The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1899-10-28
TUE ARRIVAL GE IRISH GIRLS
HOW THEY ARE TAKEN CARE OF
AT CASTLE GARDEN.
Noble Work Done BY the Mission of
Our Rosary On the Landing of the
Immigrants at New York.
Correspondence Intermountain cathOlic.)

Irish girls scattered throughout the
United states, and particularly in the
great west, who Will be interested to
know how the sixteenth anniversary of
the Mission OF Our Lord of the Rosary
was celebrated. 1t was made the &C.
casion of very imposing ceremonies.
Rev. Father Henry had charge of the
affair.
Certainly the Mission has done great
work; it has been a boon and a bless
ing to the Irish immigrant girl.
1t is an old story-that of Irish i'm
migration to America Without enter
ing into the arguments of those who
claim that st. Brendan first discovered
America, we find there were Irish adj
VentureTs III this country in Dutch CO.
lonial days The historian of the time
relates that the first mass offered in
: New York City was celebrated by a
Jesuit priest on the spot where the
new custom house will stand, facing
Bowling Green. The writer took pains
to add that after divine services an
enteTprising young Irishman led a
blushing Irish beauty to the altar, to
be married, Father" The failure of the
'9S movement and the subsequent fam
inc in Ireland gave immigration from
Thousands upon thousands of the youth
OF both sexes fled to America to escape
the tyranny ard the famine at home.
History bears testimony to the very
important role these same eXiles played
in the building up of this great nation
and in the maintenance of it's institu-
lions.
From the Very beginning, the influx
of lreland'S sons and daughters was
beSet with trials and crosses. On the
outskirts of the city of Montreal was
70,
commemorate the graves of hundreds
of Irish people who persisted from that
plague of the Atlantic known as ship
fever" Many today remember the con-
dition of immigrants when sailing YES
sells were in vogue. Could the shores
of Manhattan speak they could tell of
many a scene of privation and suffer
ing endured by those strangers. -
When the other countries of Europe
began to send their quotas of immi-
grants the government of the state of
New York found it necessary to inter-
vene. A system of supervision and dis
elimination was established. For this
purpose the old Dutch fort known as
Castle Garden was leased from the city
authorities. Here immigrants were eX-
ar1ined and only the desirable were al
lowed to land. The state made little or
no provision for their security. once
they were released by its officials. In
this way field was left open for the
operations of the criminal element that
infest every large city Thieves, black
mailers and bawdy-house agents made
their harvest on many hapless i'm
migrant. AS long as the immigrants
remain in Castle Garden they had pro-
lection and also the privilege of a Ia
Dor bureau established by the Irish
Emigrant society Once, however, they
left the landing depot to seek relatives
or friends or to secure boarding houses
they had to run the gauntlet of these
scheming wretchcs. Anyone acquafnt-
ed with the native simplicity and con-
fding disposition of the Irish people
wall readily see the terrible danger to
which these strangers We're exposed.
SHARES were set, especially for the Irish
girl. Young, beautiful, unwary, alone,
she suffered most. Matters grew so de-
plorable that public conscience cried
out for a remedy. It came when Car
dinal McCloskey appointed Father John
to protect the immigrant ait
Castle Garden. The appointments was
a most happy one Of Irish parents,
with the enthusiasm, pluck and energy
of the race, he gave himself heart and
soul to the work. In a short time the
forces of injustice and vice were rout-
ed from the field. He established at
No. State street a Home exclusively
for Immigrant girls. After a few fruit
full years sanity Father Riordan died.
and his successors, Father Kelly and
Father Callaghan, have since passed
to their reward. As, III the early days
of Christianity, the Church, watered
by the blood of its martyrs, ffOurished,
so has the Mission Of Our Lady of the
Rosary become more firmly established
as one by one, it's directors laid down
their lives to the work
In the sixteen gears of its existence
there landed at New York 476, 149 Irish
of both sexes. OF this
number $50, 900 were females. The Irish
seldom immigrate in families. The
parents and the little ones remain ait
home while the adult members of the
family one by one cross the Atlantic to
America. This is borne out by the fact
that the ages of nearly all female inn
migrants from Ireland range from Is
10 40 years. The record, then, of the
Mission is this, that in sixteen years it
mas protected the faith and guarded
he virtue CT a quarter of a million of
Irish immigrant girls.
The work of the Mission in detail
nay be summed up as follows: LIST.
1t exercises a moral influence over
lines to protect the immi-
watches over, guides and assists at the
anding depot those immigrant girls |
Who intend to proceed by rail or steam
BOAT to destination. 3rd. 1T examines
he claims and fitness of the relatives |
u, friends who call for the immigrants. |
It'll. It provides Home free of |
,harge" fer these girls whose friends |
10 not call, on the day of arrival or
Who have no friends at all. or who |
ire unable to proceed on their journey. |
TIL 1t tries to locate relatives of those
Who bring indefinite addresses. 9Th. |
t secures positions in good families |
or those ready to go to work. 18th. 1T |
supplies the good offices of the priest |
Who alone can bring confidence, en- |
oura gemer.IG and hope to the heart of |
he Irish exile. Although our records !
we're burned a few years ago in the |
ire at Ellis Island, 1T is safe to call
ulate that 10000 Irish girls were guests |
It the Home since ITS foundation.
Two representatives of the Mission are
.lways present when the trans-Atlan-
ic liners from English and Irish ports
discharge their passengers at the land
ng depot. In the sixteen years these
ines made 5,016 trips to this country,
+ nearly one arrival every day. A
title calculation will show that on an
Verage about nlnety-five Irish people
anded at the immigrant depot every
ay since. During the year ending
une so, 1899, 21,637 Irish landed at the
barge offioe-an increase of 4,063 over
he corresponding period year ago.
If this number 12,470 were females
lostly young girls. Under the protec-
ion of the Mission all these girls either
cached their destination in safety or
ound their friends or secured employ
1ent Sometimes during the year the !
apacity of the Home was overtaXed.
IN the 18th of May last 172 Irish girls
rrived at the Home at 8 D. m. The
.eo House for German Catholic imEni-
rants cordially received those who
ould not conveniently be accommodate
d. These statistics speak louder than
rords of the extent and greatness of
ne Missions work
The Mission is dependent entirely