, $12; Louisville, $13; St. Louis, $14; and Galena, $16.
From the opening of navigation in 1847 till 31st day of Testimony of Charles Cook, book-keeper in emigrant forwarding-house July," says Charles Cook (a book-keeper in an emigrant forwarding-house), "forwarding companies paid the transportation lines for steerage passengers by canal, river, and lake, from New York to Chicago, $3, including 65 lbs. luggage; they charged emigrants from $5 to $8; luggage costs from about 75 cents per 100 lbs., and is charged from $1 50 to $2 per 100 lbs. The actual cost for steerage passengers, in emigrant cars, from Albany to Buffalo, thence to Chicago, is $6 50, for which the emigrant pays $12; this includes 100 lbs. of luggage on the river and an indefinite amount on the railroad; the usual rate on the railroad is $1 25 per 100 lbs. A deduction of $3 is made to all passengers who stop at Detroit or any point this side, on the lower lakes; this costs the forwarding companies about $5 50 by railroad; if on the canal (steerage), the charge is $5, and it costs about $2. This is up to the 1st of August; on the lakes the rates have advanced since the 1st of August, $3, from Buffalo to Chicago, and $1 on the lower lakes."
Up to 1850 or 1855, only a very small percentage of emigrants went West by railroad, but the prices asked and obtained from them were none the less exorbitant, as will more fully appear from the following list: Rates charged Western emigrants for railroad fares
| Price from New York. | Cost by | Steamboat. | Railroad. | By Lake. | Total. | Profit. |
| To Buffalo | $6 00 | $0 50 | $4 00 | $0 00 | $4 50 | $1 50 |
| To Cleveland | 9 00 | 0 50 | 4 00 | 1 00 | 4 50 | 3 65 |
| To Detroit | 9 25 | 0 50 | 4 00 | 1 00 | 5 50 | 3 75 |
| To Chicago | 12 00 | 0 50 | 4 00 | 2 00 | 6 50 | 5 50 |
| To Cincinnati | 12 50 | 0 50 | 4 00 and canal | 3 50 | 8 00 | 4 50 |
| To Pittsburg | 10 50 | 0 50 | 4 00 | 3 00 | 7 50 | 3 00 |
| To St. Louis | 14 50 | 0 50 | 4 00 | 5 00 | 9 50 | 5 00 |
| To Louisville | 13 50 | 0 50 | 4 00 | 4 50 | 9 00 | 4 50 |
In addition to the payment of the above prices to the agents of the railroad monopoly, the emigrants had to pay freight on their luggage from New York to Albany, and cartage from steamboat to railroad depot, and then cartage at Buffalo, from railroad to steamboat, and their freight on their baggage across the lakes, collected by one of these same contracting agents, located at Buffalo, although the prices charged for tickets include luggage fees.
All the above charges were, so to speak, legitimate, and, although yielding a very handsome profit to the forwarding-houses, they were not so exorbitant as to take more than a few dollars out of the pockets of the emigrants. The profits realized, however, by exacting these fares went exclusively into the pockets of the New York houses, for the emigrants on landing were cheated into the belief that it was to their interest to buy at once their tickets to their respective destinations (by which operation the runner secured to himself two or three dollars more). But the New York houses were not so cruel as to injure the interests of their Albany and Buffalo friends and correspondents. The emigrant was their common victim, whom they would despoil so long as he had anything left. The New York forwarders therefore, after having made their share out of him, handed the emigrant over to their friends West, with the expectation that he still had something out of which he could be defrauded.
When the passenger paid his fare in New York, it was the False weighing at Albany and Buffalogeneral rule to say nothing to him about the extra luggage. Overcharging for and false weighing of the latter formed one of the chief sources of plunder of the Albany and Buffalo houses, and, if enough could not be made in this way, the repayment of the whole or part of the fare was exacted. The sworn testimony of some of the parties interested and of disinterested witnesses will more fully prove this.
