The evening world., 1894-02-19

me G.clry, d!snl! weather of this
mofn,lS dI not interfere with the work
q o.. "tnr Evening NCrld" Free Food Com
H'sSicI, at 80 Murray street.
AS CARY as S o'c.oCS the poor began
10 s+efcf. ana by II O'Clock, when the
dJoi5 were tp,ned, tier. was Il linz of
men, women ana c~n.iiren which en-
tended from 80 Murray street 70 Wash
inEtoa street, diva Washington street
to PARK place AMI up Park place to
Greenwich stree.
l. was the same old, sad story with
ali Of them. No WORK, no money, rent
In arrears, cupbOard5 empty.
Tn appalling throngs Of Saturday,
when 5,ll2 families were represented in
the crowd that blocked business in the
neighborhood for slA hours. had taken
away every morsel, ever to the last po-
tato, and his morning The Evening
World' Free Food Commission was as
empty as IA soap bubble.
But Phi Peters and two or three
other good hustlcrs We're out among the
commission merchants who had con-
not been collected. They hau trucks with
them, and the poor mothers at the head
OF the line formed by policemen saw
with eager eyes truck after truck back
up TO the curb and unload their carSOes
OF things to eat-things to stave off star
walton Tor them and their little ones.
When the doors were opened sixty-five
sacks OF potatoes had been carried into
the place on the strong shoulders of
hearty helpers of the most substantial
CHARITY ever known in New iork.
SlXty-nve SACKS means 1876 bushels of
as good potatoes as We're ever eaten by
a Vanderbilt or an Astor, When one re-
aiizes that the average purchase of po-
tatoes. by the laboring classes OF New
\ + 10 I"n I1nr nnn Ihn III
allowing for the heaping measures given
by small g%rocers, fourteen measures to
a bushel, one will understand that there
are potatoes enough In that mountain
OF sacks to supply more than $500
families for three days each.
There was a proport!onate provision
o. {urnips' rntaoagas Russiam turnips,
other vegetables, besides many cases or
fresh eggs, salt and smoked tsh, oranges
Tor the sick. lemons, soup greens ana
soup meats.
capt. O'Connor. OF the Second Pre-
cinCt, sent two roundsmen and a dozen
patro!men TO the scene this morning,
ana the best of order was maintained
The line was made TO extend all
around the square bounded by Murray,
Washington and Greenwich streets ana
from Harlem and Brooklyn. Hoboken
and Long Island City, and even as far
away as Elizabeth, N. j., might all
pt protected from the StoTlH .uiiuei INV
friendly awnings around the whole
block.
The patience Of the dealers In the
helghborhood has been sorely tested Dy
The immense throngs gathered every
day about the Free Food Commission,
and It Is only air to say that there are
not in all the world a better, more Kind
hearted lot of men than those dealers
VINO have accepted this hindrance ana
obstruction to their business with cheer
lli smiles and without complaint,
MAX Mergentime, young Hamburger
fhii Peters, Inspector Schlessinser,
Helligus Hall and the other noble men
whose names are now familiar In this
work. were on hand and everywhere to-
Jay with the same simpleness OF pur-
pose that has sustained them and THE
Evening World" Free Fund Commission
throughout.
Among the first to arrive this morning
was IA p~ale-faced, hollow-eyed young
mother from Monroe street. She carried
IN her arms, wrapped In the shawl that
shielded her own shoulders. a great,
az home a husband i'll with infammatory
rheumatism, another child and an aged
and decrepit mother.
She left nothing in the cupboard. She
and her family had for breakfast coffee
made from crusts of bread and a half
ioat OF the bread itself. A neighbor
mad given a scuttle of coal to her last
nlght, and this was the condition hat
had brought her to 80 Murray street with
a not from n missionary telling the tale.
The poor woman was almost exhausted
,When her turn came In the %distrtbu-
non ana a volunteer from the crowd of
spectators carried her well-illed basket
20 a Mad!oon street car, and, paying her
fare, sen. her rejoicing on her way home.
one woman. old. weazeped and thinly
Slhu, had come on q given car fare from
Nlnety-eighth street. not on her own be-
lnL.x....N = n