The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-08-04
How a Thousand UnfOrtunates Line
Upin Denver.
SCENES AT THE CAMP OF REFUGE
in THAT CITY.
The Camp Is Maintained by the Authori-
ties with the Aid of Donations and the
Unlucky of All Sorts and Conditions
May Be Seen Among Those Who
Receive It's Bounty-Go East, Young
Man, the Cry just Now.

Receive Its Bounty-GO East, Young
Man, the Cry just Now.
New York, August "a Denver dis
patch to the Sun says: A thousand hun
CRY, homeless men are being cared for
daily in one of the public parks of the
city of Denver by organized charity.
Never in the history of Colorado have
such scenes been witnessed before. AS
fast as one delegation of the unemployed
are fed and sent out of town another,
equally as large, arrives to take it's place.
Camp Relief was opened last Thursday
morning, and 600 men received break
fast; at noon the number of hungry in
creased to nearly thousand, and their
hunger had scarcely been appeased be-
fore long line of half-famished men
was forming for the evening meal.
When it became apparent that there
were in the city several thousand men
out of work and out of means to buy
food, with the certainty that this num-
Der would be augmented from day to
day by fresh arrivals from the noun
tain camps, the danger of riots, pillage,
and possibly bloodshed, ''even to the
horses bridles,a alarmed the citizens of
Denver, and meetings were held to de-
wise means for preventing serious
trouble. The state volunteered to fur
nish from the military stores tents and
blankets, and River Front Park was
secured as a suitable place for the estab-
lishment of a camp for temporary relief.
The sum of 81, 900 was set apart for the
purchase of food and supplies, to which
was added the donations from private
sources. The camp had scarcely been
put in order before the applications for
quarters exceeded it's resources. How
ever. in the park is a grand stand capa-
BILE of accommodating several hundred
men, and adjoining are freight yards
filled with empty box cars, so that ac-
commodations were ample for all.
1t was unique and motley crowd.
The giants, ,turdy, but improvident miner
from San Juan, the sulking, sneaking
tramp, the, young man lately arrived
from the East, ito see the West and
and stranded penniless in strange city,
mechanics, laborers, factory hands and
railroad employees, mingled together for
one commonspurpose, that of appeasing
an appetite, and finding temporary rest
before the trip across the plains to-
WdIoc UlV' 1lolHS Gun w llhdOl tNhOus
One day an old man standing in the
closely packed line suddenly fell to the
ground in faint He, it afterward ap-
peared, had tasted for two days before
he could conquer his pride. He had at
length wandered into the camp for food,
but the fatigues of a long wait had been
too much for his weakened condition.
All ages, conditions and nationalities
were represented in those lines. Friends
in misery were they, strangely quiet,
patiently waiting their turd. When the
long board tables had been set with tin
plates and the cheapest kind of table cut
lery; when the meat stew, in which
potatoes, onions and cabbage were cook
ed, had been dished ovt into the plates,
and great slices of soft bread had been
placed beside them the order was given
to fall to. With the eagerness of wolves
the men bent over the plates, and silence
was broken only by the rattling of knives
and forks and the snlacking of lips.
There was no time for conversation; the
men did not feel like talking. They
made short work of the food placed be-
fore them. Not crumb was wasted,
not drop of the stew was lost. With
the soft bread every drop was sopped up
and the tin plates polished clean.
While this lot of men were feeding. a
greater crowd stood along the ropes en-
closing the tables and watched with
feverish interest their more fortunate
companions. They too were hungry,
but they knew that they must be patient.
One young man in his distress reached
across the rope, snatched a piece of
bread and swallowed it with astonishing
avidity. He seemed half ashamed Of
his conduct, but it was simply impossi-
BILE for him to wait moment longer for
something to stay his cravings. 1t gen.
orally required ten minutes for one
table to be cleared Then, without the
formality of washing dishes, the plates
were filled with the stew second time
and another famished crowd let loose.
Thus thousand men were fed and sent
away happy for the time being.