Evening Star Newspaper, January 25, 1890, Page 8

Oe Fr Oe ee ee eee Aa we ‘Written for Taz Evasive Stan. SIX DAYS IN JAIL. A Prisoner's Experience in Mur- derer’s Row. anaes How Jail Birds Pass the Time—Serving “Chuck” on the Double Quick—The Lonely Night Vigils—Moot Courts and Other Amusements—Pony Express. sonroniismeanes RRESTED Christmas eve, charged with grand larceny, a charge I was innocent of, the out- The prisoners then qi hands out through the to each of them as the bread —_ EMPIRE STATE LADIES. ‘Wives of New York Representatives in Washington Society. METROPOLITAN EXPERIENCE AND CULTURE TRANS- FERRED TO THE DRAWING ROOMS OF TRE CAPI- TAL—WHO THE LADIES WERE BEFORE MAR- RIAGE—PERSONAL SKETCHES OF INTEREST. ° the democratic politics of the country. His wife, who was Julia th, belonged to one of th SP itsaison county, * “* surrounding | great cause of tubercles in the lungs, of Lewis in ner | anemie and blood poison of various pioneer families | Still, thanks.to the us nature of all build- ings, we could hardly keep fresh air out of our houses if we did not earnestly cultivate an in- ferno = —— ap rs below our — = per cent of the gas made leaking in’ e soil, forming a choke damp, and sewage distill- ing its three or four corrosives, one of rors op ce eeapeage rian angel, Dr. aa itch of Boston in werful argumen' for sanitation: ae = 7 THE CHIEF GASES IX SEWER EMANATIONS are carbonic acid gas, whose fatal effects we all know, sulphure! hydrogen, which gives the strong smell of ins before a storm, and is @ powerfulnarcotic poison, which in concentra- tion kills as suddenly as prussic acid. It kills strong men cutting river tunnels, when hardly to be recognized by the odor, or by the test of lead paper, not more than 100, part being present in the air, The third poison is sulphide THE CONGRESSIONAL MAIL, A Big Post Office Business Done at the Capitol. Bow THE LETTERS OF SENATORS AND REPRE- SENTATIVES REACH THEM—SCENES IN TRE CAPITOL POST OFFICES—MEN WHO HAVE HUN- DREDS OF LETTERS—THE DELIVERY WAGONS, HE post offices of the House and Senate together handle enough mail for a city of ahundred and fifty thousand inhab- itants, Few post of- fices in cities of a hundred thousand souls handle as much Then along comes three colored tiersm: two of them carrying a sort of litter, with double handles like a hospital stretcher, piled high with the square tin “chuck” boxes. Alongside of the litter isa third man, keeping pace and step with the two carriers who are singing a lively march as they quickly down the corridor. It is the third man’s duty to thrust ® “chuck” box into the outstretched hands of each prisoner. Should any one miss his box he has still another opportunity to get one, for the “chuck men,” after reaching the lower end of the tier, return at the same swinging gait, the ten for Tar Eventxo Star. “ihe ladies of the New York delegation in the lower house of Congress occupy 8 prominent place in’ the official society of the capital, They represent more fully the metropolitan manners of a great state in which the people are accustomed to large transactions in the three potential elements of development, finance, commerce, and manufactures. The office of vice president being filled by a citizen ew York and a representative man look was gloomy enough. nd I spent in Lieut. gathering of “drunks,” maT oners charged with “a other offences in the part of Christmas day in the “back hole” at ‘the Police Vourt. When the van at last backed up to the door ofthe great brown jail we were received by Deputy Warden Russ and ush- ered into the rotunda, where we were ranged in line against the grating on the west side. Each man’s name was read from the commitment and was asked “married or single?” After this the hand cuffs were removed and the men assigned to their cells. Those who had received a jail sentence were assigned to a cell in the east wing. while three of us who were held for the grand jury were given quarters in the west wing. The latter section 1s occupied by those charged with murder, prisoners sentenced to the Albany penitentiary, those awaiting trial in the Criminal Court and all who are held for the grand jury. My companion was taken upstairs on the ‘west side and I did not see him but once during my six days’ confinement. I was given cell No. 21 on the first floor in what is known as ““Mur- derer’s Row.” This cell had but recently been vacated bya man charged with murder. It ‘was also at one time occupied by Guiteau, the assassinof Garfield, as his office, wherein he Wrote and sold his autographs and where he received those visitors who were allowed to see him. These facts and the additional one that a condemned murderer and two other men await- ig trial on the same charge bean apn cells in the row with me only served to add tothe gen- eral gloominess which resulted from solitary confinement in the massive jail structure. We arrived at the jail about 2 o'clock Christ- mas afternoon and an hour later were served with our Christmas dinner in a long tin box with a hinged cover on it. Having been with- out food for nearly twenty-four hours we did not stop to criticise our menu, but fell to, as the sailors express it, and did justice to what was before us. The Chrisimas bill ot fare con- sisted of a large chunk of corned béef, one tur- nip. nearly half yard of corn bread anda quart tin cup full of soup. After dinner I gave the novelty of the situation full play and spent the few honrs before dark in inspecting ny celland the surroundings so far as I coul ‘The cell furniture consisted of an iron bed or cot, a tin spittoon,a quart cup anda tin slop bucket, which was hidden from view in an aperture inthe wall witha creaky iron door inclosing it. This was all. There was nothing about the sparse furniture that the most in- enious jail breaker could employ to aid him in making bis escape. ‘THE PONY EXPRESS, The prisoners are rarely called by their names, but are addressed by the number of their cell. For instance, the silence would be broken like this; ce of turkey. . nd it along.” Then 23 would take a portion of his turkey and, after bento 4 it ina bit of paper, give it & toss through the bars to his next Toor neigh- bor, who would reach for it with his little