Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-05-22
CHAPTER VIII.


 CHAPTER VIII.
 fhe next evening at nine o'clock, Warde was working in the office when negro boy brought him note. He opened it casually and read the fol- lowing:
 ''Mr. Warde-Co as soon as you can to Peter's Rest, No. 1,oo6 Com merce street. A river man there can give you great story for the Gac zette. His name is William Jackson.
 "A Friend"
 Irving received great many notes like this, and 1t occasioned him no surprise. Peter's Rest had 8 reputa- ton of not very reassuring charac- ter: still he was often called to such places, and he gave it no particular thought. He finished the work upon which he was engaged, and at Il o'clock started for the choice locality to which he had been called.
 As he was passing the station house, Fenton, the detective, joined him and asked whither he was going. ITO Peter's Rest" said Warde.
 That's nice place to go to- said Fenton, laughing.
 q was called there to get piece of news," replied Warde.
 q will go with you," said Fenton; cit may be something in my line"
 tAll right; but remember that this Is mine. and if there's anything in it the Gazette gets it exclusively"
 Of course"
 The locality which the two men were about to visit was a considerable distance from the station house, and 1t abutted on the river. Commerce street originally ran parallel with the river but the current of the Mississ- ippi, which is ever making some ex- cuse for change, had eaten away < large part of the bank so that the upper end of the street ran almost into the water. The rear end of sev- eral houses on the west side were ac- tually suspended over the stream, and it was only question of time when they would topple into the swirling waters; but it is rather a venerable observation that because a thing did not happen yesterday
 
 will not happen tomorrow. And so, many persons on upper Commerce street continued to reside above the river, knowing full well that there would be an end to it some time, but fondly expecting that somehow they would move out day or two before the crash came and the river claimed a lot of refuse not it's own.
 That portion of the city Warde and Fenton entered knew no such luxu- ries as la1nplights, and depended en- tirely upon such illuminations as a comp1acent moon would furnish On this particular night the moon was contending intermittently with sea of crested clouds. To the right as they traversed the rounded street bending with the river bank, several cotton sheds spread their huge di- mensions in solid blackness. The houses were mostly old and dilapida- ted and peopled with the city's dregs. It was here that thieves, rough boat men, idle plantation hands, and that great herald of the transient and the shifting known as the tramp, were fond of congregating. And it was apparent that the ac- commodations were ample for this kind of population. There were dens of various shades of iniquity; ram- shackle sheds where the tramp could readily find free accommodations for the night; greasy corner groceries where stale vegetables and riot-breed- ing liquors were sold, together with the certainty that one would take up the trail of death where the other left off; boarding houses where river and plantation hands were packed Chinese fashion. Tn short, one could see here every sort of building, ex- cept the church and the school house. As the, two men continued their walk the houses became less numer- ous, and they passed vacant lots, be- yond which they could see the sil- very gIeam of the river.
 At last they came to Peter's Rest. It was 8 two-storied house, which in its day had been considered one of the handsomest residences in the city; for, in the early days of Nilus, this congeries of filth, crime and deg relation had been the most eligible part of the town. Yet nobody ever dreamed at the time of this story that HelIs Half Acre, which lay banked in shadows to the north, would one day be reclaimed again and reversed by railroads and re- sound with the hum of business; for now the desperate and the rough were omnipresent in that locality.
 The exigencies of the time had con- troyerted this old mansion into the very worst resort of it's kind in the city. It was become the rendezvous of all sorts of disreputable men and women. It was here that under the influence of liquor, which was un- eoualed in vileness, all sorts of evil nacts were struck. crimes were