Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1880-08-19
Taking the Census.
>uNE ,uyt>rvEE> or o~E rNvNERtrug N
lsWN TuwN WARD

SOM tuyt>TvEEs or OH rNrNER,rog ~
DOWN rowN WARD.
Thoma. J. nro-nan. ccnsl. vuumcra,nr.
vho was assigned 20 the Thirty ninth n..-
triei. which comprise, Park street and Cit,
Hall place and j, icn,cl, populated. related
to a Harii reporter YESTERDAY, somr " h.s
ai,ru,urcs
Il Nas driven ou; q houses number Of
times" he saiG. .'bs people Who dill not
seem 10 understand wha, | wanted
krJ a woman a, No. 81 Park street the
usual questions and she at once grabbed 4
stick vhich She VA, using in stirring UP
clothes in a wash tub and cleared mc out Of
the room. while her mother gave me 4
tongue-lAshing They didn't want 10 give
me any information. but aftcrv ards some
one told her thA; she was liable To arrest and
" hen saw her again | talked through the
KEY hole Of the door with her and she told
me vha, wanted. When she had told mt
all she called me scounlrrl and black
guard. happened into a PARK street gar
rc; here Young fellow Was beating his
mother. very old woman. and when ! IN
ieIiercd both turned on me and drove me
out In another house in PARK street
found the women who occupied the room IN
toNicated questioned her little daughter,
and the child VAS answering me when the
mother awuAe and demanded mN business.
| tried 10 explain, but before had finished
she seized i carving knife and tried TO stab
me. IT,. knife cut my waistcuat, but dis
armed her before she could do me any
further harm One old lrl>hW oman to whom
! explained that MAS the cnumcrator Of the
district for the tenth census looked IN sur
prise and said, When Wint 10 school ia
the ouiI country they taught me that there
we're only five sinsis an now | understand
Yer to say they're tin. CIT out Of here
had To explain to her that census and sense.
we're different words before she would ans
Wer my questions. \ good many women
deceived me about ther ages One old
woman. who am willing 10 make an atiila-
VT i, sixty wears old If 4 day, said she va,
ihir,y-two. Women. particularly unmarried
ones. tried TO conceal their age, especially #
men were present. Some women OF thirty
said they were eighteen and the men stand
ing around would laugh al them. One
lrishwoman said that she did not know her
age. but that she knew she vas born on the
night Of the Big Wind In some Of the
hotels visited the servant girls were all
them divided their ages by two. At first
the Cinnamon gave me trouble, but when
threatened TO bring Tom Lee, the Chinese
Deputy Sheriff, down upon them, they helped
me- as much a. they could. The Italians
We're the hardest TO get information from, a.
many could not speak English. ! adopted
the plan Of telling then. that was wealthy
gentleman, philanthropist and that was
taking their names so that ! could send them
tons of coal and barrels of -four when the
cold weather came They all then showed
me their papers very willingly. A good
MANY tried TO make me believe that they
had more children than they really had. |
am afraid | will have to keep away from
those Italians, for they will be looking for
their -four and coal. Some people seemed
to believe that was making up draft list
Of their male relatives. One old woman
whom ] asked If her husband was alive
said III its for to draft him. he's dead if
il isn't, he's alive. In many places | was
treated kindly, and some young women in
vited me to call again. In my rounds me,
lunatic who had escaped number Of times
from ssylums. We are paid ) cents for
every lunatic or idiot, and this lunatic knew
that. I'm a lunatic,' he said, put me
down 1000 times If it will do YOU any good
and you'll get 5 cents every time One
German referred me to his wife and she sent
me TO him. This was repeated seven times
before | got the information " L.
World.