, 1884-11-14
The CAPTURE OF FIVE POINTS.
Fh~ DIFFICULTIES which Were over
come-Then ana Now.

come-Then ana Now.
George Alfred Townssnd.l
Twenty years ago we used to hear a good
deal about tho Five Points OF New York.
otherwise u place down In the swampy
quarter Of the city near the Tombs prison.
where the desperately poor and criminal
lived There had oncs been a pond at this
spot, aud the marshy ground was occupied
by wretched people. who In other countries
had been accistomed 10 live amid dis
ease. In time the Five Points be-
came almost unsafe at midday for q respect
ably dressed porson to go through. and tho
police were frequently murdered there.
There was not e school or a Protestant
church among the $1,000 people living in that
dsnss district It was believed that there
were underground passages connecting the
different blocks Of houses through which
thieves and murderers escaped Nearly
svery house In the noighborhood was a low
brotbsl, and almost every store was a rum
shop Yet with the usual Indifference OF
New York to what It need not touch, tas
people on tina high streets surrounding this
loaths,ma placs made no effort whatever to
improve tue condition or sven to l~egislata
upon It's crimes.
The Methodist womsn Of this own uers
tho first u advance into tho Five Points.
Ihey had q home missionary society hers t.
which they gave their attention before the
10y when a woman must needs put on a six
irea to b. seen in her kitchen. They got a
preacher out o. the Methodist confersncs
VIM was not afraid Of bad smells or bad men.
and no took a little room at tho Five Points,
surrounded himself with the women Of this
society and called gu the native Five Point
CT 1, come in 10 worship on Sunday morn
ing. IL booked like n small branch Of boil
when tho church opened The boys began "a
turn soInorsaults and fight In the church.
Tue Sunday-school seemed TO be a combina,
tion Of nswsboys and the young fellows
Fasin hal taught 70 steal. The pioneers pei.
severed, and in a little while the Five Point.
bogan to have a certain orderly sids.
Another great difficulty was the genera
poverty, which soomed to drive the people
into filthy occupations. and those who re
formed were in danger of starving. The
Methodist women and their preachers gave 1
hundred hands occupation with needls-work
Tho preacher, TO show that he had come tC
stay, moved right into the Five Points witt
his own family, 10 grow up there and DO ar
example or a resistance. Among the person.
WHO helped build a public hall on the spo-
was John h. Cough, who raised Z 5000 foi
the ~iaisgion. 1t bought ont an old brewer,
for $4,000, an old building which had be
come u place Of violence and crime with Il
dark, winding passage ways and damn
rooms aud universal squnlor. This old build
Ing at the center OF the Five Points wa
pulled down, and Bishop James thirty year
ngoiail tho conversions Of a mission hous
still standing.
lhs moment tho newspapers gave thi
b%niliing attention wealth came forward {.
help IL out, and one person bequeathed So.
90 In the courso Of time the Improvement
Of tho city were lot loose upon tbs F.vI
Points, broad streets, and many OF then
were graded right through the center, an,
to-day = man can walk anywhere thsro an
hardly know that he Is in a bad quarter. An
other institution in tho same locality claim
b have furnished 5000. 900 meals 70 the poor
and gotten thousands OF them employment