The Newtown bee., 1880-02-25

morals of the young. The Bowery has
 an unsavory reputation at the best, the worst class of Gens, which are n snare to
 the feet of the enwary traveller from the
 country, are to be found here. A few
 years ago they Were on Chatham street.
 and on the different vile thoroughfares
 that divide the old fourth ward. The
 leprosy of crime had poisoned the whole
 neighborhood; across the street was the
 bloody sixth ward, and the foul rookery
 of the Five Points, which q hundred years
 of municipal enactments have not been
 able to purify. While here, on the sub
 ject of amusements, those who read my
 letters three years.ago, cannot forget my description of the Grand Duke Theatre,
 then ill the zenith of it's glory. The
 building was an old, tumble-down,
 shackcly affair, which looked us if it
 mi Sht at any moment fall about the ears
 Of the audience. The theatre was down
 in a deep cellar, all damp and clammy,
 lighted with poor candles, yet palace
 for the gamins and waits, who have no
 home but the streets. The performers
 were neysboys and bootblacks, and the
 performance cheap imitation of the
 worst class of variety shows; but it was
 conducted with all the pomp and circum-
 stance of a much more pretenuous thea
 ire. While in full blast, it became one
 of the sights of the town, and every even ing, disguised in false wigs and whiskerS, T Wull ctro
 merchants from the country, gamblers
 thieves and fast mon about town, could always be found among the audience. But the Grand Duke, like many other grand Institutions, had to succumD to
 late. A portion of the cellar tumbled in, some of the performers found their way
 to the penitentiary and states prison,
 others were translated to some Of tic va
 grant va iety shows which pcrambulate
 the country, while others have wander
 ed away, no man knows whither, never
 to return again. But to return to the
 Bowery: the dens that once were located in the rocesses of the Five Points now Haunt their banner, in the open light of 1 S'
 the low dance houses on Cherry street
 and through the slums of the fourth
 ward have, most of them. forsaken thetl old haunts, and are now located on the
 most public thOrOugfare in the city Suppose the hour about eleven at night
 the theatres and variety shows have most of them, ended their performances
 and the human driftwood oi large city . is ahoat upon the streets. All along thu way are gambling houses and low dives where yaudily dressed women. disflgureC by debauchery and sin, lay in wait fo the thoughtless and unwary. Don't i'm , ngine that every one who goes down int the wretched hells is necessarily one O . their own class. Many of them ar clerks, or young men from the country where, perhaps, loving mothers and sis ters in the old homestead arc wondering what they are doing in the great city I quite unconsclous of the terrible danger . that surrounds them. The ceilings ar
 low, and the walls arc covered wit
 cheap priI ts, representing sailors par
 ing from their sweethearts, and hunter
 chasing buffalo, while in ono of the viles - I saw picture of '' Christ blessing littl l. children" and hanging above it, worke r. in worsted, by one of the worst sinner , bid them not, for of such is the kinQdoi ' of heaven" Perhaps that scripture les u son was learned by a bright-eyed, fai = haired, innocent girl, among the Nev . England hills, long years ago, before sh Il ever dreamed of infamy and degradatio . that should not only hunt her down t r death, but should transform her into
 human tigress, destitute alike of love ( lear to become the huntress of others II The place is lined with low table. around which are grouped men and wt
 men, representing every crime in the ca
 endar, convicts recently released fror states prison, here fad a comfortabI , abiding place, for the keepers and den = zens are all of their own class, and tn opportunities for robbery and plunde are frequent and profitable The liquo Is all of the most poisonous charactel and bottle of drugged whiskey is a ] ways ready for strangers who display an money. Dragging and robbery are a most of nightly occurrence. Many of tn victims find their way to the hospitals
 and not few to the morgue, where tn
 Coroher's jury, after five minute inve: tigatlon, bring in a verdict: "foun dead. Another class of amusemcnts made notorious by the recent visits of a Eccentric Brooklyn minister, is the gam bling hells with which this great cit abounds. It is not Mike Murreys or i
 Morrlsey's old place the worst part of tn
 gambling is dore, here you may see mel chants, bank cashiers, and men called re
 speetable by society. but if you want t
 see the worst class of gambling which i
 so near like stealing that you can't te , the difference between them, you mus go to Ann street, Barclay street, Par
 Row or Fulton street, and if you ee away without being robbed, you will b
 luekier than nine hundred and ninet, nine out of every thousand who go il
 All the people connected with thes
 places are regular professional thieves
 fellows who would pick a pocket or TO } a hen-roost If nothing else offered. The are the meanest and worst thieves, i : the city, they carry crime from petty Ial ceny to murder written in their william 5 ous countenence, and a man who is S poor judge of human nature as to ia ' into their clutches, almost deseryes to h