The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-04-14
A Composite sketch of Some Real
Tenement District Tragedies.

f. ". Townsend, in New York Sun.
me and the murdered lady was the
only American ladies' in the tenement, &"
said the woman who had given Tommy
a piece Of crust with some sugar on it.
Tommy could not eat the crust and did
not seem to care even for the sugar, for
| after he had held it to his pale lips a
moment he let it drop from his little weak
fingers to the floor where two larger
children fought for it until one of the
Italian women raped them over their
heads and drove them out Of the room.
still snarling and fighting.
Pietro, the old Italian boarder, who held
Tommy in his arms. crooned, Poor
Towmyl Poor TOMMY and tried to place
the baby's arms about his own brown
and wrinkled neck, but Tommy's hands
dropped to his side, too weak to do any
thing else.
Her name was Maggie" continued the
American to the stranger. she come
here from Cherry Hill and took up with
Guinny here in Mulberry Bend. He
abused her terrible, and the chair is too
good for him."
Some of the Italian men scowled at the
word "Guinny." They could not under
stand all the American woman said. but
they caught that word and showed their
| resentment. The Italian women, who
women, who could understand less Eng
lish than the men. mOaned, "Oh, Gesu!
Oh. Gesui Oh Santa Maria! their feel
ings moved more by the excitement than
| by horror at the crime or sorrow for the
murdered woman Maggie had not been
popular in that back tenement. noEsin the
court in front of it, where nearly all the
| life they knew went OH.
sfTonr TnVyuavf T0vyu0Nrf' prnnnad
old Peitro, patting the child's thin dirty
little hands with one of his big hard
palms.
Tommy turned his pale, pinched face
and big, beautiful, hopeless eyes toward
| Pietro, sighed YEARLY. and then his eye
lids dropped and closed not in sleep, in
languor.
Il wonder viii the society agent be here
first. or the wagon" young woman they
called Lena said, with an air of important
anticipation.
THE wagon, sure" answered Lizzie.
the American woman. as one understand
| ing the governmental affairs of Mulberry
Bend better than any one else. not born
there, could.
Lena had come from the other side of
| the Bowery, Hester street way. She took
up with piclkpocket, not of her race, and
had been driven from her peoples colony.
/ Even on the Bend she dared not go around
to the Baxter street side of the block, for
they are nearly all Jews there; as nearly
| so as on the Mulberry street side they are
| Italians. So she was practically prisoner
/ in the tenement and its court, because the
! police would not let her go out on the
street on her own side of the block, since
/ the orders came from headquarters to
/ keep the women out of the saloons there
| for the protection of Jack ashore.
IT'S near time for the wagon, then
! amt it?' Lena asked of Lizzie.
Sure not Lizzie responded Hasn't
the cop to go to the Tombs with Joe and
wait till he is held? And then the ser
/ geant sends word to the coroner, and he
sends the wagon. 1 know well how it's
/ done"
Lena was impressed by this display of
| superior knowledge, and remained silent
! for a, time. She looked into the closet bed
room, where Maggies body was huddled
| in the corner where she had fallen on
/ her knees while Joe slashed her life out.
The policeman had taken away only Joe
/ and the knife; all else in the blood-spat-
tered room remained as 1t was an hour
ago, when the startled tenants rushed in
and found Tommy crawling over the body,
and Joe, maniacally drunk, laughing and
sobbing and cursing on Pietros bed in the
room where the crowd was now; one of the
two rooms occupied by Joe and Maggie
and Tommy and the boarder.
II wonder couldn't we do something to
make Maggie look decenter," Lena whis-
pered. after a long pause, during which
the only sounds had been the moaning of
| the women. "On, Gesur' and the grooming
of old Pietro, poor Towmy! Poor
! Towmyr
Il wonder you want to go to the Is
land" Lizzie snapped back harshly.
Don't you know you'd get pinched if
you touched the body before the wagon
| comes? When Mollie Ardittis Johnnie
! fell from the window =.
fore Mollie got there, and she carried
| him up to her ROOM didn't the wagon
men threaten to send her to the Island
for making them climb all the stairs,
when the kid died in the court? That
the law Amt 1t, Mr.. Moran?"
Mr.. Moran was the policeman left on
| guard until the wagon and the society
agent should come to take the body and
the baby. He was seated by the window.
on the only chair in the ROOM reading a
newspaper. He told the women to shut
their mouths and not trouble him.
The room where the tenants were gath
cred was not more than ten feet wide
and not quite so deep as that, for the
back tenements were shallow buildings.
Still the owner felt justified in crowding
| two sets of rooms on each floor; a two
room set in front looking out on the
court. and three-room set in the rear
| there was more space there, the stair-well
| being in front-loking out on the sheds
where the wagon peddlers stabbed their
I horses.
The larger Of the two rooms. the one in
/ which the neighbors were, contained the
stove, a tin trunk which Joe had brought
with him from Italy, one chair and Pietro S
cot. In the little room adjoining there
was only a bundle of old blankets and
clothes on which Joe, Maggie, and Tom
my slept.
Pietro paid the rent for both rooms,
but he had, besides his bed, his break
| fast and dinner when there was anything
to cook and Maggie was sober enough to
! prepare a meal This was not often
lately, but Pietro did not complain, for
he was fond of little two-year-old Tommy.
and as Pietro was the only person in the
| world who ever treated him kindly, ever
| treated him at all, except to kick him
out of the way, Tommy was fond Of Pie
/ tro.
| How did this happen, anyway" asked
! the policeman lazily when he had finish
| ed reading his paper. He was not much
| interested in the case. for he had not
/ assisted In making the arrests and would
not be mentioned in the newspaper sto-