Testimony of Geo. W. Daley1. As to False Weighing.—"I know," says the above-mentioned Geo. W. Daley, "that great frauds are practised in weighing luggage; a Mr. Weaver, in this city, did the weighing for Smethurst & Co.; I have known him to make luggage tally from 25 to 40 per cent. more than it weighed; his scales are generally wrong; he aimed to increase the weight about 33 per cent.; I have weighed on his scales 274 lbs., when my actual weight was about 170 lbs.; while I was with Smethurst as partner, I have fixed the scales, or had them fixed, four or five times."
Henry BishopHenry Bishop sworn, and says: "I reside in the city of Albany, and am clerk for Malburn & Co.; I have seen at the emigrant forwarding-offices two separate tallies kept of the weight of the luggage; one for settling with the emigrant, and the other for settling with the owner of the boat. There was a difference between the tallies; it would vary about one-third; the tally that was kept for the boat was the true weight; that for the passengers was made to overrun the true weight 300 or 400 lbs. in 800 or 900 lbs. I have seen G. W. Daley do this at Smethurst's office, at No. 122 Pier, Albany, and also at 104 Pier, another of Smethurst's offices; this was a year ago. I have seen this done three or four times; have seen no one do it but Daley; was once in the employment of Smethurst; have weighed baggage there; have never kept two tallies."
Agent of Holland Emigration Society"I have known men in the employment of Smethurst," says Jonathan Brooks, Jr., agent of the Holland Emigration Society in Albany, "to take their scale on board the boat and weigh luggage there. I have seen them, in weighing luggage, put their foot upon the platform to increase the weight, and have spoken to them on the subject. I have lent them my scale, and had it returned out of order, invariably weighing more than it should."
Benjamin D. Quigg, being duly sworn, says "that he is deputy Sergeant-at-arms of Assemblysergeant-at-arms of the House of the Assembly. Some few days since he went, by direction of the Committee, to investigate frauds upon emigrants, to the office of H. D. Smethurst, Pier 122, Albany, who is engaged in forwarding emigrants, to serve a subpoena on said Smethurst and others, and saw a man weighing luggage. After he left the office, I stepped on the scales, and weighed myself, and weighed 163½ pounds by them. I then went to the store of Corning, Horner & Co., and was weighed upon their scales, and weighed 142½ pounds. I weighed a young man who was with me at the time on both scales, and found the same relative difference to exist."
"A few days ago," deposes Josiah Clarke, of Albany, in November, 1847, Josiah Clarke"I was weighed on H. D. Smethurst's scales, at his office, 122 Pier, Albany, and weighed more than 200 pounds. I had been weighed a week before, and weighed 169 pounds."
"I have frequently attended," testifies David Neligan, the David Neliganabove-named agent of the Commissioners of Emigration, "to the weighing of luggage at the office of Smethurst, and on his boats; have detected and prevented frauds in the weight; in one instance, I saw a lot of luggage weighed and marked at 700 pounds at the above office; I thought the weight most extraordinary for so small a lot, and went to Mr. Roach, who, I believe, was a partner of Smethurst, and asked him to come and weigh a lot of baggage, not telling him that I knew the weight at which it had been set down; he came forward, and weighed it at 500 pounds. I saw on one occasion an emigrant pay, at that office, $16 for 400 pounds to Detroit, and on another $59 freight on 1,600 pounds to Milwaukee; have on many occasions known emigrants pay from $2 50 to $6 for 100 pounds to Milwaukee and Chicago, and in one instance, when the man objected to the price, he was told that most of it went to the Government."
"A lot of eighty-six Hollanders lay here waiting," writes an anonymous Buffalo philanthropist, on July 18, 1847, to the Mayor of Albany, "that had paid in Troy over $1,150 for fare, $680 for passage, and $433 for luggage. We weighed the luggage, and the overweight, at a fair price, will not come to $75. Shipped by P. O'Hern, New York, Emery Mathews, Troy."
Overcharging, etc.2. Relative to Overcharging, Repayment, and Extra Luggage.—The New York runners always required pay in advance, giving a ticket on some person at Albany, generally on Roach & Smethurst. When the emigrants arrived at Albany, this ticket was often found to be a fraud, no one appearing there to pass them forward.
