a

No. 1, Half-moon Place. No.'s 2 and 3, Burgess' Alley.

a. Entrance through arch to Burgess' alley.

b. Entrance through Half-moon place from Broad street.

c. Entrance to Baker's alley.

The dark-colored parts represent the brick blocks. The darkest colored, the houses where the worst cases occurred. The lighter colored tints represent the sheds and out-houses.

Half-moon place is situated in the rear of Broad street, and is formed by a kind of excavation into the side of Fort Hill; the houses which form its semi-circular side being built either against the hill, or separated from it by a space of a few feet. It has two narrow entrances between blocks of houses, on Broad street, and "Jacob's Ladder," which, at the time of the prevalence of Cholera, was a very dilapidated stair-case, that connects it with Humphrey place, and thus with the higher streets upon the hill. Baker's alley, one of its entrances, forms its northern boundary, and Burgess' alley extends from its southern extremity. The cut represents a portion only of the place, and conveys, as do the others, but an imperfect idea of the near proximity of the houses, and the utter want of any circulation of air. The

Burgess' Alley; North View.-From point marked 2, on plan. side towards Broad street, from which the view is taken, is formed by the sheds in the rear of the houses on that street, with extremely dirty backyards, and a fair proportion of privies.

To the right of "Jacob's Ladder," as represented in the cut, is a cluster of six privies, situated nearly in the centre of the place. At the time of the epidemic, these were greatly out of repair, and the ground about them was covered with their overflowing contents, removed only by evaporation. They have since been repaired, so as to present a better outward appearance. A fence has since been erected, as a screen, at the side of the "Ladder," to hide the naked deformity of its neighborhood. At the foot of the drain are two more clusters of privies, six in number. The open space likewise presents three cesspools, intended to convey off the dirty water; but which were choked by all sorts of vegetable matters, as fragments of cabbage and potatoes. As these accumulated, they were scooped out and thrown upon the ground near them, which was thus plentifully bestrewed with putrefying vegetable matters. With these were mingled no small proportion of substances still more loathsome.

The houses to the left, are from four to six stories in height, and were crowded with inhabitants. Their rear was only separated from the stone-wall which supported the side of the hill, by a space of a few

Entrance to Burgess' Alley. (Looking out.)

feet, and here the contents of drains from above found a receptacle, creating a perpetual humidity which must have reminded the tenants of their native land.

Burgess' alley runs from the southern extremity of Half-moon place, and its houses, fruitful sources of examples of the disease, are destitute of any opening whatever in their rear-being built against the hill, and in front are separated from the rear of the houses on Broad street by merely the width of the alley and a row of narrow sheds and privies. vodi

The sketches can convey a faint idea, only, of the actual narrowness of the limits occupied by an immense population, and the utter impossibility of a healthy circulation of air in such locations, where a free ventilation is epecially demanded by the supreme filthiness of the persons who occupy them.

The plan which is given of a triple cellar, would scarcely be believed to represent a reality, by those unacquainted with some of these

localities. The principal tenant considered his accommodations of the most desirable character. The first cellar, from the street, was occupied, in one corner, by a bar for the sale of refreshments, and served as kitchen and parlor. The second, into which two beds were crowded, served as the family sleeping-room, whilst the third, a dungeon six feet square, and the same in height, (with no aperture for the admission of air, save the narrow door which was

closed at night,) served to accommodate boarders.

The landlord said the tide came through the floor of his rooms but rarely! We have procured a sketch of the appearance of one of

these subterranean apartments. It gives a fair idea of the mode of stowing the bedsteads, and of its contracted dimensions; but cannot give an adequate impression of its darkness and its loathsomeness. The family was warned by the visiting physician of the district not to permit these inner rooms to be occupied; yet he was called a few nights after, to see a man in this very den, who, two or three hours previously, was in apparent good health, but had then already reached the stage of hopeless collapse. One cellar was reported by the police, to be occupied nightly, as a sleeping apartment, by thirty-nine persons! In another the tide had risen so high that it was necessary to approach the bedside of a patient by means of a plank, which was laid from one stool to another; while the dead body of an infant was actually sailing about the room in its coffin !

Subterranean Bedroom in Bread Street.

Many of the inhabited cellars in this vicinity are inundated by the back-water of the drains during high tides; and being entirely below the level of the sidewalks, they are necessarily, therefore, almost entirely without light or ventilation. But, far from being considered a hardship, a residence in them is considered preferable to loftier apartments. They are said to be cooler in summer and warmer in winter, and consequently command higher rents.

Another locality, which furnished quite a number of victims, is shown in the following view. It is a nest of miserable tenements at he easterly corner of Stillman and Endicott streets.

They are filled to overflowing with a most vicious and miserable population. Even the cellars, under the long low building, near which the two figures are seen, and into which it is very difficult to crawl, are inhabited, although the crazy timbers overhead threaten each moment to entomb, or the waters beneath to drown them.

We give but one illustration more: it is the place in the rear of 136 Hanover street, which was inhabited chiefly by the unfortunate

Passade

about 50ft.

Old Shed

Plan of Place in rear of 136
Hanover Street.

"Crowe" family. It will be recollected
that some of the earliest cases occurred
here, and the victims were seized and died
in such rapid succession as to attract special
attention to the spot. There were some-
thing like twelve deaths here, in a period of
little more than two days, out of a popula-
tion of less than fifty persons.

The plan shows the long narrow entrance;
the want of any passage beyond; the entire
absence of any yard in the rear; and the
reason, therefore, why all the excrementi-
tious matters, the refuse vegetables, &c.
should be constantly accumulated in the
centre of the place. Nothing arrested the
fearful progress of the disease, here, but
the immediate removal of all the inmates,
and a thorough cleansing of the premises.

The large house, in the left foreground, was in tolerable good repair, but excessive. ly crowded with inmates. The farther building on the right, was formerly the rear wing of a larger house. It is a very dilapidated and incommodious building with very low and narrow rooms. It was with the greatest difficulty that the people were persuaded to leave these wretched quarters. The horse-litter! was sent repeatedly for them, and, although some of them were found sick upon the floor,

An easy covered carriage (containing a bed,) for the conveyance of patients, which was constantly in readiness, day and night, in the Hospital yard.