Special Inquiry Waiting Rooms
For some detainees, the multi-day wait included pleading their case before a Special Inquiry hearing committee, which was enough to shake the most stoic traveler. Detainees waiting for their hearing packed into a room with only fifty seats, forcing some to sit on the floor. Ellis Island Commissioner Frederick Wallis (served 1920 – 1921) said of the floor, “…when you walked on the tiled floor you would slip in the slime.” Detainees could have witnesses come testify on their behalf, a challenging experience unto itself.
On busy days, there might be three hundred people who came to Ellis Island to serve as a witness. They would have to wait for up to five or six hours, standing in a line that extended outside of the inquiry room and down a staircase. The room itself was packed, as Commissioner William Williams observed, “to suffocation. It contains no toilet facilities.”
