The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1891-05-01
SAD HOME FOR OLD MEN.
The Grand Jury Inspects the PayiI-
Ion at Snake Hill.

east Side OF snake Hill lie TWO long one
story buildings. They are called the old
mems pavilions. To examine these
structures and inquire into the condition
Of the inmates there, the Grand Jury In a
body visited Snake Hill yesterday.
These buildings are under the control Of
Warden Ryan of the Aims House, and
are an annex to it. The Warden greeted
Foreman Staples aud the other Grand
Jurors cordially, and volunteered to show
them the defects in the homes the county
has provided for its old and helpless
paupers.
A short walk down the sloping and
beautiful green lawn and the first pavil-
ion was reached. A rod away and at the
base of the hill the other one, a twin of
the first, nestled modestly as II ashamed
to be more prominent because Of its con-
dition. cursory examination showed
that the one story buildings are as unfit
for home for aged men as a cabin would
be in the middle of the Hackensack
meadows. Except that there was an al
most painful cleanliness about the first
pavilion there was not another single
thing that recommended it for use As
Warden Ryan said Indignantly
''All that this Is good for is for kindling
wood"
The buildings are frame and weather
beaten. Here and there they are patched
like an old quilt, and these efforts TO
make the places habitabie have been par
TALLY yelled from view by a supply
cheap paint. The buildings are erected
on brick foundation about eighteen
inches high, and there the flooring is laid
The surface water from the larg Q
hill cannot be checked from
considerable of 1t works into the
ground and remains there. The ground
Is naturally inclinei to be moist, for the
marsh of the Hackensack meadows is
distant but a few rods. A glance be-
meath the first pavilion revealed the damp
condition of the ground. and a musty,
disagreeable odor greeted the nostrils.
An effort 10 do away with this by ven
tilating holes in the foundation had been
made by the Warden, but with only small
success. The ground was in such con-
dition that the flooring a few inches above
1t looked mouldy and disease breed
ing. This flooring was found to
be simply horrible, when exam
ined in the pavilion. It was scrubbed
spotlessly clean, but was SO old and
dllapidated that 1t bent and creaked be-
meath the footsteps OF a man in a way
that BODIED danger. In some places the
cracks in the boards were so wide apart
that cane could be pushed through into
the wet, soggy ground beneath. Warden
Ryan pointed on the weather stained cell
ing where the roof leaked and the rain
entered at will. Many other almost
equally bad defects were pointed out.
IT Is HOSPITAL
"What is this first pavilion used fori'
enquired Foreman Staples with the air
Of man disguised.
"It was intended to be used for home
for the old men. but has been turned into
| hospital" was the reply.
The foreman looked down the long
room and saw about forty sick patients
bedsteads and seek the warm sunshine
without. One poor fellow lying near
where the foreman was standing was
slowly dying from consumption. In a
week at the most his earthly
suffering will be over, Who
knows how much the damp unhealthy
hole where he sought renewed health had
contributed to his early death tor he gas
a young man who had evidently once been
a powerful fellow. With a saddened ex-
preston on their faces the Grand jury
inen passed through the room glancing
occasionally at some other suffering
patient or some defect In the place.
II suppose that only the sick occupy
this room,' commented a Grand Jury
man.
mo sir. said Warden Ryan "this room
is where many of the old men sleep. IL is
their dormitory and they are crowded out
one by one to make room for
the constantly Increasing number
of hospital cases. 1t is the
only hospital we have and they must be
sent here. 1t is a shame that this is true.
Worse than all. we have no hospital for
contagious diseases except this old hut for
small pox. The measles got into the
Almshouse some time ago and II suppose
lost twenty little ones from it. There is
no way to prevent this. The Overseer OF
the Poor commits a person to me and /
must accept MIN, even If he is lunatic." +"
THERE WERE LUNATIcs ALSO.
"a lunaticl Why, what is the asylum
for exclaimed one.
'sIf the Overseer commits person to the
Almshouse,I must receive him or her. and
IL symptoms of insanity are discovered.
have TO watch and wait until the Iunati C
becomes violent and Injuries some one,
aud then arrest and take him TO the Court
and have him committed TO the Asylum.
or else get the County Physician and an
other doctor to legally make the transfer.
There are from fifteen to tw enty lunatics
now in this pavilion and two or three are
occasionally violent. There is one" point
ing through window TO young man sit
ting by fence outdoors, that very often
becomes SO violent that l have to hand
cuff him. Only a few weeks ago 1 had a
similar case In the Court. 1t is wrong,
very wrong, to have these poor old men
compelled to live in this unit place and
have them surrounded by lunatics and
persons dying from all sorts OF disease ex-
cept contagion."
An examination of the second pavilion
revealed about the same condition of
affairs as the first, except that no sick or
insane were there, but the same abund-
ance OF dampness, old floor and leaky
roof was discovered without trouble.
THE GRAND JURY INDIGNANT.
After the examination was over War
den Ryan paraded his Hudson County
Zouaves, a body OF uniformed and
well drilled youngsters whose home is the
Aimshouse and then the Asylum and
Penitentiary were visited. Foreman
Staples expressed the opinion that the
Snake Hill institutions We're in every par
tieular the equal Of those at Blackwell's
Island excepting the old mems pavilion.
He said the Grand Jury Would take action
concerning this disgrace and try to sug-
gest a remedy.
A Drunken Abductor.