The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-07-19
THOUSANDS SLEEP IN PARKS.
ALLTHE GRASSY PLACES THROWN
OPEN TO THEM.

No "Keep or tho Grass by Day or Night
Whiio the Heat Lasts--Inyitation 40.
cepted with Rush ct tho Downtown
Small Parks Riverside Hope Populous.
.Come and sleep on the grass In the
parks" was tho invitation Manhattan sent
out last night, and tho people responded
by thousands. From the little triangle
south Of Cooper Union to tho slopes Of
Riverside Park and In all the downtown
small parks the grass, the benches and the
band stands wore populous. Tho Keep
of the grass signs were called in.
sThey won't DO put out again this sum
mer, either, II can help it. said Park
Commissioner Pallas. He sent letter
to Police Commiasioner MoAdoo In the after
noon Offering the parks within his juris-
diotion in the boroughs Of Manhattan and
Richmond to the weary and the overheated,
and this order from Commissioner McAdoo
was read in all the station houses last night:
"By direction Of Park Commissioner
Pallas you will permit the pu bio to walk
sleep and lounge on the grass or benches
in all the parks within your precincts, day
and night, during the hot spell, II they 80
desire"
1t did not take long for the news to get
about. By 0 o'clock p. M. Mulberry Bend
Park, in the Italian quarter, looked like
the beach at Coney Island on hot day.
There were over 1900 women and children
there, with fair percentage OF men The
sleepers took to the grass until there wasn't
an available spot. Then they filed up the
handstand.
Everybody in the park wore as little
clothing as the law allowed. shirt and
pair of trousers sufficed for the men,
while most Of the children slept under the
stars in their birthday dress.
There were over 5000 who sought relief
at the William H. Seward Park, at East
Broadway and Jefferson street. Only the
benches at Battery Park were overcrowded.
Few sought comfort on the grass.
The permission appealed nightly to
jewellers along the North River In De
Witt Clinton Park early in the evening were
at least 1000 persons, most Of them women
and children large number OF them
had made arrangements to spend the night
out of doors and had brought pillows and
blankets. Coverings were unanimously
voted to be unnecessary.
On the bank sloping down to the river
from Riverside Drive space was at pre-
MUM in the early evening. There was
breeze off the river and weather conditions
were quite comfortable. 1t was not OBJ
servable that many intended to spend the
night there, the bank being too steep IN
mos. places to insure tranquil rest Never
theless in the late evening the bank was
quite as crowded as earlier.
Those who went into Central Park to
keep cool were surprised when the police
failed to turn them out at midnight. They
hadn't yet heard Of the new order. Many
of them upon learning that they might stay
there all night il they chose went home
and got pillows Through the side streets
leading to the park entrances could be
seen many Bohemians and Italians from
the East Side, making fol- the park with
pillows tucked under their arms.
In some spots whole families were
stretched out on the grass side by side.
The favorite spots seemed to be places
where there was an incline or embank-
ment Many who are nightly homeless and
generally sleep in areas and on doorsteps
went into the park when the police found
them in their usual haunts and told them Of
the new order.
Morningside and Mount Morris Parks in
Harlem were both crowded. At jefferson
Park, ll2th street and East River, Harlem
Italians were celebrating the fete OF Our
Lady OF Mount Carmel, and hundreds Of
them slept in the park after the celebration
was over.
In the three Tenderlon parks the men
deserted the benches for the grass, but the
few women sleepers stuck to the benches.
In Madison Square. where there we're more
women than in both the others, the men
kept to the west side OF the park, giving
up the east side to the women and not dis
turbing them in the least.
In the big parks in The Bronx, especially
Pelham Bay and Bronx parks, hundreds
Of people have been sleeping under the
trees nightly. In Pelham Bay Park last
night large part Of the Italian population
Of Villa msbridge learning OF the new
order took bed clothing, pillows and in
some cases cots and slept beneath the trees.
There was a similar condition in Bronx
Park. The only interference from the
police came when the sleepers camped
too close to the botonioal gardens or the
zoo.
Seaside Park, Coney Island. was large
dormitory. Ihousands OF people came
from the city with the intention of sleeping
on the beach. Between 5000 and 10000 of
them, according to an estimate of Capt.
Dooley, did 80.
Hundreds OF others. learning that the
park grass was available for beds, preferred
It. A large number OF the sleepers were
women, and nearly all brought shAwls,
quilts or capes on which to rest their heads.
Capt. Dooley had extra men patrolling