| Show I THE TENEMENT DENS Ji What the Flash Light and Camera Disclosed + in New York CEOSADE AGAINST LAWBREAKERS Some of the Places an Officer Must Visit In the Discharge of IlL DutyA Chinese Den I 1 1 1i t + tt s 1 + s + a VERY month or so at r 1 midnight or later tho tenement fI ten-ement dwellers of Mulberry C Mul-berry street New York city of Hester street of half the ill kept frowsy + + bad smcllin streets that lie between Center street and East river the frowsiest and worst sraellins of which aro those In the neighborhood of Ea > er market every month or so in the small hours of tho morning these tenement dwellers are rudely awakened by officers of the board of health escorted by a squad of police There is no ceremony no apparent consideration of tho principle that every mans house is his castle cas-tle there is a heavy rattling of clubs on bolted doors gruff demauds for admittance tho which if not speedily acceded to are followed by a heavier rattling of clubs the 4 breaking In of bolted doors and may be the arrest of the offending tenant his family and his guests This is a proceeding which tho tenement dwellers bring upon themselves by their neglect neg-lect to obey the law which prescribes that every man woman and child must have at least 400 cubic feet of space to eat and sleep in This menus that a room fifteen feet long ten feet broad and eight feet high may serve as the abode of three persons and no more Daylight inspection is of no avail for most of the dwellers will bo In the streets and those who aro not are much too cunning to bu caught telling the truth The only recourse re-course of the board of health is to pounce down on them in tho dead of night when i husband and wife children and lodgers aro sound asleep and too suddenly for them to take warning and fly to the roof or down tho lire escapes The effect of these midnight incursions in-cursions has been to greatly remedy the evil but in order to mourn obedience to the law it Las been found ueceuary to keep up tho practice at irregular intervals and not infrequently infre-quently a flagrant case of overcrowding is brought to light Tho latest of theso crusades against lawbreaking law-breaking tenement dwellers was headed by 3Ir Charles G Wilson president of the board of health It was an occasion of morn than ordinary interest for a flash light and two cameras had been included in the recording record-ing equipment and promised to perpetuate cone startling scones One of tho cameras was in the hands of Dr Martin chief chemist of the health department and the other was the inseparable companion of Julius Chambers Cham-bers of The World who is one of the editors THE BOSS EXPLAINS of great Hew York dailies who has never lost the tasto for personally getting at the bottom of things which distinguished him as a reporter re-porter The accompanying illustrations ore reproduced from four of Mr Chambers most successful flash light negative Our descent was swift and silent on n swarm of old offenders who inhabit Xo Co Mulberry street Au old Italian nodding over his fruit stand wok up and grinned at the advance guard of officers as the < erpedi tiou turned into Mulberry from Canal street The purpose of tho invaders was equally plain to a dozen stout loiterers They Jiruggod their shoulders disapprovingly and ono darted in at tho op > n door of 2To 05 and up tho stairs like a flash Como on said tho police sergeant in command com-mand plunging through tho sumo doorway in two minutes this fellow will have half tho brood roosting on the roof An officer was sent hurriedly to the roof to guard tho scuttlo and another was left at the street door to oppose the entrance of the crowd that was rapidly gathering There was already commotion in tho second floor rear tenement which cue of tho officers interpreted in-terpreted with tho remark Theyre getting through the window en to the fire escape1 The officer pounded en the door with Ins club There was dace within instantly frSain tho officer beat ou the door a rattling dcrils tattoo that awoke tho echoes 2 > o answer Open the door Open tho door Police man open the door cr you ba arrested I1 Which threat emjJiasizid by another terrific rattling of clubs product desired result The door was thrown opt and by the light of the policemens lanterns tho president of the board of health saw a guilty looking licit from which every bird but ono had flown Through the open window a convenient fir escape told tho story The man who stood inside with his hand on the door latch sullenly sullen-ly trying to convey tha impression that ho was newly awakened from sound slumber was tho only person in the room but in every oonier at the sides and in the middle of the floor were sugsestivo piles of rags and cheap mattresssi with fragments of blankets thrown over them Yhcts your naiad demanded the police J i sergotflt John Celli Wuat have you done with your lodgers CutIl110 lodgers Your wife and children then No wife no chiluren Who sleep in ell them beds then The man shrugged iris shoulders Ho admitted ad-mitted that this was his only room Its appearance was sufficient proof that it was kitchen bedroom and dining room for uS f am wjy of at least Oven One of the inspectors nS > le a tints in his book and said AU right John you may go back to your six or eight beds but first well hare to fumigate this place a little Tho flash light was adjusted two cam = made ready acid presently John Cells thought lightning had struck him Proof of his guilt k having been thus accurately recorded John I Celli was bidden good night with assurances that tho atmosphere of his tenement was now a great deal clearer than it had been I Of all the foul smells to bo encountered in a large City thass that hang about a tenement = I house occupied by tile lowest class ortoreign era are certainly the foulest It is not their poverty that is most impressive for many of them have considerable sums of money hidden I hid-den away among their rags but their utter disregard for cleanliness The policemens lanterns only dimly lighted tho halls of No 55 Mulberry street and on every floor same one of the party stumbled over a bucket of putrifying garbage I I Tho floors and stairs are rough with irregular irreg-ular layers of condensed and hardened filth and toward the top of the building the air I was so full of nauseating vapors that one I of the party was compelled to return to I I tho street In tile rear tenement on the top floor where the air was to bad that I tho