The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1883-02-16
Cincinnati.
MISERY AND DEsTITUTIoN- SCENES AND INC
DENTS.

Opposite TO pa Water street an OH
man was housed up in an attic, with
out fire or food, and was nearly froze'
and starved. lie was too proud T.
call for help. Coal and food were furnish
ed him. Further down the street famil,
OF sixteen children were crying piteousI,
for food. They hadn't had anything to ea
since yesterday morning. The Associated
Charities boat relieved them. Along Elm
Plum, and Central avenue the people ar
| i'm a terrible condition Of suffering. Thei
goods are floating around in the rooms be
low unheeded, while they are suffering il
the rooms above for want OF food and fuel
Several OF the people near Water stree
were driven from the second stories OF tn
houses and had to take refuge on the roof
from whence they were safely removed b,
a police boat manned by Captain Cunning
ham.
DEsTTTUTI0N IN RAT ROW.
Charles Dickens describes in his work
the filthy, squalid homes OF those human
beings who inhabit that Part OF Londol
lying on the Thames and who live in larg
part by what they find on the dead bodie
of persons found floating in the river
Some of the descriptions OF these habta
tons are something that can scarcely b.
realized. yet like places are now within thu
limits OF Cincinnati. They are located il
Rat Row. All around the buildings com
posing these quarters is the vast waste o
water, which has forced the already hume
rous families to huddle together in the uppe
stories. There, like sardines in box, the!
are packed. These quarters present SAT
picture OF human deprayity at any time, i
one takes time to look in upon the inmate,
in their filth and dirt; but now, penneC
up as they are, with little or no means o.
escape and 10 place where they could iin(
refuge ii they did, their situation is de
plorabe in the extreme. A visit WAS made
to this place yesterday by reporter, and
the scenes which met his eye were such a'
cannot be easily imagined, and must be
seen TO be realized. In some OF the room;
several families are liying-men. women,
and children-who eat and sleep in the lit
tie eigbt-by-ten-feet rooms.
REVOLVING SCENE.
These rooms ARE fearful places at their
best, but now that their inmates have no
escape, and are compelled TO live in filth,
the misery is increased tenfold. The scene
was a revolving one indeed. Imagine fir
teen persons in one room, the floor cover
ed with dirt and filth Of all kinds, little
stove in one corner, smoking and smoul-
dering. Around il four or five barefooted,
dirty, ragged children-some crying for
food. Others so benumbed with cold as to be
seemingly past all care for what goes on
around them. In another corner sits Il
pale, pinched-face woman, her haIr
hanging draggled about her head,
and sorrow and suffering depicted
i'll her counteEance. In her arms she holds
Il puny, sickly-loolling child, which she is
sucking. Another woman stands staring
yacantly out OF the window, gazing at the
mighty torrent surging by. She is the pic
ture OF poverty in everything about her
On the floor lies man, snoring loudly,
sleeping off the effects OF his last drunk, in
stead OF being out in search OF something TO
relieve the hunger OF his starving family.
This is the picture which met the gaze Of
the reporter as he visited many places, only
varied by greater or less deprivation.
These persons said they had bad but one
meal in twenty-four hours, and that was not
enough to satisfy all Of them.
SCENES IN A sTATION-H0UsE.
Twenty-eight youngsters of all ages and
sizes, some of them bareiooted and some
OF them tolerably well heeled, and every
one in the lot possessed Of faces that were
tinged with dirt to n greater or less de-
who were not CARING
whether school kept or not, 80 long as they
had lots OF bread to eat and had lots of time
to shout and play-that was the assembly
that met the eyes OF those who wandered
into the drill-rOom on the second floor OF
the Third-Street station-house yesterday
afternoon. They were the offspring OF
half-dozen Of the unfortunate people who
had been drowned out OF house and home
lower in the bottoms. The little folks
were scattered through the spacious but
bare room. Some were gathered round
the comfortable fire which burned in the
stove that Station-keeper Luke Brannon
had put up for the convenience OF the
families in the morning. Others
were busily engaged in discussing the
qualities OF homemade bread and butter
which an elderly matron was distributing
from a good-sized basket Of proyender,
which found place on rough table before
hcr--a relic OF the food. An aged man,
with white hair and trembling limbs, sat in
Dne OF the few chairs to be seen near the
lre. A half.dozen families, perhaps, were
represented In the colony OF unfortunates.
Here and there on the floor Of the apart
nent were piles OF household goods which
had been rescued from the flooded tene-
nents.
BRINGING IN A SUFFERER.
Turning to the dusty window and throw
ng il open, another scene was revealed. |
The waters OF the flood were already lick |
ng the sidewalk in front OF the station
house, the cellar OF which was filed almost /
o the top with the cold, dismal-looking |
una. Looking to the west, Third street |
xtended INTO vast lake, with here and
mere lot OF barrels and merchandise
orming desolate-l0oking islands in the
lurky waste. The water immediately
q front OF the station was deep enough
Or the approach Of a boat, and a
ew moments later one OF those crafts
caring Officer IIanselman and Young
ssistant from one Of the outer districts was
ullcd In. An old man who was so sick
nat he could hardly stand was i'm the beat
nth them, and as ii was impossible for him
walk the boys put1Ip their pants, and
ne Of them lifted the old fellow upon the
lhers back, and in this way they waded
the station-house. The sick man proved
be Jimmy Higgins, a coal-shoveller. He
as rescued from Lanes clearinghouse,
The loot OF Fifth street. An ambulance
as called and he was taken to the hos
tai.
Al dark Monday evening the calls from
ace ana Plum-street quarters for help
ere numerous. and many messages were
ceiyed at the station-house, Of which the
lowing Is sample: eve are in dis.
SIS; for Gods sake conc and help us ,
t." Mpnc citizens as well as tho roli.e | ,