Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-02-07

ir- men have been and are So greatly eX'
or cised in respect to the condition Of t
B. lazy, filthy, lying, thie'Fing, best
:. freedmen, who were once industrioI
a happy, contented laborers, but are nc
2 rapidly relapsing into their original AT
can barbarism? ? Hardly, we imsgini
iie it since, before the Huns Of the nineteen
2 century rsvsged The South with fire al
v sword, and gave the negroes q liber
p that they knew not, and never will kno
4 how 70 use, there were no tenemei
It houses or paupers, or beiggars in Il
5t South, excepting those who came frol
e the Northern States and Europe into OF
/ cities.
e We found what follows, more than
g year since, in the New Yorl; World.
7 : is pity that the poor devils who hay
. had liberty given them to starve, coul
E not read it, and learn to what banque
a their Northern friends have invite
them.
7 The World first speaks Of The
y PISTILENTIAL HEllLs,
(which are commonly known by tn
mild and insignificant title of TsasB1eT
Houses land it says, that they ar
! nothing more or less than repulsiv
plague-spots, reeking with d th, and ranl
with poison and disease-shOcking
offensive, pestiferous and hideous-whicl
have fastered their poisonous fangs int
the heart of our city-nests of diseas,
and death.7 The rest we copy from thu
World, without comment:
We are not writing this for the pur
pose Of doing sensation" There is nC
pen so able that il can describe the
scenes witnessed in these pestilentia
hells, where death and sickness hold
their perpetual revels, and where the all
ls eEer heavy with nOXious vapOrs
Truthfully il can be said, and those who
are qualified to speak from experience
will verify the statement that of all the
diabOlical, hOrrid, atrOcious, fiendish, and
even hellish systems of money making
ever invented by the mind OF man, the
[ tenement-house system of his city, is
/ the most horrible, and the sum of all
that is enormously repulsive, fearful and
devilish.
The first of these dealt. .-and-disease
manufactures visited, is known az Nos
I p, 81 SO and IS Baxter street, and bears
I upon its easterly wall the inscription
/ printed in huge, glaring letters, JOHN
SEXTON S IMPROVED TENEBIT!N THOUsEs.' ,
These tenements-let us not forget to
speak of them as these Improved dwell
/ lings consist Of two buildings, one front
and the other rear, each being six stories
in hight Into these buildings hundreds
of human beings are huddled together in
small, dingy apartments, which are
but poorly ventilated, and are darkened
even on the brightest days of summer
The stairways are narrow and numbered
with wood and other materials, there
being no other place for the tenants to
store their surplus articles OF furniture
and their fuel. A foul, fetid smell, even
in the cOldest weather, fills every portion
Of these 4" improved tenement houses, -
causing much sickness among the ten
ants, and also to many persons living in
better and more healthful quarters in the
immediate neighborhood. There is no
ventilation except from the front of the
buildings, the rear Of the houses being so
shut in that there is in fact 40 room for
a proper circulation of the air. Persons
living in these dwellings state that the
rooms were 50 Overrun with vermin du-
ring the summer that they were Obliged,
for the sake Of comfort, TO sleep on the
roof. In stormy weather many slept in
the halls. But so thoroughly infested
with crawling things" was the place,
that the annOyers came into the halls in
quest of victims, and even assembled to
the roof IN the course Of their predatory
excursions.
In one Of the rooms of the front build
ing belonging to this ornamental cOllec-
ton Of " improved tenement houses " a
mother and two daughters were found
who stated that the halls were never lit,
and that they we're always a. most totally
dark during the day.
What rent do you pay?' asked one
of the visitors.
Seven dollars a month"; answered |
the mother, and we find il pretty hard /
work to make things meet sN right and /
pay cur expenses"
You work at artificial flower making, /
l see, rem arked a gentleman. How /
much can you make day al that ~
Well, " said the woman, "we three .
can make, if we work from seven o'clock .
in the morning until nine at night, about 1
one dollar and quarter. We get five I
This woman said that she was obliged 1
to live in sue "a place, but that she fully
knew that H,Vas one of Z" the most hoT-
rible place.E6n the face of the earth, a
fact which those who have seen with
their own eyes will not fail TO corrobo-
rate.
Immediately opposite these improved
tenement houses" and in the rear of
No. 37& Baxter street, stands a row of
wo- story shanties which are known as
LODGING HOUSES.
And what a place to lodge We
ooked about US for beds, but found them
not. On damp, filthy floor, the dodgers
are permitted to stretch their weary
limbs for the sum Of ten cents. When
We entered this place a number of the
odgers were taking their meals, and
among them was a young man with a
len behind his ear and general appear
snce, despite the rags that covered bis
body, which showed that lie had seen
)etter and brighter days.
There are a number Of these lodging
lOuses here in a q heap" ard they pre-
eDt a picture Of dilapidation and filth,
md are occupied by inmates so squallid
rom dissipation and disefse, that the
leart turns from them, sick to the core.
The entrance to the shanties, for such
hey are, is nothing but a pathway of
mud, garbsgC and decOmposed filth Of
Utmost every description, and through
his the dodgers must tramp in going to
md coming from their lodgings. The
lOxious eXhalations arising from this
mass Of putrefaction was so great that
had to be applied to those
lOstrils among the visitors which were
and had never before felt
hose sensations which are only expert
need by persons who have stood amid
he reeking filth of this human sty in
Baxter street.
THE OLD BAPTIST CHURCH,
It No. 8 Mulberry street, for long time
last used as a tenement house, is one OF
he most shocking nusanOes that ever,
n the shape Of a dwelling, lifted its roof
oward the stars. Here, SIS in Baxter
treet, in those "improved tenement
houses already described, there are
ront and rear tenements, the front
building being six stories in hight. The
of this house are totally
lark, both by day and night, and except
~ the gliInmering light Of a candle the
darkness is never disturbed. Many OF !
be occupants of these telements are
poor, sna frequently ind
themselves unable to pay their rent |
which ranges from four dellRrsand half
o seven dollars per month. On stormy
laws lamps have to be lighted even in
he front rooms, it being found impOssi- !!
lie to peTf9rIa any work unless this is
lone. As for ventilation, there is scarcely !
my. The atmosphere is very offensive !
md oppressive. In breathing it the
ungs feel as if atmospheric poison were
passing through bhela. On she INST Iloor
# the front building, we found three
children shut up in q darkened room.
Two of them were engaged at picking
lair, while the other, a mere babe, lay
m the floor in a state of perfect, childish
erenitY. The nother Of thRse little ones
lad gone out to her day's work, and the
hildren were left at home to pick hair, I.
md thus aid in making money enough
o keep the family from starvation, The !
are filthy, and ii is wonder
hat terrible disease does not rage there /.
,erpetual.y. The water-elJsets are in a
condition of filth that cannot be de-