The sun., 1872-09-09
IN THE FIVE POINTS REGION
WRETCHEDyESs Nv BAXTER AND
MULBERRY STREETS.
Life In the Carrots aud Ceiiars-A Picture
wsicL nrny be seen within a stones
Throw Of brondwuY's Palaces.


was given Of the abodes OF poverty In Cherry
and Water streets. Wednesday night a SuN re
porter visited some of the most miserable dwell
ing places of the respectable poor in Baxter and
Mulberry streets. Both these streets surpass
anything that fiction can boast they leave far
behind the widest flights OF Imagination. Any
one stepping from Third avenue car In n hot
summer night, and walking for a few minutes
only through Baxter street, would imagine him
eelf In another part Of the world, far away from
all civilization. far away from America-tle
home of the happy and OF the industrious, tho
refuge OF tie oppressed In some wretched land
Of vice, Of misery, OF abJect poverty, at only for
the outcasts Of civilization. At seems mpossl-
10 realize that you are only within "a little dis
lance, perhaps an hours walk Of quiet beauti-
ful streets, respendent with marble and brown
stone, of palaces standing empty because the
occupants have gone away in search Of rlcasure,
Of houses on which all the arts Of civilization
bnye baAu layishcd splendid large houses with
spacious rooms anu =" :" abundance Of cool fresh
air. This seems impossible Tnt@4 Visions On
comfort and magnhcence must belong To an
othcs. blessed land, In which such suGeiins'
such degradation, is unknown. Here the air
stiles you; every b,eath YOU inhaie is p,s,n-
Gus. the houses seem to be cr.uhlng before
your eycs Walk of half an h W will SO aivkcn
that you will be elad TO hasten from the pot.
LNrRANCS INTO BAXTER STREET,
The reporter Was materially assisted hv OHccr
Caddel, who through the kindness of Capt.
k,uncdy, had been permitted To accompany him.
Many men, women. and children were out on
the sidewalk in Baxter street. Thirty or forty
occupants of q little wooden ~hanty az Tor three
four persons 20 live in, stood In front Of their
"residcnce' and on the .tooP Crowds of wo-
4
square holes which. In many places in Baxter
street. take the place of windows. Glass is un-
known, and the houses look more Ike rut hole,
Some of them must have stood me- arly century
They are Of wood. old. mouldy. without win
dows. with u hruad space between the wa. uf
the house and the Sidewalk to that the rain
washes the Easements The sidewalks are dirty,
and IN some places seem % erumoic uad.r
DrS-c-capcs instead Of bdlyuni and their big.
square holes instead uf windows, have mos
Walk thr ~ n Ea1tcr street you literally fe,r
th.t thcsS hqyeIs may ,qri.le oser yOur head
and bury you Ia their ribbish.
ART IL 4 sQUALID TENEMENT.
The FIRST place visited was g Baxter 'trect.
Tho windows what Windows there are weN
IL woman very much palntcd elftin. viii
ncToCs. Their tices cnntr"'sed sirSuleHN Win
reporter ven, IA. 1t Was Il ANAL room aud there
w"s jlli> COMPANY Ia u. bther white Women
whit aud bacb. slept together, gen, rail-, morc
bl IL than whites. WoIk, ID an covered ic
walls Mere w.., th. " W.dait,,"f Mar, sttt9r.
60 Henry barnl,y,' Ghd there were suue hihii-
Cal pictures. ON" was "our holy Rrdccm.r
g".n+ {. Mount Calvary 20 be cynciacd.' The
woman who showed the Reporter these picture.
spoke with abstraction Of the sacrifices
III. had made 10 buy Il en-. Th, reporter
u, red into the little back ruom. Whrrr was
h' Window There va ah,tlr hole which IA
been rnt through the * wall. a,,J tto l..,lc
b. ,h.s room, in which tlr air sccuci -ttiu-.
There wyrr ;"o ar thtec beds II wa ,tc ~
saw that night
rnr Auopr OF , cc,orrp corrLr.
