Dallas herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1849-1873, 1859-09-14


to the form Of the insensible woman,
, "Whe"e's papa"
$ "Me-don't-kn0w, Gone out, )" aud the lit
. tie girl burst into tears, frightened at the ap.
pcanneo Of her questioncrs
A sharp featured face, evidently that of Mrs,
Griffin, peers Into tho door, and takes up che
, thread Of the child's narrative
"a dirty blackguard sho is, too, and dirty
she'll DO to her death. She's not sick, sir-she's
not sick she's drunk-she's nvir but full niy-
ir frRe morning "a night. The house was ave
clean, and nate and daccnt, till she came, bad
luck to her, to disgrace respectable neighhor-
hood We couldn't git her out, sir, bad luck tOl
hor nivir foot would she moye-nivir an
inch"
We leave Mrs. Griffin and continue up tho al
ley
II Past two or three rooms of Il similar charac-
ter. and wc got up pair Of steps that trsmblcd
I with our weight. We knock at the door of n
sccond'story room which dark.visaged man re.
luctantly opens. lie is noted charapter-tbat
dark-yisaged man, with sharp black eyes. lie
came from Hungary with Kossuth, saws our cice-
rome, and goes by the name of Kossuth. He has
for wiic likely negro girl, who stands beside
him with broom, endcayoring to brighton up
things. Ten cents u day he Iays for rent, his
wiis complaining that "it's Cery dear, very dear,
and only tho old man being rheumatic makes us
pay"
Up another pair Of stairs, and We enter room
that trcmbles with the football. A bed of straw
as before grects the q, and on the straw an old !
man is crouched suffering from sickness. His wife
very respectable IN her rags, tells us with tears
| how once sho was better oif-how her husband
got the rheumatism, m,-how her boy, an only son
OF twelve, who stood beside her, was disabled
from fracture of the hip,-how the rent was
ten cents night,-and that four nights rent
were duc,-how Mr.. GrilIn was inexorable and
wanted his Notwithstanding to put them out,
-. Al.
they didn't pay. All this the woman told with
tears in her eyes, and everything confirmed the
story.
We enter another house, farther up the street,
owned by one James Duffy. The house was emp
ty when we entered, and was undergoing reno
yation. 1t is what is known as u lodging and
assignaton house. There were two rooms, the
floors of which were covered with straw. each
room being about fourteen feet by ten, and the
capacity Of the house being estimated at forty
persons. The charge for lodging is as follows
| night on bare floor, 2 cents; | night on bare
floor with pillow, 4 cents l night on straw and
pillow, cents; | night straw pillow and
covering, cents in all cases payable in ad-
vance.
We go a few doors farther up the street, and
enter what is called an eating g-house, or, as the
sign has it, "Ristorant. Here is long coun-
lei covered with cold victuals of all kinds-rem-
nants of turkey and chicken, rice pudding, ham,
veal mutton, beef herring and mackerel, pies,
bread, soup, &c. These victuals are collected by
bercars. sold by wholesale to the keepers ot1' .
these eating and retail to hungry dani " =,
zens of the neighborh2od. AS an idea of what 4
dinner costs in Baker street, we print the fol-
lowing bill Of fare: h
Rice, cents; rice and molasses, cents h
chicken wing or leg, 5 cents; turkey, wing or q
leg, cents; ham, very fat, 8 cents; ham, very f
lean, cents 7; bread and water, 2 cents bread Ii
l,,-1.a 4 nSd
bone, . cents veal bone, 2 cents; beef bone, 2 q
cents beef, with gravy, cents; mackerel 8 D
cents herring tail, 2 cents herring head, / a
l cent. Invariably in advance.) ol
We have extended this sketch beyond the limits tr
of newspaper item, and yet we have notes on
our book of places of similar character volum- "
nous enough to fill three or four columns. We X
may recur to the subject again. and conclude our lo
travels up Baker street and into st. Mary. Be- iv
fore concluding however, wo must notice very -,
briefly very singular character whom we en- as
,ountered sitting coal-bin attached to tb
store at the corner of Bedford and Seventh di
Streets lie was an old negro, verging on his n,
1inety-second year, with hair as white as snow N
His body was covered with blotchos of white in
skIn as fair as that Of the lairest Caucasian A ;
singularity about the spots was, that sometimes NJ
they grew dark, and at others pale He had at
travelled all over this country and Europe rs a st
natural curiosity. His name was Curtis Butler, x
lie appeared to be very intelligent, and convers ei
ed freely remembering very distinctly the war of a,
The Revolution and particularly the Battle of hi
Brandywine, at which he was present. lie spoke n,
Of West Chester with great affection, saying he NJ
it when it was celebrated only as Ia
,eng good place to catch bears. Ou our men to
ioning the fact of having been at West Chester tb
within week past he appeared very much inter- go
,sted, and asked numerous questions about the tb
own, saying he supposed it was big city now. th
He remembered Generals Washington and La re
ayette distinctly, describing Washington as be- Nv
ng a tall, clerical looking man. exceedingly dig bo
lifted. When young, he was the property of one in
ieorge Brinton, from whom he was conveyed to ri
Joseph Brinton, who kept him until he was tb
mancipated. He inquired after several old res TO
dents of West Chester, and among others, the
Darlington family.
We now conclude this sketch of the Shadows :
f City Life. We regret it is so meagre, and Oh
Wish that we could only give to the people of =,
his city an idea of the extent of crime and oU oU
rretchedness in their midst. The existence of ma
hese places, in all their horrid enormity, is va
urning disgrace to Philadelphia's fame. Some VI
emedy should be applied, and that speedily gu
What we want is house of correction, and an
rell-directed and well.sustaincd spirit of mis- an
ionary effort. We should compel those merce-
ary landlords who keep these novels to remove tel
hem. We should clothe and educate the neg at
ected children of these miserable beings, who va
re growing up to lives Of crime and poverty W.
We should erase every vestige of these Places I'M
y the most effective enactments legislature COZ
an establish an
The health the reputation, the security and col
he lives of our people demand this. We cannot see
olerate these dens of crime and sickness and pr
ape the consequences Already prisons are filed COZ
nd coroners feed, and policemen employed, and PIC
IL because an evil such as this is permitted to
xist. Looking at its existence as n matter of
ollars and cents, the argument in favor of an th'
meloration of this evil is unanswerable; while or
,oking at it in the spirit of holy charity-chari
for the poor, the sinful and the fallen-the pr
ument is Irresistible We
r