LIFE IN NEW YORK.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1661, 13 September 1887, Page 3

LIFE IN NEW YORK.

The New York correipondent of the 11 Argus," la the course of a recent letter writes:— Kew York has just beea experiencing one of the moat trying , '* heited termi " we have had since 1876. The mercury has not risen bo high on the •verige as In that year, bnt it has been ' high, enough, ranging from 90deg. to lSOdeg. m the shade m the streets. Up j on the lofty building where the Signal \ iervlce has lti station, the raDge has, of , eoarte, been lower, bnt it li by the street , thermometer that the feelings of the citizens have been registered. What has ' made the weather Intolerable haa been ' the peculiar moisture of the air, which 1 his been much above the usual hygro- j metric leveL The heat was unbroken > for 32 daya previous to the 18th of July. , The miserable population of the tenement houses has included the greateit safferera, tod among thorn death has done its most ' terrible work. The little ones have < drooped and died by the thousand. It < It hard to realise that m this rich and i splendid towD, with its miles of hand- < ■ome houses, with its scores of men j whose wealthoountsup among the millions, there are whole squares where the density of population 1b greater than the worst ' quarters of London, and whore human being* live and die without eve* having ' Men the green fields or knowing what life Is m sunshine and by the running waters Day after day the sanitary Inspectors report tenements m which the ccoupanta average three and four to the lingie room, where the rooms are without » ray of direct light from outside, where the scanty allowanoe of water is brought from the basement or the yard, and where the so-called water-closets are sinks of Indesorlbable filth. In these buildings, from five to seven stories m height, often la the rear of other buildicga of like eheracter, with but a Bpace of a dozen feet between them, are found, within a surface area of 2,400 square feet, as many as 800, or even a thousand human beings It is Impossible to form any idea without liKving seen them, of all the scenes presented m these so-called dwellings. Of common human comfort, of the common decency of civilisation, there is none. Men and women, boys and girls, huddled m the noisome rooms, herd like bauds of animals, and yield with as little sense of wrong or chame to saoh appetites as are engendered m their debased natures. In the stifling weather we have had this gammer the ravages of disease, amoug the ohUdren especially, can only be imagined. The city does what it can to prevent the worst results, but though what is done seems muoh m itself, it is relatively to what is to be done, very littla. Some conception of the morally diseased condition of this tenement house population, can be formed from an incident brought out In the police courts this week. An English girl, recently arrived In this country, had been m service m a town near New York. Having lost her place she came to the city. On the train the sat by the side of an Irish womao, who heard her story, and said if aha would come home with her she knew of a plaoe she could get the next day- The girl assented . On the afternoon of the next day she appeared at a police station, her clothing torn, hatlees, mnch dazed, and told a confused story of having been robbed and assaulted. At first the police officers thought she had been drinking, bnt they had the sense to send her to the hospital. An inspection showed she had been criminally assaulted. When she had retted and become quiet, she thought she eonld Identify the place to which she had been taken, and after some hunting •he did so. On the top floor there were found the woman who had enticed the girl, the husband, and asleep m • dark closet a son. On the latter were fonnd a ring, an earring— that had been broken In tearing it from the ear — and one or two small articles, taken from the English girl. Her story being thus verified Hi details are worth attention. She states that there was drinking m the room iv the evening after she arrived, that she did not ioin It, but went early to bed, and that later her room was entered by father and two sons, who robbed her of her jewellery and money, and then assaulted her. Later they returned with two young men, who repeated the assault. The father and sons were m custody. The mother is detaiaod as a witness, and the police are hunting for the others. Can yon imagine anything more brutal — worse than bruta' — than this ? Yet the offenders, two of whom have been In (he state prison, take the matter vary coolly. and the comments of the neighbors m the building were m sympathy with them rather than with their victim, Jnto the region where 'this crime was committed no policeman dares to enter alone, and when theie arrests were made the officer m command took nine meu m citizens' olothes armed for a riot, which would certainly have occurred had the; not been m force and prepared for it.