The Wyandot pioneer. (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1853-1868, 1868-07-16
rli r fFrom Packard's Monthly, :
The Wickedest Man 8in New
~ IL car .X0rIre :. 49, -.

rs43fE- r from Packard's Monthly
/ The Wickedest Man sin New
/ rs Fsp York. 1s - qsf Il
&5'ss> BY OLIVER DYER. -
He goes by the name of John AL
| len He lives in Water-street. He
keeps a dance house there, He is
,, about forty-five years old. He is
reputed to be worth one hundred
thousand dollars, more Or less, and
is known to be worth over seventy
thousand. He has three brothers
who are clergymen-two of them
being Presbyterians, and the other
Baptist-and is reported to have
been minister of the Gospel once
himself. He IS known formerly to
have been a school teacher, and is a
man of education and fine natural
powers was originally good man !;
and is yet a "good fellow in many
respects. Were it not for his good
qualities he never could attain un-
to the bad eminence of being the
Wickedest Man in New York.
p He reads the Bible to his dance
house girls, and his fayorite papers
are the New York Observer and the
Independent. He takes them reg
ularly, and reads them. We nave
repeatedly seen them lying on the
counter of his bar-room, amid de-
canters, and glasses along with the
daily Herald and the Sun. We
have also seen a dozen copies of the
Little Wanderers Friend, at time,
scattered about his place, for he
takes an interest in mission work,
and 'goes in'' generally for pro-
gress for other people The Wick
eldest Man loves his children. His
little five year old boy is the apple
of his eye, the core of his heart, and
the chief object of his worship. He
never misses an opportunity to
sound the child's praises and to
show off his accomplishments. And
all things considered, the little fell
low is truly a wonder. Heis cram
med full of information on all man
mel of topics. and is ever ready to
respond to his gdoting fathers at
tenpts to make his smartness visi-
fble to the naked eye. eses4 r..as
We have never visited the Wick
edest Mans's dance house, without
having our attention called afresh
to his little sons abilities, except
once, and then he took us round to
the school which the child attends,
to let US see that he ranks with the
best, and is q favorite with his
teacher. s..-. ,s5-rq - s..s ~
The first time we entered John
Aliens dance-house, we found it in
full blast, The hour WAS eleven in
the evening. There were thirteen
girls in the saloon, three musicians
in the orchestra, and seven custo-
mers, submitting , to the blandish-
ments of an equal number of the bal
lot-dressed syrens who pervaded the
room. Our parry consisted Of the
policemen who accompanied us,
three clergymen on the look out for
the elephant Mr. Albert C. Ar
mold, Of the Howard Mission, and
the writer. .ze...z --.-->... -
The Wiekedest Man was in his
glory. Things were moving briskly.
He gave US all hearty welcome,
ordered the. orchestra to do their
best, and told the girls to "break
our hearts" A vigorous dance fol-
lowed after which the proprietor
called out. -...,.s. D.. .a5r-.a :,
Hartford, go up stairs and get
my baby"
Hartford turned out to be one of
the girls. who Immediately disap-
peared. and soon returned, bearing
in her arms an undressed, sleepy
child, wrapped in a shawl. This
was the juvenile prodigy. His ia
ther took him in his arms, with
glow fpride and affection upon his
face, and said: it's2t.
CHOW, gentlemen, you are wri-
ters, philosophers, and preachers,
but I'll show you that my baby
knows as much as any ofyou. He's.
hell on reading, writing, praying and
fighting"
And without more ado, he stood
the sleepy little fellow upon the
floor and began to catechise him in
ancient history, both sacred and
profane, and then in modern history,
geography, the political history of
the United States, ETC.. etc, with a
result which astounded US all. Sud
denly he exclaimed:
Chester, give us song
And Chester-for that is the
child's name-gave us song. @}i
"Now, Chester, give us a break
down. 7ss7
The orchestra played a "break
down. and Chester danced it with
precision and vigor, his mother
looking on with delight. 9e
''Now, Chester, give US a prayer"
And the child then recited first,
the Lords Prayer, and then others
in succession, mixed with which
were such ribaldry and profanity on
the fathers part as cut us to the
heart And here it was that we got
a glimpse of the eminent wick
edness of the man-wickcdnes to
him unknown, and all the worse be-
cause Of his Inconsistencies of it
wickedness which is leading him to
train up that idolized boy in way
and in an atmosphere which will yet
make him an object Of loathing even
to his own heart.
For that dance house child there
seems to be no spiritual hope. Of
the thousands of painful cases
we have met in this city,
that of little Chester Allen gives us
n hapt tho kapnaSt papor