Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1871-01-10
FROZEN TO DEATH.
4 Story Of Real Life in New Yorl

| The following pathetic account Of how q
| family was frozen to death amid the wealth
and opulence Of the crowded city, we clip
| from the New York Standard:
/ Among the alleys and the low streets
down by the rivers are wretched holes
| where poverty hides its wretchedness and
guilt cOnceais its crime. The man who
starves seeks to shut out the misery from
| the world just as the man who thieves Sc
cludes himself and his body from observ-
| ing eyes. Thus, in the wretehedest part
of great Gotham the innocent and The
| hardened herd together, bound by the
common tie of shame.
| Down Frankfort street, between Nsssssta
| and South, and for breadth of several
blocks will be found the poorest the most
| tumble-down dwellings OF this kind. Last
week, in one of these, resided foreign wo-
! men with three children, girl of seven,
another girl of five, boy of three. The
mother spoke but little English, and sell
dom Quilted the miserable room where the
| four human beings lived like wild beasts.
| There was no furniture, and in her drunk
en- orgies the woman had shattered most of
the window panes. The wind came in
| with icy breath and nipped the naked
| limbs of the children. The mother passed
her days lying among the rags and filth.
The little ones picked up cents in vari-
GUS ways. Lena, the eldest sold papers
Olympic, usually called Limpy by the boys,
begged and sold matches; Edward, the
boy, sometimes assisted one sister, some
times the other. They were in rags and
half naked, their hair, uncOmbed and shag-
gy, hid little pinched features, which in
mockery of their condition were noble,
even aristocratic. Sometimes they did
we'll sometimes ill. When they had money
Lena bought bread and tea for the child
rem, and whisky from the nearest bucket
shop for her mother. Then the woman
| would drink and howl and rage and curse
some absent person named Antoine. per-
baps her hsuband; but who knows!
On these occasions she would become COM
pletely mad, and the children would seek
refuge i'm the rooms Of the neighbors. This
was when money was plenty. On bad days
the bottle was half filled, and the bread
was devoured without tea.
During the cold snap the children went out
to beg, as usual, with their matches in their
half-frozen hands. They wandered up
and down Park row in front Of the Stand
ard Office. and down to the gridirOn. It
was bitter cold. The half-melted snow of
the day before was ice, and everybody was
in ill-humor. The children resolved to
cross Broadway and beg around the gray
old Astor House, and in this attempt they
separated, Limpy. the little girl of five,
disappeared among throng OF carriages.
In vain did the eldest girl and the little
brother seek for her; Limpy was not to be
found.
All day the two children sought for pen
nies, but when the chill shadow of night
came they went home without a single
cent. Contrary to her usual custom, the
woman did not beat them, but received
their excuses in silence. The bitter north
wind rushed through the broken panes,
and hardened everything to iron. The
mother and her babes crowded together in
heap, covering under their rotten rags.
The pitiless fingers of the cold followed
them. "Closer, mes fetis," said the wo-
man, and strove to impart some warmth to
the little boy by hugging him to her vast
cd bosom. But the cold came closer STILL
The woman muttered to them that she
would find work on the morrow, and then
they should be warm. Tomorrow / will
get work" said she slowly, with strange
drowsiness creeping over her. The little
told. 80 told" and his mother drowsilv
husbed him. He shortly became silent. |
The girl had not spoken for q long time |
They oil slept.
Tn the morning the wind changed. and
the snow fell heavily for hours. The wood |
work of the roof had been used for fires
long ago-all save the beams, which were
too big. Through the rents and crevices |
the snow dropped in and covered the heap |
in the center. 1t fell fast, for the holes |
were many, andat length formed wind |
ing sheet an inch thick over the stiff bodies |
of the frozen family. Whom else did it /
cover?