Testimony of Josiah ClarkeJosiah Clarke, who had been most of the time for twenty years in the passenger and freight business at Albany, being sworn, said: "I know that the emigrant passenger business has been carried on fraudulently for three or four years in this city; frequently persons come on from New York with tickets which they suppose are to take them through to Buffalo by railroad, and find that they are to be provided with accommodation in the steerage of a canal-boat on their arrival at Albany. They frequently pay passage from here to Buffalo, and the man furnishing tickets, instead of entering payment in full, enters on the ticket $3 or some other sum 'on account' of passage, and the man is compelled to pay over again as much as would have been sufficient to carry him through in the first instance. I have known a great number of instances of this kind."
George Thomas defrauded by SmethurstGeorge Thomas, on October 13, 1847, agreed with a person in the city of New York to pay $20 for the passage of himself and family to Pittsburg, and to pay for freight not over $1 per 100 pounds; and he received a ticket and was directed to call upon Henry D. Smethurst, in this city. On arriving in this city, he went to Smethurst's office, who received the ticket, and then charged him $29 for extra luggage. Deponent told him of his contract in New York, and asked Smethurst for his ticket back; he refused to give it, telling deponent to help himself.
Wm P. Pfaff, emigrant runnerWilliam P. Pfaff, one of the German runners of Smethurst at Albany, and one of the meanest of the whole gang, said: "I spend most of my time in transferring passengers from steamboats to the office and canal boats; Mr. Smethurst has no established price to charge passengers; most of the contracts are made in New York, and the passengers are consigned to him; luggage is not weighed in New York; he has no established price for luggage; sometimes the passengers contract in New York; if not, Smethurst charges what he pleases; passengers ordinarily think that the price paid in New York for passage included all their luggage; the runners in New York encourage them in that belief; Smethurst's agents, I presume, do the same; Smethurst employed runners in New York; I think in almost all cases passengers are displeased and disappointed when they are called upon to pay for their luggage; they say that they have already paid it, and insist upon it that they have done so; Smethurst exacts pay of them, and in some instances detains their luggage till he is paid; his charges are such as suit him, without reference to the convenience or will of the passenger; the exaction is arbitrary and must be paid, if the passenger has the means; when a passenger refuses to go on to his place of destination, Smethurst never refunds the money already paid; if a passenger who contracts for a passage to Chicago pays enough to go to Buffalo, and leaves the rest unpaid, he is never permitted to go beyond Albany till the balance is paid."
The most important evidence is that of Mr. Neligan. He says: David Neligan citing various cases of extortion on citizens"My attention has been called to many cases of fraud practised on American citizens, equally flagrant with those upon foreigners, some of which have, already received the attention of your Committee. I will only mention a few more.
"Amasa Prescott, of Belfast, Me., paid $40 for two passengers from Boston to Milwaukee, by railroad to Buffalo, and cabin passage on the lakes. These tickets were refused at Albany, but an offer was made to convey him by canal and steerage on the lake, which would make a difference of $16. This statement was made by Prescott to Senator Beach. I do not know how he settled it, as I did not see him afterwards.
"Mrs. M. Frier, of Syracuse, paid $6 50 from New York to Syracuse by railroad, consigned to Smethurst in this city; but Smethurst refused to send her by that mode, and I had to procure a gratuitous pass from E. Corning, Esq., by railroad, Smethurst refusing to refund.
"I have seen many of the latter class who, upon discovering the fraud, destroyed their tickets and proceeded on their journey, rather than encounter the delay or trouble of seeking redress.
Same citing cases of emigrants defrauded"I will mention a few other cases of emigrants.
"James Heslop, a Scotchman, paid Smethurst & Co. thirty sovereigns, or $145 25, for three persons to Port Washington, Ohio. The ordinary expense of the journey at that time (1st August) was $8 61. W. Reese, a Welshman, paid for two persons and two hundred and fifty pounds luggage from New York to Milwaukee, $27 36; but, on arriving at Buffalo, the ticket was repudiated by the agent, and Reese, I am informed, and several others in a like predicament, had to pay their fare over the lake. Reese returned to Albany to seek redress, but in vain.
