The evening world. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1887-1931, 1913-06-14

a dead street until the detectives and
the Dalcomos disappeared. II the wis., |
dom Of the detectives holds true, there
will be another murder near The Three
Deuces soon.
The ground on which The Three Deuces
and the seven other tenements which
were built at the same time In the early
seventies stands was part OF the
property belonging to 81. Au9ustine's
Church. the gray pile which rises In
Houston street Just OF tho B0wery. and
whose yellow lighted cross has shons
down for years o. q symbol Of pity and
forgiveness for the sordid parasitic
growths which have struggled W to the
air about It for two generations. II
was intended for part OF the cemetery
Of the church. Even then the city Was
becoming too crowded for cemetssies,
and the ground. ~ yet unbiased. Was
turned over to secular uses.
The old fashioned mats with the ug-
Hest possible IRE escapes were at once
attractive to newiy.wcd couples. They
were filled up with young people.
Younger New York came to know the
block - Lovers lane" Its people
we're for the most part OF Irish and
German descent: except for such In
heritsd racial friction AS In bound TO
crop out between races which like each
other and are timid about admitting It.
II was 4 place Of peace and romance
. melting pot Of the foreign born
| Americans Just after the civil war.
Within . short seven years the pol
son Of the worst days Of the Bowery
/ AA,N hA
through Houston street. Occupied no
longer by the trim girls and the clear
eyed boys who serve customers In the
great dry goods stores along Grand
strest-whers Lord Il Taylor laid the
foundations OF tho concerns later
Broadway and Fifth avenue success
-furtivs night people began engaging
lodgings n chrystie street.
The concert halls and dance halls
which gave the Bowery the bad name
which sensitive iAtter-day merchants
would try to get rid Of by changing
the ums-honored name. sent queer
dodgers into the last block Of Chrystis
street.
The habitues OF Armory Hall and Il
lOwnsy Geoghegans place and many
others found II convenient to live there
The conservative decent people were
being displaced by them without Alto
gether understanding what WAS goins
on until supt wailing and Capt. Web,
OF the Eldridge street station descended
upon The Three Deucss with the great
eat raid which. up to that time. New
York had known. Eighty prisoners wer'
taken. charged with everything from
disorderiy conduct to the robbery o
drunken or drugged Victims iured from
the nearby dives.
The self respecting tenants move'
away In . mock. The houses nllsd VI
with immigrants from Poland and Hun
gary, oowsd. careful. industrious peopi
without criminal instincts. But tn
crooks Of the town had learned tn
channels. They knew tho doors bStwss
the yards OF tho houses Of Lovers LIANT
They know the connections throug
the doors In cellar walls. They kns,
the level roofs. And when crime wa
loose In the neighborhood and the pc
lice were on the trail of the criminal
the fugitive took to the block on tn
east eide OF Chrystie street ~ IN
easiest way to confuse and eluds HI
pursusrs.
BY 1900 the Woodworking sweatsho
people had been crowded out OF III
block again. Occasional shooting ARRAY
constant hurdle races by police aft,
prisoners In the back yards. nat to III
| searches. added to high rents offere
by those who wanted to exploit Il
place again ss an evil annex to Il
Bowcry's night life. drove them AVA
Even In those days the tradition
the evil fate Of The Three Deuces Ia
begun to crystalline. May II. 1893, WI
lam Flannery. the need-do-well ron
q Jersey CITY police captain. shot Al
| killed there Mary sexton. a girl al
had been his playmate In childhoo
The lure Of New York had drawn the
aereas The river and iato Wicked "a