The Indianapolis sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1880-1904, 1885-05-17


hlthy basement lodging houses, and 90 they
huddle together upon the stairs and landings,
where 1t Is no uncommon thing to fad four
or five in the early morning. The passages
and untenanted cellars of the lodging houses,
with their doors open night and day, are.
during the summer season, nightly filed
with these wretched people. Thus not only
are many of the cheap lodging houses and
homes of the poor in this district breeding
houses In themselves for crime, disease and
Nth, but they are, for lack of proper inspsc
ton, receptaoles for that which has already
been bred elsewhere, and which is deposited
gratis to sweli the collection.
What Sunshine there is in these lodging
house stops on the roofs among the chin.
neys, and is the sole property of the cats Of
the neighborhood, who may be seen doing
about in dozens Many of the streets in this
neighborhood are stencnful. They are at no
time pleasant promenade. but when q
bright Gun pours down upon the putrefying
garbage; when dirty, SICILY looking. bare
footed children play steamboat in the thick
shiny waters of the CUTTERS when the ruts
In the badly paved streets are filed with
scraps and odorous sweepings-vell, one
bite of rotten apple, perhaps, is all that is
needed.
Bad as these streets are, their filth and
smells are nothing compared to the inside of
some OF our tenement houses. The mission.
Arg desiring to enter these rookeries must
pass through marrow alleys, deep in dirt and
horrible with escaping sewage gas. The rot
ten stai.cases are so dark that one has to
grope and guide himself by means of the
walls, the walls themselves black and
grimy with the filth gathered by years
OF neglect. Room after room is filled
with men and women, tailors, shos makers,
hollow chested and consumptive. Dirty,
pale. ragged childrea are stumbled over at
every step. The sick and the we'll the idle
and the Industrious, the vicious and the we'll
meaning are close together, while dodgers
come in at night, making still more dense the
population OF thess hives, in the uuventia-
ted rooms OF which women cook and wash
iron and eat and drink and sleep, the sick ly-
ing unattended in pallets on the 6o)r all
day, and at night the sick and the we'll. men
and women, boys and girls, pig in together
as best they may; In some OF the csllars men,
women aud children, geese, dogs aud cats
struggle for comfortable lodging. Broken
waste pipes allow water and whatever to
drip, drip until little streams are formed in
which the children play. Roofs leak, plas.
ter cracks, sinks are connected directly with
improperly kept outhouses, bogus plumb.
ing Families the house, the halls are dirty,
the staircases are rickety, the q re escapes are
obstructed, the smells are uncomfortable. In
certain sections of the city the cutters are
Tiled with refuse and garbage all the year
round. This has obstIuctsd the caIverts.
rendering the sewers valueless as n means OF
the streets are flooded aud the water find,
ready outlet into the easements and sub.
cellars of the houses.
SOME oE THE LOCALITIES NAMED.
The grim Florentine might have adj led to
the horrors OF his vision OF hell by sojourn
in one OF these houses, for in his Inferno"
the damned, at least, did not breed. but here
they do. Every year sees an addition TO the
long roll OF newborn lost. Born into the
fetid atmosphere of a crowded basement.
sucked on gin and Graded In the gutter, they
have no chance. When they are five or
six years old they are drivsn into the pub.
lie school to infect il with the moral masma
Of their lairs. Many are lucky enough to
die: others live on, la turn TO propagate
their kind and TO hand down to another gem
Grafton the curse which never leaves from
the cradle to the grave. ALI this seething
MACS OF misery aud vice exists In these
Sums. 1t Is getting no better IL Is getting
rather worse. Nearly all the houses between
First avenue and Avenue Il, from Eleventh
street down TO Rivington street. have no
closets, but cesspools that are not cemented.
These scenes which the yards In which these
cesspcols are located present almost beggar
description. In eome of these tho filth and
dirt from these pestholos overflow and food
the yards breeding typhoid fever and NAL.
aria wherever atmospheric influences and
the rays OF the sun start the latest germs OF
the disease. One block OF houses on Fourth
street contains population OF Z, 900 persons.
Here We found, by street missionary within
week, seven people living in one base.
ment, and little dead child lying In tho
lame room. Another apartment contained
fsther, mother and four children, two OF
whom were I'll with measles. Ia another
nine brothers and sisters from twenty eight
years DOWNWARD, live, eat and seep together.
In apother mother was found who turns
her children into the street In the early sv.
ening, because she let's her room for immoral
purposes until leng after midnight, when
the poor little wretches creep back again IL
they have not found some miserable shelter
shewheie. In many casss matters were
found tn be made worse by tho unhealthy
occupations OF those VINO dwell in these hsb.
itations. In one apartment the air was laden
with particles of snpsrhuous fur pulled
from the skins Of RABBITS, rate dogs aud
other animals In their preparation for the
furrier. And the refuse aud ubbsh was
thrown into the street or into tho sub cellar
OF the house.
IN THE VICINITY or THE Park.
One OF the worst spots on Manhattan Is
land Ia located on the south side Of Seventy.
second street, Just west of Central Park, aud
occupies the whole space between Eighth
and Ninth avenues. IL Is one maze of tum
Die down shantiss, reeking with oil sorts OF
shiny and unhealthy nastiness. A visitor
recently encountered q pig and fourteen
goats while walking along the block. Piles
of rank rubbish were stacked up at the sides
Of the Unlocking dsns and behind them.
Geese and ducks padded in stsgnant pools,
broken or ignorantly constructed chimneys
poured clouds OF smoke into the Streets aud
the delicate complex perfumes of horse and
COW stables added u the general vileness In
one yard the visitor found two bles. eyed
msn burning . heap OF rotten vegetables
and other rubbifh. A rut In the oozing soil
IVES used In place of a sewer. and In IL lay
old pieces OF bread, the putrid internal ar.
ran game n IA of anna 10 xI aud n % n IN mn war.