El Paso Times. (El Paso, Tex.), Vol. EIGHTH YEAR, No. 241, Ed. 1 Wednesday, October 10, 1888 Page: 3 of 8
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SI Paso Times. Wednesday, October 10.1886.
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OUR NEW YORK LETTER.
THE OARK SIDE OF THf METROP-
OLIS FOUND BY 8TRANGERS.
Tl>t Once Terribly Vile Kl»e Point* Vis-
ited nod DwcrlM at Somit t-englh.
(Hh«r ImalltlM found *o Be lnt»reidu|
bj Our CommlMloner.
(Special Cone*pondeaci>.j
M*w York, Oct. 1.—If there it a pecu
liarN dnrk and noisome corner of this great
nity, any district to which the streams of
jtoverty, vice and crime continually flow,
you i.iav trust the visitor from the west to
find if. Nine-tenths of the men from Indi-
ana, Illinois, Missouri, etc., who remain a
fortnight in the city see more of its dark side
tliaii tin; average native sees in a lifetime.
I confess u» a weakness in that direction
myself, Having spent iny early life in the
village, the woods and the fields, there is a
strange fascination in thoue districts of the
metropolis where six or eight story houses
shut out the brightness of the summer's day;
where restaurants and saloons are located in
fork cellars; vbere men, women and chil-
dren eit, drink and rwit on the sidewalk, and
where there is a babel of tongues and a
swarming, sweating mixture of Poise, Ital-
ians and Hungarians, sailors, peddlers and
*e*vtngw», ragpickers and cheap laborer*,
with many barefooted people and occasion-
ally a free fight.
Once the Five Points was the type of all
that is vile. It was to New York what St.
Wiles was to London. From ocean to ocean
Unrests a reading person who did not
lino* wont ing of the Five Point', and ve*y
few wbo dfH not want; to see it. But jts glory
in misery hat departed. It is almost respect
aMe, and the area of extreme poverty now
begins a little beyond It, with its central dis-
trict in Mulberry Bend. Nevertheless, the
Five Points is still a place of great interest,
The first surprising fact about the old sink-
hole if, Uiat it is so very near the heart of
Ixurineseftew fork. From the roof of the
old white block known as "down town Stew-
art1* thefcenter of fashionable trade before
the war-a Benjafliinite could have thrown a
srtone into the window of the vilest rookery
on this continent. The poetoffice and City
Hall perk are still the heart of down town
Kew York. From the park, go six short
blocks up the east aide of Broadway, and
, yon are at Worth street, whioh tarns east at a
' right angle. At the corner you are in the
throng of business, fashion and healthful life.
Go one hundred steps eastward and you are
in another world. ■
The contrast even now is startling. What
must it have been in 1830-53? First, east of
Hroadwfiy is Elm street, and next to Elm is
Centre; go five rods beyond Centre, turn
round the corner to the right and you are in
Paradise park, within the "points" (really
t here are six of thejn, but one is not conspic-
uous), all converging on tho little breathing
space. Worth street and Park street here
cross at acute angles, like those of a slim X;
Baxter street comes in from the north, and
the result ia four sharp points, and one on the
south that is an obtuse angle, though beyond
it the continuation of Baxter street makes
another point not quite in the group. Hero
was the focus of Now York's misery, squalor
and crime; and here i* still the wwtern en-
trance to one of the poorest districts.
