the work
of the missionaries, and the vigilance of the new police, the Five Points
quarter is safe enough during the day. But still, there are some
sections of it in which it is not prudent to venture at night. The
criminal class no longer herd here, but have scattered themselves over
the island, so that the quarter now contains really more suffering than
crime.

Twenty years ago there stood in Park street, near Worth, a large
dilapidated building known as the "Old Brewery." It was almost in ruins,
but it was the most densely populated building in the city. It is said
to have contained at one time as many as 1200 people. Its passages were
long and dark, and it abounded in rooms of all sizes and descriptions, in
many of which were secure hiding places for men and stolen goods. The
occupants were chiefly the most desperate characters in New York, and the
"Old Brewery" was everywhere recognized as the headquarters of crime in
the metropolis. The narrow thoroughfare extending around it was known as
"Murderers' Alley" and "The Den of Thieves." No respectable person ever
ventured near it, and even the officers of the law avoided it except when
their duty compelled them to enter it. It was a terrible place.

Nor was the neighborhood in which this building was located any better.
The ground was damp and marshy, the old Collect Pond having originally
covered the site, and the streets were filthy beyond description. It is
said that there were underground passages extending under the streets
from some of the houses to others in different blocks, which were kept
secret from all but professional criminals. These were used for
facilitating the commission of crimes and the escape of criminals.
Brothels and rum shops abounded, and from morning until night brawls were
going on in a dozen or more of them at once.

The locality is better now. In 1852, the Old Brewery was purchased by
the _Ladies' Home Missionary Society_ of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
and was pulled down. Its site is now occupied by the neat and
comfortable buildings of the _Five Points Mission_. Just across Worth
street is the _Five Points House of Industry_, and business is creeping
in slowly to change the character of this immediate locality forever.

In speaking of the Five Points, I include the Fourth and Sixth Wards,
which are generally regarded as constituting that section--probably
because they are the most wretched and criminal of all in the