The times., 1897-08-26
CRIME DRIVEN FROM PARKS
Dangerous Spots Cleared ofTheir
Protecting Bushes.
ALL THE SHRUBBERY MUST GO
New Order OF Things in the Public
Reservations Where Bushes and
Crime and Inlmorality-Will Be
Better illuminated and Safer.

as haircut and a shampoo. That is, they
are being cleaned up and renovated ami
all superfiurus underbrush is To be removed
The work of digging up by the roots the
hundreds of small bushes andtrailers which
have served TO make the edges and walks
Of the public parks resemble the wiids
of Alaska has commenced in the Capitol
grounds, aud will be extended TO the
other parks, large. and small, all over
the city. Only the underbrush and vines
will be removed, and small trees which
give promise of increasing their stature
in the years 70 come willie left unmolcsted.
There are number Of reasons why
this change in the scheme of decorating
Ine parks 5 being made, but the most inn
partant one is the new system Of illmi-
mating the parks. Under the old order
Of things the lamps in the parks were sas
lamps, and they shed very little light
Oh the subject, being at great intervals
Complaints about the danger that ut
night lies lurking in the public parks, and
tie numerous hold-ups which were quite
common several years ago, were re
| sponsibe for an effort for more and better
Illumination. It has taken a long time
| to get it, hut it is here at last, and
cunies in the shape OF several hundred
electric arc lights from the Potomac
Electric Lighting Company These We're
| placed in position i'll the parks last March
| The old style electric lamp hung from
| iron pole, apout thity-five feet high,
and when one of these was placed in a
| park, the lamp found itself almost lost
among the topmost branches of the trees,
where the light was almos, entn ely hid
den.
a change in the style of hanging the
lamps WAS then made, in order that the
rays could cover a greater area Of the
! goundS. The very low curved iron poles
now la use in the parks Were then sutasti-
tuted, and the lamps Were lowered until
they were about seven feet from the
| ground. Here they she'd their light upon
/ a very small area, on account of the great
nunuer of bushes and low trees. In the
| Immediate vicinity Of the lamps IL was al
most as hight as day, but the greater por-
/ tions uf the parks remained Just as dark
as when th e lamps We're hanging mp among
the treetors. Hence the officials have de-
cided 10 Teinove all bushes and SuperflIous
trees. in order that the light may 50 shine
that al men may reap the benefit thereof.
Another feature OF the remodeling uf
the parks viii be that the lower branches
of the trees viii be cut off in order to aid
the proper distribution Of the light when
this is finally done it is expected that
the whole surface OF the parks viii be
| as light as day, and that they VIII then
afford no refuge to the many tramps
and thugs who are now commonly sup
posed to spend their nights in the dim
/ recesses which formerly flourished in
the public parks.
The Capitol grounds have long been
| looked upon as among the most danger
Gus OF the public parks, and many resi-
| dents OF Capitol Hill have feared to
venture through them alone after dark.
In past years the Capitol grounds have
| been the scene of countless assault cases
while murder has also been committed
there 30 thick We're the bushes and
| tangled mass of shrubbery surrounding
taic portions OF the grounds that
highwaymen have often worked at their
trade within the shadow of the dome.
On one occasion, about two years ago,
an old soldier, weary of life, shot himself
| in the midst of the shrubbery surrounding
shc grotto. right at the side of the most
| travelled tboroughfare between East and
| West Washington Yet no one heard the
shot fired. although il was in the early
| evening, and all night long the body lay
unLo;iced and neglected, until finally in
| the morning, when II as found by park
! policeman, who knew all the ms and outs of
tie grounds When found the body W as cold
and stiff, and had evidently remained out
in the open air for twelve hours, at least
A detailed history of the many crimes
| which have been perpetrated right beneath
the DOM, on the public grounds which
surround the Capitol Building would fill
Il good-szed book. The long record which
the place has held, however is now about
10 be broken, and in many of the most
notorious spots in the parking, w here
crime held high carnival in the years
gone by, the bushes have already been
uprooted and transplanted TO other places
less faNora ble for the commission of crime
Spots which have become symbolic of as
sault and sudden death, past which no
man or woman OF East Washington ven
tured after twilight, have now been cleaned
out, and the very bushes w hich have served
as the drop curtain for scenes which have
never been presented TO the public have
been moved to new fields. The brilliant
glare of many lamps now sheds a flood
of radiance, and makes impossible deeds
which deserve the adjective dark. The
Capitol grounds are now safe and Sc
cure for the unin nterrupted passage of man,
woman or child, at any hour of the day
or night.
a similar condition of affairs has long
existed at Seaton park, that section of
the Mall east of the Sixth street railroad
tracks. Here the disciples of TIE blackjack
and sand bag have long held forth The
park borders on that unsavory section
of South Washington known as Boodfield,
while Willowtree alley, the hotbed OF
negro IawleSsness, is just across the street
from the park. II has been often said
that if a highwayman held up nan liz
the Capitol grounds or In Seaton park he
had only to Cross the street and enter
Wfllowtree alley, and lie would at once
] be buried in a series of catacoInbs of
crime more intangible and impenetrable
than any Rome can boastof.
The clearing out of the parks also rids
the city of many tranps who have been
accustomed TO burrowing into the inmost
recesses OF shrubs, and spending the night
there, secure and safe from the vigilance Of
the police, who found IL impossible to even
! catch glimpse of the interior precincts of
such safe barbor. These tramps and
| fly-by-nignters will now have to seek for
new burrows. The combination Of vigilant
policemen and searching electric lights, to
: pether with the removal of their screens