"Mr. Carron and wife paid $21 to Milwaukee from New York. The steamboat tickets on the river were refused, and he had to pay one dollar and fifty cents for passage, and seventy-five cents for luggage (although he had less than a hundred pounds). He had to go twice to New York to prosecute Selover (the agent), who was indicted, and afterwards paid his fare by railroad, losing the whole sum which he paid originally for his passage, besides expenses of two trips to New York, detention, etc.
"Samuel Collis paid six sovereigns for five passengers from New York to Toronto. Smethurst demanded thirteen dollars more. On his stating his inability to pay it, he was told he could go no further. His Honor the Mayor, and Thurlow Weed, Esq., gave him twelve dollars, and I procured a passage to his destination for ten dollars. His affidavit, taken before his Honor the Recorder, is in my possession.
"James Clark paid nine dollars for three full passengers from New York to Cayuga Bridge by railroad from Albany. Smethurst refused to send him by railroad, and purchased his ticket back for one dollar and twenty-five cents.
"James Lind, a Scotchman, with five children, from New York to Hamilton, C. W., paid $26 50. At Rochester, the captain of the boat told him, he could not send him to Canada, as he had received but ten dollars, and he must have three more for his trouble. Lind had no ticket or evidence whatever, as Smethurst said it was not necessary, and the captain was an honorable man. I was present at the making of this agreement myself, and supposed all was right, until I received a letter from Mr. Cook, editor of the Rochester Democrat, informing me that Lind and his family were in the Rochester Almshouse, and requested me to get the money back from Smethurst. This Smethurst refused to do, but he sent an order to his agent at Rochester to forward Lind immediately. I know nothing further of this case.
"I deem it unnecessary to increase this list, although I could do so to a much greater extent."
One of the most impudent frauds which are recorded in the Fraud on two German emigrantsReport of the Committee is that one perpetrated by two German runners, by the name of Pfaff and Schmidt, on two of their countrymen, a certain Christian Duensing and Wm. Heuer, both passengers per ship Minna from Bremen, and natives of Hanover. Each of them had a family, consisting of himself, wife, and four children, making in all four and one-half full passengers, and each paid in New York the sum of forty dollars and fifty cents for the transportation of himself and family and luggage to Chicago. On arriving at Albany, Pfaff snatched the tickets and receipts from them, saying, "These are papers which you should have delivered before, for they belong to me;" and Schmidt made Duensing as well as Heuer pay ninety dollars in addition to their fare, and forty-seven dollars for extra luggage. On this occasion, Schmidt said: "You must not imagine we can carry you so cheap; great deal of this money is to go to the government of the canal, which has laid out upwards of eighteen millions of dollars;" he said, if he took a cent more than was due, "may his wife and children become blind; you must take me for an honest man, for I am your countryman—I also am German."
3. Relative to the Treatment of the Emigrants on the Way.—ItCruel treatment of emigrant passengers was extremely cruel and brutal. While they had room enough on the large Hudson River steamers, they were crowded like beasts in the canal-boats, and were frequently compelled to pay their passage over again, or to be thrown overboard by the captain. Says the notorious Smethurst, in his examination on November 15, 1847:
"The year before last, Captain Jacobs took a lot of Germans Testimony of Smethurst from Roach & Co., of this city, bound to Buffalo, received his Extortion and cruelty of canal-boat captainspay, and extorted payment again from them by threatening to put them ashore at Rome.
"During the present season, Sterling sent a lot of passengers by canal-boat J. R. Jacobs Jacobs, Captain to Buffalo or Rochester, and paid Captain Jacobs their passage; but on the way out the latter compelled them to pay it over again."
