The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-08-31
THE WTOKEDEST MAN.
Allen Closes his New York Dance
House. He Will Carry n HOd sooner
Than Omen il Again.


The wickedest man in new York shut up his
dance-house on Saturday night. As the clock
struck twelve, and the sabbath crossed the
verge of midnight the internal den was closed,
nevermoTe, John Allen says, to be opened as u
dance-bouse. Having heard it numored that
The WICK edest man had actually and finally
shut up shop on Saturday night, we went do wn
there yesterday TO take an observation and
learn the exact facs of the case. Arriving at
NO 304 Water street we found the door closed,
and the following note posted on the door:-
This DANCEHoUsE Is oLosEDp
mo gentlemen admitted unless accompanied by
16eir wives who wish to employ aH S1gSslsq] ss 90
There were groups of people in the street
taking about the Wlckedest Mans unprece-
dented course, and some unfriendly feeling
toward him was dscovera Die, although tue
balance OF feeling was decidedly in his favor.
We raped at the door, and 1t was opened by
hale, clean-shaved, and cean-shirted man, in
hts shirt sleeves, OF muscular proportions, and
rather good-lookiDg:
"Are you Johu Allen ?" we asked.
eyes, sir" he replied.
'Are you the Wckedest Man in New York ?n
Some sensation reporters have called me So"
he responded; but don't consider mvself
such, and my neigbbors dou't either. There
isn't anybody in the ward that would call
''Wlll you answer few plain questions?" we
asked.
"To the best of my ability will replied the
wickedest man; and thereupon the following
dialogue ensued:-
Reporter Have you shut up your dance
house for good ~
Alen..'Yes, SIR, shut it up for good last
keporter-"What made you quit the business?"
Alen-"Because [ have co me to the conclu-
sion that it is wrong to keep such place; aud
also 10 crafty my poor old father, who is totter.
ing on the brink OF the grave, aud my brothers
and sisters, who are all respectable people; and
also tor the sake of my children, to whom |
want to set q good example
Reporter-"Don't you ever intend to keep q
dance house agan?n
Alen-''Not if can help it,"
Reporter-"What do you mean by if you can
help itH"
Alen-"I mean if can find anything else to
make living at.n
Reporter-"But they say, you are rich. What
do you want employment for ?"
Allen-"Well, ii l am rich, can't be idle. 1
must do something. l like au active life"
Reporter-"Then if you can't do better, you'll
go back to keeping a adance-house again? Is that
what you mean 2"
Alen-"No, sir, I'd carry hod before I'd go
into the dance-house business again. rve done
evil enough, and now Pm going to try to do
some good" Spoken with empnasis).
Reporter-"How many dance houses are there
in this streetm
AlIen-"About twenty, l should judge.n
heporter-"How many girls apiece do they
averageW
Allen-'Five or six; some have only two or
three. Mine was largerJ averaged about six
teen.n
Reporter" long do the girls live, as a
Allen-''They average ABOUT five years, but
some are used up in one year. I've one girl
that has been with me twelve years.
giriss"
Allen-'More than half are Irish; the other
half are divided up among nearly all nation
Reporter-"How has the recent notoriety,
oecasionesdd by MIR. Dyer's articles, affected the
businessY
G.Itb b,,rt 70 ha
run with clergymen and other respectable
people, and frightened off the customers"
Reporter-"What are you going at, no that
you've given up the dance-house business 2"
Ailen-"Can't say just now. Shall begin to
look around after awhile. Am in no hurry.
Shall wait for things to quiet down"
Allen was perfectly frank IN his speech and
manner, ike "A man who has made up his mind,
and sees his way clearly. He went into the
dau Gel house business seventeen years ago, he
said. merely as a lark-just tor little Iun,
| you knowl |" intending to stay in 1t only for a
month or so; and there he has been ever since.
Els father, his brothers, and his sisterS-Who
are all good Christian people, and OF whom he
! seems 10 be proud and iond-on huding him
| out, sought by every means in their power to
| win him from his nefarious business, and they
| have clung to him and folio we'd HIM with their
| tears and their prayers during all those seven
! teen hopeless years-a remarkable instance OF
| family affection aud failhtulness.
| Mr.. DYER in his explorations OF the shady side
OF New York, first came upon Allen about two
| years age. He at once became interested in
him, recognized him as the bell wether OF the
! whole dance-heuse flock and set to work TO
| study him up, determined, II possible, to rescue
! the interesting wretch and get him to help
break up the dance-house business. When he
got ready, and opportunity offered, Mr.. Dyer
wrote his first "Wickedest Man" article for
Pockard's Monthly, He aimed the screed
directly at John Aliens heart-at whatever of
| family pride and parental affection there might
! be left in him. 1t was dead hit. 1t filled the
"Wickedest Man with terror and shame. He
| wept over it in rage and modification. HIS
| family cane down on HIM aiIesh. He learned
that his aged father was stricken 10 the heart by
! the article and that his tavorte brother had
| tainted away on reading 1t. nis pet son came
! crying home IRON school, saying he Woulda't 20
| any more because all the boys said his father
was the wickedest man in New York. His den
| was overrun with respectable visitors to such an
| extent as seriously to damage his business, and
so he cursed the visitors and the miserable
! Dyer" who had sent them there, and raved, and
| Wore and, 10 use his own words, run on rum
| heavier than ever"
At last, Mr.. Dyer's second 'Wickedest MANI
| article came out in the August number of
| "Packard,n at the close OF which he gives
Aliens promise to quit his business by the drst
| OF May next expresses his belief that he will
| keep his promise, and winds up by saying that
the Wickedest Man in New York "ohall yet win
a name OF which his children, whom he so pas.
| sionately loves, need not be ashamed, and shall
| yet establish character which will suffer those
! children 10 plant flowers upon his grave with
out blushing for the memory of their dead
| father lyh beneath the sOd.n
| When Allen read these lines he wept again,
| rot with rage and shame, but with remorse and
| repentance. To quote his own words:-
| when read what Mr.. Dyer says about my
childTen's yet planting flowers on my grave, and
! not blushlng at my memory, felt as though |
wanted that TO be so; aud kept reading 1t over
and over, and at last | said, II | live long
| enough that shall be SOL and | have read 1t
| almost every daV since, and every time | have