flames of tho policemens lanterns actually wavered as if half suffocated for lack of puro orygeii two little Italian 1 children not uiorj than 4 mud < G years I I old lay naked on a bundle of rags sleeping peacefully The glare of tho lanterns awakened awaken-ed them preseutly and they smiled roguishly I oa the invaders and looked quite as happy and healthy many children do who have pure air to breathe and clean food to eat It I was difficult to accept such marvelous evidence I evi-dence of ones eyes so I asked them I How do you fool babies DJ you feel II sick I l For answer they laughed heartily and i punched each other in the stomachs I Do you have enough to eat Again they laughed and indulged in such I infantile antics as could betoken nothing but good health and full stomachs The police j sergeant explained i dP Ao N I I COOKING TOE orroi Oh they have plenty to eat They would grow fat iu the streets whoro a dog would starve They are so used to bad smells that i pure air would stifle them Tit secret is explained by the mortality lists Only such children of these Italian tenement d dwellers as possess the most extraordinary extraor-dinary vitality at birth live through the second sec-ond week On the third floor we found man and woman wo-man ahead of us making energetic efforts to open the door of a tenement They succeeded succeed-ed before we reached them and out passed I fully a dozen Italian laborers half dressed i talking volubly and gesticulating Tho officer offi-cer made another note in his book I They are old offenders he saidPietro f Gucciardi and wife They have no children I and are so avaricious that they sleep on tho stairs outside and give up their rooms to us I many lodgers as can bo crowded into them i This is the third time wo have caught them in the actOn act-On tho fourth floor we found another chaaco use the cameras to good advantage I The occupants of a rear tenement had forgotten ten to bolt the door and we marched in upon Ot fuI them before the boas the head of the household is called could remedy this neglect I neg-lect He stood in the center of the floor dressed in nothing but his shirt All about I him so close together that wo stepped on i several sleepers lay four men three women and three children The room was not mOle I than ten foot square Without wasting anytime any-time the cameras wero adjusted and the flashlight i flash-light illuminated the room like a sudden flood u of sunshine The boss was terror stricken i and his hair stood on end VTiata you do1 he demanded trembling i That all right nero purifying the air1 I replied the police sergeant tVhats your = ooF nameJoins ISuzzi 1 Youve got too many people in this > room John Aro you the bosss Yes I the boss buta you see1 said tho man cunningly the > ea people comev hero I last nighta from the ship Tomorrow all go away anda no como backa1 I happen to laiow I that he lies said the sergeant as ho mama a note of what the earner I earn-er s had recorded In the rear of No Co is another tenement building of the samo size separated from it by a court yard full cf bad smells and rubbish rub-bish Drains were stopped up and oveiflov I big one would hate to sew a cow stabled there But as wo stumbled oa in tha gloom I the head and body of a man rosa up in our I path The lanterns being turned on him it i was observed that he was one of a family of six who had made their bed on the floor of i this horrible inclosure and wero sleeping I with no other roof than the star spangled sky over their heads II I I w II I z SL 9 I I USDEll TUB IXFLUEXCB OP THE DULO It was now past S oclock in tho morning I The work of tha expedition had been accomplished accom-plished and all of its members were more or less 1 overcomo by the bad air that had filled their lungs for moro than two hours I Less than a block from here said the sergeant in tho basement of a tumble down chanty Ill show you as clean and neat a place as you would wish to see You have Lad enough of tho Italians como and compare com-pare them with tho heathen Chinese Chinese I ejaculated an inexperienced I member of tho expedition with a shudder I why they oat rats I Tho policemen laughed and led the way to I a basement door near by 01 which they knocked with their clubs It was opened by I a smiling Chinaman dressed in a numb silk I frock trousers of tho tame and cork soled I shoes as white and clean as a sheet of paper I He conducted his visitors through a narrow passage way carpeted with matting Into a room probably eighteen feet square Part of the way around the stones of tho basement walls ws visible between sections of pine I wainscotting but it was brushed clean of dust and not a cobweb could ba seen anywhere I any-where Tho floor was covered with matting as wero also seven or eight low couches scattered scat-tered about tho room You see no bugs or vermin here said the I sergeant triumphantly There were no bad smells either The atmosphere at-mosphere of the room could not be called fresh and pure though there was nothing disagreeable about it although a pungent I odor oppressed tho senses from the moment of entering This odor was presently explained ex-plained to the uninitiated for tho placo was an opium den in which four Chinamen were lying in a state of stupefaction The man who had admitted us resumed his preparations for a smoke cooking the opium over the blazo of a fantastic little lamp and testing tho condition con-dition of complicated pipes used by opium smokers A smile of pleasant anticipation I lighted up his sallow face and thus the flashlight I flash-light and the cameras caught him IOn I-On tho faces of those who were fully under tho influence of the drug were smiles smiles of realization They were not all pleasant smiles Some of tho sleepers grinned and writhed with twisted and strangely working features telling of unnatural sights and I sounds experienced m ins wami land or moo dreams On such a figure tho cameras were focused and the flash light blazed up again The scene is not an easy one to forget There was no evidence uncleanliness in the room but tho smell of tho burning opium the sallow sal-low faces of its willing victims who perhaps had never known an hour of healthy sleep the Oriental dress of the dreamers and the I surrounding objects all unfamiliar in a Christian household told of an unwholesome barbarism even moro destructive of physical and moral health than the filth and degradation degrada-tion of the lowest Italian tenement dwellers CURTIS DUSOAU |
