Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 123, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 May 1914 — Family Living in Unhealthy And Crowded Quarters. [ARTICLE]

Family Living in Unhealthy And Crowded Quarters.

County Truant Officer Steward and County Health Officer Hemphill made a trip to Kndman one day last week to investigate the premises and mode of existing of a family named Tobias Goff, near* that place. They live in a squalid, two-room house, whieh sets right on the ground and it had been reported that the moral influences were npt such as should be permitted. >Mr. Goff and his wife are quite old people and their oldest daughter, and her husband and two younger daughters, one only fourteen, live with them, all sleeping in the same room, which was also used as a dining room. The old people have been sick a good deal of the time and the youngest girl also has been poorly, so that she was kept out of school. It had been reported that other men congregated there and that the room in whieh the six slept sometimes also accommodated from three to five others, while some of the guests found so much comfort in the congested quarters that they remained for several days. The trustee has been required to give aid ,to the family. The old man spends his time hunting and is reported ’to kill rabbits out of season and to disregard the hunting laws In-other ways. While the officers who visited the house have not yet taken positive steps, it is probable-that .something will be done and .perhaps members qf the family may be prosecuted. Good people living near there are incensed at the conditions. This is undoubtedly a place that should be cleaned up in the interest of health and morals. Goff is said to be feeble minded and this mental condition is'doubtless behind the .moral depravity. One of the girls was recently granted a license to marry, but with the proper restrictions this would not have been allowed. ' •;<