Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-04-24

have been quite the same had the man.
head followed his fingers.
As though this were not sufficient infamy
foot soldier standing near, after an humbl,
salute to the brave officer, picked the dis
severed fingers from the street and tossed
them, as though they had been links O
sausage, to a bevy Of ha1f-famished dog
shrinking and snarling behind Hungarian
Gipsy cart standing near, and these ami
mails devoured them after nearly devourine
each other in battle over these unusual and
delicious morsels
The treatment of the Polish Hebrews 1.
indescribably dreadful. Truly q majority
of these here form o loathsome lot. But
they are victims of misfortune. No one ol
the race is by nature slothful or vile. All
are active, patient, vigorous and brave in
all things tending to self-sustenance. Those
OF Cracow are mainly helpless victims OF
Russian persecution. So many have made
their way into all avenues of business that
by very force of numbers and desperation Of
situation they swarm like wolves around
every opportunity of the slightest gain.
But thousands upon thousands exist in a
condition of such awful want, starvation
| and mysery, that it would seem IN any
place where God was owned some touch OF
| human consideration and pity might find
| expression. You cannot find it in Cracow.
They are beaten from before soldiers and
officials with stavea Police disperse beg.
ging crowds with swords, striking right and
left and wounding promtscuously.
With Its Broken Leg Dangling Down.
'Those of gentle O blood seem to have
acquired the right to avenge all Poland'l
national wrongs on these luckless humans.
have seen little girls not yet In their teens
strike them apparently as a mere diversion.
The aristocracy from highest to lowest con-
slider it no crime to chastise them openly
and unresentedly on any pretext of offense.
the very next morning after my arrival
here I saw half-naked Hebrew child being
carried along with broken leg dangling
from its bcdy. 1t had amused some lordling
or official in carriage before which the
little one had begged to ride over it. had
some respect for the Polish character, gained
I will admit, from Polish history, before I
came to Cracow.
have been in the past, they are brutes be-
yond the limits of human language to reveal
in their treatment of interiors, and especial
ly of these Hebrew wretches of misfortune
and misery. And for my part can see no
altar or shrine or crucifx or vicar of God in
this ancient city without loathing emblem,
place and priest where such inhuman
hearts can worse than murder and adore.
My guide through the ghastly she'll of a
civilized city was secured through incident
of iniquitous brutality, trifing indeed for
Cracow, but still illustrative of its genial
and kindly atmosphere. I had truly been
unbearably pestered by horde of Hebrews
from money changers down to the most re-
pulsive of beggars, and finally conceived
the plan of arranging myself in the most
ST 0f al
Protection of q Polish Costume.
It proved successful device. In this
raiment had visited the Tatra mountains,
and had returned to Cracow so torn by brush
wood and bespattered by mud of the high
ways that was quite free to enjoy the city
from the neither side of aspect. 1t was a
relief, too, from strain upon both temper
and purse. In this habilament and attitude
1 was standing before a bakers window in
terested in an odd form of bread which is
fashioned and baked in an excellent imita-
tion of crown of thorns, much used during
the Lenten period in Galicia. Another still
more dolorous object than myself stood be-
fore the window. It was Polish Hebrew,
ragged, wastep, wan and old. I have seen
longing and hunger on as many faces as has
any other one who lives; but never before
saw both so pathetic and terrible as in this
one white face.
At this moment bevy Of soldiers clanked
by. Both myself and the ancient Hebrew
stood at the edge of the pavement, quite out
of their lordly way. Something in the old
mans face attracted the soldiers at
tentior as we'll as nv own. Some turned,
glanced and cursed. One said with an
oath:
HE will draw the loaves the window
through with that nose!"
"If the loaf (crown of thorns) was his
belly therein, it should cut with blood his
paunch through" sneered another.
each, Gottp shouted the bravest of
them all, as he sprang to the old mans side,
in seeming frenzy of rage. I feared he
would strike him down. But he did not.
He only spat in his face and called him a
"Jew dogv'-"Earth rot!" and names beast
lier still. Then they turned and went
merrily away.
Dare Not Resent tho Awful Insult
And it is true that this poor old man, for
fear of his life as he afterward told me,
dare not attempt to remove the froth foul
ness from his face until these Christian
soldiery had turned into the market place.
But had done it for him before that.
then led him into the bakers and then
into cafe, and then into a wineshop, and
CHFiSLidu moHey never ulu quicker OF more
direct missionary work than on that morn
ing when, God knows, for the first and only
time in my life I longed to be Rothschild.
This poor stranded old human had been a
Jewish teacher in a not remote Russian
village, and had been knouted out of his
home BY Cossacks, his feeble wife perishing
in the flight from fright and fatigue. He
had got as far as Cracow. That, as with
thousands upon thousands more, was to be
his living grave under conditions of misery
and outrage more awful than those which
once made infamous the name of religion in
Madrid, Neuremberg or Salem-unless the
little spared him could get him to klnfolk
in Berlin.
The white face of this one old man stands
between me and Poland's ancient city of
kings, shutting out all else but tho un-
speakable miseries of his kind. And
leave Cracow with a sick and heavy heart.