The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1854-02-19

stables, and other nameless nth, baked sDlidly
together, and evidently undisturbed for months
Every warm spell It thaws little, and sends
up such clouds Of reeking and nauseating
odors that it makes one sick at the stomach to
pass along, even in winter. The first warm
flush Of spring must produce the most frightful
Rector, Albany, Liberty-in fact, all the way
up to Washington Market-are, If possible, worse
than those we have described. They are full
of deep gulleys, into which the wheels splash,
sending the mud flying, and scattering the
DOORS windows and walls Of the houses and
covering the narrow sidewalk with layers Of
mud. And then, think of the Easements and
cellars in all this neighborhood all thickly
inhabited, too, by poor, filthy, ignorant emf
grants and negroes, with no conveniences in
the yards, no water, nothing but the floor and
the street for every thing! The Hottentots are
infinitely better housed and lodged.
We novhpproach Washington market--the
very sink-hole of the city. For q wide space
around it, you encounter nothing but hills Of
bages and other vegetables, the offal, the fish
scales and oyster shells, and the general excre-
ments of the market Inside, everything is so
close and unwholesome, so crowded and mixed
together that to put ones nose in for q moment
Is enough to give man distaste for his meals
for week. The passages and walks, when we
waded through them on Thursday, were afloat
H. hou 10
and on three sides is regular Gordon Of manure
and the remnants Of horse feed, charmingly
diversified with swine's hoofs, clots Of hair, and
tails and fins of decayed fish, the whole arranged
in picturesque little hillocks, like one Of IS
pictures. Carts and wagons, boxes, barrels,
and every imaginable sort Of obstruction, crown
this rampant OF purifying ordure, and complete
the cheoaur de frise by which our principal
household market is bulwarked.
But behind the market, jutting out upon the
river there is another long, dirty, narrow, dark
shanty. filed with dead hogs and other delicate
comestibles, and kept in still more disgust
ing state than the market itself 1t is impossi-
BILE to convey any adequate idea of the abomi-
nable filthiness of this place. 1t makes us shud-
der to recall 1t. All around the eastern, north
ern and southern sides of the market, the
opposite sidewalks are almost entirely covered
with open barrels Of mackerel, pork, cheese.
butter and other rancid and rank smelling
commodities, filling the air with compound
stencil, and leaving only narrow winding
path for the pedestrians to twist and wriggle
along among them. This description will ap-
ply, with slight variation and considerable
abatement, to every market in New York. It
is actually astounding that any city composed
of clearly and respectable families in any ra-
tional proportion, can put up, year after year,
with such . state of things.
Passing from the market, we plunged again
into the mud, and entered upon region which,
nearly one whole year, was absolutely blocked
up by the buildings going up or being pulled
down. Barclay Murray, Warren and Chambers
streets, and Church street as far as Chambers,
were oil this time impossible for vehicles, and
almost SO for foot passengers. The entire
streets, sidewalks and all, were covered with
rubbish and building materials-the rail cars
were Withdrawn, and ended their trips at the
corner Of West Broadway and Chambers
rails were broken short OF in several places,
and the whole region appeared like q small
section of Moscow after the confagration. This
state Of things is now partially remedied-
though still the whole Of this neighborhood is
an outrage and disgrace, and threatens to
remain so for an indefinite period.
OF the side and lateral streets running up
town, west Of Broadway, we can only say that
if they are not all as bad as those we have de-
scribed, it is because they are not so much fire.
quented, and because their populations are more
clearly and decent. The avenues, especially
from the Sixth to the North river. are, however,
bad enough to make up. Most of the buildings
on the avenues are tenement houses, with shops
in front, and the upper stories occupied by nu-
merous families, with only a narrow hall and
mere hands breadth Of yard for all. Generally
these houses have no drains, and consequently
no communication with the street sewer. The
inmates, therefore, Of necessity are compelled
to throw their Stops and garbage into the
cutters; for, should they even attempt to
keep slop-barrel on the sidewalk, it would be
of no use, as the scavenger carts never come
along As to the avenues on the eastern side
Of the city, some of them are infinitely worse
especially the Third above Forty second street,
where the building Of sewers and the excava-
tions Of the railroad company in changing the
course oftheir track, have not only torn up the
pavement, but left yawning caverns and unde
Tended abysses, into which carriages and horses
are daily plunging. On Friday no less than
three vehicles were precipitated into these pits,
and it was miracle that lives were not lost.
As it was, two wagons, carriage, and a valu-
able horse, were destroyed and several per-
sons seriously bruised. The Street Commits
sioner has been directly appealed to on this
subject, but he declines to interfere.
In nearly oil the cross streets above Four
teenth, q great deal Of building is going on ;