The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-05-17
Frail Little Philip Vohdin, to
Whom the World Seemed So
Cruel, Gets No Mercy.
SOUGHT TO HANG HIMSELF.
Invited Companions to Witness
His Death-Arraigned in New
York Court, He Quotes
Thoughts of Tolstoi.

New York, May 1e.-PhIlip vohdin. a boy.
has been sentenced to spend one year on
Blackwell's Island.
He had tried to kill himself.
He had worked in a machine shop-a big
room where one had to be careful thread,
ing ing ones way among the big wheels land AND
who had lost a foot or an arm.
The clamor of the anvils made his head
ache and the fiint,laden dust got into his
made his narrow chest hurt until the pain
sometimes brought tears to his eyes.
He got g a week.
seem to mind working in the ma chine shop.
who suffered. but who took It as a matter
OF course that they should s~ufer-these
All they knew was that a boy should get
a job and keep 1t and take his money home
on Saturday night and. once in a while:
baseball or go to a theater.
Phlnp Vohdtn had sometimes essayed to
AK to the boys about the unfairness of
boys work IN a big machine shop. that gave
them a headache and hurt their lungs. But
me @n BOYS y,,, had looked at him %stupIdly:
SAID: vel. ask the boss for mis- job. Maybe
he'll give 1t to you"
ENVIED THE BOSS'S BOYS.
A strange feeling came into tho boys
heart whenever he thought of the boss-the
"h.o d III Inc plE easy Cndlr anu nau
diamonds on his fingers, whose hands were
Always white and clean. and Who only now
and then hurrledly passed through the
dirty, clamorous machine shop.
once the boss two boys came down to
checked and bought. each Of them. a whole
oig bottle Of soda water at the store of the
old woman who sold tiny penny glasses Of
1t to the factory boys.
What religion Philip knew did not seem
to explain why he should be. so thin and
nAilln AND ffrnd aud NNNa A.
boys so rosy-cheeked. 30 healthy and laugh
Ing; 80 gifted with all the good things.
Ihere were some men in the factory who,
inequality of things. and Philip, with a
great bush Of black. tangled hair above his
white face and thoughtful. keen little black
the men lent him a book by Toistoi: another
lent him the bitter stories of Gorkey and
the lays of Maeterlinck. These the re-
or %af the life e0y yie asxesre Cd a asrt the t9 pessSim nana
hrmation in his own childish experience.
Inere was no one he could go to at home
end lite, tell 81 the despair that was weighing
he lived at One Hundred and Seventy-ninth
street and Southern boulevard. was kind to
MIN IN her way, She had cared for him
and mother 6ied.
THE WORLD WAS CRUEL TO HIM.
IT would not do to tell her he revolted at
the hard, grinding work Of the machine
s srH9; .as. ~ wanted some Of the worlds
might not understand. She might simply
10 this little boy the world was cruel and
wrong IN us way, and he was hopelessly its
weeks. "t.A W wi
II you fellows want to come over and
see me XIII myself he said to a group
OF poys on the way home from the factory,
why, come ahead. I am going to do it. j
can,t pear being a slave. The only way out
q # Is to kill myself, and I'm going to
From under his shirt he brought a coil OF
rope; The boys. laughing. followed to q
queer boy. They jeered at him a little as
ne threw the rope over a stout limb. He
the tree. "
Then he climbed out on the branch, "a,
there. fastened the other end of the rome
into a moose. slipped 1t around his neck and
ies himself down from the branch. The
moose frightened. His face blackened. THE
other boys ran. shrieking. Policeman Dudy
! heard their cries and cut the boy down. us,