"We are awfully hungry; can't you give us a bit of something to eat?"

If you were going to be thrown into the clink in 1882, you could do a lot worse than the Butler Street Station House, where you were apparently given an unlimited number of pies to gorge yourself on. From an article in the January 27, 1882 Brooklyn Daily Eagle: 

“‘Do you want something to write?’ asked Captain Leavey of a reporter, as he entered the Butler Street Station House this morning.

‘Yes,’ was the reply.

‘Well,’ said the captain, ‘we had a rare pair of lodgers here last night. They gave the names of John M. Clark and William Collins, and said they came from Hempstead. Before being shown upstairs one of them said to me: ‘Captain, we are awfully hungry; can’t you give us a bit of something to eat?’ They looked just the sort of fellows that could have relished some broiled crow, and so I said to them: ‘How hungry are you?’ The elder of the two smacked his lips and said he felt as though he could swallow a house and lot, so I sent around the corner to an adjoining bakery for some pie.

Half a dozen pies were set before them and they disappeared like snow before a blazing sun. Six more were produced and still they were not satisfied. I asked them if they intended to eat up the bakery, and the only reply received was to the effect that the people in Hempstead were all great eaters. So, I sent out for another half dozen, and they went the way of the rest in just as short a time. Then they said they had enough and retired for the night.

‘I tell you,’ said the captain, in conclusion, ‘I would not like to take a contract to feed the folks in Hempstead.'”