Irwinton bulletin. (Irwinton, Wilkinson County, Ga.) 1894-1911, September 15, 1911, Image 1

Irwinton bulletin., September 15, 1911, Image 1

About Irwinton bulletin. (Irwinton, Wilkinson County, Ga.) 1894-1911 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 15, 1911)

Page of 8

Prev Issue Next Issue

Text PDF JP2 (3.9 MB) Clip/Print Image

Page of 8

Prev Issue Next Issue

Return to Top

Newspaper Page TextVOLUME XVI. NUMBER 51. HELP THE FALLEN TO MAKE GOOD Chicago’s “New Man Factory” That Is Do ing Work of Real Worth. AIDS UNFORTUNATES Story of One Man Reclaimed and * Made Good Ci Yen—Earnest and Self-Sacrificing Men De voting Their Lives to Uplift the Fallen. ‘ By ROLLO H. M'BRIDE. Manager o£ the Parting of the Ways Home. |HICAGO— In the year 1900 there lived in Bristol, Belgium, a poor, hard-working widow by • the name of Remmers and her only son, Emile, aged' 10, a bright, manly boy, to whom she was very much attached. Unfortunately for Emile, his mother married a sec ong time and the stepfather did not take kindly to the boy. Therefore, he became a trouble-breeder. It was de cided that Emile should be sent to the United States. The father then prov ed extremely kind to him and bought his ticket to Chicago. Believing that America was a wild and dangerous place—and Chicago in particular In habited chiefly by Indians and cow boys—he presented Emile with two revolvers, saying: “Take care of them; you will need them when you get there.” Sailing from Liverpool via the Al lan line, he encountered unusually bad weather, passing through a blind ing snowstorm —the w r aves mountain high and the ship rolling and tossing in the gales. In fact, the passage was considered to be one of the most stormy ever experienced by even the most hardened sailors. In due course of time 3mile arrived in Chicago and, calling upon the French consul, he was able to secure a position as porter in one of the finest restaurants. He took the little money he had left and paid for a roonr This done, his means were c ■ haus. <l. The second night, going home from work rather late, he was attacked by two tougns, as he passed under the "L” tracks. They pounced upon him, gagged him and threw him upon th' ground. He, realizing his danger, drew one of the revolvers his father had given him and fired several shots. The toughs promptly took to their heels. The shots attracted the atten tion of a detective, who, rushing to the scene, saw two men running away and one upon the ground. He there fore grabbed the only one he could find, and Emile, thinking him another hold-up man, commenced to fire wild ly again. Law’s Injustice. W It was necessary for the police nan to blow his police whistle for help— and the upshot was that Emile land ed at the Harrison street police sta tion in the patrol wagon. This sta tion is famous- for having housed many of the world’s most notorious criminals. It has since been torn down, but was then a dark, gloomy jail—enough to strike terror into the heart of an Innocent young boy— alone and friendless in a strange land —unable to even speak our language. He was brought up before the judge the next morning and —not under standing our customs or ways or lan guage—and little realizing the drama enacted about him—sat patiently in the prisoners’ dock, listening to the testimony—yet unaware of the evi dence given against him. The detec tive swore to three charges—disor derly conduct, carrying concealed weapons and resisting the law. On the first he was fined $59, on the second $56.50 and on the third $31.50, or a total of $147. Having neither money nor friends, he was committed to the House of Correction to work out his fine at the rate of 50 cents a day. It seems incomprehensible that a judge could pass so severe a sen tence as this on the mere unsupported word of a police officer and not learn the other side of the story. The famous Black Maria, with its capacity of 70, backed up at the Har rison station and took its load of human driftwood, among them a trem bling, frightened boy—Emile. The llrnnuUm SulktttL doors clanged shut and they started for the House of Correction. Here the doors were unlocked and the men unloaded. They entered the large re ceiving room, with its shower baths, barber chairs, benches and the bags in which the prisoners leave their own clothes when they are stripped. The bags are then sealed. The men go first to the barber chairs, then to the shower baths, and then don the uni form of the House of Correction — picked from the clothing piled on the benches along the walls, perhaps dis carded by some unfortunate dis charged in the morning. They are then taken to the cells. In a Felon’s Cell. Locked in his cell, Emile realized at last the full and bitter meaning of his conviction. His heart was broken —his manly spirit crushed. He fell upon his knees with the tears running down his face. He murmured brok enly some little prayer his Christian mother taught him. All night he rolled restlessly upon the little, nar row bunk —thinking, thinking, think ing—wondering what would be the outcome. Early in the morning, with the rest of the prisoners he was called to go out to work. He had no privi leges other than those granted by any penal institution —no clock, no calen dar, no newspapers. He was permit ted, however, to draw a magazine or book from the library. Emile was a model prisoner and Superintendent Whitman, was attract ed by his manly face and strict com pliance with the rules. I might say, in this connection, that Mr. Whitman is considered by all of the criminolo gists of the world to be the most humane —and yet the most practical— and the farthest advanced in the knowledge of the proper care and handling of prisoners of keepers of in stitutions of his time. He is greatly beloved by all the gurr's and prison ers under his care. This, then, was the type of man that too' an interest in Emile and did so much for him. Notwithstanding the dirty work and the soiled clothes, as day after day Emile pushed his wheelbarrow to and fro, Mr. Whitman saw through the un prepossessing exterior into the heart of the innocent, unfortunate hoy. He saw that Emile ’ as or' of his cle ment and ordered him to his own home. He was given a bath and a suit of spotless duck and assigned as a waiter and houseman under Mr;. 