Shot Stealing Bread for Starving Family.
Shot twice through the body as he was attempting to steal a loaf of bread from the rear gallery of the home of Joseph Haseman, John Reou, of New Orleans, La., was rushed to the Charity Hospital. From his hospital cot he explained the motive for the attempted theft.
“My eight children were crying all night for food,” he said. “I listened to their sobs until I could not bear their suffering any longer. So I went out to steal them a loaf of bread.”
Haseman, who is a street-car conductor, did the shooting. He has been arrested. The police say the case is the most pitiful that has come under their notice in several years. The charge against Reou will probably be dropped.
One of the bullets Haseman fired at the father of eight hungry children struck him in the right arm and another in the left side. Neither of the wounds is considered serious.
Reou, now broken in health and spirits, married twenty-one years ago. He has always borne a good reputation, which is vouched for by several members of the police department who know him and by friends and former employers. Recently he lost his position as a clerk in a grocery store because his eyesight was failing and his health was broken. He tried many times to get work, and failed. Gradually the small sum saved by him and his wife was gone.
His oldest daughter, Julia, aged twenty, got a position which pays her six dollars a week. Charles, his oldest son, aged sixteen, took a position as office boy, and earns two and one-half dollars a week. Olivia, another daughter, aged twelve, receives a half dollar a week for helping a dressmaker. The house they live in costs them twelve dollars per month.[Pg 66]
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