Here 1 took my seat on the hard bench of
Paradise park, on the afternoon of Sept. 'JO—
nn Italian holiday—to note the changes since
1 first, ww the place nearly thirty years
ago. Th? change has been great aud the
names clearly indicate it. On Worth street,
nort h, is the immense six story red brick, its
long front lettered "Five Points House of In-
dustry." Beside ita somewhat smaller brick
liears the words, "Infirmary of the Five
Points House of Industry." On that spot
once stood a mass of tall and rickety wooden
buildings, crowded-with people of every age,
race and color, in every stage of moral and
physical decay—an atrocious nest of the
worst sneak thieves and beggars, drunkards
and disreputables in the world. •
It was a place of innumerable murders. No
policeman ventured into it alone. In its
l»ck rooms and dark corners many an out-
cast was choked or beaten to death, many
a worn oat and penniless debauchee died
alone: and in more than one instance corpses
lay unknown in little dark rooms till decay
revealed their presence to the wretched neigh-
bors. A single room sheltered two or three
families, their respective territories defined
by marks on the floor. It was called in a
general way "Cow day;" but minor divi-
sions and the narrow alleys opening Into tho
lower stories were called "Jacob's Ladder,"
"Rogue's Run," "Dead Fall," "Murderers"
Allay" and the like. To look into these
inlets and up the dirty stairways was like a
glimpse into the mouth of hell.
On Park street, south, is another solid
brick structure, labeled on tho front "Five
Points Missiou." On that spot once stood
the noted "Old Brewery," a tottering stone
structure with great seams iu its darkened
walls, with indescribable filth iu its hallways
and poverty glaring night and day with
hungry, hideous faces out of its dismal old
windows. Its history is n long detail of mis-
eries, diversified by some of the most appall-
ing crimes ever perpetrated. Among the
orimes, infanticide was, of course, very fre-
quent. The ward wan then known as the
"Bloody Blxth." It is now comparatively
peaceful, and the bad pre-emlneuefl for hood-
lumism Is now claimed for the "Kightiug
Seventeenth ' Business has encroached on
this district, and rowdyism has moved up
town. ——
Charles Dickens is credited with the honor
of having been the first writer to explore the
dark corners of the Five Points. He did it
very thoroughly, too, in 1S43, and wrote it
up in his inimitable style. When his work
was republished in America the Five Points
at once lieeaiue famous. He set the fashion
of "slumming," and roou had so many imi-
tator? that the contributions of visitors be-
came on important source of revenue to the
Five Pointers, and the man who wanted to
see misery got the worth of his money. One
method was to leave all valuables at one's
hotel, dress iu rags and stroll into the dens
ns a habitue; but soft hands and a cleat
healthy skin could not be left at the hotel,
and so the explorer was liable to be detected
and "hustled," Eveu now a ruddy and
farmerlike man is as quickly noted there as
a Chinaman would be in an Ohio village.
A better method waa to go with a police-
man in cititen's clothes and with enough
small change to "pay one's footing." But all
this was done in the daytime; at night the
oiuu-Ur was fflv«m »o to Ita own citiiW **
ciumveiy. tfven now 4 saouui noc urn set, tne
Sixth ward for an evening stroll, nor is it
safe to drink anything in some of the
Cellar saloons. They are "la*dcd for bear"
in many suc^ localities; aid though you
take only lemonade or water, or your beer
be drawn from the same faucet as that for
the regular habitues, there i3 liable to lie
something in the glass in which itMs served
that will "conjure" the senses. As soon as it
became a "fad" to visit the Five Points tho
glory of the place was doomed. Philan
thropyand religion invaded it with over-
whelming forces—as told in a curious old
book called "Hot Corn"-and there was a
mighty reformation.
"Paradise park" is a mangle cut off from
tb«* point made In Worth and Park str.«"t.s,
about one-sixth of an acre, paved with broad
flagging, iu the center a nide stand and
along one side a very rude and somewhat
jjreasy tierch where, on warm afternoons,
one may see the mow abject lieggars and
abandoned drunkards iu the city. On Sun-
day afternoons religious services are held
there, on other days ragged children play
ou the flagging and the victims of poverty
and iutemperance lounge on the bench.
Sitting there for an hour on this Italian
holiday, 1 saw specimens of all the tower
classes from Southern Europe. First a
swarthy and shriveled old Italian woman,
barefooted, bearing on her head an immense
bundle erf old papers gathered from the streets.
