Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1893-1895, 1895-01-22
THE ONLY BOWERY.
A THoROUoHFARE THAT is KNOWN
TIE WORLD OVER.

II IL tho Cosmo7olis of strects-A Few Of
Its Must Interesting spectacles-A Mile
of Variety Not Surpassed Anywhere on
Earth.
The Bowery, Now York's famous
down town highway of the poor and low
y, is but one of score of streets where
plebeians Of Manhattan resort for busi
ness by day and for pleasure by night,
and it is not more than q mile long,
from Chatham square to the Cooper in
stltute. Because Of its variety; because
It Is the main stream into which pour
such diverse tributaries as Chinese Peii
and Doyers streets, Hebraic Hester and
Baxter streets, Italian Mulberry street;
because 1t is so broad and busy by day,
so big and brilliant by night; because
its name has come to stand for the whole
section Of which it is the chief artery,
that cosmopolitan section of POVERTY
and crime, of appalling distress and
garish gayety, the most thickly popula-
ted area of ground on earth, has the
Bowery become place of interest to the
sociologist as well as to the mere curl
osity seeker.
The Bowery, once less cosmopolitan
than now, was chiefly celebrated for its
haunts Of pleasure and for the perils
that attended the unsophisticated out
slider who sought its joys. In the old
days its most conspicuous feature was
the dance hall. Those days have passed
The Bowery has its dance halls, where
cracked pianos and wheezy violins and
ear splitting human voices outrage har.
mony, and ingenious fancy steps are
executed by grocers' clerks and jaunty
girls of whom most were born in the
country; where sailors dispose of their
pay, and where much bad liquor is
drunk. But these are few, and the cur
rent reforms are likely to make them
fewer.
Now, the great feature of the Bowery
is the multiplicity of elements that
compose the spectacle which it presents.
Most Of these elements exhibit one thing
in common-a struggle for existence,
striving to get bread. The Hebrew ''rC-
per in, - keeping up in front of his shop
the kind of walk that lion maintains
in cage, endeavors all day long to de.
tain the passerby The shop window,
with its offer of trousers for SO cents a
pair, betrays eagerness to get your coin.
The "bum" waylays you and gives you
10 cents worth of talk in the wistful
and unhopeful effort to get 3. The He,
brew theaters, with their hieroglyphio
bills, yawn for the patronage Of their
own race, and not in vain. The long,
narrow, cheap saloon, with its sawdust
laid floor, invites your attention to the
largest glass Of beer in the world, which
is to be had for cents. The glass is as
big as small keg. A normal man can.
not empty it, try as he may, in less than
five minutes. They call it working
mans friend. " More men of leisure
street Yagrants and beggars-than work
ingmens avail themselves of its friend
ship. You can get whisky, too, in one
Of these saloons of the cheaper class,
rather so called whisky, to stand up
against q drink Of which is feat re-
quiring about as great power of resist
ance as is employed in tho circus by the
gentleman who catches cannon ball.
Right next door TO where the cheap
est liquor or earth is to be had you may
cit down at table with one Of tho In.
dies who, between drinks, sing popular
songs on the stage at the end Of the
place, and for the two drinks of execra-
bio whisky that the formidable waiter
sets before you you may have the pleas
ure Of paying ~.
Bright spots on the Bowery are the
German concert hall, tho huge Atlantic
Garten, the Volksgarten and others,
where good singers are 10 be heard, and
whore the language the drink and the
eatables arc German, mostly Viennese,
Then there are the American variety
theaters aud the wonderfully prosperous
Peoples theater.
A. numerous as the concert halls, sa'
looms, Hebrew stores and theaters arc
the pawnshops and cheap lodging
houses Tho "bum" who tours tho eoun'
Try by freight in summer abides In Bow
cry lodging houses in winter, soliciting
on the street by day tho means " OBJ
tanning shelter by night These men
light or plot for existence hour by hour
Their shifts % got drink or n free
hand AZ a FREQ lunch counter are some
times pathetic, sometimes amusing
OF tho girls one sees 0n tho Bowery
at night some are employed IN factories
by day, apd some baye no means of liye.
llhood apparent ~ tho casual observer
Most of the former sfe ~ New York
birth, che latter fr0m tho county All
have a certain iimpposs and hnlsb, how
over cheap their attire may ho.
Win 80 evidences ~ human distress
apd poverty, tho BoweIy yet hAs some
hno stores and s0me splendid saloons
Not all 600 llqu0r imblbed 0n tho siTeel
Il ~ tho cheap Kind
ghnrs BTo certain places 0n ibe How
~ Whese Has may ~ aua be- ~ tsig ~
mldpiRbi ~ he saald ha op broadway
at noon There ara OiilnF places, neat
aooI where "kDeehopi bell gDd v
touch, arpEgea drink and p',sial
pi0king, n p0iblnR mpg FiolepL aie ~
I a fIla