Bridget at the Perry House, Newport
Bridget Sullivan gives testimony about her first employment when she arrived in America, long before going to work for the Bordens on Second Street. Today the old opera house is the Jane Pickens theatre on the green near the courthouse. The Perry House Hotel, the original building destroyed many years ago, is at the intersection of Thames and Broadway. Bridget lived awhile with a man named Sullivan during her year in Newport, a fact which seemed to cause a little sensation as to if he were a married man or a single man.
Testimony:
Q. You came to New York first, and went from New York to Newport?
A. Yes Sir.
Q. That then is five or six years ago, is it not?
A. Six years ago the 24th of last May.
Q. How old are you?
A. Twenty-five.
Q. When was your last birthday?
A. I do not know.
Q. You do not know?
A. No Sir.
Q. Then how do you know you are twenty-five; because you have been informed so?
A. Yes Sir.
Q. Did you ever live anywhere else than in Pennsylvania and Fall River?
A. In Newport I worked twelve months.
Q. In whose family there?
A. A hotel.
Q. What hotel?
A. The Perry house.
Q. That was when you first came to this country?
A. Yes Sir.
Q. How long did you stay there?
A. Twelve months.
Q. Did you work anywhere else in Newport than in the Perry House?
A. No Sir.
Q. And you were at work all the time while you were in Newport. While you lived there, in the Perry House?
A. I was a little while with my friends before I went to work. I was twelve months in Newport before I left it.
Q. Friends where?
A. In Newport.
Q. Who were they?
A. Sullivans.
Q. What Sullivan is it, what is the first name?
A. Dennis.
Q. Mr. Dennis Sullivan; does he live there now?
A. I do not know.
Q. Was he a relative of yours?
A. A friend.
Q. A married man?