Staunton spectator, and general advertiser. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 183?-1849, 1848-12-27
Nj | S C Il l. l. A N Y.
TEE FIVE POINTS.
"Bcttcr dwell in the midst Of alarms,
Than reign in this horrible place"


In his conversation upon the rock of ST. 'IIele-
ma, Napoleon, on one occasion, returning to his ma
tive island of Corsica remarked that he knew it SO
well that, blind-folded he could walk it in any
direction. An observing traveller, with a toerable
nose, after months sojourn i'll Gotham, could, AT
neon OF day III July, just readily indemnity, in
a rapid drive, with his eyes bandaged and his ears
Theoretically sealed, his invasion and evacuation of
the Five Points, by the ''smel; ;" though the streets
of New York are no where as dellciousIy aromatic
as the winds from the Spice Islands. At noon, or
in the afternoon, of mid summers day, with lite
raj justice, Orange street might exclam-
"Oh my offence is rank
1t smells TO Heaven"
Carfuls of garbage emplied into the cutters, al
ready filled with the fiIthiest fluids, are, by the ac
ton of the sun after thorough stirring by the pigs,
reduced into sort OF pulp OF the color of turtle
soup, which, seething, bubbling, fermenting, and
eNhang in the intense heat, difuses in the sur
rounding atmosphere a stencil most execrable and
revolving. Here and there capacous grunter lies
broadside, baskng iii the genial blaze and luxuria-
ting in the slime, ever and anon turning the wet
side up, which, as seized by the evaporation. rem
ders him but dimly visible in cloud of sleam.-
Groups OF living carlcatures of humanity, bloaled
blistered, ragged and scabby, widowed and greasy
half insane, semi idiollc, line the ragged side
walks and the doors all open, disclose at every
step Stacking shelves, full Of alcoholic poisons eel
lars Populous with specimens Of living putrefaction.
and stair cases hidcouS in their filthy bIackness
leading to dingy dOrmIlUrico. whose air is rancid
from the cOntaglOn of filth and disease and from
which often rough coffin comes down at niplifalI.
with the accomplishing ruins of some poor wretch i'm
ii, making room for other wretch TO crawl up
and die among the contagious rags IN the vacant cor
Occasionally lis the feculenl slime of the cutter
some inflated termagant. obiviUus in beastly beau
;ltude from excessive potations of the vile acrid pn
obtained at the next door, lies perchance heads and
tails with venerable and well behaved porker anc
dead her companion TO all sense OF the ieers o
the drunken negroes discussing the charms of the
sleeping beauty.-Ehe children that crawl ON
from their sepalcbTal holes underground, or tia
creep down from their mephtic cages from the dis
eased and dying in the carrots, rckey scad- head
ed, scOrOutlc, Or drOpslcal are equally the carca
lure Of their generation. Like plants which arr
! sProuted in charne-house, they draw their brie
! existence from cOrrupting bones, and die i'm Tn
! thick darkness which ushered them into life
Their first words are profanity their earliest sp2r,
are exhibitions Of their wretchcdncss, TO exiort
( penny from the passing stranger, OF Of precociou
sagacIiy IN crime. There are but few To- be seen
and the inqurlng visiter might learn the plot O
some dark tale of shame and deseTon in tie histo
/ ry Of most Of them. Perhaps the mother of tina
scald headed boy is the besotted widow of som
! drunken e'nlgrant who died on Backwcl's Island
and that shadow Of little girl, whose opthalmi
/ eyes can scarce endure the twilight, may be In
daughter of some cOnfdi0g damsel lured from he
iahers cottage in the country, and driven ny sham
and despair TO cross the threshold where death fol
lows close upon the inltiation-where the horrors
/ existence too often drive lis victims 10 hasten il
dssOlutloD--wheTe all the pictured agonies Of eter
! nal perdltion are overwhelmed by The actual no,
ro's and foul dlscords Of the palpable fends and f
ric9 that surround them. Horrible, indeed, In