Inside the 'Hell Hole': Life for the Unemployed in 1893

A recent applicant to the Bureau of Associated Charities for help in securing the means of earning a living gave a vivid account of the manner in which the class of men known as hobos exist in the winter months when work is scarce. At the request of Superintendent Dooley he wrote a graphic description of the conditions under which men sustain an existence in the saloons in the lower end of the city, dependent on the saloonkeepers for food and a place to sleep. Mr. Dooley estimates that about 1,000 men are living in this way. The man in question has been found employment and is now working steadily. He writes: 'I came to Seattle expecting to get work. I am willing to take any kind of a job, but I have found no work of any kind. I had to do like the rest of the boys in the same fix, make my home in Clancy Burns' saloon. You do not know—no one ever can know unless he is situated the same as we are—what a hell hole it is. Every night the saloon is filled with men sleeping not only on chairs and tables, but in the sawdust on the floor like hogs. Then there is a certain class there that steals not only what we have in our pockets, but steal our hats from off our heads and even the shoes from off our feet while we are asleep. But the greatest trouble is the body lice. No one can tell what we have to suffer from this source; not one of us is free from them. They are so numerous that you can see them crawling on the outside of our clothes. And yet, what can we do? In all this city this is the only place we can go and sleep. Not only does he allow us to sleep there, but every day at noon he gives each one a plate of soup and a piece of bread, and at 9 p.m. he gives us a plate of stew. If the people of Seattle could only see us as we are, I am sure they would do something to help us. We have built your railroads, got out your lumber, mined your coal; in fact, we have done all your work for you. Now help us to exist until there is some more work for us to do.'