Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-05-25
CR0WLEY'S CONVICTION.
AN APPALLING PICTURE WHICH
1T DLSCLOSES.

Daughter of the Tenement from Her
Insamy--A Historic Water Tank With
Which Aaron Burr's Name L. AssO-
ciated-At the Bar Withoat Change.
NEW YORK, May 23.-The trial of Police
Sergt. Crowley for the worst crime of
which a woman can be the victim makes
conspicuous the most seamy side of life
among the lowly in this city. Were not
Maggie Morris poor, ignorant working
| girl she would not have placed herself in
a position to be his victim. Had she been
properly reared she would not have been
IN the apparently dIsreputable dance hall
where he found her. For her imprudence
her poverty is to blame. She knew no
better Brought up in tenement, how
could she?
Poverty in great cities, if not every
where else, is as destructive to the soul as
to the body. The daughter of the tene-
ment is from her birth exposed to con-
taminatiOn. Before she can speak she
eats the fruit Of the tree OF the knowledge
of good and evil. Even il her own home
be orderly, the promiscuous living of chill
dren OF different sexes in one or two small
rooms cannot fail to do harm, and dis
reputable neighbOrs finish what Is lack
ing to complete her moral injury. The
average tenement at one time or another
resOunds with oaths and Obscenties.
Words OF which they do not know the
meaning are early implanted in children's
| memories. Their young eyes see sights
which never should be seen.
The knowledge of evil Of the daughter
OF the tenement grows with her growth
/ and strengthens with her strength.
I While yet a child she is learned Ia the
lore of the matron. With her sense of mod
esty thus early blunted, when she nears
wOmanhO0d she becomes q mark for the
brutal attentions of the young toughs'
who are the gallants of the tenement. If
she associates with them at all, she must
listen 20 their oaths and indecent
jests. The custom Of her class causes her
TO "keep company" with some one OF
them. IndecOr0us liberties are taken by
her "feller." In the course OF time they
! quarrel, and he has successor.
The tenement gallant takes his "best
| girP' TO picnics in the summer and TO
balls IN winter. At these balls and pic
nics the daughter OF the tenement meets
members of her own sex who have gone
10 them too often, but she has such few
/ pleasures that she cannot afford to be par
ticular.
THE COMPANIONS OF MAGGIE MORRIS,
a virtuous girl, at the hall where Sergt.
| Crowley met her, were, with few
exceptions, if any, disreputabe. The
hall where the ball was given was the re-
verse of reputable, as the evidence at
CrOwiey's trial tends to show. Yet Mag
gie's mother not only permitted her 20 go
10 the ball, but was not concerned when
she failed TO come home until the next
morning. What "A state of society must
it be when such liberty is permitted to
girls of sixteenl This license is on par
with all the rest OF tenement life. Even
if girl never left her home, she must,
nevertheless, be more or less thrown with
the bad Of her own sex. There are disrep-
utable women in a large number of the
| tenements. Association with them, even
il infrequent, must cOrruOt. 1t is as true
to-day as when it was written that evil
| communications corrupt good manners.
Small change for the better is it
when the daughter of the tenement seeks
to earn her own living, whether as a
| cigarette maker, as is Maggie Morris, or
as a shop girl. The wages of any trade
are 80 scanty that in almost any snOp
full OF women there are several who
add to them by evil living. Beggars can
not be chOOsers. Less in the shop than at
a pleasuring can a working girl choose
her associates. Should friendship insid-
iOusiy spring up between a good girl and
| bad, 10 is more apt to work the deteri0ra-
I
the second. Let girl reared in a tene-
ment and forced to work at a trade for her
| living be as YirtuOus as she will, she can
not fail to acquire a knowledge Of evil
which, but for her poverty, she would
never possess. Small wonder is il that,
as could be easily shown, the ranks of the
women OF the town are recruited from the
tenements.
THE WONDER is THAT so MANY POOR
GIRLS,
surrounded by all the temptations Of their
condition, grow up amidst the dedlements
and COMMUNICATIONS OF their lite 10 become
| VirtuOus wives and mothers. More credit
should be given 10 the woman who, in
spite OF familiarity with evil, refuses to be-
come bad than 10 her who has never eaten
the fruit Of the tree OF knowledge.
The foregoing is not evolved Ike the
Germans picture Of the camel, out Of the
inner consciousness. IL may be open 70
the charge OF eXaggeratiOn, the cOlOrs
may be laid on too thickly; but II Is in the
main too true. / have seen enough OF the
tenement population 10 claim the right
Of speaking about 10 with authority. One
need not live in n tenement 20 learn of the
existence OF its evil. A walk through
the streets in the tenement districts VIII
discover how rank grows the tree Of life
/ In the soil Of poverty. | have heard more
filthy and blasphemous language and
seen more evidences Of deprayity Of
every sort i'm a single hour in the
tenement quarter than in other parts OF
the city in "A year. My experience is not
exceptional. The health inspectors will
hear out what ! say, and they visit tene-
| ments daily. The health department bnt
! feebly performs lts duty Ot keeping the
| tenements in good sanitary condition,
but its work Is thoroughly done compared
with the small progress the churches
make in keeping them IN a good moral
condition. But the churches are not ~
/ blame, the evil Is in The system and Is
I corresp0ndngly ineradlcable. As long as
the good and the bad are brought together
I by the pressure Of poverty, 50 long will
/ evil communications continue 10 corrupt
/ good manners.
/ THE SHABBY THREE STORY BRICK
BUILDING
at Centre and Reade streets is connected
/ With the stately structure in Wall street,
/ occupied by the Bank Of the Manhattan
| Company IN "a way not dreamt Of IN the
philosophy OF most people. Thereby hangs
some history. In i19S Aaron Burr. in
order 10 offset the moneyed institutions
possessed by toe Federals, organized q
company 10 supply the city with water.
1 He managed 20 get the Legislature 10
] uaaa "a charter uhfrh uormittnd the com