The Washington herald., 1918-09-29

the closeup details, while VIII West
stood on the fringe of the crowd,
watch in hand. to note the time when
the drop fell. and thea hasten to tie
Office of The Evening Critic to re-
lease the extra" West bear, the
other fellow to it, hut spoiled lis
scoop by writing n sentence soIne-
thing like this:
"Thel drop fell at l2 o'clock, % mir
utes and 10 seconds, and the doomed
man shot downward 10 his Coon
With a crash the rope broke and the
murderer while writhing on the
ground was seized by jail guards and
lifted to the floor of the scaffold. A
new rope was quickly procured ana
the man was this time successfully
phrase in those days and a bosom
friend of the stereotyped term, tine
body shot downward and there was
a duh and sickening thud."
A few minutes after West reached
the newspaper Office the extra" was
on the streets. / hurried to the office
and another extra was issued giving
the facts and the ''final scenes" de-
picting the decapitation in the grew
some fashion demanded by newspaper
readers of that period.
The "OId Mems Home"
There is another structure near
the Jail where prisoners of poverty
who had violated no law of the land
found asylum until the District
almshouse at Blue Plains was es-
tabIished. 1t was known as the
"Old Mems Home and was first
iaatituted when Mr.. Stoutenburgh
,.aa superintendent of the Wash
.pgtonf Asylum, a term which en-
bgaced the management OF the
warehouses; for men and women,
the poor house, so-called, close up
TO the present Jail, and stll stand
ing, potters field, Washington Asy-
lum hospital, etc. The creation of
the Old Mems Home resulted from
the suggestion of a newspaper man
flom the South who was intere ted
III tIre welfare of former saves.
many of whom had come to inis
city in the Freedman's Bureau era
following the civil war. The build
ing first occupied was one-story
frame near the workhouse for wom-
en-. Later, as the number OF In
mates InCrease6. several suDst1ntial
brick st-Ictures erected duTitg the
civil war and used for the storage
Of EunpowdNr were added to :he
unique institution.
These wartime magazines quickly
became one of the most interesting
show places for visitors. In them
were housed about 100 living relics
of slavery days-venerable "uncles"
who had toiled in the cotton fields
and corn of Dixie before they were
L,r 10 q tfnp nf hra-
ham Lincoln. The aged men were
permitted to plant garden patches
in the vicinity of the institution and
much Of the space was devoted to
the cultivation of the colored mans
"favorite fruit the luscious water
melon. Others cultivated tobacco
for their own use. and still others
grew a variety of garden truck. The
old fellows took great pride in their
wee farms and exhibited them en-
Enthusiastically to visitors.
Brown, the Crab Man.
Among the inmates was William
Brown, or Brown. the Crab Man.
Us he was known throughout the Dis
trict It is claimed he was the original
crab man and the author Of the sing
song:
DE crab man am goin' away. Git
'em while dey's fresh an hot
{ era bis"
The colored man who first intro
duced street safes of cooked hominy
also found refuge from the storms Of
life in the Old Mems Home. His name
was Dabney. and in the early winter
mornings he carried steaming hot
homiIv in two lar. tin buckets
( through the streets, singing in a
monotone: Hot hominy. Hominy
hot" In the days succeeding the civil
war the hot hominy man was a well
come early morning visitor to many
homes with his prepared and tooth
some breakfast food ready to serve.
The original Old Mems Home build
ings are now being used for wartime
storage purposes by the government
When 1 visited the place recently l
recalled the time when Gen. Rose
Grams called upon the old Colored mon
about thirty-five- years ago. After
talking with them a few minutes he
said:
"Out N the Yellowstone Park as
relics of the old West we have the
last of the buffaloes. Here in Wash
/ ington we have gathered together the
last relics of a cruel human slavery
| those venerable