Entire Family Has Been Without Food or Roof for Three Months.
As Patrolman B---- was walking along H---- Street, Brooklyn, early
yesterday morning, he observed a woman and two children, a girl of
twelve and a girl of six, standing in a door way half clothed, each
nestling close to the other to keep warm. Apparently they failed in
this, for the mother and children were blue from cold and were
shivering.
The officer spoke to the woman. But she did not answer. He spoke to
her again and she raised her eyes to him. The eyes were those of an
insane person, and the officer took the mother and children to the
S---- Street police station. There the police fed the family and
the woman gained sufficient strength to speak.
She told the police that she was Mrs. S----. She was deserted by
her husband and for the last three months, since she was
dispossessed, she and her children lived in cellars and doorways.
After telling that much of her story the woman collapsed. She
became hysterical, insane again.
The police began to question the elder girl, the twelve year old
May. May spoke only a few words and her mind began to wander. Like
her mother she became hysterical.
The woman and her two children were then taken to the ---- Court
before Magistrate D----. The magistrate at once saw that he was
dealing with an unbalanced woman and he ordered her sent to the
observation ward of the Kings County Hospital.
In the Children's Court, Justice G---- found that the children were
suffering from starvation and exposure. They were sent away with
the mother.
It looked doubtful yesterday whether Mrs. S---- would ever
completely recover from the insanity into which she was thrown by
months of starvation and homelessness.