Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-02-13
Before Judge Miller at the Police
Court Today.
THEY hate WORK AND BATH TUBS
Station and Lodging Houses
Crowded Nightly.
Houses
A HARD CROWD TO HANDLE


now infest the city, is the question that
has been asked many times during the
past few days in police and charitable
circles. There seems to be a wide differ
ence of opinion on this subject. 1t is esti-
mated that there are fully 400 of this class
[ in the city.
/ In charitable circles the opinion is en-
pressed that the men should be made to
work, especially those who are known to
be ''habitual buns" as the police call them.
! Then. too. the character Of the employment
many think should not be such as is now
provided. At present saving and splitting
wood is the principal occupation for them,
and they have TO do very little of that.
What they should be required to do. said
a citizen last evening, is to work in the
open air. where they will get the benefit of
the wintry winds That, he thinks, will
test their willingness to work and virtually
decide whether they are men out of employ
ment or whether they are men who do
not want employment. He suggested that
the lodging houses be visited early in the
morning, and the men marched under po-
lice escort to the flats and put to work
filling the holes in order to prevent the
forming of pools of stagnant water this
summer to spread malaria. Put the men
on the flats to work in this way and guard
this end of the bridge. suggested the citi-
zen, and before shutdown, he thinks. there
would be army of tramps marching
through Virginia, and there would be
shovels scattered over the flats with no one
to them. 1t will require but three or
four days of this kind OF work. he thinks,
to rid this city of the men who have be-
come so bold In their efforts to get few
dollars
Last nights storm drove In nearly $50
men for lodgings, and they slept In the
MuOicfna1 H0nSa Central Union
Mission and police stations. There were
sixty-three in the lodging house. ninety
three in the mission and seventy-five in the
police stations The Municipal Lodging
House can accommodate nearly ninety men,
but its capacity is seldom fully taxed, be-
cause there is nothing there that even has
the semOlance of charity.
They Fear the Bath Tub.
The men are required to work for all they
get, and If they object to working they are
turned into the street The only exceptions
to this rule made in cases of persons
who are incapacitated for work by reason
of physical disability. Then. too at this
institution the dodgers are required to sur
prise themselves in the nature of visit to
the bath room. Many men will go into the
woodward do the work assigned them, and
then take of their hats to the bath tub and
say farewell. There the men are required
to saw an average of eight sticks of wood
for a nights lodging, or a meal and scores
OF them tnelr meals with tnem- one
man last night had basket filled with pro-
visions of all kinds and he willingly shared
his food with some of his unfortunate COM
panions and saved them the labor of saving
an extra eight sticks of wood. The average
ledger will make a meal of a piece of dry
bread rather than do the little amount of
work required and get a dish of hot stew
some bread and coffee. There they are pro-
vided with a comfortable bed. with a pillow
and covering, and yet there are hundreds of
tie men who will pass the door and go to
a police sta ton. or the Central Union Mis-
sion where a bench or floor is all that Is
provided Last night, when the hour for
closing the lodging house arrived, a squad
of twelve men walked into the first precinct
and asked for place to sleep.
why don't you go next door?" was what
they were asked.
It's too late" was their ready response
Some of the men were questioned and
then they were marched up to the lodging
room and shown the pine floor bedding
Later in the night five others appeared and
they were also accommoda ted. At the Cen
trail Union Mission the men are required
to saw only three sticks of wood for a
nights lodging, and although they are given
only a bench or floor space on which to
sleep they prefer this to a comfortable bed
and hot supper for few minutes more
work. These men understand all about the
workings of the various places where they
may obtain a nights lodging, and those
who sleep at the police stations never fail
to appear after hour of closing of the mu-
nicipal lodging house. But last night some
of them were warmly received, and instead
of being kept over night and turned out to
annoy and perhaps rob citizens they were
put in the cells and charged with being va
grants.
At the fourth precinct station. in South
Washington, there were two dozen such
callers, while at the sixth precinct thirteen
names were recorded. Several of these,
however. were picked up on the street, three
Of them having been arrested on Louisiana
no Taptr ry,ga
In the Police COurt.
They are in the majority this morning."
was the remark Of Bailiff Kendig, when the
small army of strangers appeared in Judge
Miller's court for trial. In the cell room the
men talked freely. telling of their expert
ences on the road, and using the vilest Ian
guage imaginable. Among the number were
many young MEN, very few of them being
upward of thirty-five years.
Judge Kimball started out by saying he
intended to rid this city of the intolerabl
nuisance of an army of tramps if possible
James Casey and his companions were
first called. The names of the latter were
given as James Hart. Harry Smith, Thomas
Rodgers, John Thompson, Edward Riener
William Sommerhof and Albert Defne-
They were brought in from Lieut.. Kelly's
precinct, and Officer Langley appeared
against them. Defner was the only one in
the crowd who said he was not guilty.
Il came here in charge of a car load of
stock" he said, land when the car went to
the stock yard 1 went to the police station
for lodgings"
What are you going to do now?"
Going to look for work"
viii you leave town if 1 release you?"
Yes, sir
You may CO."
The others We're given thirty days each
on the farm. and they will now have to go
to work.
Placed Under Arrest.
Frank Lynch, Robert Finn and John
Bodendeck were next In line. Policeman
Hamilton picked them up on the. street.
There was a fourth man in the party, but
he got away. Just before the officer reached
them they managed to empty a whisky bot
tie. so that they were not without their
"nightcap" when they retired the iron
benches.
You may have fifteen days each"
Twenty-one names appeared on the next
information. and the prisoners stood in line
to enter their pleas when the clerk ar
raigned them. Their names were given as
James Carroll, Samuel Kicker. John How
ard. Charles Campbell. John Carter Max
Huffman. George Williams. William Smith.
Joseph Morris, Frank Nash. Frank Nc
Lean. William Ganhorn. Frank Foley John
Lee. James McHugh. William Everett and
Harry Jones. Many of them plead guilty.
while others We're indignant in their denials
of charge which they knew would send
them to the work house, If convicted Two
of them said they were here looking after
their pension claims, while three others told
the court they were in search of EMPLOY
ment. Another man. John Howard. said he