From Hannus(Pedlar Press, 2007). ­

Manifest page 0208.Contract ticket no. 34695.No. on list: 8 In the line (three abreast) that stretchedfrom the dock into the Baggage Roomup the steep flight of stairsto the hall of the Registry Room,

those were the numbers pinned on her dress.

Blue chalk for the sick or contagious.Pg for pregnant. K, hernia.X for those with feeble minds.No, she was never in Prison or Almshouse or supported by charity.No, she was not a Polygamist.Deformed or Crippled, Nature and Cause: No.The woman beside her tried to stop coughing.The buttonhook men walked down the line.

It is not true that Ida knew no one when she came to the New World. She could not have left Ellis Island if that were true. She would have had to stay in the dormitory. She would have had to sleep in a triple-tiered bunk.

In 1907 , thousands filled the room. They sweated, coughed, screamed, flung their bodies against the floor. They were moved to the expanded hospital building and psychopathic ward. Some went to the morgue. Others received telegrams and left. But Ida would have stayed.

In 1910, they would have moved her to the new Baggage and Dormitory Room. She would have been so thin then, a bundle of dry bones.

It would not be true that she died crossing Hastings Street.

Single women were not allowed to cross the street.

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