Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1874-03-21
Our NEW YoRkLErrEa.

OUR NEW YOR X LETTER.
The old Buildings Pdrn6rokers-dn Ihc''
dent-6ig Buildings Tempcran ce-Iria'
ity-to Lafiss-ParioT ArtiLIery.
THE BUILDINGS.
There is no city in the world that has
better or worse buildings I han New York
The buildings of recent date are eommo,
dious, airy. and supplied with ventilation
and the other requisites for health and
life. But those dating back thirty years
in the time past of the city are fearful.
These houses are hives, swarming with
people, and possessing absolutely no CON,
veniences Imagine the condition of a
house twenty feel wide, sixty feet deep
and six stories high, in the centre of d
block, with openings only in the FROM
and rear in which are packed ten large
families in the upper five stories, ana i'm
agine the condition of the people who
live in theml In one such house twenty
cases of typhoid fever, occurred in three
months. Philanthropists have in this a
wide field for effort The crying neces
sity of New York is for houses that can
be rented cheaply, and that furnish light
air and water. and in which cleanliness
is possibility.
And writing of poverty and tenement
houses, what springs SO naturally to the
point of ones pens as
PAwNBRoKERs.
who are queer set and drive a queer
business. The pawnbroker Is a person
who lends money on short time on col
lateral security. Are you a widow and
is your boy sick? You take a shawl
to Moses, and he advances you about
one-forth of its value at a tremendous
rate OF interest, % per cent. per annum.
This supply gone, your best dress, your
extra pair OfshOes, your wedding ring,
your Bible, and finally your bed. He
takes them all, for they are all salable.
You get ticket for each article, and II
you come within year and redeem
them, all right; If not, at the end of the
year, they are sold. Inside one of those
shops you will see IA satin dress hanging
ticketed beside calico skirt, shoes,
Bible, revolvers, musical instruments,
tools, clocks, kettles, skates, every spe-
cies of portable property under Heaven,
side by side. But in the big safe in the
back room, you would, ifyou could get
a peep therein, see other kinds of prop
erty. You would see diamonds, costly
jewelry and silver plate. For the poor
are not Shylock's only customers. Mad
anne ON Fifth Avenue has spent more for
dress than her pressed husband can af-
ford, and she does not ask him for mon
ey. The Obsequious dress-maker shows
her that her diamonds can be easily re-
moved from their setting and bogus
stones, that an expert could hardly tell
from the genuine, put in at a uifiing
cost Then Moses or Simon will be glad
TO advance her what money she needs on
the genuine stones. This she does, pay
ing a ruinOus interest, and trying 10 save
money enough out of her allowance to
redeem them. And then ruined men find
these shops a convenient place to get
temporary aid on jewels with which they
do not wish to part. For this class of
customers there is private side en-
trance.
Speaking of removing genuine dia-
monds and supplying their place with
paste, reminds me of little incident that
excited the risables of the fashionable on
ly two weeks ago. A lady on Fifth Av-
enue had got into trouble She had pur-
chased thousand dollar dresses, and thou
sand dollar furs, and footed up sum TO-
tai that was frightful Her husband had
lost heavily in stocks. Sne dared not
ask him for the money, and what was
she to do. She had diamonds TO the
value of $1,000. She took these rings
and bracelets aud things, and hied her
to ajeweler's and who reset them with
imitation stones that looked just as well
as the genuine, and on the genuine stones
she raised the money TO relieve her
wants.
In the meantime the husband had lost
money at gambling, and had debts OF
honor which mGst be paid" How was
he to get it? His wite's diamonds
Capital idea One morning he slipped
them into his pocket and went to a jew
eler's.
"Can you take stones out of jewels and
replace them with imitation ?"
"What would these be wOrth-or rath-
er what would you advance upon them p
said he, pulling out the sparkles.
The jeweler looked at them and looked
up.
About $I5O2"
"$15OI Why they cost $4,000"
The originals doubtless did. We have
the originals in our safe We took them
out Two weeks ago, and put in these
paste ones"
The gentleman gave a prolonged
whistle and put them in his pocket and
walked out.
There was doubtless a scene at his
house. Doubtless he demanded why
Madame, his wife, had pawned her jew
els, and doubtless she wanted TO know
how he came TO know it. How it was
settled never will be known.
The pawnbrokers are all shrewed men.
They not only know the exact value of
every kind of personal properly, but
they know exactly what it will bring al
auction.
THE THIEVES
use the paWnbrokers. If the thief has
stolen watch, or table-linen, or hand
kerchief, he does not keep it. So the
pawnbroker gets them at one fourth the
value, knowing that they will never be
claimed. The marks taken out of arli-
cles OF clolh-the cases of watches are
melted, il the material is good enough,
and others are 'substituted-in short no
matter what the articles is, it is disguised
so that its owner wouldn't know il. Il
is curious profession and full of curl
ot,c incidanto