Middletown transcript., 1876-08-05

they give, the more they may give. The
stream Of daily applicants for charity
knows no cessation; and. unless they
are willing to give away all they have
and strip their own tables, they must
refuse them. But this is small portion
of the annoyance. The heaviest part
falls on the farmers. Not satisfied with
the food that is given them, which is
scarcely ever sufficient to satiate their
appetites. these tramps make daily in
roads upon corn fields and fruit orchards,
carrying of and destroying the growing
corn and ripening fruit in large quanti-
ties. In many instances they camp oat
at the edge of wood and live by for
aging upon the neighboring fields. They
either bring with them, or procure BY
some means after they get here, pots
and kettles in which they boil corn, po-
tatoes, and such other vegetables as they
gather in their raids. On these provis-
ions, with goodly supply Of chickens
obtained by plundering the henroosts Of
the vicinity land roasted over their fires,
they manage to sustain life rather COM
fortably. e Asa
These are some of the annoyances to
which our citizens are subject from these
nuisances; but these are not all. Their
insolent manner towards females when
the men of the household are absent is
one of their worst features. In many
cases women are actually afraid to refuse
to comply with their demands for food,
no matter how great may be the incon-
venience to them. and this fear Of vio-
lence at their hands is . source Of con-
slant vexation. 'Tis said-with, what
degree of truth We cannot say-that
threats had been frequently made by
4
them to burn the tenant house on the
farm Of Mr.. E. R. Cochran, which was
burned last week. This leads many
persons to suspect that that property was
the work Of their hands. W.
The depredations Of the tramps are
too well known to make any further
statements of their doings necessary.
The question which most interests US is
how to get rid Of them or stop their raw
ages. The only remeds for the evil that
we can see is for the citizens Of the en-
tire community to take the matter in
their own hands and resolve themselves
into vigilance committees, and force the
tramps to leave the country at once. If
they refuse to go they can, and should,
be arrested as vagrants and subjected
to the penalties Of the law in such case
provided. As many persons. who would
perhaps be willing to aid in the sup
preston of this nuisance if they knew
what could be done with the tramps, are
unaware Of the provisions Of the law
enacted for that purpose, wepublish the
following extract from the 9
ACT FOR THE suppRrssIoH oF vAGpxNcy
SECTION l.-All beggars and vagabonds
who roam about from place to place, without
any lawful business or occupation, sleeping
in out-houses, barns, market places, sheds, or
in the open air, and not giving good ac-
count of themselves, and also all persons roam |
ing about the country, commonly known as
gypsies, shall be deamed vagrants, and liable
to the penalties of this act ....fsF III.
SECTION 2.-It shall and may be lawful for
any Justice of the Peace of the county where
such vagraant shall be found, on complaint
made, to cause the arrest of any person
charged on oath or affirmation with being
vagrant, and upon such person being brought
before him to hear and determine the case !;
and it shall be the duty of the justice to COM
NIT every person proved, by his own confess
sion, or by the testimony of one or more cred !
liable witnesses, to be vagrant, to the
workhouse or Jail Of the said county; there
to be kept at labor by the keeper or overseer
Of such workhouse or Jail for any time not
exceeding sixty days. . .s,,#
Such is the law. It only needs to
be enforced Is5 7s6
This duty rests upon all citizens
alike: for it is the duty Of every good
citizen to aid in the execution Of the
avs. A little energy and activity ac-t
this much desired result in
Wilmington and the same thing will
10 it here u asya7 sg M