cell broom and give it a toss to the next cell, until it reached the party it was intended for. In this manner papers, books, tobacco and other articles are passed along the entire tier—by pony express. as the prisoners call it. I spent the long nicht, not sleeping but toss- ing about on my irun cot. y thoughts were not encompassed b prison. Like light-winged phantoms they took their silent flight erstwhile scenes of Christmas-night happiness and merriment, the old clock in the rotunda. as it soleann! tolled the passing bo hood, fraught with all its joysome pleasures, in the good old home of years ago. A JAIL CELL. Morning came at last and I was about to en- ter upon the first day of prison routine. With the first graygtreaks of dawn there were three shrill whistles followed by a great clatter and confusion in the upper tiers which could be lainly heard through the iron gratings over- ead that take the place of flooring. The con- fusion was occasioned by the tiersmen—prison- ers who are released from their cellsduring the day to keep the corridors and cells clean and to give out the food or “chuck” to the several cells. They had been released by the night xuardsman to begin the work of the day. Fi- ually they reached our tier—about ten of them—headed by the guard with a great re- flecting lantern, for the interior of the jail was yet dark and gruesome. One of the tiersmen, with a strong voice. shouted, “Buckets out! Put out your buckets!” as the guard unlocked each cell door. Then the tiersmen came along with a rash—they generally do everything with | movement—and seizing | ® kind of cyclonic the buckets hustled them off to the sink at the end of the corrider, where they were quickly washed and then returned to their proper cells, ‘The iron doors were quickly locked and after an interval of about fifteen minutes, which ‘was spent by the prisoners in making up their ds and sweeping out the cells, one of the tiersmen, with « large iron bucket provided with a long spout, came along the corridor, shouting in a dull monotone: Water to wash your face, Dasins. - As be passed along the prisoners held their basins close up to the bars of their cell doors end bad them Buea with water. The jail au- thorities do not provide towels and the men used whatever kind of cloth they had in the ells to dry their faces and hands. I must con- feas that I was compelled to use my pocket handkerchief, which proved to be a very unsat- isfactory towel indeed. Five minutes later an- other tiersman with a spouted bucketful of water came along shouting: ~C-o-o-l! C-o-o-l! Water to drink! Git it Git it!” And up went the tin quart cups to the bars ith a clatter as the prisoners each received a fooling draught. This process of serving drink- ing water is followed every hour during the day, and whatever else you can say about con- Snement in the District jail mone of the prison- ers need suffer with thirst The above is en- acted every morning between 6 and 8 o'clock. At the latter hour the watchman’s whistle again sounds It is followed by arush of feet and considerable noise in the rotunda; of the tiergme “Chuck up!” Chuck up!” This means, when translated, that breakfast le ready to be served. The prisoners take their places at the iron doors of their ceils, tin cup in hand, and await the coming of the tiers- men with the “chuck.” Aftera few moments Pat the ery is heard at the far end of the cor- “Coffee. Hot coffee. Cups up. The prisoners hold their cups uj and receive a ee a of blac a Put up your to the bars coffee from upper tier, repeating tier, repea the cry of “Coffee, hot coffee,” at short ‘intent vals as he ) ap: from cell to cell, Next ad men, two of them, carrying a bread cut up a sing outas they move comes the large basket filled with baker’ into half loaves. tapidly along th out. Christmas night my companion 3 Kelly's station house in company with a motley «-disorderlies” and pris- of crime and misdemeanors, and a ‘Em Up” had not said a wor. thought suddeniy occurred to him and he said to the prisoner: book? “Twelve dollars,” | hourly rounds | with the aid of his reflecting lantern. third man shouting the whil “Come back. Hands out.” Breakfast is now served in its entirety and the prisoners fall to with a will and consume their morning meal, The tin boxes contain on certain mornings one herring and two or three Irish potatoes with their jackets on. The next morning they contain a portion of hash and on the following day half of a mackerel and sev- eral potatoes, SERVING “cnUcK.” Immediately after breakfast the prisoners in the tier are let out for an hour's exercise, but they are not allowed ontside of the corridor in which their ceils are located, What ascene this hour of exercise presents. The man sentenced for horse stealing walks side by side with one of the prisoners charged with murder; the policy writer and the habitual drunkard’ form another pair, while the burglar and the youth sentenced totwo years at All for assault and battery with intent to kill follow be- hind. Thus they form in pairs and walk briskly back and forth, eagerly discussing the merits of their cases and the probabilities of the future. This continues for a while until it ‘Em Up,” or some other young negro starts a romp, which is generally engaged in by all the young men, 8 usually gontinues until the watchman blows a shrill blast on his whistle. when the men return to their cells and are locked in until the following morning at 9 o'clock, Between the exercise hour and 3 o'clock, when dinner is served, the prisoners spend their time reading. writing and talking to their neighbors in the adjoining cells. A MOOT coURT, Toward 6 o'clock, when the shadows of night begin to fall over the gloomy interior of the jail, ezating weird phantomlike pictures on the whitened wails of the long corridors and through the narrow grated windows of the cells, the prisoners usually hold moot courts and try each other other for the offenses with which they are charged. On the second night of my incarceration No. 23 was tried for shoot- ing 8 companion through the hand on the night of July 3 last. No. 29 (George Carr, col- ored), who has been sentenced to seven years at Albany for horse stealing, impersonated Judge