Meanwhile he had married a girl of his own class, called Nell, but they soon drifted apart. On the occasion of the latest arrest for vagrancy he made a strong plea for a chance to begin over, and it was given him. After sever ing connections with Nell, who afterwards went to live with another man, he had "taken up" with a girl named Maggie, whose husband was then in jail awaiting trial. In their circle of acquaintances there is nothing unusual in these casual relations, but James and Maggie seem genuinely attached to each other. It was felt that both had been unfortunate in their surroundings and that, with a new chance, both might yet lead decent lives. In spite of James's history he still, at twenty-nine, " makes a fav orable impression." He is far from the wretched, cower ing creature that is so often the product of a prison career. He is not only spirited, but good natured and optimistic, and has a most attractive vein of manliness. Children are fond of him. He carries with him at all times a Ger man army button which his father used to wear, and he likes to tell of his father's part in the Franco-Prussian war. He is rather seriously disabled. Besides lacking one leg entirely, he has a bullet in one arm, and his re maining leg has been repeatedly broken and operated on. He is, however, skilful with his hands. He was estab lished by friends in a suitable locality ; he was supplied with the tools and materials of his trade, and has hung out his cobbler's sign. He gets some work, and two cousins who have been discovered help him a little, though they are themselves poor.
D' Arago, Katharine. For twenty years Madame d'Arago has been supporting herself by devices of unusual ingenu ity and coming, from time to time and by various chances, to the notice of the Charity Organization Society. In 1886, when she first asked help from the society, it was found that she had received some assistance from another source in 1882 ; she had begun writing begging letters, and she had pawned the blankets in the house where she had been staying and " had to leave." At that time she stated that she had been in America only six months. The next year it was learned that she had recently finished a two years' term in the State's Prison to which she had been sentenced in 1884 for immoral traffic, carried. on under the name of the Countess della Grada, clairvoyant.
Her history, previous to 1884, is difficult to unravel. With a fair degree of consistency she claimed to be an Austrian of noble family, and she always said that her husband was an Englishman, and that she expected help from his relatives and her other English friends. In re gard to the number of years that she had been in America, however, the date of her husband's death, and the num ber, ages, and residences of her children, she made hope lessly conflicting statements. It is known that at the time of her consignment to the penitentiary she had a daughter nine years old who was taken in charge by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. Ten
years later she claimed to have two children, fifteen and thirteen years of age, in an institution in the country. In one of the letters written in 1896 she said that she had married in Rome and had one child living there. She frequently referred vaguely to her " only son," who had died. Generally she said that she had come to America as companion to an English woman, of various names, three or four years before the time of the statement. She was always prodigal of references, which could seldom be traced. When she introduced herself to the Charity Organization Society, she had many foreign letters of recommendation and said that she knew six modern lan guages and music. Letters are on file written in Italian and German as well as in English. The English is that of a foreigner, and both English and Italian are used in such a way as to indicate that they have been acquired by the " natural method " rather than in the class room. In whatever language she writes she displays a facility of expression, especially in her vituperation against the Char ity Organization Society, that might be envied.
The year following her first application, that is, in 1887, she again asked for help, on the ground that she was car ing for a dying sister and her children. It was found on investigation that the sister's husband was able to provide for her and that a relief society was aiding. When the sister died, a month later, Madame d'Arago asked for money for the funeral expenses. The request was refused, as the sisters in charge of the hospital where the woman had died were willing to arrange for the burial. This exhausted Madame d'Arago's patience with organized charity, and thenceforward she studied to evade it, and was increas ingly chagrined when she found that many of her appeals, even if far afield, led back to the same office. On one oc casion she got the money by means of a letter addressed to a prominent citizen, whereupon she wrote a most abu sive letter to the society and called on the secretary. In this letter, and several similar ones written later, she ex hausts her vocabulary of reviling and insulting epithets.
Although she evidently hoped that she had at that time severed connections with the society, the records give a fairly connected account of her activities since. She seems to have been unable to win confidence, and of late years her first request has frequently been received with suspi cion. From institutions, from societies of every religious affiliation, from newspapers, and from individuals of prom inence in the city, and, recently because, as she says, " there's no mercy, no charity, for a helpless woman in this big and wealthy city," from citizens of national reputation have come inquiries in regard to this woman.