The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1895-05-15

agent shou d come to take the BODY anC
tNe oaoy' lie was seated by the window
on the only chair in the room. reading ;
newspaper He told the women to shn
their mouths and not trouble him.
The room where the tenants were cath
ereq 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; Ia two
room set in front looking out on the
court, and three room set in the rear
there was m )re space there, the stair-well
being in front-lOoking out on the sheds
where the wagon peddlers stabbed their
horses.
The larger of the two rooms, the one in
which TIE 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 adioin-
ing there was only a bundle of old
baskets and clothes on which Joe, Mag
gle and Tommy slept.
Pietro paid the rent of 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 Tom
my, and as Pietro was the only person in
the world who ever treated him kindly,
even treated HIM at all, except to kick
him out of the way, Tommy was fond of
PietrO.
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
Stories.
"Joe was drunk last night" Lizzie
began, when Lena Interrupted with:
''No drunken than Maggie. She filled
that bottle three times to my knowing"
Lena pointed to a soda water bottle on
the cold stove.
"Three times Is CENTS" said the
officer. "Where'd you get the price,"
The women looked at each other know
ingly, but did not answer the officers
question.
Lizzie continued; "Joe's beenup against
it three days, spending the rent Pietro
gave him; but heard him come in last
night. He was drunk, but he did not
beat Maggie. This morning he found
the dispossess notice, and that made him
mad, though it was him that spent Pie
tro's money that should have gone to pay
the rent, and he beat Maggie till PietrO
got him to stop. Joe went out then and
got drunk again. When he came back
Pietro was gone, and Joe done Maggie
With the knife"
ooh, Gesu! Oh, Santa Maria!' moan
ed the Italian woman TO whom the men
were making a running translation of
Lizzie's story.
poor Towmy! Poor Towmy! MUIR
INJURED Pietro, gently touching the child's
still face resting against his breast.
"Joe hadn't worked f)r a week." said
Lena.
"Well, an honest man can't find work
every day." Lizzie exclaimed.
This was stab to Lena, whose man
was a pickpocket, and when it was trans
lated to the Italian women they shrugged
their shoulders and turned their backs to
Lena. Their husbands were honest men.
Some gathered waste paper, some ped
from push carst and some swept
the streets.
"Well, he had rightInot tC ask her to
make living for him-and women chas-
ed off the streetsw Lena retorted angri-
ly.
No one responded to this, and she add
ed, going over by the policeman's chair
and looking out of the window: 81 Won
der the wagon wouldn' come"
She looked out on the stone-paVed
court, where, through a network of inter-
venIne clotheslines, she could see women
and children sorting paper from the big
bags the men brought in from their carts
ON TIE street; writing paper in one pile
newspaper in another, glazed paper IN a
Awarded
uv.aA Houorc WOrld'S Fair.