The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-11-26
STREET SCENES,
Great Opportunities
to Study Human
Nature.
THE PATROL WAGON ARRESTS.
Sights and Sounds at a
Fire in the Residence
District.

Let the patrol wagon appear any
where in the tenement district on some
of Worcesters streets, and there will
be an army of young Worcesterites
appearing from every doorway and ev-
cry alley and court in just about one
half of a short second.
In fact, they usually appear before
the wagon, knowing by some instinct
of its near approach. The patrol wa
gon usually means an arrest, and in
the sections named, it usually means
an arrest for drunkenness. And an ar
rest for drunkenness generally pre-
supposes a conversation on the part of
the friends, relatives and companions
of the one arrested-a conversation in
terspersed more or less with expletives
and directed against the officer.
The Spy man was walking out Sum-
mer street one day not long ago, when he
heard alarming screams arising from
one of the small side streets or rather
alleyways, which lead off on the west
side of the street. A policeman's he'll
met could be seen just above the fence
before a dilapidated tenement house,
and a crowd could be seen in front Of
the helmet From every direction men,
women and children We're running to-
ward the scene of action, though not a
thing could they see when they ar
rived, except an almost visible 0uan-
tity of profanity, which was waited
over the fence. The women We're al
most without exception dressed in a
calico gown and apron, the latter gar
ment flung over the head to protect
It from-what? Probably the profani-
ty.
The children We're dressed in any
thing under the sun, and the men all
wore pipes. And everybody seemed to
be out Of work
But to revert to the cause of the
noise 1t was several minutes before
ii, or rather they, came into sight
through the crowd of the unemployed. |
It was man and a woman. To be
more explicit, 1t had been a man and
Woman-perhaps. They were both |
intoxicated, literally bowling drunk, |
and each attempting to be more volu- |
able than the other They were too |
drunk to be anything more than noisy |
The policeman had each by what |
would have been the collar under 9TH |
er circumstances, and half leading, half |
dragging them, made line through the |
crowd, and after some difficulty, con- |
Veyed them to the alarm box and rang |
for the wagon. The wagon came in |
due time and the couple We're hustled |
into it and
TAKEN TO THE POLICE STATION.
And not until then did the onlookers
decide to talk.
'Shure, they're drunk agin, and no |
wonder!' said an old man with a two |
inch pipe and a half-inch nose He I
mad job for two days yesterday, and |
rs not surprising at all that he'd get
full agin."
That's right, Mr.. O'Grady," respond
ed the woman nearest him, the one with !
checked apron full of holes IF l
was the baste's wife, I'd lave him be-
lore I'd let him bate me the way he
does"
Bate him. did We say?" said Mr..
OGrady, still occupied with the pipe. |
think it's she that bates him. for
all that She's the biggest man of the
two. and that's not saying much"
m surprised at you, Mr.. O'Grady, |
TO accuse a poor wake woman in that
way Of batting her husband, when you
Knows well as 1 do, that it's him that
bates her.
Mr.. O'Grady took the pipe out of his
mouth. That's nayther here nor
there" said he. They're drunk and
they'll git tin days and there's the end
OF it. And when they's out, they'll do
II all over agin.'
That's right" said little man who
walked slowly near the rear of the
couple. And if they'd git tin days
livery day in the week, they'd git drunk
on Sundays"
This self-evident fact was accepted
without comment, and the party dis
persed to go back to its former occu- |
patton of doing nothing.
BIG CROWD AT A FIRE.
But the best place to study human
nature is at a large fire, and especially |
at a fire in the residence district at
night. There is something exhilarat-
ing in watching a fire, something in
spring in the clang of the engine bells
as the apparatus Is hurried to the
scene, and in the smashing of the water
as it rushes from the nozzles and
breaks the windows and occasionally
soaks the crowd.
The first person at fire is the small
Doy He arrives before the ffremen,
and spends his time in trying his best
70 get killed or in being hustled about
py the policeman because he is easier
70 hustle than the man next to nm.
following the small boy, comes the
iumbling of the engines and the clang-
ing bells, and in a short time the nose
IS stretched from the nearest hydrant
TO the blaze, and the fight begins.
IL is not advisable to attend a hre
When you are attired in evening dress
such costumes are not considered pro-
per When you trip over the hose and
step in puddle of water in order to
obey the command to keep back,
there" An ulster is Of more value than
a top hat
Some people lose their heads. 9th
LOSE THEIR WATCHES
and Spocketbooks. Everyone loses ms
temper, Those who lose their heaqs
are the most interesting to watch. In
cities where there is no salvage depart
ment and where it Is the custom 1or
everybody to pitch in and help carry
things out of the house, real human
natufe becomes dominant 1t is nara
TO understand, however, how some peo-
pie will carefully carry out the hat
irons and throw the mirrors out OF tne
thirdSstory window, and then throw Out
a pillow for it to fall on
In the residence district, fire OF any