The New York herald., 1878-08-27
Many Streets in New York Reek-
ing with Filth.
DISEASE TERMINATING.
The Atmosphere Tainted with Pois-
onous Exhalations.
LIST OF THE NUIsANCEs.
The Street Cleaning Department Aroused by
the Hrrald'S Exposures.

Tho pan under which the city cleaning is now
done differs from that vogue previous to its being
consigned TO the Police Department In place of a
number Of what were called gansmen, with laborers
under them, being assigned to certain district and
held responsible TO the contractors orencn, police
oficer-generally old seasoned one-is detailed TO
take charge of a ward and each ward is divided up
into sections of 900 square yards of territory, or
which he is allowed about laborer to section
For instance, il there be twenty sections In
his ward the officer Will perhaps have
twenty Iaborers under him, more or less ac-
cording to tue clean or dirty character Of tho ward
There is an officer 10 look alter the cleaning of
each OF the twenty-four wards OF the city, and theE
there is officer with a separate gang OF Iaborcrs
who alter the cleaning OF each OF the
These officers report Captain Gunner either at tho
Hadquarter in Mulberry street, OF at hts other Office
foot OF Seventeenth street, East River. Captain
Gunner in reports TO the chairman OF the Street
Cleaning Bureau Mr.. Sidney P. Nichols and there his
responsibility ends Portions Of the First, Second
Fifth Sixth Seventh wards arc, according TO Cap
tain Gunner swept every day, other portions Of the
same and OF other downtown wards three times day
and most of the uptown wards once week.
The reporters OF the HERALD continued yesterday
their Investigation of tho Streets and looked into the
of the Eighteenth, Twentieth, Twenty first and
Twenty second wards. They met, as before, with
numocrcsS boxes ana barrels OF garbage, stanulng
full and open i'll the sun, and inviting dsease
and pestiiencc. This the most conspicuous nuis-
peril, and there wero Instances in which it
was found that the garbage was allowed to remain
long past the time when IT should be taken away.
TIE EIGnrEEsrH
The Eighteenth ward, which extends from Sixth
avenue to the East River, and from Fourteenth TO
Twenty sixth street, 10 in charge OF Officer Jacob
AcKer. 1t is divided into thrty-eght sectious aud
employs fifteen laborers. THIS ward is cleaned
week First and Second avenues are IN the special
charge OF Ofhcer Wells. and Lexington and Fourth
avenues OF Oflcer Grove
HERALD reporter made the rounds Of the eastern
SECTIONS OF the ward yesterday and found may spots
worthy Of the attention OF the Street Cleaning Bureau
Fifteenth street. between First and Second avenues, is
paved with cobble stones, and, being very rough and
uneven, is very hard to keep 1t clean. The entire
block Is hy heaps dirt from ash barrels and dust
pans ttering the street from TO In
spopsc the reporters question, Is the street always
drtyf" the confect'oner at No 4os answered, .A.
most always 1t ID only halt cleaned, al best and
ash men careless thar they soon make ccan
street dirty again. When they have a barrel like that
TO handle,' pointing overflow
ing with refuse and ashes, "they certain to spill
part of II"
FErID AccuNULATioYs.
In Sixteenth street, between First avenue and ave-
nue. A, there q large heap OF rubbish, taken from
the tenement building Nos. 504 ana SOC, which Is in
OF renovation. Although this rubbish Is earth
apparently, 1t Is so mixed with vegetable matter aud
ofial that II should not be allowed to remain In the
street a single day. An old man who keeps q little
door said, at has been there this good
while" Another person, living tho same block
remarked, "Bsing cellar DIRT the ponce should hav
scen that II was removed long ago"
A regular stand for carts is Fifteenth street. be-
tween avenues and c. Under every cart 10 a large
heap OF dirt, tho result OF long accum uiatisn the
presence OF The carts beng excuse for allowing
DIRT TO remain. Those heaps OF DIRT gathering close
10 The curb completely block up the CUTTERS and
consequences tnat the pools nave been turned
= lye strong enough tor the eospmaker. Offensive
edors emitted from the water, and altogether the
block Is one of the worst on tho east side.