The second nor w.s inlahrcd Y whic'
ol.' li.,S & wrTv ~ sl ~ dsii st. r' irrSs. 3"S
another the "Sudcrin. souls ~ PurEatusy."
.h, atu,, sphere ives better than i wa- below.
hhi the windows were ~ glas-. The rent luid
i'rthis aoor {, 81 month
On his way down Tie reporter stopped on the
fr-t room. me- had seen. As v,uc c.,tcr tuc Ia ,i.c
~ latter t. "n a." risht siue of the hall: the
enough for bed and chair The hail is mar
row, and The dners being alway. open, ,he Occur
pants OF both side II tbs double " huu,e can
Sc one shu,ne All We TIME. on the bed winch
takes up the greater part ~ tho room 10y
negro. 4 ncgicss lat ln front "f the bed -muldng
cloth round her ,hapc'y head. Back "f the bed
r,om was In front. and this wa- carefully barred
by big boards. Their" was no plnstcring ou the
ceiling, and right above the sicepcrs head the
The rain pours right in." the woman said.
ihfft = room dhuNe, bNt the rain tHflVs
thr94ch hoih ceilings, aud We get wet IL, tie
middle Di ia" night sometimes."
oNU ROOF ron HORSE AND Man.
"Why do YOU not open this Window" the Of
There IS stable right in front Of the win
dow, Tn, negro sn!d' awskin; from dozc;
He took the lainp. there WAS no gas la the
h"use and sure enough here was the sy'hlr.
room, ~ Il wcrc. The two rooms, the one In
which ih" black l"pt and the other Ia which
the horse lay, wore ahpdt a foot apart. Tie
stable bad a window, too 1t was opposite the
window sct'ss which the black had put biz
boards. Take these big boards down ard You
could Put your hands through both windows
and feel the warm y ln of the horse wet with
perspirntion. The horse and man breathcd the
snme Air, the horse. perhaps little better, for
a small hole was cut through the other side Of
Opposite this re-'d-,., 'or whites. blacks and
horses -occn'cna!l} aule tnk,s the llnce Of
stories. II lnok' like COW shed that has tum-
bied in. Like COW shed No; there i not 50
mean COW led In Westchoster county. The
reporter went into the room on the " hrst floor"
Tie ceiling which Is not six feet high, is slant
Ing. On one side of the room the reporter could
stand up; on the other he could scarcely sit. for
even when sitting his head almost Knocked
ceiling. The floor is also slanting, and a child
ona sleigh could easily glide from one side down
TO the other The floor Is rough like that OF a
stable. Here woman kept iodgors.
EIGHTEES HUMAN BEINGS IN GARRET.
Up stairs things looked worse yet. You could
5ust crawl under the roof. The sides of the
room are triangular, joining AT the top. There
were three bedsteads In this garret and one mat
hess. In front OF every bed was rough board,
20 that the garrett contained In reality four
departments The fourth apartment was bare
the dodgers sleeping on the floor. There was not
single piece OF furniture in this room, nothing
but the rough boards and the bare laths. An
old drunken woman lay on the matterss in one
OF the rooms. In this room slept about sixteen
or eighteen persons, generally four In a bed. IL
costs ten cents to sleep there, and you are al
ways sure TO have company Men and women
boys and girls, sleep In the room. There no
air except that which was admitted through the
broken roof
When the reporter went out Of the door the
foul odors OF the street.-the dirt lies in the road
way two or three feet hlgh-seemed to him the
Purest AR he had ever breathed. The street was
lively with music. negro sat near the house
which the reporter had Just left and played a
coucertna. They were good old American
tunes he played. Some twelve or fifteen girls
and boys sat around him, humming and singing
They had taken drunken nero who had been
lying on the roadway and dragged him to the
sidewalk. There he lay now before them, and
the smallest Of the girls pounded him with their
nsts, sat on him. spat on him. rolled over him,
pulled his hair out but to no purpose. lie was
TOO drunk to be disturbed In his sleep, and
snored louder than ever.
NARY sTURAT IN BAXTER STREET.
=. No 80 Baxter street is contiuatlon OF No. 81.