Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1875-09-27
THE sEwsBOYs' FRIEND.
Answer Of Captain jobs q Lewis t0
the Injunction served Upon Him
and Preventing Him From Enter.
uaaning Newsb0ys at Ais once.

and Preventing HIN from ENTER
IaaninE Newsb0ys az ais Ofhee
In answer to the injunction served
upon him by Colonel P. c. Bethel, Cap
tain John C. Lewis filed the following
interesting answer in the First Chancery
Court:
Respondent states that it so happens
that he has no children of his own, has
no little boys to cheer him or vex him,
and yet be has a great fondness for boys.
He loves to watch them and witness the
outeroppings and the promises for man
hood as they develop. And he confesses
that be takes a peculiar and feeling in
terest in newsboys. They are so smart,
some Of them, aud they are nearly all
poor, and are driven to their hard life by
penury and by that lack of charity in
rich landlords who not only exact the
utmost farthing for rent, but refuse to
their more fortunate tenants the priv.
lege of giving shelter to those buds of
manhood, even after their rent has been
paid and pOcketed.
POOR LITTLE WAITS.
Respondent has seen these little fell
lows trudgiDg through mud and rain and
snow, and shivering in the cold winds,
running here and there selling papers
and half clad themselves, striving hon.
estly to earn enough to keep a widowed
mother from perishing with cold and
hunger, aud he has felt a painful sym
patty for them. And now that another
winter is coming on, aud respondent
having no business in his Office of such
a character as 10 forbid such an arrange
ment, he has engaged fuel enough to
keep good fires until the end OF his lease.
He has thrown open the doors Of his
commodious room, and invited the news
boys to come in and warm their little
limbs and make headquarters at his
Office.
FUTURE PRESIDENTS.
Whom will this iUjure or d~amage2 If
rich men will not do charities themselves
will the law aid them in preventing 9TH
ers from doing them2 Why does COM
plaiuant object to newsboys, aud stig-
Matte them as unfit 10 enter property
that belongs to him, even after he has
the rent for more than three months
in advanced Is it because they ere
poor that he ~begrugdes them the comfort
that is offered themP They are members
Of the human family; they are some
body's children, and will be men at a
time when complainant and respondent
shall ksye both passed away, and the
weight of this great government shall
rest upon their shoulders and those Of
their contemporaries.
RICHES VS.. POVERTY.
Newsboys are not vandals, that they
would destroy and disgrace complain
ants property that was made to be occu-
pied. So respondent says that he has
invited the newsboys to come to his
office, shelter themselves when not on
duty, warm by his fire and to be his
guests, but he has not let or leased said
office 10 the newsboys nor to any one
else. They nave not paid him one cent,
nor promised to pay him one cent for
- %
the privilege of visiting his Office. Nor
has any one else promised to pay, but it
is a free thing and is respondents own
business. The only obligation exacted
of the newsboys is that they will not in
jure or damage the house in any way nor
annoy the neighbors, and this they have
promised.
Respondent further says that this ar
rangement was made and the news.
boys were already e~nsconced and we're
making headquarters With him before
the injunction in this case was applied
for or granted, and it was beyond the
function of an Injunction to undo what
has already been dose.
Judge John Csrmack, counsel o Cspt.
Lewis, has served notice upon the coun-
sci Of Colonel Bethel that on Wednes-
day next be will move to dissolve the in
junction, ETC and yhen that shall have
been accomplished it is the intention Of
Captain Lewis to invite the newsboys to
his office and entertain them with a feast
fit for the most aristroeratic Lucullus in
this land Of Republican liberty.