The south sdo OF Eighteenth street, between First
and Second avenues, Is covered with dirty water,
Nth, ofal, potato psrinPs. tomato skins and hcs
All the refuse OF the tcnements seems TO DO thrown
into the street to await the coming OF the street clean
VINO never thoroughly clean II II the testimony Of
tho neigh borhood has any value. young man who
at No. 4l2 SAID, at Is always this way. The
street cleaners, even when they pretend TO clean the
streets, only give II The work Is mostly done
at night. when the, can't see the DIRT"
DIRTY LOCALITIES
Anothsr dirty locaiiy Is Twenty second street. be-
tween First Second avenues IL looks as it had
not bsen swept IN months The attention oil the bar
Keeper the quor ut the OF First
being called 10 u he said, tit isnt troubled With a
broom very often"
nue. Is pool Of dirty water by twenty In
mensons. In the provision store on the corner ad-
loinog II was butcher cnopping meat for beef tea
tor OF his customers
'.Aow long has tbat water been thereS" the re-
porter asked.
TINS pool is so large might Do called pond, aud
II will probably remain undisturbcd until IL 10 evap-
GRATED by tue neat OF the sun And is not The oniy
pool which Is allowed 10 gather Ia the aven ue
In the vicinity Just above Twenty third
street, the opposite hds OF the way.
by the heaps OF stone which have been allowed to
man IN tne street apparently a long whiie Tue
writer believes he nas the Stone pilc
since the twenty third street horse nave boon
running These pools OF water as well as the heaps
Of stone very offensive TO the ighborhoou and
are the occasion oi some exceedingly profaue cpthes
beng hurled at tho street Cleaning Department
In twenty street there is Pooi of oirty water
In front OF No. 240. A man living at that numb Der
who was waking up ana down the sidewalk with "a
baby In hts arms, said;-"About a week ago they
cleaned out good, but you see how It Is now. There
Is hollow there which holds the wafer, and II
nils again almost az soon as II Is emptied
Clearly the trouble IN this case was tue
imperieeuon OF the gutter, and tho reporter
no'iced In hts rambles throughout the dstrci tnai
imperfect paving ha powerful enemy oi the street
Cleaning Bureau. Wherever there "A orokop guttor
uneven dslocaied pavement there Is sure 10
be an accumulation OF DIR; and filth. ID such places
water collects In poois and even n II is faithfully
swept out by the laborors employed by the Street
Cleaning Department on their weekly rounds the de-
posit oil tho very next ram may Remain i've six
days before they come again.
But the DIRT piles are very different matter. In
Fifteenth, Sixteenth Eighteenth and twenty second
streets thcy are often the accumulation OF many
months. only the crust being removed, while tho nlth
In great measure was allowed 10 remain. la the
lower part OF Fifteenth street the dirt piles evidently
not been disturbed at all and IN Of tho bad
localities the scrapiDg and sweeping very badly
done. Ansthca thiDg noticeable In tnis ward is tnal
the section system docs not work well. While one
block IL clean ana sweet another not IN any way un-
like 10 IN the same street is ulhy dirty II the
street cleaning Is done In sections the dirt found IN
spots
TWENTIETH
This ward has many ane, well paved streets within
n, which easily enough kept clean by being
swept q week. IL has also numerous streets
where the garbage box nuisance 10 displayed in all It's
encnsivcness, and where the scavenger's broom Is
sadly missed after q weok's absence Where private
strests of arstocratc houses could aforu to remain
unswspt Tor q month those Ia which tenement
houses prevail need 10 be attended 10 every day.
No plague Will ever originate from streets
like FINN avenue, and IL could Afford 10 be neglected.
that the streets where tue working classes lvs
might be constantly kept cssn. Al Nos. 100. l22
ia Twenty-sxth street, between sixth ana Seventh
n haxr nf rsiu Il LII