The New York herald., 1876-12-20
COLD, STARVING, RO0ELESS.
How Mondays Storm Pierced the Hearts
of the Unemployed.
POVERTY'S SIIAMEFACEDNESS
The Hopeless Throng Of Re-
lief Seekers.
CASES FOR THE CHARITABLE

Monday the first real wintry day OF the season,
and result TO the poor the police courts had
unusual number oil homeless and hungry and
women asking for the shelter Of the Workhouse yesj
terday. such day as IL was for hungry man to be
parading the streets without the chance OF place TO
lay his head at night when weary and exhausted alter
the misery endured in long, lsess hours OF his
am!css wanderings In the streetsl Such a
day for tho unfortunate mechanic to gather
his despairng wife and famishing children
around him In tho chccress rooms of a
tenement house! The day foretaste of what has
been predicted for this winter. dawnng hope could
exist in the most sanguinc mind with such bleak
and dismal sky above and much slush and rain ana
snow around Tho atmosphere and damp and
chliled the frame OF the poor hungry wayfarcr he
podded along in the streets There IS not
much variety In the description OF
employed he is in the streets, nor Of
OF the class he might be with his family
in the tenement house. Tho only mission upon which
ho could be bent Is to pass the time for the pros
pcct OF work disappeared long aud his lite is now
but a blank He may wander hther and thither, but
it only to wait until II is time to apply at the station
house for shelter tor the hight No doubt
during his days pilgrimage along the streets
he contrives to get mouthiul to eat somewhere
but there ends his object for the day In tho tene
ment house, where the family is fast coming to
breakup. the reess room, the poverty Of the remain
ing iurniture the woman's detected countenance and
the chdren's faces showing OF hunger the
sights be But besides these, there is the do
spair which such day - Monday is calculated to
make deeper and poignant IN the utter helpless
ness Of the workman bread for his family.
What sorrow and secret grief spring from continued
poverty distressed family only bc learned Dy
intimate association with the sufferers guided by the
sympathy that understands their burdens aud the
pangs they have to bear.
AT supERiSrESDENT KELLocH's OFFICE.
1t was most pitiable at Superintend dent Kel
loch's ONCE yesterday forenoon. There must have
called upon him nearly 200 unemployed workingmen
seeking relief The storm OF Monday had done its
work, and here tho first sign OF it No doubt
many OF these men had slept in q station house dur
ing tho night and had come upon the streets
hungry and homeless again. Several times during
the tho Platform OF the ofoc at tue Depart
ment of Charities and Correction where Mr.. Kciloch
patiently listens to many tale Of distress which he
is powerlcss to relieve, was surrounded with
eager men seeking for aims. II a notice
able iact that among all these applicants there
was no conversation carried and though
they must have been that the Superintendent
was explaining that had funds at his disposal
with which . assist them, still they pressed around
desk and would tell him that they mad neither food
glance they were in great distress. Poorly clad
inclement season, and with haggard faces that
revealed worry OF mind and fatigue OF body hey were
still men OF different stamp from the tramp and
s'bummern 10 be met with in the streets They
had reduced them aud were only sunk into crcum-
stances which they could not control THIS
ha s.ormv day in tho Streets like thousands
or others OF the unemployed ana were Of the large
class Of idle worknemen who would bear any hardsbps
In preference to going TO the Norkhouse. Of course
they got help owing 20 tho inaction OF the Board
oil Apportionment, winch for some unaccoun liable
still refuses 10 grant the Appropriation OF
asked Tor by Commissioners CT Charities ana Corr
rection Tor the outdoor poor. Mr. keioch explained
to the that there wero no iunds upon which he
could call to give them even temporary assistance.
they went again to the streets During the af
terncon an unusually large number OF poor women ap-
pied 10 the superintendent Tor help Tor their
families, telling him OF the poverty from which they
THE WOMEN rErIrIoxrxG
Mr.. Keloch stated to tho reporter that the better
class OF mechanics, and indeed most OF the working
mon Who are married, will not come to the Depart
ment OF Charities and Correction TO make known
their distress at home. They send their wives or
grown up daughters to tell tho narrowing account OF
how badly OF their families for food and fuel.
The painful stories narrated by these women.
II from these heard day alter day from thousands OF
different people from all parts Of the city, that Mr. Kcl
och bases the assertion already made IN the HERALD
that since the panic OF 1887 has there been much
poverty in tho city as there is at the present time
These tell that they have starving children at
homo without bi. Of food TO eat or a hre 70
the landlord is threatening to put them out Their
husbands fathers, they say can get no money. not
even enough In buy loaf vi bread pail OF coal.
and except some assists them all of them
starve. For considerable time past the petitionng
women have In nearly every reported that
OF tho children SICK anc that they have
OF giving the rIshmcnt necessary to sustain lite.
II is not an uncommon thing hear from them
whole family has been without iood for twenty our
hours and sometimes more, before the application
made And yet in the majority OF cases that come be.
fore the Superintendent the poor people turned
away without assistance, except the friendly advice
thai Mr. KclIoch gives Them as TO which charitable in
tkav In epd In han N m
| AVOIDING PUBLICITY.
Mr. kcloch told the reporter that there - a great
dislike amoLg the idle mechanics and their families
have their distress made known to the world in the
newspapers rather TO have their names placed on
record as being reduced low to have beg for
food While, of course, they would be GLAD TO receive
s,on N the publicity Of their poverty, and lor thus
reason much suffering Is endured secretly thai tho
world never hears oL An idea oi THIS may be had
| or two ago with woman who keeps
newspaper stand. She speaking OF now hard the
times aud how difficult II was to got along when
She said that the poor people out OF work hnd not
single place the city to apply TO for reiic She ac
companed she said few days previously. the mother
OF family who applied TO Superintendent, Kcloch, 10
ask lor some assistance Her friends husband
GU. OF work. there nothing in the house
the whole family hungry. superintendent Kci-
| loch informed them that there outdoor relief
TO give and that he was unable 10 help them The news
paper woman who has lan,ily Of her own, was tnen
Obliged to pawn q little article OF ewelry that
1 family from starvation.
| STORM
Tho reporter went among some Of tho unfortunate
unemployed yesterday to have talk with them about
how they spent the first stormy day OF the winter.
lie lound those with whom he conv,rscd utterly down.
hearted II difficult to get most OF them 10 speak
OF their suferngs, no doubt because they could
not express In words The aud the pam they
hac experienced 10 those who do not stop
think OF the condition OF respectable man
who is hungry and Of work. the unhappy
street wnndercr appears some wretcned outcast
| undescrvIng OF the merest sympathy and who very
likely has himself to thank Tor his misfortunes But
N the veil Torn away and confidence established,
then you would learn little snatchcs in the daily
experience OF the man that would show the ntcnsity
OF ieeing winch poverty had awakened in him and
how forlorn ard pitiiu was his lite rhe tact that
there are many thousands Of men pinched to get
their daily bread does make he sulcrings oil each
individual one whit the less. nor does 1t in the
\ assuagc the bitter thoughts the other, and only
helps to take away all hope thai better
time may be coming. From the conversations
had with the men II would seem tina, poverty be-