The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1876-07-13
A HOT NIGHT IN NEW YORK.
nov DEsTzENs or THE TENEMbHi'
PASS THE WEIRf HOURS'

lot. ,bnt vouIJ Astoni-h the sioux.
Tho rain and thunder storm OF Tuesday |
afternoon and evening that swept over the city |
may h we purified tho atmospd r., but IL ala |
,ot have much ereci In cooling Il. Yesterday |
morning opened close an hot, an was suliry
,nough to betoken more thunder storms; yet
ms day pto rcsscd AMI ended with sizzling,
plnding. encrvAting heat. Only occasional re-
Def was met as pedcstri,nS rounded corner
Md received welcome whif of an lnsi lnincant
,rocse, that diod aw " almost 8 soon a. 1t sent
The burning Iust into pcrspling faces. Yet the
multitude rushed along a. recSessly "a usual,
and tho soda fountain aud the b1cr counters
Ecrc worked as iudusrio isly IA ever few
ieaths attributable to the heat were reported,
and hospital attend ants had many cases ~ sim
pie prostration. The thermometer at cooper
tns itute indicated l2Js In the sun and 80 In tho
shade.
The terrible hoat did not cease at sundown
Il grew more distressing a. the hours wore on,
and tho thousands VINO had been weltering all
yay triod In vain TO sleep. All over the citv, at
LI hours Of the night. open windows. clancins
ueh's and glimpses of whte-robed forms fit-
Ang before tue windows. showed how sleep
Was Dinished from weary eyes. But the most
remarkable effects were produced IN the great
tenement districts, and in the swarming streets
shat environ the Five Points. Al sundown In
The Five Points the tenement hives swhtmed,
and soon the burning sunbeams
bad left the little paved square In
uotley multitude OF men, women, and children,
who chatted In half dozen languages nling
ibe air with loud buzzns that sounded
strangely block or two away The children
played around the fountain, and the grown
people sat on the edges OF the patent pavement
or leaned against the surrounding fences and
buildings an talked about the terrible neat.
Everybody seemed to be In the open air. and
cd from curb to curb with talking. laughing.
iboutins, and half dressed multitude. No
srs, whose underground shops line Bax-
ser street for blocks. Down in their
hung round with strings Of snapeiess shoes,
these men sat by the dozen With naked arms
and bent heads, pounding away on sole Leather.
hands, and a hot and horrible odor arose from
the old leather and the blthy hoors. lhe oil
clothes shops we're open and odorous, and the
whiskey dens had doors ani windows wide
open but trey had no customers.
The houses ia all the m re of streets around
"the Points" were almost empty, aud IN many
the lights were put out before Y o'clock. because
and stencil thnt nlled the rooms hid sought re-
A baxter street tenement, on a hot midsum-
mer night. Is n Kind Of eaithly purgatory. on
entering the low. narrow door one Is metby a
smell th.t causes hum invoiuntarily to hold his
nostrils. The walls look as thouK they had never
known wbitewasn or paint and the air seems to
be Ieekine with Injection; The noors are un-
csrpeted, and the little rickety furniture does
not invite close acqua ntanceship from the visit
or An old croning won an, with blear eyes, with
gown hanging from her waist Hni srOund her
Shoulders piece OF a shawl whose original color
may have been anything except what " Il,
meets him with an anxious look, muttering un-
intelliRibly. On the hoor on faded blanket
lie two or three children almost naksd. Young
woman half dressed sits on the door near the
sleepinc children. swinging baoy In her arms,
and on the skeleton Of a chair sits man In q
red shirt, with unshaven face, and wicked leer
mo. nobody can sleep. he says With s1 oath
In answer to question. The sidewalk Ia full
and ID sight hotter nor It Is In here
he room, hardly twelve feet square, contains
dishes, and culinary articles. and 1. Is evidently
the living EATING, and sleeping place for TINS
Whole family. Around II are other spaItments
families live. The famll' that has an extra
room for sleeping apartment Is exceedingly
fortunate 10 the worst tenement houses. and the
best three rooms make a palace nome. In some
Of these nye-stoiy houses there re twenty or
thirty families. numbering from ~ 10 115 per-
sons, and the smaller houses are just AS crowded.