77^ PAPTIIK OP THE WAYA HOHE Whitman’s direction. Mr. Whitman says that it was wonderful to note the change in the boy—out of 'he noise and dirt and r’Lcouraglng sur roundings of the institution into the peace and quiet of the superinten dent’s home. He asked innumerable questions of all w’lth waom he came in contact and gained a knowledge of English most unusual, considering the short time he was there; for Mr. Whitman, after a great deal of trou ble, had two of the charges against Emile dismissed and he was dis charged when he had served only 108 days of his sentence. Small Chance for Unfortunate. Mr. and Mrs. Whitman gave him a warm handclasp and told him good bye with a great deal of good advice. They also gave him fifty cents and when he passed out of the House of Correction he was handed a card to one of the charitable institutions for the aiding of discharged prisoners. Upon his arrival at this place they took his record, gave him a lot of ad vice, handed him fifteen cents with which to get something to eat, and told him he had better try the hotels and restaurants for a position like he formerly had. He started out and asked for work everywhere in his broken English. No one seemed to want him or to have any interest in what became of him. Hour after hour passed and at last —discouraged and weary—he went back to the charit able institution. They then gave him a card to the Chicago municipal lodg ing house, which nightly houses 600 or more unfortunates from the under world. He remained there three lays. The last night he was informed that he could not come back there. He was 1" despair. He had no home —no friends —no money—no where to go. He had made a fruit less effort to join the United States armv. but they Informed Um that he IRWINTON, WILKINSON COUNTY, GEORGIA, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1911. was too small. Then he tried the navy, but was told that he could not speak English plainly enough. He had spent the fifty cents Mr. Whitman gave him in cheap meals —merely ex isting from day to day. He had reached the point where he conclud ed that there was nothing left for him to do but go back to the Bridewell and ask his good friend, the superin tendent, to keep him, for he felt that no one wanted him ans that no op portunity of any kind awaited him. After hearing the boy's story, Mr. Whitman called up the Parting of the Ways Home and asked me if I could not use a bright, neat, careful boy. He scrubbed, cleaned and assisted me in every possible way to get the Home ready. This was just before the opening of the Home. At the ex piration of nine days 1 was able to secure a position for him in Memphis, Tenn., as storekeeper in a prominent hotel at ?40 a month, room and board. Surely there was nd one in Chicago more happy and contented than the bright, smiling boy I put on board the train for Memphis that night. He shook my hand again and again, vow ing to “make good." Now a National Asset. Several letters had passed between us, and one day this week, much to my surprise, the door opened and in walked, all smiles, a neat, nicely dressed, prosperous-lookii g young man -Emil Remmers. Throwing his arms around my neck in his impulsive, foreign fashion, he said: “Oh, Mr. Mc- Bride, how I love you! How I love this Home! For if it had not been for the Parting of the Ways Home and you, I might have become a thief or worse —and I don’t want to do any thing wrong!” After telling me his experiences during his absence, he produced a pocketbook, well fll ’, and a bank book, showing that within less than twenty months he had saved more than $265. He is very ambitions and his one object and aim in life is to have a restaurant of his own and be come a successful business man. At the present tim^ he is employed as storekeeper in a first-class hotel in one of the largest cities in this state. About this time. Old Charley went into the House of Correction 'o serve his two hundred and ninth sentence. It is said of him that if he should leave there today he i; expected back day after tomorrow. He has a regu- lar job on one of the gates and when he is released his position is only filled temporarily. If, when Old Charley was released the first time, there had been a Part ing of the Ways Home to receive him —to feed him, clothe him and assist him to employment—the city would have been spared the cost of arrest ing and re-arresting—and the House of Correction that of feeding and re seeding. This would have been enough to have operated the Parting of the Ways Home for years to come. Not only this, but Old Charley—like Emile Remmers —would have become a successful and prosperous business man—a useful and respected member of society. A Restful Life. We sent our reporter out to Geauga county last week to interview an old codger who was celebrating his 104th birthday. “How do you account for the fact that you have been able to attain this remarkable age?” asked our bright young man. “To the fact that I have never work ed a lick before breakfast,” answered the centenarian. “This is a fact worth remember ing,” muttered the reporter, making a note of it. “There’s another thing that pa fail ed to mention,” a son-in-law whisper ed in the newspaper man's ear. “What is that?” “He never done a lick of work after breakfast, neither. Git that in your story, too.” —Cleveland Plain Dealer. Domestic Demand Satisfied. Bluebeard explained. “They always wanted more closet room, and now they have it,” he cried. Thus the forbidden chamber was ac counted for. We Got to MOVE! Why not come in and look at the low prices we are making on our present stock of goods. Did You Ever Move? The trouble and expense attached===the worries—are many. We’ve got lots of goods===stuff that will just help you over the summer — and as it’s late we are going to cut the price===then, too, A we don’t want to move these goods. Come, let’s look these values over. If you do we sure will sell you your needs. Our new home after Sept, i, entire “Ohlman Building.” Your friends, W. S. Myrick & Co. SI.OO A YEAR.