The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-06-11
aLEAN1Nas IN BAXTER STREET.
The Mysteries of the Secondhand
Clothes Trade Explored.
From The Netc York Press.

From the Netc York Press.
In one of his questless wanderings re-
Gently, while wrapped in a cloak OF medita-
ton, the writer drifted Internationally
into that most classic of all New York re-
gions, famous alike in song and story, and
known to Gothanites as Baxter street.
| No one has ever entertained a greater alb
horrence for the frowsy and Inscriptions
denizens of that thoroughfare than the
writer, nor has any one taken greater pains
to avoid its grimy pavementS and squald
shops. These lines never would have been
| written had not the writer been suddenly
grasped by the arm in a viselike grip,
and an eager, dirty face thrust before his
own.
Aroused from his reverie, the writer found
himself confronting an authenticated son OF
Israel, whose cOuntenance bore signs OF want
and care and many fragments of his morn
ing meal. With knowing look and leer
the Jew dangled pair of rusty, threadbare
trousers before the startled scribe and de
manded in husky voice, half whining,
half commanding, 1.-TWO tollar and halluf
for dose bants."
Not standing in any great need Of wear
ing apparel at the time, and preferring to
purchase new garments while it was possible,
the writer was engaged in unlinking him
dealer, when the idea came to him that per
haps some information relative to his pecu-
liar occupation, and which would be OF in
| terest, could be CLEANED from the avaricious
tradesman
| Under the pretext of wishing to further
| examine his stock the writer was allowed to
| enter the dungeon-like emporium of cast-of
apparel, from whence issued a mixed odor
of cooking victuals and musty clothing.
Hr.xy. -
ond-hand garments representing the fash
ions of every season for the last twenty
years. The changes in the style and cut of
male attire from the days of the civil war
down to within six months of the present
| time, could here be as distinctly traced as
If pictured in book of historical fashion
plates
While housing about in this shady grove
of discarded clothing the following infor-
nation was slowly and painfully elected
| from the cautious shopkeeper. WHAT the
latter said has been translated from the He
| brew Baxterese tongue and here set down
in English:
Thousands of dollars worth of old clothes
are annually bought and sold by the Bax-
| ter street merchants, who obtain most of
their stock through the men who parade the
streets making the welkin ring with their
hldeous cries and buying up all the old
|
| y ear the trade i'll old clothes is much more
brisk than at any other time For now
doth the wise man shed his overcoat and sell
his winter garments for ready cash, while
| the foolish man layeth away his clothes
where thieves may break in and moths cor
rupt
Secondhand dress suits are a veritabe
drug i'll the market especially the Baxter
| street market, which is now overlooked
| Nit h fi,C.~NA
to appear often in full dress are gener-
ally-with the exception of actors and hotel
waiters-in a position to buy them at first
| hands.
| There is, however, a system current in
| Baxter street by which young man who is
anxious to shine in circles of Bowery or
Chatham street society, and who is DESTROYS
| OF appearing la mode, can array himself
in all the glory of a cutaway vest and claw
hammer coat by leaving his own suit of
clothes as deposit and paying IN add
ton a small sum for the use of the loaned
dress suit. This is a very popular practice
among the young would-be swells of lower
| Gotham.
Another very popular branch of the sec
ond-hand clothing business is known as the
change act" This is the way It is worked:
A good suit of clothes is exchanged for one
| very much poorer, and worth perhaps
|
| ceived an amount which is equivalent
to the difference in value of the two suits.
As every one knows, old clothes dealers
are as numerous in New York as cobbie-
stones, but the fountain head of the business
is centered in what has been facetiously
called the Rue do Baxter. Competition is
rife down there, aud hatred for successful
rival often reaches the point of frenzy in the
| Hebrew breast. All are Ishmaelites and
swear by the motto, Every man for him
| self" Many are the wileS invented by the
shrewd dealer TO entrdp the unwary.
But persuasion by main force is no longer
ca ried on to the extent that it was but five.
nay, even two years ago. The continued
avoidance of the street by respectable per-
sons, and the constant Interference and sur
veillance of the police, have done much in
latter years to tame the wild nature of the
untutOred Israelite, and the result is that
to-day Baxter street, while it is anything
but paradisical road, is more of pass
abe thoroughfare. and less of a trap for
| tho InS1lSnactjup than in T1anoOrab1a