Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-01-23
06l()I ,Statel's':irI1la,n:..
PAUPER WOMEN IN LONDON.
A WOman's visit to the Fem n lie GsCaS.
uaIS'' in Their Night LOaginRs.rs-i


A WON ans visit 70 the Femn lie ssCas.
unIH' in Their Night LOagings.Tgtl
, An English journal says: {: A great sensa-
tion was created some time ago when GER
tain disclosures were made respecting the
condition of male paupers I'm the casual
| ward of London wOrkhouse. Such scenes
of vice and depravity as were then brought
| to light exceeded the belief of ratepayers
who desire only that honest, homeless pau
pers should be comfortably provided for
on winters night. The statements pub
lished had relation only to the casual ward
| for men and boys; of the receptacles for
women and girls nothing was known. 1t
has occurred, however, to a medical gentle
man of high standing, DR.. Stallard, whose
earnest endeavors to ameliorate the condi-
tion of the poor are deservings of high
praise, that it would be not only interest,"
| ing but useful also, to investigate the cir
! cumstances of the female ward, and the
result of the inquiries set on foot appear in
little volume which he has published un-
der the title Of "The Female Casual and
Her Lodging, by j. III. Stallard, M. B.
Saunders, Otley & Co." The disclosures
are very shocking. Few persons can be
aware of the horrible condition of those
wandering female vagabonds who resort to
mendicancy as a profession, and take pos
session of the casual ward that was intended
| for a wOrthier class of females who would
| rather die in the streets than as. ociate with
them. A pauper widow who had received
some assistance in a period of great dis
tress, volunteered as an act of gratitude to
visit these wards for the purpose of de-
scribing them, and from her narratives, as
set forth in Dr.. .Stallard's book, we draw
the following particulars. Admitting that
they may be oyercolOred, they certainly
show that the "casual ward" is occupied by
a description of persons for whom it was
never intended:
| THE FIRST VISIT.
set out to visit the casual ward at New
ington Workhouse on Friday evening, the
18th ofJuly. Iput on a blue velvet bonnet,
very old aud dirty; a gray skirt much torn,
which | have been ashamed to wear in the
streets for some time; and cloth-ckeck
shawl and wornout boots. | purposely
went out as dirty as could; but L may
mention it here that was regarded by the
officials in every case with great suspicion;
they looked at me as though Iwere not a
real casual, and only let me through when
they had seen my boots, which appeared to
satisfy their standard of distress. Thus
dressed, l went off to the workhouse at
| Walworth about half past seven o'clock.
1 L
detective, and [ asked him to give me a
nights lodging. He inquired if had an
order, and said NO." He said must
get one at the police station, p. division, in
Remington lane. 1t took me three-quar-
ters of an hour to find it, and had to wait
about quarter of an hour until the in
spectOr was disengaged. He then asked
me my name. told him Ellen Stanley /;
that / was tailoress out of work; that
had lived last at Deptford, but had been
without any fixed residence for several
days. He asked ME where worked, and
| told him was only helper, and that my
last employer worked for some one in the
city. He scrutinized me very fiercely, and
wanted to know why l came there; and |
told him | had been to see friend at Nor
wood, but was too tired to get home. He
then wrote out the order. Whilst this was
going on several men of the force stood
| by, and one in particular stared very close
| ly at me, and they laughed and jeered at
me as if it was fine fun; one was different,
and seemed to pity me, for he saio he was
sorry he had not penny in his pocket for
half pint of beer. tH
THE CASUAL WARD AT NEwINGTON.
The place was about thirteen feet long,
and seven or eight feet wide, with a slop-
| ing roof, in which was skylight of six
panes. Over the door was small open
| ing for ventilation, but the place was
! dreadfully hot, and tried in vain to open
| the skylight. There was a gaslight at one
| end, and only a narrow passage between
the beds and the wall. There were nine,
beds arranged in wooden trougbs, with
sides foot high, so that when you lie down
it is impossible to see the person in the next
\ bed. Two women came in. They were
after hours, and their clothes were not
taken away. The first was an elderly wo-
man of about tifty-fOur years of age, very
strong, ruddy and sunburnt; she had a
basket with some scraps of food in it, and
blacking- box with Day & Martins name
| upon it, which was filled with cottons,
tapes, stay-laces and other articles of a SINH
! lar kind. She was literally clothed in filthy
| rags. Her dress consisted Of an old body
| lining, which scarcely reached her waist,
and a black skirt--she had nothing on else
but bonnet and shawl. After taking these
| of she removed q series of rags which
were pinned in pieces round about her, and
as each was taken off she drew it briskly
through her hand to knock off the vermin,
with which everything was covered. She
then removed her boots, which were with
out a bit of sole and very old, and her
stockings, which had no feet--a very few
rags being tied round the toes to protect
them on the road. When she had reduced
herself to complete nudity she commenced
| to destroy the vermin on her body, the
skin being covered with sores and dirt,
| such as made me i'll to look upon, la sss1f
| The other woman was some what younger;
| her outside clothes were rather more re-
! spectacle, but underneath she was quite as
| bad, and was very soon as naked as the
other and actively engaged in the same
way. When they had finished with them
selves they began to pick their clothes
4 shaking them over the beds generally, and
| turning over the gathers of the dresses to
find out what they sought. After time
II got q little tranquil, for no one can con
ceive my horror at the sight which pre-
sented itself, and which l. could not help
watching spite of all my fear. / asked
them what time 1t was, and they said it
was about eleven o'clock, and then l said,
10 suppose you are friends" They said,
" No, they had met accidentally at the
| police station" Both were hawkerS out of
luck. The younger had no money, and
nothing to sell. %oi ~ .l79aTtL.sah
CONFESSIONS OF cIsUALs.
! At Lambeth, which is described as su-
perior to Newington, Cranky Sal'' re-
lated her luck. She had been in, the eoun-
Itry, and had got at one place bread and
| butter, and meat, and two1pence in money,
but she met some others and they i,'col-
| Jared her can"-that is, divided it between
| them she then met NAVY, who, treated
her with beer. After this she fell In with
a woman named f' Navy Nell who had
i been lucky and had " hailed1 one of her
powerful friends for half crown, and by
] this time, as it was night, they agreed
| tnuether To look for a place to sleeD lin---