The Wyandot pioneer. (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1853-1868, 1868-09-10
The Wickedest Man i'm New
YOrk--His Dance House Slfiff
gp--A Prayer Meeting Held
There,

-
shut up his dance house on Satur-
day night. AS the clock struck II.
and The Sabbath crossed the verge
of midnight, the internal den was
closed nevermore, John Allen says
to be opened as a dance house.
Having heard it rumored that the
| Wickedest Man had actually and fl
nally shut up shop on Saturday
night, we went down there yester-
/ day to take an observation and
learn the exact facts of the case. Ar
irving at No. 303 Water street, we
| found the house closed and the fol
lowing notice posted on the door
-."THIs DANCE HOUSE, Is CLOSED" a,
IIsts.No gentlemen admitted unless
accompanied by their wives who
wish to employ Magdalens as do
mestics.
i1F JOHN ALLEN. :
i There were groups of people i'll
the street talking about the Wick,
edst Mans unprecedented course,
and some unfriendly feeling toward
him was discoverable, although the
balance of feeling was decidedly in
his favor We raped at the door
land it was opened by a$hale, clean
shaved and clean shirted man, in
his shirt sleeves, of muscular pro
lpertions, and rather good looking,
"Are you John Allen ?" we asked
"Yes, SIR" he replied.
care you the Wickedest Man; in
New York
.'Some sensation reporters have
called me so," he responded; "but
I don't consider myself such, and
my neighbors don't either. There
isn't anybody in the ward that
would call me So"
"Will you answer a few plain
questions ~ we asked.
.'To the best of my .abilityI will
replied the iwickedest man: and
thereupon the following dialogue en-
sued:
Reporter-"Have you shut up
your dance house for good ?"
Allen-"Yes, sir; / shut it up for
good last night at12 o'clock. 8
Reporter-''What made you quit
the business =
Allen-"Because l have como to
the conclusion that it is wrong to
keep such a place; and also to graf
Iify my poor old father, who is tot
tering on the brink of-the grave,
and my brothers and sisters, who
are all respectable people; and also
for the sake of my children, TO
whom I want to set a good exam
pie"
Reporter-s'Dont you intend eyer
to keep dance house again 7"
Allen-"Not if 1 can help it."
Reporter-'"But they say you are
rich what do you want employment
for?"
Allen-sWell, if am rich, I can't
be idle. 1 must do something.
like an active life. % -
Reporter-"Then if you cant do
better, you'll go back to keeping
dance house again. Is that what
you mean - Tina l. l..iA!. -
Allen-s'No, sir Ed carry ahod
before I'd go into the dance house
business again. I've done evil
enough, and now Tn going to. try
to do some good" Spoken with
some emphasis.
"When / read what Mr.. Dyer
says about my children's yet plant
ing flowers on my grave, and not
blushing at my memory, / felt as
though I wanted to be so; und !
kept reading it over and over, and
lover, and at lastI said, IF T. live
long enough that shall be SOP and
L have read it almost every day
since, and every time =. L have. said,
1T shall be SO, ,sif i 1ive:s"
Fortunately, this man had saga
cious Christian friends to encourage
him in his good res buttons. But
the the devil had his agents at work
also. Aliens neighbors got vino
4 Of what was going on, and made {
dead set at hilnE z TlIeyabused him
and ridiculed him; called him {
. Methodist; wanted to know whe1
he was going to join the church
and did all they could to keep hin
from going over to the enemy az
d they called his 4neditateds abandon
's| H1 :; s%;iss5bsaVtg0B9s,aa@5 is5bs aVtg0 B9s,a 53s|alss
ip1 felfers out'n your house ?" in
agpapattly4 q6cl5aiimed q 5in}s 9ns of hi his
alarmed ineigE EhoEsrI sH 8GfAIbr15Bts 1Bt
tin 'em camairsrhnin'y there Samucl
) a singin' their camp meetin' hymns
that if you doR tao az oaEvJa'l
soon be as bad as any of 'em !''
But Aliens true friends sgaihet
steadily on him. He began 1td"s to sst9i ri
; swearing and using obscene Ian
guage, and "ran lighter on rum.'
One day, when Mr.. Arnold expos
tulated with him for swearing, III
said, "That's right, Arnold, I wan
to stop the use of bad language, anl
whenever you hear me use profant
word, or foul word, you just say
to me, How do you parse that
John 2 and I'll take the hint" Ane
he has actually made great progress
, in comeliness of speech, and also il
. sobriety.
Yesterday afternoon Allen at
. tended religions SCI vices at the Ho "
y ard Mission At the close of tn,
9 service it was announced that Allel
had shut up his dance house, ant
that he would make Il few remarks
Coming forward with diffdence an,
: hesitation, he said
"MY FRIENDs-LADTEs AND GEN
TLEMEN:l Pm not accustomed t,
8 addressing audiences, and dom in
tend to cay much. I've been caIfet
the Wickedest Man in New York
S and / have done good deal of evi
but I'm sorry for nv mast life. an