Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 January 1894 — POVERTY IN PHILADELPHIA. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

POVERTY IN PHILADELPHIA.

Ilorrlb'.e Tal© of the Most Pitiable Destitution. The police of Philadelphia came across a most pitiable case of destitution the other day. In a wretched lodging house on Maple street, known as “Noah's Ark,” they found a woman named Mary E. Allen, aged 55, in the

last stages of consumption. Her bedy had been terribly bitten by rats, and when ihe policeman entered the room she was making feeble attempts to drive away an at my of redents with a club'. She was without food or drink for several days and was in a very helpless condition. All about were signs of abject poverty. It seems strange that in these days of enlightenment such extreme cases could exist unknown in the heart of a big city.

FIGHTING OFF RATS.