Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1889-03-17
.THE ITALIAN COLONY.
Tour of the Barracks Made by Officials
Yesterday.
SOKE OF THE THINGS THEY saw
Buildings Swarming With People and
Reeking With Dirt
WHAT REMEDY SHOULD Be APPLIED?

/ M1Al nj HGD1 puVUAb III III -
Unon various occasions during the pae'
few weeks paragraphs have appeared IL
the local papers, calling attention to tn'
quarters occupied by the members OF tne
Wheeling Italian colony, and cTiticlsing
briefly but emphaticAlly their mode Of life.
These notices have been but the casual
references called forth by something o.
current interest in Police circles, but they
have served to direct attention TO the mat
ter. and the authorities, including mem
hers of Council, have discussed thequest'or
and the remedy to be applisd.
Yesterday systematic and thorough IN
spection and examination of the residences
Of the Italians was planned and carried
ont and the results cOrrobOrated all tina
had been said or limited at as to the unde
sirabls conditions of domestic life in TIT
class referred to. The party was made NJ
of Chief of Police Delbrugge, Health OH
Ger Garrison, Officer Bell and reporters o
the newspapers. About three hours wal
devoted to the work, and that portion O.
the CITY living between Tenth street and th'
creek and from the river to Manchestsl
! was gone over carefully,
Some of the places visitel were IN con
dition almost beyond belief, and cannot p'
adequately described. ~
A continuation OF such methods OF hv
ing. especially during t coming summer
season. cannot but result in conditions ex
tremely preiudicial to good health, as they
are at all times to good morals, ano
something ought to be done to very M te
rally modify the present condition o.
thiogs
T6s first place visited By the exploring
psrtv was the three.stOTy building No
| lbs Market Street. On the second anc
third floors of this building the Italians
have the largest barracks in The city. Ire
house is run By very intelligent Looking,
undersized Italian who has adopted the
English name of George Thomas. Inc
railways and stairs we're found Uttered
with dirt and filth, although there was nc
doubt but that the inmates had taken tns
alarm from the short visit PAID the place
bv DIR. Garrison and Officer McNlchous,
earlier in tie day, and good deal Of
cleaning up" had been done. There are
about twenty beds in the various rooms,
some of the appointments boing so filled NJ
with bedsteads that one can scarcely move
around without walking on the mattresses,
and besides these, there are many shake
downs on the flOors, and beds extempo'
rized in hunks made of boards placed IN
baxes etc. Tee bed clothing WAS gener'
ally in a condition wsrraniing ITS lmmsol-
ate consignment to n seething furnace, ana
fifth, slop and dirt Of all known and IN
! known varieties was visible every where,
La come of the rooms the filth had been
roughly swept up in corner,
out of sight, ut in Others 10 such precau-
ton had been taken. Thomas wife was
asked how many men slept IN the house,
and said thirty, Notwithstanding the
winks and mods of her husband. When be
was questioned he said "abOut fifteen"
men slept in the house, which would
make about two beds and hunks to each
man. Nest of the beds were big double
beds. capable of accommodating three, and
all locked as though they were filled at
night, while in some rooms, the day turn
of slCepers were snCOZing away SO hard as
they could, with their heads covered up
with the dirty bed clothes, although the
mir in the rooms was close aud sitting
Last night there were thirty-five men
IN toe house, and doubtless fully fifty sleep
and eat there. The foulness of the air in
the rooms was something awful. 1t was
not simply bad; it was hOrrible-Ot that
particularly close, fetid, sickening type
suggestive of typhoid fever of the most
deadly kind. How any one could sleep in
one of those crowded rooms, with ak,
eight OF ten others, ragged, dirty and often
diseased. and then come out alive IN the
morning, is past the comprehension OF a
Christian. Yet this was one of the best
places visited.
Leaving this house, the party went TO
No 1Ol1 Morrow street, where there is a
little frame house of four rooms. In the
two lower apartments a laundress pursues
her work. Asked who lived up stairs, she
answered Italians, and when asked how
many, said fifteen. The two upper rooms
could not have bsen more than twelve feet
square An entrance could not be affected,
as the men were all away at work.
The third place inspected was the build
ing az the corner of Water and Twelfth
street, the old 'boat store" On the first
floor was a peanut and candy store, and
up stairs is the barracks. On the second
floor man and his family live, in quarters
the reverse of luxurious, while in front OF
their quarters, is the very comfortable
looking room of some Italian evidently
pretty well off among his cOuntrymeD.
On the third floor the barracks fei ture
comes forward. In a room about fifteen
by twenty feet in dimensions are eleven
double beds and several hunks aud shake
downs. TIE quarters being evidently de-
signed to accommodate about twenty five
men. In the whole building probably
about forty men sleep and eat. The dirt
and filth isremarkable. On the bed cloth
ing grease and soil had combined through
apparently long ages until the original
color of the goods was hopelessly lost, and
that same sickening Italian smell seemed
to have saturated everything about the
premises.
Leaving his place, the party pumped
some fresh air into themselves by a short
stroll along the wharf, and then repaired
to the top story of the building on Market
street opposite the Mcclure House. Here,
in two small rooms, several Italians have
their abiding place. The rooms were lock
ed, but enough Of the same old smell came