The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1872-07-03
Our New York Letter.
n Ew York, June, 1872.

! NEW YORK, June, 1872.
Some ono has put on record the
romark that "Now York is not by
any means an American city"
To II certain degree, it is true.
| Like Paris aud New Orleans it
has its quarters, where you may
; fl n d respectively classcd tho
frcnchman, Spaniard, Italian, Cor
man and Chinaman. And yet all
Of these national elements YOU
! will find cosmopoliscd in one To-
cailty--thc Bowcry.
| What Broadway Is to the West
sido OF the Town, the Bowcry is to
the East. It's the shilling promo
made. The poor 1.-Two there and
you see tho peculiar characteris-
tics Of poverty written in blurred
and nasty cmblcms all over the
neighborhood. Starting from City
Hall. within two hundred rods of
broadway, you strike little old
cloth-shops, intermingled with
cheap corner groceries and subtcr-
ranian saloons. You arc on the
old colonial stage road to Boston
Chatham street. Tho procession
that passes you is composed of the
working classes-during the day
but at night, look ont for thieves.
Ihrrc arc dons notorious to the
police rs rccoptacles for stolen
goods, "cribs'' where congrcgate
the robbers Of the town, and hou-
scs in which every window for
SIX or seven stories upwards is
q picture Of squalid halfdrcssed
women and children. Tho street
terminates in an Irregular open
space, on what was onco n steep
7 hiil side, and is known as Chatham
square, but a mockory, by the
way, on that shape, for it is any
thing but square. 4...
| This, is tho 4 beginning of the
Bowery proper-e~tho vestibule of
tho social catacombs, in which lie
buried all around you every
species Of humanity that is OBJ
Hged to plod for an existence.
! SEQ it at night. In spite of the
7 stroot lamps thore is nothing
brilliant about it. The shadows
seem to float out from tho over
crowded tcnemont houses that
loom III the darkness on either side.
In the dingy beershops and 1irtier
. cellars, lurll some Of tho worst spo-
cimens Of our population, uncanny
forms of varied evil staring at you
from every corner, Or diving down
dimly-lightod stairways to shrink
from sight. Here are to be found
the littIo street Arabs, the boys
and girls preposterously old, who
will soon fill tho penitcntiarics
here tho onco innocent country
girl who has dropped into tho
great maclstrom, and is rcclng
round and round in her dance to.
wards dcath--a red, bloatod fonr.
full burlcsquo upon woman. Here
is the city "rough" black and
white hiding perhaps from JUSTICE
or awaiting somo now opportuni
ty to go forth with brass knucl1les
knife or burglars "jimmy."
The beer gardens are also q flea
turc Of this locality. Step into
the "Atlantic," and you may al
= most fancy yourself in the Fader
land. The hall is immense, anG
thronged by hundreds who gathc,
around the little tables where
g : with pipes, lager, and Rhoin wine
they while away the hours. A
fine band furnishes tho music ant
tho science is bowildering. Fur
thcr on is the Bowery Theatre
i tho grand play house Of tho gamins
whore tho audience may eat pea
nnts and shout their criticisms a
tho top Of. their voices. Tho dol
tics Of tho truc blood-and-thunde,
. drama preside hore, and curious
phases Of lifo are visible on al
sdos.
The worst-by far tho wors
feature of this neighborhood is it
tenement houses. Or rathor tho,
ought to bo called Seven Stor,
Coffins, probably nowhero also il
D. America is thore such q congroga
D tion Of people literally packed il
y death-tainted dens and dying b,
N inches. Windows broken ;lodgor
dirty g. clothes lines "oxtendin,
/. aorcss tho tunnel like streotswhcrc
s on are flying in the wind til
!, ghosts Of ragged garments; chi
II dreri MIA + n Eo5.p haaflih +ho