Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1866-04-07
BRITISH CHARITIES.
Startling Picture from n Cierke nHeII
Pest EiOuse-ATiseries of the Casual
Ibannr

The following account, from the London
DAILY Nelrs, of the horrors which occur
in the Casual Poor Ward of one of the
largest and most respectable parishes in
London, is so graphic and is SO apparent
y true that we quote it in its entirety.
There can be no occasion to try to excite
the feeling of any reader by additional re-
marks ;,the narrative is sufficient to arouse
the indignation and the disgust of every
one who lives in a Christian community
HThe pest-houses of Clerkenwell are as
revoltingly unfit for sleeping-plaees as
when we commented on them last. On
Saturday evening forty men and women
we're crammed into wards with nominal
accommodation for thirty, and, having
been locked up in the dark, were left to
scramble or fight forroom as they thought
ft. At half-past nine P. N. the paddock
was, at our request, removed from the
door of the ward, on the western side of
the yard, and, after borrowing a work
house lantern from a pauper attendant,
We walked to its extreme end. 1t was
but a few PAGES, yet we are unabl to full
~ describe the scene, from physical ina
bility to remain in the foul eHiuvia we
met. The instant the door opened, a eho-
rus of complaints were offered up by the
occupants of the hunks, who were lying
perfectly naked upon straw mattresses,
with II single rug over them. A division
between each sleeping-place has been put
M as advised by Mr.. Farcall; but these
divisions are made to aggravate tbs very
evils they were designed TO prevent.
In many of the narrow spaces set off
= -,r-,D 49,, ,r-ora -, Cr,D1a-
two naked tramps lying, their bodies in
such close contact as to look like one
many-legged, double-headed monstrosity
rather than two human beings. When
asked the reason why they took off their
shirts, the reply was the same as at cur
previous visit, Its impossible to keep
them on for-(insects).' No shirt or sub
stitute for shirt is provided by the work
house, no bath is given and no work en-
forced. Two stupid-looking dazed youths
had not succeeded in forcing themselves
into one of the already-occupied bulks, or
n finding room to lie down, and were now
sitting patiently in the dark, at the feet of
their more fortunate brethren. They
neither looked at the faces of those COM
ing in, nor spoke, nor moved, but followed
the lantern with hungry eyes, as if its
light conveyed some dim sense of warmth
and comfort. Meanwhile, those in bed
clamored loudly on the insufieiency of
straw in their mattresses, the impOssibility
of sleeping two in a bed, the cold, the in
sects, and the thinness of the rugs.
Accepting an invitation to see the "sort
of things a poor man had to tie on who
would have to look for work tomorrow"
-. ..u-zoI - H. G. 81 Sc IL a1-.E Il
was impossible to stay there. No one had
complained of the smell, but the foul,
acrid stencil of human bodies and human
breath was so overpowering that it was
with some difficulty We struggled against
nausea and dizziness, and made for the
door. This was relocked while the people
within growled and shouted, and finally
kicked at il, and were left to wallow in
the darkness and their filth, like so many
obscene animals who were disgusting to
others and hateful to themselves. Cross
ing the narrow yard and descending a few
steps, we are at the door of the cellar
where the remaining male tramps are "
ing. This was unlocked and opened, and
the first object the light from the lantern
falls on is the figure Of a perfectly naked
man, who has Just succeeded in opening
the cellar window. This forlorn being
goes back to his lair, and, wrapping his
rug round him, covers down in a corner,
in a horribly suggestive of a wild
beast.
"We're bein poisoned" we can't
breathe for the bad~smell.p "Turn out
the man with a sore leg" Here's an
other one here with fever" were shouted
out; and it was found that the window had
been opened, and the disturbances made be-
caus the dreadfully noisome condition of
one casual made his presence dangerously
offensive wen to the obtuse senses Of the
poor wretches round. He was an old,
feeble creature, who had gone to bed in his
clothes, and who promptly turned up his
trousers when asked what hesutfered from.
A foul and dirty bandage, saturated with
matter and discolored with blood, con-
cealed his sore, the rank, putrescent smell
of which filed the atmosphere of the
ward. Bad as the stencil of the first sleep
ing place was, it became Insignificant
when contrasted with this; while the close
ly packed naked figures, the squalid room
and the darkness, made up al aggregate
Of disgusting horrors exceeding anything
yet revealed of any other workhouse in
England. The man with the bad leg
eagerly availed himself of an offer to be
taken into the house, and was removed to
the receiving ward. Shake-downs were
ordered for the two lads; the casual ac-
cused of fever denied the charge, and so
was again locked up with the rest, who
were left to squabble for room, to swear,
to recriminate and to inhale the shocking
ly poisonous air until the morning"