﻿HOUSTXG COXDITIONS IX INDIANAPOLIS 



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men which are housed in the district, but in regard to the num- 

 ber of individuals living in each room or suite of rooms. The 

 average number of rooms in a house or suite is three. One of 

 these serves as kitchen and dining-room, and, in most cases, as 

 sleeping-room for the cook. In the other tAvo rooms we find on 

 the average 10 3/35 persons. In most of the houses visited we 

 found from six to eight men sleeping in each room. (The aver- 

 age is lowered to 5 3/10 by a few cases of only two people occu- 

 pying a room). The men usually sleep on single cots arranged 

 around the walls in the most convenient way. The bedding con- 

 sists usually of a miscellaneous assortment of blankets, comforts, 

 pieces of old carpet, etc. Sheets and pillows are very rare. In 

 only one or two houses did we find any effort at ventilation of 

 sleeping rooms. Naturally the air in them is very heavy and 

 foul from the odor of the cooking, tobacco smoke and the impuri- 

 ties thrown off from the lungs of the men. 



A few examples of conditions actually discovered will help 

 in the comprehension of the situation. Five men were found to 

 be living, cooking, eating, sleeping and loafing in one room on 

 the second floor of a block on Washington Street. This room had 

 no window or door opening on a street or court. It was so dark 

 that the men were forced to bum an oil lamp all day in order to 

 see anything in the room. The air in this place was sickening. 



In another room in the same building nine men live in two 

 rooms, one of which is dark. Opening out of this latter room is 

 an ordinary wardrobe or closet about six feet long and thirty 

 inches wide. In this closet there is a cot, upon which a man 

 sleeps. One of the Indianapolis health officers recently made a 

 visit to this place at night and found a man sleeping in this 

 closet with the door locked tight. In this same building there 

 are many other dark rooms occupied by from four to eight men. 

 The rent of these single dark rooms is from $3 to $6 per month. 

 On South California Street in two upstairs (attic) rooms over 

 a saloon twelve men cook, eat and sleep. Four of these men oc- 

 cupy the kitchen, and the other eight the remaining room. In 

 the adjoining house seventeen men, one woman and two children 

 live in two rooms. On West Pearl Street, in a small three-room 

 shack, a Roumanian and his wife are keeping boarders and room- 

 ers. In the house next door fifteen Servians live in two rooms. 

 Further examples are unnecessary, although many more could 

 be given. 