Then a couple of rag pickers, man and wife
apparently, who chatter in a peculiar dialect
which sound* to my ear likt that of the Digger
Indiaus of Nevada, but is said to be a gibber
ish or slang peculiar to the black districts of
Naplw. Like all the poorer Italians they
have an aversion to soap. Next 1 am a|>
penle i to by a wretched remnant of a man in
the last stages of alcoholism, and,them comes
a decided relief. A clean and iatilllgeiu
young man, with fair complexion and toler
ably well dressed, takes a seat by me, and
after the commonplace greetings of strangers,
I find that be is a Piedmonter-an Italian
from the northern border of the kingdom. 1
find that he regards these dark and unsightly
Neapolitans as his countrymen about as 1
regard 4-he South Carolina "crackers" aa
mine. We are all "Americans," so are they
all "Italians"—with a difference. He is a
banker's clerk, as thers are several Italian
banks in tba city.
In company with this man 1 walk down to
the next street, Mulberry, wb.ub is simply a
street of Naples reproduced in New York.
Pen cannot describe the peculiar life of this
quarter: the street crowded with dark peo-
ple talking and geeticu. iting; the saloons full
of laughing,singing and dancing men, whose
hats bear the badges of the various societies
which have paraded in honor of the day; all
the sidewalks thronged by brown women,
and everywhere among them the scantily
clad children, who tumble about in the dirt
without thought of modesty's requirements.
But there is no fighting, and only the mildest
of intoxication. Beer and sour wine are the
common drinks, it is rare, indeed, to bear
an Italian call for ardent spirits, and when
one does I observe that he takes a very small
glass of liquor as clear as water, retailed at
5 cents a drink. The Italians rarely Qgtrt
with their fists. Their women are notably
virtuous. How it is in their own country 1
cannot say, but the police report that they
find no abandoned women of that race in
this city, —-—
One block further east brings us to Mott
street, the greatest Chinese center iu Amer-
ica outside of California. Indeed 1 know of
no street iti San Francisco where thoracal is
more closely crowded than in this. Here are
the Chinese gambling rooms and opium dens,
which last are said to be patronized by not a
few Americans. In theory of law they are
watched over by the police, but in fact the
Chiuese are very rarely interfered with in
any way whatever. Nor is it, from the po-
lice standpoint, necessary to interfere with
them. Their intoxication is of the kind
which makes a man lie down and feel good,
not go out and tight; and as long as men only-
kill themselves, law can seldom interfere.
One strong point in California's indictment
against the Chinese is that they do uai bring
their respectable women with them. Well, in
Mott siivel. they have none of any kind. Pti-
liaps there are a few in the dark recesses of
t heir curiously partitioned residences, but uo
American visitor to the street sees any. It
is emphatically a masculine colony.
At the junctions of Worth with Mott and
Mulberry, and along It between the two
streets, the two races havo mixed; and in all
that neighborhood is an occasional Asiatic of
some other race. Hero and there, too, a Uegro
has located and more rarely a European
from souie of those "unrecognizable1' tribes
cast of Germany. And those mixtures have
already produced "results." Among the
children one often sees a type which cannot
be assigned to any race with which we are
familiar. If the hair is straight—it. is al ways
of a coarss black—we know that there is nc
African blood. If there is but the slightest
trace of an almond eye, we suspect a Chinese
infusion, but if the nose is very prominent,
no possible "China" in t,he eye can mako us
doubt that the tnot&r is Italiau. Polish, Her
vian or Bohemian. And as most, of these
people appear t o bo hero to stay, the question
naturally rises to tho mind; how long before
all this foreign mass will fur.e into a com-
mon Americanism and what sort of Ameri-
can will it be? We may bo reasonably sure
that the attrition of a l'reo society will fast
wear out these now radical race distinctions,
and that thousands of these brown children
will be valuable American citizens thirty
Years from now.
Iu a region but little over a mile square
livo 1 i'«,000 jieople, "too thick to thrive," our
fariue;- friends would say. And they do not
thrive. In hot weather the rate of mortality
mounts up rapidly, especially among chil-
dren; but it is here, as it is among the col-
ored people in the West Indies and thtf Gulf
states—tho per cent, of mortality is so much
greater than among white Americans that
the superficial observer declares "the race is
dying out," but the census taker discovers
that the birth rate is much larger still.