Josiah Clarke.Passengers are frequently crowded," says Josiah Clarke, "into the steerage of a boat half-full of merchandise and luggage, so that they have no accommodation, and are sometimes compelled to pay their passage over again by the captain. I have often thought something should be done to protect passengers against the outrageous frauds of crowding them into the hold of an old canal-boat at a large price, when there are a great many good and convenient boats ready and willing to take them forward at half the money."
Rev. J. N. WyekoffReverend Dr. J. N. Wyckoff writes: "I have seen a canal-boat, first so filled with luggage as to reach within four feet of the deck, and then more people required to be housed upon the luggage than could be laid down in two parallel rows from the stem to the stern of the boat."
Accommodations on Lake steamersThe lake steamers did not offer any better accommodations. We quote, as an instance, the propeller Phoenix, which, on November, 1847, was destroyed by fire while it had two hundred and seventy emigrants on board, who almost all perished in the flames. "I went on board the Phoenix (before she left Buffalo on her last trip)," testifies Elic Van Valkenburgh, "and found her almost entirely filled with merchandise; so much so that passengers could have no accommodations below deck. There was a stateroom overhead, to which the emigrants had not access; and their only accommodations were such as could be found on deck, with a roof or deck overhead, supported by posts, with no side enclosings. There were plenty of steamers at Buffalo at the time, and of the first class, on board of which they could have been shipped at two dollars each. The propeller remained in port some ten days after the emigrants were put on board."
Testimony of James Roach, a runner"I left the emigrant business," deposes James Roach, one of the lowest runners, "because I was sick of it; the way business was done dissatisfied me; my partners were not such men as I like to do business with, particularly Daley; his treatment of passengers was uncivil and brutal; he has often been known to personally abuse and assault them, and otherwise impose upon them. Another reason of my leaving the business was, there was too much money collected from the emigrants. We were employing too many men at high wages to make the business profitable, unless extortion was resorted to."
As stated above, it was one of the regular tricks of the, runners Stoolsto promise to one of a large party of emigrants, who had or was supposed to have influence with them, free passage and other considerations, if he procured their patronage for a certain line. The individual who thus made himself a tool of the runners against the interest of his friends, was called a stool. The following testimony of George W. Daley will explain this more fully:
"The following," says he, "is a copy of a letter received by Mr Geo. W. Daley relative to sameSmethurst from Mr. Roach while I was a partner with them in the emigrant business, in Albany. There have been a number of similar letters written by different members of the firm; they are of frequent occurrence. Mr. Smethurst opened the letter and handed it to me, and I have kept it.
" 'Mr. Smethurst:
'Sir: There is three hundred emigrants on the Rochester, tonight. There is three families on her that are booked by Brische; they are friends of Mr. Swarts, and their friends in Buffalo are people of standing, and you must put them on a boat where they will be comfortable, for Brische has been to see me about them, and also Mr. Swarts. You must be easy with them about their luggage, and weigh it straight. All that have my tickets, put them through; the head man is a "stool;" make him jump. Send down Van Toble's tickets. I shall not send you any money till I come up. I think that I shall make some arrangements with Noyes, so that he will not be opposition here. Run the O. P. line strong this week. Yours, James Roach.'
" 'The O. P. line ' meant, 'Rob the passengers all you can, and divide the money with me.' The proceeds of the robbery were not divided among the members of the firm generally, but simply among those who personally participate in it.
"The ' stool ' above referred to was an individual who had influence with the passengers, and had procured their patronage for Smethurst's line, in consideration of a promise of his own passage and $100. The passage he had for himself and three members of his family, but the $100 he did not get. ' Stooling ' of a similar character is an everyday occurrence, but the ' stools ' seldom get off as well as this one. They are generally charged more than other passengers. They submit to it rather than be exposed to their companions as traitors to their interests.
Stools defrauded."The ' stools ' are not paid what they are promised one time in twenty. When they demand their pay, they are threatened with exposure to their companions, whose interests and rights they have so grossly violated, which is generally sufficient to silence them. The case of the watch is in point. The English ' stool ' in that case thought he was arrested by an officer of justice, and not only gave up the watch, but paid a handsome sum besides. The officer was in fact another runner, in the interest of the one who gave him the watch."
