Evening star., 1909-04-16
NONE AID DYING BOY
Marooned on Roof and Suffers
! = Frighttu| Agony.
HIS OUTCRIES UNHEEDED
Janitor Sees His Peril, But Fails to
Go to Rescue.
NEIGHBORS ALL INDIFFERENT
Child's Hands Torn and Bleeding
From Desperate Effort to Attract
Notice-Lost Father on Street.

NEW YORK. April 16.-When the body
of little Jacob Cohen. the three-anda-
half -year-old boy who died of hunger and
exposure on the roof of No. 165 Suffolk
street, after being imprisoned there for
more than forty-six hours, was taken to
the morgue yesterday, it was found that
the knuckles of the boys chubby fists
had been cut almost to the bone from
rapping at the heavy. metal-covered door,
his fingers were torn and bleeding from
frantically striving to force the knob, and
there were finger marks on his chest
where he had clutched himself.
During the entire time the child had
been exposed to the merciless pelting Of
the rain which fell all Tuesday, Tuesday
night and Wednesday.
Lost on the Street.
1t was some time after 1 o'clock Tues
day afternoon when Jacob left his home
on the ground floor in the rear tenement
at 154 Ridge street. and followed his
father. a peddIer. who had started for
the synagogue. How the child got to the
roof of the tall building seven blocks
away may never be known.
Detective Philip McGlynn of the Eds-
ridge street station could find nobody who
had seen Jacob enter the tenement. 1t
is supposed that he climbed up the seven
fights of stairs soon after losing his
father In the streets.
The children of the neighborhood saw
nothing of the child. and 1t may be, the
police reason that he climbed to the roof
alone SO he could peer over the ledge and
watch the crowds below. His parents and
six brothers and sisters believe he was
taken there by boys and then deliberately
locked out on the roof. The police found
xH.s tr,Ij l,,,
committed.
Early Tuesday afternoon people living
in the tenement and the one adjoining at
1871 heard the plaintive walls of a child,
but they paid no attention. And SO little
Jacob remained a prisoner, the heavy
door latched on the inside and brick
parapet three feet high surrounding the
roof. He must have worn himself out
raising his babyish voice in appeals for
help and rapping and scratching at the
door.
Must Have Fallen Asleep.
Probably he fell asleep during the night.
unable to keep his eyes open, even though
terrified at the death-like quiet and the
thought of spooks and COLLINS that his
child mind conjured At o'clock We'd
nesday morning the janitor OF the tene-
ment at 167, Joseph Reiss saw the lad
lying under q water tank. but didn't
bother his head to. go to his aid.
1t had started to rain early in the morn
| ing and rivu1ets OF water formed puddles
on the roof and gushed through the
scuppers into the pipes. Jacob crawled
under big water tank. supported on two
stout iron beams. and sought shelter
| the water into his face and soaked him
through.
| Reiss fold Mrs, Rebecca weintraub. 8
| widow, who lives on the top floor OF
Il q hnx- 1A tr,{v 40
roof, and suggested that she call to Mrs
Tillie Pincus to see 1t it was one of hel
own brood. She sent her twelve-year-old
| boy Sammy to the roof to see If the boy
was still there. =
| Sammy Unmatched the door leading to
the roof and peered out, but returned and
said he could see nobody.
Neighbors Take No Interest.
At that time. it is believed. Jacob was
either asleep or unconscious.
| Mrs. Weintraub, who works in a sweat
| shop, returned home shortly before L
o'clock Wednesday night and inquired
! If anything had been done about the DO!
on the roof. The neighbors shook their
heads.
Mrs. Weintraub went next door, and
| got two men to go to the roof, wher'
they found Jacob under the water tank
| breathing family. He was carried to q
drug store on Stanton street. and there
the indifference Of the people was again
manifested. Detective McGlynn couldn'
prevail upon them to look at the boy tc
| see If they knew him.
An ambulance from -aouverneury Hospi.
tai came Gathering up. Jacob ha6
| breathed his last before the surgeon en-.
| tered the store
The body was taken to- the Eldridgs
| street station. where 1t was learned tha
general alarm had been sent out fol
| Jacob at l o'clock Wednesday afternoon
| In this manner the police identified the
| boy. -
| He was one of seven children living In
two rooms Of the Ridge street tenement.
| The father didn't have money to bury
| the body.
The Austrian Burial Society of 55 Pitt
street took charge Of the remains yester-
| day and Jacob was buried In Washing
| ton cemetery. ga