The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-09-08

tell OF many cases where the gamin has
murdered for the mere satisfaction OF
seeing his name in print This Is the DOM
inant characteristic Of the ill-educated
criminal. and sccomplishes more in the de-
lection OF crime than the detective Du-
reaus.
A book published In the seventies, pur-
porting 70 be a description OF the New
York of that day, gives thrilling picture
Of the Five Points, where the author al
leges human life is thought OF no conse-
| quence, and assassination Is nightly oc-
| currence.R But the glory of the Five
| Points belongs to history and the old
| landmarks are disappearing one by one
Policemen may pass through singly ~
| night, and unobtrusive citizens may study
| Mott Mulberry or Baxter street without
| fear OF molestation except through the
| sense Of smell The denzens of the quar-
| ter are peaceble preferring dirt to blood,
| ana the typical assassin who haunted the
| purlieus of Five Points two decades ago
has migrated north or to the river front
| To the pen of a lola the Five Points still
| offers a marvellous study. But the au-
thor who undertakes the task must have
strong stomach and not over acute
sense of smell. AS O picturesque back
ground for assassination it is of far less
value than many other New York locali-
| ties.
AS the late iamented Mr.. Sherlock
place crime which battles detection. In
| the holiness of the assassin lies his sub
sequent safety. A year ago two men
walked into the area of a house In a fash
ionable residence street, in broad day
light, rang the bell, shot down the colored
butler and then ran away In spite of the
almost unparalleled daring of the crime,
or rather by reason of It, the Harris muir
der has taken Its place among the great
Undecided assasslnatiOns of the century.
The list Of crimes which have baffied
the police is a long one Back in the ear
ly half of the century the murder of Mary
Rogers elected Poe's famous theory,
which was not published, but placed the
guilt on United States naval officer. But
whoever the assassin was, he possessed a
fine appreciation of the outre and pic
turesque.
The region lying to the southeast of
Cherry Hill, in the vicinity of Catherine
Slip and the market, has been termed,
with some justice, the Whitechapel dis
trict of New York. 1t does not present,
| however, the labyrinth Of streets that
makes the escape of the assassin so easy
matter in the Whitechapel of the Eng
fish capital. The murder OF "old Shakes
peare," which by many is ranked among
| the city's undetected crimes, was done in
| the East River hotel which stood for
many years at the corner Of Water street
and Catherine Slip. The unpleasant no
toriety given the establishment by the
horrible crime was Injurious to its pros
perity, and the name Of the place was
| changed to the Cambridge" But even
under its new name the unsavory reputa-
ton of the place chung to it, and very re-
Gently the business was given up and the
| building made into stores
| The recesses under the arches of the
| bridge at night offer fine Backgrounds for
| picturesque assassination. The narrow al
Il
great iron gate, is after shutdown as dis
NAL and eerie a spot as may be found be-
| tween the Battery and the Harlem At the
north entrance OF the next arch the air
/ is heavy with the smell of leather. To the
west narrow alley diverging from this
point, follows the bridge, to the north
| there is an iron gate Leading into the yard
| of hide and leather factory, following
the bridge toward the river is another
| blind alley, at the end Of which barrels
| are piled up to a hight of forty or fifty
feet, and to the left Of this runs Hague
street, yclept Hogap's alley. Were it not
for the great bridge overhead the neigh
borhood might belong to Great Saffron
Hill, celebrated by Dickens. 1t offers a
| fine background for the novelist who
| wishes strong local color, and has been
| shamefully neglected.
The famous Nathan murder ana the MUIR
der of Brock, the usurer, in Phillip Hem
son, M. D." took place on Twenty-third
| street, within the same block, and on the
same side of the street. The structure
| where the actual murder was consumma-
| ted was long familiar to the eye Of every
New Yorker. The exact location OF the
office building where Henson severed his
creditors jugular for the love of science
is open to doubt Considering the lack
! Of picturesque environment, some really
artistic crimes have been committed in
| this portion OF the citv
| A great many years ago there was re-
markable murder in Grove street house
| To this day, in spite of passing trucks and
noisy children, there Is something very
mysterious and dismal about the street.
At the foot of Fifty-second street and
the East river two flights of rickety wood
en- steps lead down to the pier whence the
| launch conveys the prisoners and patients
to Blackwell's Island. In the sunshine the
| spot is cheerful enough, but if starless
mldwinter night, with the snow falling
fast these narrow wooden steps offer the
finest background in New York for a
| splendidly weird tragedy. In the distance
the lights from the avenue glimmer dimly
| through the mist, but the foot of the
street is as black as Erebus, and the
great breweries loom up darkly and mys-
| teriously. What a scene for swift and ter
| rible assassination! The slippery steps,
the red light of the launch far out in mid
! stream grinning like a Jack o'lantern, a
lightning stroke of the assassin's knife,
a splash in the silent waters-and presto!
six pages of thrilling and closely writ
| ten manuscript, or. If the story be for
magazine consumption, twenty-four
pages, without the thrill, but containing a
fine dissertation on the Immortality of the
| Soul, or the influence of Rabelais on the
| Monastic System OF the Sixteenth Cen
| fury.
| The sense of touch Is the least inn
paired by old age, says the Buffalo Times.
| The eye is the first sense to become i'm
paired by old age, and the sense of touch
| TO orrhnf tnnan eI1rn tnlrns ife r,lnco "a Ahn