The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1884-02-29

a police, and go to IN undertaken and
go down with him in the morning to the
%coroner's Office and get o burial permit,
then you may bury it where you please"
My companion and l went over to the
station with the and fixed the
matter up. There was notrouble about
it. The mother was greatly relieved,
and insisted upon our going andlooking
at the dead boy before we went home.
There was q chance for a new expert
ence, and after q little hesitancy wefol-
lowed her.
1t was after midnight, and the neigh
borhood forbidding. Ninth Avenue at
this point is lined on either side with
small and poorly built shops. Only
the liquor stores were lighted. There
were four of them at every intersection
Of a street. A group of mon stood In
front of each groggery. They yelled
at us as we passed. but we We're not
molested during the trip. Bridget
turned down Forty first Street hurried
ly, and after going half way down the
block stopped at the door of n of a
long row of tenement houses. These
houses were of the small pattern. They
encroached on the sidewalk as much as
the law allowed, and rose perpendicular
for even or eight stories.
The entrance was through a common
three-foot doorway, and the stairs
which led to the top of the building
were as steep as ladders. There. was
the unmistakable odor,of decaying veg
etables in the hall. We stumbled over
a drunken man, who cursed us in maud
lin anger on the first landing. and
heard the sounds of fighting in II OF
the rooms as we climbed up to the
fourth floor. Then Bridget told us to
wait while she went into the room.
She opened the door quickly and eX-
planned matters to her sister, and then
we went in. There was a,bed in one
corner of the room. Bridget's sister
busted the seat Of a chair with her
| apron and asked us to sit down. She
spoke in a whisper, and had certainly
been crying. The blackened and smoky
lamp made the gloom more apparent.
The women talked of the child for q
few minutes, and then changed the sub
ject to the drunken husband, whom
they both feared.
when we git the baby in his grave
said Bridget, moping her eyes, ''we're
goin' away-Sarah an me is"
"Where?"
"Out to Camden, sir. There's some
rubber works there which we'll work at.
We both know the work. I'll be
straight now, if l starve to death.
Sarahll run away from Mike wild me.
The world amt treated neither of us
| good, an we're goin' to start again"
While the woman talked. she unbot-
toned her cloak. 1t revealed h red dress
that exposed a liberal amount Of neck
and arm.
Don't show yer shame that way,
you" said her sister. sharply, attempt
ing to draw the cloak together again.
"Oh, it's no matter. The gentleman
knows what I am. He knowed me
when I was a decent workin' girl"
She turned toward the bed for the
first time, and began to shipper and cry
again, her sister following her example.
My companion had gone to the door,
which he held ajar. He was as pale as
a ghost. The air was oppressively hot.
"Come an see the boy, sir" said the
woman, drawing the bed-clotlles down
from a stark little form that was out
lined beneath them.
mo, no. Let me get out in the mir"
| followed my friend into the hallway,
and we We're cropping our way toward
the stairs, when we heard a mar below
cursing frightfully as he reeled and
stumbled upstairs. At the same in
slant the women heard him. Bridget
dashed out into the hall, and, in a
frightened whisper, pushed us part
way up the next flight of stairs, and
then ran back into the room and
| whispered hurriedly to her sister.
Then she came back to us again, and
We awaited the long-shoreman. He
arrived at the top of the stairs, and
reeled toward the door Of the room,
muttering imprecations OH the head of
his wife. Before he crossed the thresh-
old she ran to him, and cried:
mike the baby is dyin"-
"T1l kill the raft
And the doctor says he must have
some whiskey. Here's some money,
Mickey dear. Go an git some of the
stuff, will yez? Go quick, an come
back quick, there's II dearie."
He seized the money, struck at his
wife with another curse, and stumbled
down the stairs.
When he had gone, we left some
money with the women and hurried
down stairs.
The crisp, wintry air was like re-
freshing draught to u man dying OF
thirst.