There are districts in the south where the
average life of colored people is but twenty
five years, whilo that of the whites is forty;
yet there are as many very old colored as
white people, and the latter increase some-
what faster. And so it is here. That high
death rate in New York which shocks our
country cousins and makes them think this
on unhealthful city, is due to infant mor-
tality among the i>oor. Among tho well to
to do, indeed, to three-fourths of mankind,
this is among the most healthy cities in tho
world. But with tho immigration of later
years, we verily have the wretchedly poor
alwars with us. J. H. Bia-Dlb.
CURIOSITIES OF COURTSHIP.
Dr. Johnson convinced his sweetheart of
hi* appreciation of her by taking her finger
to poke the tobaooo in the bowl of his pipe.
On the Island of Himia, opposite Rhodes,
a girl is not allowed to have a lover until she
has brought up a certain quantity of sponges,
and given proof of her ability to take them
from a certain depth.
Daniel Webster proposed to Miss Fletcher
while aiding her to unravel a skein of thread.
"Grace," he said, "we have been untying
knots. Let us see if we cannot tie one which
will not untie in a life time."
la some j»arts of Asia the question of a
man's title to a bride must be settled by a
flerco fight between the friends of the con-
tracting parties. If his forces are victorious
his sweetheart becomes his trophy.
In ancient Oreeca the lover was seldom fa-
vored with an opportunity of telling his pas-
sion to his mistress, and he used to publish it
by inscribing his namu on the walls, on the
bark of the trees in t he public walks and
upon the leaves of books.
A Scotch beadle took his sweetheart to a
graveyard, and showing her a dark corner
biid: "Mary, mv folks lie there. Would
you like to lie there;'' It was a grim way of
proposing, but Mary was a sensible Scotch
lassie, and she accepted him.
According to Dr. Hayes, courtship among
the Esquimaux has not. much tenderness
about it. The match is made by the parents
f the eottple. The lover must go out aud
capture a polar bear as an evidence of his
courage aud strength, and then steal his
sweetheart.
In the Isthmus of Da'rien either sex can do
tb<s courting, while in tho Ukraine the girl
{.eiierally attends to. it. When she falls in J
love with a man she goes to his house and
diclares her passion, if he declines to ac-
cept her she remains there, and his case lie-
comes rather distressing.
Among the ancient Assyrians all marriage-
able young girls were assembled at one place
and the public crier put them up for sale one
after the other. The money which was re-
ceived for those who were handsome, and
consequently sold well, was bestowed as a
wedding portion on those who were plain.
According to curious old marriage custom,
still prevalent in Brittany, the bridegroom,
immediately after the priest has wedded thu
couple, strikes his wife in the face, saying,
•This is how you will fare if you make nw
angry," and then, kissing her, he says, "And
this is how you will faro if you treat me
well."
A curious custom prevails in Oud Beicr
land, Holland. October is the auspicious
month, and on the first Sunday (known as
review day) the lads aud lasses, attired in
their best, promenade the village separately,
stare each other out of countenance, and
then retire to make up their minds on tho
second Sunday, which is called decision day.
Tho Australian lover is lacking m tender-
ness, if the statement made by Myers Deley
is true. The lover makes up his mind as to
which woman shall be his bride, and then
hide# in the bushes in the vicinity of her
dwelling. As soou us she comps near the
spot where he is concealed he knocks bet-
down with a club and carries her off before
she comes to.
The brothers Jacob and William Urimm,
authors of the wonderful fairy stories, con-
cluded that one or the other should marry.
Officious friends found a suitable lady for
Jacob, but he declined to do the courting, so
William acted ns his proxy. In doing so he
fell in love with the lady himself, which
troubled him greatly, as ho did not want, to
betray Jacob. This latter solved the dilem-
ma bv telling Williarii that he could have
her. * *
CURIOUS THINGS OF LIFE.
The kitchen and dining room of a Kansas
City hotel are located on tho eighth floor,
and reached by six elevators.
A fair damsel at Elk Point, L> '1'., ate
twenty ears of corn for supper one day and
went to canio meeting in the evening.
