Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1884-08-01
III THE nEiC FLAT"
a Tenement House with Urer Eight
Hundred People in 1t.

We viii go up Mott street to that tai:
brick building labeled on the trout, in
letters FIVE feet high, THE BIG FLAT"
! 1t X detached, is seven stories high. has
seven windows On each foor in front and
thlltv-tWU on each floor at the sides, and
ruins right through to Elizabeth street.
1t is said to be frepro,f and it appears
to hr So. two broad flights Of stone
stairs with iron bal1ssteIS, one on the
Mott STREET and one OH the Elizabeth
street. end, lead from floor to floor Ar
the top Of each flight is a long, dark
corridor, of which SIXTEEN doors open
On one side and thlrty-tWo windows Oh
the other.
Each Of tho doors lead into a suit of
three roolus, with windows opening on
the court yard. and each suit except the
end ones, which cost Sl3 is rented for
~ to $40 month, payable III advance.
THERE are at present, the ianiror Informs
us, between 800 ana 500 pto-
pie living in the house. Most of
them are Bohemian Jews, but Their: axe
some Russians, italians. Chinese and
Irish also. we have very few lriA,,"
says the jaItor, for we don't want the
lowest OF them, and the better class
wouldn't come here" The tenants are
chiefly tailnrs who work at home, and
street reld"r>
''1lrc Big Flat, continued the iantor.r
Was originally built for co,ortil people.
and WAS afterwards turned into loig-
ingS for working gi,lS. Now it belongs
to the Nvw York Steam Heating
company. What are my duties: Well,
to collect rents, to see that the .trnanl>.
keep their rooms cirall--Jews are mostly
dirjy--to have the water-tank on the
root, which is filled by Il steam pump in
the cellar, kept always full; and to exc
cute general repairs. There is no ga>
III amy OF the rooms except mine, and tire
tenants burn kerosene. They bring their
own cooking trvcs with them. No. there
is 10 elevator; If a man lives nn the top
floor, he must walk up and down to his
ruOlu."
"lhc Big Elaty' says tho sergeant at
the desk III the Elizabeth street station;
The most troublesome house in the
precinct. Not 50 much the tenants, YOU
know, who ave hard working people, but
thieves and p;ckpockrts, when they COM
nit a robbery, make use Of the passage
from Mott to Elizabeth, to cscap pc the
officer chasing Them We get Il good
many complaints of all sorts from the
tenants, too, but they don't amount to
mach. Go and see some Of the Italian
tenements III Mulberry street. The
1talia'ls are a saving people, and are
rapidly buying up all the Mulberry street
i.t,uSck.'
Up long t1igl1t, Of dirty stairs we toll,
untiI at length We reach un opeu door
A woman, Apparently about 20, hut in
reality not more than half that agf
stands in the cntranc: with f>rtniyht-
old baby in her arms. She is unl;clnpt,
unwusheQ, and altogether unattrArtjvr
Is this Il sample Of the bright Italian
lrautics Of which We have read and
dreamed SO much. with their darkly-
flashing eyes and raven locks, and clear
pale olive skins - which the red blood
rnsi'eS on occasion! Alas it is even SO.
iIallaS maids are women at -,
mothers /: year later, Srandnothcrs al
30, and dccrrpit hays in a year Dr
two more Here IL New York the
descendants Of the Masters Of the World
sleep anywhere and anyhuw--On tie
floor Or sitting on IL box with their backs
aSrinst the wall. Iou Will find twelve
ur fourtr;n domicilcti in a room that
would iai&r accommodate two lrlo,A's.
Disease is common among them, and
their dense ignorance OF the consInonrst
things makes the evil worse They cat
anything they can get, whether they buy
it from the butchers offal, or pick it out
of the ash barrel OF the gutter They
will not spend money on fuel, and pork
is cheap, SO they cat it raw, and tri-
chlnnsi; is rife They can live, like the
Chinese, where men Of other natlonali,
r'rs would star1t. and SO they are say
Ing money and becoming househo]dcrs,
and are forming permanent Italian
colony III Mulberry street and it. neigh
bo1hooI, as they have already done IN
the vicinity of Snow Hill and Holborn
Valley, London.