The Republican journal., 1886-12-30
A Widows Christmas,

MRS. LANDGRAF, TIE BoNCOTTEp BAKER.
REDUCED TO PERJURY.
''What has become of Mrs. Landgraf. the
boycotted baker woman"
The question was asked in the hearing of a
Herald reporter, but no answer was forthcom-
ing except that the person addressed didn't
know. Then the reporter set out on a still
hunt. He found the facts in the ease such as
deserve public mention, The poor woman is
ruined, peahile>s and on the point of ,tarya-
ton
The boycott has proved successful
The main facts in this matter will he easily
recalled. ON April II last, Mrs. Josephine
Landgraf, the reputable widow of an industr-
Gus baker and good citizen, was carving on a
bakery at No. l51 Second street. from which
she derived a comfortable living. A few weeks
previous TO the Gate mentioned She had re-
fused 1000 offered to her for the business She
baked four hundred oaves of bread daily and
used thirty barrels of flour week. Among
her customers were twentv-four stores and
groceries. Then came the boycott.
Mrs. Landgraf says even to-day that it was
entirely unjustitied that She had employed no
'scabs" nor otherwise infringed the rules of
the labor organizations. STILL a boycott was 'de-
creed" against her and her goods Most of the
customers. partly from necessity. partly from
fear of losing their own trade. refused to take
any more Of her wares. A number of them
did not even pay their debts to her Mrs
Land@raf says that 500 in such debts is still
ewing t2 hey. Of which $3.50 is from parties
WHO themselves are ruined III business to-day
he rest of the sums she claims are small. For
brief time after the boycott had been declared
against her Mrs. Landgraf was able. by the aid
OF the prevailing sympathy felt for the defence
less woman, which took tangible form in large
and generous purchases of her bread, to keep
her bakery a1oat.
AGAINST FEARFUL ODDS.
Mrs. Landgraf tried by various means to in
duce the labor organizations to raise the en-
barge placed on her goods. but all her attempts
proved unavailing. Public attention was claim
ed by other and greater affairs, and the inter-
est in her case felt by the public at large began
to slacken first and finally it oozed out entirely
For little while longer Mrs. Landgraf
struggled along. Her attempts to sell the es-
tablishment, with such dread fiat impending
over it, were fruitless. Nobody could be found
willing to incur the enmity of the labor organ
izations. Finally the end came. 1t was the
middle of last July. Her shop was empty of
buyers and wares alike. She sold the nipple
ments of her trade for what they would bring
"a mere trif1e. Then she left the premises
ruined and half sick with worry and constant
anXiety-to seek living elsewhere.
BEGINNING ALL. OVER AGAIN.
and started little butter and cheese store.
But she did not prosper, and after three weeks
she gave up the business. Her son-in-laW then
advanced some money TO her, and for 800 she
bought and fitted up small candy store at No.
1873 Second avenue. She was not used to the
business and could not make a living at it, and
she was obliged to 90 to No. 2S4 Houston
street month ago and begin in another line of
business. She took to the sale of German
family medicines, especially some pills made
with the approval of the Prussian government,
at Halle, Prussia, intended for the cure of GER
tain digestive troubles. After being week in
her new lodgings, however, fire broke out in
the basement at four O'Clock in the morning,
and the smoke awoke her and her family and
drove them out of the house.
This frightened her so much that she at once
moved to her present quarters on the second
floor of No. $40 Fifth street, near avenue B.
The poor woman has been penness for weeks
She and her aged sister have been living for
months on the bounty of her son, Ignatz Land
graf.
Ignatz is clerk in the Post Office and earns
so month. He has wife and three children,
and fourth child is expected every day. Mrs.
Landgraf not being possessed of any more
MEANS she has not been able to reach the pub
lie ear and thus find buyers for her medicines.
She processes to know how to prepare an herb
extract which is said by her neighbors to pos
seSs sovereign virtue in subduing that arch
fiend rheumatism. The other day she ventured
| forth trying to sell some of these homely rene
dies in the houses of strangers.
MISTAKEN FOR A MENDICANT.
The first house she went to, however, the
lady mstoOk her for beggar, being misled by
her haggard, careworn look and the shabbiness
of her attire, and offered her a nickel. Mrs.
Landgraf then burst out in a fit of violent
weeping and left the premises. speeches. and
almost heartbroken. She realized that the hour
of her deepest trouble had come. Since then
she has been unable to pick up sufficient cour-
age to approach strangers with her wares. She
| feels too miserable to even complain and all her
| spirit is gone. She said to the reporter:
81 have been ruined. l am penniess and
without friends. l am willing to work and do
everything an elderly woman can do. l do not
want to become a burden on my son, whose
earnings are barely sufficient to provide for his
large and growing family. I'd sooner die But
| is there no justice for me? These men, whom
l have never harmed, have made a beggar OF
me, and is there no way to help meT' n. Y
Herald.