The record-union., 1897-07-06
MURDERER'S ALLEY"
SOON TO DISAPPEAR FROM
THE METROPOLIS.
Something of the Remarkable His
tory of a New York City Den
of Criminals.

And so the fat has gone out that
vMurderer's alley shall be wiped out
of existence.
"Murderer's alley" according to the
best local authorities, is not Murder
ers alley at all. It was never known
by that name to the denizens or TO
their neighbors. In fact, the alley mas
no recognized and authoritative name
Twenty years ago it was popularly
known as Nigger's alley, from the char
acter of its inhabitants. To-day 1t is
simply the Arch.
The name then, is a purely journal
istic one. Yet If ever a place deserved
TO be called by this name it is the
Arch. Its history is redolent Of blood.
1t was for many years the very CEN
ter of the most lawless and criminal
portion Of New York To-day it has
reformed in everything but looks. And
looks count for much when joined to
an evil reputation. It would be i'm
possible in the whole Of New York to
find a more repellant, noisome and
even bloodcurdling locality than Muir
derer's alley. Try it at night time, as
1 did-a dark night, if possible, when
the one feeble gas lamp hickering at
the meeting place of it's four arms only
deepens and intensifies the mysterious
shadows and suggests myriad lurking
places Of cutthroats and pickpockets.
A MALTESE CROSS.
'Murderer's alley is in fact two al
leys which traverse each other in the
form Of a Maltese cross. You might
say the cross lies east and west. There
is an entrance at the foot of the cross
and another at its head. One is from
Sullivan street, the other from Thomp-
son street. But the transverse section
of the cross Corning the arms, If you
Wild eliminates at either end in a
blind alley. Both at Sullivan and at
Thompson streets the entrance is
formed by a long narrow arched pas
sage leading under the second stories
OF the adjacent houses. Being rooted
in, the loathsome odors which reek all
over the alley find here a peculiar en-
phasis. The Commissioner of Publicf
Works has done well in condemning a
nuisance which threatens at any mo-
ment to breed pestilence. If you are
brave and get through this preliminary
barrier Of atmospheric resistance you[
will find nothing in the alley itself to
alarm you-in the daytime. The sky
is almost hidden from view by the
many colored radiance Of the family
wash pendant like flags and banners
from clotheslines stretched across the
alley. on the reelking pavement dance,
sing and play crowds of red-cheeked
children, with merry black eyes and
pleasant ways. Through the open doors
and windows you catch sight of buxom
women in picturesque yet not over
Cip1nlV
household duties, singing perhaps over
their work There are curious wooden
balconies and exterior staircases built
on the front of most of the tumble
down old rookeries that line the alley
on every side. You have suddenly
stepped out of New York into Italy.
/ had a conversation with the land-i
lady (or was it the janitress?) Of one
Of these rookeries. A young woman
italian by descent, but American by
birth, she is, it seems, the official in
terpreter of the Arch. And as we
talked an ever increasing crowd of
gaping women and children gathered
around US. This lady assured me that
she had never heard the name MUIR
derer's alSy" applied to the place. In
TACT. the italians had not taken the
trouble to baptise it at all. She had
lived here fifteen years and had never
known OF any unpleasantness. There
were twelve apartments in the building
over which she presided, each contain
ing TWO rooms. All were occupied hvI
orderly Italian laborers and their fami-
lies. Ihey paid 81 a month Think of
that-Si month for two small rooms
III tumble down rookery in the most
Iliaiouorous part of New York. Eighty
Aour collars a month or over 81 900 a.
year squeezed out of a building which.
"PdIl from the not very large value
oL the ground Whereon it stands. is ac-
tuaIly hardly worth 81 900 cash. No
"ohder Dr. Rainsford has told US that
10 Grass or people pay higher for what
they get than the very poor.
ufdE VOICE OF THE NETGHBORS.
1 found that the neighbors on all
sides of the alley in Thompson and Sui
livan streets, in Grand and Broome
streets, corroborated the excellent rep
utation which the alley has conquered
Tor itself in spite of appearances and
nntecedents. But so far I had run
across no one who remembered the
alley in its older days At the precinct
station just three blocks away. on
Macdougal street, near Prince. was
more fortunate. Acting Sergeant Ry-
an has been in the precinct ever since
1876. The first nine years he spent as
policeman on the beat which in
cludes the territory covered by the
Arch There are other policemen at the
station whose memories run back even
further than 1876 but they have not
been attached to the station for such
long sequence of years.
According to Sergeant Ryan's ac-
count the Arch, when he first took hold,
well deserved the name of "Murderer's
alley" which, however, he has never
heard bestowed upon it. It swarmed
with negroes. No white man dared to
show his face there. The only white
people were a few low women who were
living with negroes The women were