The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-09-09
HUMAN WRECKS IN
CITY HALL PARK
ldIerS Who Spend Most of
Their Time There
SOME LIFE STORIES TOLD
Minister'S Son Who Went to the Bad
and Poor Shoe Clerk Who
Dreamed of a Lit
erary Life.
From the New York Herald.

From the New York Herald.
Nowhere in the world probably can
there be seen a more picturesque variety
of human derelicts than in that little
downtown breathing space known as City
Hall park. Nesting in the shadows of
skyscrapers and historic structures. this
little gap in the commercial district
seems natures refuge for the rag ends of
humanity which drift along with the end
less human tides of lower Broadway. on
the rude, worn benches of this tiny park
q thousand hopes crumble every day, and
q thousand resolves to brace up fritz
ter away
1t makes no difference whether it be
dawn, dusk or monday, there is always
to be seen the same heterogeneous group
ing of hopeless, ambitious wayfarers.
There they sit. dreaming, reading, Sleep
Ing, sometimes sewing. now and then
weeping-dwellers in little world apart
from its setting. Spread before them is
panorama which thousands journey
many miles to view-the historic and
beautiful City Hail. the massive Hall of
Records famed Park row, with it's hives
of industry and streaming hordes; the
splendid postoftce, the historic Aston
house, row after row of skyscrapers,
Broadway with its frowning structures,
the Brooklyn bridge with its maelstroms
of humanity. To these outcasts the
Grandeurs that surround them mean moth
Ing, suggest nothing. They have passed
the point where anything Interestingly
are merely living because they have to.
Among them one can see the plaintiVe
old man with the kind face and shabby
genteel appearance; the unkempt uncouth
specimen with the stamp of liquor on his
features; the seafaring man, brokn from
tropic suns, the youthful impoverished
adventurer who has eddied into the park
10 ind a sympathetic soul; the typical
brulser; the holow-cheeked consump-
tive, huddled up as If fearing the little
warmth in his body will escape; the beg
gar the low down thief and the poor lit
tie tenement hermit who has crawled up
from his basement lodging to bask in the
sunshine. To the person who hurries
through the park it seems as if the pic
ture never changes, as If the same fig
ures fit into the same places every day.
But to one who observes closely it is
noticeable that the picture is constantly
changing; that the faces of today are re-
placed tomorrow by new ones but lust
rs haggard, just as sad
Whence they come no one knows; with
err they go no one could predict Rain or
shine, they are always there Only the
the last raindrap has hardly fallen when
they are back in their places. No in
trusive policeman bothers them. Sodden
with liquor they are permitted to sleep
off the effects of their sprees; 'penniless
at night, they are never molested DO
liceman once said that If he were a muir
derer hunted by the police of the whole
world he would take up his lot with the
slumberers of City Hall park and would
feel secure, That is one of the few places
which though within earshot Of police
station, the police eye never penetrates.
Casting my eye about the circle re-
Gently was moved by desire to know
the true stories of some of the benchers.
Iact and small coins proved fruitful bait,
and the life histories of few of the
outcasts, selected at random, are here
given just as they were related:
Typical Park Loafer.
The first of the outcasts spoken to was
typical of the park loafer-garments
wrinkled and torn, shoes worn at toe and
heel and the stamp of liquor written in
delibly on the coarse face. A small coin
tapped pleasing vein of loquacity and
the vagabond told his full story. emitting
nothing, he declared, and caring not
whether his words were printed or kept
secret. because, he explained. he changed
his name years and years ago. Born In
Detroit fifty-four years ago of good fam
lily, he received a good education and was
admitted to the bar. For several years
he built up a law practice and his future
seemed assured, when he stole several
thousand dollars from a client to pay up
gambling losses. Friends came to his aid
and kept him out of Jail, but his career
in Detroit was ruined, and he went to
Mexico to engage in mining.
Not far from the former Detroit man
sat youth with hair untrimmed, clothes
tattered, and possessing a general air of
neglect and Indifference. He left his home
in small Ohio town about a year and
a half ago to see the world and began
by starting from New York in a cattle
ship. His parents knew nothing of his
plans and he sent back no word to them.
He was sick on his way across the At
1antic and so reduced in strength that he
decided not to continue his world jour-
ney, and he got job a laborer in
Liverpool After a few months at this
sort of work he yearned to be back in
America, and he sailed back as a stoker
on a freight steamer. Too weak upon
his return to do anything, he had HIM
self arrested for vagrancy. and was sent
TO Blackwell's Island for ninety days.
1t was his intention to return to Ohio as