Page:Immigration and the Commissioners of Emigration of the state of New York.djvu/80

66 George 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' 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' 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