Miller, while No. 27,a young colored man known iit "Em Up,” who will soon go tothe Albany penitentiary for two years for having shot at another colored man, played the part of Prosecutor Armes, ‘Judge Miller” rst interrogated the prisoner as follows: “Whar was you on de nite of July 37 “Up at de O-street market wid some fren’s.” Did you have ary pistol wid yo (es, sah, but it didn’t "long to me.” “Hem! idn’t you know it wuz agin de law “What you doin’ shootin’ dat pistcl in de streets, and how'd you come to shoot dat man through de han’?” “Well, yon sees, yer honah, it was de mite before de Fo'th of July an’ we wuz celebrati: Jim—dats de fellow I shot—he yells ont, tor de Fo'th of July’ and den I lets de pistol go ‘ker-bang! It wuz dark asa black cat an’ Jim he done had his han’ up in de air, He elled out: ‘Ouch! you dun shot me,’ an’ den foun’ out dat de bullet went through his han’. Dat's all { knows about it, yer honah,” Up to this time Pan ppee | Attorney “Git but a bright “What did dat ar pistol cost?” “Dunno, replied the prisoner. “I dun heard your statement,” resumed the judge, “an? you dun convicted yerself. De court sentence at Albany and yer soul an’ bod: You to two years in dat big hotel may de good Lord hab mercy on A young colored man charged with snatch- ing a lady’s pocket book was next tried. “Idunno anything "bout dat lady’s pocket book.” he pleaded. *“Nebber sot eyes ou it.” “Den what you doin’ runnin’ away when de policeman come?” interrupted tho judge. This wasa stunner right from the shoulder and after stammering awhiie the prisoner sai: that he was always afraid of a ita point to run e th _ policemen and ry ti brought out Prosecutoc ely inquired: “How much money was in de lady’s pocket quickly and unthinkingly replied the prisoner. ‘Then realizing that he had made a bad eak he rejoined: “Dat's what I hear ‘em say. ia! ha! ha!” laughed the prisoners along the tier, and the judge said after the laughter had subsided: “Young man, you dun gib yourself clean away to de court, You can hab five years in LIGHTS ovr. By this time 8 o’clock—“lights ont”—had ar- rived and the night guard’s whistle sounded shrilly, echoing sharply through the corridors and cells. Then followed a pattering of feet as the tiersmen rushed about extinguishing the few burning gas jets. With tb ception of the office and rotunda the great jail was now im total darkness and an almost grave- yard silence reigned, In about five minutes the stillness was broken by the steady tread of feet and then came a great glare of light, It was the sturdy night gnurdsman making his and inspecting the ceil locks These hourly rounds aud the tolling of the clock in the rotunda were the only things that relieved atallthe monotony of the dreary and slee less night. Such was the daily routine in the jail during my six days’ confinement there, RELIGIOUS SERVICES, Sunday religious services were held by the Catholic St. Vincent de Paul society aud by the Y.M.C.A, and Central mission combined. After the services the Christian workers went from cell to cell distributing books, tracts and re- ligions papers. Every other Sabbath a service is held in the rotunda undes the auspices of the several colored denominations. Only those Prisoners with a jail sentence are allowed to go Out in the rotunda to attend these services, ‘Those on my side of the house were kept locked in their ceils, OUT OF JAIL. Finally the day of my deliverance came, It was New Year eve andI was sitting on my little cot engrossed in thought over the horrors of oy _ ment ing in on the beginni: when my reveries were por turbed the appearance in front of my cell door of one of the tiersmen, who biandly told me to “ ready to go out” I quic! packed the few —* with eae ee ees ay tra tobacco, to . &c., among my neighbors, passed out into the corridor, whers & half score of prisoners, a: Ward, whom I had seldom seen of its wealth and politica, and the social side of the office being pr¥sided over by @ lady by natural gifts and experience oa te opi msibil: of her high station, gives 4 "cepite state a prestige in the affairs of society under the new regime. ‘MRS. CHARLES TRACEY. The capital district of the state of New York is represented socially at the capital of the na- tion by one of the most pleasing women in its fashionable life. Mrs. Charles Tracey belongs to a notable family of French origin which es- tablished itself in the early days in Canada, Hermine Duchesnay was, in her maiden days, a great belle among the Canadian beauties at Montreal, the city of her birth. Her father, Col. Philip Duchesnay, was for a long time on the staff of the governor general of the Do- minion of Canada, being an officer of tha Cana- dianarmy, He came from a line of French soldiers in the wars of the old world, Miss Duchesnay received her education in the best schools of Montreal, Before her marriage she participated in the highest society of that pro- vincial capital, and was also greatly admired in the select circles of the vice regal court at Ottawa. In 1883 Miss Yuchesnay became the bride of Gen. Charles Tracey, a native of Al- bany and the confi ial friend of Governors Tilden, Robinson, Cleveland and Hill, and from whom he received many evidences of iriend- ship. Mrs. Tracey by these relations with the executives of the state on the part of her hus- band was thrown into social intercourse with the distinguished ladies of that aristocratic state capital, When she entered the larger sphere of fash- ionable life at Washington she at once became a great favorite at the executive mansion, Mrs. Cleveland always paid her marked atten- tion and invited her to all tho hospitalities she extended to her lady friends, The three con- ressional seasons passed by Mrs. Tracy with oe husband at Washington have afforded pleasant opportunities for her home friends and society at large to enjoy her generous hos- pitalities. MRS, JAMES 8, SHERMAN, The wife of James 8. Sherman, the Repre- sentative of the Utica district, is the grand- daughter of Col, Eliakim Sherrill, a staunch whig in the days of Henry Clay a Repre- sentative in the Thirtieth Congress from the Ulster constituency. He was a warm friend of the whig statesmen of thut period and always Mert his section