Article: The Grim Story of the Homeless dead on L.A. Streets - The oft-told tale of horror has become both the stuff of legend and the stuff of caution about poverty and destitution. That's the tale of woe of Shanghai China in the 1920s. Every morning dozens of bodies were swept up off that city's streets. They were the poorest of the poor who were desperately sick, impoverished, scorned, and of course, homeless.