The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1877-04-06
FILTHY STREETS.

HILLS OF GARBAGE AND PILES OF DIRT ROT
TING IN FRONT OF PULL TENEMENT HOUSES.
In the matter OF street cleaning New York is the
most wrctchedly kept large city OF the world. During
the severity Of our semArctic winters garbage and
dust left tho sidewalks OF back strcets-most
frequently In the vicinity Of fully occupied tenement
houses-and there they frozen into q solid
A storm comes on, covering the heap, upon the
top Of which new deposits are made from the sur
rounding houses, and In the course Of time whole
carloads Of dirt become solid rock. And SO it
remains till the rains and thaws Of tardy spring re-
veal tho hideous mounds OF nth which dsnRure many
of our back and polue the atmosphere by
vapors and lfe-destroying gases winch they emit AZ
tho beginning OF the winter little activity and energy
on the part tho Street Cleaning Bureau would have
sunced prevent this frghtful evil; but after the
had been Tor weeks neglected they presented
almost great difficulty 10 clean up did tho
Augean Stables OF NEUROLOGICAL fame
In the cities OF England and Scotland all the houses
are provided with ash pits, somewhere conveniently
placed Ut the OF the into which ashes aud house
ically cmptied BY the city dustcart man and It must
be confessed that while this operation Is going
tho ollactory and ocular senses arc moro grossly
offended than has been the case, IN
tho back streets OF Now York. The chief
difference between London and New York is that
over there they hoard up their disease'breeding
garbage and ashes behind the house, while here We
dump them down the sidewalk curbstone. Our
method least the advantage OF ventiiatng the
dirt; the British method possesses not this
recommend IT, Thus when the streets or this me-
the city is thoroughly clean b.. ii London their
nicely kept thorougnfares do not guarantee the people
against miasmatlc lever resulting from the fostering
nlth that piled away behind the houses.
FiFTY-sECoND STREET.
A correspondent writos to the HERALD as follows
20 THE Epiro no. or q rIE =. . hxsALD:- o, -. :.
snton Of the Health Department Of this city the
haS H through TINT section yss,s
WI ~ hat
from the street since last October which
y much ssaa have
several yards from the curb were heaps
s e s"s sa and Sss art H
the had .resdy Ihs stencil
inssHsa ns II. hsssasssiss yss:sssis
when compared wl.h T. a. stopped, pondered md
' hsS aSs aS sss
h I Il sssas aa
n having elean that the system
ss Out To yearly
have the work done more efcentiy-at least we would
hspes. and Without Sopa
or arS & e
either under exercise Of its authority or for nsgEsaes
VISIT TO TIE xErcHpoRnooD
The locality alluded TO IN this communication was
visited yesterday and found 10 correspond In every
the bodies OF dead animals. Perhaps tho HERALD man
arrived late tho day 10 any OF
these canine or ielnc victims Of youthful
cruelty that frequently garnish tho streets in
front of denscly populated districts; the for
eign chnonicrs, who do in this Northern cIimc good
deal OF the nasty but useful work performed In low
attitudes by the buzzards, must have been tho
scene curly hour May be II was better that
these things Of sight, Tor the
ing fly blown sausagcs that dangled In the window
OF q butchers shop near by were Of them
selves almost enough IN appearance to give
a healthy the jaundice That portion
OF West Fy-sccond street visited between Ninth
and Tenth avenues) found TO be partially covered
by half thawed accumulations Of garbage anc dirt
height OF two feet In SOME places On the north
side of the street some TALL wagons wcrc rccklcssly
moored among the muck; on tho south side
Of four story tenement IRON which the dirt
dumped In piles before the doors Occasionally pas
sage ways might DO noticed cut between adjacent
mounds that in the dry season dirty children could
scramble their way across tho street.
But street Is not the only that s In
a irghtiul condition Twenty ninth street, between
Second aud Third avenues nearly bad and TOO
many other places that might be cited for the
formation OF Now iorkis Rip Van Wrinkle Bureau OF
Cleaning and 10 the horror Of the civilized
portions oil the city's Inhabitants.