in line for the great protection eader Mrs. Sherman was Miss Carrie Babcock,a native of New York, but resided with her grandparents at Orange, N.J, when she met Mr. Sherman. Upon their marriage in 1881 the bride was established in a beautiful home at Utica, where her husband was a member of one of the principal firms of attorneys in that sec- tion of New York. In 1884 Mr. Sherman, by a larger majority than was ever given to one of their trusted citizens, was elevated by the peo- ple of his native city to the municipal honor of mayor of Utica, While in that official capacity’ the home of the city executive, through the win- some ways and gentle grace of his wife, was a center of great attraction to the distinguished society of that city of great men in state and national affairs. Mrs, Sherman came to Washington when her hnsband began his career as legislator in the Fiftieth Congress. Since then she has passed three winters at the capital. Her drawing rooms have brought together ladies and gen- tlemen of the highest official and unofficial cir- cles, She has also graced the finest entertain- ments of the season with her engaging man- ners and social gift, MRS. STAHLNECKER, The annex district of New York city is repre- sented by one of the handsomest and most popular men in Congress, and Mrs Stahlnecker, his wife, is oue of the most entertaining and attractive ladies in that circle of fashionable life at the capital, Miss Elizabeth Fairchild, who became the wife of Wm. G. Stahlnecker about twenty Fears ago, was in her maiden days one of the most fascinating belles of Yonkers, that aristo- cratic, historic and picturesque suburb of the great’ metropolis, Her father, Benjamin P. | Fairchild, was a man of note in business and politics in that section of the state. He was one of the oldest and most active members of powerful Tammany organization and was a factor in New York democratic party affairs, He was the friend of Tilden and Manning and that class of shrewd managers of partisan move- ments in state and national politics. His home, therefore, was the scence of many gatherings of the best men of the state, and socia!ly Miss Fair- child had a sctooling in polite ways of the best circles of New York society, Mrs. StahInecker’s mother was a sister of Mre. Myron P. Bush of Buffalo,so prominently known in the most distinguished society of that me- tropolis of the lakes, or more than a year Mrs. Stahlnecker filled the double sphere of presiding lady of the municipality of Yonkers and of the househeld of a prominent Representative in C her husband holding both positions a6 the cicne time, his friends refusing to permit him to re- tire. During his mayoralty the social life of the staid old Dutch settlement was unusual brilliant under the leadership of Mrs, - necker. She was also very ly interested in church work and was her abundant charity, At her residence of t1 cars or theaters. It was not an imagination of came aa if the pestiferous breath of a erpent and wounds, It was like the worst form of yellow fever, where the victim is saturated by carefully'distilled at expense into our sleep” are saturated with natural poisons, our blood till This of ammonia, the pleasant gas reeking from livery stables in cities, which generates diphtheria, and prostrates the néighbor: houses with malarious symptoms, refer! vaguely to some unknown depravity of town air, but really manufactured by the decom- was Miss Lizzie A. Cross, and is now Mrs. heaps next door. Dra. and Fitch, was born in Morrisville, Madisoncounty, | Letheby of London, who analyzed sew ‘i and educated atthe Clinton seminary. She | With a thoroughness never excelled, report that met her future husband during her’ school | this ammonia (apinerbe per liquefies the days at Clinton, he being a native of that | Co=PUscles of the blood and prodtices symptoms county, and in 1874 they were married at the | Of typhoid. Worse is its dreadful 2 ternal home of the bride. Mr. Fitch, hay-|0f conveying the less volatile products ig gone through an educational experience | f Putrefsction into the air, giving validity embracing the curriculum of the best colleges | ‘© the putridities of streets and rivers of the United States and two universities in) (uring hot weather, holding in sus- Germany, settled in New York in the practice | pension the offensive matters of coal gas. of the 1 It was here that he brought his | The light carbo-hydrogen found in sewers is bride five years Inter. The constituency in | What accumuiates and explodes, biowing the which Mrs. Fitch takes precedence as the wife | C°Vers off manholes every ence in a while. The of the Representative in Congress is one of | 'Sanic vapor in sewer gas propagates its own the wetlthicet and most aristocratic of the | decay, with terrible cons quences in the living metropoii being in the uptown section, body and symptoms of most active poisons, stretching from 5th avenue to the East river NoW MARK THESE SYMPTONS and above 86th street. In the fashionable cir- | with care. The appetite fails, the bowels are cles of this part of the city she has always been | disturbed, chronic diarrhea sets in, distress, asociety leader, When Mrs, Fitch entered the s n Politesphere of Washington gayetics, in the | Susocation and nausea, giddiness and twitch. iftiotn Congress, she was greatly admired for | ing. Excessive prostration follows until the her easo of manners and gifts of conversation. | Stfferer is worn out ir nncation ox tails fate: She exhibited all the grace of her experience | low fever. What difference is there between in the cosmopolitan methods of New York go- | these ermptoms and those of the grip? It is a ciety, Mrs. Fitch has three daughters, Bessie, | Complete diagnosis of the disease which in th Ella and Dorris, the eldest being well advanced | Jast fortnight has prostrated thousands all o' in her teens. They have been having the ad- | the country from one andthe same reasons, in vantage of a season of foreign culture in school | t¢wnor out of it—blood poisoning by neglect of at Stuttgart, DEB.R.K. | proper drainage and disposal of ‘animal waste, — he humidity of the atmosphere, the wave of Written for Tur Evesixo . ran. vitiated air imagined to roll across the 2,000 