That was the kind of evidence upon
which those rear tenements were arraigned. Ninety-four of them,
all told, were seized that year, and in them there had been in four
years 956 deaths--a rate of 62.9 when the general city death-rate
was 24.63. I shall have once more, and for the last time, to refer
to "A Ten Years' War" for the full story of that campaign. As I
said, it was great.
[Illustration: The Mott Street Barracks]
Conceive, if you can, the state of mind of a man to whom a dark,
overcrowded tenement had ever been as a personal affront, now
suddenly finding himself commissioned with letters of marque and
reprisal, as it were, to seize and destroy the enemy wherever found,
not one at a time, but by blocks and battalions in the laying out
of parks. I fed fat my ancient grudge and grew good humor enough to
last me for a dozen years in those two. They were the years when,
in spite of hard work, I began to grow stout, and honestly, I think
it was tearing down tenements that did it. Directly or indirectly,
I had a hand in destroying seven whole blocks of them as I count
it up.
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