The Evening critic., 1882-03-14
A DEATH TRAP
AND A MORAL PLAGUE SPOT

Right Tn the Heart OF tho City-A
Locality that Demands Attention
from the Authorities - rhe Pest
breeding Building KNOWN as ''Bux.
yards Roost''---A Mass OF Moral aud
Physical Putrcfaction Exposed -
The Ruildin2 Tindcr-BON-The
safety Committee should be Put
10 work Again.
London and New York, we think, have been
generally regarded as the typical cities where
one can live In the same residence for years
and remain In utter ignorance OF ones next
door neighbor. The Theory, or idea, or what
ever II may be called, that such a condition of
perfect secluded Individuality Is confined to
each and both metropolis is an error, inas.
much as here in our ten milos square Of
dust and distances-the National Capitalize
same order Of things exists We have those
Immediately about us OF whose existence we
are negatively aware, but of whose condition
in life, or character of life, or Identities, we
are In the uttermost ignorance. We Know that
there are many people living near our homes
because we see buildings and houses and are
neeessitatcd to note the fact that they are In
habited; furthermore we know nothing, either
of tho Inhabitants or Of the brick and mortar
structures. We have also among us much
that would startle and will starte-as THE
DIplostS W lit HlhIl-buT gun
eral community.
If we were Of that class which emphasizes
its assertion Of a fact by an invitation to the
lncrcdulous 10
Make n Wager
upon a subject affirmed TO, we could sweep in,
we are sure, n legion of wealth upon the fol-
lowing proposition:
"Will you bet that there is not In the centre
Of this city, in the very coro Of the heart of its
tt,,
two Of the handsomest and most important
public buildings and within ears hear OF two
Cabinet officers a pest-house roplete with
crime and poverty, a tenement dive filled full
with sin and suffering, standing invitation
TO death and destruction by confiagration of
its Inhabitants, a tenement house that even the
average New York landlord would hesitate to
handler"
"of course I'll bet there isn'tr would be
the ready reply, and the money would be
forthcoming. Blu; there is all the same, and
we never take advantages OF personally known
certainties and withdraw the offer, for we
know that there is such an establishment, aud
It's location is exactly we identified 1t In
the supposititious wager.
Buzzart's ROOst
is the localized title OF the picturesque struc-
ture, and the locality is in the heart-centre of
our city.
on the northeast corner of Ninth and f
streets, n block west of the United States Post
Office is a considerable-sized structure, square
in build, with a fronting and an entrance on
both streets, both Ninth and Z. 1t is mud.
colored In complexion and mixed as to inhabI-
tants 1t is locally known as "Buzzlrd's
Roost," and Is the property OF some of our
most estimable citizens.
Our Estimable Citizens,
| the owners of the tRoost" do not live in n.
they rent it out by tenement piece to their
less fortunate brethren and sisters, the non
| estimable citizens, and to the transient tramp.
| There are many rooms In this abode and
| therein is its only resemblance to Our Fathers
| mansion, which is in Heaven. In the interest
| of the city and citizens at large, and that we
| have ever with us, CRITIC reporter took In
| this abode this morning, and after fumigation,
| a Turkish bath and a change Of clothes, sidled
into tho onice, meeting the eye of the lerce-eyed
| managing editor with a wan gaze so wild that
| the latter ukase-issuer was terrified and
s'You should have been with me-" he said,
| for The absence OF fuel, would have thought
| was in what the Revised Edition designates
| Hades."
| He then related without the garnlshment of
words the sorry condition OF the wretched In
| hebitants of this rookery.
| The building is old, has n color on the out
side similar to the hue OF an
Embnlmed Corpse,
| and its interior Is more wretched than that oi
| an inner sepulchre, II we except two or three
rooms which SAVIOR in general way OF outfits
| not supposed to be found north OF the Avenue
Entering the building by any of Its avenues
of ingress-and 1t has them on either street
one finds oneself hidden away from bright
sunlighted, busy thoroughfare, where fashion
fits and happy life exists, In perfect den OF
darkness, unwholesome odors and unhappy
crime and poverty. The place is old and
shaky 1t was evidently tumbled together by
| cheap jouineymen, and II Is irregular In con
struction. The stairways have been worn
away by frequent traverse, and the very boards
| and floor beneath ones feet have a pinched
bare and a hungry look, and quake and shivei
TO the tread, squeaking halfstarved like, as
poor and hungry as those about them.
Along the three-feet stairways there one,
was balusters; they are pretty much altogethe
gone; some appropriated by the tenants fo
the bloody encounters characteristic of th
"Roost AL gone for the greater part ant
the few remnants so shal1y and loose that the,
are persistent invitation to theft for fuel Il
the unlucky inhabitants OF the rooms to whicl
they lead
Such rooms-if they be homes, we are gla,
there is no place like home. We should b.
sorry that such places as these exist. Here 1
an unexaggerated, incomplete
Photograph
| of the average-we barred above, you recol
lect, n few used by a certain set Floors bar
of carpet and wood so worn that the toddlin
child, who has no shoes, by the way, is thinl
| howling-it hasn't enough healthy food In
to yeil-oyer a splinter that has run into on
OF its unshodden feet; walls that were one
| papered, and remnants OF the paper still rt
main half sticking TO and wholly stinl
ing about them; creased with ag
, and unwholesome with dampness
.hybrid-colored ceiling. cracked an
scaly; consumptivelooking cast-iro
stove, SO small that II seems as II IL were still
born; stove that passed through as man
, secondhand shops as there are gates abou
: the streets OF the New Jerusalem; a stoy
, strapped about TO keep II together by bands
: wire and with Just enough fire In IL TO fall
pieces some night and start fire that wi
a consume the entire block; but not enough I
: warm the room; a smell OF soap-suds, but n
evidence OF cleanliness; a ragged, wretcho
i, troupe OF children about n poor, hunge
whitened-faced mother, and the outfit Is con
plete. Complete, save the rickety old bed, tn
I. shadbellied cat or the inquisitiye dog-thos
the poor have always with them-and a fe
cheap prints about the room. The husband
: usually absent; he only goes home when even
other place is shut up, then there Is a row, an
, 'sBuzzard's RoOst' Is transformed into a circu
! Some of the women dodgers, having large fam
, lies, have no husbands, and quite numbe
, with no family, have transient excess Of Il
same.
A FOuI OdOr,
the result Of lack Of ventilation, pervades Il
7 entire building; Nth has Its sway throug
! out, and In the swell" sort of court I'm II
u centre, reigns supremer still. No one passiI
= diate neighDOThoOd ever dreams or wou
) think TO imagine the hldeous, beastly conc
Q tiOn OF that "well," whose bottom, by the b
n Is the roof OF a series OF one-st0rled houses.
q is a receptacle for everything de tr0p In Il
Q rooms OF the tenants above, and, as a natur
consequence, is a sort OF stationary stagna
sewer