Before nine O'Clock last night Thousands Of
persons In this squsiid quarter had gone out
Into the open streets TO remain until morning.
All along Baxter and the adjacent streets the
blankets and bed ticks. upon which half-nude
children we're sleeping SO olOse together that IL
was impossible To step between them. They
almost lay over one another entirely without
covering, and In many cases with cellar door.
or even the stone tagging alone for bed In
one place eight children were asleep on pate b
OF wooden pavement, six feet long 10y three
wide, and babes scarcely ~ months old, with
naked Limbs. Law exposed To the sky on pieces Of
blanket thrown over cellar doors.
1he men and women and older children had
not YET thought Of retiring. a large, empty cart
served as sroostlrg place Tor a d ozen noisy boys,
who percbed upon the drivers seat, or lying In
the bottom Of the box, shouted. sang and told
stories, some OF which were about tue gallant
Custer, who, one younester maintained, was " a
butler lncip fighter Than Texas Jack"
An hour later II was curious ia see the women
anu girls of Il, sitting on the curostones, and
max ng their toilet for the nght by twisting up
One fnr fs snS,ber nS sowns the open sr
be-ioe the children, and regardless Of the noisy
throng that almost joslled them In passing. TO
Gradually the noise Ia the streets died oui. A
bevy Of young eirs who had been singing The
Star Spanglsd Banner aud OF her patriotic airs
fell asleep one after another on a cellar oor,
aud the sounds OF shouting and laughter ceased.
The young story teers IN the cart curled up
where they lay, and were sOOu IA d. feainiand.
Then the men pulled OF their boots, and
on others lay down on the stones or boards, and
few braced thems Ives up IN the corners of
the doors to act as sentinels over the sleepers.
" 80 they sleep every night, said a policeman,
"and We don't distul them. They couldn't stand
the heat iudoors-it wOuiu XIII them. A funny
thing happens once ~ awhile. There s an old
Fellow down the street here VINO sleeps on his
eel door ,vory night lie Is very emaciited,
ani looka as lishi as feather. He puts him
neck and then throws piece Of netting
0n. ,i.h, .aVe 10 h"et away the bedbugs.
bed bug trying 10 tito him. Bu, the old fellow
is 80 thin and DiOOdles- tnat the buy hid 10 10
ser his blll through thu netting Into nj. nose
seysrll times before he could draw blood. Tois
Waked the old fellow up, aud he saw the oificer
sI.nllhg over him In ihs moonlight
- Now go away said lie, eprecAtlnsly: 'you
KNOW you 0ushtn't to be tickling my nose with
your Ilub, Aud he wouldn't believe that IL
WIS bed bug that had disturbed him"
lne scene a.ong Baxter street when nearly all
US denlzeDs were asleep on the sidewalks ard
In the do rwAys was strange enough. a person
could, Ia some places, hardly step without
stumbling against a sleeping form. In every di-
TectiOn they lay sleeping as nOundly, apphrently,
a. they would have done In the dOwniest be =
When nearly all were asleep, and ooy the noise
Of suhdued conversation was heard here md
there, somebody got up hRht. Two bury ne
Rroes clinched aud fell struggling upon he SD e.
walk, In the fraction of minute the slee pin
street seemed to nave been changed into he'd
lan, and a crowd Of half-naked, yelling and ges
flculatng zen, women and children SURROUNDED
the conte- tants. len minutes later all was a.
quiet as efore
AT midn.ht several partially dressed men
stole, like shadows, around the corner OF bdx
Ter street, and lay down, mutterlnR curses OF
tue neat, upon the patcut pavement sur ounu
lug the fountain Ia The lit le square, which |.
the I uNA ssemed not yet TO have Airted viii
The heat Of tAe blazing sun that hai shone upol
IL all dhY.
sudden shower, ike that Of Tuesday night
wOuld h.ve sent All lne.e outdoor sleeper
scuriNhg into ther heated rooms, with tEel
beds under Their arms, to suffer agonies iron
the e. nm ment, but uO rain disturbed them
and thsy siept IN peace until the dayllgh
psrped over the tail nuI.e- aud awOks them.