Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-09-26
"LONGACRE"
Little Stories of Gotham by Writer
Who Sees Unusual in Life of
New York and New Yorker.

New York.-Rome has her seven
hills. New York has at least that
many. We've never really counted
them. Let's see! There are Cher
~ Hill, Murray Hill, San Juan
Hill, Dongan Hill and Richmond
Hill that we think of offhand. Then
there are Morningside Heights,
Washington Heights, Brooklyn
Heights, and so on. There are 9th
erS unnamed or unknown to US.
Two of these erninences have for
many years been citadels of the
underw world. Generations ago
Gotham thuggery centered in Cher
ry Hill, in the picturesque days
when the Bowery was a red light"
district. But with the passing of
the old order, this center, gradual
ly modified, crept up Third avenue
to Fourteenth street, across to
Sixth avenue into the old Tender
Ioin and thence to San Juan Hill.
This latter region in the West Six
ties, is populated ny a mixture OF
negroes and lawless whites. For a
generation its two sinister arms
stretched south, one down Broad
way, Sixth and Seventh avenues
through the old Tenderloin, and
the other down Eighth, Ninth and4
Tenth avenues through Hell's Kitch-
en-. Hell's Kitchen gave way to
the Pennsylvania station, the new
postoffice and q wilderness of fac
tories and printing houses. De-
partment stores and reform pushed
the old Tenderloin up to Times
square and then to lincoln square
And now San Juan Hill itself is
becoming innocuous.
But the pendulum swings again !
and now Cherry Hill has entered !
upon a reign of terro- mildly sug-
gestive of the horrors of 20 years |
ago Residents of tie notorious |
cobbled street that THREADS it's leis- !
urely, climbing way il the direc-
ton of Manhattan bridge are !
agreed that the gangstes have had |
a sudden access of energy. A Sc
ries of crimes, ranging from petty |
theft to the murder of woman of |
63, has sent a chill of terror
through the neighborhoO1.
Dozens of families are leaving
the neighborhood, despite the great
difficulty of finding a plaG in which
TO live. They accuse the police of
failure to make any effort to find
.he perpetrators of a doztn crimes
committed within the asst few
months. Personally they are afraid
to open their mouths lest hey fall
foul of the dreaded gAgsters
Small storekeepers dare net leave
anything in their tills Overnight.
Young persons are being wa.ned to
turn in early. Stories of the past
are being revived and ther, is a
rafting of the bones of skeletons
of two decades ago. Midnight
chases on roofs, wild galioLs up
and down fire escapes and hotfoot-
ed pursuit in a labyrinth of alleys
have become as commonplace ate
" in this locality as they art in
moving pictures
Japan has come to New York and
seems to have come to stay he
Japanese do not come to the CIV
in as large numbers as they cone
to the agricultural and fruit grow
ing sections on the Pacific coas.
but they are of higher education
more cosmopolitan in taste and at
tire.
There is no Jap town" in New
York city. The Chinese gather in
groups and make the atmosphere
thew create a commercial one; the
japanese live less segregated lives;
they are found all over the city.
They are quicker to dress like
American standards and ways.
The Japanese become neighborly
with the American next door; the
Chinaman will not have an Ameri-
can neighbor if he can find one of
his own kind who will serve in
stead.
The exact number Of Japanese in
New York city is a mooted ques-
lion. A conservative estimate
places the figures at 5000 but some
maintain there are as many as T.