The sun., 1917-09-18
THREE SISTERS,
HUNGER VICTIMS
FOUND BY POLICE
Taken Prisoners on Charge
of Attempted Suicide
Through Error.
LIVED ON 81 A WEEK
Too Proud to Ask Charity. One
Worked While Second
Nursed Third.

That part Of Schermerhorn street In
Brooklyn which is within a minutes
walk Of the Hoyt street subway sta
ton Is quiet OF night. The people who
inhabit the old brownstone front houses
that have come down from their once
fashionable estate and now are ruled
BY very practical '.landladies." who offer
furnished rooms at 81 or - a week and
are firmly insistent on getting their
uoney every Saturday nisht-such folk
work hard day by day and are sup
posed to sleep softly by night. Unex-
pected sounds. unusual cries that spring
% in the night confuse IT,. mental proc
ssses Of the dwellers Of the quarter.
They are apt to jump at conclusions.
hasty. unjust conclusions.
Late last Saturday night folk asleep
In the houses near 210 Schermerhorn
street. house which seeks rather dis
mally to maintain the "genteer' atmos-
phere Of better days. were snatched from
sleep BY screams-xild, hysterical
screams-which proceeded obviously
from No. 21o They were annoyed by
these shrill extravagancies. They de-
edded after the habit of their experience
that no person would be guilty Of such
outcries unless he or she were drunk
Or crazed by drugs. Windows few open
In Schermerhorn street. Heads were
thrust over grimy sills. There was a
mutter Of gruff complaint Presently
. more terrible scream than any which
bad yet disturbed the night pierced this
angry chorus.
Police Suspected q Drug.
The arrival of the police was a mat
ter OF few minutes after that of
course. Patrolmen hammered at the
door Of No. 210, were admitted by a
sleepy man In a rumpled nightshirt and
found their way through the dark hall
way to a rear room. There they saw
two young women bending over a bed
and -laboring as best they could to
soothe the hysteria OF another. who was
evidently their sister.
Policemen In Brooklyn and elsewhere
are extremely matter OF fact persons. in
ciined from unpleasant experiences with
persons who make unreasonable noises
at night to suspect disagreeable things.
They looked about with not too much
perceptivenes. They saw that all three
young women were thin almost to the
point Of emaciation that their faces
were gaunt, their eyes unnaturally
bright. Yhey asked questions, to which
unsatisfactory answers were returned.
The young women seemed beside them
selves with worry or fear or, as the po-
ncemen concluded. from the effects Of a
stimulant or a drug The screaming
stopped at a sharp threat from the po-
Ecemen. Thereafter the woman in bed
lay silent. Her sisters huddled beside
her. staring.
Next came a young ambulance sur
geon, one who had seen rather too much
Of the hard side Of life to keep an abso-
lutely open mind for the honest queer
ness Of life. Perhaps he was weary
from many such calls. At all events
his professional eye ran over the three
young women and his report was "at-
tempted suicide" by one or more of
them. to his thinking the one in bed and
probably one Of the others
Are Put Under Arrest.
He was a little puzzled over the cir.
eumstances. There were factors which
confused his youthful judgment. But
he guessed that a narcotic had been
swallowed and that hysteria had re-
suited. Therefore the police arrested the
Young women but sent them to the
Holy Family Hospital, q private institu.
ton.
There were no accommodations 10,
took them to the Kings County Hospital
where the physicians instantly discov.
cred the nature Of their illness and
found an answer to the problem which
had upset the worthy folk OF Sclrefmer.
horn street. 1t was a perfectly simple
cause OF illness, even in world which
talks now in billions of dollars. The
young women were within a hearts fiut
ter Of starvation. Their pulses were al
Thair al
wrong. Their temperatures were al
wrong. They were as far gone in NAL
nutrition as human beings can well e
And still hold a grip on life.
The deputy superintendent of th'
Kings County Hospital wasted no tim'
In blaming police or any one else. HI
administered a heart stimulant and fol
lowed the medicine with hot milk and
little ration Of beaten egg Later. II
proper time, he obtained the facts of thi
affair so disturbing to Schermerhorl
street
impoverished by Death.
Two months ago Edna. Anna an,
Eleanor Williams. whose ages are 26, 2
ara 80 respectively, lived with thei
father and mother in Newarks The.
We're in comfortable circumstances. witt
plenty for all. even for doctors bills TO
years of delicate health. Suddenly fat
played one Of those bitter tricks whc
makes often enough a cornerstone 10
melodramas. for such stories as tn
world is fond of reading as fiction bu
hesltates TO believe can occur in com
monpace life. The father died and 500
s!ter the mother was through with tn
ahals of this earth. There was littl
enough moncy-much less than the sis
'ef' had supposed they could depend o
and when the doctors were paid an
tle undertakers bills were settled an
all those other little expenses which ira
WIN misfortune were wiped out ther
was Just nothing left.
lhey packed up their few belonging
ma moved from Newark to Brooklyn
Sa"ihs a room at So week In Mr.
VIsen'S iooming house at 2l0 Scherme,
morn street Eona could not offer he,
sef as breadwinner. and II was nece.
'arE Tor Anna to stay with her. Til
sisters put their heads together In ths
one dismal room, their hearts sti
heavy from grief over the loss of faths
ana mother and the breaking up of
happy home
was decided that Eleanor woul
nave TO try to earn enough to keep thel
AL She hunte6 for job and found OF
Continued on Stcfh Page.