Los Angeles herald., 1910-11-04
BOY Of IS SOLE
SUPPORT Of NINE
Wife of Conductor Who Lost Legs
Struggles BraveIy to Supply
Family with Food
HAS EIGHT SMALL CHILDREN
Pacific Electric Employees Will
Contribute Company to Give
OstroW Work When Well

How to make the small earnings o1
a boy IL years of age support family
nine is the problem Mrs. Jacob Os-
trow. of 800 Avenue 60, is facing. The
son referred to, who is caddy at the
AnnandaIe Golf club, is the sole sup
port of the family now that the hus-
band and father, Jacob Ostrow, is in
Angelus hospital recovering from on
accident which cost him his legs and
whic.. was the result of his attempt
to save the life of drunken man.
Conductors in the employ of the Pa
cifc electric company, which corpora
ton also employed OstroW, are rals-
ing a sum of money to aid the family
according to report, but Mrs. OstroW
has received nothing thus far and her
expenses are piling up rapidly. The
Pacific Electric company, it is stated,
has done nothing for the man or ms
family. A claim agent says Ostrow
will be given a life job at something
when he gets well.
Mrs. Ostrow tells the rest of the
story in the following words:
I'VE came here to Los Angeles ten
months ago and Jacob got job on the
Pacific Electric. He got good wages
the most he has ever earned; for the
last two months he made from sew
9ntY-flV6 TO elSDIy-llNe uOlldIS d lllO44bli'
We had a few small debts to pay off
but we were doing well because Her
man, my sixteen-year-old son, and
Samuel, the next eldest, helped lot by
caddying out at the Annandale Golf
club. Some times they brought home
several dollars a month. This all
helped, for we have eight children, and
we wanted to keep Louis, Martin and
Helen in school.
CAN'T LEAVE BABIES ALONE
"Of course now I have to keep
Sammy at home to take care OF the
little children while I go to the hos
pital to see my husband. The babies
are twenty months and three months,
and Pearl is only four, so l can't
leave them by themselves.
yesterday they had to move my
husband from the county hospital TO
the Angelus hospital; he had been beg
ging to go for several days, and yes
terday he said, 'Bess, if you love me.
you must get me away from here. l
can't live if 1 stay here His brother
and I went to Doctor Wilmer and
asked him, and he said: Yes, Jacobs
nerves would never stand the strain of
being in a public ward
'You see, there were ten or twelve
other patients in there, so that all
day and all night he heard them
moaning or saw them carried to and
from operations. Doctor Wilmer said
he must be moved, and we took him
away. But now we have to pay twenty
dollars a week for q room, two dol
lars a day for day nurse, and two
dollars day for his night nurse.
don't know how We can pay that, nor
I don't know how we are going to
get food or clothes for the children"
Are any of the children old enough
to help you with the washing or cook
ing?"
"Oh. no. Usually I don't mind but
now everything is running to wrack
and ruin because I have to be at the
hospital nearly all the time with ia
cob. He's always calling for me- The
doctor says he won't be able even to
sit up in bed for two months yet"
Cant your brother-in-law help
you"
HAS TROUBLES OF HIS OWN
mo; he is a maker Of women's ap-
rons and childrens garments in some
manufactory-I don't know where; but
he has an awfully sick wife who has
been operated on this month. It's all
he can do to give her what she needs"
At this point Pearl, the four-year-
old, began to cry for mamma" so Mrs.
Ostrow brought her in from the ad-
joining room. Clad in blue bloomers
and petticoat in lieu of dress Pearl
looked cold and forlorn.
people have been good to me- con-
tinued the mother, "only usually they
send me groceries and they all seem to
send the same thing, so that really l
could save more if I had the money.
You have to learn TO save when you
have eight children"
1t is said by some Of the conduc-
tors along the line tat the case of
the Ostrow family is being taken up
among all the conductors Of the city.
They are unorganized but have a great
deal of fraternal spirit, and often help
each other out. 1t is said by one con-
ductor that the claims department of
the tactic Electric thinks the conduc-
tors can raise as much as several hun
dred dollars between them.
The claim agent for Pacific Electric
said Yesterday:
1--WE will care for Ostrow as soon as
he is we'll; we always take care Of our
own and we can probably give him
some position for life where his mis-
fortune will not interfere. They can
get along till he's UP and we'll"
Will PAY HOSPITAL BILL
On being informed that in the mean
while the nine OstrOws would have to
feed and clOthe themselves somehow
and that heavy hospital expenses
would have to be met, the claim agent
said that the Pacific Electric would
pay IIle ldlIei-
"Our man hasn't seen her yet, but
he will in the course Of a few days
and we will do what is necessary"
The Ostrow house consists Of four
rooms quite bare OF furniture, "be-
cause" as Mrs. Ostrow explained, "we
thought we ought to pay our debts be-
fore we got our furniture out Of the
freight office; of course now we won't
be able to have it for a year or more
This is a real nice place to live in
though we do have to pay ten dollars
month But you can see how nice
the flowers grow around it; some OF
them were there when we came but
some of them we planted ourselves
If l can keep my place from falling
to pieces till Jacob gets well, I guess
we can pull through. I'd have a dollar
or two more If Sammy could work"
When asked if she had any money
she replied that she had a few dollars
and at least she could buy provisions
a few days longer.
-5Ns-Ss----