Murphy, Kate, also an unmarried mother with a three months' old child, was rather more difficult to deal with, as she persistently gave different names and told conflicting stories each time she visited the office of the private agency which was trying to place her in a situation. It was learned that Kate had already had one or two other children, of whom she managed to get rid, and it was only as a last resource, when every effort to discard her baby had failed, that she made her application. She was un truthful, difficult to manage, and stubbornly reticent, giv ing no information whatever in any direction which might help to facilitate action. A situation was secured for her in the country with her child, and although she at first rebelled against having to leave the city, under the kindness and good influence of the family with whom she was placed, she became gradually reconciled to her posi tion and worked faithfully and well, taking every care of her child. A year later, owing to a death in the family which had engaged her, the home was broken up. Kate had no difficulty in obtaining another position, three or four families being anxious to have her, and she finally went into a doctor's family in a neighboring town, where she remained working satisfactorily, and her baby doing well. The agency which had secured her the first situa tion has kept in constant touch with her both by corre spondence and personal visits, and Kate is duly appreciative of the opportunity given her.
Information concerning homeless men asking for meals and lodgings is usually meagre. The following instances are typical of those in which some information is obtained.
Davis, James, after unsuccessfully seeking work, and being homeless, applied for assistance to enable him to earn enough to release his clothing from pawn. He was able to do only light work, as he was not strong, and had for a short time been a patient in the tuberculosis ward of a public hospital. Mr. Davis was provided with meals and lodgings, and light temporary work as night watch man was secured for him. This, however, he found to be trying, owing to bad air and his inability to sleep during the day. A few days after his application a college friend provided him with a ticket for Colorado and a letter insuring work for him upon his arrival there.
Curran, Patrick, a homeless man, asked assistance in securing suitable clothing and shoes. He had obtained a position as porter in a hotel at n5 a month. For four years he had been ill with rheumatism, and this had interfered with his work. He had lately, however, received treatment and was much improved. Previous to his illness he had held good positions, and all references spoke well of him. The clothing was supplied and meals and lodgings were also given. After working for two days Mr. Curran was discharged, as the man formerly employed in the position had returned. Work was secured for him at another hotel with a wage of $30 a month and meals, but this he was forced to give up as he had to work in a badly ventilated basement. A few days later, having been supplied with meals and lodgings while looking for work, Mr. Curran secured another position where he was paid twenty dollars a month and meals.
Peterson, Horatio, made application upon his return from Florida, where he had been sent by the minister of a church, and where he had found it impossible to get work, none but colored help being employed. He had formerly worked in a restaurant in New York, the keeper of which, a colored woman, said that he was quarrelsome and could not get along with the other servants. She also accused him of having stolen $100 with which he had gone to Philadelphia, he continually annoying her after his return. He had also been employed at one or two private resi dences, where a favorable opinion was held of him, except that he was considered at times to be mentally unbalanced, and at such times interfered with the other servants. It was learned that his mother was an inmate of an insane asylum, and that he also had spent some months there. At one time also he had served a short term in prison.
The following are fairly typical of the great variety of cases arising in an effective enforcement of the laws for the suppression of vagrancy and mendicancy.
Johnson, Dave, is a full-blooded negro, twenty-one years of age, of hardly more than rudimentary intelligence. He has been known in New York, for two years and a half, as a professional beggar of the "sidewalk" variety. When
a boy, he had lost one leg at the knee as a result of the practice of stealing short rides on trains. This disability was his most valuable asset in the pursuit of his chosen occupation.
Since September, 1901, he has been seven times arrested for vagrancy in New York City, and three times sentenced to six months in the workhouse. It has been found that he has served terms in other cities for shop-lifting and pocket-picking, and once for petit larceny. In different places he has been elevator boy, bootblack, newsboy, driver, and errand boy, and could work well under proper direc tion, but would not keep at anything steadily. A letter written from the workhouse implies that lie found begging profitable, for he says : "When arrested I had but four pennies in my possession, and the officers claimed they had been watching me three hours ; you see easily that this is a falsehood, for if I was begging, I would have had much more money than that." Attempts to start Johnson in a legitimate business at the end of his terms in the workhouse have failed, and he has become increasingly violent in his threats against the mendicancy officers — and in his deeds. During one of the periods when he was in durance for vagrancy, he stabbed a fellow-prisoner in the knee. Recently, when a mendi cancy officer was about to arrest him, he struck the officer with his crutch, stunning him for a moment, and in the scuffle that followed bit his forehead. As a result of this, Johnson has been convicted of assault in the second degree and sent to State's Prison for five years. In pronouncing sentence in this case, the court made use of the following language : " You have been convicted upon the testimony of officers assigned to the Charity Organization Society, one of the most useful and deserving organizations of this city. It is their work to investigate those who are in need, and when they find that applicants are in need, to see that re lief is supplied. They are also keeping the streets of the city clear of professional beggars, and in this they deserve the utmost sympathy and support of the community. It is not often that their cases come into this high court, but I wish the officers of the society to understand that when this does happen, they will have here every consideration and assistance which it is within our power to give. They inform me that you are a professional beggar ; that you have been convicted of vagrancy and other offences ; that you have served a term in the King's County Penitentiary; that while a prisoner recently on Hart's Island, on a charge of vagrancy, you made an assault upon a fellow-prisoner. While their officers, in the proper discharge of their duty, were attempting to arrest you for vagrancy on this occa sion, you committed a vicious assault, and it is upon this charge that you have been convicted. If you are to be supported by charity, the place in which you should be supported is the State's Prison, and I have decided to give you the longest sentence which the law permits for your offence. You are sentenced to five years in State's Prison." Hagerman, James. When James Hagerman was eight years old his mother died, and his father soon married again — a woman whom the boy did not like. He does not say that she mistreated him, but that he stole from her and struck her, and at the mature age of nine left home and began to support himself by begging. A fall which he had when still a small boy resulted in the loss of one leg above the knee. He drifted to New York, where he sold papers and begged, living at a newsboys' lodging-house, until he fell into the hands of the law and was sent to a reformatory for five years. A position in a tailor shop was found for him on his discharge, but he did not keep it long. His employer one day taunted him with his recent experience on the Island and he left. Very soon he was arrested for stealing a truck load of goods, and received a maximum sentence of five years. At Elmira his record was poor, and he was kept there four years and six months, and then transferred to a peni tentiary to finish his sentence. After his release from prison he worked for a while at shoemaking, the trade he had learned at Elmira, but soon went back to begging. Before he had been out a year he was sentenced to three months for vagrancy, and within six months after finish ing that term to another six months.