Profits of runners shared by shipping-houses, steamboats and railroadsAll these nefarious operations were openly committed by the runners, but the shipping-houses, steamboats, and railroads shared the profits with them in a greater or lesser degree. Everybody was aware for what purpose these runners were kept; every newspaper reported almost daily their villainous transactions, but neither the public authorities nor the people dared to interfere with them. Now and then a complaint was made by one of the victims, but for a person unacquainted with the law and the language of the country it was difficult to obtain redress. In cases where it was probable that an exposure would be made, the matter was hushed up, the emigrant received his money back, and was by the quickest route sent West. Thus these runners for Power of runnersyears infested the lower parts of the city, and by their means, recklessness, prodigality, and political influence, controlled the elections, and had a powerful voice in the State capital. Had it not been for their objections, the law creating the Commissioners of Emigration would have passed two or three years sooner. Even the Commissioners were unable to do away with these leeches so long as they had no landing-place from which the runners could be excluded. When, in 1855, they finally succeeded in obtaining a lease of Castle Garden, they at once put a stop to the operations of these creatures. It is said that on one day several hundreds of them sailed for California, where a large portion fell into the hands of the vigilance committee just then organized at San Francisco, while others tried to carry on the old business of defrauding and swindling, and some perished in the filibuster expeditions in Mexico and Central America. In the days of which we have been speaking, the runner business had culminated. These men were masters of the situation, and it was only by gradual efforts that the Commissioners of Emigration were enabled to take from them the sources of plunder. Even in their examination Their boldness.before the Committee of the Assembly, they found it unnecessary to conceal any of their frauds. They even openly and boldly avowed and testified to their own depravity.
"It is a fact," says Henry Vail, a New York runner, "that I Testimony of Vail and other runnersand others engaged in the business get all we can from passengers, except that I never shave a lady that is travelling alone; it is bad enough to shave a man; I have all I get over a certain amount which is paid to the transportation companies."
"I have been in Smethurst's office," continues Charles Cook, another New York employee in the emigrant passage business, "when Irish, Dutch (German), and English emigrants were there, and have heard Roach tell his men to promise them all they wanted, that is, they should have railroad passage and all of their luggage free; the same persons I saw afterwards with canal-boat tickets. Roach said he kept the party called the Sixteen at a great loss for the purpose of controlling the Dutch emigrants; the Irish were worth nothing; the English alone would not pay, but putting the Sixteen men, or fighting men, with them to help Brische, from whom he was obtaining Dutch passengers, he could make a good stake; that there was no use of talking of being honest while in the passage business; all he wanted was to get hold of the cattle; he did not care how or what they were promised they would be compelled to point up in Albany while Smethurst and a Dutchman were there. I have been in Albany and seen the luggage of emigrants weighed, and have seen the men that took the tally add to the weight called out by the weigher so as to average about fifty pounds to the passenger over the true weight; I have seen it done by men in the employ of Smethurst & Co., and the charge collected by them; I have also seen the same thing done in Malburn & Co.'s office in the absence of Malburn; I have seen Smethurst collect lake charges on luggage, and receipt only upon the canal ticket, compelling the emigrant to pay lake charges again at Buffalo; I have seen Daley, Smethurst, and Weaver, on two or three occasions, collect from passengers their passage, and freight on their luggage, and endorse on their tickets due upon this a balance in Buffalo.
The Sixteen"The men called the Sixteen party have their Headquarters at 16 Front Street, headed by Huested, Hart, and others. I have heard several of the party say, after they had been booking emigrant passengers, that they had made a big thing of it, and at the same time they had skinned them of their money, and that they had skinned English and Scotch out of sovereigns. The English runners generally get the luggage of passengers in their office, then, if the passenger does not take passage with them; they make a heavy charge for storage.
"The notorious James Roach says that he considers those employed by Government more valuable as runners in consequence of their official station than others of equal capacity, and especially that a man connected with the Custom House as night-watch has an advantage over other men in booking passengers."
