The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1888-07-29
What the Commission Saw.

New York Special.
1T is a mission Of mercy" your guide ex.
plains. in Piedmontese to the group Of half-clad
men who attempt to bar the advance OF the par
~. He tells them that a committee from the
great American Congress has come to help them
to punish the padroni. who have brought them
from Italy to drag out their days in these novels
of horror. 1t is the house at No. 1l6 Mulberry
street. 1t was to this plsce that the Congress-
first taken in order that the ineffable hideous-
ness Of life in the Italian quarter might be pre-
sented to them.
In one room there lay stretched on the floor
den beneath the dirt that encrustsd their
bodies. Some wore stranee-looking garments
made out of q bag with holes cut in to admit
neck and arms. Others, sprawled about in
stark nakedness. which they sought to cover up
on the entrance of the visitors, in heaps Of rags
that were piled about the room. It IL hopeless
to SEEK to describe the odor that pervaded the
den and could be compared to nothing that the
ordinary human being ever comes across.
In an adjoining cuddy hole were found five
women. They sprang up from their rude
couch when awakened by the sudden light and
uttered piteous croaning cries Of surprise.
When their fears were Quoted. they gazed about
them in wild dismsy. They claeped their babies
in their arms with a fear that was positively
pitiable. sTnere were three Of the "bambinI."
4NOnt u I tUou was ONoE - LOEtulkutO IQ. ou6 "
them had opened its eyes to the light or life but
three days ago. Its mother was a rarely beauti-
full woman of seventeen years. This last child,
she told the interpreter, was her fourth. She
had married before she reached her teens.
The committee crossed Mulberry street, and
descending through a low corridor. passed under
the main building, No. lis. into a tagging laid
yard on the rear. The walls Of the tall tenement
rose on three sides TO five or six stories and
above could be seen the dark cloud-swept sky.
- ---I L. -----
on the top of a landing reached by q short and
shivering stairway lay six boys. Though the
officers walked among them and flashed the
candle glare in their faces, they slept. Their
faces were upturned in nearly every instance,
and want, anxiety and misery were pictured on
their dark vissges.
This is as terrible IA the worst parts Of
Chinese quarter in San Francisco said Col.
Morrow when be got a few lorg breaths after
regaining the street.
stree. across Canal, toward what is called THE
Bend
What is thisl4 anxiously asks a bleareyed
scavenger on tue corner. as it a raidl'
Already the word bad preceded the commit
tee, and at each gloomy entry to the noxious
courtways stand groups of swarthy figures,
half dressed and half asleep. clutching in their
arms all their worldly goods. The stale beer
cellars were aglow with light. and up the shiny
stairways, debouching on the sidewalk. came
tic NlsOcb toUdCCO Ihch WY Wout INV
an old stale beer dive. with greasy walls and
heaps of dirt in the corners. It was hardly
eight feet square. On the floor lay two full
grown men, who grunted at being disturbed and
then settled over and went to sleep. Not q
window or door was open until Crystal burst In.
1t was some moments before even Mr.. Ford.
with his cigar burning furiously. could enter.
A second within was enough. A glance showed
that the sleeping beauties were Italians of the
lowest order.
Right behind this sinking room, with its
eight human beings, was one horse in q we'll
built stable. twice the size of the room and i'm.
measursbly cleaner. Close By was another
room filled with shovels, men. old bones, women
and bundles of dirty rags. 1t, too, was closed
mp so tightly that not o breath of air could Get
in. A long row of Italians. fast asleep on the
cold stones or or bags, stretched the whole
length of the two honses. One OF them half
awake made a kick at the detective ns tie passed,
but realizing what he had done. got on his knees
and begged for mercy.
The testimony, taken down by the light of the
detectives lantern, amid such surroundings.
with a score of duped. hungry looking Italians
grouped about on the stones, made a deep i'm
preston on the committeeman.