The Laureate. leagues of ocean between us and Europe could (On reading “Demete. and Other Poems.”) ey pens disease were notghe conditions ly Great at his morn, greater at noon, at eve of de epidemic cultivated our civiliza- tion. A small percentage of dryness in the ai Seeming more great—like an unclouded sun Radiant he rose, a radiant course bas run, and our winter frosts are all that continually stand between us and pestilence, which is but a And now, nigh setting, glorious, he will leave modern form of the plague of the dark ages, Such splendor as his loss will long retrieve, The prostration, the purging, the giddiness, Lighting the night, informing the dense, dun _| the treachery of the disease too nearly resem- Fogs hovering o'er the age—so cheering, none | Ples the plague to be mistaken for ‘anything ‘Gan te tia oombig Gime il magustes want: ut its lineal descendant, For too many poor O matchless poet, Laureate by right Of ail that makes a bardic soul sublime— souls it might as well be the plague outright, for disease can do no more than kill, Voice of the best whence springs old Albion's might, BURIED SEWAGE. The difference between our sanitary habits The “love of love,” truth, justice, hate of crime— | and those of the dark ages is that they kept Thy song Victoria’s era with delight their sewage above ground at the doors of Fills, and with hope—chief prophet of her time! | their houses and we bury it under the floors. —W. L. Snormakgr, | It is not our costly sewers which prevent worse esl ets plagues than ever decimated Europe, but our pavements, which partially seal the gasses of leath from escaping into the air we breathe The dark, close sewers condense deadlier gases, than offal heaps oxydized by sun and sir. These are not my words at all, but what able scientific men, fanitary engineers and doctors have been trying for fifty years to teach the world, and which the grip comes as avant courier to proclaim before cholera and Plague come as destroying angels toenforce. The world will not learn, though one rise from the dead to teach; it must go down to deatn itself before it will believe. The truth must be told and insisted upon. The conditions of our sanitary matters in town and coun- tr alike are simply heathenish, The filth of cities, the ignorant sanitary cus- toms of country places where, the perfume of roses and apple orchards cannot hide the smells of death from unsafe drains, are 80 many crimes against humanity which must meet a fearful penalty. The typesof disease become more virulent year by year as the sitesof human habitation saturate the soil with surface water, gas and sewage. That must overtake our civili- zation which caused the destruction of the old cities of India and the great towns of antiquity, like Sardis, Laodicea and Ninevah, which Sir Henry Acland, M.D., says from his travels in Asia Minor came to an end because it was im- possible longer to inhabit those filthy and fever-stricken places; that the soil by long resi- dence was so deteriorated that as towns could not move they ceased to be habitable, IMPURE AIR IN HOUSES. Nor is this all. Not one house ina hundred has its supply of pure air direct from outdoors, but is content to breathe air of the cellar drawn through the furnace, bringing smells unendurabie to senses used to better things, In the streets we are compelled to breathe dangerous dust, loaded with every foulness, or inhale the fumes of putrefying garbage. Pub- lie conveyances are vehicles of contagion in the breath of their inmates, W. R. Nichols of Boston found more than twice as much deadly carbonic acid in the air of passenger cars than in the Berkeley street sewer. As Prof. Kerr vigorously said before the royal institute of architects, “A house in this climate is a closed box from which the cleansing air is apt to be excluded. Beside its own vitiated air the house is in communication with AN UNDERGROUND WORLD OF SEWERS in which the gases of decomposition are con- stautly generated, and all pipes from the house to this uncleanness are pipes to the house therefrom, the sewer air forcing its way in with still greater energy than the cleansing atmo- spheric air, We will not speak yet the dreaded The daughter of this interesting couple, who pro] ———~+e. Written for Tue Evesrxe Star. WHAT’ CAUSED IT. The Grip Considered From a Sanitary Point of View. ry AN APPEAL FOR LIFE AND HEALTH—IMPURE AIR IN HOUSES—BURIED SEWAGE IN OUR CITIES— WHAT THE GRIP COST THE COUNTRY—TO PRE- VENT 1TS RECURRENCE. rs (Copyrighted 1890.) In the name of the women of America I ap- peal to our rulers and those who onght to be our protectors. Our health, our lives and all that makes life worth living is endangered, wasted by criminal carelessness, For two weeks a pest has seized the country, flying from far, people say, who know nothing at all about the subject. It has come with rack of bone and deadly languor, the hands falling from their work, the sick brain reeling from its task. Before one could be aware of the attack the strength had been cheated out and the first warning of the fatal hold was the sinking like death. Few were close observers enough to mark the ecg conditions, the hideons, sickly pellor noticed for wecks before the di ease appeared in all crowds of people, the drawn expressions which told of interior dis- comfort, or the sickening symptoms spoken of by many, the foul breath, whose odor forced itself upon the sense wherever people were gathered in close quarters— ops, street fastidious nerves, but a phenomenon quoted by the least observing. Then the disorder was blown in our faces, hospital nurses first, their bodies surcharged with the air of diseaso” pestilence, feels little pain and is not aware he is sick, but lies down, sinking, to expire. WHAT OF ALL THIS? Men have died and worms have eaten them and will tothe end. Ido notin the least ex- pect any of these pains, these deadly nauseas, these cramps, this death in life will have the slightest effect upon those who guard and or- der our public affairs, But there is one view of the case to which they must give heed, whether they will or not—the actual cost of this epi- demic, Not lees than one-third the population of our large cities have been taken by this