Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-01-11
COLD SNAP NO IMITATION
Temperature Expected to Be About
Fifteen Soon After Sundown.
OUT OF WORK; SEEK CHARITY
Large Majority Of Men Who Apply
at Missions Victims of Unfor-
tunate Circumstances.

marks every day since Friday, January ,.
On that day the minimum temperature
was 8: January 6. the mercury stopped
at 81; January saw it at II; January
was one degree colder; January had IL
degrees; January 10 had degrees at
O'Clock in the morning Snow is promised
for tonight.
The coolest official temperature in the
United States today was A degrees below
zero at Grand Fork, n. D. Unofficial
records from Cook, Minn., say that the
thermometers dropped to 56 degrees be-
low zero and burst at that point. Ii it's
colder than that, there are no ther-
mometers to measure it.
Lack of Work Is Felt.
Thirty-fve out of the fifty men who
sawed wood for a bed and a supper at
the municipal lodging house last night
were good mechanics thrown out of job
and suffering from cold and exposure.
Half of the 200 men who sang hymns and
accepted the bread and coffee supper at
the Central Union Mission last night were
fellows who can earn living when the
mills and shops and outdoor building
| operations are going at full blast. The
| so-called bread line OF the Salvation
! Army, whose Industrial department at 120
Pennsylvania avenue northwest can shell
ter only forty men, was composed last
night of men, many of whom declared
! they can earn all the way from $l.5O a
day up. The Associated Charities pre-
diction that the second week of the cold
spell would expose the greatest suffering
has come true, and those who can ordi-
narily earn their way In the world are
feeling the fangs Of the wolf which .has
been bowling at the door for week.
No one knows more about the homeless
! men In cold weathsr than the superin
tendents OF missions the bread-line ex
perts. Supt. Lukens of the centra
Union Mission sees 40 and more of then
every one of these arctic nights Som
of the men are in bona fide hard luck
Others are rum-soaAed hoboes. but the.
| are hungry and blue with cold.
Central Union Mission Crowded.
"Some of the men slept on benches il
our pace last night, he said. The plac,
| has been crowded We take in the slcl
| and weak, as well as those who car
! work for a nights lodging. Whenever
we can give a man work to do We Sc
him at it, but often a wreck stagger:
| in here too sick to work.
These cold nights old men. gray ant
shriveled, with WORKOUT clothes, come
| tottering in at our mission meetings
where we mingle hymns with bread and
coffee.
"They are fit for the hospital alone, and
could not saw a stick pf wood If they had
to. Some of the undetworld's citizens are
crippled. Occasionally man without
hands comes along, and many of them
are weatherbeaten and poor simply be-
cause they are weak-rninded and haven't
chance in the WORLD to rise above the
gutter. Life for them is simply long.
cruel stretch. Now, We take them In, ana
our visiting physician lis kept busy these
days.
.()ne dollar would feed this bred line
for one evening for we get bread at two
cents a loaf. A dollar would buy us a
basketful of soup bones and make ieast
for tonight. Our coal hin has now only
ton of coal In 1t.
"Some one told me that this sort of
charity was too broad, that 1t made hypo-
critics of a lot OF rum hounds who learn TO
sing Nearer, My God, to Thee and hold
us up for a pint OF hof conee. looked
that fellow in the eye and told him, i
know it. / guess l know the hobo heart
as well as any of 'em. but, on the other
hand, did you ever stop to think that
hungry, shelterless. cd.d and homeless
hobo is a dangerous thing on the streets
A lead pipe in q dark istreet Is an easy
way to get fat purset
Many Mechanics Out Of Work.
Supt Tyson of the municipal lodging
house. has his woodward and lodging
rooms full these nights.
THE remarkable thing about this cod
spell to me Is the number of mechanics
out Of job who find 1t necessary to drift
in here" he said to a Star reporter today.
I'VE had fifty men to breakfast today
and thirty-ffve of them are good mechan-
les. We generally have about thirty-five
men here, but the second week OF the
cold spell has driven more men than
usual to ask for charity"
Adjt. L. NJ. Brazier of the salvation
Army said that forty men had worked
for a supper and lodging at the Industrial
department Of the army last night. Insy
saw wood and assert paper Tor tne
chance to feel a little warm food on the
inside. and bunk to forget their troubles
by night an. e., holm ;. s.,a
Adjutant Brazier, who Is woman by the
way but the worst case ! have found
was that of q man and woman and
young baby who had been without food
for twenty-fou hours. They were clean,
respectable people, and the husband could
not get a job. When i found them
very poor neighbor had given them some
homiriy The house they live in IL ex-
posed on all sides and the wind searches
every corner of 1t. To get enough wood
for q tiny fire the husband had foraged
for an hour 1t was terrible sight
that 1 saw The man had the look OF
one who sees the end OF things. and
would be glad to have 1t come. In the
woman's arms was baby less than two
years old There will be another one
there soon. or course, did what
could for her."
Cold Spell Is Not Over.
Nor Is the cold spell over. A big
storm started this morning in the western
gulf states, and weather sharps are con-
fident Washington will be blanketed again
by snow before midnight. he mercury
keeps bobbing up and down the lube be-
tween q melting point in the middle Of the
day and very close approach to zero
Just before dawn. Tonight will see the
mercury at 10. which is considerably
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