The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1900-03-14
IN THE SUNKEN VILLAGE.
IRON the Commercial Advertised

When Beckie Ketchale married Henry
Honeybein, Peter Roth, the bride
groom's friend, said to the young cou-
pie:
You have no money and rent comes
high, but have an extension to my
house, 50 move in, and welcome
Roths house is a two-story shanty
in Sunken Village. He is one of the
old-tine squatters of this block, better
known as the Hole" between Column
bus avenue and Broadway and Sixty
first and Sixty-secOnd streets.
The Honeybeins' room was near the
foot of the wooden staircase which
leads from the village up to the rest of
the world. There are some naked trees
nearby, and protruding from the ground
not many yards off is the village pump,
which supplies the sunken population
with water. They live in peace, these
poor people, the men working and the
women keeping house and gossiping
quietly. AS they give the police no trou-
bic they are not molested.
Beckie was only eighteen and Henry
twenty, but she was a good housekeep-
err, and he had regular work as a truck
driver. So little by little they bought
some secondhand furniture, decorated
the walls of their room with adVer-
tisement pictures. and were happy.
Last Christmas Henry lost his job
and wasn't able to get another one
Some of the neighbors say he took to
QI1lh- OlItIS say ne OlQ tlOl AZ dl4
events, Beckie saw to it that his shirt
was white and his collar fresh, and ev-
cry morning he would go out, as he
said, in search of work Beckie tried to
look happy. as usual, but the neighbors
saw that she was not; and they talk
ed it over with signs of sympathy.
Somebody knew the story of her
fathers death, and they told this to one
another, too. Her father had been a po-
liceman, and his beat was along the
water front on the North river. One
night the rOundsman failed to find him,
and several days after his body was
found floating in the water.
HE must have been drunk" said one
of the men at the station house.
DE gang done him." -retorted
friend of the dead man.
Beckie was dark, and the villagers,
men and women alike, agreed that she
was beautiful regular brunette
they would say, fondly. Beckie's sister,
Bella, is also pretty-she is the belle of
SNOWFALL Row. where she lives with her
mother-but she is a decided blonde, and
when she visited Beckie the people of
Sunken Village would say that the two
made a handsome pair The Honey
beinS had other visitors, too. Jack,
Beokie's brother, was married last
Thanksgiving day, and he often took
his wife to the village to spend an hour
or two, chatting or singing.
A few days ago Beckfe, feeling lone
some, asked Annie to stop with her
for a week or two. Henry spent his
days out looking for work as he said,
and somehow Beckie found it harder
to be alone every day. Night before
last the two young women were in lie
extension room, preparing chuck steak,
when Henry came in He was gloomy:
Hello Henry. Where've you been?'
asked Beckie.
He made no reply. A minute later ne
turned toward the door.
'-Ain't you goin' to stay home? We
have steak
question.
After supper Beckie left the house,
asking Annie to wait for her. She was
going to look for her husband, she said.
An hour passed Annie was getting
anxious, and finally she went to look
for Beckie. She went to her mother-in-
laws. There she found Mrs. Ketchale
and Charley, Annie's brother, playing
cards. They told her that Beckle had
been there, cried little, wiped the
tears from her eyes and left. Then Mrs.
Ketchale, Charley and Annie played
cards together, and talked and joked
until the big clock of the Vanderbilt
hospital which is only two blocks away
began to strike. Annie counted the
hours.
It's u O'Clock. must go and see if
Beckie's got home" she said, with sud
den gravity.
Charley went along with her AS they
made their way down the wooden stair
case into the village, Charley whisper
ed to Annie:
Gee, how quiet it is!''
They found Beckie's door unlocked.
When they entered the room they found
the lamp burning on the table, throwing
patches. of yellowish light on the pic
lures which covered the walls.
They did not see Beckie at once, but
they heard her voice. She was feebly
groaning nearby, and as they stepped
up to the bed they found her lying IN 1t,
her face pale, her eyes shut. A strong
smell of carbolic acid came from an
open bottle on the floor by the bedside
A minute after the whole village was
astir. A score of men and women, some
half clad, were busting about the ex-
tention of Roth's shanty. An ambulance
was sent for At first it was hard TO
get one, and then there came two. The
two physicians worked hard. The neigh
bors begged them to try and save Beckie
and they applied every remedy they
could think of. 1t was about o'clock
this morning when one of the doctors
returned from his ambulance, where he
had gone for some instrument.
Let me try" he whispered to his
cOnfrere.
mo use; it's all over,'' was the an
swer
The villagers then became a searching
party. They went to look for Henry.
With the ambulance lanterns, which
they borrowed of the doctors, they
searched every nook and corner of the
big hole" 1t was all in vain. and they
were giving it up, when they him
coming down the wooden stairs He
was morosely making his way to the ex-
tension, when somebody said:
Henry, Beckie is dead"
He stopped. They told him all they
knew Then he broke down, weeping
and shuddering. By and by he started
up and went into the house. He be-
gan searching in hooks and corners, and
everybody helped him. Somebody Htted
the matchbox on the mantlepieee, and
on the bottom were two lines in pencil;
Henry, you can go out any time you
like Becl1ie. Goodby forever.
FINES WE'RE DOUBLED.