Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1877-09-25
SHOCKING SCENE IN SAN FRAN
CISCO.

Heaps of ashes, broken crockery, pans, oil
cans and every imaginable refuse are strewn
over these few acres. II is surrounded by
| fence, and a wagon road leads through the
| centre of the enclosure. This is the camp
| ing ground of hundred or so human beings,
mechanics, laborers, ETC., all grown men who
have been unable to get employment, and
who lead here as miserable and degraded an
existence as one can conceive. We venture
to say that no city in the world produces
parallel to the scene we shall eDdeavor to per-
tray. This locality is'known by the technical
name of the "Dumps," aud the men who FIRE.
visited the "Dumps" at Eve o'clock yesterday
morning. The inhabitants had just begun to
bestir themselves, and look out for the morn>
ing neal. Their camps consisted of few
sticks holding up a filthy piece of carpet or
mating as shelter tent. Others had not
even this frail protection from the cold fogs
snd dews, and lay shiverng under fragments
of old sacking. Around a scanty FIRE built
up of few chips, half dozen shiyering
forms crouched In pile of manure which
had been carried up from some under ground
cellar, and the oder from which was almost
intolcrable, a number of men were raking and
scraping for crusts of bread, pieces of fruit,
anything in fact in the shape of food that
could be scraped from the loathsome mass.
Further along the same scene was enacting,
the fire building and scraping. Heaven
| knows the quality Of this food was such that
| humane man would hesitate about throwing
| it to his dog, but the wolGsh exutation in the
countenauce of these wretched people when
a morsel was extracted from the manure or
the ashes told fearful tale Of suffering and
destitution. They were not roughs in any
sense of the word. They were honest labor
ing men, who could not find employment, and
were driven to this last and terrible resort to
preserve life. 1t was either the dumps or
starvation with them. There was the alter
native of crime, but it must BIS understood
that not single individual of this wretched
community had the appearance of thief or
hoodum. Thieves and hoodlums fare bet
ter. The reporter spoke to an old man who
was gathering few chips with trembling
hands, and endeavoring to set the damp wood
alight:
Cant you find any work ?" he asked
The man looked up with lean and hungry
face, it was pitifuly hungry.
"Work, SIR" he said do you think if
we could fnd work we would live here and
have to fight for our meals With the dogs OF
the city All the men here go every day
from wharf to wharf and hunt the whole city
over for job at any price Two-bits would
be gladly taken for days work, but we can't
get anything"
Several of tho other dumpies drew near,
and tall, fne looking fellow who had been
washing himself in can OF water. said 81
have lived on this Let for three mouths, cat
md sleep here, and I have never let day go
by that haze not walked mile after mile to
get Job Sometimes have rnado four>bits
and weeks have not made anything. have
offered to work for half the price that China
meE get in any branch of hard labor. But
no use. No one would take me. I don't
get drunk | don't steal but l have got
either to starve or live on such stuff as this"
aud he pointed to some putrid bones which
chum was washing preparatory to putting on
the Goals in rusty pan. E.
"Well," said the old man chccrfully, ''somo
times we get good piecn Of food. Why.
you could not believe, sir, how many good
potatoes l myself have picked out of the .
dumps. One day | got whole watermelon
that no body had ever touched"
owe are as well off here as hundreds of
other men around the city," said gaunt but
decen. looki ing fellow. crawling out from
dlapidsted piece of China mating. "Thero
are gangs of as good men ever used pick
and shovel who sleep in the cemeteries and
under the whssves. God knows We arc all
starving, and for one will be glad when the
end comes"
"Can you get no work in the country p
said the reporter.
"Work !'' he replied, "thcre is no work
there. The country is dried up, and the
farmers don't want any help. And if we
could, how are we to get there? If 1 had
two bits don't you think before I'd spend it
for travelling I'd try and put some flesh on
these bones ?' and he drew up his ragged
sleeves and showed an arm shockingy attenu-
ated.
1.-THE butchers are very kind to u.s." said
the old man who seemed to be the Mark Tap
ley Of tho encampment. Amy odd scraps of
meat they have they give US but what we
want is work. We willing to work for
any wages to keep body and soul together"
Tho cook of another dump had disintcrred
a rusty oil-can and filled it with some raw po>
tato Feelings, few crusts of bread and half
dozen or SO dccayed onions. This mess was
to servo for breakfast for almost a dozen men.
While squatting on his launches he stirred
it up with a stick The men watched him
with hungry and impatient eyes. Unwilling
longer to lock on this scene of suffering and
degradation, the reporter left the dumps.
It seems almost incredible that such con-
dition of things should exist in San Francisco,
the Queen city of the West, the Ell Dorado
that the people of the East look up to as tho
most prosperous community on the globe.
Not mile from the dumps is the Bank of
Nevada with its millions upon millions, and
California street which sweIs every day with
its hundreds of millionaircs, while the starv.
ing creatures at the dumps turn over the city's
refuse and quarrel with the starving dogs for
a crust Of bread or a rotten potato. The poor
H. Ia fha ND