terror, which the French, with their talent for epithet, rightly call la grippe, b se it | names of c! ra and yellow fever, but typhoid terotice the vce e Spans, 0 uit | is sure to follw upon the prostrations of this case from known facts this week's uselessness | Winter, and {Mil cost the country millions more has cost not less than $25a head for the hun- dred thousand smitten by the epidemic in loss | of business, time and wages, counting from bank presidents tostreet laborers, This docs not estimate the loss of strength, the lowered vitality, the shortening of days, for nature before the year is out unless searching reforms in sanitary matters are made matters of first moment. Atter the ten commandments the | first thing taught by Moses was sanitary law, | which should be the great ruling interest with | priests and politicians, teachers and society, till loses no accounts and ail shortages are found | 1¢ is comprehended and fultiiled. All ‘our charged with relentless accuracy at the closing | Schemes of education. wealth and pleasure go up of life. To say that every epidemic in- | halt for want of health. If we do not suspend volving a third of the population them long enough to learn this great lesson COSTS TEN DOLLARS A HEAD pestilence will suspend them for us and force : us to learn. is a moderate estimate, and by this the hotel | © ‘There should be no question of means when bills, for La Grippe in her short visit to Phila-| the alternative is our lives and those of our delphia, for instance, will have to be paid by | children, A foe is at the doors worse than the municipality in a round million of dollars, | English ironclads or Spanish privateers. Gov- Preventable ill-health is the most oppressive | ¢F!ment sanitary bonds should be as good in- extravagance a city can inflict upon itself. It | Vesttents as any three per cents in the mar- reduces her able-bodied men, it dampens the | Ket, if the work cannot be better done. Men, talents of its keen business minds, 1t eraces the | fathers, brothers of America, we women # beaaty of its women and blights the brains of | Pel to you for protection against the foe ite children. ‘This, worse than the poisoning | Wich walks in darkness. Upon our pleasant of the Borgias, will sow the seeds of death in | things falls the shadow of the wing of a de- many a brave young breast, which apparently | $*T0¥iug angel. Shall it depart from our const recovers only to find its power of resistance | before it has taken the youth, the health, the weakened beyond repair. Will no one eee visa | loveliness out of our homes? "Surmiey Dane. feel and ake effort that these visitations be blotted from the face of the world. “What are you talking about?” one says. “This epidemic is due to climatic conditions, a wet year, high temperature, a dangerous state of the atmosphere, It could not be helped. It was the visitation of heaven which we could not escape. Is it unavoidable when a man in a thunder storm leans against telegraph wires and mects his death by a bolt of lightning? Is it the decree of heaven when children playing with matches among open powder barrels blow up a building? cor A Bet Declared From the New York Sun. A large yellow-and-white cat started to cross Broadway nearly opposite Park row yesterday afternoon when trafic was at its greatest, Where she came from was known only to her- self, but that she was making for the friendly shelter afforded by the rails of St. Paul's ehurch yard was apparent to all. Her chances of get- ting across the street safely did not seem to be good, as she shrank back terrified froma n~ ger car, dodged under the wheels of an express Ope atG 4 Save, wagon, and escaped being run over by one of It is the will of heaven, of any sane deity, | Uncle Lopate mail vans by less than ‘hait the that foolhardy risk and constant carelessness | length of her tail. shall receive signal penalty, not that men shall| .1Wo well-dressed men from Philadelphia die without cause, ‘The eruption of Krakatoa | StPped in the middie of the thoroughfare to } her. was not without warning had any one heeded | ¥%C ed," sai it, But though one rose from the dead to warn | pet YO! she is crushed.” said ono, the world will not heed. We have nourished cep Hac = om mail as p es through the House only. The represent- atives of more than sixty million people have full letter boxes, Afew hours spent in the post offices at the Capitol would give one the impression, that the two houses of Congress composed one immense correspondence bureau, and that the members and Senators did nothing but receive and answer letters, with perhaps an hour or so set aside at night for reading newspapers and sending off public documents. Every news- paper published in the United States passes through the post office of the Hoase at least once a week, and every public document pub lished is sent out from there. Anaveraze of #100 worth of 2-cent stamps per day are used b: Representatives during the session, though all tho bills, reports, records aud other public documents, which forma great bulk of the mail they send out, go fre 1 the average sale of stamps the year, <7 DELIVERING THE MATL, They have five deliveries of mail per Jday, starting before the sleepy members have rolled over in their beds for their second morning nap. and each time there is as much mail as can be handled. Even the registered letters number from twenty to fifty per day. In order to distribute the various letters, papers and small packages that come addressed to Repre- sentatives the routes have to be divided off into five carrier districts—entirely independent of the city’s free delivery system—with a wagon and two men to each district. The first deliv- ery is made at 7:30 in the morning. At that hour the five “H. R.” mail wagons collect their mail from the city post office, where it has arrived during the night and early morn- ing on the mail trains, and start out to dis- tribute it at the houses of the members, At 10:30, again at 11:30 and at 2:30 these wagons bring in loads of mail which is distributed to the members through their letter boxes at the Capitol. Again at 4:30 the wagons start out to deliver mail at their houses, hotels and lod=- ing places, The five wagons and ten