The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1883-11-03
DONALDsONvIIIE, LOUISIANA, NOVEMBER
OUR LETTER FROM BRoADBRIM.

OUR LETTER FROM BROADBRlM.
A Midnight 1urder-The DeadTalls of the
Metropolis - High Italian Opera Faux
Pas of the Newsdealers Another Scan
dal-Disreputable Politics = Vanderbilt
in the Dirt-A Telegraph War Imminent
Stocks, Etc.
New YORK, October 20, 1893.
EDITOR CHIEF:
1t was pleasant reading on Wednesday
morning when we took up the papers and
read the entertainment furnished by the
Patchen Avenue gang. When Bill Porter
got out of States prison few months ago,
gave short sketch of his career. / told
you that notwithstanding his promises, the
chances of reform were slim. He is a nat
ural born thief. He could not be honest if
he tried. He has been a thief and the COM
panion of thieves since his boyhood. The
same can be said of Jack Irving, Shang
Draper and Jack Walsh. The only thing to
be regretted is that Shang Draper and Bill
Porter did not do for each other what Jack
Irving did for Walsh and Walsh did for r.
wing. It is rather pleasant for our country
friends to know that when they come to
town and wander up Sixth Avenue to see
the sights they might innocently have
dropped into Sllang Draper's saloon, and if
they did, at any hour of the day or night,
they would have fallen into the company of
as desperate a band of villains as could
have been found outside of States prison
in any portion of the Union. Just think Of
it: on one of the most public thoroughfares
i'll the city of New York, where any unsus-
pecting person might be trapped, is den
of unhung villains, we'll known to the po-
lice; every man OF them a known thief and
a suspected murderer, and yet there is no
sign of warning to the unwary or the stran-
ger.
Nothing tells the story..of the excellence
of our police supervision better than the
fact Of the time the murderous brawl oc-
Cured. 1t was two hours after midnight,
and at 12 O'Clock every saloon in the city is
supposed to be closed. The police could
not obtain an entrance, but Jack Irving
had no difficulty in getting in, though the
others had some trouble in getting out.
And now comes the question, how did
Shang Draper one of the best known
thieves in the United States, get a license
to sell whiskey from the Board Of Excise?
Why was he allowed by the police to keep
his thieves den on the most public thor
oughfare in the city?
We read every week of mysterious dis
appearances. Last year there were over
200 of them, and this year not week has
gone by that some one has not disappeared.
The men who were congregated at Shang
Draper's on Wednesday would have mur-
dered any man for $40. There is no man
ner Of doubt but in just such places men
are drugged and murdered every week, yet
these dens are allowed to exist.
The question of which of the gang killed
Charley Howard, or whether more than one
Of them took a hand in the murder, will
probably never be answered. [ think | hear
you ask, are there any more such places in
New York? Yes, plenty of them. The po-
lice know them; the reporters know them.
Dens full of prison birds, where mans
life would not be worth a counterfeit quar-
ter if the inmates knew he had IS in his
pocket, are scattered all over the city. The
Bowery is full OF them. There are saloons
kept by convicts there, where rutiians OF the
vilest character congregate, and they are
never raided OR disturbed, because the po-
lice are paid not to see them. These are the
fellows that man the polls on election day,
and from whom the party expects and re-
ceives heavy work. Well, Providence be
praised, two of them are killed, and we've
slight hopes that we may be able to hang
one and put another in States prison.
1t is only few weeks since Jim Elliott,
who was assassinated by Dunn in Chicago,
was buried Shang Draper, arm in arm
with Brooklyn Alderman, marched at the
head of the procession, and New York
turned out to see the show. In view of the
TACT that the two dead thieves saved the
State some expense. we ought to be CRATE
full. Jack Walsh had Il good wake, plenty
of whiskey, tobacco and candles, first
class coffin, and very nice grave in Cal
vary Cemetery. He could not have had any
more if he had been member of the Board
of Aldermen.
Don't be surprised if you hear of an op-
7 how fbo1
can get along without it. I don't know
what kind of a fight Abbey would make,
but Mapleson is a real genuine, no-nistake
Colonel-one Of ''Her Most Gracious Maj
esty's Own and for the honor of the
cloth let US not doubt but that ne is a fight
er. Italian opera is a new experiment with
Abbey, but Mapleson is an old hand at the
bellows, and what he doesn't know about
opera is really not worth knowing. Lon
don nor Paris Vienna, Berlin nor st. Pc
tersburg have ever had at one time such all
opera as we now have in New York. It will
cost to support it for thirty nights not far
from half a million of dollars. A nice lit
tie sum that for music, hut we can stand it,
for we have lots of cash.
The newsdealers struck snag when they
ran against Bennett. If they could not
make profit they were perfectly right in
refusing to sell the Herald for two cents,
or to keep from selling it at all for the mat
ter of that, but they have no right to pre-
vent anybody else going into the business
who is satisfied with the pay, There is now
no difficulty in getting the Herald anywhere
for two cents, and before the newsdealers
get through with the matter they will be