The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-07-09

trict OF health and purity. In 1871. when
Charles Dickens visited New York he was
guided through the Five Points district by de-
tectives from tho Central Police Office. After
his visit he described the place as follows:
Marrow ways dverging to the right and
left and reeking everywhere with dirt and
Nth. Debauchery has made the very houses
prcmaturely old. Nearly every house Is low
tavern. Here are lanes and alleys paved with
mud knee deep, underground chant ers whore
they danced and gained. ruined houses opened
to the street. whence through wide gaps IN the
wall other ruins loom upon the eye. hideous
tenements which take their names from rob-
berry and murder: all that Is loathsome. droop
ing and decayed is here"
The condition Of affairs described by Dickens
was in existence In 1913 when the New York
Ladies' Home Missionary Society OF the Meth
odist Episcopal Church decided to root out the
debauchery. leaving to the Health Board the
work Of cleaning up the neiGhborhood. The
Health Board inspectors and the Ladies' Mis-
sionary Society worked hand in hand and sue
ceeded in bringing about the transformation
In 1850 the missionary society appointed a
committee Of men. who stood high in the COM
munity and who agreed to help them in tho
work. known as the Advisory Committee. Tho
members were empowered. with the aid Of u
special missionary assigned by the society. to
find q suitable place and make arrangements
for the opening o! q Sunday school At that
time the streets were not known by the names
they have now The streets of the Five Points
in those days were Whitewater, Cross. An
thony. Orange and Mulberry.
What Is now known as Paradise Park was
then Paradise Square. This little park was
incosed by a wooden railing. on which the
people residing in the neighborhood were in
1t. ,l,y.f,
dry. Directly across from the old park was tho
Old Brewery. famed in song and story, Mis-
cradle buildings. nnumernble saloons. dirty
children. squad-looking women. men with
dislGurcd faces and brutal. appearing men
completed the general picture. Then the name
OF the Five Points was tho SYNONYM of ig-
norance. misery and crime OF the darkest kind.
Men lived there whose sole occupation was
thieving. Women were there who had long
since forgotten how to blush As for the chill
dren. they went along the path that lead, to the
prison and the gallows
This was tho condition Of affairs when the
Ladies' Missionary Society decided to open a
Sunday school In the neShborhood. They
found little room at the corner OF Cross and
Whitewater streets. There tho members OF
the society sang and prayed and eXhortcd and
explained their motives. and urged the i'm
portancs Of cleanliness upon their wretched
listeners. The inspectors from the Health
Board frequently Joined in the cxhortation.
The missionary school opened with sixty pu-
pills. and there was never a school like ii in
New York before The boys who attended the
Sunday school threw somersau!ts and engaged
In fights in the school room. Now and then.
when they were inter!erod with. they threw
books at the missionaries. and on several oc-
casions slapped the faces Of the good women
u a n rni
Finally chaplain from Sing Sing prison.
who had exsrted great influence over the CON
lie was the hey. Mr.. luckey. His wife came
bay and the Old Brewery. They helped the
sick and destitute and cared for many ,unpro-
tscted CHILDREN whom they had removed to tho
ccsded. with the aid OF other missionaries. in
intersssting tho public to the extent that big
RuFn Mission E"nso in o tRs Fvo o' Fon;s
Tss then n?f Gna%n as ySH @ F9"f
thousand dollars was realized rs the nucleus
o. fund to establish permanent, mission at
place would )" the Old Brewery, bnndIns, at
about three hundred pcrsons. VIII? lived a
wyrtched life in Nth and degradation. Tho
cry and then established the mission house.
The Old Brewery was u big, yellow Ored.
dlapidated old building. 1t had formerly been
occupied ms n brewery. but when the mission
airy body settled In IN" Five Points the Old
Brewery had been turned Into tenement and
was the headquarters OF vice and misery In
it there were gambling dcns. unfortunate
women, drunken. uuarrellng families, nth,
rags and sickness Of all SORTS. An alley OK
tended all around the building. The north
passage was wide at its entrance and gradual
ly tapercd to point. 1t was opposite To the
Iassagcway familiar TO old New lorkCrs as
"Murdercr's Alley" This was a filthy. narrow
path about three feet wide. There were double
rows OF rooms throughout the building proper
which were entered By means Of the allcyways
Most OF the rooms Were dark and dirty.
The dark aud winding pasSaReWays which
extended through the building afforded a con
yenient means OF escape to thieves and Grim
inals Of all kinds. There were also various
hiding places which were well known TO the
violatorS al the law. Beneath the floor OF one
room at the time improvements were being
made In the Old Brewery. human bones were
found. Thoy were said to be tho romans Of n
victim Of some murder, The building itself
was rickety and dlapitated. and the stairs in
IL creaEed when trodden upon as If they were
about to fall, In one room lived a gang OF the
most notorious pickpOckets and thieves who
had ever wsrk ed about New York.
The basement OF the building was even worse
than the part above ground. In one room
there were found twenty-six persons living al