men are thus kept busy about all day carrying about the letters and papers, and the horses gener- ally have to be kept nt such a fast pace to get around that citizens have at times made com- plaint of their fast driving. The horses aro well fagged out at the end of the day and the men feel that they have fully earned their sala- ries. Formerly deliveries were made at night, and they still are on the Senate side, but the House ‘has ceased it. These wagons nig | about the streets at night and stopping now an: then while men moved mysteriously about in- side of them with lanterns used to send a thrill of terror through the nervous system of some thls pest we havo sown the malignant germs| wo ris ib of the naan who. bad oferet the ronda r. seasoned the Ree waters with death and the food in the markets | Yet. knocked his hat off aud nearly threw him a down, with taint, The ground under our feet reeked | “°%”-,,, a “hai with baleful gases and festering uncleanness, | ov Toared the driver, “hain't you got no es At the same moment the man who had taken the bet received a blow on the back of the neck from the off horse's head that nearly dislocated otidor" toeked the drfver, “Are you aaleap?? “Hol” roared the driver. “ you ‘The men escaped to the sidewalk. “Where's the cat?” asked one. “How the devil do I know?” repTied the other. And as the venturesome creature was not vis- ible, dead or alive, the bet was ordered off, A Matter of Education, From the New York World, : If you didn’t read the And if you weren’t to! Instead of infit jneuza You would simply have a cold, ———+or—___ ing rooms and Store closets. We have shunned ure air as if it were danger, and breathed as fite of itas would sustain life till our bodies swarms with bacilli of disease, the vital orga: too ill-supplied i up their work and some of us have had to give up living. Will you hear some condensed facts from two of the soundest, most learned and ex- men in this country, Dr. Bowditeh of Boston and Dr. John Bell of Philadelphia, POISON OF THE BREATH. Each Shuman being and animal throws off daily from one to three pounds of used-up mat- ter, noxious to life in any shape and growing more virulent with each hour of ferment. does not fly up into the clouds, but is grotind into the street dust or washed into a ous deposit on walls, and furniture, i 8, : F : iy Gi i of the colored population, who mistook them for “night doctors’ ” outtits. bSeeb fr ee is 1 ON 7RE eA THE HOUSE POST OFFICE. Besides these delivery wagons for the lighter mail’ there isa big double wagon which is used merely to cart off public documents to the mail trains. From a hundred and fifty to two hundred bags, each holding two or three bushels, are mailed off full of documents every day. The western members are the ones who get the most mail. Those from Kansas get more than any of the rest. The mail for the southern and eastern members is comparatively light, which goes to reduce the general average to from thirty to forty letters per member each day. The average in the west alone runs far above this figure. Mr. Peters of Kansas, who has concluded that he cannot afford to waste his substance on Congress any longer and has notified his eon- stituents that he will not again be a candidate, gets more letters every daythan anyother manin the House. He often gets a hundred letters a day and sometimes his mail runs as high av 800 letters in a week. Next to Peters Dorsey and Perkins get the most mail. McKinley's mail is next in bulk. Mr. Reed’s mail has, of course, jumped up amazingly since he has been Speaker, but for some years he has got more letters each day than any other man from the east. Lodge, Greenhalge and “Rising Sun” Morse come next to him in postage popularity. Carlisle gets more mail than any other man from the south and Mills next. There is prob- ably no man in Congress who wants any more letters to answer than he has each day, All this tremendous postal business is con- lucted in a room in the basement of the Capi- tol just at the lert of the basement entrance of the south wing. The members’ elevator runs within a few feet of the door of the office. Every morning the members on arriving at the Capi- tol go first to the post office to get their let- ters, which have come in on the 10:30 delivery, and each, he stands —_- the elevator, ay hasa bundle under his POSTMASTE WHEAT. arm and takes the op- rtunity to read one or two of his letters, ‘he elevator is usually crowded with membersin the morning going up to their seats or to their committee rooms from the post office with paises of letters under their arms and read- % as they ride, THE LETTER BOXES are arranged on three sides of a square in the post office and the members entering the door are on the inside of the square, while the at- tendants make themseives active in the e around its outer wall, distributing the mail in the boxes, handing it out on demand or sell- ing stamps. The post office isa sort of direc- tory office, too, as members leave their ad- dresses there.and people are constantly air- ing where this or that member lives or if he is in town. or hes yet reached the Capitol that day. The first place a member goes is to the it office when he reaches the building. The Tacknsse ok the ottes is conducted by a post- master, who is one of the elective officers of the House; an assistant postmaster and eighteen attendants of various degrees of rank vege pr pope dare alae to attend to all their duties. The “s desk is in the room behind yw square of letter boxes. During freer hours isone of the favorite resorts of many members, A CONFIDENTIAL CORNER. ‘There is « sofa along the wall and chairs Eee & tending that the empty sleeve, from which the tenant wag evicted during the late war, SENATOR'S AND THEIR MATL. The Senate mail not as heary as that of the House, there being fewer members, but some of the individual Senators get more letter than do any of the members of the House, Ingalls sometimes gets as many as 250 letters in @ single day, His mail is apt to increase markedly after he has made one of his charac- teristic speeches, Some af the letters are com plimentary; some are not. No other Senator gets as many letters as he docs. Plumb, Alli- souand Cullom have the next heaviest corre- spondence. 