Prices paid to runnersIn Albany, the prices paid by the emigrant forwarding companies to runners varied from $40 to $100 per month. "I have been paid by Smethurst & Co. $150 per week," says George W. Daley, "from the 3d or 5th of August to the 20th of October last, for the purpose of keeping me from interfering with their business by establishing an opposition office. The New York runners averaged about $70 per month, and in Albany about $55 per month. There are about twenty runners in this city, and in New York Smethurst & Co., Malburn & Co., and E. Mathews employ and pay about sixty runners, and indirectly about one hundred, this includes runners, boarding-house keepers, and boarding-house runners."
"I have runners employed in New York," testifies Henry D. Smethurst's statement of salaries to his runners Smethurst, on November 15, 1847, "and the following are their names and salaries:
| George Cornell,. . . . | $30 00 per week. |
| Charles Gallagher, . . . . | 25 00 " " |
| Richard Cornell, . . . . . | 25 00 " " |
| William F. Hart, . . . . | 25 00 " " |
| Aaron Piersons, . . . . | 20 00 " " |
| John O'Donnell, . . . . | 15 00 " " |
| Brady, . . . . | 15 00 " " |
| Jesse Olmstead, . . . . | 25 00 " " |
| Hiram Ketchum, . . . . | 18 00 " " |
| George Burns, . . . . . . | 18 00 " " |
| Henry Shanfroid, . . . . . | 20 00 " " |
| Sullivan, . . . . | 12 50 " " |
| George McDonald, . . . . | $600 for the season |
| Hamilton, . . . . | 600 " " |
| Hiram Huested, . . . . | 20 00 per week. |
| John Leonard, . . . . | 18 00 " " |
| Chris. Penny, . . . . | 10 00 " " |
| William Ford, . . . . | 10 00 " " |
| Charles Andrews, . . . . | 20 00 " " |
"The following persons reside and transact business for me at Albany:
| James Roach,. . . . | $2,000 00 for three months. |
| W. F. Sterling, . . . . | 750 00 " " |
| George W. Daley, . . . | 1,500 00 " " |
| Adolphus Shoemaker, . . . | 60 00 " " |
| Felix McCann, . . . . | 100 00 " " |
| Thomas Sales, . . . . | 75 00 " " |
| Charles Bartell, . . . | 50 00 " " |
| Henry Snyder, . . . | 50 00 " " |
| Sidney Goodrich, . . . . | 50 00 " " |
| Samuel Bryington, . . . . | 40 00 for three months. |
| Peter Finnigan, . . . . | 30 00 " " " |
| Henry Nichols, . . . | 45 00 " " " |
| William Kerney,. . . . | 40 00 " " " |
| Sylvester Trowbridge, . . . | 600 00 for the season. |
| J. L. Weaver,. . . | 75 00 per month. |
| William P. Pfaff,. . . | 50 00 " " |
| William Smith,. . . | 50 00 " " |
"All these men have been in my employment during the present season. They have worked by the season, month, or week, most of the time; part of this time I paid them a commission."
"I have," continues James Roach, "looked over the list of persons mentioned by Mr. Smethurst as being employed by him, and it is correct as far it goes; the following names should be added:
| O. B. Teal, New York,. . . | $800 00 for the season. |
| Samuel Bennett,. . . | 75 00 per month. |
| Philip Caswell,. . . | 600 00 " season. |
| Hiram Johnson,. . . | 75 00 " month. |
| Robert Miller,. . . | 600 00 " season. |
| Stephen Gordon,. . . | 75 00 " month. |
| George Dunning,. . . | 75 00 " " |
| Charles Cook,. . . | 300 00 " " |
And others to whom we paid small sums at various times during the season, among whom was Ralph Schoyer at $37 50 per week, etc."
The list of these frauds, continued, as before stated, until the year 1855, could be multiplied ad infinitum, but the instances which we have enumerated are sufficient to show the utter helplessness of the emigrants against the imposition and deception which were practised upon them. It is a reproach to humanity that these infamies continued so long.