, 1881-09-18

How Chicago-Cured Ham Struck a
New York Partyl
Special Correspondence Of The Chicago Tfibunes

| Special Correspondence Of The Chicago Tribune.
NEW York, Sept. 15.-It is striking l OIL
the Bowcry, and a dark and rainy night
| The naphtlla lamps flare sln0lzfly over the
sleepy ycndcrs of oysters and fruit, aud
few hoarse cries come from al obscure cor
| ner where party Of negroes sit round n hot
corn boiler at the juncture of tile BoWery
and Chatham Square. The elevated trains
| 20 swishing through the air envelOped In a
mist of heat, and fog, and rain, through
which their lights shine out unexpectedly.
1t is altogether an uncanny night, and Us
turn off down Chatham Square it seems is II
| leaving the naphtha lamps was leaving Il
friend.
Down this avenue few rods one comes to
4 dirty, obscure alley called Mott street,
given over to the lowest Inhabitants Of this
great city. Awful crimes and great criminals
have had their birth III this crooked, wretch
eli passage, and Of late years it has become
the fayorir haunt of thousands OF Cinnamon.
The miserable, tumble-down houses are
closed at this hour; but occasionally from a
blind alley or Sinking from 4 partly opened
door SOME mysterious person is seen for an
instant, and then yanishes i'll the darkness
and the fog. About half 4 block down
pause before a dismal little ramslackie tenc-
1ment whose broad eellar-dn0r doTna Il dozen
trembling steps is made of:fougli oaken bars
through which comes faint-:l very faint
ray of light
There's knock; and Then, silence; 4 sec
ond knock, and third; the ray Of light .lis-
appears ut the first knock, but at the third,
from the darkness behind the bars, hear a
thick voice asking. ''Who tllere?' and make
Al, answer according TO my Instructions.
It Is satisfactory; the door opens, and I
grope down to the side Of Sing Sab, as re-
pulsiye Celestial as ever had his eyes put
Ill OIL the bias. The cellar is far down, but
the floor and the ceiling are not eight feet
apart when yon get there. 1t is about fif-
teen feet wide, and three times as deep. l
find myself standing in a close, small room,
with partitions of dingy curtains each side
that form an alley, through which pass.
At the end is 4 low door on one side, and a
tarnisled gilded Josh sitting cross-legged
between 4 variety Of paper spills and fantas-
tic ornaments OIL little shelf on the other.
Under him is small table. OH which 4 dim
oillamp stands, atfording a11 the light have
seen since the oaken door was securely
barred behind me.
before the little door and enter the long, low
room beyond. The ceiling above my head is
covered with cloth that has once perhaps
been white. Several large reddish blotches
suggest that in the room above there may be
some sanguinary transaction that is leaking
out. There is not window nor an air-hole
i'll this sQnalid little den, but bullded about
three sides Of it is platform raised from the
}nrl- and IL
platform is covered with straw mating and
furnished with odd little stools, narrow, not
more than foot long and about a foot high,
with pad upon the top.
Lying about on this platform, as my eyes
become used to the obscurity of the place, I
connt fourteen tisnres-they are all, drawn
up, lying OH their sides with one OF the little
stools under their left ears. Each person
has in front Of him small tray on which Is
glass saucer with sponge, :: queer little
oil lamp that has glass petticoat coming up
about the neck of the weak flame and cal,s~
ing it to burn steadily, and n tiny clalnshell
in which is about 4 teaspoonful of some
thing II ke thick and black molasscs.
The yellow streak Of light falls upon the
fourteen faces, and / feel sickenins chill
creep up my spinal column and stir the very
hair on my head as am initiated into the
mysteries and miseries Of an '1opium joint.''
But betray no disgust, though the heat is
Sitting and the air reeking with the fumes of
opium and the vile odors of the place.
Do you suppose 1 was III the presence Of
fourteen heathen Chnec of whom such
brutishncss might be expected? No; there
are but two Celestlals iii the crowd; the
other twelve are Americans; three of them
belong to the theatrical profession, and,
Heaven save my sex! two of them are women.
One is 4 wealthy woman, owning her own
house OIL F0rty-second street, who had been
smoking steadily since 3 O'Clock in the after
noon-the other young and pretty Great
ure of tye-and-tWenty, whose husband is
the clerk of a hotel ut Coney Island, and who,
coming to town at night and missing her at
her boardng-h0use, goes as Il matter of
course down to Sing Sall's and waits till she
dresses to go home.
Dresses? Yes; for nil she has on as she
lies there is al under petticot, an unbut-
toned dressing sacque, and her stockings,
The 1nen about her are all in undersl,irts,,
1'antaloons. and socks. The young man who
has pllUted lie to this place is a well-knoWn
actor and an habituG of the "joint.' lie is
known III tile parfance of the smokers as an
"opiuM fiend :'-olie given over to lis use.
He calls to Sing Sab i'll the stlb.lucd tone
peculiar to tile inmates Of this den to bring
him "four bits dope:'
The Chlnaman appears under the ray Of a
curtain with tray and kit such rs the other
fourteen have, and my escort pulls off coat,
vest collar, and shirt, and deposits them IN
another row OF bunl1s at the end of the
room. kicks off his shoes, throws himself on
the mating, and begins to "cook" his
opium. lie takes i large pipe, two feet long,
which has a mouth an inch or more in diam
eter; near the centre is large circular piece
Of reddish clay, the surface nicely polished,
and a snail hole in the middle. Mr.. Actor
takes a sort Of long steel knitting-needle,
dexterously flips up portion of the inolasses-
like opium, and holds it over the little flame
Of the lamp. It bubbles and cooks, and, just
as it is ready to drop, he twirls 1t round into
a mass again, and repeats this cooking
process again and again. lie then da1lbs it
over tile opening iii the clay of the pipe, and
with the needle tucks as much Of it us he can
into the hole. This operation is repeated
several times, and finally he builds up a
mass over the hole as big rs 4 pea, thrusts
the needle into it, and makes all air hole into
the pipe. Then lie comp0ses himself on his
side like his companions, steadies the raised
clay bowl so the ilalue strikes the opium, and