1 ry handles le | houses, and the | Senators often take advantage of the delivery wagon service to send to their lodgings pack- ages or bundles of papers, So that consider- able matter that is not properly postal is handled. The Senate has three mail delivery wagons, which make four trips a day, ns is done on the House side,. except that their late de~ livery is not made until after the Senate ad- journs, and the wagons are often out making their rounds late at mght. Besides the regular postal service there are “riding pages” for both houses, who carry letters to and from the departments during the day. The Senators sometimes send out their visiting cards by these pages when they have Ro time to call in person. — 0 ——— ee TRAGEDY OF A TOOTH BRUSH, One Such Damaged Article Makes a Commotion Aboard Ship. Two majden ladies o ‘ashington—the story has only just leaked out—were crossing the ocean last summer together in the same state room, which they shared. One fateful morn- ing Miss A. was cleaning her tecth when she discovered to her horror that she bad been using Miss B’s tooth brush, “Oh, the nasty thing!” she exclaimed, and flung the misapplied toilet instrument out through the port hole into the sea, where it was doubtless gobbled by some big figh long before it sank a mile or 0 to the bottom. “Why, that is my tooth brush you have thrown away!” cried Miss B. “It was, indeed. I'm disgusted.” “You are,eh? And how am I going to get along withont my tooth brush?” “I don’t know, I'm sure, But imagine my feelings.” “Bother your feelings, Where's my tooth brush ?” “Gone, I auppose, However, that's nothing, How do yon think I feel after hay ing used the horrid thing?” “It was your own fault, You shouldn't have taken the wrong one. And. even so, to throw it away was quite mncalled for. How am I going to get on for the rest of the voyage with- out anything to clean my teeth with /” “The wet end of a towel does well enough asa substitute. Of course. I'm sorry that your tooth brush is gone, but I'm surprised that you don't see that my annoyance at having used your tooth brush is naturally more serious than yours can possibly be over its lose.” “Pardon me, but I don’t perceive of the sort. It seems to me that ] am ferer.” *I insist that it is 1.” “No, the injury is mine.” And so the disenssion went on, Miss A. cons amage to her feclings was more serious than Miss B.'s loss of anything the suls property, aud Miss B. continuing to hold an opposite view of the case, During the rest of ‘the trip Miss B. went withoxt a tooth brush—much to her grief, inasmuch as she is ar rkably nice person as to her physical habits—while Miss A, cherished her own grievance uncompromis- ingly. Even yet, whenever the two ladies meet, the dispute isapt tocome up in an ami- cable way as to which of the two was the eater suffercr by the mistake in tooth rushes, +o Portugal’s King and Queen. From the Pall Mall Gazette, King Carlos of Portugal, who possesses six- teen Christian names, while his younger brother answers to no less than thirty, is per- sonally one of the most amiable of monarchs, He is a handsome blonde young man, who e: ries himself with a military air, and is credite by his personal friends with considerable de- cision of character. He is a devoted sports- man. an accomplished musician, speaks seven Janguages and paints in water colors—in short, he is a bit of a savant, like his relative, the un~ lucky ex-Emperor Dom Pedro. The queen is believed to be popular. She is tall and band- some and was very caref educated. She does not share her husband's passion for mu- sic, but isa student of history, delights im mathematics and is a clever sketcher. She speaks French, Portaguese, English and Gere man. She is said to take a deep and intelli- gent interest in public affairs and to be ex- ceedingly fond of her adopted country. coe Shocking Guillotine Story. From the Pail Mall Gazette. A painful story is reported from Perigeux. A youth of twenty, under sentence of death for the marder ofan old couple under circum- stances of great atrocity, was executed yester- * day morning. Owing to his youth he expected that his sentence would be commuted, and when the executioner and attendant officials appeared in his cell, roused him from his sleep and told him he mast die, he resisted to the utmost, uttering piercing screams which could be heard outside the jail. He had to be held down to have the fatal toilet performed; he fought with the executioner and the gendarmes and had to be carried to the guillotine scream- ing ali the time at the top of his voice, The executioner had to pull the young man's head through the lunette by main force, keeping hold of his ears with either hand, until the knife fell and ended this ghastly scene. The Money Spent for Liquor. From the Sandusky Register. The actual amount of malt liquors consumed in 1888 was 767,587,056 gallons. This includes not quite three million gallons of imported beer and ale, The manufacturer's price to the re- tailer is above rather than below 20 cents per gallon, At 20 cents the cost to the dealers . would be 153,517,411. The retailers get am average of 60conts per gallon, which makes the cost to the consumers $€460,622.233, whicn the American Vane aad epend annuaily for malt liquor, prince —_ beer. most careful estimate puts the cost of wine to the consumers at $72.670.136, and of distilled spirits $379,226.- 860. This gives us a grand total of $912,449, 129, nearly one billion dollars spent annually for liquor by the people of the United States. How few people realize the enormous expense the use of liquor entails on the people. Aside from the tax im; by the general government the local tax on the trade is not 5 per cent of the cost. The cost to Ohio is about 60,000,000 num; the local tax is $2,250,000, which is a trifle over 4 per cent, Polly’s Opinion, ‘From the Cincinnati Enquirer. Just before he left for Columbus Hon. Chas, Jeffre was riding to his home on the bill im ————_+e- ______ a Dejected Youth—“I would like to return this ring I purchased here a few days “Didn't it suit the young So eee eas ae. ready her one just and I like to it exchanged fora wedding ent” —Life. TER Poverty acrime, but it