A very little boy stood upon a heap of gravel for the honor of Rum Alley. He was throwing stones at howling urchins from Devil's Row who were circling madly about the heap and pelting at him
His infantile countenance was livid with fury. His small body was writhing in the delivery of great, crimson oaths
"Run, Jimmie, run! Dey'll get yehs," screamed a retreating Rum Alley child
"Naw," responded Jimmie with a valiant roar, "dese micks can't make me run."
Howls of renewed wrath went up from Devil's Row throats. Tattered gamins on the right made a furious assault on the gravel heap. On their small, convulsed faces there shone the grins of true assassins. As they charged, they threw stones and cursed in shrill chorus
Here, Crane contrasts the youth and innocence of the urchin from  Rum Alley  with strong, hateful emotions like “livid” and “fury.” Crane also continues to contrast the relative smallness of the character with grand language often associated with war hero epics, as he does in the first line of the  novella . 
 
 Normally, “great crimson oaths” would conjure up an image of a knight swearing loyalty to his king, which makes the image of a little urchin defending his tenement nearly laughable. It also illustrates that though society has somewhat disregarded the tenements, the people in the tenements have adopted them and take pride them.
The Honor of Rum Alley I