The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-09-11
THE REAL Mr.. BOWSER
He Is Not Always Faddist But Some
times Does the Right Thing.

The other day Mr.. Bowser left his
office at noon to go home and do
some tinkering around the house.
When within five or six blocks from
home he got off the car to see why
a. crowd had collected on a corner.
He found that city marshall and an
assistant were carrying furniture from
an old tenement and placing it on the
sidewalk and there was much laugh
| ing and jeering over the dilapidated
pieces.
There were three weeping and very
ragged children standing around, and
the sight of them made Mr.. Bowser
demand of one of the crowd:
What is going on here %
They are evicting a woman up
stairs" was the reply.
What for?"
They say she is sick and can't pay
her rent
| sick? And expecting a sick wom-
an to pay her rent? Are these her
children? And is this her old stuff ?"
IT guess So"
well, I'll be sure of it," said Mr..
| Bowser, as he walked upstairs.
| He entered a small, dirty room, just
as two men were lifting a sick woman
off the bed on to the floor. She was
as white as a sheet, and so weak that
she did not even protest.
shouted Mr.. Bowser.
The men lifted the woman back on
the bed, and then the officer looked
up and inquired:
Who are you, and what is your
business here
my name is Bowser, and 1 came
here just in time to see a sick woman
treated as few men would treat a dog.
What do you mean by it,?
II have my orders TO evict her for
non-payment of rent"
And did you have orders to kill her
in doing it, / denounce it as a shame
and disgrace on humanity"
Il am the owner of the building,
said a man, as he came upstairs and
confronted Mr.. Bowser.
"Oh, you are, are you? You applied
to the law to have this woman brought
because she could not pay rent
But 1 am not to blame for her
sickness, and I must have my money
because 1 am a poor man"
How much rent does she owe
you?"
Eight dollars"
And for eight dollars you would
have a dying woman flung into the
gutterl That's it! The poor are al
ways talking about how the rich OPP
press them. 1t is not so. 1t is the
poor that Cypress the poor. This is
a fine case of it."
Mr. Bowser went walking around
the room, snuffing and shifting and
peering, and returned to the man to
say:
HAS the board of health ever in
spected this place.?
The man did not answer.
There is hardly whole pane of
glass in the windows; there are two
or three leaks in the roof; the water
pipes are out of order, and the place
3 hot
cent farmer wouldn't use it for hog
pen, This woman may owe you eight
dollars, but she shall never pay it.
She is going to leave here in a few
minutes, and if you ever bother her,
or let a new tenant in here before
making it a decent place I'll see that
you will have to pay a smart line
for it,"
The owner and the officer looked at
each other and then went down stairs
together. The woman had not spoken.
Only now and then had she opened
her eyes. Mr.. Bowser bent over her,
but he saw that she was too sick to
talk. He thereofer, said:
Don't worry, good woman. 1 am
going to move you and the children to
another place and see that you are
taken care off,
Mr. Bowser went two blocks down
the street, and in fifteen minutes had
rented a large airy room on the sec
and had paid for three months in adj
vance. He then hustled out to a near
by furniture store and bought a new
bedstead, mattress and springs and
several articles of furniture, and had
them taken to the room at once. Then
he went back and told the sick wo-
mans children, who were still waiting
at the door as they watched that the
old furniture was not being carried
off, to sit with their mother and be of
good cheer. Then he entered groc-
cry, half block away, and said to the
grocer:
Il want to give you an order for
about $40 worth of things, and have
them sent to Mrs. Merkle at No. 224,
this street,
'Ahl that is the sick woman, who
was to be evicted today"
1T was, sir"
But 1 could not send her any
groceries. She has owed me bill of
As cents more than two months.
can give her no more credit"
You blamed scallywag" shouted
Mr.. Bowser, as he pounded on the
counter. Did I say that she wanted
credit? Haven't I got the money right