Delia Loughlin as portrayed by a student from the Immaculate Conception School of Jamaica Estates, NY.
Delia Loughlin as portrayed by a student from the Immaculate Conception School of Jamaica Estates, NY.
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       Good afternoon.  My name is Delia Loughlin, but I am more commonly known as "The Bluebird of Mulberry Bend".  When I was very small my mother died and I was placed in a convent where I was taken care of by strangers.  I never felt loved by these people.  When I was 17, I wandered off to be on my own and had a hard time providing for myself.  The year was 1890.
       I found a way to live down in The Five Points, the notorious New York City den of evil and sinful deeds.  My hangout was at Mulberry Bend.  They called me "The Bluebird " because I always wore blue dresses.  I actually had quite a few nicknames ... the cops called me "The Mystery", and others knew me as the "Mulberry Slum Bummer."
       I found the hardest kind of life there, and soon my soft, lovely face became haggard and worn.  I became a creature of the night.  I moved from place to place, in worry that I would be arrested for all the bad things I was doing.  I was an expert pickpocket and was put in prison three times.  I fought with everyone and have the scars to prove it.  No one could get the better of me until one day .... The missionary Mrs. Whittemore came to see me.
       I looked strangely at this soft spoken woman speaking of being saved by The Holy Spirit.  She gave me a fresh pink rose and told me that I was like the rose.  I kept that rose and noticed that the petals wilted and fell, and I suddenly realized that it was like what was happening to me.  Then and there I marched up to The Mission to find the lady who had given me the rose.  I found the Blessed Lord and in my faith I was reborn like a brand new rose!  I was full of love.  After I learned the way of God, I went down into the very places where they had saved me, and I redeemed many of the souls of the same people I fought with and stole from.  I helped them find the path of God.  I went to the toughest of prisons to speak of my salvation and brought many souls back from the brink of hell.
       As you can see, I was redeemed to the young lovely girl I started out as.  I did not live past the age of 23, but my story lives on forever.

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Presented May 22, 2004 by The Richmond Hill Historical Society, Maple Grove Cemetery, and The Immaculate Conception School of Jamaica Estates, NY (Dr. Charlene Jaffie, principal).

Copyright © 2004 Carl Ballenas & Nancy Cataldi.
No claim to Old Kew Gardens [.com] color photograph.