Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-12-14

refused to grant a license on account of
its immoral character, and he is con-
sequently all the more bound to make an
arrest. Very often, however, the reason
| he fails thus to do his duty is because he
| knows the place to be under the prOtection
! Of his superior officer, who for weekly
or monthly stipend from the proprietor
! guarantees immunity from arrest and
| interference. In no other way can the
| luxuriance with which dives flourish in
| all quarters of New York be explained.
, I.aw-breakers everywhere pay the police
to l'rArmIt them to break the law. Go
almost Were you will, you will find dives
with their dooIrss ostentatiOusIy Gpen.
A PERSON STARTING FROM THE CITY
HALL
and going up Chatham street 70 the Bow
cry will meet with places of the sort every
few doors until he reaches Grand street;
and the BOwery is not anywhere entirely
free from them.
At night Chatham street, Chatham
square, and the lower part of the BOWery
are lighsed principally by the electric il
luminatiOns OF the dives, and the Ordina-
ry noises of the street are drowned by the
music of the dive bands. Ordinarily a
loud voiced man stands in front of dive
and enumerates in stentOrian tones the
attractions which may be seen within
free gratis for nothing. Pictures of WO-
men in page costumes are grouped around
the doors, and a screen is placed across
the entrance so as to reveal almost more
than it comedies of the equally half
dressed performers on the stage within.
AS might be expected the performance
is nothing if not vulgar and indecent, and
it is often as witless as IT IS both. 1t is
far from being worth the price OF admis-
sion if that were really, as it ostensibly
is, nothing. Worthless as it is from every
point of view however, it frequently costs
a patrou far more than even sight of
Irving or Patti would.
4 visitor who believes the ''tooter'sv
statement that the entertainment is free,
soon discovers his mistake. Before behas
fairly entered, one of the dirty and disrep-
utab!e female walters calls upon him to
treat her, and, if he fails to comply, he
finds that his room is better than his COM
pany. AS few men in their sober senses
would enter such a place, the visitor is
ordinarily drunk enough to be generous,
and he pays more for what is popularity
known as ''rOtgut," than he would pay
for good liquor at DelmOnico's. Often, if
he is flush, he allows himself to be de-
cOyed into the Wine room, where he is
made to pay IS bottle for cider. or some
thing less harmless, called champagne for
the occasion. If he gets too drunk, there
is no pretence made of robblng him, and
his pockets are picked with impunity.
Should he demonstrate, the 'bOuncer"
takes him in charge and thrusts him into
the street, more or less bruised and bat
tered. II he appeals for redress to a pO-
Iiceman, he is more likely to be taken in
for being drunk than to have his appeal
needed.
EVEN IF ROBBERY DID NOT THUS OFTEN
RESULT
vic Ia n
street dive, such places should, of course,
be suppressed, because Of the demoraliz-
ing effect which they produce. This,
however, applies more pertinently to the
similar. but more ''high-tOned' resorts in
and around Sixth avenue in the neighbor-
hood of Thirtieth street. A person is not,
perhaps, so likely to get robbed in Sixth
avenue as in Chatham street, but because
this is not so likely more victims are en-
trapped, to their moral, if not their tinan-
cial, i Oss. Many a boy has been first led on
the downward path by his visit to the re-
sorts which Police Captain Williams per-
mits to flourish like so many green bay
trees.
There are also dives in Harlem, and
should one go down town again be will
find a notorious resort, miscalled a
theatre, in Eight street, and places
like Harry Hill's and The Aliens within
a block of police headquarters. Neither
of the places just named is licensed, but
liquor is sold there as openly as if no
license were required. Although Hill
has been without a. license eight months
or more, l do not remember of a single
arrest in his place for violation of the
excise law, and Allen has easily ''settled"
the complaints which have been made
against him. "Billy" McGlory, who was
made an example OF last winter, and was
sent to BlackwelPs Island for keeping
dive in Hester street, has reOpened since
leaving the penitentiary, and is doing
nearly as good a business as before.
No other explanation but that of the
cOnnivance of the police can account for
the existence of these demOraliZing re-
sorts. 1t is the bOunden duty of the police
to close those that are unlicensed, and
they would be sustained by public opin-
ion, if not by law, if they proceeded
against those that are. They certainly
would not lay themselves open to the re-
proach of incapacity or corruption, if
they were net corrupt Or incapable. That
they are the first there is little doubt. Too
many police Captains have grown rich on
a salary of 81, 900 year to render it possi-
BILE for them to claim clean hands.
CORRUPT AS THE POLICE MAY BE, How
EVER,
they are not so incapable as a story
printed at greater or less length in some
of the morning papers to-day would make
them out. According to this story Mrs.
William Humphrey, a rich California
widow, was garroted by highwaymen in
West Thirteenth street, and robbed of
large sum of money which she carried in
her reticule, in broad day yesterday. She
was chOked almost to insensibIlity, the
most sensational account OF the occur
renee declares, and the reticule was torn
from her grasp despite her earnest resist
ance. The highwaymen, of course, easily
made their escape. A more outrageous
highway robbery apparently never took
place during daylight in the streets OF
any civilized city. AS a matter of fact,
according to the lady's own account, she
was merely the victim of an unpleasant
occurrence, liable to happen anywhere.
A lad in his teens merely snatched at her
reticule, and, tearing part OF it OIL, ran
away with a small sum in change which
if contained. The part which remained
in her hand contained $40, and this he did
not get. She was, of course, badly fright
ened, but she did not swOon, as one paper
represented her as doing.
Her adventure, although not the high
vav robbery which it is depicted, con-
tains moral which ladies here and else
where should heed. If women should
give up the practice of carrying their
purse in their hand or in their reticules
they would no longer be subject to rob-
berry. accompanied with the risk OF mai
treatment. When it becomes known that
reticules are only used to carry handker-
chiefs and small purchases in, thieves
will no longer try to steal them. "A
woman, certainly, who walks ABOUT, as