Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1914-01-16
.FRIGHTFUL STORY OF
WANT AND MISERY TOLD

The following pitiful story is stold in
the Marshfield Record of January Ii:
eff you do not want to read story
of frightful want and suffering, do not
begin this.
"If you do not want to know what
awful depths of misery two families on
Coos Bay have been forced to, lay this
paper down.
"The pitiful privations of an enact
ated mother, a slowly dying father and
four hungry, brave little children are
what acuates The Record in appealing
to you and you and you.
"You may say when you have read
this article: why don't the county
take care of them7' The Record does
not know why, but it does know that
the county has not SO far, nor likely
will not do anything except, perhaps,
when the father is dead, provide him a
cheap pine box and place in the Pot.
ter 's field.
In hoyel made of boards placed
on end about eight feet wide by IA
feet long, with cracks in the wall you
could throw a cat through, near the
old laundry building in North Bend,
C. II. West, a consunptive in the last
stages Of the dread disease lies. He
is without undertaking, except the
suit he has on and in which he lies in
bed, and this suit, the shirt Of which
is smeared with blood from the fre-
quent hemmoThages he has cannot be
washed because there is no other gar
ment which can be placed upon his
wasted form in tho meantime.
"There was not enough clothes on
the bed to cover this poor sick man and
keep him from shivering until Edgar
Mcdaniel and Louis Balsiger visited
the shack Monday and, out of their own
pockets, afterwards provided some bed
ding and food There is no bed for the
little ones to sleep upon, A make
shift has been rugged up and on this
the half starved babies of this white
plague victim are forced to lie at night
and absorb the germs Of the terrible
disease by which their father is by
inches being drawn into his grave,
"Thc children lack food, they lack
clothing-they pick up sticks enough
to make a semblance of fire but the
wind sweeps through the shed in which
they live too wildly to make it possible
for them to keep warm.
'eThe mother is alone with strangers,
SO far she has not begged She sits
besides her dying husband and minis
ters to him as best she can. She can
not leave him to obtain work. The
children are too small to toll except
the boy who does his best. There is
no hope for the mother. In her great
poverty she can only remain by the
wretched bed--she can get no dainty
morsel for the sick man, all that she
can do is to aid the sufferer with her
presence. They are hungry most of
the time and at night sleep cold on a
floor, the supports Of which would give
way beneath the weight of a healthy
man.
fThe other night the knights OF
Pythas at North Bend were told about
the family and the good fellows at the
meeting Clipped in and made up a little
purse of silver and this has been giyer
to the distressed ones.
''There is another case.
"Whon the Cow Why fire took place
tho Cuthbert Brown family were vic
tins of the fire The husband and wife
were industrious, sober people, The,
came here to make their home-'to b,
neighbors Of us all and they were just
getting start when the fire burned
!