The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-02-25
GUESTS Of
THE POLICE
A Piteous Story of
Porto Rican
Family.

livery no" and again z hard luck
individual presents himself at the po-
lice station and asks to be locked up
on account of having no place to sleep
and no money with which to buy food.
In these cases with hardly an excep-
ton the police authorities refuse 70
grant the man the favor he seeks. ex-
planning that they are running iafl.
and not lodging house.
| Yesterday afternoon however, the
exception which is said to prove the
| rule came to pass.
| There arrived at the station a Porto
Rican. his wife and five children, the
| youngest. one, and the Oldest eight
years. With them they packed all
! their earthly possessions which didn't
| take much room.
The man. PHILIPPE Echanz by name.
told pitiful story to Deputy Sheriff
! Chillingworth. He said that six months
ago he and his family arrived on a
| steamer and went from here to La
| haina, where PHILIPPE was to work on a
| plantation. For time all went well,
I or as he puts it, there was plenty
hana-hana," and things looked bright
for the immigrants Then luck chang
ed and PHILIPPE met with an accident,
falling and hurting his leg so badly
as to make it impossible for him to
work
For time the little woman work
ed at washing to support her husband
and children and finally the family
moved to Honolulu. where a China
mans room in kakaako was rented for
So a month.
Small as this rental was, it was i'm
possible for the poverty-stricken Porto
Ricans to pay it and still buy bread;
and yesterday, with a paltry IS owing,
the Pake owner OF the room kicked the
unfortunates out into the street. Such
is the story told by PHILIPPE Eschanz
to the Deputy Sheriff, and when he had
finished relating it he appealed to Chill
lingWOrth as to what he should do.
Meanwhile the five children clustered
round their parents with wide-open,
hungry eyes.
Chillingworth. favorably impressed
with the frank and open manner of
the man, at once took steps to satisfy
the famiy's immediate necessities by
ordering a square meal for them. Then
ne made arrangements for their house
ment for the night
On the opposite side of the street
from the station is an open shed, used
by the officers for the purpose of leav
ing their bicycles while they are on
duty. This was walled in with sacking
and canvas to keep out the cold. and
lamps and other comforts were placed
in it. Then the poor Porto Ricans
were lOlu tnal tHey were DIT liberty 10
call the place home until better ar
could be made.
1t is needless to say that the family
to the invitation with alac-
rity, and soon Mrs. EchanZ. with true
womanly instinct, was busily arrang-
ing their few poor trifies So as to make
their temporary quarters as cheerful
and homelike as possible. During the
evening the family partook of another
meal, and by 9 o'clock all were stretch
ed out on blankets asleep, oblivious of
the hardships and suffering of the
past, and happy, perhaps, dreaming of
better days ahead.
And that is how it came about that |
last night, for perhaps the first time |
in all it's grim history, the police sta |
ton premises sheltered a family of |
whose names were not |
first written on the days records of |
arrests.