Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-26
Washington's Growth in Half Century

e
When our BILLY Wise pitched excellent BAN
Assisted By Baker, whom you win recall;
When a& Iowa Circle they set such Q pAce
The nrst time We held here q bicycle raced
And the quarter mile track at Athlete Park,
Where HGham raced Prince until II WAs
DARK;
when Hanlon rowed Courtney, and Maud
3. could trot
A mile Ia Just what have really foreots
when oBrien's circus first came to his
win monkeys and ponies and funny osa
clown:
when We went h summer-oh, how mem,y
eainssl
To Fort FOote Or to Glymont or Mount Yer
non Springs.
In the Mary Washington -bottome0
tzn one 1oot Of water they say she could
Aoat)-
Up oceoqaan Greek with the bottom IN
She ehurned up the mud to our childish
delight:
When We sat with our girl In some quiet
nook
And wrote words Of slush In her autograph
The Old Southern mammy-an obsolete
With pain On her head and smoking her
pipe:
When Frank Ward sold milk and Bob CAL
lahan booze,
And John B. Mccarthy was writing .up
news?
And 30 could mention a whole lot of stuff.
But for the time being I've said quite
enough.
Some time, later on, I will give YOU some
OF the really old dope" still have in store.
III simply conclude as 1 started and saw.
Do you not remember, Old Timer the day?
DEGRADING Swampoodle in the early DAYS
it was. indeed, all it has ever been pic
tured to be. 1t was a bad place for the
posndmaster; the policeman sidestepped It
when he could. and the boy from some other
section Of the city who happened to pass that
way always took along his trotting ticket, for
ne knew he would have need of it.
1e would be unfair to say that there were
no nice people In this section of the city, for
we know that there were, but many stan be.
laeve that the good and peaceful ones were
outnumbered By the bad and rough. An eaviy
item found IN The Star, back in 1853, Win
give some tdea Of the rural conditions az thu
section ct that time and even later. The item
follows:
How Some of the Boys Spend sundav-rhe
portion Of the city called Swampoodle n that
extended along Capitol Branch to Loean's MN
and upon each side as far as the ground IL
low or but Q few feet above the level Of tae
branch. The ground 10 selected by the boys
Tor their Sabbath amusement and not a few
grown men also engage IN their sports there
A bali alley has been erected, and there MEM
be<S resort. The streets and open fields are
the grounds for the boys games Of handy
'crack-and-crack-about' and prisoners baees
The adults are no more choice in their han.
g11age than the minors, and are as careless
or the safety Of persons and property.
FoF two years the people have been trying
TO break up these gangs, but they have been
unsuccessful as yet. Recent complaints oG
property owners in the immediate neighbor.
hood viii probably excite the officers 10 Ne.
newed efforts, but they without the aid q
the citizens, can do nothing comparatively.
The parties cannot be taken in the act h1
the officers. who are more closely watched
than the offenders, who, knowing the of6cefS
1T great distance, Immediately suspend their
games and scatter. The only way Is to ascer.
tain who are IN the parties and to arrest them
afterward, and this must be done by those
who are annoyed by them"
IN an issue two later of The Star tn
writer came across another item which, ale
though & showed how mean and contemplate
some people can be, stil refers to . condition.
before alluded 10, when the early Washing
tonian-be he from Swampoodle Or whatevet