Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1931-08-28
Mew York

glLmarlS uOIIOE q C4lL4OACAl
being moved down in the streets
by gang bullets has brought sud-
denly into the national limelight
one Of those sections Of New York
where the melting pot" has failed
to remove much OF the old worlds
Stag.
There are several such districts
where dregs Of an ancient and I'M
familiar cups may be found.
To al outward intents and pur-
poses. the immigrant families are
living III o~vercrowded. Uttered quar-
tiers like millions Of other tene-
ment jewellers. The slum belt IN
and about Third Avenue and lO7th
Street, scene Of the recent outrage.
Is a replica OF several other squaid
areas.
But let some tragedy momen-
tarily tear away the eXteriors, ana
Manhattan learns that thousands
Of its people still suffer from age
old Sicilian chills and fevers. The
shadow OF the old Malta, pre-
sumed 10 have been long since e
moved, still haunts the private
lives of those who heard Of its
menace from a grandsire's knee.
Old world fears have not been Ill
tered from the blood. The MaIla-
like attitude OF American gangdom
has done much 70 keep them
alive.
And SO when the law went out
10 revenge the shooting OF babies,
it met a tight-lipped nelghborhood.
Even the kin OF one dead child
had various seeming lapSe5 OF
memory. The ancient Sicilian codes
had suddenly been applied.
one mother Of the district frank
Nv admitted. We are not brave
enough TO tell what we know. We
are afraid"
They have learned this. as their
fathers learned it-and as some q
our own younger generator are
learning It from mob threats.
Recently I saw a motion picture
which drove this point home. II was
titled. The Star witness" The
story had 10 do with a family that
was sitting 1t the dinner table
when a commotion was heard out
side. The various members rush TO
windows and doors to see what all
the shooting's about and become
eyewitness to a gang Staying.
Thereafter. all the well-known
methods Of i~ntimidating witnesses
are practiced upon them by the
agents Of the underworld. But
there's an old whiskered grandpa,
who fought in the Civil War. who
is thoroughly Lincolnian and who
remembers the foundations of his
country.
He isn't going TO be buffalOed by
any mobstersl Nor is he. Nor can
he understand what's getting into
the rest Of the people to stand for
such goingS on
All OF which is instructive fic-
ton. and quite worth needing. But
up In the Manhattan section where
EdAAA EAf0 AaAGA " D0AAk AAAN+A
guns on playing youngsters, tene-
ment life is likely TO 60 on quite
the same for some time. Another
generation may change IL, but
gangsteriSm is likely to have an
important effect upon their lives.
During these hot sticky days
they fairly pack pavements that
are soggy from melted tar.
The hot days. too. carry IN
pleasant odors out Of thousands Of
opened windows. The same IS true
Of the East Side ghetto and the
upper Bronx ghetto-wherever poor
families thus c~Ongregate.
When the present indignation
dies down. New York will forget all
about this vast Sicilian and italian
section until something happens
again. The men Will continue 70
congregate IN front or the social
clubs and porchos and sidewalks
will 60 on being cluttered with
mothers and their babies.