A California man is hatching chickens by
immersing pails of eggs in spring water, tho
the temperature of which is uniformly 102
dt'gs.
St. Louis claims tho distinction of having
producer! the laziest man yet, who is written
down on her police docket as John Smith, be
causo bo was too lazy to think up his real
appellation'.
A Chicago Uiau, w ho gives his whole mind
toadvestising, has devised a pair of l<oots
whose wooden soles hold a small automatic
press, with which the user's name aud occu-
pation can bo printed all over the sidewalks.
There is a family in Georgia of fourteen
members—father, mother and twelve chil-
dren—the oldest child being 4"> and the
youngest 10 years of ase. There has never
been a death in tho family, and nil are now
living within ten miles of each other.
A quarrel with a funny cause took place
recently in water submerged Augusta, Ua.
A gentleman paiij a negro $1 to carry him
on his shoulders to the hotel, and a serious
misunderstanding arose about the position
the gentleman should occupy on his porter's
shoulders.
A traveler up in Maine writes that while
he W!^s journeying over a country road one
hot day, with the thermometer at U"> degs.,
became faeo to face withasigu bearing the
following inscription: "Don't dump any
snow on this lot." Wishing to be entirely
obliging, t hough in a strange country, be did
not.
A fakir in the west is advertising a recipe
which will tell you bow to make your horse
an artist. When you forward him $1, not
necessarily for publication, but as an evi-
dence of good faith, you receive by return
mail a neatly printed card liearing (he words:
"Give your horse drawing exercises and he
ill get there. Tata."
MUSICAL NOTES.
Mile. Decca, the young American opera
singer, has obtained a triumphant success at
Lille.
Tho tour of tho Metropolitan Opera com-
|iany will include Chicago (two weeks), Bos-
ton (two weeks), Milwaukee (four nights) and
Philadelphia (one week).
Mr. E. A. McDowell, the y oung American
composer whoso works have been favorably
received In Uermnny as well as in tho United
States, has decided to relinquish living
abroad, and will in future lie one of Boston's
resident musicians.
vkuui life
iirtbv i. ffiae & b.
PAKRIKR
Shocinii. Carriage and Blacksuiithinif
onop
' > r HOUSK
.06 East Overland Street Mj|)g
and GoflimissiM,
Particular attention to diseases of
Horses feet—such a«
Quarter Cracks, Contracted Heels. Over
reacliine or Interfering
All Work Guaranteed. _£1
EL PASO, TEXAS
STAR STABLES
WEST OVERLAND STREET
Finest Livery in the City.
feed and Sale Stables Corral Attached. M. A DOLAJN, Proprietor
SMITH, HUBBARD & CO.,
-WHOLESALE-
Produce a Commission,
Eggs. Oranges, Potatoes,
Butter, Lemons, Onions,
Cheese. Pine Apples Cabbage,
Oleomargarine, Strawberries, Hots,
Codfish, Herring, Halibut
Satisfaction guaranteed in all cases.
MONARCH BLOCK. EL PASO. TEXAS.
First National Bank
THE MINT SALOON.
Best Brands of Liquors and Cigars.
Ill
SI RYAN, Proprietor.
Coffin & Seeton
WHOLESALE DEALERS IN
FLOUR, GRAIN, HAY, FEED, ETC.
All kinds of Garden and Grass Seeds No. 306 EL PASO STREET
Tke Gateway EL PASO To too.
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The above map has been especially
pepared by the Times in three sizes, for
backs of Envelopes, Letter Heads, and for
Posters.
The Times Job Rooms will print this ex-
cellent advertisement of El Paso on the backs
of Envelopes, Letter Heads, Bill Heads
Circulars, Shipping Tags, Etc. Free, on all
orders of 5 jO'J or over.
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El Paso Times. (El Paso, Tex.), Vol. EIGHTH YEAR, No. 241, Ed. 1 Wednesday, October 10, 1888, newspaper, October 10, 1888; El Paso, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth505381/m1/3/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Abilene Library Consortium.