The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1880-05-22

| 81. 4VV he mas now III ms trunk. lie does
not give us enough TO eat. and if We com
plain, he locks us mp i'll his room where
he boards, and slaps and kicks us. Every
day he gives us mush and beans, and
threatens us. if we complain to your Illus
! trious Higlness, here or in Italy, he will
! have somebody to kill us. Now We beg
of your illustrious IIighness, do not tell
OF us that we are the ones who beg to
you, because VIC will be glad to be AZ
rested with him, and sent to Italy with
our own money. Be very careful to adj
wise the police to come very quietly in
the direction we will give you. otherwise
he has spies who will tell him. and he
will run away. and We will have to follow
him, because we have not :. cent. and
then he would take our Instruments from
us. and leave us in the street.
Your ENcellency Will strictly tell the
police of the city, and will give the fol
lowing name: Giovanni Ramagnini. with
four boys and the police will find us in
surely if they come i'll the morning at
clock. The money made out of our
labor he keeps i'll Il trunk in our room.
Finally, we hope that your ENcellency
will give us justice. and punish this ty-
rant rs an assassin and :; cruel man. IN
his trunk he keeps many little things
that he made us steal. The address is
No. II Franklin street, Syracuse, New
York, Italian board house"
The letter {of which we have given the
translation) showing undoubted marks
of genuincness, the officers of the society
were sent in pursuit of Ramagnan,
tracked him to Utica, brought him be-
fore the Recorder of that city, by whom
he was fined fifty dollars, and compelled
to pay the boys fifty dollars each. The
eldest of the four was sent to friends in
Canada; the other three were returned
to their homes in Italy. Last November
the society succeeded in arreSting the
king of the padroncs. Antonio Giavanni
Ancarola. who hal Just arrived at Castle
Garden with seven boys, the youngest
barely eleven years of age. and the eldest
not over fourteen. Aftera search of sew
eral days, this padrone was found in a
low resort of this city, and brought be
forea United States Commissioner. Very
promptly he was indicted by tie Grand
Jul tiit Ilul oli lllti Ill Iuc
States Court. 1t was proved that he had
obtained one of the boys for four years
by paying the parents ten dollars. and
another by paying twenty. Such IA con-
tract is contrary to Italian law. and the
smuggling of these boys into the United
States for the purpose of using them as
wandering MINISTRIES or peddlers is vio-
lation of Il recent law of Congress. Au-
Garcia was found guilty; the penalty is a
fine up to s., 900, and Imprisonment not
exceeding five years. He was sentenced
to imprisonment for five years and the
payment of a fine of one dollar. This is
the first conviction under the new stat
ute, and the society may be congratu-
lated on its success.
Most Of the work of this society is very
homcly: it is all work of detail. 1T
is only a child " that is in each instance
saved, but the saving makes one recruit
the less for the ranks of paupcrsm or
crime. The flow of the stream of mis-
cry is arrested at its fountain, and that
is a wise economy. Frequently boy is
found in the service of public performers
whose daily portion is kicking. cutting,
and beating for mistakes. Children have
been known to be half starved that they
may be kept light in weight for use on
the stage. Even childrcn's PiRGtorc ex-
hibitions entail hardships to which no
one of tender years should be subjected.
The boys and girls are deprived of their
natural rest, lose all modesty very quick
ly. and when the troupe is broken up
are apt to find their way to the slums of
the city, ''where they exc out precari-
Gus livelihood by singing and dancing
Many of the girls end in dance houses
and concert saloons The rescue of chill |
dren from Incorporate parents is an office
of humanity which would be imperfectly
discharged were not this society at hand
in the persons of its agents to render ser
vice in the moment of need One mother,
in fit of frenzy, throws her babe out of
a window: another beats her child with
a cato -nine-tails: another sodden with
drink, lets her little one fall from her
arms, and goes on unheeding the loss:
more frequently both parents are so in
temperate that their children are brought
to the verge of starvation. Now and
then child is found nesting in the
bosom Of a dead mother-dead from vice
and drink. These waits are picked up
and committed to the care of aSylums.
The number of children rescued from
such horrors in 1879 was 100. Thus
through all the degrees of the social
scale, from the Rev. Edward Cowley
down to the mother whom intemperance
has made brutal to her little one, this
society has scope for its benevolent ener-
ges. Its President, Mr.. Elbrdge Gerry,
brings to the duties of his position large
experience. an ample knowledge of the
law, and the spirit of humanity. No
doubt he and his associates are often
cheered by those ever-to- be-remembered
words: "Inasmuch as We have done it
unto one of the least of these, We have
done it unto Me-