that these tickets were only good as far as Buffalo and that in order to make sure his passage, it would be necessary for him (the said Heeslop) to pay him (the said second agent) a further payment of three sovereigns, which Heeslop had to pay when he arrived at Albany. They told Heeslop at the office of Smethurst and Co., that he should pay in ad dition the sum of eight sovereigns, together with fifteen sovereigns mure for his luggage; that the said Heeslop being rendered almost crazy by these repeated plundering^, and, wishing at all hazards to proceed to his destination and true friends, he paid down the further demand of twenty-three sovereigns, and was then put on board a canal boat, where the undersigned found him and brought him back as aforesaid. That the police justice, on hearing the poor plundered man s tale, immediately issued a warrant for the arrest of Smethurst, but he was nowhere to be found ; and when Smethurst made his appearance again, the Scotch emigrant was missing the instruments and associates of Smethurst having in the meantime cajoled or sent him from the city. Thus it will be perceived, that thirty sovereigns, or one hundred and forty-five dollars, were extorted from this poor man for fare, and to a place, the ordinary price to which from tfew York is two dollars and eighty-seven cents a passenger, or eight dollars and sixty-one cents for Heeslop and his family, thus leaving those rapacious forwarders the swindling profit of one hundred and thirty-s ix dollars in this single case. All of which is respectfully submitted. So long as the Commissioners were unable to obtain the compulsory landing-place for all emigrants arriving at New York, the runners, and brokers, and ticket-sellers, and money-changers, had everything their own way ; and terrible were the consequences of their practical immu nity. Swarming about the wharves, which they literally infested, all, the emigrant passenger, his luggage, his money, his very future, was at their mercy. The stranger knew nothing of the value of exchange, nor -how many dollars he should receive for his gold ; but his new-found friend did, and gave him just as much as he could not venture to withhold from him. Then there were the tickets for the inland journey to be purchased, and the new-found friend with the green necktie and the genuine brogue could procure these for him on terms the most advan tageous : indeed, it was fortunate for the emigrant that he 9
