The
scoundrel professes to know him and his whole family, and names the
price of his silence. Too often the demand is complied with, and the
money paid. The proper course to pursue when accosted in such a manner,
is to call upon the nearest policeman for assistance in shaking off the
wretch.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
CHATHAM STREET.
Chatham street begins at City Hall Place and ends at Chatham square. It
is not over a fourth of a mile in length, and is narrow and dirty. It
is taken up, principally, with Jews and low class foreigners. There are
also some cheap hotels and lodging houses, several pawnbroker's shops,
and half a dozen concert saloons in the street. The lowest class Jews
abound in this quarter, and vile, filthy wretches they are. They deal
in imitation jewelry, old clothes, and cheap clothing. There is little,
if any, honesty in the street, and any one buying an article within its
limits must expect to be cheated. The streets running off to the right
and left, lead to the Five Points and kindred districts, and it is this
wretched part of the city which furnishes the greatest number of
customers to Chatham street. The buildings are generally constructed in
the old style, a new house being a rarity in this locality, and are
foul and dingy. The shops are low and dark, and smell horribly. The men
and women who frequent them look like convicts, and as they sit in
their doorways watching for custom, they seem more like wild beasts
waiting for their prey, than like human beings.
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