A Barbarous Game.

New York Times 100 years ago today, August 14, 1913:
To the Editor of The New York Times:
    There is a popular game going on in the so-called "Bowery" section of Coney Island which would not be tolerated by any civilized country in this world. The game is well known to any one who ever visited Coney Island. It is something of the character of an old-fashioned shooting gallery, with the difference that the target is a curly-haired negro's head and the bullets good and hard baseballs. Three balls are rented for 5 cents to any one who is desirous to hit the negro. His business is to amuse the public by trying to evade the hits, withdrawing his head whenever the balls may hit him. Will not some one get after the fellows who employ poor devils for paltry wages for the enjoyment of people who in their moral insanity patronize a game that every decent citizen condemns with disgust and horror?
        EUGENE S. LUCAS.
        Brooklyn, N.Y., Aug. 12, 1913.